Gabriel choked, lungs blistering as black fumes swirled around him. The red flames danced hungrily, gnawing at everything in sight.
He was pinned beneath charred beams and splintered wood. Their jagged ends sank into his back with a wicked afterburn.
He had never felt so much fear. Thrashing about desperately for air, while he slowly succumbed to the undying flames.
Too hot. Too bright. Too loud.
The flames hissed, endless and undying forgiving. Still, he begged nonetheless.
“No... please…” he croaked. His voice was a withered mesh. “Please…”
Gabriel wept for his sister, reaching for her body as it writhed beneath the fire. Tears boiled at his ducts, as he watched her limbs move in slow, grotesque spasms twisting and curling in... death.
And then, through the smoke— A silhouette appeared.
Tall. Still. Hands clasped behind its back. The glint of round spectacles catching firelight.
Gabriel blinked through tears. The silhouette didn’t walk forward– it shifted, like a shadow, stretching. Twisting. Warping.
Jagged streaks of light followed, trailing brighter and brighter the closer he came.
Then—
A voice, sharp as glass and perfectly clear, crawled out from the shadows.
“There you are, little one.”
***
Gasp
Gabriel’s chest heaved, pulling in cold, conditioned air. His skin prickled, every strand of hair standing on end.
Gone was the heat. Gone were the flames.
There was only silence now. Cold and sterile.
White lights flickered above, casting faint shadows against stark white walls. Each one was pristine and spotless, with what seemed to be windows embedded at their centres.
What's this posed' to be? Gabriel wondered, his mind reeling.
It was then he caught sight of something.
There—inside one of the windows—was someone. Arms outstretched. Strapped down by thick steel bands.
Black hair. Unmoving. With eyes that were hard to make out from this far off.
Wait?
It was upon further inspection he noticed... That wasn’t a window.
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It was a mirror.
Gabriel’s breath seized at his throat–
Beep.
A high-pitched tone pierced the air behind him.
Clink.
Metal swayed, faint but distinct. Then—
A dull metal thud.
Footsteps followed.
He could see the figure through the reflection. White coat. Calm strides. Moving toward the strapped-down body at the centre of the room.
"You should be dead,” the man said, his voice cool and unhurried.
“Then why aren’t I?” Gabriel said through gritted teeth.
“Because I dimmed it so,” the man replied. His words were slow, and meticulously measured.
He came to a stop just beside Gabriel, staring at him through the mirror up ahead. Almost like his reflection held more significance.
Gabriel’s jaw tightened. “And who are you supposed to be?”
“The only thing standing between you and a guillotine.”
Gabriel’s brows creased. Cryptic lunatic. He was just about to snap back when a striffled his escaped his lips.
Hiss.
Pain exploded through his skull like spikes driving into both temples. He grunted, flinching against the straps.
“Momentary migraines. Amnesia. Vertigo.”
The man turned.
Blue eyes like frost staring right at him from behind thick lenses. His eyes were wide. Gabriel felt like he was getting X-rayed.
“There’s also the risk of diarrhoea, mild hallucinations, spontaneous—”
“Okay, okay!” Gabriel growled. “That’s enough.”
The man halted, tilting his head slightly. For a second, he didn’t blink. Just stared.
Gabriel shifted uncomfortably under the man’s gaze.
This guy’s off.
“I’m Doctor Ansel Sol,” the man finally said, stepping closer, his fine eyes scanning Gabriel’s bare chest like a gallery piece. “I run logistics and head research for this 4LN development facility.”
Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “Obliged. Now what do you want from me?”
“A myriad of things,” Ansel murmured. “Most of which… only require your corpse.”
He smiled.
“But that’d be a waste. You’re worth more intact.”
A growl rumbled in Gabriel’s throat. “What. Do you. Want.”
Ansel tilted his head, voice soft but crystal clear.
“I want you to help me find someone.”
Pause.
“A professor. Allen Vossler.”
Gabriel’s world tilted.
Pain flared— raw and numbing. His muscles strained against the restraints as if something inside him wanted out.
Images flashed in his mind as the shadow in the fire suddenly gained form.
"Professor?"
Then like a tidal wave, a part of him returned. Somehow he was running in a meadow, a shabby wooden house lying peacefully in the distance.
When he returned the doctor was staring at him with the same sense of wonder albeit more intense.
"...You are certainly worth much more alive."
He said briefly turning to stare at the mirroring window before staring back at Gabriel.
"Just let me go."
Gabriel managed to say through laboured breaths.
"I'm sorry but we can't do that."
Ansel said matter-of-factly.
"At least not until you help me find our father."
