Gabriel woke up with wide eyes, staring at the ceiling. Tears running down his face and a look of complete loss. His body was heavy with fatigue and drenched in sweat, like he had been running all night. Thoughts are chaotic and muddled. Memories kept flooding into his head, leaving him paralysed on the bed for what felt like an eternity.

He eventually built up the strength and turned his head to look around the room. There wasn't much in the room. A small desk in the corner with an old, beat-up laptop on it. A small pile of books was stacked neatly on the side of the desk. The top two books' titles are "The Fall of the S.P.Q.R and The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Gabriel had a vivid memory of those books; they were two books his step-dad got him for Christmas, and he had read them cover to cover. Gabriel loved history and books about classic ancient battles.

Looking to the side, Gabriel could just make out what appeared to be an old chest of drawers. On the top of the drawers were a couple of trophies and what looked like family photos. Due to his eyes being filled with tears and a throbbing headache, he couldn't make out any details on the trophies or the faces in the photos. They just gave him a weird sense of familiarity.

Gabriel closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He felt like this was one of the worst headaches he had ever had. Gabriel tried to remember his last moments before waking, saying, "I was in the cells below Braxen Tower after being betrayed and set-up by Leonard, right?." His murky mind started to gain more clarity. The memories were becoming clearer. Gabriel lay where he was for an hour, sorting out his chaotic head. All his thoughts came back to the same thing: he must be... insane.

With the months of torture supplied by the Braxen family and others, Gabriel believed he might have finally snapped and retreated into a mental world. He began to chuckle softly, then turned into a maniacal cackle that grew in volume. The laugh was bittersweet and self-pitying. One of the most melodious voices he could recall called out to him from the other side of the bedroom door just as he began to lose his sanity.

"Gabriel, my child? Are you okay? I hope you are decent because I am coming in". A voice called from behind the door.

Gabriel's eyes snapped open, and he stopped cackling. He turned his head to the door to look at it slowly opening. His thoughts started slowing down more and more. Once, the door swung wide open. A beautiful lady appeared, looking just like an angel to Gabriel's broken state of mind.

At that point, Gabriel's mind had completely froze. He simply stared at the woman at the door, taking in all of her characteristics. She was of average height and appeared to be in her early forties, but she had the gleam of a woman much younger in her eyes. Her long, dark brown hair was pulled back into a bun. Her skin was a light brown, almost beige colour, due to her Indian ancestry.

She had deep chestnut eyes that were bright and shining, with a slight hint of worry in them, wearing an ankle-length light blue skirt and a fluffy hand-knitted purple sweater with a picture of a cat wearing sunglasses on it. The two bright colours would be ridiculous on anyone else, but they only added to the appeal of this middle-aged lady. A plain kitchen apron, flecked with powder from baking, completed the ensemble. She exuded a natural maternal aura that made you want to please her at all times. Gabriel's thoughts vanished as he took in the sight of his lovely mother. He didn't give a damn if it was a dream or not. He jumped out of bed and ran towards his mother.

"MOM!!" Gabriel cried, his voice choked with emotion.

Gabriel's mother was startled for a second at the sight of her charging son. She braced herself and quickly wrapped him in a hug. Gabriel squeezed her so tight she could barely breath. She looked up at her son's face and noticed he seemed to be crying, sending her into a slight panic.

"Gabriel. Tell me what's wrong? What's happened? Are you in trouble? Did you receive a bad call or something? Did Melissa break up with you? Is Tom hurt? Do you need money for something? Is someone threatening you? " Gabriel's mother started her rapid-fire questions, as she was one to do, and she never knew when to hold back.

Gabriel heard his mother doing her usual rapid-fire questioning, which gave her the family nickname of "machine-gun mom." She hated that name, of course. Gabriel couldn't help but start laughing in complete joy. It had been so long since the last time he heard his mother's voice, let alone her annoying habit of asking 20 questions at once. He started to feel that this was really reality and that everything before was a dream. The barrage of questions didn't let up, though. More kept pouring out of his mother's mouth, even though he still had her wrapped in his tight embrace. The panic in Ariel's voice started to rise as she saw her son behaving in a weird way. Noticing the panic in his mother's voice as she continued to ask questions, Gabriel stopped laughing and composed himself. He suddenly realised that he had surely freaked his mother out, and she was not happy about it.

'Shit' he cursed in his head.

He needed to think of a good excuse. If Gabriel told his mother, he had a dream of his life that lasted for 8 years, apparently during one night of sleeping, and he could remember everything so vividly that he could recite the whole 8 years to her. She probably wouldn't take it well. Gabriel broke out in a sweat as his current predicament started to set in. He couldn't make heads or tails of anything right now. Then another thought came to Gabriel's mind. Maybe it wasn't a crazy dream and he was actually reincarnated, like in the web novels he always read about.

At that moment, a soft but powerful voice entered his head.

"In time, all will become clear. If you choose to pursue answers to your rebirth, search out the gods of Deliverance. There are facts in fiction."

The voice felt oddly familiar, but he didn't know how, and it seemed to calm his wild mind down. Gabriel's memory of all the events leading up to his captivity flashed through his mind again. With that came a sudden realization. Gabriel knew that it couldn't simply be a vivid dream or his own active imagination, he realised 'It was real. My body had travelled back in time, or somehow, at least my memories did. How did this happen? And why? ' Gabriel decided to put those thoughts at the back of his mind for later. Gabriel looked past his mother and caught himself in the reflection of the mirror attached to the inside of his door.

His mother's genes had given him a naturally browned skin. If it weren't for his shoulder-length wavy golden hair, Gabriel could pass for an Italian. He stood just over 6 feet tall. He wasn't exactly a svelte figure. He was a touch chubby around the edges, but he had powerful arms and a five-o'clock shadow. Gabriel recalled how he used to have to shave his beard every day due to its rapid growth. He eventually became tired of it and decided to grow his own, which he was rather pleased with in the end. As for his night shirt, he was wearing an old shirt with a picture of an old anime character from "Full Metal Alchemist" and a pair of blue boxers. Gabriel appeared to be an ordinary 21-year-old from the Midwest. His intense blue eyes, which appeared purple at times, were the only thing that stood out about him at the time. Gabriel's mother finally stopped interrogating him and simply roared.

"Gabriel!"

He quickly stopped checking himself out in the mirror and released his mom. Ariel just stood there with her hand on her hips, clearly expecting an answer to his weird behavior. Gabriel needed to give his mother an excuse so she would leave the room and he himself could get some privacy to sort out his chaotic thoughts.

Gabriel's heart started to race in excitement again at the thought of his second chance and the opportunities it would bring in his future. Not even Leonard Braxen could touch him if he played this right. Gabriel looked back at his mum again, and the words he was preparing to say froze in his throat at the sound of a gruff voice from down the hall. The voice was accompanied by the sounds of a squeaky wheelchair being rolled down the hall towards his room.

"Gab! Ariel! What in the world is going on!? Is the boy not up yet? For heaven's sake, it's his graduation today".