At first Gabriel wanted to take Arabelle with him to his home, not trusting these contacts of Kupi, even if they had just helped him. It was another contact of him that had, in a way, made this situation possible. His friend the cook had done nothing but trouble and these also worked in a restaurant, even if it was mostly a ruse.

But seeing his sister’s situation and after some serious convincing from Kupi and Poco they managed to make him let go… more or less… His sisters stayed in a hidden room in the building, but Gabriel was there all the time, opening and closing the door to the according people, ventilating when needed and taking care of his sister both physically and magically.

He didn’t waste time, though, and used the recent experience as an excuse to get Kupi to do whatever he wanted. He searched for books, certain foods and materials all because he felt bad for what he had partly caused and at the very least the siblings were together and alive now, which calmed Kupi’s heart a bit.

At times Arabelle moved quickly and wildly, as if trying to escape her restraints, but as time progressed and Gabriel was unraveling the mind-controlling spells inside her head these turned less common and weaker.

But with this progress her usual consciousness also had started to come back, and she started questioning her situation and Gabriel and many other things which tired his brother out, but he still spent time answering her every question, not without thinking of what to say beforehand.

Gabriel believed that one of the reasons of her being caught was of how her thought-process worked. So, he tried to inculcate “wise” recommendations in all his answers so she would stay away from strangers, inform him of what had happened during her day and other things he found necessary to keep her safe.

When she was almost fully cured Gabriel gifted his sister a book, he had written which included a lot of stories with morals that he wanted her to get. One might find all these measures a bit drastic and forceful, but Gabriel didn’t want to experience such a situation again.

It took two whole weeks without Arabelle having an episode for him to leave the room and when he did it was only for a few minutes to take some book outs and grab some more to take inside the room. The books that Gabriel read handled about mind control and other types of magic, but also about the history of Destin.

He wanted to know who had targeted him and why he did so and the best way to do so would be to take the records of the census and read them, but they were securely locked on the hall and even though Kupi could’ve taken them out if it was critical, he considered that the situation didn’t call for such drastic measures and told Gabriel, in an attempt to make him leave the room for some time, to take the records himself.

He didn’t do so and instead asked for the books of the history of Destin to find out the history of the manor he was caught in. But while he searched for copper, he found gold! Not only did he find the answer to his question, but he also found answers to the mysteries of the gods!

Only a bit, but everything helped him. According to the history book gods did travel through the lands for centuries stopping only when they found something that interested them, or they decided to spread their powers.

But it has been almost a century since the last time a god was recorded on this continent and people didn’t expect it to change soon, because before there were always multiple gods traveling at the same time but over the last centuries, they seemed to leave one after another without leaving a trace except for their believers with a fraction of their powers and the temples spread over the land.

On Destin three different gods have been recorded, two quite long ago and the records are a bit questionable at best. Supposedly a stone god of sorts had come and raised the mountains creating the valley where Destin laid and as a proof had made his form on one of the mountains but with time it had weathered down to a humanish figure.

Later a water goddess known as Cecil sprung two lakes in the zone, and one of them filled itself with multiple kinds of fish and aquatic life, while the other remained mostly empty except for a few dangerous algae which trapped almost anything it touched.

Finally, about a hundred and ten years ago, a thieving God came and stole all entrances to houses, their access to water and their food. Needless to say, it was chaos. But as fast as he took everything, he returned it. He said some words and left and although there is no exact transcription, many people heard what he said.

He did what he did to show people how frail and weak they were and how everything they believed to own could be taken just like that. Then, no one remembers anything for a few hours and then all returned to normal… As normal as it could be after experiencing such a situation.

This is the tale that the average citizen in Destin hears, but if you are qualified you may hear a different story. Instead of finishing such a short speech, the god invited all willing people to a certain building to test them and if they passed, they would get his powers.

After finishing his examination, he stole the memories of all the people that hadn’t passed and the ones that didn’t even try. Furthermore, the same building in which he tested his now followers was forgotten by everyone but the picked ones and as such had a perfect hiding spot.

But the god didn’t like stagnant situations, so if at any point someone passed the qualifications, they would be able to recognize it immediately… not because it was embedded in their minds, no, but rather because it was big and caught attention easily.

To prevent travelers from seeing it, he installed an area spell which took the building off the people’s memory when they got too close to the city, but they could also gain access to it if they passed the qualification. And because I, “future” Gabriel, aka Petrió Mill am telling you this you should already be able to tell what happened to me.

Gabriel ended up reading all kinds of books, going through history, magic, mythology, criminology, biology, physics, chemistry and many more and carefully selected what to teach his sister which wasn’t tied anymore but both of them kept staying inside the room.

He himself didn’t remember everything he read but by reading a bit of everything the critical parts of each subject should remain in his head and they mostly did. When he finally decided it was time to move on and leave to the streets the academic semester had finished and so he would need to redo the entry test for both of the institutions he had learned at.

Thinking this as he leaved with his sister meant that he was preoccupied on other things and thus didn’t realize the looming shadow that stretched all over the streets he walked on even if it was just early noon. But after a few turns and bends on different streets he noticed that something was wrong and turned around, expecting the worst, but didn’t see anything dangerous, just a big building that had appeared out of nowhere.

This was a peculiar situation, but he decided not to go there. If he had learned one thing from the experience with Grumbonk it was not to walk directly into something that could be a trap. And this whole magic situation of a big building appearing out of nowhere screamed danger and trap from every angle. So, he just walked with Arabelle to his home, unknowing what expected him there.

Still back in the fake restaurant Kupi and Poco were talking to each other. Kupi was glad that Gabriel had finally decided to leave and risk even a tiny bit their situation. He didn’t want them to suffer but if they never risked anything they would most likely not gain anything either.

But Poco also brought up that they were only a few years old and had already experienced more stressful situations than the average citizen in Destin experienced in their lives and even more the two were the only family they had to each other.

But what could Kupi do anymore? He had barely won their trust and now Gabriel barely even talked to him, if he even reacted to his presence. He wanted to help and prevent him from repeating history but what could he do?

Poco offered him a unique offer on the spur of the moment. She knew that Kupi was experienced and a good thief, so she offered to hire him and send some of her agents to make their life easier from the shadows. Even Kupi could do that if he did enough for her.

- Give me some time to think.

Were the last words that were spoken that night and as Kupi said those he left the room to his hidden abode. Whether or not he accepted that offer wasn’t sure, but he was already thinking of multiple ways to continue his life.