Gabriel screamed in euphoria as soon as he made it out of the manor. He had done it, he was finally through this hellish week and wouldn’t need to experience such misery for some time, at least. He screamed his lungs out until his voice was hoarse.

He walked very slowly back to his home because he was so tired, but he wanted to greet his sister and talk about all the things they would do on the coming days. He wanted to talk about his experiences, as he had forgotten, through the excitement, that he couldn’t do so.

Because of this same excitement and also his fatigue, Gabriel didn’t realize that he was being followed by three individuals which were searching for his home, so when he entered his abode one of them left to record the information, while the other two stayed to check if he really lived here or if he was trying to trick them into believing so, as others had done in the past.

After two hours of observation, they decided that it was “extremely unlikely” that he didn’t use this place as “a home, base of operations, abode or transport towards one of the above”. They finally left the place, not before leaving some undisclosed objects in case they found themselves in a pickle in this alley.

Gabriel had no idea any of this was happening as he made his way towards Arabelle’s room inside his house. It seemed as though she was sleeping, so Gabriel just stood on the side of the bed and looked at her, sleeping like an angel.

Accidentally, he woke Piti up, which glanced at him, without making a sound. Then it laid back down besides his sister once again. Gabriel was secretly glad that his sister was asleep because it meant that he could sleep as well. Had she been awake, he didn’t know how long she would ask questions, seeing that she managed to hold off the whole week.

The next day Gabriel was awoken by some knocks on his door and not a curious sister wanting to know more about his experience. It was quite early, after all. The sun hadn’t even risen, Gabriel had slept too little for his taste, so he grudgingly made his way to the entrance of his house.

There he was met with two cloaked men who only told him to follow them and started walking. Gabriel denied such request and said that if they wanted anything they would have to explain themselves first.

They explained that the current leader of the descendants of the thief god wanted to speak with him due to his recent actions and after Gabriel thought of them, he commented that he didn’t do anything that should upset him, so he wouldn’t go.

- I wont go, not again.

This upset the two individuals, one of them even took out a maze from under the cloak, saying that he would come, did he want it or not. To that Gabriel simply retorted a profanity and asked for a minute to leave a message for his sister. He did so and also put a few knifes in his pockets, just in case.

He reached the structure in which most of the followers of the thief god in this city resided as the first few rays of the sun started to appear on the horizon. He was taken into the pit, once again, and was now being questioned for his recent actions. So, he told them about the last weeks, preparing for the challenges he had faced the last seven days.

When he started to talk about the tests he was given, he finally remembered that he wouldn’t be able to tell things, the people on the chairs said that they knew, but inside this structure many spells were weakened, so he would still be able to give some information.

Everything he said was noted by two separate individuals, recording the information in case it turned useful in the future. When he finished his portrayal of the things that he had experienced since the last time he had been brought here, the old man sitting in the biggest chair stood up and started talking.

- I like to be efficient, so I’ll say what I need to say in a single sentence: Stop attracting attention to yourself! – Afterwards, he sat back down. All the other elders also nodded at his commentary, but Gabriel was stumped.

- Don’t I already attract attention because of who I am? I know how you’ve looked at me. Dismissing me just because I look different. Oh, maybe you don’t want me to get stronger, which is what I was doing. I explained that I wanted to do this to gain access to the library, but I see that you’re scared if I turn too strong.

- ENOUGH! – The elderly man shouted. – You should stop attracting attention because you may get kidnapped, and information of this place could be taken from you through torture or other means…

- Oh, so nothing new. I have already been kidnapped multiple times, heck, I was basically kidnapped to get here. Either I came or you knocked me out and grabbed me here! I don’t give a fuck about your god or your cube or anything you do here. All I want is to get stronger because only that way will I be able to fend for myself and the people I care about. So just stay out of my way!

Gabriel stood up and rushed out of the building and the cube. Just when he was in the morning market of Destin did he lower his speed and stop checking whether he was being followed. He glossed over some products, perusing for their prices and seeing if anything was worth buying when he noticed some people looking into a clear direction of the city and commenting about a fire.

He glanced at the direction and realizing that his home was also in that direction, he became nervous. He didn’t believe that the cultists of the thief god would have let him escape if they had attacked his home, so this calmed his nerves a tone, but he still prayed for his sister’s safety.

Closer to his home he realized that he would most likely not have one by the time this fire was put out. Nor his neighbors or his neighbors’ neighbors. It had really expanded quite a bit and when he came to the side of the fire, a tear came down his cheek, which he immediately cleaned before rushing into the fire to search for his sister.

But before he managed to get inside, he was grabbed by a burly man and put in the air by the same person. He had his whole head grabbed with his hand and raised his arm to show Gabriel to the watching crowd.

- Look what I’ve found, our perpetrator! – He said in a commanding voice that made everyone instinctively listen to him. – This monster is most likely the person who has damaged our city with this fire, because it was envious of our progress!

- Let me go! – Gabriel pleaded multiple times while the man was giving his speech. – My sister may still be in there; I have to save her! – He begged once more. But the man just kept on metaphorically crushing his head.

Most people didn’t really care about this district, which was mostly populated by low-lives, criminals and people with very low income, so their houses neither had value nor were they hard to rebuild, but the people were mad at someone attacking them, Destin citizens, as a whole.

And so, when Gabriel was grabbed and shown to the crowd, some people did react to him, with comments and shouts of him needing to leave the city or to pay for what he had done. But then the security guards of Destin came and seeing that not only were there no proofs of the charges he was accused of, but his property had been completely lost from the damages, he was let go.

Usually, he would get some form of payment so that he didn’t leave the city or make it lose its reputation, but as he probably wouldn’t know about it and the people were rather negative about him this wasn’t even mentioned when he was let go, instead they made it seem like he was lucky to be able to get out of a punishment.

Gabriel preferred not to hurry back to the remains of the fire because of two main reasons. First of all, if he went too fast the guards of the city may take that as proof of his commitment to arson. Secondly, he managed to scan the area of the fire and confirmed that there wasn’t any person currently moribund.

So, his sister had either already died a, probably, quick death or had managed to escape and survive. Gabriel preferred if she was alive but given all the trouble she brought with her simple existence, a small part of him started wishing for her death.

Even so, the siblings had been separated once again and Gabriel could only sigh at this situation. Already cloaked with a new appearance, he made his way to the ruins that were left and decided to put his hands at work.