He pulled his fingers from the latch.

The air around him began to vibrate, a low tremor that rattled the porch beneath his boots and set the herbs lining the garden shivering in their beds.

"Gabriel!" Tess shouted.

It didn't reach him.

The pressure in his chest snapped tight.

Crimson fog spilled from his shoulders, slow at first, then heavier, rolling down his arms like smoke dragged from a fire. It clung to him, coiling close.

He reached his hand up towards the hilt of his blade.

His eyes burned.

Red streaks bled outward from his irises, flooding his vision as the pressure in his chest surged hard. The humming snapped into alignment with his pulse, no longer a warning. An invitation.

Whatever was inside him wanted to be let loose.

He stepped forward instead.

His boot slammed into the door.

One sharp motion.

The frame tore free with a violent crack as the door ripped clean from its hinges and vanished inward, shattered boards and iron fittings hurled across the apothecary in a spray of debris.

The porch shuddered beneath the impact.

Crimson fog moved with him, spilling through the doorway first, swallowing the threshold before Gabriel crossed it himself.

The force of the kick sent a shockwave through Tess's chest, rattling breath from her lungs and driving her boots half a step back into the soil.

Adan planted his feet as the porch groaned beneath the fading tremor. His hand tightened on his blade, eyes locked on the ruined doorway.

They attempted to move forward in unison.

Ennu was suddenly there, emerging from the shadows and setting a hand on each of their shoulders.

The pressure was immediate.

Both of them stopped.

Her grip was light, but neither could step forward. Not without forcing it.

"More are coming," she said quietly.

Her gaze drifted toward the potato fields.

From somewhere beyond the rows, the faint clink of metal carried through the night.

Getting closer with every second passing.

Adan turned, scanning the edge of the fields. Shapes were beginning to separate from the dark helmets catching moonlight, the dull glint of spearheads rising and falling with their steps.

"How many?" he asked under his breath.

Ennu didn't answer.

The clinking came again, clearer now. Boots shifting. Metal brushing metal. Careless sounds, made by people who didn't think they needed to be quiet.

Tess swallowed. "Town guard?"

Ennu's hand eased from her shoulder.

"No," she said.

Tess lifted her head, eyes drawn to the caved-in doorway of the apothecary. Gabriel was gone, leaving only the last wisps of crimson fog curling in the broken frame.

She turned sharply, pulling at her sword mid-spin.

No one will make it through.

…

The moment his boot crossed the threshold, sound dulled and stretched, the air thickening as if the apothecary itself were resisting him. Crimson fog poured ahead of him, crawling across shattered wood, sinking into shadows.

The humming was louder inside.

Wrapped around his thoughts, threaded through his pulse, perfectly in time with his heart.

Flashes of Ariya slithered through his thoughts as he moved.

Stone corridors. Torchlight. Bare feet on cold floors.

Danis and Devon, frozen, eyes wide, breath caught in their throats as the humming reached them first. The way it stole motion before pain ever arrived.

Gabriel forced the memories down and took another step.

The apothecary opened up around him.

The hearth sat against the far wall, stacked with logs, fire burning low and steady, casting warm light that didn't match the tension coiled in his chest. Glass vials lined the shelves near the alchemy station, catching the glow in dull colours. The familiar worktable was cluttered with herbs, mortar and pestle, other instruments used for mixing elixirs.

The patient's bed stood in the centre of the room. The very bed she stitched him up on.

Mera sat at the alchemy station with her back half-turned to him, hands moving with careful precision as she tinkered with a small apparatus. Steam curled upward in thin strands.

She was humming.

The same gentle rhythm.

The floorboards split beneath each step, wood cracking with a sharp snap that echoed through the room.

The humming didn't break.

Gabriel stopped.

The hearth fire popped once, embers shifting. Glass chimed faintly on the shelves.

Mera continued working, utterly unbothered, as though the destruction behind her was nothing more than a draft through an open window.

"I knew I couldn't fool the giant," she said, without turning.

Gabriel didn't respond.

Mera adjusted a valve on the apparatus, watching the liquid settle before speaking again.

"She sent me to you years ago," she said calmly.

"I was supposed to be the one who pulled you out," she said. "The one who decided whether you lived long enough to matter."

She turned a fraction, just enough for him to see the edge of her profile.

"But Hanitz found you first."

Her tone shifted

"I was meant to nurture you," she said. "Help you grow. Shape you into who you were always meant to become."

The words hung in the air between them.

Gabriel's gaze didn't shift. His eyes stayed fixed on her, unblinking.

"Every attempt I made over the years, he put a stop to," Mera said. "He watched you. Questioned me. Stayed too close."

She rose from the station and turned, the calm finally cracking. Her voice lifted, sharp and furious.

"You are the Orders," she snapped.

"I have seen the truth," she continued, conviction burning through every syllable. "You will slay the false idols. You will bring the Church to its knees."

She took a step toward him, eyes bright with something close to reverence.

"And you will reshape the world in our image."

The air tightened instantly, mana gathering around her fingers in a practised pattern.

"You're coming back with me," Mera said, certainty replacing fury. "You were never meant to stay here."

The buzzing swelled.

Gabriel moved.

He crossed the distance in the blink of an eye and slashed downwards

The blade carving deep and meeting almost no resistance.

Her hand dropped as the blade passed through, blood spraying as her stump flailed uselessly.

Before she could scream, his blade had already moved.

The second strike stopped an inch short of killing her.

The edge kissed the side of her neck, shallow but exact. One more fraction of pressure, and her life would have ended

Mera collapsed to her knees with a sharp, ragged cry, her uninjured hand clamping desperately over her severed hand.

Her scream echoed through the apothecary.

Blood spilled across the wood floor as she lurched and thrashed, panic finally tearing through her composure.

Gabriel stepped back. Keeping his blade raised towards her.

"The Commander will come-"

He thrust the blade deep into her chest.

The words died in her throat as her body went slack.

For a moment, he held her there, feeling the last resistance fade through the steel. Then he withdrew the blade and let her fall.

She didn't hit the floor hard.

The apothecary suddenly felt smaller, ordinary again, the hearth crackling softly, glass settling on the shelves, the air clearing as the crimson fog recoiled and sank back into him.

Gabriel stood still, breathing even, eyes empty.

"Then he'll die too."

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