Dawn came slowly to the farmhouse, and pale light filtered through broken shutters. Gabriel hadn't slept. He'd sat against the wall all night, watching the others take their watches and waiting for what he knew was coming.

When Tess called everyone together at first light, he was ready.

They gathered in the common room. Gilbert stoked the fire back to life while Mera sat with her pack close, the book still hidden inside. Adan leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, and Ennu took position by the window.

All eyes turned to Gabriel.

"Talk," Tess said. No preamble. "Everything. From the beginning."

Gabriel stared at the far wall for a long moment, then he began.

"I was fifteen, a student at the Paladin academy." His voice was flat and empty. "A cult took me from the streets of the capital. Hundreds of soldiers from different races, all following an elf they called the Commander."

"What did they want?" Adan asked.

"To awaken something." Gabriel's jaw tightened. "Demon blood. Dracamere blood. They said I had it and that I'd seen something, heard something that proved it."

"Had you?" Mera's voice was quiet.

"I don't know. I still don't remember what they meant."

Silence fell. Gabriel continued.

"They kept me for six months in an abandoned castle surrounded by ocean." His hands clenched at his sides. "They had a woman named Ariya who was small and innocent-looking with purple eyes and black hair. She was the one who did it, the ritual modification."

He pulled his shirt open. The others leaned forward and stared at the scars covering his torso. Thick twisted lines, thin scratches, and burns scattered and overlapped across his skin. Where sigils had once been, only deliberate destruction remained, cut and burned away until the original patterns were unreadable.

In the center, right next to his heart, was a small handprint. It was child-like and burned deep into him.

"Every morning," Gabriel said, his voice still flat. "She would come and chant in a language I didn't understand. The sigils would burn, and red smoke would pour from them to crawl under my skin." He paused. "Then she'd carve new ones."

Tess's expression had gone rigid. "For six months?"

"Yes."

"What was the purpose?" Mera moved closer and studied the destroyed markings with clinical focus. "What were they trying to accomplish?"

"Awakening." Gabriel pulled his shirt closed. "They said the demon blood was dormant, and the sigils were supposed to prepare my body. Break down whatever was blocking it."

"And did they?" Gilbert asked.

Gabriel looked at his hands. "I don't know. Something changed, but not what they wanted."

Ennu spoke from the window. "What changed?"

"Near the end." Gabriel's voice grew quieter. "Ariya said they needed to remove my mana core because the texts claimed the blood would only awaken under the right conditions. She said my core was blocking it."

Mera's eyes widened. "They removed your mana core?"

"She said they would." Gabriel's expression didn't change. "She gave me something to drink, and everything went dark. When I woke up..." He stopped.

"When you woke up?" Tess pressed.

"I could still feel it, the core or something like it." He looked at his hands again. "But it was different. Wrong. Like it had been replaced with something else."

"The red smoke," Mera said. Not a question.

"Yes."

Gilbert shifted. "How did you escape?"

"I didn't." Gabriel met his eyes. "My brother found me. Lucius raided the castle alone."

Silence followed the name.

Adan swore under his breath, and Mera went pale.

"The Executioner," Tess said quietly. "He's your brother."

Gabriel nodded once. "Half-brother. He came alone and killed dozens of the cult's soldiers, but the Commander and Ariya escaped before he could reach them."

"So they're still out there," Tess said.

"Yes."

The word hung heavy in the air.

"What happened after?" Gilbert asked. "After Lucius found you?"

Gabriel was quiet for a long moment. "He saw what they'd done, the sigils and what was left of me." His jaw tightened. "Hanitz was with him, a giant who'd served under Lucius before. He helped me destroy the markings by cutting and burning them away before we reached land."

Mera's fingers hovered over the scarred tissue visible at his collar. "To hide what the cult had done."

"Yes."

"And then?" Adan pressed.

"Exile." The word came out flat. "Lucius dragged me to the nearest port and threw me onto the docks." Gabriel's expression hardened. "He told me I was a demon, that I was tainted. He said if he ever saw me again, he'd kill me himself."

"He exiled you," Tess said slowly. "His own brother."

"Half-brother," Gabriel corrected. "And he made it clear I was no brother of his. Not anymore."

Silence fell.

"You were fifteen," Mera said quietly.

"Yes."

"And he just left you there?"

Gabriel's jaw tightened. "He walked away and didn't look back. I was fifteen, broken, and covered in scars I didn't understand." He looked at the floor. "I just survived."

The room fell silent.

"Four years," Tess said. "You've been running for four years."

"Yes."

"And you never went back? Never tried to return?"

"Where would I go?" Gabriel's voice was harsh. "Back to the Church that exiled me? Back to the academy that failed to protect me? Back to the brother who saved me only to throw me away?"

No one had an answer.

Mera broke the silence. "These patterns, even destroyed, I can see fragments." She studied the scars with that strange reverence. "They were building something complete, a matrix where each sigil connected to the others."

"The cult wanted him to awaken," Tess said. "But Lucius interrupted before they could finish." She looked at Gabriel. "And the voice says to complete the trial. Maybe that's what they couldn't finish."

Gabriel pulled his shirt back on. "Maybe."

"And if you do?" Gilbert asked. "If you take the book and complete whatever trial it's talking about?"

"I don't know."

"Guess."

Gabriel was quiet, then said, "I become what they wanted. What the cult tried to create."

"A demon," Ennu said softly.

"Or something close to it."

The words settled over them like a shroud.

Tess returned to the center of the room. "Then we keep the book away from you. Mera keeps it, and we don't let you complete anything."

"That's not a solution," Mera said. "The compulsion is growing, and eventually he won't be able to resist."

"Then what do you suggest?" Tess's voice was sharp.

"We need to understand it first." Mera looked at Gabriel. "We need information about what the cult was attempting."

"From where?" Adan asked.

"South, in the Free Cities. There's a scholar in Kelmar who deals in forbidden knowledge." Mera paused. "If anyone can identify what these sigils were, it's him."

Gabriel stood slowly. "We're already heading south. Kelmar works."

"Just like that?" Tess said. "We're going to visit some scholar who deals in demon magic?"

"Unless you have a better idea."

Tess glared at him. "My better idea was to never have gotten involved in this, but we're past that now."

Finally, Adan spoke. "We need supplies regardless. Kelmar is three weeks south, and we can reach it."

"And then what?" Gilbert asked.

"We get answers," Mera said. "Or we die trying."

Gabriel moved toward his pack. "Then we leave today."

"Agreed," Adan said. "We move at noon."

The group began dispersing, but Tess remained and watched Gabriel.

"If you lose control again," she said quietly, "if you attack one of us like you attacked Melissa, I will kill you."

Gabriel met her eyes steadily. "I know."

"Good."

She left.

Mera approached as the others filed out. "The scars, the structure beneath them." She paused. "Whatever Ariya was building is still there. Cutting away the surface didn't remove what's deeper."

"And the trial?"

"I think it's the completion mechanism, a way to finish what the cult started." She paused. "The voice and the book are trying to restore the patterns."

"And if I don't complete it?"

"The incomplete structure might tear you apart from the inside, or it might just leave you as you are." Mera's expression was troubled. "Broken, hearing voices, slowly losing control. I don't know which is worse."

Gabriel said nothing.

"We'll find answers in Kelmar," Mera said. "We have to."

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