Chapter 91: The End of the World
He was left alone in the open—but at the same time, he was finally freed from his previous limitations.
His steps began to accelerate. First they were quick and finally his walk turned into a frantic stride.
Soon, he was running. His feet moved by an instinct inside him, covered by earth like a tomb.
Before leaving, they had not offered him any explanation about his exact purpose in that place. But even so it did not matter to him.
His mind was only capable of thinking about one single person: Noel. His great friend to whom he had entrusted a large part of his life.
Since that brief and intense conversation in the hospital room, they had practically lost all trace of contact.
The last message was that unsettlingly worded one that had caused so many confusions.
While he continued advancing, with almost desperate movements, someone deliberately crossed in front of him. A strong push on the chest forced him to stop.
Gabriel had to step back after being interrupted in his light jog.
The culprit was a boy of relatively short stature, a little younger than him. His face was unpleasant, with hard features and an expression of superiority that was even uglier than his own traits.
For a second he felt that in his eyes he was a simple useless passerby.
"Who are you? And where are you going?" he said in a defiant tone.
Gabriel did not even bother returning his gaze for long.
"The agents brought me. I have matters to attend to."
He tried to go around him, but the boy placed himself in front of him again.
"Here we have small rules of coexistence. I saw them leave. They left you alone." He smiled with arrogance.
Gabriel sighed in impotence.
He had experienced similar situations in the past. But at that moment he had no patience.
With the events of the last hours, he needed to vent.
Without responding, he took a step forward. And violently slammed his forehead against the boy’s nose.
There was an unpleasant noise at that instant.
The young man was thrown backward without even having time to raise his hands. He fell sitting on the grass.
Blood immediately began to flow from his nose. Like a curse taking effect.
Gabriel passed by him as if nothing had happened.
"Stay out of things that don’t concern you".
He did not even slow his pace. Behind him exclamations of surprise began to be heard.
The spectacle had caught the attention of practically everyone present.
There were men and women.
The groups divided between adolescents and young adults. Their activities consisted of training or conversing.
But after observing everything, they simply watched the scene with genuine curiosity.
They were like eager men who for the first time observed a bloody feast. None seemed willing to intervene in their small dispute.
But even so, he did not need to understand it. He had not forgotten what his priorities were.
He continued walking, this time with greater attention. Then...
Among the crowd he distinguished a figure that was too familiar. There was no possibility of confusing him.
With great stature, slightly disheveled clothes, and the classic deep dark circles.
He still maintained that expression of existential fatigue that he had obtained the day he was born.
Gabriel felt something loosen inside his chest. The words escaped on their own.
"Son of a bitch..."
The figure slowly raised his head. A slight smile appeared on his face.
"Brother from another mother."
Gabriel finished covering the distance practically without realizing it. The two stood face to face.
For a few seconds neither spoke. They knew it was not even necessary.
Noel finally broke the silence.
"Damn it."
He glanced sideways at the boy who was still on the ground holding his nose.
"There was no need to leave him bleeding like that. Now I’ll have to pay him," he said sighing.
Gabriel smiled with even more force.
He immediately extended his hand. Noel did the same. And finally they ended with a firm handshake.
As if it were a ritual, where both needed to communicate that everything was fine.
Their handshake turned into a brotherly hug.
Never before had they expressed that type of physical affection. It was the first time.
When they separated, Gabriel breathed deeply.
"I thought I would never see you again."
Noel made a face.
"Please, don’t start. You know perfectly well what my opinion is about homoerotic stories."
Gabriel brought a hand to his forehead.
"Did no one ever tell you that you provoke an unbearable urge to hit you?"
Noel smiled.
"Just another kind of desire."
The two ended up laughing. An authentic moment where both could stop pretending.
After so many days carrying worries, guilt, and losses, that small conversation seemed to relieve an invisible weight.
There was an open wound since Noel’s disappearance.
And, after remaining pulsing, it was slowly beginning to close.
***
They began to walk without a fixed direction.
The paths crossed small forests, training zones, and wide spaces of leisure.
At first glance it was difficult to believe that all of that existed under the same complex.
Noel broke the silence.
"So in the end those two agents brought you."
Gabriel ran a hand through his hair. With his eyes and gestures he responded as if he were an idiot of silly questions.
"I suppose they already told you a few things."
Finally he shook his head.
"Not too many. I think my behavior didn’t help. All this overwhelms me a bit, when I get saturated... I usually solve problems using little Rocky." He said with little shame.
Noel observed him with a classic expression of "you are an idiot."
"Little Rocky?"
He did not need too much time to understand it. A smile grew on his face.
"Are you talking about the metal pipe with which you sent Kael to the hospital?"
"It has its own registered trademark."
The two laughed again.
Those jokes hid much more than they appeared.
They were a simple way to hide the pain. The losses and the fear.
They continued walking until they arrived at an artificial lake. The water was so crystalline that it perfectly reflected the sky projected on the enormous ceiling of the enclosure.
It was a place to transmit an unreal peace that would calm the hearts of whoever visited it.
Both observed the lake calmly. Until finally Noel slowly opened his arms.
"But I mean all this," he said with his eyes discreetly observing his surroundings.
"Recruits? Seriously?"
The word carried a much deeper meaning.
Gabriel immediately understood the intention.
It was not necessary to say it out loud.
Neither of the two was stupid, only unlettered. An installation of such size and such high secrecy made no sense in that place.
Its specialized laboratories, scientists, and guards, with dozens of young people training.
They were not facilities that arose from pure improvisation. There always needed to exist a foundational purpose. In this case, enormous.
Noel spoke almost in a whisper.
"Do you know what they call this place? The School of Tomorrow."
His words traveled weakly through the air.
Gabriel ended up lowering his head in silence. He picked up a small stone and threw it, observing how it bounced.
Finally he formulated the question that had been circling his head for several minutes.
"What are they training them for?"
Noel let out a resigned sigh. His face immediately recovered seriousness.
"For the end of the world."
Gabriel simply listened.
Coming from the monotonous Noel, it did not seem entirely like a joke. Probably it was not one.
Thus, Noel continued.
"There will be many more of those monsters. This... Is just beginning." He never looked away.
Gabriel felt a chill, remembering Kael’s vivid eyes.
He remembered the video and, above all, the dissected monster.
An enormous and corrupt mass of muscles that had crossed reality, existing when it should not.
"Pseudo-Tyrants..." he murmured.
Noel directed a deep gaze at him.
"Those monsters... Do not belong to our reality."
Gabriel responded almost without thinking.
"They come from the game."
Noel smiled bitterly.
"I see you investigated quite a bit. They come from that damned game."
"How is it possible... That they have arrived here?"
"No one has managed to answer that question." Noel responded with a darkened expression.
The wind stirred the surface of the lake in small waves that spread across its entire extent.
Beyond the trees, there were young recruits who laughed and shared. He had seen those who remained isolated and others who constantly sought human warmth.
But apparently each one shared a destiny in equality.
"The others... Did they also live something similar to yours?" He asked looking fixedly at his friend.
Noel’s eyes had lost any trace of enthusiasm long ago.
"All of them. Each one discovered the truth in a different way." His response was calm.
"Many... Even lost more than I did."
The memories of Kael and the hospital returned with the force of a wild animal.
He remembered the vivid impotence that day demonstrated and expressed.
Finally he understood that he was not the only one.
Each of those young people carried a story. A tragedy, an epic, or a simple motive.
Noel finished the phrase with a serenity that was even more painful.
"Everyone has stories."
The water of the lake became completely still again.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Finally Noel raised his gaze toward the sky. His voice sounded tired—almost resigned.
That of a man who had meditated for an unquestionable time.
"And this will keep repeating, Gabriel... Until someone finds the way to stop the beginning of the end."