Chapter 68: The Legacy
He did not know exactly when he lost consciousness.
For him, there had been no exact instant. His body simply stopped responding.
His last memories were disconnected fragments of the fire, the Tyrant’s desperate roar and his own fists hitting that monstrous flesh again and again, while a hunger that devoured his reason consumed any trace of humanity.
His consciousness slowly descended into a lethargy from which it seemed impossible to awaken.
His thoughts were barely small lights floating in an immense darkness, colliding and destroying each other.
Did I... win?
In a desperate attempt, he tried to remember Bella. How the monster had hit her and sent her far away, unaware of her final state.
He had no touch, because he had no hands. When he tried to breathe, he did not recognize if he was really doing it or only imitating it rudimentarily.
In that lapse between darkness and light, there was no up or down. No heat or cold.
It was a consciousness suspended in a mist where time had ceased to have meaning.
Until finally everything began to take shape.
***
His eyes could only observe an immense terrain covered in grasslands. The prairies seemed to have no end.
The wind slowly traveled through the fields, rippling the fertile grasses under the bright sky.
When he tried to walk and feel the earth, he discovered that he had no body either. His role was solely that of an observer.
His vision was constant, but he had no voice and his existence seemed to be worth nothing.
The sun appeared on the horizon. It slowly ascended and finally descended, with the moon taking its place.
The cycle repeated itself over him countless times.
The days were successive, constantly changing. The seasons changed before him.
The fields dried up and finally bloomed again. The trees grew, died and were reborn in a cycle.
Time ran like an overflowing river.
And after an unknown time, a change finally occurred. Unknown shadows appeared from the unknown horizon.
They were few and small.
The figures quickly raised huts of wood, mud and straw. They lit fires in their homes and built large bonfires.
They rigorously cultivated the land beneath them, hunting the animals of creation. They learned as a way to live and survived.
Gabriel observed for an unknown time how that small settlement fought against nature.
He observed the floods, unavoidable natural disasters. With the diseases and hunger that plagued the inhabitants without mercy.
Some finally succumbed to natural forces, but a few remained. Carving their humble history on the mud they trod.
The village finally managed to grow, with the huts transforming into stone dwellings.
Roads were built, with multiple men adopting trades.
With the main temple, the walls were finally born. And like the eyes of the kingdom’s body, the towers.
What had once been a small group of men ended up becoming a magnificent city.
It was vibrantly beautiful, with a self-imposed order.
The elders smiled watching the new generations.
Gabriel remained in the background. Adopting the role of a reflective observer at some point.
But finally the first great evil happened. It did not descend from the sky like a divine troop or emerge from the earth like soul-hungry devils.
It was born within the hearts of men.
Desire. He managed to see how it slowly spread.
Honest merchants began to lie. Oaths lost value in the community, with promises beginning to be broken.
Trust disappeared little by little.
And when everything seemed to end in a small rebellion, the second great evil arose.
Greed. It was much worse.
Faces began to lose their harmony. Brothers betrayed brothers and the powerful crushed the weak.
Many deals quickly became brutal exchanges of violence. Fear slowly replaced the old order.
And finally the last great evil descended.
Possession. He observed it clearly; it was not a kind of disease, it was a deeper stain on the soul.
Men stopped controlling their own desires. Vices began to govern them.
Lying became a habit, with corruption finally becoming law. The city began to crumble from within.
He could never intervene. It was the silent judgment.
Then he remembered those ancient whispers.
The elegant voice, which was refined aristocratic and deeply sadistic.
Murmurs that, for some reason, he had forgotten.
The same presence that he had once felt watching him from the depths of his blood.
That entity that spoke as if the entire world was a chessboard.
The city continued to fall.
Until before his eyes other lights appeared. They purely represented hope, curiosity, goodness and nobility.
They did not descend like miracles.
They were born again within some men.
The same ones who decided to rebuild what seemed lost. The city slowly began to heal its ancient wounds.
Gabriel understood that he was contemplating something much more remarkable and outstanding than a simple settlement.
History had become a repetition and a truth.
Human nature was contained in a single metaphor.
With the realization, he felt something more. Everything began to change.
Silence covered the four directions, the wind smelled strangely familiar, carrying the scent of ash.
Finally from the horizon a box fell.
It was not huge or bright.
It fell gently in the middle of the city. It did not cause disturbances, nor did it destroy the buildings.
But even so, he observed how everyone stopped moving. Thousands of figures remained motionless at the same time, like puppets whose strings had just broken.
Gabriel felt for the first time a completely irrational fear. It was born from his chest and spread through his four limbs, settling deeply in his soul.
But he had no body.
At that moment the box opened. Inside there was no fire or darkness.
Only a will blackened by chaos and madness.
Impossible to describe.
That presence began to deform reality.
The innocent people on the cobblestones began to scream, while their bodies mutated. Their flesh twisted and their bones cracked internally.
Mutations appeared one after another.
The city began to become a burning hell of madness.
In Gabriel’s eyes that seemed like a crude and extremely brutal judgment. It did not function as a punishment, but as a condemnation.
An eternal existence between madness and eternal transformation.
A voice arose. It was profoundly indifferent and strangely close.
As if it spoke from everywhere at the same time. Gabriel never managed to understand the words.
But he felt the contempt.
And at that moment, when the city was apparently condemned...
A man walked. He had a relaxed smile.
He wore simple clothes, with a carefree and elegant posture.
He walked without showing effects from the mutations. Not a hair was out of place.
His presence did not impose strength, it imposed the same inevitability.
Each step slowly made the mutations retreat. Corruption disappeared.
He seemed not to belong to the same worlds.
At that instant, the stranger turned his head. He looked at him directly.
Although Gabriel was only an observer without a physical body, those eyes seemed to pierce through him.
Then he spoke.
"From the dawn of humanity... creatures of flesh and low intellect, completely unconcerned with the banquet of the gods...", there was no arrogance or hatred in his voice, "You, gods... dared to extend your favor."
He made a small pause.
"And for the first time... they felt fear."
He slowly raised his arm. As if holding a gigantic bow.
There was no bow in his hands. No string or body.
But Gabriel could feel it.
The man slowly tensed that invisible weapon.
Finally he released it, without arrows or light. No sound.
A small click.
The absolute presence that descended from the box disappeared abruptly. It no longer existed.
Even the consequences of its aura disappeared.
The man slowly lowered his arm.
Without looking back.
He murmured a few last words.
"Only when you reach transcendence, are you truly immortal."
Gabriel was in a strange state of daydream, between reality and unconsciousness.
The stranger looked at him again. He barely smiled.
"Now..."
"Wake up, noble blood."
A small click sounded again.
***
He opened his eyes.
The cold immediately hit his back. The stone floor was damp.
He had no strength to get up, nor energy.
He did not know how much time had passed. But he felt a slight movement on his shoulder. It was constant and soft, comforting for his fatigue.
Then he finally realized.
There should be no one touching him.
His body reacted instantly.
He got up violently, grabbed an arm and managed to immobilize it. His forearm surrounded a neck, completing a completely secured hold.
"Gah...!"
Desperate blows began to hit his leg.
He finally realized who it was: Bella.
He immediately let her go.
She fell to her knees while coughing hard.
"Are you... crazy...?!"
Gabriel’s expression was strangely embarrassed.
"I’m sorry..."
Bella continued breathing with difficulty. Crossing both arms over her chest.
She murmured a long succession of curses. She seemed too offended to speak to him again.
Gabriel decided to accept it in silence.
Finally he raised his gaze.
They were back in the huge altar room.
But now everything was different.
The blue flames had disappeared and the atmosphere was completely silent.
And in front of the altar a portal remained open.
Its surface rippled slowly.
It was the exit.
They had successfully overcome the dungeon and both remained alive.
For the first time since he had entered that place, he stopped worrying.
Then he opened his interface. Dozens of notifications filled his vision. He practically ignored all of them.
His levels had increased, there were numerous rewards and bonuses.
But they were not important at that moment.
Two notifications immediately captured all his attention.
The first appeared slowly.
___________
[New skill acquired.]
[Blood Devouring Arrow]
[Description: You can condense blood energy to create arrows that absorb blood and constantly strengthen themselves.]
[Classification: Evolutionary.]
____________
A long-range attack. A skill he urgently needed.
It would be able to compensate for one of the greatest weaknesses of his combat style.
But there was still another notification, which caused his pupils to contract.
[Blood Crystals: 10/100]
It was the requirement for the evolution of his unique class.
Somehow, he had accidentally managed to open the path to his greatest mystery. The first step to truly master his destiny.