Chapter 85: Success
He soon discovered that his boldness could not last much longer. The beer had turned the world into an unstable and unreliable creation.
He had to finish his act or his wounds would probably worsen soon.
The table was swaying. Or perhaps it was him.
After trying to regain his balance three times in a row, he finally accepted defeat.
He descended with an inelegant jump.
As soon as he touched the ground, he cast a reproachful look toward the old tavern keeper.
"They don’t make tables like they used to!"
The old man raised both hands with an innocent expression.
"The tables are still the same!"
"Then I changed!"
The response provoked a new wave of laughter.
Gabriel grumbled for a few seconds while adjusting his clothes.
After observing everyone present, he exaggeratedly cleared his throat.
The bustle began to decrease.
They knew they were facing the signal for the beginning of the story.
Gabriel placed one hand on the nearest bar, adopting a distant and melancholic expression.
"Who doesn’t know a tiger? They are terrifying creatures, with terrible jaws..."
His voice took on a low and slow tone.
One of the men in the back immediately raised his hand.
"Hey!"
It was a fat man with rough hands.
"Yes?"
"Did you fight with the nun from the church... or with a tiger?"
The gazes automatically turned toward the bandages covering the young man’s body.
Gabriel did not change his expression at the question. He remained completely serious.
"Of course... These wounds were caused by..."
He made an unnecessarily dramatic pause, but one that immediately provoked everyone’s expectation.
"...a kitten."
The tension exploded. Laughter echoed throughout the tavern.
Some banged on the tables. And others only avoided spilling their beers thanks to years of experience.
Even the tavern keeper had to turn around to hide a smile.
Gabriel raised a finger.
"But kittens cannot be part of an epic story."
The laughter began to fade.
"I’m talking about that indomitable desire... Of hunger. Of the tiger growling from the stomach... all the way to its teeth."
He placed a hand on his abdomen, his voice slowly descending.
He slowly raised his head.
"To its yellowish eyes."
The atmosphere changed.
Without realizing it, those present began to listen to him with greater attention.
The jokes were replaced by silence.
One of the drunks absentmindedly scratched his beard.
"I’m not sure... Are you talking about a tiger... or my cat?"
The tavern laughed again.
Gabriel brought a hand to his chin.
"I’m talking about beasts. About those capable of provoking terror. About those that awaken the deepest ideals that a man hides within himself. About that kind of monsters."
His tone lost any trace of humor.
The tavern was enveloped by his powerful words. Expressions had begun to change.
Smiles disappeared and no one interrupted.
Gabriel felt the words beginning to emerge with a strange naturalness.
As if those words truly belonged to him and were completely under his control.
"Devotion, protection, poetry... Who dares to say what ideal a tiger will awaken?"
He pronounced slowly.
His gaze passed over each of those present.
"It can be a peasant or it can be a king. It can really be anyone."
A young man timidly raised his hand. He seemed embarrassed even to ask.
"Can... peasants also be one?"
Gabriel fixed his eyes on him.
"Emperors, kings, peasants. Are you human? Then face your terrors." He said solemnly.
A small hiccup suddenly interrupted the speech.
Several people held back their laughter.
Gabriel pretended not to have noticed.
"Now tell me... Justice? Who proclaims justice?"
There was a brief silence around him, until someone finally responded.
"A jury!"
Gabriel immediately pointed at the man.
"Exactly!"
He struck the table.
"The jury of the heart!"
At that very moment he completely lost his balance.
His feet slipped. His body tilted backward with unnatural force and he fell spectacularly to the floor.
For a second silence reigned.
Then... The tavern exploded in laughter.
Two men quickly came to help him. Both tried to maintain a serious expression.
They were not very successful in their task.
"Are you okay?"
"I think..."
Gabriel accepted the help to get up.
"I think this damn floor doesn’t like brilliant speeches."
The laughter continued.
Once he regained his stability, he breathed deeply.
Then it happened again. The warmth had returned to surge with the same force through his body.
It was not the same sensation as the alcohol.
It was that same energy he had felt during the funeral.
But at that moment it was exponentially more intense.
It practically illuminated within him. Until it enveloped his senses.
The noise of the tavern began to recede, the voices seemed clearer and his thoughts became ordered.
The words appeared even before he needed to search for them.
It was an impossible sensation to explain.
As if the world itself was approving what he was doing.
His voice changed at that instant. It acquired an uncommon firmness.
"Listen... There was once a man..."
Everyone fell silent. Even those who were still laughing at the fall.
He looked toward the window, as if it helped him contemplate that figure.
"Who found himself facing a tiger."
In his story there was no legendary sword or armor forged by the legend of a blacksmith.
Without any kind of natural strength. His story only contained a man and his conviction.
The tavern remained completely still. Totally captivated.
Gabriel began to recount that day.
The unpredictable nature, the roar, and the inevitable fear. The instant when anyone would have chosen to escape.
But that man did not flee.
Because behind him... There were people.
Strangers, whose names he did not even know.
But even so he preferred to risk his own life.
"Strength... is born in very different ways. It can be born with a son’s first cry, with a great feat or with a war."
Gabriel continued.
"Or simply... When someone understands that they can no longer keep retreating."
The words seemed to resonate far beyond the tavern. As if they began to reach an invisible ideal.
A burly man finally broke the silence. He lowered his head, his face dark.
"If it weren’t for my son... I wouldn’t be here either."
He said, squeezing the glass between his hands.
No one mocked or interrupted him.
Each person seemed to remember something different. Some a father, a wife, or a brother.
The tavern had stopped being a place of revelry. It had become a place of reflection.
Gabriel continued.
"Escape or fight. It has always been the great dilemma." He said with a heavy voice.
"But great men... are not those who never feel fear. They are those who decide to fight when behind them there is something too valuable to abandon."
An isolated applause broke the silence. Then another and another.
Until the entire tavern erupted in applause.
Gabriel finished narrating that fateful night.
The frenzy, the combat, and the fearsome roar of the tiger.
When the last words left his lips, the warm energy reached its peak. For a very brief instant he thought he heard a distant melody in his ears.
But it finally disappeared with the same ease as the adrenaline.
He turned his head toward the table where he had conversed for hours.
His gaze searched for Galius.
But the chair was empty. There was no one.
The numerous mugs were still there. As proof of a day they had shared.
However, Galius Prometheus had disappeared.
Without saying goodbye or leaving a trace.
I knew he was strange. But not that strange.
But his thoughts shifted when his interface glowed.
__________________
Congratulations, player.
You have completed the first challenge. Your execution has been perfect.
The rest of the players will be given an eight-hour period to complete their own challenges.
__________________
The golden light of the notification almost completely dispelled the effects of the alcohol.
Gabriel felt clarity slowly returning to his mind.
"Finally..." he murmured.
He had completed the first trial. But one phrase immediately caught his attention.
Eight hours.
He had had the fortune of experiencing a premature awakening and understanding the implicit rules of the illusion.
That meant... That many would not even have had enough time to understand what was happening.
Probably only the most select or fortunate would succeed.
Not due to lack of ability. But due to their own bad luck.
It was cruel but fair.
He closed the interface with a new understanding.
He left the tavern while the customers continued raising their mugs.
"The stupidly brilliant storyteller!"
"Come back tomorrow!"
"With another story about a killer kitten!"
Gabriel said goodbye by raising a hand. As he crossed the door, the fresh air hit his face.
The horizon began to be tinged with a soft golden color. The afternoon slowly approached its end.
The trial had ended. And yet, the illusion continued.
There was still one last unknown.
Baron Miracle.
It was the direction toward which all assumptions led.
Without wasting more time, Gabriel set off on the path that left the city. On a hill, on the outskirts of Miracle City, stood the baron’s castle.
He would not take long to arrive.
He would have to cross its old worn walls to finally recognize the truth.