Chapter 212: Instigator
Gabriel woke up in soft, warm bed with bandages covering his body. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the light as he attempted to sit up. However, his body was far beyond tired. He could hardly move a muscle without a massive amount of effort. As he struggled to look around, he noticed a woman with long, silver hair and dark green eyes sitting next to him, asleep. There was a tray of food in her lap that smelt delectable. Gabriel tried reaching over to grab some from her, but as his hand moved, the woman shot awake and wrapped her hand around his throat.
Gabriel grunted as he was thrown back into his bed. The woman appeared to realize what she was doing after a quick moment and released her grasp on his neck. She panted heavily as she put her hand down.
"Sorry."
She looked over at the tray that was now scattered across the floor.
"...I will bring you more."
Gabriel slumped back in his bed and rested his arms on his knees. He didn’t feel the need to respond, so he simply looked ahead lost in thought.
Before long, Avala made her way back with a fresh tray of food. Her eyes betrayed no hints of affection or kindness. It looked as if she was put in charge of nursing him back to health. Avala laid the tray of fresh food down across his lap and sat back down in her chair next to his bed. She crossed her legs and looked at him.
"Eat."
Gabriel simply stared down at the food and slowly began to consume what he could. In little time, the tray was completely empty. After finishing, Gabriel gave her the tray back and rubbed his face before continuing to stare at the wall blankly.
"Why did you keep going?"
Gabriel did not show any signs of having heard what she said, but he responded, nonetheless.
"What do you mean why?"
"Everyone else gave up long before you did. Any sane person would have let their body stop before letting this happen to them."
"Did you want me to stop?"
Avala was a bit shocked by the question, but she didn’t show it.
"I did not. However, I also did not wish for any of you to harm yourselves to this state."
Gabriel continued staring at the wall, his eyes lifeless and cold.
"I simply trust your reputation, Avala Kin. I want to be strong, so I listened to someone who is much stronger than me."
Avala tried meeting his gaze, but he refused.
"Why do you refuse to look at me?"
Gabriel was silent for a few moments.
"I do not wish to bother you."
Avala stood up from her chair and walked in front of him, crossing her arms. Once again, Gabriel looked down as to not meet her gaze.
"You are not bothering me. Look at my eyes for a moment, Gabriel."
After three moment’s hesitation, Gabriel obliged. Avala’s eyes widened slightly seeing his brown eyes stare into her pupils. There was no life behind them. His gaze was as cold and lifeless as a forest in winter.
"Your eyes are that of a killer. Are you a killer, Gabriel?"
Gabriel continued staring emotionlessly at her.
"If being a killer will bring my friends back, then yes."
Avala nodded her head and slowly walked back to sit in her chair once more. Once she was seated again, she sighed deeply.
"What were their names?"
Gabriel stared into his own lap.
"Zeke, Jack, Cane, Emma, Maddy, Bryce, and Slade. There was Peter too, but he ended up being a warden of the Epigones."
Avala leaned in a little closer and clasped her hands together.
"Do you think it is more difficult to lose many people who you aren’t very close with you or one person who means the world to you?"
Gabriel did not hesitate with an answer.
"You cannot scale the impact of people’s lives based on how long you knew them or how close they were to you. Any loss is equally as important as the other. Who am I to say one death affected me more than another when neither person should have died in the first place?"
Gabriel sighed before continuing.
"What I’m trying to say is it’s not about the scale of the loss; it’s about the loss itself. It’s meaningless to put a scale on something that, no matter how large or small, would affect you negatively anyway."
Avala smiled.
"Well said. Do you mind lending an ear to me for a moment?"
Gabriel continued staring off in the distance.
"I do not mind."
"My oldest brother was one of the kindest souls one would ever have the blessing of meeting or talking with. He would take punishments for us, protect those weaker than him, and lead responsibly in any task he was given. By all means, I would say he was flawless. There were days when I felt like running away from this kingdom. I would confide in my brother and tell him my wishes, but he would always talk me out of it. He was simply one of those people who, no matter how awful or hopeless a situation seemed, would make it look like the most joyous circumstances you could have been handed."
For the first time since they had been sitting together, Gabriel willingly looked over at Avala to listen to her story.
"He was a great friend and an even better brother. However, as you know, Slimo pushed a sword through his heart as he slept."
Avala held on to her arms.
"I still... see and hear things in my dreams, you know? The sound of blood leaking on the stone floor, his eyes desperately wishing not to die, and the revolting smell of rotting flesh."
Avala began to lose her composure slightly. Her normally professional, cold expression transformed into one of grief. Gabriel simply stared at her while continuing to listen intently.
"Slimo is the cause of all of that. I know he’s my brother, but I simply don’t know if I can call him that after what happened. Even so..."
Small tears welled in her eyes.
"He’s the only family I have."
Avala quickly wiped her face and cleared her throat.
"Sorry. What I mean is if your friend’s killer was someone close to you, do you think you could ever forgive them?"
A small silence follower her question. Gabriel sat up in his bed and dangled his legs off the side.
"Slimo is different than those Epigones."
Avala was slightly offended hearing those words and got in his face.
"What makes you say that? He’s still a murderer, Gabriel."
"Because Slimo is grieving his brother’s death to this day."
Avala choked on air trying to retort a response.
"T-That can’t be true. Why would he grieve the man he killed with his own hands."
Gabriel stared deeply into her verdant eyes.
"Look into his eyes yourself. From what I can tell, you already know it. You simply refuse to think that it could be possible."
"Because why would he regret it?"
Gabriel shrugged his shoulders.
"Does it matter why he regrets it?"
Avala rubbed her face lightly and straightened her back.
"You shouldn’t be moving around already."
Gabriel sighed and moved his feet back under his bedsheets.
"You know, for being such a powerful and pristine woman, you sure are scared."
Avala’s eyes widened.
"S-Scared? What could I possibly be scared about? I’ve fought thousands of battles, spat death in the face on the front lines of countless war-torn kingdoms, nothing scares me anymore."
"You are scared to truly face Slimo head-on. Instead, you are running away from him and refusing to call him your brother."
Avala tried her best to retort, but she couldn’t of anything to say.
"What is it you suggest I do then?"
Gabriel crossed his arms.
"Fight him. What else should you do?"
Avala was left in disbelief. She could not understand why one of Slimo’s friends was telling one of the most powerful people in the kingdom to attack him.
"Fight him? Why should I fight him?"
Gabriel looked at her dubiously.
"Isn’t it obvious? You are clearly itching to land a good hit or two on his jaw for the pain he has caused you. Ask him to spar and go all out."
"You wish for me to kill him?"
"What? Of course not. I just said to ask him for a spar."
"But if I go all out, he will surely be killed."
"I’m sure all those assassins had that same mindset before attacking him. As someone who has witnessed Slimo’s cunning first-hand, I would suggest you never underestimate that man. Even without a Zalo, I would argue he’s one of the strongest in our group. In fact, with recent events, we are learning that having a Zalo may not be as great as everyone thinks."
"Explain."
"There is something that is not adding up between corruption and Zalo powers. For whatever reason, corruption appears to affect Zalo users much heavier than normal humans. There was a corrupted beast we had fought on the way here. A few of my friends have said that we lost two people in the battle. However, not a single one of us can remember them existing, as if the knowledge of their existence became corrupted to those with Zalo powers."
Avala rubbed her chin.
"This is good information to have. If the Epigones are abusing corruption for the benefit, we must have a countermeasure in place for it."
"Actually, we already do."
Avala glared at Gabriel.
"How?"
"If you fight your brother, I will tell you."
Avala choked on air. He had perfectly orchestrated the conversation such that Avala would have little choice but to fight Slimo for her own benefit.
Avala stood up and chuckled lightly to herself.
"Did you do that on purpose?"
"Do what?"
"You made it seem that the benefits to fighting my brother were far too good for me to pass up. Do you really want me to fight him that bad?"
Gabriel grinned widely and laid back in his bed.
"If you fight him, I will tell you."