Doing his big brother duty, Gabriel spent some time with Max when he got home, playing in his new room before their mother called them out for dinner. Sitting down at the table, Gabriel noticed everyone was a picture of happiness right now. The dinner was perfect in Gabriel’s mind as Kristof told funny stories about work while his mother tried to force Jane to eat more roast. Max didn’t forget to mention, that Gabriel promised him the new Space Monkey toy if he was good all week, which he was adamant he had been. Gabriel turned to Jane who had felt like he had been neglecting recently.

 

“Jane, how has school been recently? Have you told your friends you will be attending the tech school now?” Gabriel questioned with a soft smile.

 

“School is fine, I did tell them but Misty and Jake seemed upset and wouldn’t talk to me for the rest of the day. I heard them call me a ‘snob’ after I walked past them today. I don’t care though, if they don’t want to be my friends just because we are going to different high schools now, then that’s fine.” Jane explained, her face showed that it hurt her more than she was letting on though.

 

Gabriel was secretly pleased that those two so called ‘Friends’ wouldn’t be hanging around with his sister anymore. In his past, Jane followed them to the school near their old home and they dragged her down to a messy future. Gabriel recalled that they weren’t the ones who truly forced Jane over the edge but there was one person in particular who sought her out, with the intention of taking away her innocence. ‘I swear, as god as my witness, that I’m not going to let that beast anywhere near her this time’ Gabriel swore to himself.

“That sucks Jane, they are probably just upset that they are losing a friend when you leave at the end of this year. I am sure after a week they will forget about it, and if they don’t... Well then, they are not truly friends, are they? And you have no need for people like that. They will only hold onto your heels, either dragging you down or hoping you will carry them with you.” Gabriel clarified.

 

“Yeah! I don’t like that Jake anyways, he always wears those TV screen glasses, even when he says hello to mom. You don’t need them Janey, you can come watch cartoons with me and Gab!” Max declared, gesturing to his eyes and mother with his fork.

 

“Thank you, Gab, and thank you, Max. It'll be fine, I'm sure. Jake and I have been drifting apart for a while now, as I've become more serious about studying to transfer schools and he, like his older brother, keeps getting into trouble. His brother most likely stole the Comm-Glasses for him, which he wears all the time. How could he afford something like that if neither of his parents work?" Jane clarified.

 

“Well, I have said before, he was bad news and now I know. Stop hanging out with him Jane. Maybe we can contact the Tech School and get you to transfer before the end of the year...” Kristof ordered, trailing off in thought at the end.

 

For the rest of the meal, they talked about other topics before Jane and Max finished their meal and went to their rooms to unpack the rest of their belongings from the move. Leaving Gabriel alone with his parents, he helped his mother put the dishes in the dishwashing machine; that had an automated-rotary system which packed the dishes away into the cupboards after they were clean. Ariel was enthralled by the plethora of new appliances and gadgets that came with the home. After clearing the table, the two returned to it. Ariel poured a glass of whisky for her husband and son and a glass of wine for herself before taking Gabriel's hand in hers.

 

“Gabriel, I know we've said it before, but what you've done for this family is truly remarkable. Your father and I noticed a significant change in you after you graduated from college and dropped that trollop, Melissa." Ariel mumbled the part about Melissa, before continuing, “I’ll be honest, recently it has become harder to find work, with even the tellers at the smaller stores being replaced by automated machines. I was starting get worried...that...we...weren’t...” Ariel stuttered, as she began to get worked up and needed to take a moment to wipe her eyes.

 

Kristof patted her on the shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. He decided to take over and continued where Ariel left off.

“What your mother is trying to say, lad. Is that, ever since I became useless, we've always tried our hardest..." Gabriel was about to interrupt because of the word "useless," but he remembered who he was speaking to and stopped himself. "...it has become difficult for us to provide as much for you children as we had hoped.The fact that the majority of children leave their families to seek employment. We are incredibly proud of you for not only improving your own life but also ours. Especially at a time when many people are struggling to provide for their families' basic needs, let alone any form of luxury. We also want to ensure that you don't spend all of your hard-earned cash on us before beginning to build a life for yourself. I'm sure the windfall you received to buy this house for us isn't something that happens every day." Kristof praised, before ending his last sentence with a scoff.

 

Gabriel winced ever so slightly at the last statement, which Kristof picked up on almost immediately, although he didn’t say anything,

Gabriel could feel the eagle like eyes of his father peering at him. With a quick subject change, Gabriel hoped to avert his father’s attention. Talking to his mother about her plans for all the free time she will have now, that she doesn't have to work as a teller for peanuts. Kristof also mentioned, that he had been asked by a couple of previous clients to train them and their friends, who were playing D.O.

 

After several stifled yawns from Ariel, Kristof convinced her to go to bed, after the move she was exhausted. Gabriel got up to head to his room too, Kristof grabbed his arm before he could fully rise and looked at him and then back at the chair, Gabriel wisely re-took his seat.

 

“Tell me what’s going on Gabriel?” Kristof asked, leaving no room for any evasion.

 

“Dad, first I wanted to wait until tomorrow to tell you but I managed to sell a highly wanted item on D.O., netting myself a very decent amount. I have enough for now for you to have an operation to repair your legs.” Gabriel stated with a smile.

 

“That’s great but you know that is not what I am questioning you about.” Kristof clarified, his stoic face not giving away any excitement at the news of being able to fix his legs.

 

“I know. I just wanted to start with the good news. I am assembling a team at the moment; they will be helping me with things inside the game and... outside.” Gabriel explained, pausing for a breath near the end.

 

“I understand people are building Guilds in game, they have been doing that for years with the other VR ones too. My question is why you are building one outside of VR? I have heard rumours of Wayne assembling a team of people with certain skills, to participate in operations here in New York. Before you say anything, I have also heard what their main targets will be. So, tell me why?” Kristof asked, his hands steady and palms flat on the table.

 

“Dad... I don’t want to lie to you. There are reasons I can’t go into or even know how to explain to you but please trust me. Trust I know what I am doing. Trust my reasons are rational. Trust I have planned this out as much as I could. Trust me. Trust your son. Please.” Gabriel pleaded.

 

Kristof stared at into his son’s eyes and knew nothing he would say, he didn’t already know. The swirls of purple and blue in Gabriel’s clear gaze, made Kristof remember the boy he had watched grow into a man.

 

“I will trust you... I will always trust you. Just tell me, is this purely personal?” Kristof questioned.

 

“No. I will admit, parts are personal but not all. Not the ultimate goal.” Gabriel answered.

 

“Good, I am mad and glad that you went to Wayne. He will help you immensely. Now tell me, what can I do?” Kristof asked.

 

“I don’t need anything at the moment. It will take a while for the wheels to get into motion. I will eventually move out and to keep many things away from mom and the kids. What I want from you right now, is to accept my offer of paying to repair your legs and get yourself better. I will need and want you to join my soon enough. I need people I can trust unequivocally.” Gabriel answered, putting his hand on Kristofs.

 

The pair chatted for a little while longer, Kristof agreed to look into booking in getting his legs seen too tomorrow. They both split to their respective bedrooms. Gabriel saw it was only 8pm, his room was barebones with a scattering of boxes and just the dive capsule set up. He decided he might need to pull an all nighter. Leveling up after LVL 15 in D.O. took a while and a lot of players were already ahead of him and sprinting towards LVL 20. Stripping down to nothing, Gabriel got into his capsule and enter Deliverance Online.

 

Eyes fluttering, Gabriel got up from the bare wood floorboards, inside the bedroom of his Manor at Eagle Peak. He walked out to his balcony and took a deep breath of the mountain air. A sense of freedom fell over Gabriel, every time he re-entered the world of Valhalla. Taking a few steps back into his room, then with a small run up, Gabriel leapt out of his window and activated [Glide]. He landed in the backyard, net to the run-down garden shed. Waiting for until the [Glide] cooldown was finished, Gabriel sprinted towards the edge and soared into the air. Looking like a eagle as glided towards Babylon below.

 

The villagers below Gabriel looked like ants scurrying around, back and forth, as if they didn't know which way to go. As he descended, their faces became clearer. With more details being added, Gabriel noticed all the villagers were showing a range of emotion. One thing they all had in common though was a look of fear. What he expected to see, was a village in the midst of construction after receiving the tools from the girls, but all he saw was a half-built house and a swarm of people talking in groups. Almost every group had at least one villager telling a story while wildly waving their hands in the air and placing two fingers on the tops of their heads as if they were wearing horns.

 

One of the villagers, Gabriel thought looked like one of the woodcutter brothers, was the first to notice their new lord, literally flying in like a superhero. Gabriel tried to do a super hero landing but had to pull up short as an anxious [Billy] ran out in front of him waving his hands. After Gabriel regained his balance, he grabbed Billy, who was in the middle of hyperventilating and wasn’t making any sense as he rambled. The rest of the Villagers gathered around the pair and an uneasy silence filled the area.

 

“Billy calm down, everything is okay, what has happened?” Gabriel questioned, in the most soothing voice as he could muster.

 

“My Lord... It’s Sarah, she has gone missing. She was taking some of the flatbread to the woodcutters but never made it there. When her mother went looking for her, she found her doll on the ground. Gunther took two of his brothers and Helgie the Butcher and went into the forest in search of her. [Sarah’s mom had just travelled up to your manor to find you. Please... my lord... you have to help find her.” Billy explained, he started to become more agitated near the end again.

 

“It’s okay Billy. I will find her. Do me a favor lad. When Sarah’s mom returns, please tell her to wait here. I don’t want to have to go looking for her as well. Now who knows where Sarah was last seen?” Gabriel asked the crowding Villagers.

“I do my Lord; I was with my husband Gunther when we heard Sarah’s mother calling out.” A middle-aged lady with auburn hair, in a dirty old dress, called out.

 

“Excellent. Please lead me there. What’s your name?” Gabriel asked, as he used [Summon Mount] to bring [Alastor] to him.

 

“My name is, Aganda but everyone just calls me Aggy.” Aggy introduced herself, while watching a slick black stallion appear out of a portal on the ground.

 

Gabriel mounted on first and put his hand out to pull Aggy in to the saddle. Giving [Alastor] a tap in his sides, the horst took off towards the woods, his powerful legs making quick work across the hilly terrain.

 

After 15 minutes of riding, Aggy pointed to a spot where a woodcutter had hung a strip of cloth on a tree branch. ‘Smart fella, one of them must be an actually Woodsman’ Gabriel thought to himself.

 

“Will you be okay, returning by yourself?” Gabriel asked, as Aggy dismounted.

 

“Yes, I will be fine, if I continue with you, I will only be hindrance. You go ahead. Please try to bring them all home safe, we have lost so many of us already.” Aggy pleaded.

Giving her a quick nod before he set off in a trot through the forest, keeping careful watch to the trail left behind. Gabriel was by no means a woodsman but he spent plenty of missions, working on intelligence gathering or searching out routes for guilds. The process was made easier as the woodcutters didn’t try at all to mask their presence.

 

As Gabriel travelled further into the woods, he also kept his eyes out for the [Dire Bears] that spawned in the forest, but saw none so far. [Alastor] suddenly pulled up short, almost sending Gabriel flying over his neck. The stallion, wouldn’t move after several taps to his sides. Giving him a pat on the neck, a slight tremble travelled through Gabriel's hand, as the stallion started letting out soft whinnies.

Jumping down from his horse Gabriel walked to the front of [Alastor] and softly pet his muzzle. “It’s alright boy, is something up ahead? Is it powerful?” Gabriel asked in a soothing tone.

 

He took the wild look and the whites showing in the horses' eyes as a sign he was saying yes to both questions. Gabriel turned to look where [Alastor] didn't want to proceed and only saw more trees and what appeared to be a small clearing up ahead.

 

Gabriel equipped, his [Shadow Raven Helmet] and activated [Eagle Eye]. For a short moment, Gabriel could only see a black outline of a hunched figure in the clearing ahead, with glimpses of orange lines, looking like the roots of a tree rising to the sky above its head. With a throwing axe in one hand and a khopesh in the other, he proceeded forwards, checking the tree line for anything out of the norm every few steps. The trees gave off a rotten smell, and looked to be oozing a pus type sap. Gabriel had to step over the dried up corpses of small animals and rodents, that appeared to have all their innards sucked out, leaving nothing but a dry husk.

 

The almost deafening sound of a crunch from the dried twigs in the silence, was the entrance music that accompanied Gabriel as he entered the clearing. A hunched figure in a dirty, tattered robe was standing in the centre, the cloak covered its whole body, as a deep black hood stared in Gabriel’s direction. The gaping hole of a hood looked like it had multiple protrusions sticking out in random places from the inside. Gabriel approached within 10 feet before he felt a pressure, like someone was sitting on your chest, come over him. Eyes flashing as memories of facing the same pressure went through his mind.

 

A gnarled hand, with black ooze dripping off the fingernail tips, came out of the robe and pushed back the hood. A narrow billy-goat face appeared, with skin that look like dried drift wood and multiple horns penetrating out of the skull. The horns were all different types, some looked thick and healthy, others looked weathered and cracked, all going in different directions like a wacky straw. The festering claw of hand, pushed back the left side of the robe next, tossing it over its shoulder. Under the robe, a wide-eyed [Sarah] was clutching her throat accompanied by another twig-like hand wrapped around her neck. Her neck's skin had just begun to break under the pressure from the blackened fingernails.

 

“Are you the baaaaastard, who has been killing my sweet little devotees?” The [Horned God] questioned, accompanied by a rotten toothed grin.