The enormous man slapped the younger man on the cheek three times, each time repeating what appeared to be the younger man's name. The sound of a deep baritone emanated from deep within his powerful chest. It had such a commanding voice. He adopted the expression of a disgruntled parent reprimanding their child for being out beyond curfew. "Gabriel, I gave you the opportunity to become a member of my family, and you spat in my face. I didn't act right away because I'm the magnanimous type, and I gave you plenty of chances to make amends and join me, but what did you do?!?" As he went on, his voice became increasingly louder. “You must have assumed I was too afraid to approach you! You thought the authorities would back you up and the media would support your sense of justice because of who you are! Fool! They almost instantly sold me your location. I warned you about the snakes! Yet you put your trust in the very people I told you not to, for what because of one mis-deed in the past!" At this point, he was inches away from Gabriel's face. The one sided conversation continued after the large man took a deep breath. "I was hoping you'd figured it out by now" Near the conclusion, Leonard's voice became quieter, as if he was truly upset by what Gabriel had done. After taking another slow deliberate breath, he started to regain his composure. "You harmed my business, hurt my wife, and nearly paralysed my son. Before you start with the same old excuses like it was me who launched the attacks on our real-world identities first, I don't want to hear it again. There is a reason, though, that no one wanted to help you when you first began your war against us. Everyone knew you had no chance against me and my family in such trivial games, but then you had to bring in those beasts. After what you done, I don't even have the power to stop them." Leonard sighed and shook his finger at Gabriel, who had so far remained silent. "I must confess that you proved to be far smarter than I had anticipated, but unlike you, I have the intelligence and strength to safeguard what I desire. This would have turned out differently if you had just left well enough alone. This convoluted nonsense has no appeal to me. You forced me to make a decision, and I decided to prioritise my family over you..." Leonard's final words were spoken with a shattered face and sad eyes. Gabriel was shackled to the table, his head bouncing back and forth as he sang to himself in apparent boredom. It sounded like the Space Monkeys tune, the cartoon show his brother Max used to watch all the time. His thinking swung in and out of consciousness as well. He was barely paying attention to what Leonard was saying. Leonard's children and business partners had been lecturing and torturing him for months now. Leonard's final phrase, on the other hand, instantly dispelled Gabriel's cloudy mind and unfocused attention. Gabriel's eyes tightened and took on a deadly hue as he looked at Leonard, his face adopting a rictus grin. "Leonard, save the excuses, we both have pockets full of them. Please, just get on with it!" Gabriel said, his voice rising in impatient anger by the end. Before responding to Gabriel, Leonard averted his gaze and closed his eyes for a brief while. "You should have followed my counsel and accepted my offer. Boy, it was your own bloated ego that got the best of you. In-game, you even used your real name as the name of your character. Nothing but the bravado of a child! For someone so small and alone, you went too far.” Leonard remained silent for a moment as his facial expressions swiftly shifted. He seemed to be experiencing an internal conflict with himself. "I will not waste words with you any longer," Leonard finally muttered in finality. "Fa... uu... ou," Gabriel muttered, his head hanging down. "What? What are you saying, boy? " Leonard asked in frustration. He leant forward slightly. "I said fuck you!" Gabriel roared. Gabriel's hands were suddenly free after the restraints on his wrists shattered. He grasped Leonard's neck and drew him in tight with a burst of strength. Gabriel bit the side of Leonard's neck with his teeth, attempting to take out his jugular. Gabriel missed his jugular by a few millimetres due to Leonard's last-second pull. Gabriel continued to clench his teeth with all his might, biting into Leonard's soft tissue and pulling a chunk of flesh from his neck. To his credit, Leonard was only surprised for a fraction of a second before rapidly grabbing a thin stiletto-style dagger from the inside of his sleeve. He proceeded to shove the thin blade into Gabriel's side, but Gabriel was unfazed, clamping down with his fangs once more. However, due to Leonard's struggle, he only managed to bite into his shoulder. Leonard continued to stab Gabriel in the side with the stiletto knife. Leaving ten holes in a short period of time. Gabriel was acting like a savage beast as he shook his head back and forth, attempting to rip more flesh off Leonard. His bloodshot eyes flashed an ominous purple laced with insanity, as a wet cackle leaked out of his lips. Gabriel had the appearance of a demon from the depths of the underworld. The situation quickly deteriorated. Leonard's guards rushed over, and the one on the left slammed his knife's bottom metal handle against Gabriel's forehead. Gabriel was able to grab another chunk of flesh by smashing his head back in the act of slamming his head back. Gabriel lost the rest of his strength as a result of the concussion and blood loss, and he released Leonard, who leapt back quickly. To stop the bleeding from the jagged wound, Leonard placed his hand on the side of his neck. "FUCK!! You bastard! " Leonard screamed in fury. Gabriel was not paying attention anymore, as blood ran down his chin and he laughed to himself. Leonard looked at his guards with murderous intent. “What are you waiting for? Kill him!!! " He roared. One guard bought his blade in for a straight thrust towards Gabriel's heart, and the other guard made a slice at he’s jugular. Gabriel didn't move his hands to defend. He had already given up. Gabriel's vision was already blurry, and he slowly closed his eyes. The last breath closely followed behind. Leonard looked at Gabriel's body for a couple of minutes longer before he told one of the guards to check his pulse. "He’s dead, Mr. Braxen," one of the guards said. Leonard released a long sigh, like a heavy weight was released from his shoulders. He suddenly looked much older. "Get someone to cremate his body. I don't want him to rot here, like the others. I need to get this injury fixed up before the party, I can't let those monsters upstairs get the idea Gabriel go the best of me in anyway. Follow me. " Leonard ordered and proceeded to leave the room with his two guards. They shut the door on the way out and put the room back into its eternal darkness. Two people appeared to float through the ceiling of Gabriel's cage, unbeknownst to Leonard. The couple didn't seem to be put off by the concrete. Like a couple of ghosts, their bodies simply phased through it. As they lightly hit the earth in front of Gabriel, they both sighed as they gazed around at the carnage in front of them. The duo seemed unconcerned about the darkness. They exchanged glances before turning to face the man tied to the operating table, his entire body bending forwards. The Indian couple exchanged glances with the man and then with each other, as if they were having an eye-to-eye conversation. The man approached Gabriel's body. He lightly caressed both sides of Gabriel's head, and wisps of fine semi-transparent smoke appeared to be pulled out. This carried on for a few seconds before he was able to construct a basketball-sized ball. He then placed both hands on either side of the ball and attempted to push the sides together until the fog ball compacted into a baseball-sized ball. He moved his gaze to the lady who had been staring at Gabriel's face. “It's done. I only managed to save the last 8 years. It should be enough. It's up to you now, Shi-Shi". He spoke, Focusing on keeping the slowly leaking smoke intact. Shi-Shi walked up to Gabriel and slightly whispered. "My child, there is not much we can do for you now. There are rules and limitations for everyone, especially gods. You will wake up confused and afraid. I wish there was some way I could help, but you will have to fight your battles on your own. In time, all will become clear, I promise. If you choose to pursue answers to your rebirth, search out the gods in Deliverance and remember that there are facts in fiction." She turned to the ground and moved her right hand in a counter-clockwise circle while pointing at the ground. Eventually, a ripple appeared on the floors, and what looked like a twister of sand started to spin. It began the size of a coin, but after every rotation of her hands, it got larger and larger until it was the size of 3 feet. She stopped the rotations and the Indian man passed her the ball of smoke. She peered down at the slowly spinning vortex on the ground, and what appeared at the bottom was an image of a young man laying on his bed. The position of the vortex was on the ceiling above his head. The young man looked fast asleep, completely unaware of the gravity of what was happening above him. She lightly dropped the ball of smoke down the vortex of sand. The ball landed on the young man's head, sinking through the top of his forehead effortlessly. The image of the young man at the bottom disappeared and changed to what looked like utter darkness. The middle-aged couple looked back at each other and shared a small smile. Then they joined hands and jumped into the vortex together, their bodies gradually turning into sand and joining the vortex in its ever-constant cycle of destruction and re-birth.