Part 3:

After Gabriel was released from the army after they verified that he was the victim and not related to the group who attacked the capital, Gabriel had nowhere to go now, No building, no place could feel like home. He had no apparent aim, still traumatized by the event, and reprocessing their death was the most painful thing ever, his perception of reality was getting inaccurate and he failed to distinguish reality from dreams, nights and days passed by like they were mere minutes.

He'd roam around forests, ruined cities and around the ruins of the country, whenever he'd come across infected he'd just blast them away or punch through them with his newfound, inhuman strength. He didn't know what he was doing in this period, it was like he was in a trance, like the one people are in when they just wake up abruptly after a very deep sleep. He did this for 3 weeks before finally coming back to his senses in a mountain, when he got some peaceful sleep after bathing in a nearby waterfall.

He scavenged for some berries and fruits in the morning, as he was quite hungry since he basically didn't eat anything from the past 3 weeks, after his family's death. While searching for food, he found a man in the forest, feeding birds and the animals there, they didn't seem to be afraid of him neither did seem to be hostile against him too, he radiated a calming and a serene vibe from him, he wore a red and yellow robe like those Tibetan monks he saw in the TV a while ago. While Gabriel was taking peeks at the man, the man seemed to notice him and said in a very smooth and calming manner, "They won't hurt you, you can come feed them too if you wish to."

Having some conscious, sensible interaction after so much of time was....peaceful for Gabriel and he went to the man and slowly tried offering the birds some fruits which the man give him, they gladly accepted and sat on his shoulders and head. "You look emaciated, young man. Here take these for now, I'll make you something more whole once we get back to my home up in the mountains." Said the mysterious man while he passed on a makeshift basket made from plant fibers and wood, which was quite strong , filled with fruits. "My name is Gabriel, what's yours? " he said to the man, while eating hastily, as expected of a starving man. "I went by many names over the years, but none knew my real name, but the one given to me by my parents i Arnav." said the man.

Arnav took Gabriel into a shack in the mountains, it was quite resilient despite it's fragile looks, and the interior was very tidy for a normal shack in the mountains, "Make yourselves at home. I'll make you something to drink." Said Arnav as he went to the back of the house, where he had kept a bit of wood and a pot on a wood-powered stove. After a couple of minutes Arnav came back with a wooden bowl which had a bit of soup. "This'll help with the cold weather too, I'll make you a complete meal in a few hours, at dinner time, this will fill your stomach now." he said as he handed the bowl to Gabriel, "Thank you. It's fairly quite here and it's very relaxing. I needed this. By the way, back there, you referred to India like you don't come from the nation? You speak like you are ancient, what's going here? Care to shed some light?" Gabriel said as he started to eat from the bowl Arnav gave him.

Arnav: "I am not what i appear to be, fellow human. And yes, I am what you can call "Ancient", I think i turn 13,352 years this October."

Gabriel: (He starts laughing uncontrollably, while Arnav was just smiling through the whole ordeal, after stopping to laugh he turns to Arnav who didn't laugh and had a bit of serious and smiling face on.) "Wait, you aren't kidding? How is that even possible?" (He leapt from the chair he was sitting on and took a few steps back as he said) "You aren't a monster, right? Wait, what even are you?"

Arnav: "No need to worry now. If i wished to kill you or harm you, I easily could've, the moment i met you down at the foothills. Take a seat and complete your soup, they contain some vital nutrients to replenish your vitality."

Gabriel: (he slowly sat back down, started to eat his soup and was still was a bit timid of Arnav) "So...what are you anyway? You look human"

Arnav: "That is because i am. I can sense a faint bit of energy from you, you don't know how to control it I'm sure. You were definitely the reason for that huge explosion in the capital, a while back. Such energy....such power....and such sorrow. Reminds me of myself."

Gabriel:" How the hell do you know it was me?! And how do you "sense" this "Energy" from me....Wait no....don't tell, you have these weird powers like all those people I killed that day."

Arnav: "You killed the perpetrators that caused the incident? It feels kind of peaceful knowing that. Well, I am indeed a force user like you. You use darkness if I'm not mistaken? Allow me to show you, I use light." (As he made his entire body glow and stopped after a level, Gabriel knew he had so much energy that Arnav could kill him off in a second) "So? believe me now? I'm a human, it might make you more suspicious of me but I wish no harm to anyone. As for your strengths, I'd like a demonstration tomorrow, to estimate till where they extend to in the initial stage."

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Gabriel: "Not like i have anywhere else to go or i have anything to lose."

(Gabriel fetches some water from a nearby fresh source of flowing water, on Arnav's request, and Arnav makes them a dinner of handmade flatbread and a side dish made from "panner" as they called it back in his homeland, and spinach, while they ate dinner, Gabriel thanked Arnav several times for his warm hospitality and asked him) "So after you check the extent of my abilities, what happens to me? I mean, what's next?"

Arnav: "I train you. You need training and you aren't in a shape to use your powers in an unsupervised environment."

Gabriel: "Train me? Train me for what? I'm not using something which came from the death of my family and reminds me of them. "

Arnav: "Believe it or not, human civilization has fallen, Gabriel. And evil will come out to profit from the disaster, the strong have to help the weak. For example, you have a son and he falls down while riding a bicycle, you don't keep in the house 24/7, neither should you leave him unsupervised, you must teach him to stand up and realize what he's doing wrong and correct it. Similarly, I'm not going to show you what is what Gabriel. I'm only going to show you the path on which you must walk and only you can fix your sorrows and respond to the trauma, I'll be a shoulder to lean on and more or less like the father in the example i gave you, The thorny path of having peace with yourself is to be treaded only by you. You can't say "no" to your duty, your responsibility. You were given this strength by fate for a reason. Tread the path of justice and benevolence . I, along with many others will guide you. And you training shall commence shortly."

Gabriel: "I didn't even say no to any of this. How are you going to drop such important pieces of information just like that man? Fine, I suppose I have no other option than to go with the flow and train."

Arnav: "There are only a bunch like me and we all will teach you one aspect of the force. I'll be your first trainer, and no, none of this was planned before hand. We'll meet the other people who I told are alike, after you're training with me is done. And worry not, none of them will mortally wound you, but only force you to train even harder, for now go to sleep."

Back in the ship, After Cassius and Gabriel meet, Cassius tells him he has to talk to him personally. They both go to a secluded room and Gabriel asks

Cassius, "How are you man? How did your errand go?"

Cassius: "It went quite well. But, I need you to give tommy to Luca and come with me."

Gabriel: " What?! Why?! Why do u even want me to come with you? What's up, something wrong?"

Cassius: "I'm the final piece, Gabriel. I am the final ancient you must meet."

Gabriel: (After hearing this Gabriel's face turned pale and he said) "WHAT??!! Quit joking. Wait even if you were joking you wouldn't know about the final piece or even the ancients. YOU ARE THE LAST DARK USER I NEED TO MEET?! That doesn't make any sense, Arnav said the last one will meet me in my travels since he is working in the army since he wished to be closer to humans. But to think you were the one, You knew this from the very beginning? And you are 14,310 years old right?"

Cassius: "No, i did not. The errand i needed to run was meeting up with Arnav since he called for me few weeks ago and i got his letter after i got to the Rio De Janeiro port. And yes, i am indeed 14,310 years old. Now show haste, we need to leave."

Gabriel: "What?! I'm not coming! I adopted tommy and I need to take care of him."

Cassius: "Nothing like last time is going to happen and we'll be meeting them before they dock at the port in Australia, it'll take them 35 days to get there , and our training will take 30 days, for this is the final part."

Gabriel: "Fine. Damnit. I don't wanna leave that kid alone but....i suppose it must be done."

Cassius and Gabriel hurry to the ship which is about to undock in 15 minutes and Gabriel requests Luca and Johnathan to take car of tommy, because he need to leave on an urgent personal matter with Cassius. He refused to disclose anymore information to Luca or Johnathan and packed his bags and went to tommy and apologized saying he needs to go somewhere and it was for everybody's sake, after some crying, tommy agreed and Gabriel told him to ALWAYS stick around Johnathan and Luca, and not trust anyone else. "Bye Bye, papa" Tommy said to Gabriel as he left. After hearing those words, Gabriel was almost brought to tears that the kid had called him papa after so much time. He left Tommy in Luca and John's care and told him to take absolute care of him and of themselves. He told them to call him if something was to happen and said he'll rendezvous with them at the port in Australia where they are headed to."

Cassius watched Gabriel about to cry and said "It doesn't suit you, young man. Stand strong, nothing shall happen to that child. Now for the final part, I'll be training your overall combat and travelling. I'll hone your general and overall skills. We'll let them leave and launch into the air in a secret place so that no ones sees us, we'll dive into the water and once we are about 50-80 km away from any coast we'll come out and Launch towards a place in India, where Arnav is currently at and asked us to come to."

Before the ship Cassius took a deep look at tommy, a child barely 8 years old, he stared into the child's eyes, he was interrupted by Gabriel who said "Something strange in this kid's eyes, no? It's like....he is more. He's hiding something in his soul"

They both wave goodbye to the leaving ship and went to a secluded corner of the port and dived deep down up to 2300 meters in the sea and took the same stance Gabriel took before flying into air. They launched at speeds reaching 90 meters per second while trying to not disturb nearly aquatic wildlife in any way. They both resurfaced after Cassius gave Gabriel a signal to come out of the water and they launched at hypersonic speeds once they were 8-12 km in the sky, as to not attract attention when they launch at such impossible speeds and release shockwaves.

To be Continued in chapter 3.