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Gadriel
Episode 03

Episode 03

Nightmare

~*~

Gadriel was standing in front of the park he had just left. In the distance, he spotted a familiar silhouette among all those present, that of the young girl he liked so much and whom he had feelings for, Jessabiel. The teenager made his way discreetly towards her, telling himself that it was now his turn to surprise her. However, the closer he got to her, the faster his heart rate increased. It was obvious he had feelings for her, but were they mutual? He'd tried to find out the day before, but hadn't managed to get an answer. Would he be able to get one today? He didn't know. But for now, his mission was to startle her as she’d done with him.

When he finally reached her side, Gadriel tried to put his hand on Jessabiel's shoulder as she had done with him the day before. However, just as he was about to do so, the latter suddenly turned in an unusual, even supernatural way, which surprised him greatly and frightened him at the same time.

“H…hi, Jessabiel,” he retorted after recovering from his fright.

The girl didn't reply and just looked at him and smiled. He then asked her if she was doing well, but once again he got no answer from her. Moreover, very soon after this strange interaction with her, Gadriel noticed that everyone around them was behaving in the same way as she was – they were all staring at him with strange smiles on their lips.

Their attitude greatly distressed the young boy who naturally wondered what was going on. Suddenly, Jessabiel pointed to something on the horizon, prompting Gadriel to turn around and see what it was. He then saw that the sky over Exoduus was changing color, going from a pleasant multicolored sky to an extremely dark stormy one. It was not this, however, that amazed him, but rather the behavior of the clouds. In fact, just as everything began to darken, they fell from their usual position and formed a sort of fog-like wall moving slowly towards them.

“We…we've got to get out of here,” he said, taking a few steps backwards.

Gadriel was right to fear the wall of cloud that was gradually closing in on them. Indeed, when it came into contact with one of the buildings in his little town, the latter completely disintegrated before disappearing inside the dark mist. Not wanting to suffer the same fate, the young boy suddenly grabbed Jessabiel's hand and told her that they had to get as far away from this thing as possible.

“It's coming for you. You can't escape it,” she told him abruptly.

“What?! What are you talking about, Jessabiel?! We don't have time for this!”

Despite the growing danger, Jessabiel was still smiling, which was not the case for Gadriel who was completely panicked. He forced the girl to follow him, and the two began to run to escape whatever was pursuing them.

“It's no use running away, Gadriel. You'll never be able to escape it,” Jessabiel retorted as well as everyone else they passed. “You've got no place to hide. This place belongs to him, it's his domain. It's only a matter of time before he takes you over.”

Gadriel couldn't for the life of him understand why all these people were staying put instead of trying to escape the disaster that was coming, but above all he couldn't understand why they were all telling him the same thing. Nevertheless, he didn't have the luxury of worrying about their well-being. All that mattered the most for him at that moment was escaping the strange black mist that drew ever closer, obliterating everything it touched.

Therefore, the young children ran, desperate to escape certain death, ignoring the screams of agony that multiplied by the dozens. Gadriel, who was the one guiding the duo, could feel his body gradually losing strength. He was not used to such physical exertion and it was showing. His lower limbs ached, as did his heart – which was beating at a frantic pace – but above all he was finding it increasingly difficult to see things clearly. However, he knew he couldn't stop running, he had no right to. His life and Jessabiel's depended on it. So, Gadriel drew on his reserves and his will to see them live, and took one step forward, then another, and so on. The pain was just a sort of echo of organic flesh that he was trying so hard to ignore.

As he was battling pain and fatigue, Gadriel glanced quickly behind him to see how far away from them the wall of black clouds was. It was then that he realized not only that Jessabiel was still smiling – as if she was totally unconcerned about the situation they were in – but also that the black mist had come dangerously close to them, with less than a hundred meters separating them.

Seeing this, the young boy began to lose all hope. Of course, he was still desperately looking for a place where he and Jessabiel could take refuge, but the reality of the situation which they found themselves in gradually swept away what little hope he had. What could they possibly do to get out of this? No matter how hard Gadriel thought, he couldn't come up with a solution. There was no shelter and no way to stop this devastating phenomenon. To make matters worse, his body finally gave up on him and he collapsed after yet another step. At the end of his rope, the only thing Gadriel could do now was to watch the dark mist close in and wait for it to engulf them.

“I'm truly sorry,” he said. “There was nothing I could do.”

Realizing that these were their last moments, Gadriel took Jessabiel in his arms – the latter still smiling – and held her tightly. However, before the wall of cloud could completely engulf them, the girl suddenly turned into a pile of ashes, leaving him all alone to face imminent death.

The black mist eventually engulfed Gadriel and everything around him. However, unlike the others who had been reduced to ashes with screams of agony, he was perfectly fine, at least for the moment. The young boy was very frightened, unable to see ahead and not knowing when his time would come. Suddenly, he heard a sinister voice speak his name. Gadriel was not alone, something else was with him in this thick black fog. Judging by the sinister tone of the voice, he was certain it couldn't be Jessabiel; he'd seen her disappear before his very eyes. So, that meant it was the thing she'd told him about, the thing that was after him and which he couldn't escape from.

Gadriel heard his name spoken once more, but unlike the previous time, he had the impression that the entity calling him was much closer. This prompted him to ask what it was and what it wanted, but he received no verbal response from it. Instead, every vein in his body – starting with those at the ends of his limbs – suddenly lit up from within. At the same time, he was overcome by an excruciating pain whose origin was none other than those same veins. The more this strange phenomenon spread, the more intense Gadriel's pain became, eventually causing him to let out agonized cries before ending up on the ground.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The young boy didn't know what was happening to him, but he desperately wanted it to stop. Unfortunately for Gadriel, the situation he found himself in only worsened as the seconds ticked by. Indeed, the extremities of his limbs, now much darker in hue, began to disintegrate. The phenomenon spread to the rest of his body, first removing his hands and feet, then the rest of him.

“Gadriel,” the sinister voice retorted again.

Gadriel's body had almost completely disappeared, only his head remained. As for the pain, it was at its worst. He felt as if all that was left of him had been penetrated by millions of red-hot needles.

Finally, just as the rest of his head was about to disappear, the young boy suddenly woke up. As on the previous occasion, Gadriel immediately looked around, only to realize that he was back in his room and that the sun had already risen.

“This wasn't the usual nightmare. This one seemed…so real,” the young boy said, watching his hands shake.

Even though he was back in his room, Gadriel was still experiencing tingling sensations all over his body. It was enough to make him doubt where he really was. Was he really in the real world, in his room? Or was he still dreaming, and all this just another facet of his nightmare? He had absolutely no idea. Nevertheless, a few minutes later, the unpleasant sensation disappeared completely, leaving him to believe that he was actually back in his room.

Gadriel, who was now lying on his bed, was pondering the meaning of the nightmare he'd just had. In particular, he was wondering why he had been so affected by it. It had been many days since he'd had the same bad dream every night, but not only had his recent nightmare been different, it had also been very realistic. He'd felt it when he'd woken up, the pain had been very real. So, did this mean that his body was in danger of ending up in the same state as in his dream? It didn't make sense. But how to explain the pain? The pain had been real, he'd felt it.

The young boy was afraid, afraid of what all this might mean. He didn't want to die, he was too young for that. He was still just a teenager with his whole life ahead of him, a teenager who still had things to see and accomplish, a teenager who hadn't yet revealed his feelings to the girl he loved. If he were to die as a result of one of his nightmares, what would become of his mother, Jessabiel, and Eve? How would they react if he suddenly left? He didn't want to abandon them. At that moment, the young woman's words came back to him and he suddenly sat up.

“Eve, what were those symptoms you mentioned yesterday when I woke up? You know, the ones caused by lack of sleep?”

Gadriel got no answer from his tutor, which he found very strange. It wasn't like her to remain silent in the face of such a question, especially as it concerned his state of health.

“Eve, are you there?” he called her again.

Once again, the young boy was met with silence. Wanting to know what was going on with Eve, Gadriel got out of bed and immediately went downstairs. However, just as he arrived downstairs, someone suddenly knocked on his door.

“Eve, can you please tell me who's knocking?” he asked instinctively.

Remembering that the young woman did not seem to be present, Gadriel found himself obliged to check the identity of the person standing in front of his door. He was then surprised to discover that Jessabiel was the one in front of his house.

“Jessabiel? What are you doing here?”

“Don't tell me you've forgotten what we discussed yesterday? I came to see if your mother had finally returned,” she replied with her usual smile. “So, is she here?” she added, stepping through the doorway.

Gadriel didn't need to say a word for the girl to get an answer to her question. His face spoke for him. Jessabiel then apologized, to which he replied that she didn't need to.

“If anything, I should be thanking you for what you did for me yesterday,” he continued.

“Did I do something yesterday?”

“You cheered me up when I was really down. And for that, I thank you very much,” Gadriel said, flashing a broad smile of his own.

“Ah, but you don't have to thank me for so little. Helping each other is what friends do.”

“Helping each other indeed.”

At that moment, Gadriel couldn't help but think about the opportunity he'd missed the day before. He wanted so much to confess his feelings to her, but he didn't know how to properly go about it or when he should do it. What's more, he was also afraid to do it, not knowing how Jessabiel would take it. If she laughed about it, he'd be extremely embarrassed and would probably never be able to look her in the face again. If she were to get angry, their relationship would tarnish and their friendship would probably come to an end. But then, how to explain the gesture she'd made the day before? The kiss he'd received from her had to mean something. Maybe it meant she felt something for him too. Gadriel wanted to be sure, but he was too afraid to ask. At the same moment, Jessabiel suddenly put her hand on his shoulder, taking him out of the little world he was in.

“What's wrong? What's going on?” he retorted.

“You weren't listening to me again. It's really rude of you not to listen when someone's talking to you,” she said before bringing her mouth close to his ear. “It could be detrimental to you later on.”

“I'm really sorry, Jessabiel. My mind was elsewhere.”

“It's all right, Gadriel. I understand perfectly, but please don't do that again. It gets very irritating in the long run.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Well, now that that's settled, are you ready to go?”

“Go where?” the young boy replied, surprised.

“I don't believe it. Don't tell me you've forgotten that too. I told you yesterday that we'd both be going to Fjore so that I could say a few words to that officer who's not doing his job properly. Do you remember now?”

“Yes, I do remember now.”

Gadriel didn't know why, but Jessabiel seemed to be very irritated. In the back of his mind, he thought it must be Reigns' fault. He was the only person he knew who was capable of putting her in such a state. Nevertheless, he told himself that whatever he'd done, he was going to keep quiet so as not to incur her wrath.

“So, are you ready to go or not?”

“I've got something to do first. You don't mind waiting inside for a while until I finish with what I have to do.”

“Go right ahead. I've got time to waste anyway,” she replies coldly.

“I'll be right back.”

Gadriel rushed off to his room and left the young girl alone downstairs. Now that she was on her own, Jessabiel took a strange device out of one of her pockets and began scanning part of the boy's home. Her search eventually led her to the pillar supporting the entire tree house, and more precisely to the picture frame showing Arya and her child.

Jessabiel inspected the frame more closely and even tried to remove it from the wall. Unfortunately, she couldn't move it.

“Damn it. It's not going to work.”

Frustrated at not being able to unhook the picture frame, the girl was tempted to destroy it. However, with Gadriel also in the house, this was a very bad idea. Jessabiel therefore contacted someone using her bracelet and asked him to wait until they had left before taking action. She then sat down to wait for Gadriel to return.

Meanwhile, the young boy, who had returned to his room, was fidgeting around, looking for something to wear. He was in a rather stressful situation, having absolutely not planned on receiving a visit from Jessabiel. Gadriel finally found a suitable outfit and took it with him to the bathroom. A few minutes later, he was ready to follow her. Gadriel therefore rushed to the ground floor where he found Jessabiel sitting quietly, her eyes fixed on the main pillar of his house.

“I'm back.”

“And I see you took the opportunity to change your clothes,” she said, straightening up. “So, are you finally ready to go?”

“Yes, we can go now.”

Gadriel and Jessabiel both left the house and set off in the direction of Fjore, without the young boy noticing a familiar figure approaching his home.

To be continued!!!

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