- BG -

“Am I okay, am I okay?!” Madzistrale panicked while Tom held her tight, back in Gabzryel’s laboratory.

“Yes, you’re okay, Mad,” Gabzryel repeated for the dozen time. “Injuries sustained in those scenarios don’t affect your real body. Technically, you could have gone on and sustained more slashes. As long as your real body isn’t present, you won’t die, and you won’t have any real injuries.”

“Did you saw that punch?!” Tom asked, shocked. “I never hit that hard.”

“You’ll find that strength and many other abilities are manifested in random ways,” Gabzryel explained, giving off the air of an occult teacher.

“Well, that was a rough start,” Tom accused his friend. “And it’s the first time in all these years that we actually went at the same place twice, and spent time there; not just glimpses.”

“Don’t look at me, apparently it’s the best place to start testing your heroic abilities,” Gabzryel defended himself.

“Why have you even picked that place? And how?” Tom wondered exasperatedly.

“It’s not my fault, I kept reading that specific number in all the damn books I was reading, in all the dreams I was making. Jeez, in a recent dream, I even opened a locked book that I waited for months to finally see what it contained, and BAM! Only blank pages with just that specific frequency written upon them. A man’s gotta understand he’s given hints after awhile.”

Tom, seeing Madzistrale was still shaken, kissed her playfully on the cheeks, making comedic suction noises until she cracked up laughing.

“Do you mind, guys? I’m trying to say something,” Gabzryel interrupted.

“Sorry,” the siblings said together.

“As I was saying, from what I’ve seen, you should have an interesting simulation, because what’s playing out in that world has similar ramifications in our own world.”

“Psychotics orange-haired guy deluding about preys and predators being the one universal law when managing human society?” Madzistrale answered sarcastically.

“Actually, that’s similar to some underground beliefs going on here too. The belief that just like animals are not bothered by killing other animals, since the victims offered competition for food and shelter, humans are not so different; and if done in self-defense or for a ‘good’ reason, murder shouldn’t be a crime, any differently that we don’t put to jail lions when they kill gazelles. Or when we kill animals to eat.”

Tom and Madzistrale stared at him, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“Yes, guys, that really exist as a belief system. Absolutely rubbish and wrong in our opinions, but with more followers than we would like to think. Anyway, the tactics used in that world we just saw, has remarkable resemblances to past tactics in our history. And since everything repeats itself, I think that you guys beating them at their game will actually be really useful, for such a story might unravel in our own world in the near future.”

“What a bundle of joy you are,” Madzistrale sighed.

“Hey, just saying the truth. If you think the peace we’re having right now will last, I hate to break it to you that it won’t. A handful of people will always find ways to twist and use humanity’s nature to fulfill their own ambitions. History has shown that tyranny don’t get things done; but use humans and pit them against one and another, and that’s the world you’ve just witnessed. That’s where our own world is heading, and the signs are clearer than people want to admit.”

Gabzryel let silence follow his statement for a moment, then he rose, checked the clock, and looked hopefully at Madzistrale.

“Given that you took four hours before getting to that place, dreamt a whole day in an hour and a half time, and that it’s already 5:30 in the morning, and that none of us are getting back to sleep any time soon…”

“Pancakes?” she guessed with a half smile.

“Please?”

Madzistrale laughed at Gabzryel’s pleading eyes, and she briskly climbed the stairs leading to the kitchen.

“Come on, boys, time for breakfast.”

Tom high-fived Gabzryel for succeeding to coax Madzistrale into preparing a lengthy breakfast, and they followed her up the stairs.

“By the way, do you guys like the modifications I made to your clothes?” Gabzryel proudly asked the siblings.

“No...” Madzistrale answered in a deadpan manner, taking out the ingredients.

Gabzryel’s expectant face turned to a pout, as his pride fell upon the sister’s comment. Madzistrale smiled broadly and hugged him tight.

“Kidding! It’s absolutely marvelous! And cool!”

“I love it too,” Tom added. “Much more cool! The hat fitted Mad so well, she looked like those old-fashioned lady jazz singers. It also seems as if you always know what we both like. How do you do that?”

“Too long to explain,” Gabzryel smirked. “Beside, you wouldn’t remember the details ten minutes after I tell you.”

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“Amen to that,” Madzistrale replied in an unconcerned honesty.

“Hey!” Tom shot them an annoyed glare, before suddenly remembering something: “That knife, what the heck was it?”

“A katar dagger; they’re a South Asian weapon, especially found in India. Nasty weapon. The triangular shape of the blade is in fact two movable blades; when they open into an inverted V shape, they reveal another blade under. It was designed so that when stabbing, the three-blade V system creates even more damage to the wound. As I said, nasty weapon,” Gabzryel shook his head.

“No kidding,” the siblings replied, lightly horrified.

“Speaking of weapon, I did wanted to ask how I came to hold the sticks we asked Bruno to make us, when I used it to repel the crowd last time. It just sort of appeared out of thin air...” Madzistrale asked.

Gabzryel frowned.

“No idea. That was new and unexpected. I’m as much curious as you to know how it happened, and if it can happen again. Will be very useful for possible future attacks.”

“They were perfect,” Madzistrale sadly mused.

“To be honest, I don’t get what actually happened; so many things don’t make sense according to what we’ve learned in the last years in our experiments...” Gabzryel finished.

He nearly added the mystery of the librarian and her words, and how come she held the book he saw in his own dreams, but bit his lips and said nothing. The only info he was able to gather from that scene was one he could not let the siblings know, lest it affected their own experiences.

The siblings sighed in disappointment, and Madzistrale returned to preparing her pancakes whereas Gabzryel decided to lighten the mood by putting on his rock playlist; an unwelcomed sound to their sleeping dog Loki, who raised his head, growled with annoyance, and walked sleepily to Gabzryel’s bedroom.