Chapter 361 - Face To Face

Sorry for the lateness guys. Today is quite hectic for me x.x

____

"Evie is alright, right?" Gavriel had rushed to ask this, first and foremost. It was obvious that he only had her in his mind. His striking grey eyes were probing Gavrael's for an answer. However, he remained where he was, sitting there patiently, not making any overt effort to rush and approach Gavrael even though his eyes spoke volumes of how eager he was to hear any news of her.

Somehow, looking at him made Gavrael truly accept and recognise that he and this person was really one and the same. Now that he was looking at him directly, face to face, Gavrael felt convinced in his heart that he was truly looking at himself. The only clear difference were the colours of their eyes. Otherwise, there was almost no other noticeable difference. Somehow, staring at himself was such a strange feeling.

"Why are you here?" Gavriel asked again as if he had already received the answer to his first question.

A wry smirk flashed over Gavrael's face as his cold blue eyes seemed to flare. "What's the matter? You're not happy to see me back here?"

Gavriel met his gaze and after a long while of just them staring back at each other, neither wanting to be the first to give in and speak, Gavriel sighed, and his eyes slowly drifted close. What happened that night after he had separated from Evie and his men was still ever so vivid in his mind. It was as though it had just happened only a few moments ago. Every emotion, every sensation, all of it were so recent and real to him that he could still feel them.

The night of his last battle in Dacria, Gavriel's fight with Thundrann had driven him to the very edge. Thundrann had continued to grow even more powerful the longer they fought. It was as though he had an infinite source of magic and energy that was constantly flowing into him, supplying him with endless magic to drag on their fight. No matter how many times Gavriel had brought him down, he kept rising again and again until Gavriel's energy had dwindled into a hopeless state. He was pushed to the brink of desperation, and he knew there was no way for him to win against this freak of nature.

And in those hopeless moments, Gavriel could only resort to this one last thing. He had decided to give in to whatever it was that had been residing deep within him. That ferocious monster that he knew contained immense power but one that he felt would make him lose all semblance of rationality, that was his trump card.

Gavriel had always known that this thing he had always been calling a monster had been living and existing within him all this time. And he was also aware of how powerful it was. It was so powerful that he could not even fight it off or put it under his control again without him suffering for days or drinking a virgin's blood.

Since he was young, he had always felt that this monster was trying to break out of the cage it had been placed inside of him. And as years passed by, its desperation only grew, and its power even started to overwhelm Gavriel's own. In fact, this monster within him had been one of the biggest reasons why he had desired to grow even stronger. Because he had always dreaded the day when he could no longer keep his monster at bay, and it would overpower him. He had dreaded at what would happen to the people he cared for and those around him if his monster ends up taking over his consciousness.

He had always felt its desperation to come out and he in turn did everything he could to keep it imprisoned within its cage. He had no idea that this monster he was fighting so hard against was actually himself.

That moment when he decided to finally give in, Gavriel had gone through this same thing. In the midst of his fight to stay alive, he found himself descending deeper and deeper into his consciousness. This time, he had gone deeper and further than he ever had done before in the hopes of finding this monster so he could finally set it free and have it take over to keep them both alive.

He had found it in this exact same spot where he is sitting at right now. And he had been shocked to his bones to see that the monster had looked exactly like him, just with a different eye colour.

And before he could even open his mouth to speak, the blue-eyed version of him made his way out as soon as he saw the chance. He did not even seem to have noticed Gavriel's presence as he just rushed out, like a ferocious and mindless beast that had finally been freed from its cage after many years of brutal imprisonment.

Gavriel could only stand there, shocked and confused. But as time passed by, Gavriel began to slowly understand everything. He did not know why, but he began to hear the thoughts of that blue-eyed version of him, who was apparently called Gavrael.

He could not see anything as it was pure darkness just outside of the little circle of light where he was standing in. But Gavrael's thoughts were enough for him to understand everything that had gone on. Gavriel had spent his time in the dark connecting the dots and solving the puzzles as he listened to Gavrael's thoughts.

And everything that he found out was such a shocking revelation. He learned everything that Gavrael went through, his pain, his fear, his feelings towards Evie, and who he truly was. He had heard about his nightmares and plans and jealousy and desires… everything. All Gavrael's inner thoughts, everything was transmitted and Gavriel heard them all.