False heroes

A crack in the mask

Three days remained until the ranking battles, and Gabriel was beginning to understand why most people couldn't survive history, even one ancient entity, let alone three. 

It wasn't the power that was the problem. It was the dream.

Every night, he lives through memories that weren't his. Umbrix’s centuries guarding the spaces between worlds, watching civilization rise and fall in the void between dimensions, Echo showed him flashes of ruling from the throne made of crystalized starlight, commanding armies that spanned multiple realities. And Soulrender’s fragment… Those dreams were the worst. Endless cutting, slicing through everything matter, energy, souls, the very concept of existence itself.

Gabriel woke each morning feeling like he'd lived a thousand lifetimes, his fifteen years old mind struggling to contain tons of experience.

You’re adapting faster than expected, Umbi observed as Gabriel sat in the back row of combat theory class, trying to stay awake. Most hosts would break within days 

The boy has potential, Echo agreed. Though his emotional control needs works 

That was putting it mildly. Gabriel nearly lost his temper twice yesterday, once when Derek had “accidentally” knocked his books into a puddle, and again when a group of first year students had laughed at him during lunch. Both times, he'd felt power surge through him like liquid fire, shadows responding to his anger.

The second incident had been particularly dangerous. The shadows in the dining hall had actually moved, reaching toward the laughing students like grasping fingers. Only Gabriel’s desperate mental scramble to regain control had stopped them from being noticed. 

Mr. Stone."

Gabriel’s head snapped up. Professor Martinez was looking at him with raised eyebrows, and the entire class was staring. He'd been daydreaming again or rather, experiencing flashes of Echo interdimensional warfare. 

“Yes, sir?”

“ I asked you a question about defensive positioning against multiple opponents. Since you seem to find the

topic so…. Boring. 

Gabriel's face flushed. "Sorry sir", he mumbled, sitting up straight. "Could you repeat the question?"

A few students chuckled quietly, and Gabriel felt their eyes on him like heat. Professor Martinez sighed, then repeated the question about coordinating defense when surrounded.

Gabriel answered clumsily, but enough to avoid more embarrassment. The professors nodded, unimpressed and turned back to the board.

As the lecture continued, Gabriel rubbed his temples. His head pounded, not just from te lack of sleep, but from the overload of memories not his own. Echo's memories of war, Umbrix's isolation, Soulrender's terrifying hunger they were all bleeding Into him. He hadn't had a single peaceful night since merging with them.

"You're slipping," Soulrender's voice echoed coldly in his mind. "If I were in control, no one would laugh at us."

Gabriel clenched his first beneath the desk. He didn't need that voice right now. He didn't need any of them. What he needed was sleep, silence, and a chance to feel like himself again even if he wasn't sure who that was anymore. 

And hopefully it wouldn't have to break him in the process