False heroes

chapter 11: new reality

The next morning, Gabriel woke to find his dormitory room empty. Marcus's bed was neatly made, his belongings still in place, but his roommate was nowhere to be seen.

He's afraid, Umbrix observed quietly. Most humans would be.

Gabriel sat up and looked at himself in the small mirror above his desk. He looked the same thin, ordinary, fifteen years old. But his eyes held something different now. Depth. Shadows that moved when the light caught them wrong.

His uniform collar, which had glowed red for three years, now pulsed with steady blue light. Rank 156. The Academy had officially reclassified him overnight, placing him in the jumping straight to A-rank. Smart, Gabriel thought. Less dramatic, less likely to cause panic.

Though after yesterday's display, he doubted anyone was fooled.

They're managing the narratory, Echo said. Making your rise seem gradual rather than explosive.

Gabriel dressed quickly and gathered his books. The hallways would be full of students heading to breakfast, and he needed to face them eventually. Hiding in his room would only make things worse

He opened the door and stepped into chaos.

Every conversation in the hallway stopped. Fifty students turned to stare at him with expressions ranging from fear to awe to barely concealed hostility. No one moved. No one spoke. They just watched him like he was a wild animal that might attack at any moment.

They see a monster, Soulrender said with satisfaction.

They see power, Echo corrected. And they don't know what to do with it.

Gabriel took a deep breath and walked towards the stairs. The crowd parted before him like water, students pressing themselves against the walls to avoid getting too close. One first year girl actually whimpered as he passed.

This was going to be his new normal, Gabriel realized. Fear wherever he went. Isolation born not from weakness but from strength.

He wasn't sure which was worse.

The dining hall was even more dramatic. Convert died as he entered. Hundreds of eyes tracked his movement as he walked to the serving line. Students at nearby tables actually got up and moved farther away, abandoning their breakfast rather than sit close to him.

Gabriel took his tray to his usual table in the back, the spot reserved for the lowest ranked students. It seemed fitting somehow. He'd started there as a powerless nobody, and now he'd returned as something they feared.

“Mind if I join you?”

Gabriel looked up to see Emma standing beside his table, her lunch tray in her hands. Her silver hair was pulled backed today, and her violet eyes held determination rather than fear

“You sure you want to?” Gabriel asked quietly. “People are already scared of me. Being seen with me won't help your reputation.”

“Then it's a good thing I don't care about reputation. Emma sat down across from him with a soft smile. “Besides, someone needs to remember you're still human.”

Is he though? Echo mused.

Mostly human, Umbrix replied.

Human enough, Soulrender added grudgingly.

“Thank you,” Gabriel said and meant it. Emma's presence felt like an anchor, reminding him that not everyone saw him as a monster

“So,” Emma said, keeping her voice low, “want to tell me what actually happened? The official story is that you had dormant power that suddenly awakened. But I saw your eyes during the fight, Gabriel. That wasn't normal magic.”

Gabriel hesitated. How much should he tell her? Emma had been kind to him, but trust was dangerous. Information was leveraged.

She already suspects, Umbrix pointed out. Her visions have shown her pieces of the truth.

And she's offering friendship, Echo added. That has value.

“It's complicated,” Gabriel said finally. “And dangerous to know about.”

“I figured.” Emma took a bite of her breakfast, completely casual despite the weighted conversation. “That's why I'm not asking for details. I'm just asking if you're okay. Because yesterday you were a powerless nobody, and today you're someone who scares trained guards. That's a lot to process.”

Gabriel felt something warm unfold in his chest. She wasn't digging for information or treating him like a threat. She was just checking on him like a friend.

“I'm managing," he said. “It's strange, but I'm managing.”

“ Good. Emma glanced around the dining hall, where students were still watching them from a distance. “ For what it's worth, I think what you did yesterday was really impressive. You could have hurt Thane badly, but you held back. That shows control.”

Control, Soulrender muttered. Such a boring concept.

Before Gabriel could respond, someone else approached their table. Zara Chen, wearing the same mysterious smile, set her tray down without asking for permission.

“The two most interesting people in the Academy, sitting together,” she said cheerfully. “Mind if I make it three?”

Emma looked uncertain, but Gabriel gestured to the empty seat. She had helped him before, in her own cryptic way. And she clearly knew more than she was saying.

“Quite the performance yesterday,” she said to Gabriel. “ Though I noticed you didn't use anything close to your full power. Smart. Always keep something in reserve.”

"How would you know what my full power is?" Gabriel asked carefully.

Zara's smile widened. “ I make it my business to know things. For instance, I know that three dangerous entities went missing from the basement laboratory one week ago. I know the same night a powerless student suddenly had reason to avoid detection spells. And I know the Federation is very interested in finding those entities.”

Emma's eyes went wide. Gabriel felt his heRt rate spike.

She knows everything, Umbrix said with concern.

Should I cut her? Soulrender asked hopefully. Just a little cut? She'd forget everything.

No cutting, Gabriel thought firmly. Then aloud. “ That's a dangerous thing to know about.”

“ I know lots of dangerous things,” she replied easily. “That's why I'm still alive and why I'm sitting here offering my help instead of selling what I know to the highest bidder.”

"Why would you help me?”

Because I don't like the Federation. Because I think what they do to creatures from other dimensions is cruel and wrong. And because..” Zara's smile faded, replaced by something more serious, “my mother was one of the scientists who worked in that laboratory. She helped create those prisons. And I've been trying to find a way to make up for that ever since.”

Gabriel stared at her. Dr. Sarah Chen, then a woman whose name to tag bed seen in the laboratory. Zara's mother

“She feels guilty,” Zara continued quietly. “She wants to help free the remaining creatures, but she can't do it alone. She needs someone with power, someone who understands what it's like to be caged”

Her dark eyes fixed on Gabriel. "Someone like you.”

A trap, Soulrender warned.

Or an opportunity,Echo countered.

Or both, Umbrix said thoughtfully.

Emma looked between them, clearly trying to piece together the conversation. “Gabriel, what is bae talking about?”

Gabriel took a deep breath. He'd kept a secret for a week, hidden what he was, pretended to be someone he wasn't. But looking at Emma's concerned face and Zara's serious expression, he realized something important.

Be couldn't do this alone. The entities inside him were powerful, but power with allies was just isolated strength. If he really wanted to help the imprisoned creatures, to stop the federation's cruelty, he needed people he could trust.

And trust had to start somewhere.

“I'll tell you,” ganril said to Emma. “Both of you. Everything. But not here, not with so many people watching.”

“There's an empty study room on the fourth floor,” Zara suggested. “We could talk there after classes.”

Gabriel nodded. “After classes then. But Emma, once you know the truth, you can't unknown it. This is dangerous information.”

Emma reached across the table and squeezed his hands briefly. “I told you yesterday you don't have to face this alone. Whatever this is, whatever you've become, I want to help.”

Friendship, Umbrix said with something like wonder. I had forgotten what that felt like .

The rest of breakfast passed in relative quiet, though Gabriel noticed Marcus watching from across the dining hall. His former roommate looked guilty and conflicted, like he wanted to approach but couldn't quite make himself do it.

Gabriel understood. Gear was powerful, and Marcus had spent the past week sleeping three feet away from something that could level buildings. That would shake anyone.

AA they finished eating and prepared for class, gabriel felt a strange sensation not quite nope, but something close to it. He had allies now, people who knew at least some of his secret and hadn't run away screaming.

It was more than he'd had yesterday.

The real work begins now, Echo observed. Building a network, gathering information, preparing for what comes next.

The Federation won't wait forever, Umbrix added. We need to move quickly

And cut things. Soulrender insisted. Soon. Please.

Gabrril smiled despite himself. His life had become impossibly complicated in one week. The be went from powerless nobody to housing three ancient entities, from victim to someone with actual power and purpose.

The road ahead would be dangerous. The Federation would come for him eventually. Other students would continue to fear him. And somewhere deep inside, three entities that had destroyed previous goats whispered and argued and waited.

But for the first time I'm three years, Gabriel Stone felt he was exactly where he needed to be.