Chapter Thirteen – Echoes and Embers

  Click. The sound of a chess piece tapping gently on wood.

  “I’ll beat you this time,” young Gabriel said, furrowing his brows with stubborn intensity. His small hand hovered over the board, fingers twitching in short spasms.

  Some sat opposite him, a man in a white lab coat and round spectacles–Professor Allen. He had a faint smile lining his lips as he played, as though he could already see ten moves ahead.

  “We’ll see,” Allen said with a warm smile that forced his eyes shut. “Remember everything serves a purpose, don't be blinded by your own sight.”

  It wasn’t just a chess lesson. Nothing with Allen ever was.

  The boy’s hands trembled slightly, barely noticeable—except to Allen. "Residual tremors from the experiment. It'll take some time before your muscles settle down again. But it shouldn't be too long. Today's tests were very trying and you had done well to complete them, even enduring pain without complaint... I'm proud."

  Gabriel beamed, smiling so hard blood trickled down his nose.

  “Your readings were excellent too,” Allen said, dropping his tea to reach for Gabriel’s nose. “You’re adapting faster than I expected.”

  With his thumb, he wiped the blood off and offered Gabriel his stainless handkerchief.

  Gabriel took it, with a slightly puzzled grin. He didn’t understand half the words, but the tone was praise, and that was enough.

  “Thank you... Professor,” he said, carefully moving a piece.

  Allen smiled again. “Checkmate.”

  A soft click echoed as the black queen landed before Gabriel's knight, sealing his fate.

  Gabriel had a look of pure shock on his face. The professor could barely hold in his laughter.

  "Fine, let's go for another round."

  Gabriel's shock had immediately turned to a wide grin.

  The board had been reset, and a new game was quietly underway. Gabriel moved his bishop, proud of the quiet trap he’d set. Allen smirked, letting the move stand. Outside, laughter echoed. Gabriel turned, drawn to the window.

  Children ran wild through the courtyard—but their faces were wrong. Jagged black scratches covered most of them, like claw marks etched into his reality. He couldn’t tell who was who.

  Except two.

  A girl with soft brown hair and amethyst eyes—Pearl. And beside her, a bald girl with red eyes. They ran in the meadow, chasing bees and rolling in the shrubs.

  Gabriel watched the two girls with a quiet smile. Until they suddenly halted, staring straight through the window.

  Their gazes were intense and almost uncomfortable.

  “...Pearl” he whispered.

  Then the warmth was gone.

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  Ice stabbed through his spine. His eyes shot open, white-hot agony blooming in his skull. He was strapped to a metal chair in a room that stank of blood and rust. A cerebral sensor drilled searing light through his forehead.

  He thrashed. His muscles jerked with a mind of their own. Foam bubbled at the corner of his mouth.

  God, it hurts.

  Like hot wires unspooling through his brain.

  “Stop,” he rasped.

  Another surge. A thousand nails hammered behind his eyes. His thoughts became smoke.

  Ansel stood before him, calm and shadowed, a simpler sensor band around his own temples, his eyes glazed with focus.

  “Stop resisting,” Ansel said, his voice clipped but not cruel. “You’ll only end up frying your brain.”

  Gabriel’s eyes rolled back, his jaw clenched so hard it ached. “I don’t… know… where he is.”

  “I believe you,” Ansel said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not there. He left something behind. You. Your mind. Everything serves a purpose with that man.”

  Another surge. White-hot needles stabbing his consciousness.

  Gabriel gasped, sweat slicking his brow. He tried to shut out the pain, to focus on something else—anything else. But Ansel’s words looped in his head.

  "Everything serves a purpose."

  It was something he recalled the professor saying very often. Could he really be the Professor?...

  It made very little sense. But that was the exact reason why Gabriel was inclined to believe. The professor wasn't the conventional man, every move he made was meticulously planned.

  If he wanted a secret child to serve whatever purpose he would have one.

  The Professor never stayed in one place long after all. Always on the move, always setting up labs, always taking in “strays” like Gabriel and the others.

  Gabriel's gaze rose to meet Ansel’s sharp jawline. The furrowed brow when he was focused. The obsession.

  They did look alike.

  Argghhh

  More pain. A river of fire down his spine. His mind broke open, and memories poured in.

  He saw his siblings again—laughing, running through the halls of the orphanage. He saw the fire too. The smoke. The charred walls. Screams.

  No bodies. No final goodbyes. Just darkness.

  How did I survive?

  How bad was it?

  Could they have also–?

  Another stab of pain cut off the thought.

  He cried out—this time, unable to hold it in.

  The door burst open with a bang.

  A woman entered, her steps sharp, urgent. Her figure was cloaked in a dark coat, the swell of her pregnant belly unmistakable.

  Her presence changed the air around them—calm but suffocating, like a storm just before the lightning.

  She wasn't alone either. The tall man from earlier was here too. His eyes were placed solely on Gabriel.

  “Enough!” she snapped at Ansel, her voice rich with fury and restraint. “What the hell Annie, this is going too far.”

  Ansel didn’t look up. “He’s resisting. I’m close. A few more layers and I’ll find it.”

  “There has to be a better way,” she hissed. “You’re torturing him.”

  “We don’t have time.” he shot back. “The device—”

  “I don’t care,” she cut in. “Not like this.”

  She walked up to Gabriel, eyes softening just slightly. There was pity in her gaze—but also guilt. As though she was part of the machine hurting him.

  Gabriel’s vision swam. He could barely hear them now, voices muffled like underwater echoes. Ansel said something else, but it blurred. His ears rang. The woman turned to him, brushing his soaked hair from his face.

  “I’ll talk to him,” she said. “I’ll try.”

  Ansel exhaled through his nose. “It’s a waste of time.”

  But he didn’t stop her. Slowly taking the band off his head.

  Gabriel blinked slowly. The pain dulled, just enough for the world to become real again.

  She knelt beside him. For a moment, they just looked at each other. It was then Gabriel saw something, something terrifyingly familiar stuck in her brilliant ruby eyes.