Nightmares

The Dark Mage was gone from the town, leaving two bodies behind. The Priest of Light and his son had been killed in broad daylight, marking the long-dreaded return of the Dark Mages.

The Church of Darkness which everyone thought was gone for good, had made a return with an advanced mage. She was right... The world was about to change.

Maya dropped to her knees, shivering. She was so scared, standing before that woman. Only she knew how she remained standing until she left, not cowering before her. As the woman left, Maya was literally trembling in fear. The Dark Mages... It was only now she saw how scary they could be.

Maya also realized that Gabriel was still alive. If he wasn't, he couldn't have escaped. However, that also meant he was going to return.

There was a small part of Maya who was happy that he was alive. She hadn't killed him. However, a big part of her was scared and worried about the future. Not only had she tried to kill him, but her mother as well.

When he returned, she was sure he was going to kill them all! According to her, Gabriel was already corrupted, and he was only going to be worse the next time he returned, if not stronger.

She stood up and hastily ran inside her home. "Mom, pack your stuff! We need to leave this town! We need to go where Gabriel can't get to us! He will kill us if he returns! Hurry! I'll go bring father!"

"Where will we even go?!" The middle-aged woman asked, still unable to believe what she saw with her own eyes. The boy they helped raise was a dark mage now.

"The Academy I go to is in the Royal Capital. We can get a place there. That place is like a fortress. The Holy Church of Light is there, protecting the Royal City. These Devils can never hurt us there! We must also tell the Main Church what happened here! They need to know! Hurry up!"

She wasn't the only one who was trying to leave the town. Everyone who was present here had run to pack their bags and leave the town. This place wasn't safe anymore.

Right outside Maya's house, Hawrin was blankly standing before the dead body of his father and his brother. He was informed what had happened. For a moment, he was in disbelief, but he was sure that so many people wouldn't lie!

He also started running in fear, leaving the bodies of his family members behind. "How can that bastard return from the dead! He is really a devil! This place isn't safe for me anymore!"

*****

In an unknown dark place, a young man was lying on the ground, unconscious. There was a hole in the shoulder of the man, but he had stopped bleeding. The wound had also started healing slowly as told kept trickling away.

Still unconscious, Gabriel was only reliving one moment repeatedly where he was being stabbed by the woman he thought to be his mother right before being stabbed by the woman he had loved for a long time. After stabbing him, both of them called him a Demon as they watched him die without helping him.

That moment kept repeating in his head, destroying all love and trust he had... These were the moments that woke him up from his illusion. The old Gabriel was dead. He was a new Gabriel now... The one who was called a Demon and backstabbed for no reason.

That moment continued repeating in his head repeatedly, and he never fought back. He died every time in excruciating pain. With each death, something inside him broke... Until there was nothing left.

He decided to get out of this nightmare. He has had enough. He wasn't going to let them kill him anymore. As the next dream started with the same thing, this time, he didn't hold back.

He jumped aside and dodged the first spear, letting it hit the woman in the back. This time he didn't protect her, and somewhere deep inside, he felt pleased that he didn't help the one who was about to kill him. However, he wasn't going to let Maya have an easy time either. After countless dreams of being killed, he has lost all his faith in her.

The Black Book before him turned to the third page, which was the second spell of the book and the only offensive spell for now.

He chanted the spell out loud, not hesitating for even a second! This time, the dream didn't end with his death. Instead, it was the two women who died this time! He had changed the dream, also changing himself in the process.

He realized what he should've done! The emotions were useless. He needed to care about only himself! Because that's what the others did. If no one cared for him, he wasn't going to care for anyone.

As soon as he killed Maya in the dream, his dreams finally shattered as if he was free from the nightmarish dream after learning his lesson.

As his eyes opened, Gabriel observed his surroundings which were awfully quiet. He could even hear the sound of his heartbeat in this place.

Gabriel tried sitting, only to notice that his shoulder was still hurting. He remembered being stabbed in the shoulder before. He placed his fingers where the spear had stabbed him. For some reason, there was no wound here.

The strange phenomenon made Gabriel tilt his head in confusion. All his wounds had healed again for some reason.

"My book!" he exclaimed, noticing his book wasn't in his hands. Fortunately, he soon discovered the Forbidden Book of Necromancy, which was lying behind him.

He let out a sigh of relief as he picked up the book. The Book turned into a ring once again, gracing his fingers.

"I don't know how to thank you enough. You again saved my life, didn't you?" Gabriel appeared to be talking to his ring, which couldn't reply.

There was no one who could survive after being wounded so heavily without getting treated with Holy Magic of Light. Moreover, now that he was also a Dark Mage, Holy Magic of Healing wasn't going to work on him either. Still, for some reason, his Dark Element managed to heal him.

Not only did he survive his initial death at the bottom of the cliff but even now. In two days, he had almost died twice yet survived. As for how even he wasn't entirely sure. All he knew was that it was the work of the Forbidden Book of Necromancy and his new Element.

The more Gabriel thought about it, the more absurd he found it to be.

"The Darkness that everyone called bad is what kept an innocent alive. On the other hand, the people who pretended to be morally virtuous were the ones who tried to take an innocent life due to that bias. How ironic. This Darkness is much better than them from what I've seen."

"At first, I was hesitant about using the Element of Darkness, worrying about what the world might think. Even I didn't want to use a Dark Element, but now... Now I know. If I want to survive, I need to fully embrace this Darkness!"