6 Going to the Imperial City. The Strange Black Book!

Inside the castle Gabriel was guided by a maid to the main hall. After going in he looked around to see who was there. In the main seat there was a man in his late thirties, about two meters tall, black eyes and hair with a scarr across his face, the man had a sharp look in his eyes, standing next to him was Sam, with his red helmet on.

"So this man is Duke Standford, my "father". Said Gabriel to himself.

"I am glad to see that you are ok" said Elliot.

Gabriel didn't say anything he just stood there and looked at the man.

"I am sorry that I could save Annabeth, I didn't expect that not only Arnold was a traitor from the beginning, but he also planted a lot of sleeping agents" continued Elliot.

"Why did she had to die" suddenly Gabriel said. "My mother, she was just a kind and caring women"

"This is the world we live in, the weak is pray to the strong. I brought you here from the village so that you could have a safer life, if I knew that things were so dangerous here I would have let you stay there. Gabriel my son, I am sorry." said Elliot "For the sake of your safety I asked a favor from a fried of mine, you will leave immediately, everything was already prepared. To not attract attention Sam will escort you out alone, there is a carriage, you will go to the Imperial City. After getting there my friend will arenge a fake name for you and also a place to stay. You can go now, I have something to say to Sam.

"Du.. I mean father, can I bring Maria with me" asked Gabriel.

Elliot gaze turned grave "We don't know if there will be an ambush during your jorny, the maid will be a burden."

"She was very close to my mother, she is close to me." said Gabriel.

Elliot gaze softened a little, then he said " Very well you can take her, you will still need some one to cook and clean, go then"

Gabriel bowed and left.

"Sam the money is on you, make sure he doesn't miss anything" the who looked and Sam with a sad expression "I am really sorry that I can't help you my friend, if destiny is on your side maybe some of the mysterious Sages hidden in the Imperial capital may help you" even Elliot didn't the words he just said.

Sages were mysterious existences, they were stuf of Legends.

"You don't have to worry, I will take care of him until my last breath" Said same.

Outside the city a big carriage was pulled by two beast that looked like horses, except they were almost two times bigger and had a horn on they're head. This were spirit beast that were tamed, they were called spirit horses, one of the best methods of transportation, they could run for three days and three nights without resting, and croos a distance of 1000km (about 650 miles) a day.

The carriage was divided in two. Gabriel was alone thinking about the events that happened "I need to get stronger, but how...." then Gabriel remembered the black book and decided to take a look.

When he opened the book a little pice of paper fell frome it.

"What is this?" Gabriel picked it up, he concentrated and a purple glow came from his eyes.

"Only the one blessed by God can reach the end of the mantra and clean the filth and achieve perfection"

"What the hell, is this some religious cr*p?!?!" Gabriel said to himself, still he had nothing else to do so he decided to read it.

Gabriel picked up the book, and started reading, but the strange thing was that every single letre seemed to contain a loot of information, he only read 15 pages and his head was hurting so badly that he had to stop.

"What is this book, the mommet I stopped reading I can't remember anything? And my head hurts like hell. I need to rest then try again maybe there is something important about this book after all"

After resting for three hour Gabriel picked up the book again.

"Let's give it another try." this time he almost finished page 17 but then he couldn't take it any longer, and like the last time after stopping he forgot all the information.

The journey was most of the times peaceful. They were atacked by small squads of bandits two times but Sam took care of them easily. They spent most of the time traveling, only stoping to eat, and to let the spirit horses rest. On this trip Maria reveled her cooking skills, and Gabriel finally could eat something other than toasted bread, his favorite dish was meat soup, Maria told him that it was a traditional dish from the village that Annabeth came from.

Gabriel continued to read the book he now could get to page 49 but the last one was extremely hard he just couldn't finish it. Every time he tried he felt like his whole body would explode.

On the 34 day of they're jorny they stopped near a forest.

"We will rest here for the night and tomorrow will continue our journey, this is safe forest with no spirit beasts only regular animals, even so don't go to far." For the sake they own safety Gabriel said to Sam and Maria to not call him young Master.

"Yes don't worry uncle Sam, I just want to stretch my legs" said Gabriel.

"Dinner will be ready in half an hour, today is your favorite, meat soup." Said Maria.

"Exelente" said Gabriel, then he went to look around.

After walking for 5 minutes he took out the book and started reading it again. "Today I will finish it, I know it" said Gabriel to himself.

Then he started reading this time without knowing it Gabriel started mumbling in a strange language "ខ្ញុំជាមនុស្សម្នាក់ជាមួយសកលលោកដែលរាងកាយរបស់ខ្ញុំគឺសកលលោក" this time when he got to the 50th page he felt like his body was struck by thunder, he started to vomit mouthfuls of blood, on after another, his whole body was in pain, then he fainted.