Faults that are not...

After an unknown amount of time passed, Gabriel slowly started regaining his senses. He could feel that he wasn't on the roof anymore. He was lying on some rough terrain.

His head was thumping from pain as if it was about to explode. It was still hurting badly, but he had more things to worry about. Just who had hit him? Why would someone do it? Many questions floated in his head as he opened his eyes.

Initially, his vision was still blurry, but it soon cleared.

"Oh, it seems our young friend is up. That's good. Now he can see with his own eyes." An emotionless voice fell in Gabriel's ears.

He weakly pushed his body up with one hand and pressed the back of his head with the other.

He recognized that voice right away. It belonged to Hawrin, who was the son of the Town Priest. However, as he looked ahead, Gabriel could see that Hawrin wasn't alone. There was another man with him who was in his mid-twenties.

Gabriel recognized that man as well. "Hawrin, Javin, what are you two doing?"

He had seen the other man previously. He was the Elder brother of Hawrin, who was selected in the Academy of Elements since he had awakened the element of Wind. No wonder these people were able to get to him without alerting him. The Mages of Wind could fly after all. They didn't need to use the stairs.

Gabriel observed his surroundings briefly. As soon as he realized where he was, he felt even worse. This place... He was sitting right at the edge of a cliff.

"What am I doing here?" Javin asked, cackling. "I came back to the town because I was told that my little brother was going to be selected in Holy Church of Light, but you took that opportunity from him. You think you can live after stealing something from my brother?"

"After today, you won't be able to steal anything from anyone. You'll have to be alive to do that!"

"I didn't snatch anything from anyone! Ask the Head Priest if you want to be selected! I don't have control over who is selected and who isn't. Don't make this mistake. When someone finds out, you'll be punished heavily!"

Gabriel stood up, trying to convince the others to let him leave. "I promise I won't tell anyone if you let me leave. No one will know what happened here. We still have time to correct the mistakes!"

"Well, you're right. This is certainly a crime, and if the Head Priest of Church of Light finds out, we would be killed for attempting to kill his precious disciple." Hawrin agreed. He gazed at his older brother. "He's right. Let's leave him, brother. We should stop. I'm really scared now."

He acted really scared as he talked about freeing Gabriel, but his act didn't last long as he soon burst into laughter.

"You idiot, you really thought I would say something like this if you threatened me? You're right. If someone finds out, we'll be in trouble, but who will find out? No one is here, and no one saw us bring you here! Moreover, Why do you think we brought you to this cliff? Even your body won't be found if we ditch it here!"

" We can kill you here, and not even gods are going to find out! Today, let me reduce the burden on our world." Hawrin stepped closer to Gabriel with firm steps.

Gabriel stepped back only to realize he didn't have any room. He was already standing at the edge. One more step back, and he was going to fall off the cliff.

"Brother, can you help me a bit? This boy took so much from me. I don't want him to die in an accident. I want to be the one to kill him personally!"

"Sure."

Javin flashed a big grin as he raised his hand. A beautiful yellow formation appeared above his hand. A staff came out of the formation, having a beautiful yellow crystal embedded on top.

"Chains of Restrictions!" he chanted, pointing the staff towards Gabriel.

As soon as the spell was chanted, Gabriel felt as if an invisible chain had wrapped around his arms and his feet, trapping him in his place. He couldn't even move his hands and feet. He couldn't do anything.

Gabriel fiercely struggled to free himself from the restriction. "Don't kill me. I need to live! I need to meet the Head Priest tomorrow! I need to fulfill the dreams of my mother! You can't kill me!"

His dream of joining the Church of Light wasn't a dream of his own. It was also a dream of his mother, who had failed to achieve it. She had once told him about it, and it was at that point that he decided that he was going to fulfill her dream through him. He had never told this to anyone before. Unfortunately, his pleas for mercy only fell on deaf ears.

"Oh, dream of your mother? Should I really care for that? Since you're a dog, your mother must be a... Hahaha, you really think I would care for a bi*ch's dream? I only care about my own dream, and you broke it. Now it's time I break you and your dream."

"If you said one word about my mother, I'll kill you!" Gabriel roared without thinking as he heard the cold words of Hawrin about his mother. His mother was already dead, and she was being insulted right before his eyes. He lost all his senses at that moment.

Hawrin laughed out even louder as he placed the tip of the knife on the chest of Gabriel, who couldn't free himself.

"You dog, you think you can survive tonight, let alone kill me? Your life is mine tonight! I'm your master, and you're my pet. And I've decided that I don't need this pet anymore, so you can die in peace. Say hi to that bi*ch mother of yours in hell. Tell her I sent you."

Since Hawrin was so infuriated at Gabriel for taking his spot, he really enjoyed tormenting him. As soon as he noticed that Gabriel's mother was his soft spot, he intentionally talked bad about his mother.

Thrust~

Before Gabriel could respond, he thrust the knife, impaling the heart of Gabriel.

The cold blade penetrated the skin of Gabriel, entering his heart.

Gabriel watched his dreams and hopes being crushed right before his eyes, and the pain of that was much worse for him than the pain of being stabbed.

A pained scream escaped the lips of Gabriel even though he tried to prevent it. He didn't want to give the satisfaction of watching him scream to Hawrin.

Hawrin didn't stop after stabbing Gabriel once either. He pulled out the knife and stabbed Gabriel again and again and again as he laughed like a maniac. Along the way, he didn't forget to twist his knife as Gabriel bled heavily.

"That's enough. He's already dead." Ultimately Javin chimed in, reminding his brother that the young man was already dead.

Gabriel's painful screams had stopped. His eyes were already closed by now as a tear droplet trickled down his cheeks. He had died long ago. His clothes were already covered in blood, just like the knife in Hawrin's hands.

"Hah, the bastard died faster than I thought." Hawrin finally came to his senses, letting out a sigh. "You can free him."

Javin canceled his spell. The wind chains disappeared, freeing Gabriel's lifeless body from the restrictions.

Gabriel's limp body started falling weakly to the ground, but Hawrin wasn't even going to allow that to happen.

"Don't spoil our precious cliff with your blood." He laughed as he kicked Gabriel.

His kick landed right on the bleeding chest of Gabriel on the same spot where he was stabbed many times. Gabriel's body flew back, falling off the thousand-meter-high cliff...

Hawrin watched Gabriel fall with a wide grin on his face. He stretched his arms as he let out a yawn. "I feel so refreshed now. Thanks, brother, for helping me."

"Don't worry about it. As your brother, it's my duty to help you out." The older brother ruffled the hair of your young brother with love and care. "I'll do the same even at the academy for you. Anyway, we need to get back now. It's already two. If anyone finds out we were out so late; people will be suspicious."

"We can't let anyone know. The High Priest of Light is still in the village. If he finds out, our death would be made a royal spectacle." Javin turned his back on the cliff.

"Right. I'm coming." Hawrin glanced off the cliff one last time before following his older brother.

The Cliff returned to the silence as the two brothers left, but it was just the silence before the storm...

A body fell off the cliff, falling flat on the ground. A puddle of blood appeared around the body, which was in a really bad condition. Most of the bones of Gabriel were broken, and his skull was cracked from the fall. His hands were twisted in a position that shouldn't have been possible.

However, something strange also started taking place at that time.

A thin stream of blood left the puddle of blood and started moving away from the body on its own. It was a really strange event since the bloodstream wasn't following gravity. It was climbing upward, leaving a trail behind.

Barely a meter away from the body was a book... A pitch-black book that appeared to be covered in dust. The book appeared as if it wasn't used in centuries. There were some strange symbols on the cover of the book which were hard to read.

The blood of Gabriel kept moving toward the book, leaving a red trail behind.

As soon as the blood touched the book, the book seemed to come to life. It started changing. The Book, which appeared to be old until recently, became utterly new as a beautiful black light surrounded it.

The book wasn't the only thing that was changing. Through the steam of blood, a bond was established between the lifeless body and the mysterious book.

The wounds of the body also started healing slowly... The heavy wounds... They were healing as if they were nothing. The body also started floating in the air as the healing of bones began.

The body, which was lying lifeless, was going through another change. On the back of the left hand of Gabriel, there was a symbol of the Element of Light, while the right hand used to be empty. Not anymore... On the back of his right hand, a new symbol appeared, which was pitch black...