Under Hell

He stared at the horrifying scape for a while before letting out a sharp, humourless laugh. 

The winds were harsh out here, so his laughter was quickly drowned under the billowing wind. 

The doctor and the commander watched as he slowly crumbled to the floor, his laughter turning to distraught weeping. 

This was what had been on his mind ever since he had returned to Exeges. 

This was what he had feared. 

When he stared at the massive crack on the city's dome, he wasn't reminded of Icarus's brutality in the name of conquest, but rather his efforts in it. 

Gabriel played no small part. 

The city looked to have decayed, the buildings were swarming with eldritch, and the sky too. And it was all because of that crack in the dome. 

Like a hideous scar, it stretched from the base of the translucent barrier all the way to the top. Hideous creatures spilling from it like an infection. 

Staring at the horde of grotesque flesh-eating monsters every thought of escape rinsed out of his head. 

Or at least escaping without dying a couple of times. 

*** 

After a while, the commander walked him back to his room. 

Gabriel sat on the edge of the cot, hands resting on his knees. The serenity, faint scent of antiseptic, and the low hum of machinery felt surreal compared to the savagery on the surface. 

What Gabriel found even more unsettling was the fact that they had no issues living beneath swarms of deadly eldritch creatures. 

'What gave 'em' such confidence.' 

Gabriel thought as his eyes wandered to the two figures standing across from him. 

The commander– a woman with a soldier's posture, arms crossed over her protruding belly, her gaze sharp and assessing. The surrounding aura was simply enthralling. Even heavily pregnant, her presence was still domineering. 

The man in a lab coat meanwhile was unreadable behind his thin glasses. Almost passable. 

While Gabriel sat he went out to fetch a chair for the commander. Upon his return, she curtly refused to sit but after a glare from him, she reluctantly obliged. 

Over their short exchange, Gabriel had learned the Commander's name to be Rivera and the Doctor's Ansel. 

He had been awake for a few hours now, long enough to piece together that he was not a prisoner—at least, not in the traditional sense. Yet, the reinforced door and the steady presence of guards outside told him he wasn't free either. 

Gabriel exhaled, then leaned back against the wall. "So… what now? You hold me hostage?" 

Rivera's expression remained neutral. "No." 

"Then what? You want my help?" He laughed, shaking his head. "You want me to kill Icarus?" 

Neither of them denied it. That was the part that made it absurd. 

Gabriel let out another humourless chuckle. "You dragged me back for this? You really think I'd agree?" 

Doctor Ansel sighed, pushing up his glasses. "You misunderstand. I had no intention of creating you with sentience. It was never a matter of whether you agree or not. You never had a choice." 

Gabriel's amusement faded instantly. His eyes narrowed, shoulders tensing. "Oh? I don't?" 

Ansel didn't hesitate. "Yes, you don't." 

Gabriel was already rising to his feet when the commander let out a dry cough. She shot them both menacing glares before saying: 

"What Doctor Ansel means to say is that you can't leave here without our help." 

Gabriel scoffed. "I've been breaking into places since I was a kid. I think I can manage." 

"You misunderstand again." The doctor's voice remained clinical. "I don't mean you can't leave physically. I mean you cannot survive without us." 

That gave Gabriel pause. He didn't have his stealth any more but a part of him believed that he could make it out of the infested city. At best, he'd die a couple of times no big deal. 

But the doctor seemed confident in his assumption too. 

So he crossed his arms and asked. "That so?" tilting his head. "I mean even if I die a few times. I'll just keep coming back... won't I?" 

The doctor smiled thinly. "Not forever." 

Silence. 

Gabriel felt his pulse slow, his instincts warning him. "Explain," he said, voice quieter now. 

Ansel clasped his hands behind his back. "You can only be brought back so many times. Your body was never meant to endure repeated deaths, and your mind even less so. If you die too many times—" He tapped the side of his head. "—something inside you will break. And when that happens, well…" He paused as if considering how best to phrase it. Then he simply said, "You'll explode." 

Gabriel stiffened. 

Rivera shot the doctor a sharp look. "Ansel." 

"What? He needs to know." Ansel shrugged. "If he dies again, there's a high probability he won't just die. He'll detonate. I won't bore you with the details, but based on my calculations, the blast radius would be… extensive. A few city blocks, at least." 

Gabriel couldn't breathe for a second. The words weren't sinking in properly. 

He wanted to call it a lie. But he remembered the moment Bulk had killed him. That last, agonizing second before everything had gone dark. He had felt something crack inside him—something deeper than pain, something that had left a jagged wound in his mind. If he was pushed further than that… what would have happened? 

Gabriel inhaled sharply. "And you're telling me this now?" 

"It wasn't relevant until now." Ansel spread his hands. "Now it is." 

Gabriel's fists clenched. He didn't know what was worse—the fact that he might actually believe him, or the fact that it meant he was even more trapped than he realized. He had assumed that no matter what, he could find a way to escape, to go back to the capital, to find out what had happened to his family. But now was he willing to risk that many lives? 

He had to find out what happened to his family. He had to—somehow. But if Ansel was right, then every step toward them was a step toward catastrophe. 

Rivera finally spoke up, her voice quieter than Ansel's but just as firm. "We don't expect you to trust us. And I won't force you into a fight you're not ready for." She hesitated, then said, "But we revived you for a reason. Icarus needs to die, and you are the only one who can do it." 

Gabriel scoffed, though there was no humour in it any more. "And what makes you so sure I can kill him?" 

Ansel's smile was almost too casual as if the weight of their situation didn't faze him in the slightest. Yet, his eyes told a different story—calculated, knowing... 

"I won't lie to you. We might not make it out of this alive." His voice was steady, matter-of-fact. Then, without missing a beat, he met Gabriel's gaze and added, "But you? You were made for this." 

Gabriel's gut churned as the doctor spoke, his glasses shimmering. 

"You were made to kill Icarus."