THE THING INSIDE

Gabriel didn't sleep anymore.

Not really.

He closed his eyes… but he didn't rest.

He remembered things he'd never lived. Saw places that didn't exist. He'd blink—and be in a desert of bone, stars bleeding above him. Blink again—and he stood in a city made of screams.

He was dreaming someone else's mind.

Or something else's.

Inside a cavern beyond the Cradle, Merlin traced ancient runes into the dirt. "Zareth is not a god," he said grimly. "He is what was left behind when the gods were born. A consequence. A cosmic flaw."

Gabriel paced like a caged beast. "I can feel him, Merlin. Like he's... whispering beneath my thoughts."

"Then the seal has cracked further than I feared," Merlin said. "Zareth is not just alive—he's clinging to you. You were marked by the Starforger, and that mark... it makes you visible."

"To what?"

Merlin's eyes flicked up.

"To things that even creation itself forgot to kill."

That night.

Gabriel sat alone, away from the fire, hands clenched into fists. Every breath felt too loud. Every heartbeat echoed like thunder.

Nyra approached silently and sat beside him. "You're not alone."

"I'm not me," he whispered. "Not completely."

She touched his shoulder. "Then let me remind you who you are."

But just as her hand touched his skin—

He screamed.

Not from pain.

From… possession.

Inside Gabriel's mind—

The world had vanished.

He stood in a corridor of mirrors.

Each reflected a different version of him.

One wore a crown of fire. One had wings of bone. One knelt in chains of stars. But at the end of the corridor stood one mirror left unlit.

Dark.

Empty.

And it was calling to him.

A voice, deep and layered like cracked mountains, echoed:

"I gave them gods."

"They gave me chains."

"But you, child of flame and sorrow… you are hollow enough to carry me."

Gabriel shouted, "You are nothing! You're just a parasite—"

The voice laughed.

"Then stop me."

The mirror shattered.

And something stepped through.

Not a monster.

Not a man.

Not yet.

It was Gabriel.

But without limits.

Without morality.

Without fear.

Just power.

And it smiled.

In the waking world—

Gabriel bolted upright, eyes glowing pitch black. A pulse of energy knocked Nyra, Aziel, and even Merlin to the ground. Trees split. Stones cracked.

Then it stopped.

He gasped for air, eyes returning to normal—sweat pouring down his face.

"I fought him," he whispered. "And I think…"

"I think I lost."

Far away, in the obsidian vault—

Lucifer sat in silence.

Zareth's presence had grown. Even he felt the toll.

But he smiled anyway.

"Let the boy break," he whispered. "So I can collect the pieces."