Gabriel
I didn't know how long we had been here.
The days blurred into a single nightmare of pain, hunger, and exhaustion. Every trial was harder than the last.
And this time…
This time, we were alone.
Isaac had separated us.
I didn't know where Raphael or Michael were. I only knew that I was on my knees in the dirt, my arms heavy, my lungs burning.
And in front of me stood Isaac.
His voice was calm. "Get up."
I tried.
I fell.
Raphael
My head throbbed. My muscles burned as if they had been dipped in fire.
Isaac had tied me to a tree. My arms twisted behind me, my back aching from the ropes. I could barely move.
"What do you want?" I gasped.
He stepped closer. "What is your dream?"
I blinked. "What?"
"Your dream." His voice was cold. "Why do you fight?"
I didn't want to answer.
But then he grabbed my shoulder and squeezed so hard I thought he would dislocate it.
"Why?"
I clenched my teeth.
"Because I want to know why they exist."
Isaac said nothing.
But I felt him register my answer.
Then he let go.
"Then fight to find the truth."
Michael
I knew it was just a test.
But my body didn't.
I stood in a dark chamber, blindfolded. I heard noises. Movements. Maybe illusions—maybe not.
I had no idea what was around me.
Isaac's voice came from nowhere.
"What is your dream?"
I breathed slowly. I knew I had to answer.
"I want to make the world safer."
Silence.
Then—a sudden rush of air, and I instinctively ducked as something shot past me.
"Good," Isaac said. "Then learn to survive in it."
Gabriel
I forced myself up.
My body screamed in pain, but I moved anyway.
Isaac watched me, unmoving.
"And you?" His voice was calm, but I knew this was no accident. "What is your dream?"
I froze.
I could have lied to him. I could have said I wanted revenge. That I wanted to wipe out the vampires.
But I said nothing.
Because my dream belonged to me alone.