Gabriel
The fire burned inside me.
Not on my skin, not in my veins—but deep in my bones, in my mind.
It was a fire that didn't warm.
It consumed.
We thought we knew pain.
But this pain was different.
Isaac hadn't just beaten us, starved us, or pushed us to exhaustion.
He had broken us.
And now, he wanted to see what remained.
Isaac Crowe
"You haven't slept in three days."
My voice was calm, almost casual.
The brothers knelt before me in the dirt, their bodies trembling from exhaustion.
But I didn't care.
I wasn't here to test their strength.
I was here to test their souls.
"Today, you will show me why you fight."
Gabriel slowly lifted his head. His eyes were glazed over, but deep inside them, the fire was still burning.
I nodded. "Good. Then we start with you."
Gabriel
I didn't know what he had planned.
But when he took me away from the others, I knew it wouldn't be good.
He led me to an old well. The water inside was black, deep, ice-cold.
"Jump."
I blinked. "What?"
Isaac tilted his head. "You want to die, don't you?"
My breath caught in my throat.
"You want your brothers to survive, no matter the cost." His voice was razor-sharp. "Then prove it."
He stepped closer, his gaze cold as steel.
"Jump. Go under. Feel the water swallow you. And when you come back up—if you come back up—ask yourself if your life is truly as worthless as you think."
I stared at him.
He knew.
He knew everything.
Raphael
I fought against the pain with every fiber of my being.
Isaac had locked me in a tight, pitch-black space. No light. No sound. Only darkness.
"You seek the truth," he had said. "But are you ready to face it?"
I didn't know how long I had been here. Time meant nothing.
Minutes stretched into hours. Hours into eternity.
The darkness swallowed me whole, gnawed at my mind, made me forget who I was.
And then it began.
The whispering.
Not loud, not clear—but I could hear it. Voices in the darkness. Words that shouldn't exist.
Or should they?
"You know you will never find it."
I gasped, my heart pounding.
"You're just an angry child chasing an enemy you don't understand."
I wanted to scream. But I had no strength left.
Isaac had pushed me to the edge of my sanity.
And now, he wanted to see if I would fall.
Michael
I stood on a narrow beam.
To my left and right? Nothing but a deep abyss.
Below me? A stone pit lined with jagged rocks.
"You want to build a new world?" Isaac's voice was calm. "Then start by surviving in this one."
I didn't know how long I had been standing here.
He had put me on this damned beam with no food, no water, no shoes.
"A world without vampires," I muttered.
Isaac shrugged. "And if you die? Who will build it then?"
I gritted my teeth.
"So what will you do?"
My legs trembled.
But I did not fall.
Not today.
Gabriel
I stood at the edge of the well.
The water was black as the night.
"Jump." Isaac's voice was calm. "Or admit you're afraid."
I clenched my fists.
He knew I wouldn't jump.
Not because I feared death.
But because I knew I had to live.
For Raphael. For Michael.
For what lay ahead.
I met his gaze. "I will die if I have to."
He held my stare.
Then, he nodded. "Good."
He turned away.
"Then live. Until it's time."