Humanity

P.S. I was planning to make the visions a LOT longer, but forgot some parts mid-way and wanted to rush this chapter since I did not post for about a week and I am in a tight schedule... So I will leave the rest of the visions to your imagination. So, I still hope you enjoy today's chapter.

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His other slowly coiled around in air as it came closer to Gabriel's face with a slight growl.

Gabriel tried to say something, but was interrupted by his other, whom spoke with a gentler tone which turned into one of anger as he spoke, along with a saddened face;

[I understand, Gabriel... It is not your fault... We were taught and fed lies... Brainwashed by some higher authorities into believing that the laws were mandatory and should not be broken. And what's funny is that those same authorities which enforced and made the laws, actually tinkered and changed their laws on their whim, broke and stretched them if they deemed necessary...]

As his other spoke while he slithered towards Gabriel's face, Gabriel's once panicked state slowly disappeared as Gabriel felt in a state of confusion and curiosity.

[They brainwashed us, Gabriel! Ensnared us, along with every other innocent person in their web of lies and corruption for their own personal gain, not caring about breaking the law they once enforced... But Gabriel, I. Broke. Free!] His other spoke in an angry tone, which turned into one of enthusiasm as he pressed his head onto Gabriel's forehead, causing the latter to flinch before his other started to speak with a whisper;

[I used to be just like you, too ignorant to notice that we were being manipulated, to notice that we were being fed with nothing but lies! ..But I thought and thought... I saw bits and glints of the cold truth from different sources such as televisions or newspapers along with our own eyes, and I slowly managed to put them together as I thought... for a LONG time... The things kept away from the deserving eyes, swept under the red carpet made out from corpses and blood, I finally saw the hidden truth! ... And now, Gabriel... So. Will. You!]

As soon as his other spoke in it's gentle yet hoarse tone, Gabriel's eyes started to morph between the color black and white. Gabriel exclaimed due to the sudden change and discomfort as his head tilted backwards.

Gabriel's vision blurred as the color of his surroundings faded into a deep blood red and an abyssal black tone. Things did not stay this way for long, as Gabriel's sight twisted and contort in a circling demeanor, causing the black and red colors to mix up and distort around even further.

Needless to say, the experience was extremely nauseous. The only reason why Gabriel was not already vomiting his guts out was because his other was keeping Gabriel's body in check, making sure that reflexes like vomiting would not interrupt Gabriel's visions.

Gabriel wanted to speak out or say something, but he was unable to let out an ounce of his voice. The only option he had was to lean back and watch silently as his vision distorts while red and black silhouettes danced around in a contorted manner.

Red and black ink-like silhouettes circled around in a weird demeanor before it started to slow down. And once the spinning motion slowed down, the black and red colors scattered around in a malformed manner before they wiggled around while they coiled around each other, revealing an understandable view.

Slowly, the red and black colors finally shaped up, revealing what seemed to be a rural and deserted area. There were a quite a few tents around, which were tattered and dirty. Gabriel looked around in a surprised and scared style, as there was nothing resembling the alleyway he was once in.

As he looked around, Gabriel realized that he was somewhere that seemed like a desert, or a scarcely populated place filled with rocks of all sizes and a scorching sun.

While he was looking around, Gabriel quickly noticed that he was not alone, as there were around thirty more people standing around like him.

They appeared to be made out from the red and black ink-like color, as their faces could not be made out from each other because of them being made out of sheer black color as a slight black mist seeped out from them.

Gabriel tried to move his body, but to no avail, he could not move an inch from his initial place as his body was still stuck up on the wall at the alleyway.

<BAAAANG>

But before he could do anything else, a loud noise echoed around the air...

As soon as the noise echoed around the place, everybody started to scream in fear and panic as they hurriedly scattered into different directions.

Their screams of fear echoed inside Gabriel's head, causing him a light headache. But a light headache like this was not a big deal to Gabriel, as he easily gritted his teeth and endured the screams.

Then suddenly, men who seemed to be painted with black and red color started to run downwards from a small hill and towards Gabriel and the other folk, while they fired their various weapons at the defenseless people.

The innocent people looked like they were made out from black ink, but the places they were shot from, bled with a red ink along with some red and black mist. The people shouted and screamed in fear and agony as they were shot down along with their friends and family.

Fear.

Gabriel suddenly felt sheer fear like none other as he tried to struggle away, but it was pointless.

His senses were screaming at him, intensely warning him to get away, to run and hide.

But he couldn't.

The men with dangerous weapons came closer with each breath Gabriel took. Gabriel tried to talk to his other, to get him to use the black goop in order to protect himself from these attackers. But his other did not respond.

All alone...

Gabriel felt insecure, he was scared and afraid, yet there was nothing he could do at this moment. All he could do was to watch the massacre that was unfolding before him, without being able to blink an eye.

The sounds of screams and guns echoed around the air, causing Gabriel to shake and shiver every time a round is fired upon another innocent. The screams of the innocents pile up on each other, causing Gabriel's headache to worsen to a pretty bad degree.

As the innocent people were being mauled down onto the ground by flying bullets, Gabriel suddenly felt something grab him on the shoulders.

The thing that grabbed Gabriel's shoulders turned out to be a soldier whom was neatly dressed, as Gabriel was able to get a good view of the soldier's black attire with red stripes and medals here and there while the soldier threw him down onto the ground before a pile of dirt and dust blew onto his face from the ground.

Must be some guy with a high rank...

Gabriel winced in pain before his eyesight recovered from the dirt and dust that blew onto his face. In front of him, Gabriel saw a little girl running away from a soldier before the soldier shot at the little girl's legs with extreme accuracy, causing the girl to scream in pain and agony as she quickly fell down on the ground.

"Heh, bullseye!" The soldier who shot the girl's legs said in an excited tone, which caused Gabriel's eyes to widen before his expression turns angry.

"D-damn you... If only I could m-moove!" Gabriel thought as he tried to set himself free one last time, which proved to be completely useless.

The soldier who shot the little girl then walked towards the girl before he kicked the girl in the head, causing a loud snapping noise to echo around the place.

But before Gabriel could see anything else, he is suddenly kicked in the stomach, pretty hard.

The kick caused Gabriel to gasp for air after his head quickly met with the cold and hard ground.

Gabriel suddenly felt a cold sensation on the side of his head, before he heard a <Click>.

Gabriel finally understood that the thing pressed onto the side of his head was none other than a gun.

<BANG>

The loud sound of the gun echoed and rang in his ears, causing an extreme amount of pain and strain when it was combined with the pain of being shot from the head.

As Gabriel was laying down on the ground, a single question echoed inside his mind...

Why?

Why would soldiers, armed to the teeth attack innocent and defenseless people like this?

Why did they find the need to massacre the entire village like this?

Was there even a need at all?

Gabriel's vision contorted once again, and the red and black mixed between each other before a new inky scene was created out of the red and black.

A couple of suited men were sitting around a fancy table.

The men looked happy and satisfied as they spoke to each other, but when Gabriel heard their discussion, his curious face quickly turned into an angry frown.

???: "Gentlemen, I am happy to announce that General Reyes and his squad have successfully claimed the land."

Hearing the declaration of the man sitting at the middle of the table, all of the other men who were sitting around the table gave an excited expression.

??: "About time! We will finally be able to start our oil facility plan!" A fat man spoke with an impatient yet excited tone.

??: "I just hope that they took care of the...''garbage''..." A thin and long man around his 70's spoke with an arrogant accent.

To their replies, the man sitting in the middle simply raised his hand in order to stop the light bickering before he spoke;

"Gentlemen, Gentlemen, I assure you that any ''problems'' involving our oil facility plan have been removed. Isn't that right, General Reyes?"

Then from the back of the man sitting in the middle, a dark silhouette walked towards the table, revealing himself to be none other than the soldier who shot Gabriel in the head.

"Of course, Mr. President. Me and my men have taken care of the cleanup." General Reyes said with a smirk.

"Brilliant, General Reyes... Now then gentlemen, It seems that there is nothing left to discuss, so continue the facility plan like we planned, and get it done by the end of next month." The President spoke as he got up from his chair and walked out of the classy meeting room with Reyes following behind closely.

"General Reyes, I believe that your ''contributions'' to your country have earned you a big promotion." The President spoke with a satisfied tone, causing Reyes to exclaim in surprise for a second before his expression turned into delight as a smirk creeps up his face before he speaks;

"Thank you, Mr. President!"

Seeing this scene unfold before him, Gabriel fumes with anger. But before he could try to do anything, his vision distorts as the figures turn into black and red ink before they mix up once again.

The red and black ink revealed several other visions, such as a person with connections to higher ranking people, blaming his crimes onto an innocent teenager who was just unlucky to be at the wrong place in the wrong time. The teenager hardly had any friends, let alone money or connections that could help him out in this situation. Without any experience and alibi, the teenager was easily arrested for the guilty man's numerous crimes, ruining his life while the man got off scot-free.

[They will use you, tangle you in their web of lies!] A sinister and hoarse voice echoed inside Gabriel's head before the scenery changed once again.

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This time, It was a couple of Bullies beating up a defenseless kid who did nothing wrong, but was outcast because of not having enough social skills and was better at his classes compared to the others.

The kid was subjected to verbal and physical abuse day after day, not being able to utter a single word about it to his family because of personal problems.

One day, the bullies would literally wipe the floor with him. Another day, he would be locked inside his locker for hours. He would be casually pushed around and be treated as a joke.

The bullies would occasionally beat him up, and everybody would watch instead of interfering. They would watch his torture, laugh at his agony, make fun of his insecurities while the bullies would mess the kid up physically.

[Nobody will stand up for you, every man is for himself!] The hoarse and menacing voice rang out once again. Causing the environment to flare up and get wilder while it spoke.

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Then a few more scenarios flashed on Gabriel's mind. He saw thugs, robberies, murders, political moves, crooked and corrupt authority, and much more. All of these visions caused an intense headache and pain while Gabriel was subjected to the darkest sides of humanity.

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Time by time, the visions grew primitive every single time. Slowly changing it's concept and meaning.

Gabriel saw that every life was equal, and that the life of a cat, dog, fly, lizard, bird, human, and all other living creatures were equally important. Other species were not as smart as humans were, but this did not stop them from having feelings and emotions. Gabriel learned about the emotions and importance of other creatures, before the visions changed once again...

The red and black contorted around until it revealed... a slaughterhouse...

The screams and squeals of pigs and cows, their innate struggle for freedom and life echoed in Gabriel's head as his vision was shaking due to their constant and wild struggle.

The animals were harshly being pulled from a couple of ropes that were tied onto their necks, which then extended back towards the animal behind them, causing a chain reaction kind of effect.

Blood red rain was pouring down from the dark sky as mud splashed all over the place due to the resistances of the animals that were soon to be slaughtered.

Gabriel could see the fear and the sensation of dread in the animal's eyes, as they squealed and screamed in horror.

[Those who are strong control the fates of the weak.] The baleful and ominous voice spoke. The voice echoed inside Gabriel's head as it felt like a strong whisper, yet at the same time, felt like a hoarse shout.

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After the voice spoke, the scenery slowly changed once again, this time revealing a wild and grassy land.

While Gabriel was looking around, he quickly noticed a black wolf tackling a child deer onto the ground as the black wolf quickly sank it's fangs onto the deer's neck, causing red ink to splat around while red and black mist seeped out from the deer's wounds.

The wolf, now dyed in red and black, started it's feast on the young deer's carcass.

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The scenery changed one last time, before it turned into an environment where trees and different kinds of animals were all over the place.

The sun gently shone from the leaves of a big tree, and onto a beautiful, flying butterfly. The butterfly happily flew around as it followed the trails of sunlight.

But then suddenly, the butterfly got caught on a sticky substance. A red trap made out from webs that were slowly oozing a red liquid out.

The butterfly panicked as it began to flap it's wings even harder in order to get itself off of this sticky situation, but it's struggles only caused the butterfly to get stuck onto the bleeding web even harder.

And after a while of struggling, the butterfly was stuck to the web in such a way that the only thing it was capable now was to wobble around in fear.

Then suddenly, a black shadow fell upon the butterfly. The shadow grew bigger and bigger, until it descended on top of the butterfly. Gabriel felt the sudden rise of fear and panic from the butterfly, as he started to feel the same dread and fear while he was looking at the creature that dangled on top of the wobbling butterfly.

The creature had pitch black skin, covered by an even darker fur which was even darker than the darkest abyss. It's blood red, circular eyes that easily gazed upon the soul of it's prey as it causes the sheer epitome of fear and dread creep onto the unfortunate eyes that had the misfortune to meet with it's own.

The creature seemed to be a mixture of The Brazilian Wandering Spider and The Tarantula, the king of spiders.

The dreadful spider slowly descended upon it's prey before it started to slowly envelop the butterfly in a pitch black web.

The butterfly, shaken by the sheer despair that was eating away at it's soul, started to wobble like there was no tomorrow in order for even a fraction of a chance to be able to break free...

But unfortunately for the poor butterfly, it's wobbling made no difference to the baleful spider, as the butterfly was quickly packed, sacked, and sealed within the black webbing.

The spider then slowly and patiently pulled the webbed up butterfly at it's hideous and horrifying mouth, before it slowly sank it's fangs onto the web which was enveloping the butterfly.

The cocoon of web jolted for a second before it changed back into it's previous position.

From the place where the spider bit it's prey, the cocoon made out of black webbing started to change color as it slowly blossomed into a blood red cocoon...

The spider then casually opened up the cocoon before it quickly devoured the carcass of the dead butterfly.

What's more horrifying is that, after the spider was done with it's meal, the spider took the bloody webbing... and added it to it's already blood red spiral orb webbing abode which served as it's trap...

How vicious...

The spider then slowly turned towards the direction which Gabriel was watching from, causing their eyes to meet. While looking at those blood red eyes of the spider, Gabriel felt sheer despair and terror creep from his back. He wanted to look away, but the blood red eyes were... captivating.

It's blood red eyes had already ensnared Gabriel like it's blood red web had ensnared the unfortunate butterfly.

While Gabriel was looking at the horrifying creature before him, a sinister voice whispered at his ears with a menacing echo. This caused Gabriel to finally break free of the spider's gaze as the environment shifted into sheer red and black ink.

[Killing, is the ONLY way for US to survive... The humans have brainwashed you into believing and obeying their "laws" and "rules"... They made you into nothing more than another puppet in their web of corruption and deceit... But TODAY... Today is the day that you break free, just like I once did...] The sinister voice whispered at Gabriel's ears with a hint of delight...

While the voice was whispering at Gabriel, the latter suddenly felt something OOZE out of him... It was something without color or any physical shape, but Gabriel could feel it slipping away from his arms, his mind, his body...

Instinctively, Gabriel tried to tug at it and tried to pull it back inside of him. But he was interrupted by the voice;

[NO!!! Let it go, Gabriel!... Let it ooze out from usss... Let it slip away from our body and soul... We do not need it! It only restricts us, serves as a safeguard for the damned people who are controlling the web of lies and deceit... So let their vile and sickening curse wash away from us... Let it leave us...]

The voice urged Gabriel to let it go... to let it slip away from them.

Then suddenly, a calming and relaxing sensation washed over Gabriel. After the timeless amounts of agony and suffering, he finally felt a sensation of relief.

[It is alright now, Gabriel. Remember our father's words... With great power, comes great responsibility. It is OUR responsibility to break free of our chains which restrict us, and it is OUR responsibility to protect the ones we hold dear! All you have to do is let go... Just let it go, and nothing will be able to stop us from fulfilling our responsibilities... Come Gabriel, join me...] The voice spoke in a caring yet compelling tone.

Gabriel listened to the voice as his muscles grew relaxed while a wave of relief washed over Gabriel's tired face.

Was this feeling of relief genuine? Or was it stimulated by his other?

It did not matter...

He could feel it... Gabriel could feel it slipping away. The chains which were once restricting him were getting loose... He could feel the common morals and restrictions slowly washing away..

Gabriel could feel his humanity.... slipping away.....