Lot to Lose, Lot to Gain (Rewrite)

Gabriel's Story

"Amy, come on!"

"I'm coming, silly! You're taller than me!"

Two kids, running through a field. Not a care in the world. Then, smoke on the horizon.

"Gabe, what's that...?" Amethyst stopped dead in her tracks. Gabriel drew the training sword on his hip.

"I don't know, Amethyst, but stay behind me," he said.

"Okay..." Amy was shaking, clearly scared. She and Gabriel crouched in the grass.

Black skeletons were walking towards them. A white skeleton in mage robes led the march. Gabriel clutched his sword tighter as they drew close, ready to strike if they were discovered.

Inevitably, they were. A wither skeleton stood over them, about to signal the leader when Gabriel leapt out, plunging his blade through the skeleton's head. It fell to the ground with a thump, and Gabriel grabbed its sword. Two more skeletons approached, and Gabriel managed to strike down one before the other grabbed both him and Amethyst. The apparent leader walked over, looking at them, then the fallen skeletons.

"Brave kid. Excellent fighter," he said. "Take him and the girl back to the fort."

"Yes, sir."

They were rugged through a portal, and time blurred for them. Hours became days, days became weeks, weeks to months, months to years. The skeleton general, Naeus, trained them himself, and cared for them almost as a father would. Eventually, Gabriel and Amethyst began to regard him as less of a mentor and more of a parent.

Then came the girl. Abigail, the Nether Princess. After she claimed her place in the arena, a battle Gabriel himself observed, he was appointed as her protector. By her side, wherever she went, her guardian angel. But the one time he'd been gone, she was struck down, and it gave him the opportunity he needed. Seeing all of Naeus's forces distracted by Lady Azura, he fled the Nether, seeking out the Dreadfort. The rest, well... the rest is clear.