The light faded from the sky.
The clouds closed slowly, as if nothing had happened.
The wind returned.
The water began to move again.
But Elham did not move.
He still stood in the stream, the current brushing against him, his hands slightly raised from where the water had answered him.
The warmth in his chest remained.
Steady.
Unfamiliar, but no longer unstable.
Asher stepped closer to the edge of the stream.
"You good?" he asked.
Elham didn't answer right away.
Something was still there.
Not around him.
Within him.
The world felt quieter.
Then—
A voice.
"Come."
Elham's breath caught.
He hadn't spoken.
He knew that.
"…John?" he said quietly.
John didn't answer.
He was watching.
The sound of the stream softened.
The air around him stilled.
Then everything shifted.
The water beneath his feet disappeared.
The weight of his body faded.
And then—
He was somewhere else.
There was no ground.
No sky.
No horizon.
Only an endless expanse.
White.
Still.
Elham turned slowly.
"…Where am I?"
Then—
He saw it.
A light.
Small.
But impossible to ignore.
It flickered gently, like a flame that did not burn.
Elham stepped closer.
The distance vanished.
Now it hovered before him.
"…What are you?" Elham asked.
The light pulsed.
"You have chosen."
The voice carried certainty.
"…Who are you?"
"I am sent."
A pause.
"To speak what is given."
Elham swallowed.
"…Are you God?"
"No."
"I speak for Him."
Silence settled.
"…Why me?" Elham asked.
The light dimmed slightly.
Then steadied.
"For what has been carried."
Elham frowned.
"…What does that mean?"
The light pulsed again.
"You are not the first to stand where you stand."
A pause.
"Your blood remembers what your mind does not."
Elham's chest tightened.
"…My blood?"
The light brightened slightly.
"There was a king who was chosen not for his strength… but for his heart."
The space around them felt heavier.
"He stood against what others feared."
"He was raised from among many… yet set apart."
Elham's breath slowed.
"…David," he said quietly.
The light did not deny it.
"His line did not end."
A pause.
"It was preserved."
Elham felt something shift inside him.
Deeper than thought.
"…You're saying I'm—"
"Of that line."
The words landed without force.
But they stayed.
"Not because of who you are now," the voice continued.
"But because of what has been carried forward."
Elham looked down at his hands.
"…Then this was decided already?"
The light flickered.
"No."
A pause.
"You were given the chance."
Another.
"You chose."
That mattered more.
"…What am I supposed to do?" Elham asked.
The light steadied.
"Speak what is true."
"Where falsehood spreads, you will stand."
"Where darkness hides, you will expose it."
"And where demons take hold…"
The light pulsed stronger.
"You will command them to leave."
Elham's chest tightened.
"…And if they don't?"
"They will resist."
A pause.
"So will you."
Silence followed.
"…Your name," Elham said.
The light stilled.
"I am called Gabriel."
Gabriel
The name settled into him.
"…Will I hear you again?"
"When it is needed."
A pause.
"Not when it is wanted."
The light began to fade.
"Wait," Elham said.
"What if I fail?"
The light steadied once more.
"You will."
Elham froze.
A pause.
"Then you will stand again."
The white dissolved.
The light disappeared.
And then—
The world returned.
The water rushed around his legs.
The wind moved again.
Elham gasped.
Asher stepped forward.
"What just happened?"
John's eyes were fixed on him.
Elham stood still.
"…I heard him," he said.
"…What did he say?" John asked.
Elham looked down at the water.
"…That I have to speak."
A pause.
"…And not stop."
John nodded slowly.
Asher frowned.
"You were just standing there."
Elham looked at him.
"…I wasn't."
The water continued to move.
But something had changed.
Not around him.
Within him.