Hunched over with his hands on his knees, Alex inhaled deeply several times in an attempt to force his ragged breathing into some semblance of order. His heart was pounding not only with the exertion of the climb he’d just undertaken, but with uneasiness as well. He faced the cavernous opening of Gabriel’s aerie - dim lights were visible far to the interior while the external stone façade was dark and intimidating. Structurally the entrance resembled a cathedral although, ironically, Alex viewed his seeking out of Gabriel akin to a descent into hell. Forbiddingly, the darkening sky produced swirls of snowflakes with a temperature that was rapidly dropping as dusk overtook the rocky prominenc