Page 114 of Gift from the Wing

Dropping the piece of shit who hid away like a coward while this hall was being cleared, I continue to fade through the darkness. The tidal wave of emotions that continues to pour into my heart from my Primary forces me to go faster, kill quickly.

In the time we’ve been here, I’ve felt her experience every emotion known to our kind and it’s created quite the cacophony inside of me. One second, I’m ready to murder everyone. The next, I feel like going to my knees in front of her and holding her close.

I’ll admit up until this point, I’ve been indifferent toward herPerfecta Anima. I’ve never wished her any harm despite her hate for me, which honestly, I deserve. I was quite the asshole to Willow when she arrived, as well as to her, and I’ve never bothered to apologize to her. She was always just another female, so I didn’t truly care to, but that’ll never be the case again after today.

Feeling the turmoil, the true heartache my Primary is experiencing right now over Oakly is like having the organ cut from my chest. I may have thought I knew what it meant to share a bond like the two of them do, butI was clueless until today. If she dies, so will a large part of my Willow. Gone will be the woman who owns my soul and what’s left of her will never be the same.

I fucking refuse to allow that to happen.

So I will do everything within my power to make sure Oakly survives today and every day going forward. I may, just maybe, apologize and work toward taking the number three spot from Corentin or Tillman.

We’ll see how far hunting down this man and killing him gets me.

“Oakly’s been injected with the drug that the Summum-Master uses before stealing people’s gifts, according to Keeper. He claims there’s no cure. We need the fucker who injected her. Roye and Dyce will stay behind while we get her to the healing wing. We’re at the entrance now,”Tillman reports.

“Go, brother. I’ll take him to the dungeons when I find him and get those answers.”

“Be careful.”

“I will and…our Primary?”I ask. I already feel her enough to know, but Tillman can see and hear things I can’t.

“Calm. Petrifyingly so.”

My displeasure rumbles in my chest because I know what the little Primary is doing. I’m doing the same currently. But she can’t live in the darkness like me, and I’m not there right now to stop her. My brothers will have to do that for me for now.

They’ve created such an awful habit of ignoring these signs because of me, but just because our demons match, it doesn’t mean we’re the same.

Where I’ve grown a home in the black abyss, my Primary embraces it, commands it, then sets it free. The setting it free part is where she needs the push. If not, it dims her light. And I can’t have that.

The glow she’s left in my soul is already flickering with the flashbacks seeing the hostages here are bringing forth. They’ve given up, just like I did.

“That means she’s retreating and shutting down. Don’t allow her to.”

“There’s no allowing or not allowing, Cas. She’s processing—”

“She’s processing nothing. She’s hiding from her fear of her sister dying and everything else. She dove toward a pit of magma, incinerated over half the Mastery army that was in that center, and just beautifullykilled the bitch who caused all this. You can’t let her hide in her mind, or she’ll let it consume her, then shove it down until we can’t reach and reassure her. Do as I tell you or I’ll come do it myself,”I command.

“Fine. We’ll see you soon. Transporting now,”he says begrudgingly.

He may not like that I’m telling him to force her to talk, but he’ll do it. We don’t have the time to spare for me to shadow all the way to them. I’ll handle her privately when this is over and make sure everything is fine then.

I’d rather she outwardly acts batshit murderous over her being quiet. Her silence is never a good thing in moments like this.

Shadowing through more walls of this volcano, I have to admit, despite the memories this situation is bringing forth, this design was ingenious but also incredibly foolish. Pyra has given the Mastery an advantage over a monstrous compound that has so many different uses, it’s unbelievable. The current floor I’m flowing through is fucking bedrooms. They had individuals living in this space.

It’s probably one of the largest and most populated structures we’ve infiltrated, but that’s where their errors lie.

Taking this down is a massive hit to their army. Regardless that the majority are grunts, with a few top soldiers mulling around, the numbers were catastrophic.

At the end of the four halls, we thought that was it, but we were wrong. Each stretch ends with an illusion wall that leads to flights of stairs. I sent E.F. members through each of them, but the current one I’m drifting down is a few floors higher than where they are, and I’m pretty positive I’ve cleared the pussies and stragglers who didn’t join the battle earlier.

There lies the design flaw.

Since I’ve moved upward, I couldn’t begin to tell you what’s going on now in the hallways below me. They’re too far apart and the volcanic rock creates a barrier thick enough to block out sound.

The higher I travel, the less I feel the pull of whatever that is that the Summum-Master used to strip away others’ spells, enchantments, and the ability to escape. The tug of it against my skin continues to shrink the more I climb.

I couldn’t begin to tell you where in the volcano I’m located, but judging by the temperature becoming cooler, I’m closer to the top than the bottom now. It’s still warmer than I’d care for it to be, but it’s no longer sweltering.

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