Freefall

The moment the mutated tiger launched itself at Summer, Magnus knew, within a nanosecond, that his girlfriend wouldn't be able to dodge nor defend. He knew she would suffer a grievous injury.

'No, not again!' A traumatic memory replayed in his mind.

The next moment, he was already at the front door. But then a part of him hesitated.

His hand hovered above the door handle as he looked back at his father who had just arrived at the door to the 'conference room'. The man had glimpsed the urgent look on his son's face when he abruptly rose from his seat.

Markus nodded at his son's unsure figure. "Go. We'll be okay," he uttered in certainty.

As soon as he heard that, Magnus bolted out of the apartment and flashed toward the sky. He didn't hold back. His form zoomed across the tall buildings, his distorted reflection streaking along the glass windows. His blond hair danced wildly in the wind, the creases on his brows deepened as he neared his destination.

Not even two minutes later, the makeshift tiger cage came into view. Outside its perimeter, several familiar faces were staring with mixed expressions at the Abyss portal. Most of them couldn't even stand straight, owing to the wounds they had suffered and the low mana. Fiona was seen approaching the portal, a determined look coloring her haggard face. She was hellbent on saving Summer, despite the rough state she was in.

Arriving beside her was Lisa, who immediately placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Mrs. Helvig, you should stay back. I've got this—"

"No," Magnus' voice echoed in the area as he descended and landed next to his mother. "All of you should stay back and heal yourselves. You've all done well tonight," he said with a tone of finality. He quickly cast [Big Spark] on his mother before launching himself at the portal, not giving anyone a chance to respond.

"Magnus, wait!" Lisa shouted. But the guy had already disappeared behind the rippling blackhole.

– – –

Whether Summer opened or closed her eyes, it made no difference. There was only thick, unwavering darkness around her, rendering her sightless. She couldn't even make out the outline of her arms and hands hanging in the air above her chest. Her body was almost upside down, and she could feel gravity pulling her down at great speed.

She was in a constant freefall.

To where, she couldn't even begin to imagine. She couldn't tell for how long she had been in this state. It could be minutes, hours, days. It seemed as if she would keep falling forever, and there was nothing at the bottom but an endless void.

In the meantime, her mind kept replaying the last thing she remembered—almost dying at the hands of that byakko. Almost?

No, maybe she'd died already, and this was what greeted her after death had fetched her soul. Nothing but unending darkness, with only her regrets and an eternal loop of hindsights to keep her company.

In hindsight, she probably should've coordinated more with her group members before diving in headfirst to face the mutated tiger.

In hindsight, she should've gone to heal Mrs. Wang first and let her father and Henry draw the tiger's attention. Nikolai had already caused its feet to stumble, so Summer shouldn't have gotten in their way.

Did she act rashly? Did the tiger somehow know she was the person with the highest Level around? Was it driven by its instinct when it grabbed her and hurled her into the portal? Did it believe the byakko would be able to kill her easily?

In hindsight, she shouldn't have hesitated when attacking the female tiger. In a split second when her conscience got the better of her, she inadvertently redirected the path of her spear's blade. It ended up piercing the monster's shoulder, when it should've landed in its heart instead.

At any other time, having conscience was a good thing. It assured her that she hadn't lost her sense of compassion. Morals might have started to incline in a different direction these days, but she wanted to be certain that she still had one of the most basic human emotions—compassion.

However, misplaced compassion could instead cause harm to those she loved.

The monsters were only following their instincts—to destroy, kill, and consume. Their drives were primal, and that was just how it was. There was no deeper meaning behind it; the monsters had gotten access to a whole new world, one which their first instinct dictated for them to turn into their new territory. Any creature that didn't look or smell like them, they needed to kill. Simple as that.

And for that reason, Summer couldn't fault them for wreaking havoc in the city and endangering many lives. But at the same time, she shouldn't have any sympathy for them, either.

If anything, the gods were to blame for everything. At least, as far as Summer was concerned. She still didn't know everything about those higher beings controlling people's minds and fates, but they had placed these portals on Earth, let the monsters through, and even armed them with weapons.

Her mind was going on a tangent, trying to seek anything and anyone to blame for her failure. She may have managed to kill a lot of monsters and dealt the final blow to the mutated tiger, but she still considered her being in this freefalling state an indication of her failure. She had either died or almost died. Whichever it was, she had let down those who trusted her.

She had received a boost of confidence lately, as her powers rose significantly and she managed to win the spar against Henry. But clearly, none of that meant anything if she couldn't even complete the first Objective Magnus had given her.

So in the end, she blamed herself. And for what felt like an eternity, she kept beating herself up over and over, drowned in the sea of guilt and self-pity. She was inadequate, undeserving of the trust Magnus, her father, and everyone else had put on her.

She felt as if she was back as her twelve-year-old self, locking herself in her room, entertaining negative thoughts and wallowing in misery after her mother's death.

Perhaps, there were a thousand things she could've done differently.

Everything had happened so fast, from the moment the Prolog arrived till now. Her mind was constantly adjusting to all the situations that had occurred. And now she felt helpless; not wanting to fail anymore, but didn't know how exactly she could improve. Her mind was stuck at an impasse.

At some point, she heard herself sniffle. Her face heated up and her eyes became watery. Some kind of dam in her mind broke, and a flood of emotions burst through. Tears escaped her eyes, tiny droplets floated up as she kept falling.

Wait a minute, how was she able to see those tears?

Summer finally noticed the fractions of light reflected on the droplets. The light came from somewhere to her right. She turned her head, and that was when she saw a familiar sight.

It was an island, floating in the middle of the darkness. Standing unyielding on it was a lighthouse—the same one she had seen in the dream Magnus had painted in her mind. A beam of yellow light suddenly shone upon her falling form. Her eyes had to adjust to the sudden appearance of the light illuminating the darkness.

As her eyes regained their sight and adapted to the light, she finally felt a feeling wash over her entire being. The light, it gave her warmth and comfort. And the lighthouse, it gave her the strength to find her resolve.

She chuckled at herself for allowing her mind to go down the rabbit hole. It was a useless investment of thoughts. She might've failed, but if she remained in that miserable state of mind, everyone around her would be sad. And she didn't want that. Her father wanted her to look up and be happy. And Magnus…

Her boyfriend was waiting for her to wake up and get the hell out of that darkness.

– – –

Summer's eyes snapped open as she sucked in a deep breath.

The first thing her eyes landed on was the face of someone she loved very much. His brows deeply furrowed in worry, and there was a trace of fear peeking behind his brown-and-blue irises. But as those eyes met hers, a smile of relief bloomed on his thin lips.

"Welcome back," was the first thing he said to her.

He raised his hand and caressed her cheek. That was when she realized she was lying down, her legs on the ground and her back resting on top of Magnus' lap. Up high, the red moon shone a dim light upon the barren landscape of The Abyss.

She glanced down at her own body. The left part of clothes was badly torn, among many other small tears all over her torso and sleeves. However, her body was completely fine; there was not a single trace of injury.

She was about to sigh in relief before remembering her responsibility. She looked into his eyes and said, "Magnus, the others—"

"They're safe, don't worry. You've only been out for a couple of minutes," he said, giving her a reassuring smile.

Hearing that, Summer felt a weight slide off her shoulders. She allowed herself to smile and enjoy her boyfriend's warm and familiar presence. He still had his big hand on her cheek, and she subconsciously leaned her head on it. "Thank you for pulling me back," she softly said, looking into his eyes.

As a response, he gave her his usual foolish smile. "I'm such a good boyfriend, aren't I?"

Summer chuckled as she sat up.

She realized a long time ago that Magnus' smiles often held a multitude of meanings. She had seen his proud smile, his happy smile, his mischievous smile, his wistful smile, the mocking smile he gave those who annoyed him, among many others. However, she had only ever heard, from TJ, about his wrathful smile. The guy said his friend's smiling mouth would betray the cold fury in his eyes. The sight was so jarring that TJ was thankful it had never been directed at him.

But her favorite was the smile he often gave her. It looked silly, like a child looking for a pat on the head.

So after getting herself in a comfortable position, she hooked one hand behind his head and pulled him down for a kiss.

Magnus, of course, gladly welcomed it. He leaned in and wrapped his arms around her waist, his hands gently pressing against her lower back.

They shared a long and passionate kiss, for a moment completely forgetting about the headless body of the byakko nearby and about the situation behind the portal.

Meanwhile, the people back outside The Abyss didn't stay idle. Those who had a healing skill worked together to treat those who had been injured. It took a while to mend the wound on Mrs. Wang's chest, but all in all, everyone was back to almost their full Health by the time Magnus and Summer popped out from the portal.

They all could see Summer's blushing face and the smile lingering on Magnus' lips. They could guess what might have occurred behind the portal.

Magnus took a few seconds to admire his girlfriend's work—the tiger cage. After that, he didn't waste time as he moved to collect all the water inside it and shape it into one giant elongated form. It was the product of the skill [Water Serpent], currently weaving in the air toward the portal. Everyone watched as the long liquid substance took almost half a minute to pass through the portal and into The Abyss.

After that, he went to deconstruct all the earth walls, leveling the ground in the area.

Overall, the entire process took less than two minutes.

Seeing that, Sergeant O'Brien and the other soldiers were rendered speechless. They could only watch with their mouths agape. That was one domineering display of magic!

"Alright, let's evacuate everyone before more monsters come!" he announced, waking up all the soldiers from their stupor.