Chapter 284: 284:System failure??
Another tremor came, this one was stronger. The ground shifted beneath his feet. Antony nearly stumbled but he recovered and continued. The faint light ahead grew brighter than closer he got.
Then he saw it, the mouth of the cave; freedom. Antony’s expression changed instantly.
"Finally... We made it."
He rushed toward the exit. The moment he crossed the threshold, cold evening air hit his face. For several seconds, Antony simply stood there.
They had escaped.
He almost laughed from relief, then the cave behind him collapsed before he could even compose himself. A tremendous roar of stone filled the valley.
Antony spun around.
"Silver!"
The entrance disappeared. Massive chunks of rock crashed down from above, sealing the entire opening. Dust exploded outward, covering the ground around him.
Antony froze.
His mind went completely blank. For several seconds, he simply stared at the falling stone; a few rolled to his feet. The place where the entrance had been was now nothing but a mountain of stone.
"No."
He stepped forward.
"Silver?"
No answer.
Antony walked closer.
"Silver!"
His voice echoed across the valley.
Nothing.
He looked at the collapsed entrance, hs heart sinking. He believed Silver had been behind them and clearly hadn’t escaped.
Antony slowly lowered his gaze toward Ravenna. She was still unconscious. His expression became complicated.
"What am I supposed to tell you? What did I get myself into."
He didn’t know. There was no way he could explain this. He could already imagine Ravenna waking up.
’Where is Silver?’
And what was he supposed to say?
’He told me to take you and left himself behind.’
That sounded terrible,because it was terrible. Antony looked back toward the cave.
"This suicidal piece of shit..." his voice became quieter. "You said you’d catch up."
There was no response. He stood there for another few seconds before finally forcing himself to move. Their vehicles were parked nearby, they had somehow remained untouched during everything. Especially with how Larry and his group had been.
Antony carried Ravenna toward Silvers and opened the rear door. He carefully placed her inside. After making sure she was lying comfortably, he closed the door.
Then he changed back into his male form. The transformation was almost automatic now. His body returned to its original shape, his orange hair falling around his shoulders before he quickly tied it back into its familiar bun.
He climbed into the driver’s seat.
He didn’t start the vehicle but simply sat there, his hands resting on the steering wheel. His eyes stared through the windshield. He didn’t know what to do.
If he left, he would be abandoning Silver but if he stayed, he had no idea whether Silver was alive. And if Ravenna woke up...
Antony closed his eyes.
"She is definitely going to kill me."
For once, there was no humor in his voice. He leaned his head against the seat.
The silence became unbearable.
Behind him, Ravenna shifted slightly. Antony immediately looked back. She didn’t wake, but something about her expression had changed. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed and her breathing had become uneven.
Antony watched her for a moment.
"Ravenna?"
She didn’t answer.
Her fingers twitched, then her lips moved.
"Silver..."
Antony’s expression fell. He looked away.
"I know."
Ravenna’s hand curled into a fist.
"Silver..."
Her voice was barely audible, then she went still again. Antony stared at her. He had seen people frightened before, people lose friends and people panic after nearly dying.
But there was something different about Ravenna. She wasn’t awake, yet some part of her seemed to know that something had gone terribly wrong.
Far away, beneath hundreds of meters of rock, the System detected the change.
[Emotional fluctuation detected.]
The notification appeared in the interface connected to Silver.
But Silver was barely conscious. His eyes were closed and breathing was shallow. He couldn’t focus on the words.
Still, the System continued monitoring.
[Relationship Target: Ravenna Arkland]
[Emotional State: Unstable]
[Affection: 49]
The number flickered.
[Affection: 58]
Then...
[Affection: 52]
Silver’s unconscious mind stirred faintly. The System registered another change.
[Affection: 61]
[Affection: 57]
[Affection: 49]
The number continued fluctuating which wasn’t behaving normally.
Silver had become accustomed to seeing Ravenna’s affection rise gradually. Even when she was angry with him, there had always been an underlying stability to it.
This was different.
The number was being pulled violently in opposite directions; love, fear, anger,and desperation. The thought that Silver might be dead.
All of it was colliding inside her.
[Affection: 47]
[Affection: 55]
[Affection: 64]
[Affection: 59]
[Affection: 43]
Silver’s eyes opened slightly. He couldn’t understand why the numbers were moving so rapidly. He could barely keep himself conscious.
"Ravenna..."
His voice was little more than a whisper. Another fluctuation appeared.
[Affection: 39]
The number dropped again, then again.
[Affection: 27]
Silver’s weak breathing stopped for a moment.
"What..."
His vision blurred. The System had never shown him something like this.
[Affection: 18]
[Affection: 12]
The number dropped into the single digits. Silver’s heart tightened.
He couldn’t understand it.
Ravenna’s affection had never been that low, expect during their first interructions but right now, not even when she had been furious after learning the truth about him had she fallen this far. Not even when she had considered leaving him.
This wasn’t hatred or rejection but fear. She was afraid he was dead. Then the number suddenly jumped.
[Affection: 31]
[Affection: 47]
[Affection: 62]
Silver stared.
The System’s interface began flickering.
[Emotional fluctuation exceeds normal parameters.]
[Unable to establish stable emotional reading.]
[Attempting recalibration.]
The number changed again.
[Affection: 58]
[Affection: 51]
[Affection: 67]
[Affection: 56]
Silver’s breathing became even weaker. He didn’t know whether he should laugh or worry.
The System had always been cold. It had measured Ravenna’s feelings as though they were simple numbers. But now even it seemed unable to process what was happening.
[ERROR]
[Emotional data overflow detected.]
[Relationship Target’s emotional state has exceeded normal processing parameters.]
[Multiple conflicting emotional states detected.]
[Affection.]
[Fear.]
[Anger.]
[Grief.]
[Attachment.]
[Desperation.]
Silver’s eyes widened slightly.
"She’s..."
He couldn’t finish became he already knew. Ravenna wasn’t simply afraid of losing him, she was devastated by the possibility.
The System attempted another reading.
[Affection: 59]
Then...
[Affection: 53]
Then...
[Affection: 65]
Then...
[Affection: 48]
The interface flickered repeatedly.
[Unable to stabilize.]
[Emotional overload.]
Silver stared at the notifications. His body was broken, his lungs hurt every time he breathed,blood continued to seep from his wounds despite the emergency effect keeping him alive, and yet the thing that frightened him most wasn’t the queen.
It was the thought of Ravenna waking up and discovering that he was gone. He tried to move; his fingers twitched but nothing else happened. He couldn’t even lift his arm.
"Ravenna..."
His voice cracked.
"I promised..."
His eyes closed.
"I’d catch up."
Above him, the System continued processing the unstable emotional data.
Then something unexpected happened, the affection reading disappeared. The System simply stopped displaying the number.
[Relationship Target: Ravenna]
[Emotional Data: UNSTABLE]
[Processing...]
[Processing...]
[Processing...]
The System’s interface flickered again.
[Emotional Overload Detected.]
[Standard Affection Detection temporarily suspended.]
Silver’s breathing became quieter. He didn’t know what any of it meant.
All Silver knew was that he had promised her he would return, and he intended to keep that promise. Even if he had to crawl out of the deepest part of Death Row Valley to do it.
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