Chapter 204: Chapter 204 Jumping Off A Building

Liam stood confidently on the edge of a weathered rooftop, his eyes scanning the ground below. The building was three stories tall—not exactly a skyscraper, but still high enough that a fall could snap bones if you landed wrong. The morning air was crisp, the sun barely pushing past the low-hanging clouds, casting the city in a pale, cold light. Wind blew around him, ruffling his dark hair slightly.

Down below, Lana stood with her arms crossed, a white parka wrapped tightly around her curvy frame. The jacket was the same one she’d worn yesterday. Her hair danced wildly around her face as she tilted her head upward and shouted, “Liam! Is this really necessary?!”

Liam grinned from above, that damnably charming grin that made it hard to stay mad at him. “This will work, trust me!”

Lana rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle they stayed in her head. She took a few steps back, brushing the hair from her face with one hand as she eyed the stacked bags of garbage before her, the only thing keeping Liam from being completely insane. He’d been obsessed with getting his wings to come out again ever since the fight with Dimitri. No matter how many times he tried, they refused to budge, like they had locked themselves away the moment he retracted them.

He’d gone from meditating to forcefully flexing his back muscles to asking the system to help. Nothing worked.

And now, this. Jumping off a goddamn rooftop.

Lana shouted again, louder this time, “What if you get injured, dumbass?!”

Liam leaned forward slightly, still smiling as he looked down at her. “You know I’ll heal!”

“Eventually!” she shouted back. “Doesn’t mean you should throw yourself off buildings like a lunatic!”

He laughed lightly at that, but her worry wasn’t unwarranted. She was only here because she insisted on being around for this insane plan. They had woken early, eaten a quiet breakfast, and then Liam had declared that he needed to “trigger the sensation” again.

And apparently, in his ridiculous mind, triggering it meant falling headfirst off a rooftop.

Lana sighed and looked down at her boots, trying to calm her nerves. She couldn’t stop him. Not when he had that look in his eyes. Determined. Stubborn. Reckless.

Liam took a deep breath and looked at the street below again. Three stories. Not fatal, probably. He shifted his weight and raised his right leg over the edge, then the other. He balanced on his toes, arms spread out slightly. The wind pressed against his body, and for a brief moment, he hesitated.

Then he let himself fall.

The world spun around him in an instant. The wind roared past his ears as gravity pulled him down like a magnet. The air pressure shifted, and all the sounds of the city faded away.

He closed his eyes and focused inward. He ignored the rush of adrenaline, the screaming danger of the fall, and instead tried to feel it. The wings. The same wings that had exploded from his back like divine blades of light in that moment of chaos and desperation yesterday.

Come on, he thought. Come on, I know you’re there!

Seconds passed. Then he felt it.

A twitch.

A strange pressure in his back, almost like a second pair of shoulders. It didn’t feel natural, but it felt right. Like they belonged. His eyes shot open in surprise.

“I did it!” he shouted midair, a massive grin splitting across his face.

Then he looked down.

“Shit!!”

CRASH!

BANG!

The impact echoed down the alley as Liam slammed into the stack of garbage bags Lana had prepared just in case. They exploded beneath him like popped balloons, the black plastic splitting and spilling out trash and old wrappers, cushioning his fall—but not enough.

“Argh—fuck,” Liam groaned as he rolled over onto his side, his face scrunched in pain. “My ankle… definitely broken.”

He reached down, clutching his foot. His boot had absorbed some of the force, but the position it twisted in told him what he already knew. The ankle was done for. Even with his enhanced healing, that still meant a good minute or two of agonizing pain.

Lana rushed over with panic in her eyes. “Liam! You okay?!”

He nodded, barely, his jaw clenched tight. “Yeah… just… didn’t quite get to flying.”

“You idiot!” she said, kneeling beside him and looking him over. “I told you this was a dumb idea!”

Liam winced as he shifted and tried to sit up. “Yeah, yeah… you can say ’I told you so’ later…”

“Damn right I will.” Lana pulled his arm over her shoulder and helped him up, slowly and carefully. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I felt them,” Liam said, breathing heavily. “Right before I hit the ground. I swear, they started to come out.”

Lana glared at him. “So what, next time you’re gonna jump from five stories?”

Liam smirked despite the pain. “If that’s what it takes.”

She groaned. “You’re unbelievable.”

Lana didn’t wait for Liam to recover from the fall, without warning, grabbed his leg with both hands. Liam’s eyes widened in confusion.

“What the hell are you—”

Crack.

“Agh! Fuck!” Liam winced hard, his voice cutting through the cold air as she twisted his ankle back into its original position with clinical precision.

Lana blinked in surprise. “Huh. That actually got a reaction from you.” She tilted her head, curious.

Liam stared at her with a mix of pain and disbelief. “Seriously? A little warning would’ve been nice.”

She stood, brushing her hands off as if she had just finished fixing a piece of furniture. “You’ll live. That’s it for the day. I’m not standing around out here while you keep throwing yourself off rooftops like a madman.”

“I wasn’t throwing myself—”

“Car. Now,” she cut him off, grabbing his arm and dragging him toward the rented car.

Liam sighed. There was no point arguing when Lana had that tone in her voice. She was freezing, shivering slightly, even though her parka jacket covered most of her body. Once they got inside the car, the heat finally began to work its magic, but she didn’t stop rubbing her hands together for warmth. Liam started the engine and drove them back to the hotel in silence.

Once they got into the room, Lana didn’t waste time. She shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it into a random corner. Liam’s gaze tracked it like a hawk.

He groaned. “You really have a thing for throwing your jacket anywhere, don’t you?”

Lana stuck out her tongue at him. “Sorry,” she said playfully, already flopping onto the bed and grabbing the remote like it was a lifeline. She turned the massive wall-mounted TV on, flipping through the channels in search of something to distract herself from the icy wind still lingering in her bones.

Liam was still standing between her and the screen.

“Liam,” she groaned, squinting past him. “Move! You’re blocking the entire TV!”

He crossed his arms. “So, wait. You stopped me from testing out my wings because you wanted to come back here and watch movies?”

Lana glanced at him without shame. “No, obviously not,” she said, even though she still didn’t move the remote. “It’s freezing out there! You’ve had your fun. I’m half-ice cube already. If not for the—whatever it’s called—the heater AC thingy—I’d be dead by now.”

“You mean the HVAC,” Liam replied, smirking. “Or central heating.”

“Yeah, that,” she muttered. “You know what I meant.”

Liam snorted as he finally stepped away, letting her have her TV back. She gave a satisfied sigh and curled up on the bed, hugging a pillow close as she browsed through the movie list.

Liam, on the other hand, walked into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror once more.

He turned slowly, angling his back toward the mirror and straining to see what he had felt earlier. His gaze locked onto something faint—barely visible under the skin. Two subtle lines on either side of his shoulder blades, thin like healed cuts, were etched into his flesh. Faint, but symmetrical. Precise.

That was where they came out. His wings.

He reached behind, running his fingers along the faint scars. There was nothing unusual about them at a glance, but he knew the truth. They weren’t scars—they were more of seals. He remembered the feeling from earlier, the sensation of something waking up inside him while falling—like an extension of himself, ancient and raw.

And then… boom. Garbage bags. Broken ankle.

Liam let out a frustrated sigh and leaned forward, resting his hands on the sink. “It’s in there,” he muttered to himself. “I felt it. Just for a second…”

He clenched his fists. His system had given him the wings, but why couldn’t he control them now? What kind of power activated once, only to vanish when he needed it again?

He looked at his reflection, his face serious. Then he lowered his eyes to his chest, flexing his back muscles slightly. Nothing. Not even a twitch.

With a long breath, he straightened up again and turned his gaze back to the mirror, studying himself in silence.

Outside the bathroom, Lana had found a romantic comedy and was already halfway through a bowl of chips she’d ordered from room service earlier. The sound of laughter echoed faintly into the bathroom.

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