Control is a lie. As long as there is order, there is chaos; therefore, control is an illusion meant to pacify those with weak willpower.

~Syn, Goddess of Observance and Truth

“What do we do?” Hooligan asked. The volcano erupted around them, and part of the ledge was covered in lava. There was no way to return to the direction they came.

Crow sighed and knew he had to expose one of his secrets. “Don’t freak out, and just trust me.”

Hooligan turned to watch Crow, whose body was transforming. His legs and feet turned into talons and his arms into wings. The Silver-Eyed Crow took shape within two seconds, and Crow’s head tilted so he could stare at her with his right eye. The silver orb unsettled her, but she could see the golden ring in them. Despite the change of shape, she could also feel his aura.

“Will those feathers burn me?” Hooligan asked, and Crow nodded while raising his talon. Using his wing, he pushed her closer to the ledge, then ran off and took flight. Dodging the erupting lava was nearly impossible, but Crow could handle the magma provided it didn’t cover him completely. He circled around the volcano’s interior and cawed as he approached Hooligan. His talon went forward, and he grabbed her while angling upward.

Wither her under him, he was forced to split his focus. Crow’s wings shielded her from the falling lava while he kept shifting from side to side to ensure the spurting fiery mess didn’t touch her from below.

More than once, he cawed in pain. There was no telling what was in the volcano, but Crow learned that not all magma was the same. He had no idea what it was comprised of, but he assumed that the glowing white pieces were metal because they seared through his feathers and flesh despite his resistance to fire.

Hooligan winced upon hearing him but didn’t have access to her other spells to help heal him. She could only stare on, feeling helpless. By the time they reached the top, Crow could barely move one of his wings, and there was no way he could safely glide down the side of the volcano with a lame wing. There was only one ‘dry’ spot that he could see, and it was an outcropping that could collapse at any moment. After landing, he transformed into his human form while rivers of lava flowed down either side of their temporary safe haven. Crow gingerly moved his burnt arm, and the blackened flesh cracked. Blood oozed from within, and even he winced at its hideousness. However, he could tell it was mostly just his flesh, and given enough time, his body’s natural healing would take care of it.

“What now?” Hooligan asked, feeling anxious and guilty.

“Now comes the fun part,” Crow gasped and summoned the Vanguard in a canoe shape. Seeing her horrified look, he couldn’t help but laugh, even if it was painful.

“No fucking way!”

“Get in, idiot. We’ll die if we stay here.” Crow grabbed her and jumped into the canoe as soon as he placed it on the flowing lava river. The little craft went downslope faster than expected but not as fast as a boat on the water. They still had to watch for falling magma, smoke, and dangerous turns.

Crow activated a minor function of Vanguard, one of several that appeared after he refined it—a suction force activated, keeping him in place. Crow put Hooligan on his lap and held her tightly, so she didn’t fall out.

Boom!

Vanguard smashed through a small island that the lava hadn’t swallowed yet, but it didn’t alter course. The small canoe used it as a ramp, and they jumped over it and landed in a different lava stream on the other side.

“That was unexpected,” Crow laughed maniacally, and Hooligan’s fear-induced screams slowly turned into laughter the faster they cruised down the mountain. The reason he was so carefree, which he didn’t bother to explain, was the second function he activated. It prevented the boat from capsizing, so no matter what this downhill magma river threw at him, the little craft would never flip.

They raced around turns, sometimes riding up a wave of lava until they practically surfed the wave sideways. At this point, even Hooligan was whooping. She’d long realized that in Crow’s arms, she was safe. The boat unnaturally righted itself a half dozen times, and she’d be an idiot if she didn’t notice.

“You’re an asshole!” Hooligan shouted. Still, she laughed the entire time she scolded him, and he joined her. Crow deliberately didn’t explain because he wanted to mess with her. While he wanted to play, he needed to focus on their trajectory. The tiller was nice, but going down a slope like this would only help so much.

Around another bend, Crow saw what was in front of him and swore under his breath. They were headed right toward a cliff and a magma waterfall. While he could prevent the Vanguard from capsizing, he couldn’t stop it from diving into the lava lake from a three-hundred-meter plunge.

“Do you trust me?” Crow shouted over the roaring sounds of plummeting magma.

“Yes!” Hooligan shouted as they raced toward their deaths.

“Don’t resist,” he shouted once more, then picked her up and threw her over the cliff as hard as he could. Instantly the boat disappeared, and he transformed back into the Silver-Eyed Crow while plunging downward. Below, he could see Hooligan’s look of terror and pulled his wings into a tight dive.

His aerodynamic shape allowed him to slide through the sky faster than Hooligan. The lava lake was getting closer and closer when his talon finally grabbed her around the waist. His wings flared out, trying to catch as much wind as possible, but the strain was ungodly.

Crow felt the bones of his burned wing cracking. The pain was nearly unbearable, and he still couldn’t pull up fast enough. Although his speed dropped drastically, he was forced to angle his body so Crow could glide over the lake. They fell too fast, and he feared Hooligan was about to be dipped in fire, so he ignored the cracking of his bones and forced his wings back even further to create heavier wind resistance.

Hooligan’s hair was curling as the heat from the approaching lava melted it—that was with her still holding the ice wand. Growling, he flared out his wings as much as possible.

Crack! Crow felt the bone snap but grit his teeth and tried to keep the wing steady. The heat created an updraft, which allowed him to glide, even with a broken wing. Hooligan realized much too late that she could have helped him. Gravity Marrow would have prevented his broken arm. Still, before she could help, Crow flung her ahead, allowing her to tumble across the shore more gently than what awaited him.

She hadn’t realized how fast they were flying across the lake the entire time they were falling. Hooligan was so afraid that she froze at that moment and felt guilty as she saw how much Crow was suffering. He was about to crash into the ground and tossed her away to prevent injury. At that last minute, she saw him tuck in his wings and head before tumbling across the land.

He slammed hard onto the rocky surface and tumbled dozens of meters before stopping. His body transformed back into his human shape due to losing consciousness. It was clear to see his arm was broken, but the bone didn’t break through his skin.

Half his body was burned, while the other half was covered in severe abrasions, cuts, and bruises. While he laid there, Hooligan limped over to him, trying to rid her hip of the pain from her own landing. She brought out a bunch of creams and various medicines from her pack. Since he was unconscious, she viciously pulled his arm out until she sensed the broken ends of the bone had aligned. Naturally, his own body would have healed the injury perfectly, but this sped up the process. A trick her father taught her.

“You fucking idiot!” She grumbled and punched his chest but immediately regretted it when he vomited blood. “Hmph, you deserve it.”

Her words were harsh, but her skilled hands helped fix him up. When her fingers brushed across his manhood, she snorted.

“Why does this guy always end up naked?” However, she noticed that his legs and crotch area were free of injury. Some scrapes and bruises on his knees, but nothing that needed her attention. She assumed this was because of his bird form.

Sighing, she picked him up and trekked toward a nearby Shrine. She spotted it on their way down and knew it wasn’t one they’d visited yet. She didn’t feel comfortable hanging out in the open like this with the Scath around.

She didn’t know how to do formations like Crow, so she set up camp outside the Shrine’s door. Her reasoning was that if anything dangerous happened, she’d just pick him up and rush into the Shrine challenge. It was a combat one, so while it would freak her out some, they could at least hang out in there without triggering the event.

Once she was done, she sat down and tried to cultivate but couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. The more she thought about what had just happened, Hooligan panicked harder than when her face was cut up. Now that her adrenaline withered, she nearly wept as her emotions crashed her mental state and focus.

Hooligan still had the state of mind to place some of the proximity runes that Crow gave her, but beyond that, she couldn’t be bothered with anything else. Stretching out his good arm, she laid on it and curled herself against his body. It took a while before her shaking, and random sobs quieted. Shortly after, she dozed off into a restless sleep.