Meanwhile, Jonathan and the others, just a few steps below and some thirty or forty above, froze when the boulder's thunderous impact echoed through the mountain.
They stared in horror at the sight of the broken stair disappearing into the depths below. Jonathan's expression twisted with pure anger as he caught sight of Adrian holding the girl he secretly liked.
Adrian, however, was indifferent to the looks being thrown his way. Even Jonathan's burning glare meant nothing to him. His thoughts were elsewhere, lost in the weight of what had just happened. For a brief moment, as he comforted her, all he could think about was that he and Celeste had survived and that, for now, they were safe.
Adrian as he rubbed Celeste's shoulder, comforting her. "We're safe now."Seeing how shaken she was, he couldn't help but keep holding her, forgetting that he was still hugging her.
But he couldn't have been more wrong. The impact of the boulder had done far more damage than he realised. The stair he was standing on had taken the brunt of the force as well, and thin cracks already webbed across its surface. Within seconds, those cracks only spreading wider, crawling like spiderwebs through the stone.
When Adrian instinctively looked down, the sight made him shudder—but he didn't panic. For a moment, he had thought they were safe. Clearly, they weren't.
Acting fast, he scooped Celeste into his arms in a princess carry. A fleeting thought crossed his mind—thank God I exercise every day; otherwise, lifting her would have been slightly akward(even though he new it wouldnt have matterd)—but he shoved it aside when Celeste let out a startled cry as he picked her up. Without wasting another heartbeat, he dashed toward the stair below.
But he was too late. The stone beneath them gave way, breaking apart in jagged slabs. He had no time to leap clear. In that split-second, he knew he couldn't save himself. But Celeste—she still had a chance.
Without hesitation, he threw her toward the stair ahead. His voice rang out as he did, raw and unshaken: 'I think this is goodbye, Celeste. Take care of yourself…' He knew that unless some miracle occurred, this was the end for him, and farewells were all he had left to give.
He watched her land safely on the next stair, and relief washed over him. Even as he fell, even as death rushed up to meet him, a faint smile touched his lips—for he had saved the one who mattered most to him.
Celeste was utterly confused and stunned when Adrian suddenly threw her aside. She couldn't process what was happening around her. The fall of the boulder right in front of her had already shaken her badly. It had landed on the very step where she and Adrian had been standing. Had it not been for him, she knew she would have been done for. She knew that.
Then he lifted her again, and despite the dangerous situation, a small sense of relief and warmth filled her. She felt shaken, but also strangely safe in that moment.
And then, suddenly, he threw her down the stairs.
The shock left her confused all over again, adding to the fear and chaos of the already dangerous situation they were in.
She heard the loud noise again, but this time it was different—shallower, yet still terrifying. It made her shudder, unable to look back at first. Then she heard Adrian's voice, filled with sorrow, as if it were their last meeting. That only confused her more.
Her body began to shake uncontrollably. She tried to stand, but she was too shaken to move properly. Using her hands, she dragged herself forward and looked down—only to see the small silhouette of Adrian falling below.
And then it all hit her. Like a downpour, all her emotions burst out at once.
"NOOOOOOO!" she cried in despair. Without thinking, she somehow forced herself to stand at that moment, instinctively preparing to jump off the cliff after Adrian.
But before she have chance to do that, Mira appeared behind her along with Jonathon. They hurriedly pulled her back one step up the stairs.
"No! What are you doing? Leave me! Let me go!" Celeste cried. "I need to help Adrian!"
Still emotionally unstable, she struggled fiercely, trying to break free so she could jump down. But she was already weak from everything that had happened. Shaken and exhausted, she couldn't overpower them. With Mira and Jonathon working together, they managed to restrain her.
Mira shouted at her, "Are you crazy?! Why would you do that?! Adrian is already gone! What can you do now? Stop struggling and get hold of yourself, Celeste!"
Marcus arrived to help as well. Supporting Jonathon and Mira, he said, "She's right, Celeste. We all saw how Adrian gave everything to protect you. You can't throw yourself off the ridge like that. He wouldn't want that." His voice hardened with sadness as well beacuse adrain was a cloese freind to him as well. "He didn't save you just for you to jump down and throw your life away, making his sacrifice meaningless. Get hold of yourself."
But while Marcus said this, he couldn't help but think, how could she do that…? He had seen it all, from junior high to senior high and now in university, how close Adrian and Celeste were. They were practically childhood sweethearts, two souls with one heart, practically inseparable from each other.
Now that Adrian, while saving her, had fallen to his death… for there was no way anyone could survive a fall into a ridge that deep. It wasn't going to be easy for Celeste to accept such a sight.
Looking at the crying Celeste, he shook his head and thought, Oh, what a tragedy this has become…
Meanwhile, Adrian himself was still falling, his eyes tightly shut, waiting for the fall to end and with it, his life. He was unwilling to die, yet he knew he was only human. There was no way he could survive a fall into a ridge this deep.
As he kept falling, he believed his fate was sealed, though his heart stubbornly refused to accept it.
What he didn't know was that he was no longer on Earth… or soon he wouldn't be.
Yes, he was still falling down the ridge, but not toward his death, as today wasn't the day for him to die. His falling down the ridge and the events that had happened were done by someone deliberately.
Adrian didn't know that from the moment he was born in this world, someone great, someone mighty, had their eyes settled on him, paying attention to each and everything he had ever done in his seventeen or eighteen years of life. And many things had been influenced by that very person.
The same was true for today… and the same would be true for his future.
BAAM!!