Ego University [Season 2]

Chapter 74- Starlings

(Lev's Pov)
I walked along the corridors of the base, walking past few windows, seeing only glimpses of the bright moon... the second Saturday of October, exactly 11:30pm. Grey Leader arrived earlier this morning yet he had only now called me to the command room for the discussion Jorah had warned me about a day or two ago. I stopped in front of the door to the command room... I can hear Grey Leader's voice, him making last minute plans and decisions yet couldn't make out what he was saying. I knocked on the door and waited "Come in" his voice answered, I hesitantly opened the door and walked into the room, closing the door behind me "You wished to see me, sir" Grey Leader turned to face me, huge smile on his face "Romainov, I'm so glad to see you're up and walking again, Chevalier had told me that you collapsed after the stone summoning". I swear on God's name I'll kill... blunt nails dug into the palm of my hand "I must congratulate you on summoning your stone, but I must ask, are you okay? Should you be walking after so much energy drained?" Grey Leader asked as the nails dug deeper into the skin of my palms. "I'm alright, this base has the best healers in case of situations such as this" I answered "Well I've been left very impressed with you Romainov, you've summoned a stone- a heart stone for that matter, amazing... I've never met a demon with a heart stone... until now" I felt worry, panic even, raising into my chest. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, sir- I didn't know that it'd be a heart stone-" Grey Leader placed his hands on my shoulders "Romainov, relax" he laughed a bit "It's completely fine for you to have a heart stone, it reinstates the fact that you are so much more powerful than all the soldiers we have" his smile seemed kind yet it really creeped me out. "You now being in possession of your stone just improves the plans for the Grey Army and Killen cult... may I see it? The stone?" I froze a bit... he wants to look at my stone, but... I can feel it the pocket of my cult coat... the stone... it doesn't trust him at all and to be honest... neither do I.

I slowly took the jade stone out of my pocket and held it up "May I have a closer look at it?" Grey Leader held his hand out, wanting me to give him the stone...I hesitantly gave him the stone. Grey Leader held the stone up to the light, admiring it in complete awe. After about a minute of looking at the stone, he started walking towards the door "Uh sir-" "Follow me" he smiled as I kept worrying about my stone. I followed out of the command room and down a couple corridors until we reached the loading bay of the base. I looked around the large room, seeing two vehicles... black vans with a couple killens and Grey Army soldiers in them "Are they going on a mission? At this time of night?" I asked Grey Leader "Yes and you'll be joining us" he answered, starting to walk over to one of the vans. "W-where are we going?" I asked another question as I followed him "We'll be heading to a base in Darkbrooke for it's daily check-in" Grey Leader stopped at the van, opening the back door "Recently, the communications tower had went down due to mice eating the wiring, now I have to send teams over to the base daily just to keep some sort of communication going" Grey Leader added, gesturing for me to get into the van. "Why do you need me then?" I asked, not wanting to get into the van "Well if you're going to be Chevalier's 'partner' then you must know what most of the teams do on a daily record" he answered, again gesturing to the van... I hesitantly got in, seeing a couple Grey Army soldiers already sitting in there. Grey Leader got in and closed the door behind himself, taking the seat opposite to me before leaning into his radio "We've got everyone, head out to Darkbrooke" "Yes sir" a soldier, who I guess is the one driving, answered, starting up the van and driving out of the base, most likely following the second van.

The van had no windows and was completely dark, only a dim light above our heads... there was no way to verbally talk to the driver or front passenger due to the wall separating us, only radio can reach them. "Um... sir" Grey Leader turned his head to me "Yes Romainov?" "Y-you still have my heart stone..." I quietly reminded him... I had a horrible sick feeling that he shouldn't be holding onto it, I don't trust him with it at all "Sorry Romainov, we have strict protocols to follow at this base that includes stones such as yours" he placed the stone deep into the front pocket of his jeans. "I'll be holding onto it during the check-in" I regret giving him that stone now.