Page 20 -- III.

“You didn’t mention anything... about whatever the hell... you did to me back there...” This time, his pauses were attributed more to his exhaustion and strained breaths.

‘I converted the energy your body would normally use to support your life into muscle strength. Which sorta makes you look like a corpse and is why that guy freaked out when he saw you.’

“Oh... okay...”

‘You’re going to feel like I ripped your muscles out of your body and replaced them with flaming needles tomorrow, by the way.’

“Joy...”


Chapter Three: ‘Thy path be not gentle...’
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Sneaking back into his house had been a chore. He couldn’t very well have gone through the front door; he was sure he would’ve woken one or both of his parents. So instead, he climbed up the wall to his bedroom window--a wall which clearly was not meant to be climbed. He lost count of how many times he fell. Garovel eventually just decided to empower his body again so that Hector could finally make it back up to his room and into the relief of his bed.

Too soon, however, his alarm clock went off.

‘Oops, sorry. Time to get up.’

He groaned into his pillow. “Oh, just... just fuck right off. Seriously... I wouldn’t get out of this bed right now if you set it on fire...”

Garovel tapped him on the head. ‘It’s fine. You can catch up on your sleep later.’

He felt his eyelids recede, the weight from them completely lifted. His exhaustion was gone, he realized, and he sat up. He glared at Garovel. “Why didn’t you just do that earlier?” He winced as aching pains vaulted from muscle to muscle all over his body. “And why don’t you do something about this soreness, too?”