Hector struggled through the day. He wished there wasn’t so much damn walking. A few times, he considered skipping class to go take a nap somewhere, but he knew Garovel wouldn’t permit it. He tried to pay attention to each lecture, but he felt like he had missed more than a few things.
History class was the worst yet. Mr. Cormac was talking about the rise of workers’ unions, and people kept raising their hands to ask questions about the royal family. Hector stopped trying to follow what was going on and just shut his eyes.
Garovel, however, did not. ‘Something’s strange here...’
‘Hmm?’
‘Raise your hand and ask why everyone is suddenly so interested in the Crown.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Because I want to know.’
‘But... I don’t like to... participate...’
‘I don’t care. You can be a shy bastard on your own time.’
He sighed and raised his hand.
Mr. Cormac stared at the hand a moment, about ready to lose his patience. “Yes, Hector?”
“Uh... sorry, I was just wondering... why... everyone else was asking about the royal family...”
A few laughs rang out, and the entire classroom turned to look at him.
His knuckles went white around the edges of his desk. ‘Oh, fuck. What did you make me do...?’
“You’re joking, right?” someone said.
“He really doesn’t know?” said someone else.
He tried to melt into his seat. “D-did... did something happen...?”
“I know you’ve been absent,” said Mr. Cormac, “but you didn’t hear about it on the news or from your parents or anything?”
“H-hear what...?”
“Three days ago, someone tried to assassinate the Queen.”
Hector and Garovel exchanged confused expressions.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every day at noon PST by ~400 words.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
Page 116
--donation bonus (day #4, post 5/5)--
“I fell down the stairs!” he blurted.
“Holy crap, seriously?!” Micah came closer, sizing him up and down. “Is that why you’ve been missing school? Did you break anything? Did you go to the hospital?”
“N-no... I’m okay. Just some... really bad bruising...”
“Wow, dude. Need me to carry your bag for you?”
He tightened his grip on the straps. “Th-that’s alright... I’d rather hold onto it.”
“Alright, well... come sit with us again at lunch, okay? We were worried when you didn’t show up to school the past couple days. Sheryl thought she might’ve scared you off or something.”
“Ah... yeah, okay...”
They walked to class together, and Hector was glad when he could sink into his chair in the corner of the room and just listen to the teacher talk. It was difficult to understand, having fallen so far behind on his homework, but he welcomed the comfortable normality of it. And the chair. Not having to walk anymore was amazing. He rubbed his chest and closed his eyes, trying not to groan.
‘By the way,’ said Garovel, ‘are you feeling alright? In your head, that is. Not your body.’
Hector threw him a look. ‘Excuse me...?’
‘You’re not feeling light-headed or disoriented at all? No inexplicable confusion or anything?’
‘No... why?’
‘No reason.’
‘Garovel...’
The reaper hesitated. ‘When I’m close to death, it will begin to affect you. Your consciousness will begin to... well... tear itself from your body. Perhaps even destroying itself in the process.’
‘Ah... and disorientation is a warning sign?’
‘Yeah. I suppose I wasn’t as wounded as I thought. You’d be feeling some lingering effects, if I was.’
“I fell down the stairs!” he blurted.
“Holy crap, seriously?!” Micah came closer, sizing him up and down. “Is that why you’ve been missing school? Did you break anything? Did you go to the hospital?”
“N-no... I’m okay. Just some... really bad bruising...”
“Wow, dude. Need me to carry your bag for you?”
He tightened his grip on the straps. “Th-that’s alright... I’d rather hold onto it.”
“Alright, well... come sit with us again at lunch, okay? We were worried when you didn’t show up to school the past couple days. Sheryl thought she might’ve scared you off or something.”
“Ah... yeah, okay...”
They walked to class together, and Hector was glad when he could sink into his chair in the corner of the room and just listen to the teacher talk. It was difficult to understand, having fallen so far behind on his homework, but he welcomed the comfortable normality of it. And the chair. Not having to walk anymore was amazing. He rubbed his chest and closed his eyes, trying not to groan.
‘By the way,’ said Garovel, ‘are you feeling alright? In your head, that is. Not your body.’
Hector threw him a look. ‘Excuse me...?’
‘You’re not feeling light-headed or disoriented at all? No inexplicable confusion or anything?’
‘No... why?’
‘No reason.’
‘Garovel...’
The reaper hesitated. ‘When I’m close to death, it will begin to affect you. Your consciousness will begin to... well... tear itself from your body. Perhaps even destroying itself in the process.’
‘Ah... and disorientation is a warning sign?’
‘Yeah. I suppose I wasn’t as wounded as I thought. You’d be feeling some lingering effects, if I was.’
Page 115
--donation bonus (day #4, post 4/5)--
‘Those powers are the result of a marriage between something real and something imaginary. It’s the same for Geoffrey’s shield.’
‘I think I get it... maybe...’
‘So, in order to fight it, you have to add a mental--or imaginary--side to your attacks.’
‘And how do I do that?’
‘Oh, it’s not that difficult. Because your body has already had its soul “hollowed” out, so to speak, you’ll be able to gain a stronger sense of your own presence and even begin to manipulate your soul in different ways. You’ll be able to get the basics down fairly quickly. It’s only when you want to become genuinely proficient that things go less smoothly, but we won’t be worrying about that too much yet. For now, we’ll mainly focus on trying to grow your materialization ability. I expect that’ll be more immediately useful.’
‘Hmm.’
‘By the way, in the interest of full disclosure, there are actually two ways that your metal power can grow.’
‘Oh?’
‘The first is meditative training, just like you’ve already been doing. It takes a while, but it's the more reliable of the two.’
‘The other way is faster?’
‘Very much so, yeah. The second method is to throw yourself into an incredibly dangerous situation, almost get us both killed, and hope that the desperation and rush of adrenaline are enough to force a breakthrough.’
‘What the fuck? That sounds...’
‘Reckless and stupid? Yeah. We won’t be attempting that one. The almost-getting-killed part is a dealbreaker for me.’
‘Huh. Okay... But, um... about this soul power or whatever. When should I, uh... start working on that?’
‘We’ll get to--’
“Hector? You okay?”
Finally reaching his locker, he turned and saw Micah standing there. “Uh... hi. I’m--I’m fine. Why?”
“Well, it’s just, you’re walking like you’re half-dead or something.”
“Ha... that’s, um... yeah...”
“Did something happen to you?”
‘Shit, what do I say?’
‘Uh... You fell down the stairs!’
‘That’s stupid!’
‘Just say it!’
‘Those powers are the result of a marriage between something real and something imaginary. It’s the same for Geoffrey’s shield.’
‘I think I get it... maybe...’
‘So, in order to fight it, you have to add a mental--or imaginary--side to your attacks.’
‘And how do I do that?’
‘Oh, it’s not that difficult. Because your body has already had its soul “hollowed” out, so to speak, you’ll be able to gain a stronger sense of your own presence and even begin to manipulate your soul in different ways. You’ll be able to get the basics down fairly quickly. It’s only when you want to become genuinely proficient that things go less smoothly, but we won’t be worrying about that too much yet. For now, we’ll mainly focus on trying to grow your materialization ability. I expect that’ll be more immediately useful.’
‘Hmm.’
‘By the way, in the interest of full disclosure, there are actually two ways that your metal power can grow.’
‘Oh?’
‘The first is meditative training, just like you’ve already been doing. It takes a while, but it's the more reliable of the two.’
‘The other way is faster?’
‘Very much so, yeah. The second method is to throw yourself into an incredibly dangerous situation, almost get us both killed, and hope that the desperation and rush of adrenaline are enough to force a breakthrough.’
‘What the fuck? That sounds...’
‘Reckless and stupid? Yeah. We won’t be attempting that one. The almost-getting-killed part is a dealbreaker for me.’
‘Huh. Okay... But, um... about this soul power or whatever. When should I, uh... start working on that?’
‘We’ll get to--’
“Hector? You okay?”
Finally reaching his locker, he turned and saw Micah standing there. “Uh... hi. I’m--I’m fine. Why?”
“Well, it’s just, you’re walking like you’re half-dead or something.”
“Ha... that’s, um... yeah...”
“Did something happen to you?”
‘Shit, what do I say?’
‘Uh... You fell down the stairs!’
‘That’s stupid!’
‘Just say it!’
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