"What…? Like, could you repeat yourself…?"
"Hm? Okay, yeah, just devour another member of the Assas family to death. I think it's called the Second Taboo or whatever, but it doesn't really matter. It's a way to get stronger quickly," Chad said.
'Uh… that's cannibalism. And cannibalism is… ew, that's morally wrong.'
"Uh… yeah, no, I can't do that… I'll stick with hitting the gym, actually."
Chad shrugged his shoulders, looking at the wide array of machines for Arthur to use.
"Fine with me! So, if you're gonna be fighting, it'd be a good idea to train your arms, back, legs and core. Let's get started, yeah?"
Arthur swallowed his own spit, tense.
…
Hours had passed, and Arthur was laying on the ground, huffing and puffing. Over and over again, he brought his body to the brink, using specially designed equipment to train his superhuman muscles.
And when his body couldn't handle it, he was made to convert stamina to healing, refreshing his muscles. And occasionally, he'd be forced to dine on chicken, rice, bread rolls, spinach and broccoli in order to pack in the calories, giving him proteins for muscle, carbs for energy and vitamins for a healthy body overall.
'I can't do it, I can't do it, it's too much!'
He'd worked his arms with curls, tricep extensions, hammer curls, and deadhands. He'd built his back with lat pulldowns, seated rows, bent over barbell rows, and added to his shoulders with rear delt flyes along with bench presses and lat raises.
For his legs, he did barbell squats, bulgarian split squats, leg curls, and calf raises. The core was worked with weighted situps.
To top it all off, he did deadlifts, working his legs, his back, and more, his form being corrected by Chad to prevent unnecessary injury.
And Arthur was ashamed to admit it, but he cried. He did indeed shed tears, as he'd never worked his body in such manners before. He ended things with a 5 mile run, but his body couldn't keep up so he zoomed off the treadmill which was making him run at 60 miles an hour.
He slammed into the wall, though it wasn't broken due to it being reinforced. He laid there, gagging and trying to hold back the urge to vomit.
'I want to die I want to die I want to die Iwanttodieiwannadiewannadiediedie'
"Nice fight broski! Man, for a dude with minimal experience, you nailed it!" Yelled Chad, giving him a thumbs up and handing him a bottle of water.
'I ONLY NAILED IT CAUSE YOU WOULDN'T LET ME STOP AFTER I BEGGED 10 MINUTES INTO THE DAMN THING!'
Though, he kept his aggression to himself. He was fighting for his life, taking as much oxygen in as he could. It was by no means healthy, but due to the conversion system, being given the proper name of "Dragon's Authority," he was able to offset any long term issues.
Though, it wouldn't exactly save him from heatstroke, which Chad made sure to protect him from by soaking him in ice cold water every 20 minutes and making sure he got in adequate hydration.
"Well, it's 1:30. If you wanna leave, feel free to do so. I can take you home myself if you want me to, your address is something we all pretty much know about," Chad said. Arthur groaned, nodding his head.
"Y-yeash, that… nice, mhm…" Arthur blabbed out. Chad grabbed him, picked him up and took him outside the mansion, leaping into the sky above the clouds before turning into a huge dragon.
Chad's dragon took the form of a pitch black beast with glowing purple eyes which seemed like lasers, as he kept ahold of Arthur and flapped his wings, zooming through the sky. He arrived in the general 100 mile area of where Arthur should live, undid his transformation and fell through the sky with him.
"Wheeee!!!"
"UWOAAHHHH!!!"
Chad laughed and grabbed ahold of him, using his wings like a parachute before landing on top of a building.
"Alrighty broski, cya later! Let's ride monster trucks sometime! Malaking taba suso!" Chad yelled, before jumping off and flying away. Arthur groaned, vomiting and holding his stomach.
'I think I still have work tonight… this… it sucks.'
Arthur got up, limping around. He climbed down the fire escapes of the apartment building, looking around. He was lost, as he'd not done much traveling after moving into the dorms.
He eventually found himself on the Maps, before running at "sprinting" pace, or that's how humans would see him. In truth, he was doing brisk jogging, but he made it seem like he was sprinting.
He found himself home in just a few hours, arriving on campus and hurriedly entering his dorm room. He saw Tyler, who was studying at his desk.
"Aye, we have a quiz this Friday," Tyler said, keeping his eyes on the paper. "Ah, 'kay," Arthur replied, collapsing onto his bed. He checked the time, seeing that it was 4:23.
'I only have, like, 30 minutes to clock in. Agh, let me rest…'
Arthur got up, going to the bathroom and took a shower. He rushed it, got dressed and went off. He drove to the grocery store, and clocked in.
His manager, a man in his 40's with a rather large belly and bald head which he covered with a baseball cap, approached Arthur.
"Aye! I was wonderin' where ya' ran off to, y'know. I checked y'er schedule and you were supposed to have clocked out right afta' the bomb went off! Did'cha see it?" He asked. Arthur began to sweat a bit.
'If I tell him I did, will he ask why I didn't report it? If I get fired over something like that, I'll… agh!'
"Er, I don't think so. I was just, I mean, y'know, tired. I might've, though, and—oh look!" Arthur yelled, looking at a customer approaching his lane. He waved his hand at the manager, smiling awkwardly and helping the woman bag her groceries.
His manager decided it would be better to ask later, and left him alone, much to Arthur's relief.
…
He left the grocery store exhausted. He had time to actually check the building. The ball of flames had struck near the store, so it was being repaired at the moment.
He'd essentially told his manager that he didn't remember it, and that he'd already left by that point. His manager bought it, not exactly convinced but not wanting to push too hard.
Arthur gave Tyler a call, asking him to boil the water. Tyler said "mhm, and don't get into too much trouble like last time, yeah?" Arthur laughed and let out a small "M'kay," before hanging up.
He got in his car, his pretty cheap car. It was still expensive for a college student, obviously, so he wanted to make sure it was never destroyed or anything like that. He put on some music, and began the drive back to his college.
'Hm. As much as I hate work, it was actually pretty relieving. All I've gone through for the past few days has been either chaos or terrifying, and honestly, just a normal work shift helps a tiny bit, at least when it comes to feeling more "normal" again.'
And on the way back, he just so happened to spot a car accident. It happened right in front of him, someone ran a red light and got hit as a result. Arthur watched it happen, and he wondered whether to do anything.
Though, ultimately—
'What am I gonna do? Well, I guess I could take them to a hospital or something, but it's not like they got badly injured. Uh… yeah, no thanks. I'm a college student, not a superhero.'
He left once he got the chance, just like everyone else.
His area wasn't crime-ridden, so even if he prowled the streets at night, he wouldn't be doing much. And even if he did, it still wasn't his problem. If he wasn't slaughtering civilians using his powers, that should be enough.
And so, he kept driving.
Fighting. Fights were present in highschool, sometimes frequently, sometimes infrequently. If he were still in highschool, perhaps it would be possible to become well known for fighting well, or getting back at those who mistreated him.
Perhaps the old him, if he'd awakened sooner, would have used his powers to get revenge, to beat up his "bullies." But he was 19, an adult. The mistakes of teenagers no longer applied to him as much.
It was college; bullying was infrequent and if it happened, wasn't as cartoonish, or easy to punish. No one was getting swirlies or titty twisters, they were either here to learn or to party, perhaps both.
Simply put, the world wasn't as childishly lenient. Beef couldn't be squashed with a fight and then perhaps lead to friendship. Everyone was an adult, and even if they'd just left highschool, they had to be adults, or else their degree was at stake.
Once he reached campus, he went to his dorm and saw Tyler watching a show on his laptop.
"Honey, I'm hooome~!" Arthur said in a slightly loud voice, not wanting to be too loud since it was nighttime. Tyler groaned, saying "yeah, yeah, I boiled the water for you, just like ya asked, BABE."
His voice was like a demon at that last part, quite frightening indeed. Arthur put in the brick of ramen, boiled it and ate it. He sat on his bed as he looked at Tyler.
"Whatcha watchin?" Arthur asked. "Oh, it's this show about a serial killer who kills other killers," Tyler answered. Arthur was intrigued, so he asked Tyler to put it up on the TV. Tyler obliged, and the two watched the first episode together.
And after the first episode, or the bit that Arthur had seen, where a criminal, a murderer, was killed, he felt—
'Oh, cool.'
He didn't care to emulate it. It might be possible for him to abuse his powers and go around killing whoever he pleases. Yet, that still was not within his wishes. The act of murder was something he didn't feel comfortable with.
And ultimately, he wanted a normal life. To exist normally.
His main goal, what drove him to do most of his actions in day to day life, was simply to get his degree and have fun with his friends. He needed nothing more at the moment.
And so, Arthur took a shower, then went to bed.
"Goodnight," he said softly, before closing his eyes and waiting to sleep.
…
"Hellooo? Can ya hear me?" That woman, her name, it was… it was Lucy, wasn't it?
"Hellooooo? Arthur? Ya theeeere?" She asked. Arthur opened his eyes, finding himself at the tip top of a tower. It seemed to be old and medieval, with a beautiful landscape before their eyes, bathed in green grass and pretty blue sky, few clouds in sight.
The pinnacle they were at was small, fitting just two people who stood mildly close together, though obviously keeping space.
"Ah. Mm… yeah, I hear you," Arthur said, smiling slightly. She patted him on the back, looking at the fields.
"So, mind talking about some stuff?" She asked. Arthur nodded his head, and she shoved him off of the tower.
"UWAAHHH!!" He screamed as he fell and slammed into the ground painlessly. The world distorted, swirling until they both sat in the middle of a royal dining room, cups of tea given to Lucy as she drank it and looked over at Arthur.
"Oh? Won't you drink it? Your limited edition plate tea is going to be cold," she told him. He looked down at his own cup, seeing that the liquid tea inside was actually a white plate, the kind you'd eat food on. But it was still a liquid, and a plate at the same time.
"I'm not drinking this," Arthur stated plainly. Lucy pouted, responding with "Huh? You're such a picky drinker!"
Arthur laughed awkwardly, and Lucy looked at him blankly. "Well, I mostly come here to vent, and to let you vent as well. Got any tea to spill?" She asked him. Arthur looked around, admiring the beautiful design of the castle.
"Um, well, not really. Honestly, things are kind of okay, actually. There's this dude, Chad, from the Graves family, and—" Arthur was saying, before he got cut off really quickly by Lucy spitting out her tea and slamming her hands onto the table, leaning forward and looking at him with shock.
"Huh?! Chad, Chad Graves? Y'know, that Chad?!" She yelled in legitimate bewilderment and surprise. "What? Uh, I'd think so, are there two Chads?" Arthur replied, tilting his head in confusion.
"Oh, shit dude… well, what about him?" She said, sitting back down and holding her hand over her heart, feeling it and laughing a little from how fast it was beating.
"Uh… yeah, he seems kinda friendly to me. I don't think he actually likes me, it could just be that he's, um… a 'dudebro,' I guess. He's probably just faking it," Arthur said, the last sentence being in quite a somber tone.
Immediately, Lucy shook her head, looking at him with a deadpan stare.
"No, he's not faking it," she told him. Arthur let out a "huh?" before she continued.
"I'm not super into the world of dragons, I mostly live as normally as I can, but from what I hear, Chad doesn't lie. If there's one virtue he has, it's honesty," she said, before continuing. "Everything I've heard of him is that he's a bit… eccentric, I suppose. No, more like… a natural disaster, I guess. A hurricane doesn't intentionally weaken in order to surprise people when it gets stronger. It lives only as it was made to be; a hurricane."
"Ahh… so, he's strong?" Arthur asked.
"Not just strong, he's the strongest," Lucy replied. "This is just hearsay, perhaps a lie from the Graves family, but it's said that a few seconds after he was born as a baby, his body immediately changed to become what we see now. His brain still wasn't super developed, but it was at the same level as that of a 5 months old, just seconds after being born."
Arthur laughed, covering his mouth as he was quite insecure of his teeth. He looked at her strangely, continuing to laugh. Her words made him glad, really glad, that he'd become friends with her.
"Ah, that sure is something! I mean, is that his Dragon Art? To become a full grown adult?" Arthur asked, still chuckling. However, when he saw that Lucy wasn't laughing, he quickly stopped, digging his nails into his thigh and clearing his throat.
"No. He can't die. As a member of the Graves family, descendent of Graves, the Death Dragon, he inherited his own Dragon Art: The Eternally Dominant Existence. Y'know how I said you'd probably die soon, since, y'know, you got the Scent of a Traitor?" She explained.
"Uh, yeah?"
"If you truly do have Chad as an ally, then I take it back; you're safe."