Eliona's War 2: Veiled Healer

Chapter 69

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Seth's eyes flew open to the sound of his alarm clock going off. He slapped a hand over the snooze button, shutting up the sound. Then he climbed out of bed and was halfway to the bathroom before he stopped dead in his tracks, reeling.

Something was off.

He tilted his head, taking stock of things. To start with, he felt pretty good for once. Awake. Alert. No aches. No pains. Rested. How long had it been since he'd had a good night's sleep? His stomach growled, and he grimaced, pressing a hand into his belly.

Wow, and he was starving.

How long did he even sleep? He turned and stumbled back to his bed. His phone lay on the dresser. There was the usual missed call, as he'd been ignoring any number he didn't recognize, and there'd been a few more than usual lately. Crazy scammers.

His alarm going off meant it was 10am. And the date was Wednesday. Everything was as it should be.

Wait.

He'd fallen asleep in Eliona. Right on his bed, next to Vast. He didn't recall logging out.

Did the game boot him out automatically?

Seth stared at his phone. Then he turned his head and looked at his bed. The headset lay there, and at the foot of the bed was the little black box that somehow powered the connection. Had he taken it off in his sleep?

That must have been it. He probably disconnected somehow and didn't even remember.

Putting that out of his mind, he began to get ready for the day. He was in a rare good mood because he hadn't felt this good in weeks. His clumsiness had faded and he was able to move normally now. Well, what was now considered normal for him, since he had to try to make any amount of noise as he walked.

After dressing, he wandered into the kitchen. A quick peek in the fridge showed several food containers that he'd brought home from work over the past week. His belly growled hopefully. The first one he pulled out was growing green fuzz, so that went straight into the trash. The second was a soup container that smelled a bit off, so he set that on the counter to throw away later. Choice number three was a soggy burger, but it looked and smelled okay, so he ate it cold right there in the kitchen. The fries were dry and hard, but he was hungry enough to not care.

He went into the fridge again, and found a plastic container of chocolate pudding and another of pasta. Perfect. It took five spoonfuls to deal with the pudding, and about two minutes to finish off the pasta. Both were absolutely delicious. Even as three-or-more-day-old leftovers, Jake's cooking was awesome. To finish off his breakfast, he grabbed an apple and munched on it while he tossed everything in the sink, except for the off-tasting soup.

He was supposed to stop by Chad's Pad this morning before work, so he set off as soon as he was finished.

When he pulled up to the gym on his bicycle, Chadley was the only one there. In fact, Seth had never seen anyone else come to the gym other than Tripp and Mrs Beakor. It made him curious. Surely Chadley had other clients, right?

He set his backpack on the floor beneath the coat rack. Chadley sat at a small table, going over some books. The table was absolutely dwarfed by his size, making it seem like it was child-sized.

"Hi," Seth said, just in case Chadley hadn't noticed his arrival.

The large man paused his work and lifted his head. He regarded Seth somberly, then pointed at the treadmill against the wall. "Fifteen."