Chapter 12 – Agony

Sal grimaced as his head finally landed on the pillow. The walk to the dorms had been excruciatingly slow as he fought the dizziness brewing in his head as well as enduring the onslaught of pain coursing through his body.

Whatever relief he thought he was going to get from lying on the bed was quickly dashed by the realization that his pain didn’t get the memo. Unlike the searing burn he experienced from Vanessa’s forced control of his essence, the current sensation was closer to internal bruising that throbbed erratically.

With an agonized groan, Sal turned on his side and rooted through his bedside locker. It took him a few moments to find the small black case that he had all but forgotten about since arriving at the academy. He fumbled when trying to open the case with one hand, but his perseverance won out and he slumped onto his back, holding the black sunglasses aloft.

They had been his lifeline for years when his ability threatened to overwhelm his senses. Sal didn’t hesitate in putting them on, hoping that they would hinder his eyes from activating unconsciously. His vision darkened, and Sal breathed a sigh of relief as he finally stopped concentrating on holding his abilities at bay.

As he stared at the ceiling, he wondered when he stopped getting the migraines from viewing the abilities of others. Had the Skill Registration been the catalyst in giving him full control of his ability? Healer Bitch had said that his eyes were damaged when she did her initial bout of healing on him. The same thing happened when Doctor Bob inspected his eyes at the Doom Society.

Sal grit his teeth through a burst of pain that flared up in his chest. He wished sleep would take him, but the sensations had no intention of letting up. So, he continued to lie in silence, forced to think about how his body lacked the versatility it needed.

Would his eyes naturally improve as he got stronger? Was the issue from using his powers tied to his lack of control and capability? Sal thought back to the last few weeks. They had worked tirelessly day and night to train and improve as a team for the cohort tournament, but apparently that effort was nothing in front of Vanessa’s discerning ability. He was still lacking, and it stung to hear her say it so easily. Throwing a few kicks and punches wasn’t going to overturn an entire childhood of administrative work, and Sal knew that.

As he stared up at the ceiling, he inwardly prayed that sleep would take him. If any of the training sessions were anything to go by, he was going to feel much worse in the morning. But Sal pushed that thought aside; that was a problem for tomorrow. Right now, he wanted a small reprieve from the agony, and if slipping into unconsciousness was it, he’d gladly take it.

Closing his eyes, Sal concentrated on his senses and investigated his internal core to see whether he could feel any difference after Vanessa’s procedure. The thread of light that he was used to weaving for abilities was as thin as a spider’s web, and it was incredibly disconcerting to see it looking so fragile and weak.

It looked like applying even the smallest amount of pressure on it would cause it to snap. It was tightly strung between invisible points all over his body, which Sal guessed were his gates. He couldn’t believe how intricate the entire thing was, and he almost wanted to break out of his trance for fear of unconsciously doing some damage. Sal overruled that thought as he inspected the gates he could visualize, which appeared as tiny rings.

Rather than having an endless coil of thread wrapped around each of them, it looked like a single strand connected everything. He now understood why Vanessa had forbidden him from using his abilities as even breathing on the threads would likely cause them to break.

No matter how much he inspected it, he couldn’t for the life of him understand how this would work going forward. Yet if he did strengthen his thread, there was no way he’d be able to use even a fraction of the power he had before.

Sal took a steadying breath and stopped concentrating on the weave of his internal threads. He looked back at the ceiling grimly and wondered whether Vanessa had made a mistake. That was his last thought as he slipped into unconsciousness, his body finally giving him a momentary reprieve.

Sal shot up from the bed with an agonized roar. His heart thundered as he struggled to put the sunglasses back on his face with a wince. His sheets were soaked with sweat, and the moon glared at him through the window.

Both of his arms shook erratically, causing the sunglasses to fall from his weak grip. An involuntary shudder ran down his spine, causing a groan of renewed pain. The muscles in both legs had cramped, and the pain it brought was unimaginable as he furiously tried to navigate his trembling arms to massage it away.

Each touch caused increased agony, but he had no choice if he wanted to get through this. Gritting his teeth, Sal tried to push through the frustration. But as he feebly attempted to massage the cramps, his mind turned to anger. Not with Vanessa, but with himself. He was weak, and this was his body’s way of letting him know just how pathetic he was.

All she had done was redirect the essence in his body, and this was the result? Did that mean that his physique was completely dependent on essence to function normally? His anger grew with each thought, and although the pain started to fade from his legs, the burning in Sal’s mind continued to grow.

Soon after, he sat on the sweat-soaked sheets, breathing heavily and staring daggers at his legs. Any self-pity that tried to invade his mind was seared away by waves of anger. With a swift motion, Sal placed the sunglasses back on his face and reached for his tablet on the nightstand. He ignored the ache in his rib cage as he stretched out to retrieve the tablet.

In barely a few seconds, he opened the list of exercises from Vanessa. Sal took a slow and steady breath as he got to his feet with his tablet raised at the side. It was stupid. He was injured and he needed to rest up and avoid using his abilities, but nothing was going to stop him right now.

Sal placed the tablet on the edge of the bed and kicked his shoes underneath the bed frame to create space for himself to train. As if anticipating his movements, Sal’s body flared in another burst of pain, but he endured it with a barely audible growl. He checked the first exercises and saw a list of stretches with video clips attached. Both of his legs protested against the movement, but Sal ignored them as he stepped into a lunge.

Tears welled up as he fought through the pain. He promised himself that he was going to do a full set, regardless of how much it tortured him. Thoughts of Vanessa and Quest popped into his head, which strengthened his resolve. He belonged at the academy, and he was going to prove it to everyone.

“Hangover?” Divinity asked as she caught sight of Sal in the canteen. She placed her salad down and sat across from him with a confused expression. “Or are you trying out a new look?”

Rather than answering immediately, Sal took another drink of the vendor coffee and enjoyed the momentary reprieve it gave him from the torture that was mostly self-inflicted. His stubbornness had pushed him through doing an entire rotation of the workout, despite his body wanting nothing to do with it. He adjusted his sunglasses and gave her a slight smile.

“Not allowed to use my abilities for a while, so these are an extra layer of precaution.”

Divinity’s fork halted in its descent as she looked at Sal sharply. “What do you mean, you’re not allowed? Did something happen? Is it something to do with the knots you’ve untied with the others?”

Sal shook his head and regretted the action immediately. “It’s nothing to do with that, don’t worry. I did too much training, and my body and cores need some time to recover.”

Divinity’s face brightened, relief crossing her features. “Oh, so you actually trained in the Skill classroom? I didn’t see you there. I was pretty deep into it! How far did you get?”

Sal smiled as he focused his energy on picking up the coffee without suffering from any involuntary shakes.

Divinity caught the motion and raised an eyebrow. “Fuck, how hard did you go at it to end in this sorry state?”

The coffee cup didn’t seem to want to elevate any farther in Sal’s grip, so he had to lean down to take a drink. When the momentary relief washed through him, Sal used it to continue drinking as he returned to an upright position.

Divinity shook her head in disbelief, her salad completely forgotten. “Sal, what happened?”

It took him a few minutes to fill her in on the Chatfield situation, which barely got any reaction. Apparently, she had already divined parts of that future, so all it did was confirm her suspicions. Sal wanted to know more, but she insisted that he explain his current state.

When he went through the interaction with Vanessa, Divinity was furious. Sal tried to defend Vanessa’s actions, but Divinity raised a hand and looked at Sal as if he were crazy.

“I’ll get to the cores thing later. You’re saying that the Delvers were the ones who sold her debt off to the Credit floor? Because she rejected some creep?”

When Sal nodded, Divinity crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. A dark look crossed her face, and she remained quiet as she stared at the table in front of her.

“And Jez knew? He left her to rot on the Credit floor?”

Sal blinked at the off-the-wall question. “What do you mean?”

Divinity stared at him before her features softened and she shook her head. “Jez helps students in the Administration class broker their Hero contracts. It’s one of the primary advantages in getting ahead in his class, at least according to the information we got on the opening day. You missed it from the Skill Registration…situation.”

Sal placed his coffee cup down on the table, his hands clenching into fists as he finally understood Divinity’s implication. He suddenly remembered how Vanessa’s smile disappeared when she spoke about Jez. With a shake of his head, he dispelled the thoughts from his mind.

“No. I don’t think he left her to rot. If anything, I’d say Vanessa never told him. I don’t think she’s the type to complain, nor do I think he’s the type to sweep things under the rug. I’d say that he has no idea what happened.”

Divinity looked at Sal carefully, as though searching for something on his face before she finally let up and returned to her salad. After taking a small bite of lettuce, she aimed her fork at Sal.

“Now we can talk about the idiotic core thing. What the hell were you thinking?”

Sal sighed and looked down. His hands still held a slight tremor from the exertion of last night. “If you remove my abilities, I’m a weak Support class. I lack versatility and capability, so I think Vanessa just wanted to help me catch up a bit to my peers. Since we’re going to be starting a Trainee Guild, it’s in her best interests to make me as powerful as possible. I think the excruciating pain now will be worth it if I’m going to be stronger tomorrow.”

Divinity looked at Sal as if he had two heads, before she finally laughed. “You really are a glutton for punishment, aren’t you? I’m guessing you didn’t look at today’s schedule?”

Sal’s heart dropped as Divinity gave him a mischievous smirk. He didn’t want to know and preferred to be left in the dark until the final moment, but Divinity looked eager to see his reaction.

“We’ve got a full day of Combat and Survival classes…”