Ancient Forces (2018 Reboot)

Chapter 13 - Family of a Different Variety

Wednesday came along faster than the day actually went. Zayne had been having a slow day since he woke up. It started when Zayne had woken up at around four in the morning, nearly three hours before he normally would to get ready. He'd been forced to lay in bed for three hours, staring at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep again. It was torture, and the fact that he wasn't hungry or fully awake the whole time either made it worse. He had been in a sort of limbo state where he felt sleepy, yet he couldn't go to sleep. He was hungry, but not hungry enough to want to eat anything. Worst of all, he kept having the urge to use the bathroom, but he would have had to use the master bathroom, and in the process wake up Ver, Keith, and Damien. He just held it in.

Zayne and Damien had been on a little bit of a hiatus from talking to each other for the past few weeks, but Damien had finally broken the ice that morning while Zayne was getting ready. Apparently Damien was having some friends over, so he told Zayne to try and keep the talk and training to a minimum. Zayne quickly explained that he already had plans to be out for most of the evening, so Damien had nothing to worry about. After that, the two got into discussions about video games and openings for an opportunity to get into the games. Damien was open pretty much twenty-four seven for playing games, but Zayne was less so available. Especially now with the weekly visit plan to Aleah's place. He had his hands full for quite some time, but finally they found a day to plan for and stuck to it.

After entering the school Zayne's day had sped up by a little, but it still seemed to drag on. The first few classes were full of notes and lectures that bored Zayne to no end. Of course, Zayne wasn't the only one who hated lectures. Zayne had been eyeballing several other students across his classes who shared his common interest of not wanting to be there. Around lunch the group gathered and had their usual discussions of memes and news events. Zayne had to admit, life was looking a little up. With no Midnight Horror roaming the streets to worry about, and with Arachnid no one to be found, Zayne for once had nothing to worry about. It gave him a touch of peace of mind. He liked it.

Aleah and Zayne discussed plans for what to do after school. Aleah didn't live very far from school, so she usually walked home every day. Zayne agreed that he would walk with her. He needed the exercise anyway. The two agreed that once they got home they would focus mostly on getting Zayne and Aleah's parents to know each other better. After confirming with Ver that she would need to pick him up later, around seven or so, they set the plans in stone. Aries and Austin had made plans for another sleepover. They were very frequent with their sleepovers, having at least three a month. The amount of time they spent together was ridiculous to Zayne. He could manage them for a day or two, but spending that much time in and out of school with them was hard for Zayne to imagine himself in without viewing himself losing his mind.

His next class was quick and painless, with few things he had to do in it. His next class was gym, which he was particularly interested in. Over the past few weeks Ver had been explaining to him just exactly how the Dragon Heart enhanced his skills. While the basics were simple, the Dragon's Heart increased his current stamina, strength, and perception, the more advanced things needed to be worked on. Zayne could do one of two things in his spare, personal training time. He could work on control, or he could work on physical enhancement. That meant working out, running, or trying to improve his senses manually. He needed to not only work on his Dragon Force abilities, but his basic human skills as well. The Dragon's Heart made Zayne more agile and durable, to a reasonable extent beyond his own limits. He was restricted by his own human limits.

Gym provided the perfect opportunity to improve his human qualities without raising any suspicion. The teachers were lax in what they forced in the gym until it came to Friday when they did a free game day. Every other day of the week they allowed kids to either run laps, go to the weight room, or play sports of some sort. While sports never really caught Zayne's interest, it did allow him to enhance his senses and perception to the highest alertness possible. The weights room allowed him to work on physical strength, his brute form in total. The laps, which he did less so than others due to his training with Ver, allowed him to increase his stamina and speed. In between those exercises Zayne would try and work on his agility and flexibility, constantly bending and jumping over things to get to his next target.