Juryokine

Chapter Nine

When Toke stumbled back into his dorm that night, sore and on the verge of passing out, he let out a ragged sigh. Zashiel had pushed him all day long, for over seven hours straight. The breaks, when she allowed them, had only been long enough for him to hydrate himself against the scorching heat. She hadn't even let him eat a single bite of food, claiming the excruciating exercises would just make him throw it up.

"Smite," he cursed, falling reverently onto his bed. His arms, his legs, and just about everything else were numb, a strange combination of feeling like stone and rubber at the same time.

Zashiel had made Toke race up and down the cliff he had fallen off of, giving him less time with every attempt. If he succeeded, he had ten seconds to rest. If he failed he immediately had to do it again, without even a chance to catch his breath. When she had progressed to making him crawl up the wall, the ragged stones had frayed his pants until his knees showed. He could wait until morning to bandage the scrapes, but he'd never be able to wear those pants in public again.

He had fallen from the wall more than once. While Zashiel would catch him if he were close to the top, she would ignore him if he were relatively close to the bottom.

"Pain is the most effective teacher," she'd explained. "Remember what happened to cause it, and don't make the same mistake again."

"How am I supposed to avoid making the same mistake when I have no idea how I made the mistake in the first place?" he'd demanded while picking himself up, rubbing the shoulder he had landed up.

"That's up to you to figure out," she'd had said for the hundredth time that day.

But then, finally, the sun had set, and Zashiel had flown him back into Jerulkan. While he still kept his eyes shut, he was far more compliant this time. At least if he fell, the pain would stop. Even so, nothing could make him feel better after Zashiel's parting words.

"Be here right after you get out of school tomorrow," she'd ordered him, setting him down in the same alley they'd departed from, "and we'll do it again."

But now, as Toke finally let himself drift away in the painless, Zashiel-less void of sleep, he lost the will to care. So long as he could just get... some... sleep...

The alarm on his nightstand began to ring, jolting him out of his slumber. He reached out to hit it, and immediately regretted it. The muscles in his arm screamed in agony, but all that escaped his mouth was a weak moan. Sunlight streamed through his window, blinding him when he sat up.

Since when does the sun rise at ten o'clock at night? he thought, blinking dumbly at the window. He couldn't have fallen asleep. He was still so tired! Every muscle inside him was sore, begging him to stay in bed and rest. After the day he'd just had, it was very tempting to give in and do just that, but one thing forced himself to swing his legs over the edge of the bed, groan, and stand up.

Navras' class.

Dirt and mud stuck to his clothes, which in turn clung to his body from with sweat. He'd been to hell and back twice over the past two days, and he looked like it. Worse, he smelled like it. Collecting his soap and a fresh set of clothes, Toke made for the shower.

The hot water did a lot to sooth his aching muscles, and he let his mind wander as it poured over his skin.

"What have I gotten myself into?" he asked himself yet again. He wasn't an athlete. Sports and exercise had never seemed as important as learning and building. He had figured out years ago that his metabolism was the only reason he was still in relatively good shape. Most people, if they spent as much time sitting around indoors as he did, would have grown fat and lethargic in a matter of months. Toke, on the other hand, was thin, if not a little frail. But even with his limited knowledge in biology, Toke knew that it was bad to overexert his body. Everybody had their physical limits. Those limits could be raised, but it was a gradual process. Pushing yourself too far could hurt you— very badly. Zashiel didn't seem to know this, though. She was determined to turn Toke into an athlete as soon as possible.