Delton woke up to a dark ceiling like last time. Looking at the time, he found that he woke up an hour before his alarm, just like yesterday.

He tried to tap his temple, but a sharp pain on his arm caused him to hiss and stop. “Shit…Everything fucking hurts,” Delton said as he tried to move each of his limbs. However, he found that he could not move a single one.

Instead of panicking, he laid down there for a few minutes. He nodded his head with difficulty and began to visualize the dream he had the day before. He was remembering the image of Lucius and his mother and gradually he felt the energy in his body start to build up.

The energy then diffused itself to the sore muscles in his body, reinvigorating and healing each of his muscles. After visualizing for about half an hour, Delton slowly moved his limbs, then smirked. He jumped off of his bed. Right when he was about to tap his temple, his stomach let out a loud growl.

Clutching his stomach with one hand, he tapped his temple with another and said, “Prepare double the portion of the usual breakfast as soon as possible. Can you also perform a complete body scan?”

“The food will be ready in five minutes. For the body scan, stay still for a couple of seconds.”

A laser light emitted from the corner of his room and scanned his body from top to bottom.

"Scan complete. Compared to last week’s scan. Muscle mass increased by 2%. Fat mass decreased by 3%. Vital signs show that you are well rested.”

While the food was being prepared, Delton sat down on the floor and continued to visualize the image of Lucius and his mother.

After five minutes, he revealed a relaxed expression, then went to the dining table to eat. He turned on the screen on the wall to watch his soap operas and also looked up some questions such as,

Can looking at an image heal you?

and

Image healing

Scrolling through most of the results, many of the claims had been debunked as hoaxes. Delton grumbled.

One of the male characters on the show spoke, “And you think you can have me, just because I’m your father?”

Suddenly a stifled laughter resounded throughout the apartment. Delton quickly turned his head to the couch, which was the source of the laughter. He saw a young man, probably no older than mid-twenties. The man had messy white hair that was slicked back down to his shoulders. He was wearing a light golden leather armor, that seemed to be from a long time ago, giving off an ancient feeling to it.

Delton shut his eyes quickly. Opening them again, the figure had disappeared. Shaking his head, he saw notifications from Filian about the shows from yesterday. Delton chuckled, and following the same routine he had yesterday, a week went by.

In his dreams, Delton experienced Lucius learning how to walk. His mother was no longer able to keep up with him. Sometimes when Lucius disappeared from her sight, she began to panic as she continuously yelled for him to come back, until her voice became hoarse. Eventually he wandered back into her arms, but these times grew less and less. Those times he did not ended up with her mother crawling out of bed to find him, causing Marcus to find both of them asleep on the floor after coming back from training.

Delton also experienced her teaching Lucius the language of the village and proper manners, such as tying his hair up, cleaning after himself, and properly eating food.

In his life, Delton had laid low the entire week. He went to his work with his hoodie on, assembled for the allotted time, then left. Due to the hours he worked, he barely saw any of his coworkers, only giving a passing glance to Boss Bopa on the way out. After going back home, Delton exercises, while watching his shows, and only stops until his energy is completely used up. After lying on the ground for a couple of minutes, he visualizes the peaceful dreams of Lucius and his mother to regain the lost energy. Then after recuperating enough energy, he eats dinner, showers, and then sleeps.

Throughout the week, he had not been able to contact Jade. Reaching out to Boss Bopa one day, he found out that Jade used up all of her vacation days.

Also, some of his coworkers messaged him. Most of them had been about what his next plans were for the manufacturer insurgency. Delton quickly answered those questions by explaining that he had been hungover and that he had no plans to be part of the insurgency. After giving his explanation, most of his coworkers did not message him back.

Delton also skipped the therapist session he had at the end of the week, causing him to lose 250 credits. “Fuck, that was my first and last time, I’m skipping a therapist session,” Delton grumbled. “I wonder what Lucius is gonna be up to this time.”

"I urge you to make another therapist appointment. You are still talking to yourself multiple times throughout the day.”

"I’ll do it later. Place on my schedule next week to schedule an appointment.”

“Done.”

"Great. Now don’t bother me for a while,” Delton closed his eyes and entered Lucius’ life.

Lucius had gotten old enough to start following Marcus out during the training sessions. When he leaves the house, all his mother can do is simply wait indoors, alone in her bed.

As if pulled away, Delton’s view shifted to Lucius watching Marcus attend morning training with all of the other children. Seeing the exercise routine, Delton could not help but to focus on the movements. Being in his current form, he could see small particles of light gathering and dispersing with each move.

"I should try this out in reality…I wonder what effect it would have out there…Hah. Probably nothing,” Delton muttered to himself as he closely inspected the training exercise.

Compared to his first dream, Marcus was able to keep up with the training all the way to the end, along with the older kids. Also, unlike before, Caelus was not present.

After training, the kids all moved towards the open patio. They began to eat cooked beast meat and vegetables.

“Hahaha! I can now lift ten stones worth with one hand!” Marcus boasted, while planting one foot at the table and munching on a leg of meat.

The other children laughed at him and called him names, such as liar and big mouth, causing Lucius to start crying. Marcus sat back down right away and hugged Lucius saying, “Lucius, don’t cry. They’re just joking.”

The other boys tried to comfort Lucius, but one of the older kids sneered and said to Marcus, “Take that little crybaby home. he doesn’t belong here.”

These words then caused Lucius to cry even louder, getting the attention of their training leader. Marcus yelled out, “Who dares make my little brother cry?”

"It was me,” the high-pitched voice came from a kid who looked around ten years old. He sported a buzz cut and was only a head taller than Marcus. Marcus leapt off the table, and quickly appeared in front of the older kid. Marcus then grabbed the older kid’s arm and carried him over his shoulder slamming him down to the ground with a loud thud. The older kid immediately passed out.

All the kids were silent, even the baby Lucius who had been crying not even a second ago. Suddenly the training leader held Marcus by the arm and raised him off the ground. “No fighting while eating!” he shouted out, then spanked Marcus multiple times, his squeals echoing throughout the patio.

After he let go of Marcus, the training leader grabbed the older kid who had passed out and brought him to one of the villagers who were watching. Most of these watching villagers were mainly women and elderly now, compared to earlier. There were no able-bodied men in the crowd.

Marcus rubbed his butt and stood next to the stunned Lucius, who was looking at Marcus with wide eyes. “S-s-s-strong,” Lucius muttered out. Marcus, hearing this, broke into a large grin, and began to boast about his strengths. However, this time, none of the other kids made fun of him.

After finishing breakfast, Marcus was carrying Lucius back to their house. On the way there, Lucius pointed at a flower, making Marcus pick it up. Having dropped Lucius off, Lucius ran to his mother, holding the flower in his hand. She broke into a smile and placed the flower on her ear. She spoke, “Why do you always bring me a flower, my child?”

"Because father does too, and it makes you happy,” Lucius responded. She brought him into her arms hugging him tightly.

She asked another question, “Do you know why we called you Lucius?”

Lucius was trying to escape her hug and did not respond. His mother continued, “Though you are still a baby boy, you are the light of my world.” Feeling his mother’s tears on his head, Lucius stopped struggling. Confused, he started to cry as well.

Delton woke up to tears in his eyes. Wanting to wipe them, he raised his hands, but groaned as a sharp pain coursed throughout his body, “Fuck. I almost forgot.” He then visualized the image of Lucius and his mother for a half hour, regaining the mobility on his body.

He then moved to the living room and began playing First Memories of You. He then tapped his temple to call his parents.

The opaque square popped up in his view again, then after a couple of seconds, his father appeared on the square. “Hehehe. So you do remember us. Hey! Honey! I won the bet! Delton called me! She’s coming now.”

His mother also appeared in view. She looked at Delton with a worried expression and smiled, “No one came to bother you, right?”

"What do you mean, mom?”

Closing her mouth tightly, she sighed then said, “It’s just I still see your name in the news, you know.”

“Come on, mom. Don’t worry about me. I’m not that young anymore.”

“No matter how young you are, you’ll always be my Little Cloud! Remember honey how much more obedient he was when he was younger?”

They talked for a half hour about the past, then Delton’s parents heard an alarm. “Time to go to work, kid. You should, too,” Delton’s dad sighed and said.

"Not today. My 2-day break starts today. I’ll probably just go around and explore the city.”

"Well, just be careful. Love you,” Delton’s mom chimed in.

"I love you, too,” Delton responded. The video of them was then replaced with the same opaque square. Tears had started to fall from Delton’s eyes. Gritting his teeth he smashed his fists on the coffee table in front of him. The impact from his fists left two indents on the table, shocking Delton.

He shook his head, “What am I thinking? This is my fate. I just hope my brother and sister can help them in the future.” He then tapped his temple, “Don’t prepare breakfast, I’ll head out for it.”

Grabbing the prepared hoodie, he left his apartment and made his way to the food stall. Taking off his hood, the old man noticed him, frowned, and shook his head, “I’m sorry. You can’t eat here any more. I do not serve liars.”

"Excuse me,” Delton looked at the stall owner with his eyes wide open.

The old man spoke again, “Please don’t come here again. If you stay here any longer, I will call those monkey authorities at you.”

Grumbling and clutching his fists, Delton left the food stall. He then made his way to another food stall, not much further away from the first one and the stall owner treated him similarly to the old man.

Delton tried his luck with the other stalls only to be met with the same treatment. “The fuck did these people eat lately.”

Walking back home and passing several more food stalls, a voice called out to him, “Hey, kid! I’ll serve you!”

Looking towards the voice, he saw inside a food stall, a young man with blond spiky hair, sporting low-hanging earrings. His eyes were jade-colored, and bags had formed under his eyes. He was wearing a plain T-shirt and jeans. He gestured to Delton, yelling out, “I make what is for you the best grilled skewers you can have in this city!”

Shrugging his shoulders, Delton walked towards the food stall and sat down. After sitting down, the blonde man placed a plate of meat and seafood skewers. A glass of water was also placed next to the plate.

“Do you know what’s going on here, boss?” Delton asked as he began to eat.

“You really don’t know?” The blonde man responded wide-eyed. He responded, “Check the news, Delton. Everyone in this city knows. Also don’t call me boss. I’m not that much older than you. Call me Tekle.”

Delton stopped eating and scanned the latest news articles. He found one of the top headlines to be

Delton Cloud, drunkard not mastermind

As he read the article, his face furrowed and gnashed his teeth. Taking multiple bites of the skewers, he continued to read on. In the article were screenshots of Delton and one of his coworkers, where he explained his actions as him being hungover.

Looking back at his messages, he discovered that the coworker who had sold him out to these news sources was Jucor. “Damn that bitch,” Delton said under his breath.

“Hohoho! Calm down there, Delton,” Tekle had placed another plate of skewers in front of Delton. Giving a puzzled look at the extra plate, Delton saw that he had actually finished a whole plate when reading the article.

"I didn’t think that I would be ratted out by some coworker. I barely talked to him.”

"Haha! It was probably something stupid, like a crush on a girl or rubbing up to a boss.”

"Yeah, probably something completely stupid.”

“You should be more careful who you talk to, Delton. Especially to those who have no power over you. They’re more likely to gain something out of it.”

"Shouldn’t I be wary of you, too, then?” Delton asked while continuing to eat the skewers.

“Hah! I have control of your breakfast. You wouldn’t want to mess with me!” Tekle responded while placing another plate of skewers.

"Heh heh. You’re right. You’re the only food stall here willing to serve me! You’re the most powerful food stall in this damn city. Yeah. Why are you willing to serve me?”

Without pausing his cooking, Tekle stared into Delton’s eyes and answered, “Because I know what it was like to be young and stupid, too. Hell! I’m still young and stupid now. What kind of young man still wants to run a food stall? Hahaha!” Tekle shook his head, while laughing at himself.

After finishing one more plate, Delton paid Tekle and left the food stall. “I’d suggest not going out for a while. If you think these old fogeys had it out for you, you wouldn’t want to see the us young ones come after you,” Tekle warned before starting to grill another set of skewers.

Delton walked back home with his hood up, so that not many people will recognize him. Arriving back, he slammed the door behind him, then gulped down two glasses of water. He started to choke and after a coughing fit said, “I shouldn’t go outside for a while.”

Delton then tapped his temple multiple times,

"Are you sure you want to use your 10 annual vacation days for the following week and a half?”

"Yes,” Delton said in a low voice.

He sat on the couch with his eyes closed, frowning the entire time. “No wonder mom was so worried.”

He glanced at the time. “Well, looks like I got nothing better to do.”

Moving the coffee table aside, Delton took off his hoodie and recalled his previous dream, specifically the training exercise the kids had been doing. Performing the first set of movements, Delton yelped, then passed out.