One of the old lights in the gym flickers. The thought of changing it to a new one crosses my mind, though it doesn't matter much to me. I glance over the boy's shoulder, noticing the pile-up of dust around the place. How was this kid able to work out in such conditions? I felt my eyes getting a bit watery; It might just be the dust. Why had I never noticed just how dirty this place had become?
"Yes, sir!" the boy replied as he looked at me with a newfound resolve. I'm starting to warm up to this kid— certainly not because he's from a noble family, of course, I'll have to take the cleaning of this place more seriously if I want to have any chance of him having a good impression of me.
"Oh, drop the formalities with me, kid. By the way, I'm Jim, the gym janitor," I said, smiling ear to ear. "And yes, you can come whenever; the gym's doors are always open. Can I get your gre… sorry, your name, please?" I almost said something wrong there, and he seemed to have picked up on my slip, his eyes narrowing before returning to normal.
"Urmmm, it's nice to meet you, Jim, I'm Balair", he replied as he stretched out his right hand for a handshake, which I received with a smile, my eyes shut.
Balair, that name sounded strong and noble, I thought. As both our eyes met, his eyes seemed deep and vast. It began to feel like it was sucking me in, my mind going blank as if I had been transported to a plain outside the reach of our original world. It was pitch black. I couldn't feel anything in this new place; my legs felt foreign, my body and mind seemed absent, all senses shut down, as though they were no longer my own. It sounded like I could hear the sound of a loud breeze, but I could feel that my ears were empty. Something suddenly hit me, making me fall completely to the ground. I couldn't begin to comprehend what was happening to me in that space, which I found myself in, but one thing was vivid to me: the existential threat I felt.
As sudden as my summoning into that otherworldly space was, I was brought back to reality. The bright gym lights, a stark contrast to the pitch darkness I had just been in, forced their way into my wide-open eyes, making me close my now dry, stunned eyes hurriedly with my hands.
As I regained control over my body, I felt an insatiable hunger. My memory felt cloudy as I tried to remember what had happened, but my mind was crowded with multiple thoughts: hunger, my urgency to get a wife, my need to use this noble boy for my gain. I wanted more—more than I could even think of. My head was ringing.
"Ugh… ", I groaned. My head was aching; it felt lightheaded like the gym spun with me as its center. I felt my legs give up beneath me.
"Jim!?" a voice pierced through my ears as its owner rushed to grab me, catching me just as I was about to pay a visit to the dusty floor, perhaps an apology to them for the lack of cleaning for so long?
I hissed as my ears slowly stopped ringing and looked up at Balair, my eyes still adjusting to the light.
What just happened? My entire body was burning up, my overalls were soaked with sweat, the sudden headache had increased in severity, and my breathing was erratic. About two minutes passed with me in that state before I could use my legs again. The young man, Balair, had stayed by my side the entire time, confusion and worry etched in his face, even he was stunned about what had just happened.
"Are you okay?" Balair asked me.
"I'm good now," I replied, my tone soft and hoarse as I looked up at the worried teen "I'll need a bit of help standing, though" I added, a soft smile slowly forming on my face as the kid helped me up without a word of protest, being reminded of his strength as he effortlessly helped me up from the ground.
"GRUMBLE-GRUM-GRUMMMM!" my empty stomach grumbled, demanding to be given something to devour. Then I remembered what we had scheduled for dinner today, I had to finish up here and hurry to the Mess hall.
"Are you sure you are okay? You just stood looking at me like you'd seen a demon and suddenly fell to the ground," Balair asked me as he backed away from me, pulling me out of my plan to close up the gym.
"Yeah, I'm good. I guess I just need more rest," I replied, dismissing his concern.
"It's already seven thirty, I need to close. You can come by tomorrow," I added, my stomach stabbing my insides in protest to my involuntary fast; I needed to shake this kid off. I was the one who went through the entire ordeal, and I am the one telling you I was fine! I couldn't even remember what had happened. Immediately, I had come to my senses; it seemed like something had disappeared—something important was missing. I just didn't know what, so I couldn't understand why this kid kept asking me this one question over and over again.
With my last statement about closing the gym, he finally left for the locker room to change back into his cadet uniform. While I moved the plates back to their previous locations, he had arranged them properly when he was still working out, so there wasn't much to do. After doing that, all I had to do was wait for him to get done in the locker room, my stomach continuing to kick up a fuss as I did so. And after a bit of waiting, he was finally done, following me out as I toggled off the lights for the gym using my AulWris. Balair remained silent the entire time, as if recalling what had happened over twenty minutes ago—something I couldn't recount even with me trying.
"Good night", Balair said as he walked towards the cadet dorms instead of the Mess hall for dinner. I pondered whether to tell him or not, but just shrugged it off and walked the other way. I'll try winning him over the next day.