"Why are you here?"
The words blurted out of my mouth the moment I saw him.
"Why not? Jayce and I are friends, after all."
We stared at each other for a while until I broke the silence.
"I suppose that it's nice to see you, Viktor."
"Likewise, Shaun."
We were no where near being close enough to each other to be on first name basis, but we clearly didn't care about it.
"How are you doing?"
"Good."
Neither of us were willing to start a conversation with each other, so it was an awkward staring contest, with smiles on our faces, until Jayce came along.
"I see you guys have already been acquainted with each other.", Jayce said as he descended down the stairs.
"Shaun, I enlisted Viktor's help in doing experiments with your powers. Don't worry about secrecy, I made him sign a contract before telling him about your powers. The consequences will be dire should he break them."
'Where the hell did you get the contract?' came to my mind, but I kept quiet.
The contract power, after all, would be very useful for future purposes.
"Well, let's get into the experiment."
Jayce announced as he walked off to the laboratory, Viktor and I following closely behind.
We entered the lab and we immediately got off to testing my powers.
This time, Jayce and Viktor wanted to see if I could stop time.
"If you could rewind time itself, why wouldn't you be able to stop it?"
That makes sense. Now, I just need to find a way.
'Za Warud-, nah I'm not saying that out loud.'
"Stop."
Time stopped.
It was that simple. Everyone around me, Viktor and Jayce, were frozen in time.
"Jayce? Viktor?"
I headed over to them and waved my face in front of them.
When they weren't responding, I decided to try something.
I smacked Jayce in the head and moved his arm to punch Viktor's gut.
Nice.
"Time shall resume."
I immediately blacked out, but not before I heard yelps of pain.
...
I woke up in one of the lab's beds.
I looked around of any signs of Jayce or Viktor, but found none.
I tried my best to get up, but I just couldn't.
I laid down on the bed, motionless, for quite a while until Jayce entered the lab.
"Oh, you woke up?"
"How long have I been asleep for?"
"Uh, quite a while. 5 days, actually."
Alright, that's even worse than rewinding. At most, I'd be out for a day.
"Is it because my body isn't conditioned to time stopping, as it is to rewinding?"
"That's part of it. Viktor and I felt the immense concentration of mana in you when you stopped time. It was far more than what it takes to rewind."
"Why is that?"
"We're trying to find that out. Now, get up. Ava's worried about you."
"The hell?"
Why would she be worried about me? No, better question is, how does she even know that I'm in this condition?
The look on my face told Jayce everything and he replied, "She goes to this academy as well, naturally. She also lives in this very dorm, too."
"Why haven't I seen her before?"
"Because she was suspended for... none of your business."
Jayce cut himself off and moved the topic away.
"Well, I can't really get up, can I?"
Jayce approached me and pulled me out of bed, before supporting me with his arms.
Thank god for him doing that, because the moment my feet touched the floor, all of my strength was sapped out.
I very nearly fell onto the floor, but Jayce caught me.
"You're that weak?"
"You expected me to be strong?
...
We walked to the dining table of the dorm, where Jayce laid me down and made me... lunch?
Whatever the time of the day is.
As I was enjoying my meal, I noticed someone coming down the stairs.
Hint; It's not Jayce nor Viktor.
It was Ava.
Her eyes lit up when she saw me, and I must've done the same.
She walked over and sat down next to me, asking about my health.
"How are you feeling Shaun?"
"I'm (not) doing fine. Thank you for asking, unlike someone sitting over there."
The person who I mentioned looked over to us and clicked his tongue.
I felt a cooling sensation on my otherwise very hot forehead, and I looked over to see Ava placing her hand on it.
"Wow, your fever is high! Jayce, are you sure we don't need to take him to see a doctor?"
"He'll be fine. His recovery speed is freakishly fast anyways."
That's cap. My recovery speed is just as fast as anyone else. You just don't want to get off your *ss and walk me over to a doctor.
Of course, I didn't say that out loud. I didn't want another experiment THAT quickly, after all.
"By the way, you have a lot of homework."
Jayce said as he stood up and grabbed a folder filled with papers.
"Good luck."
Thank you for the comforting words my good sir.
"It's okay, you got this!"
Is she an angel?
"Marry me."
"Huh?"
"The hell did you say?"
"Nothing. You didn't hear whatever I just said. No, I didn't say anything at all."
"????"
Very cool. Now, I'm gonna head off to do my homework. I wonder if my professor will get pissed if I get them all wrong?