Arthur was laying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling whilst covered in darkness. He just got home from spending the night at the club with Niles, and the meeting was quite useful. He learnt that Niles was a rare specimen who does not age as a consequence of being strong with aura. He can control the rate at which his nails and hair grow, and he mentioned that he only knows of three other people that are like him in that manner. There were four, but now there is only one. All of them except him died, according to Niles. The only way one of these 'warlords' can die, as Niles called them, is by killing them. They don't die of natural death. Niles though avoided any question regarding his age, details of his life, or anything else really. He did not share more than he wanted to.
Whereas this information is practically useless to Arthur , he also learnt that aura had three stages, the first was basic enhancements, the second stage was a special ability of some sorts, and the third was summoning a weapon or item. After though, Niles went back home, and Arthur was left to wonder by himself. He wondered if it was possible to be a warlord, or when he'd be able to unlock the second and third stage, if he even can.
That didn't matter for now though, Arthur had another problem. He couldn't sleep.
He was laying down, trying to sleep for over four hours, but he didn't feel a drop of tiredness. He reckoned that not needing to sleep was part of the whole basic enhancement package.
He heard a gentle tick coming from downstairs, someone got home. His sister and mother were both sleeping, probably, so it could only be his father.
Arthur swung his arm sideways in the air, as if getting the blanket off him. This was muscle memory from the days when he used to have a normal body, but now he did not need to sleep with a blanket. He set aside the memory of him looking stupid by swinging his arm in the air, and he rushed down the stairs.
In just a couple of seconds, he got to the front door where he finally saw his father.
"Hey Arthur. Good to see you looking well." The father said with a gentle smile on his face.
William was finally happy to see his son, but he just had a hectic day at work, he needed sleep.
Arthur immediately took notice of his tiredness. The dark circles under his eyes betrayed the smile his father had on his face, he looked more like a ghoul than anything else.
"Good to see you too, dad. Were you overworked? You look like you're dying, going to sleep?"
William chuckled, mindful of his volume. "Don't worry about me. Sure I need sleep, but I also need to rest in other ways. Let's catch up."
***
Arthur was sat on the sofa watching tv in his living room. His father was now sleeping soundly upstairs whilst Arthur still did not feel any tiredness despite it being five in the morning, he really needed some rest, but it seems like his new body did not know how to relax so he decided to go out for a jog. A jog wasn't included in a typical rest day, but Arthur wasn't typical, not anymore. He deduced he won't be needing a rest day for quite some time.
After he got changed and left the house, he took a deep breath. He never really took in the environment in the two days he got back home. The street was dark and silent, nothing moving except the steam coming out from his nose. He stood in his front garden. Every house on this street had a well-maintained garden, each house being detached from each other with a two-car garage to the side. The lamps shone a harsh white which was eerily beautiful. The whole suburb was gorgeous when it was dark. It had an offseting peace to itself.
Arthur stopped admiring his surrounding and began jogging, he had no destination. He picked up the pace, jogging normally was not enough now that he was in his superior body. He was going at the speed of an Olympic sprinter, but it was not enough for him. He was going at the speed of a car, but it was not enough for him. He went out of town and started running as fast as he could.
Nearing the end of his stamina, he realised he was on the path to Niles' mansion. He halted to a stop, and contemplated if he should turn back or keep going. Before he could make a decision though, his phone started ringing. It was Niles.
Arthur was startled, mind racing trying to figure out how Niles knew that he was nearing him despite the mansion still being well over the horizon, past five klilometers.