Chapter 27: One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy
The moment it hit five in the morning, Theo was up, almost as though he had an automatic alarm wired into his brain. Actually, it was a common human phenomenon. All he had to do was tell himself, the night before, that he wanted to be up by five. And he did.
The first thing on the list was to cook.
Theo was not a great cook. He was not a bad one either. His father had worked in a care home for as long as Theo could remember, and over the years of watching him, Theo had naturally picked up the quiet skills of looking after people who couldn’t look after themselves. He knew how to portion a meal soft enough to manage, how to keep a kitchen clean enough that nothing crept into the food, how to move a body that didn’t want to be moved.
He had never once imagined those mundane skills would turn out to be this useful.
Within a couple of hours he had a stir fry going, heavy on the beef, the meat sterilized with more care than most restaurants would ever bother with. At the same time he blended fruit into juice for the two of them, more than they could drink in a day if he was honest, and lined the glasses up in the fridge while he kept one eye on the pan. The oil hissed. He stirred, tasted, adjusted, and burned nothing, which he counted as a small personal victory.
Afterwards, he went to wake Estea. The first thing he did was wheel her to the bathroom, then excuse himself and stand just outside the door. Nearby, Sesan seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
Until her eyes snapped open and startled him.
He managed to compose himself. Then, carefully, he watched her and said:
"You’re awake... since when?"
Sesan didn’t answer, only glared coldly.
Theo gulped, turned, and knocked on the bathroom door.
’I miss my landlady. Mean.’
"You can come in."
He opened the door, helped Estea up off the toilet and back onto her wheelchair, then filled the jacuzzi with warm water for her. As he worked, she watched him from behind with a piercing glare.
"What are you doing? You want to bath me?" She chuckled. "Finally, your true intentions are slipping?"
Theo glanced back and gave her a dry smile.
"Even if I did intend to bath you, there’s nothing special about your body. I’ve seen far wilder. Nothing mind-blowing. So when you say true intentions, it’s actually quite laughable."
Estea forced a grin. She looked like a neural cord had snapped somewhere in her head and she was holding the rest of it down by sheer will.
Theo sighed and sank his arm into the tub to check how hot the water was, nudging the tap until it settled just short of scalding.
"I know Sesan helps you. I’m only trying to make that process easier. I’ll be leaving early to go be with Thall for a while, and after that I have to stop by the Hero Association branch to collect my license."
Estea’s stare hardened.
"You... don’t plan to enter the Tower, do you?"
Theo looked back at her.
"And what’s wrong with that?"
She gave an absurd chuckle.
"You want to walk right into your enemy’s den while you’re this weak? Surely you couldn’t be more stupid?"
Theo was silent for a beat, turning her words over, then he looked at her again.
"You speak as though the whole Tower wants you dead. Besides, I’m only an insignificant boy. We can’t keep hiding forever. Isn’t the goal to get you well again? The way I see it, we have more chance of that inside the tower than out here."
"Even if you’re an insignificant nobody no one cares about, the moment you start moving in a certain direction, you’ll alert people. People who could kill you with a single sneeze."
Theo allowed himself a short laugh.
"Then we have one solution, don’t we? We make me stronger. You’re a Transcendent. I don’t even know what that means, but apparently you can turn into a dragon, which means you used to be very strong. So you could be my master... and help me grow."
Estea forced another grin.
"You cheap steak."
Theo shrugged.
"It was only a suggestion." He finally stood and looked at her again. "And more than that, we have to move away from here. I’m sure you know... we were attacked the other day. Whoever it was got away, and my guess is they’ll come back to finish what they started before long. Which is why I’m working on buying us a new house."
The words genuinely shocked her. She raised her head and looked at him, blinking a few times.
"What? Where did you get the money?"
Theo smiled.
"You don’t trust your husband to work his butt off?"
His smile really did look reassuring.
"I promised Thall I’d protect you, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll grow stronger too, and help all of you find your freedom again."
Estea kept staring at him, a deep-rooted confusion plain on her face. As Theo stepped closer and pushed the chair out of the room, her voice came out soft.
"Why?"
Theo didn’t catch it at first.
"Huh?"
"Why? Why are you doing all this? You have nothing to gain from it."
Theo was almost at the door. He paused for a moment.
"What do you mean? I’ve always been alone. Even when I still had my dad, he was the one carrying every responsibility. And now, after he’s gone, I have a family instead. I think that’s reason enough. I consider us family. Of course, I have my own vendetta against certain people, but going through it only made me understand you all the more deeply, and that’s what makes me willing to do this."
He opened the door and stepped out.
"You don’t have to overthink it. Just think of it this way. I finally have the chance to be something in my life. For once, there are three people who actually need my help. Isn’t that what it means to be a hero?"
"Even if they’re all a burden?"
"Aren’t heroes meant to carry burdens... besides, how is it a burden if you enjoy lifting it?"
Estea chuckled.
"Right... one must imagine Sisyphus happy."
Theo glanced at her.
"I’m definitely not Sisyphus. But you’re right. Perhaps Sisyphus, even now, is enjoying himself."