The afternoon light came through the window at a low angle. It cut across the room in warm gold. Leo stood in front of the mirror without moving for a long moment.
He had not planned to stop there. He had come from the bath, dried off, and simply paused when the mirror caught him.
The body looking back was his, but not the one he remembered from Earth.
On Earth, he had been fit. Genuinely fit. Years of disciplined gym work and careful diet had built that. He had taken quiet pride in it. But it had always stayed within normal human limits. Controlled and deliberate. The closest thing to armor a careful man could build without drawing too much attention.
What the mirror showed now was different in kind, not just degree.
