"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

~ Socrates

Chapter III

(8 years ago)

Year 2046

Yoki settled in to wait for the Academy’s verdict, and life went back to normal. He and his parents ate dinner together every night, as usual, and his dad still made the same bad jokes he usually did. In the meantime, Yoki went to school—normal school, not a special, mysterious, elite one.

He had to admit that he’d never really fit in here. He considered himself to be pretty happy-go-lucky—but he was also a genius. His speed, strength, and intellect were unparalleled. He was the best fighter in his grade, and some of the other kids resented him for it. He didn’t want to stand out, but he didn’t know how to blend in either. He was who he was.

After a few weeks went by, his dad started acting strange. He began keeping odd hours and making phone calls in the backyard. Yoki often passed by his study late at night on his way to the bathroom and saw him on his laptop, still working. His dad was a firefighter, and he usually kept his work at work. Whatever was going on was very abnormal. It seemed unrelated to his job.

One night, after dinner, Yoki decided to ask about it.

“Is something up, Dad?” Yoki asked, muting the TV. “Does it have to do with The Academy or anything like that?”

“Why would you say that?” his dad replied, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.

“I don’t know, it’s just the one thing that’s changed in my life in the last few weeks. Did I not get in or something?”

“There’s a lot going on, Yoki,” his dad said wearily. “I can’t tell you about it, but I can assure you that it has nothing to do with you.”

That left him with more questions than answers, but it seemed like there was nothing he could do about it. Like The Academy, his dad would either tell him what was going on or he wouldn’t. Either way, it was out of Yoki’s hands.

Then, one morning, his dad banged on his door before dawn.

“Get up, Yoki!” his dad shouted, banging on the door. “We’re going outside to train.”

“Now?”

“Yes, now. Strength training and mixed martial arts.”

“Why, Dad?” Yoki groaned. “The sun’s not up yet. Can’t I just sleep a little longer?”

“Nope. We’ve got work to do.”

Yoki knew there was no point in arguing with his dad when he was like this, no matter how much he hated it. Yoki was known for being stubborn, but Garrett was even more so. His mother always said his stubbornness came from his dad, after all.

They ran through a series of exercises in the dark backyard. Yoki’s dad always had high standards, always pushing him to do his best, but this was beyond anything he’d ever been asked to do. By the time the sun appeared over the horizon, Yoki was breathing hard and soaked with sweat.

“Just—” he panted. “Give me—a moment—to rest—”

“Do you think you’ll be allowed to rest at the Academy?” his dad bellowed. “You won’t! They’ll work you within an inch of your life. The Academy isn’t going to go easy on you, Yoki! It isn’t!”

He looked almost maniacal standing there, silhouetted against the rising sun. Yoki narrowed his eyes.

“Have I even gotten into the Academy yet, Dad? Have you heard anything at all? Or are you just making this all up?”

“You’ll get in.”

“So that’s a no?”

“Like I said, Yoki, you’ll get in.”

“You don’t know that! And if that’s what this is about, you’re torturing me for what might be no reason. This is really weird, Dad. What’s going on?”

Garrett swallowed hard. “I know things have been a little strange lately—”

“That’s for sure.”

“So I’ll level with you. No, I haven’t heard anything yet. But I’m confident you’ll be admitted, just as I was. That’s not why I’m asking you to hone your skills now, though.”

“Then why?”

“This may be a little surprising, Yoki,” he said. “But I wasn’t always a firefighter. I used to do—something else. And in that line of work, I made a lot of enemies.”

“Enemies?” Yoki couldn’t picture his dad having enemies. Garrett was tough but cool. He got along with all the guys at work. He was well-liked.

“Yes, Yoki. Enemies. When I left that... profession, I took steps to keep you and your mother safe. I thought I’d left that life behind for good. I truly did. And everything was quiet for a long time. Nothing came back to haunt me, until recently.”

“What happened, Dad?”

“One of my old enemies resurfaced. I thought I’d covered my tracks, made it impossible for them to find me, but I guess I wasn’t thorough enough. They let me know they knew where I was, what I did now. They told me they knew all about you, Yoki. Your extraordinary abilities. Your Academy application. I don’t know how they knew all that, but they did.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Yoki’s stomach dropped. He’d always thought the activities he did with his father were just for fun, father-son bonding. Had his dad been training him to protect himself from these “enemies” all this time?

“I thought I could protect you, Yoki, but I failed. I’m sorry. And now you need to be able to protect yourself. In case I—in case I’m—after I’m gone.”

Yoki knew what his father meant, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask it. “Gone?” he mumbled.

“My enemies are very deadly. They have a long memory with many grudges, and they stop at nothing to get back at those they feel have wronged them. They’re very, very angry about some things I did many years ago. They haven’t been able to leave it behind. The enemy who wrote to me let me know that they have not forgotten. That it’s still as fresh to them as the day it happened.”

What had his father done?

Yoki didn’t really want to know. Whatever it was, it sounded like a big deal. From the look on his father’s face, it was bad news, something terrifically horrific had happened, and it had finally caught up with him from the past.

“They may come for me. If that day comes, I’ll fight them off as well as I can—but it’s possible that they’ll succeed. You need to be ready to defend yourself and your mother if that happens. Can you do that, Yoki?”

Yoki thought about all the training, all the lessons his father had drilled into him over the years. It had always felt like preparation for something, though he hadn’t understood what until now.

“Yes,” he said firmly. “I can, Dad. I won’t let you down.”

“Good. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. You did well today in training. You’ve come a long way since we started. You’re far ahead of where I was at your age.”

A surge of pride welled up in Yoki’s chest. He had lived up to his father’s high expectations, and that wasn’t easy.

“I’ll keep working, Dad,” he said. “I’ll get even better. I want to be as strong and capable as you.”

“That’s commendable, son,” his dad said, a shadow of weariness passing over his face. “But remember to make wise decisions. The choices you make when you’re young can come back to haunt you later in life, often when you least expect it. I’ve had to learn that lesson recently, and it hasn’t been an easy one.”

Yoki nodded, though he didn’t fully grasp the weight of his father’s words. His natural optimism made it hard for him to dwell on such somber thoughts. It was difficult to imagine that he would ever face such dire consequences.

Garrett looked up at the sky and smiled widely.

“There we go,” he said, his voice gruff. “Finally. Right on cue.”

Yoki was about to ask what he was talking about when a giant eagle dove out of the air and landed on his father’s fist in a shower of feathers. It extended its leg imperiously, revealing an ancient-looking scroll tied to it, sealed shut with a blob of golden wax.

“It’s from The Academy,” Garrett said. “Do you want to be the one to open it?”

The eagle was intimidating, its beak looking particularly cruel, but Yoki refused to show his fear—he had fought against a dragon, after all. This eagle was nothing! It gazed at him sharply as he untied the scroll from its leg and unfurled it, giving him a dreadful feeling, even more so than the dragon had.

Yoki took a deep breath, his fingers trembling slightly as he broke the wax seal and unrolled the scroll. The parchment crackled softly in the morning air, the elaborate script catching the first rays of sunlight. His eyes scanned the ornate writing, his heart pounding in his chest.

“Dear Applicant,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded a spot in the Academy for the 2047-2048 school year. We await your response. Please send back by eagle at the earliest opportunity. Applicants who accept will finish out the year at their current school and begin at the Academy in the fall. We look forward to hearing your response.

Best wishes,

Greenfield and Indigo”

Yoki swallowed hard, his excitement tempered by disbelief. They had actually accepted him. He had taken the exam to please his dad, but he hadn’t really expected to be admitted. Now he had to decide what to do next. A small part of him was irritated that they’d called him ‘Applicant’ on the acceptance letter. They knew his name—there couldn’t have been that many people who’d applied and been accepted.

“Well?” his dad asked, looking at him expectantly.

“I got in,” Yoki whispered. Garrett whooped with joy, his enthusiasm infectious. The eagle flapped its wings, looking slightly annoyed by the commotion.

“You’re going to accept, right?”

“I don’t know. Should I?”

“Absolutely! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Yoki. You’d be a fool to turn it down.”

“But you said you regretted your choice of career,” Yoki said. “Some of the things you did came after the Academy. Isn’t that the reason why you’re in the situation you are now?”

“The Academy wasn’t the cause of that. It gave me incredible skills, true, but I made my own bad decisions. Plenty of Academy graduates go on to live very productive and useful lives.”

“What do they do?”

“Some work for the government, mostly as spies. Others become elite scientists, politicians, or successful business leaders. Yes, some do go down a dark path, but that’s a risk in any walk of life. Power, unchecked, has a way of corrupting those who wield it—and The Academy can teach you devastating power if you choose to use it that way. But for someone like you, who already has such potential, The Academy can give you the ability to control your strength and more.”

Yoki looked at the eagle, then down at the scroll. “What did you do, Dad? After leaving school. What did you do that was so bad?”

“I’ll tell you later. For now, this girl probably wants to be on her way. Do you accept or not?”

The eagle looked at Garrett sharply, with narrowed eyes. Yoki reminded himself to forget about the eagle and focus on what he should do. This could turn out either very well or very poorly.

“I—I accept,” Yoki said hesitantly, and his father beamed, pulling a fountain pen out of his pocket.

“Write it down then. Make it official.”

He checked the “Yes” box on the acceptance letter and carefully wrapped the scroll back around the eagle’s leg. The bird took off, wings beating vigorously in the air, and vanished into the sunrise.

“I’m proud of you, son,” his dad said, putting an arm around his shoulder. “You made the right choice.”

“I hope so,” Yoki replied, feeling a strange unease. He hadn’t liked what he’d seen of the Academy during the exam. And his dad’s words lingered in his mind long after their conversation.

Power, unchecked, has a way of corrupting those who wield it.

What, exactly, had he gotten himself into?

The pre-dawn training sessions continued, each more vigorous and exhausting than the last. Pushups upon pushups, sit-ups upon sit-ups, running upon running. Simple exercises repeated into thousands of repetitions. It became a trance to him, a rhythm that consumed his mornings. He could feel himself getting stronger with each passing day. Part of him almost hoped someone would try to attack him, just so he could test his abilities and see how much he had really progressed. He hadn’t been in a real fight since his Academy exam.

Meanwhile, his dad grew increasingly paranoid. Garrett stayed up late most nights keeping watch, only sleeping for a few hours before getting up to train Yoki again. He seemed to be perpetually on the phone, too. The only time he was around anymore was at dinnertime—and even then, he seemed distracted and preoccupied.

“Honey,” his mother said one evening, her voice tinged with concern. “Is everything all right?”

Yoki watched his father closely, curious to see how he’d respond. Garrett smiled broadly but didn’t fully answer her question, deflecting it instead. Yoki wondered how much his mom knew about her husband’s former life when she married him—if anything. Had his dad ever told her? Or had he simply hoped that his past deeds, whatever they were, would remain buried?

All spring, he kept going to school as usual. The other kids ignored and resented him, and he endured it with good spirits. He didn’t have much to say to them anyway. He was much brighter than they were, and his brain worked at a much higher level. He always felt like a jerk thinking that, but it was true. He hadn’t really made many friends during his time there, and it seemed unlikely that he ever would. In some ways, the Academy might be the best thing to happen to him. Maybe he’d finally meet people his own age he could relate to.

Despite his unease and the craziness with his dad, he was beginning to look forward to the future. He was starting over, in a way, and it seemed to be a good thing.

Yoki was optimistic for the first time ever—but as always, things never worked much in his favor. Everything was about to change—and not in the way he expected.