It didn’t happen like all the other times when I had to consider a thousand possibilities before making a decision. I had already made that decision the night before. I had thought it through enough. For Falco, it was time to act.

Even though my legs were trembling, I took a deep breath, that made me feel my heart pounding between the lungs and ribcage. I was burning with that mix of conflicting emotions. I seemed ready to destroy the world, but at the same time, I was as unstable as a ticking time bomb. There was no time for my dilemmas, not even for my thoughts.

In a flash, my mind cleared away all of that. With my hands, I slowly pushed those two heavy doors, and my legs didn’t seem to want to stop trembling.

“I made it. I had finally entered the field of the chosen ones.”

That was the field I could only watch from the outside, from the edge of the fence that separated me from my dream.

My heart was pounding, and I could feel a growing sense of happiness inside me. I wasn’t happy because I had managed to enter the field. I was happy because I had finally achieved something with my own hands, with my own strength. From that moment on, I was no longer Falco, the nobody, the powerless; from that moment on, I would be Falco, the chosen by the Great Star. It sounded so good.

But I couldn’t celebrate just yet. Crossing that gate didn’t mean much, after all. It was only the first small step towards something greater, something perhaps no powerless person had ever dared to dream of before.

The noise of the two doors scraping against the dusty, dry floor caught the attention of the chosen ones who were training, and especially that of their master, who didn’t expect a visit from anyone.

To my left were those commonly called “mages,” who possessed control over magic. The four of them stopped talking among themselves, closed the books they were holding, and slowly approached the gate. The others, who were training with the master, did the same, except they didn’t have books.

There they were. Malia, Robby… but Zokin wasn’t there. Why wasn’t he there? Obviously, I wasn’t hoping he’d be there, because he would have made it harder to become one of the chosen ones, but still...

“Who are you?” Malia shouted from a distance as she approached with that pseudo-apprentice Robby.

“Malia,” the master interrupted, “Wait.” He finished as he stepped closer. He motioned for the chosen ones to stay back, perhaps because of the taboo between chosen and powerless.

He stopped a few meters from me, and the anxiety started to set in.

“I hope everything goes as Malia said.” I repeated in my head.

“Who are you, boy?” the old master asked. It was the same question Malia had asked, so I responded as rehearsed.

“I’m Falco Anderson, sir. I believe I’m one of the chosen, just like those guys over there.” I pointed towards Malia and Robby.

He turned in the direction I had indicated and looked me up and down. I was tense. My legs started trembling again, though maybe they had never stopped, and I hoped no one would notice.

The master didn’t move for a few seconds. Should I have said something? I looked at Malia to see if she had any advice for me, but she had a look that was both surprised and angry. I think she was getting into character, thinking, “What’s this powerless stalker doing in our chosen field! Unacceptable!” But she gave no sign of wanting to help me.

“So you’re telling me that all this time, you never had the courage to speak about your powers? Not a very smart move.”

What the heck was he talking about?! Did he think I was a chosen one hiding my abilities to avoid training or something?! Malia had said the master was someone easily fooled!

“No, sir. I’ve never hidden. A few days ago…” I already knew what to say about the awakening. Malia and I had talked a lot about it to make the story believable. “While I was working in the shop with my father, I was cutting wood, like every day, but the next day and the day after that, I couldn’t understand why I had suddenly become so much better than my father at cutting and carving wood. I talked about it with my family, and they told me it was a clear sign of a power granted to me by the Great Star."

His face showed anything but calm: “That’s impossible, boy.” He stepped closer to me.

What was he planning to do? Test my abilities? Punish me for breaking the taboo? Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t move. I was petrified by the fear of being discovered. My breath was caught between my throat and lungs.

“You have no power,” he said coldly, placing a hand on my shoulder. “At your age, it’s impossible to awaken the powers of the Great Star.”

I looked into his eyes and saw only compassion. This man wasn’t nearly as evil as I had imagined. He removed his hand from my shoulder and stepped back. “Leave before someone notices what you’ve done. And you all, get back to your training.”

What was happening? He was sending me away... A void opened up inside me. It had all been for nothing. The empty mind I had before crossing that gate was now flooded with thoughts, doubts, and, above all else, sadness.

“Close the gate on your way out.”

That fucking phrase. How could you say something like that to a kid who just claimed to have awakened powers?

I was still standing there, motionless, with the gate behind me, waiting to be crossed again and then closed forever. I couldn’t take it anymore. Even though I wanted to destroy everything, I knew I wasn’t capable of doing anything. I had always been like this: a powerless fool who looked too high, who dreamed when he had no right to.

I remembered all those secret training sessions with the master, all those days she had wasted coming to train me in secret, risking being caught every time. I didn’t give a damn about my dream anymore. All that training had been nothing but false hope, but I had never given up. Yes, I had never given up because I didn’t want to face reality. The reality that a powerless can’t compete with a chosen one. The reality that a powerless can’t dream like a chosen one.

I was leaving. I didn’t have the courage to look back and meet Malia’s disappointed gaze. If I was sad, it wasn’t because I had thrown my life down the drain, continuing to train for an unattainable dream, but because of her, because she had believed in someone who couldn’t live up to her expectations.

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I pushed one of the doors. It was much heavier than before. It made the same noise, scraping against the sandy, arid ground compared to the earth in the rest of the village. Then I pushed the other one, and without looking back, the gate was closed.

As I stared into the void, I realized what I had just done. It was like waking up from a coma, remembering everything that had happened while you were in that state.

I collapsed violently to the ground, onto my knees, and I didn’t even feel pain.

“What have I just done?” I asked myself. “I’ve thrown everything away. Great job, Falco, really great fucking job!”

I could feel the tears about to fall when the banging on the gate snapped me out of it.

“Hey, you! What the hell are you doing?! Running away, huh? Get back here!”

What was that voice? It was telling me to go back. Why? I wasn’t worthy, I had given up on everything. There was nothing left to do. Why did the pounding on the gate keep hitting me like it was going straight to my heart?

I slowly pushed open one of the heavy doors, and before I could see who it was, a hand grabbed my arm. I lost my balance and fell to the ground.

“Are you out of your mind?! That was the moment to face me!” someone whispered.

Malia? Why? Why was she so determined to make me continue? Why the hell did she come back for me when I had shown her I was worthless? Was I her only hope?

I couldn’t say a word.

She slapped me. I must have looked surprised - I hadn’t expected such a random slap - but inside, I couldn’t stop thinking about why she had grabbed my arm.

“You’ve knocked down trees with your fists, trained literally every day for this moment, and now you’re throwing it all away? Are you fucking stupid?!”

She was right. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t say anything.

“Malia!” the master shouted as he ran towards us. “Malia, leave the boy alone!”

She stepped back from me, and the master came to my aid.

"What did she do to you?" he asked, then noticed my reddened cheek.

"Malia, even though there's no taboo against this, you can't hit this boy just because he made a mistake."

"This boy is definitely mocking us, Master! How can you not see that?" she said, pointing a finger at me. I couldn’t quite grasp what Malia was thinking, but I understood why she had grabbed me and dragged me back into the field.

"Malia, you owe me an explanation!" shouted the master.

I finally had the chance to change my life, and I was blowing it for some reason.

How the hell did I give up so easily? Even though I couldn’t think clearly, I had a second chance, and now, having crossed that gate, as I said before, I was no longer Falco Anderson, a powerless nobody; I was Falco Anderson, the chosen one. I had to act like it. I was Malia’s only hope to win against Zokin and make her dream come true.

Ironically, I had to adapt to the situation, like a true adapter would, and turn it to my advantage.

"I know why she’s upset, sir."

He turned to me, surprised, waiting for an explanation.

"I think she’s still angry about that time I caught her eye while I was watching your training sessions."

The master seemed even more puzzled.

"When I started having doubts about my powers, I began coming here, trying to figure things out. I kept watching this girl because she seemed the most like me. The more I watched her, the more I realized we had the same abilities. But one day, I got distracted, and she caught me staring at her. So, I think that’s why she hit me. Probably couldn’t stand the idea that a handsome guy like me was watching her."

I saw that familiar smirk of Master Malia’s, the one she always had when she knew she’d won a fight. She did it every time during training when I was about to win. The moment she smiled like that, I knew I was done for.

But this time, that smile was on my side.

"That’s not the reason at all! Master, this powerless kid has broken one of the taboos of the chosen! He just admitted it. He’s witnessed our training and had direct contact with me, a chosen one!"

The master seemed used to that tone: "Malia, calm down," then he turned to me, "So that’s the case. You’ve broken two taboos. In this case..."

The master stepped back from me, as if he needed to observe from a distance.

"In this situation, there’s only one way to determine if you deserve punishment for breaking two important taboos. Thank you, Malia, for reminding me of them."

Yes, this was it. The big moment everyone had been waiting for.

"You’ll be forgiven, young man, but only if you prove that you are truly one of the chosen by the Great Star. You probably don’t know this, but if you really were one of the chosen, then no punishment would be applied, as you wouldn’t have broken any taboos."

"Master, I want to smash this powerless stalker’s face," Malia said, unable to hold back.

"There’s nothing I can do, son.” the master said, "You’ve angered the wrong chosen one. Malia knows the taboos too well to let you off easy. Oh, and Malia, just don’t punch too hard.”

Then, under his breath, I heard him say something like, "Finally, something new."

So far, everything Malia had said about the plan was coming true, even though there had been some hiccups... we were fighting, she and I.

I just had to put on a good show to convince everyone that I was an adapter, and that would be it. I’d be in the chosen ones’ group any moment now.

My teacher whispered, "Get ready, Falco."

And I was ready, most ready than ever. Everyone watched us with great excitement as we tried to hit each other. I knew exactly where she would strike; we had prepared well for this moment. But even as the fight became faster and the blows harder to dodge and land, it seemed we were on the same level. That was the whole point of the fight: to prove that I was truly one of the chosen.

I couldn’t sneak a glance to see the master’s face, but I was sure he was studying me to see if I was really an adapter. I imagined that inside, he was thrilled, just as Malia had said he would be, and by now, my legs were far from trembling.

"Now."

That was the signal for Malia to strike, and for me to go down. We couldn’t pretend I was the winner; it would have been too risky for both of us. If I had won, everyone would have believed that an untrained adapter had managed to defeat another adapter who had trained all their life. It would have drawn too much attention to me.

Malia was closing in, and I could already see the punch I needed to dodge at just the right moment to make it look like she had hit me in the face. But something distracted me. In those two seconds I had to focus, I saw a figure approaching and joining the others who were watching the fight. It was obvious who it was. The only one missing. My childhood friend, Zokin, was watching me fight against his rival. Me, the friend he thought was powerless, was actually like him, a chosen one.

When Malia realized I was distracted, it was too late. The last thing I remember was her worried expression as I hit the ground, after she landed a blow on my left cheek.

I could only see the sky, more beautiful than ever, and then everything went black. I had lost consciousness.