This was far from my expectations.

Sure, I didn’t think that training to become a person worthy of studying at the world’s most prestigious hero academy would be easy, but I at least hoped to be able to walk the next day.

And while technically I was, getting out of my bed was simply impossible in most definitions of the word.

Mom and Dad were concerned, but they mostly let me be. I was pretty sure that was mainly due to half my responses being grunts and moans for the rest of the day after I got back, and that they had to go to work the day after.

And so, there I was, a prospective student of the Atlantis Academia, laying splayed out on top of my bed and staring at the ceiling because I couldn’t do anything else. What a bright future it would be with me defending it.

It didn’t help that my room was ridiculously hot. It was small, containing only my bed, wardrobe and desk with a computer on it, as well as three drawers with the items in them being changed every three weeks or so.

Its only connection to the outside world was a glazed door that led to our backyard. I had it open, but the only thing it did was allow more heat to enter my room.

Not to mention my gloves which, at times like this, did little other than make me feel even hotter. And not in a good way.

I groaned in suffering as I tried to sit up slightly. I should at least turn on my computer, actually do something other than literally waste away in my bed.

A thud was heard outside and I was relieved. That was either Iraklis coming to stand with me in my moments of pain, or a robber that I would be utterly powerless against.

At that point, I was hoping for the latter.

“Hey, hero-in-training!” came the muffled voice of Iraklis from the other side of the door. He opened it before I even responded, knocking as he did so.

There he stood in all his might, wearing his red jacket over a white shirt and jeans, clothes that seemed to stick on him. He was smirking at what I assumed was the pathetic sight of me in this situation.

I put my hands on my face, scratching the stubble that had begun to form since I didn’t shave for the past couple of days.

“If you’re here to put me out of my misery then I will leave everything I own to you,” I said through my hands, splaying my fingers to look at his reaction.

“Clothes that are too big for me, a computer that’s worse than my own and an admittedly cosy room,” said Iraklis as he rubbed his chin in thought, before shrugging and saying, “I think I will pass.”

I whimpered once more before I laid back on the bed completely. Iraklis sat on my desk chair, turning around on it to face me. And then I started laughing out of the blue, partly because of how absurd this whole situation was, and partly because I have gone slightly mad from the training.

“Training next to someone with an elemental power, under a professor at Atlantis. There’s hope that we’ll make it together in the end. It’s a bit crazy, isn’t it?” I said, looking at the ceiling once more.

Only this time I pictured the city as I saw it from the rooftop of the university, or from Koules a few days ago. I also thought of the multitude of stars I saw when I went camping as a kid.

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And then a pantheon of heroes, with me and Iraklis standing among them. I turned to him, a small smile on my face.

“I think the training might have broken you,” he laughed. “You weren’t this sentimental two days ago. Or is this the doing of that girl you’re training with? Ooh, is that the reason for your new stubble?” he said, smiling evilly and his eyes clinging with evil intent.

I could have laughed at that if I hadn’t used up all of my limited energy already, so I settled with just scoffing instead. “She’d turn me into an icicle before she would talk to me like a normal person.”

“So training was nice, then?”

“It could have been worse.”

“You’re barely moving, and I think I can hear your pain. How could it get any worse?” he asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.

“I started out with the lighter version because of my asthma. Plus, Birgit, the girl, has to study,” I said to him. It clearly took him a second to realise that I wasn’t joking, because his eyes went as wide as saucers and he started laughing hysterically.

“What? How? Why?” he asked in between laughs, eventually stopping in order to catch his breath.

“I kid you not, we had to take a test, and we’ll be taking one next month as well. My results were ‘acceptable, but I shouldn’t get complacent.’”

“And what was the test about?”

“Things we learned at school, theoretical scenarios for when we are heroes, the lot. Thankfully I was a decent student.”

Iraklis let out a deep breath, shaking his head, before he took on a serious expression himself. “I don’t want to ruin the mood, but I’ve got bad news and sort of bad news,” he said, looking out at the backyard and the street behind it.

“Give me the sort of bad news first, I’d rather be left with the bitter taste in my mouth.”

“You usually go the other way around.” he smiled at me, appearing slightly melancholic. Taking a deep breath, he began explaining, “Our school will have a dance July 19th. I’ll go, and I think you should too.”

I picked at the seams of my gloves as I mulled over my options. I could go, sure, and have fun with my friend. But it wouldn’t just be Iraklis and I that were there. Everyone would be, and I couldn’t ask for him to babysit me all night.

He’d eventually go and talk to other people. Our schoolmates.

Our schoolmates, all of whom knew about my past.

Maria, whose scarred face would be a reminder of what I was. What I could do.

I felt my breath get shallower and a pain shoot through my lungs and entire chest.

“Drawer,” I breathed out to Iraklis, confident that he would understand.

His eyes widened and he rushed to get up, knocking down the chair he was sitting on in the process. He got the inhaler, uncapped it, and tossed it at me. I pressed down on its top part, the cold salbutamol air easing the pressure of my lungs.

I took a few deep breaths through my nose. God, it felt so relieving to do so. I didn’t get asthma attacks often, but it always felt like I was suffocating. These breaths, these first few breaths after I got through it, they always felt like a divine gift, so I always tried to savour them.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. I mean, I know you’re friends with Maria and pretty much everyone, but I don’t really think I fit into that equation,” I lightly said to him between breaths in an attempt to keep things relatively upbeat.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Iraklis chuckled slightly. “You’ll always have room at my side.”

“You really have the soul of the poet, don’t you?” I said dryly. “But I’d rather you not have to play the babysitter for me. We don’t have to go together.”

“I think it’s necessary,” responded Iraklis as he picked up the chair and sat back down. I hadn’t noticed before, but I could see the faint trickling of tears on the corners of his eyes.

Silence reigned in the room for the next few moments, broken up only by the sounds of my breathing. It took a while, but I managed to get myself under control. I picked at the seams of my gloves one more time as I mentally prepared myself for what was about to come.

“What’s the bad news?”

Another few moments of silence before Iraklis began to answer.

“We aren’t going to be in the university together. I’ll probably go to Northern Europe or America,” he said quietly as he looked down, apparently suddenly finding the floor very interesting.

I clenched my fists.