It was a story that surprisingly few people actually knew about.

The First Hero, who actually didn’t have an alias, was the stuff of legends for people like me–meaning hero nerds. He apparently was strong enough to punch a man into orbit, faster than a speeding bullet and capable of jumping over skyscrapers in a single bound. He set a precedent, one that practically had built the world we lived in, for better or for worse.

Apparently I was one of the few that thought so, because I could see everyone being distracted almost immediately.

Some, like Sofia and Sadid, started talking among themselves, and Ivan had either fallen asleep or was great at acting like it. It turned out that today would be an overview of what this lesson would cover, essentially going through the first sixty years of hero history, all the way up to the Hero-Villain War of Nineteen Ninety Six.

A sharp pain shot through my head almost simultaneously. The entire left side of my head felt like it was about to blow up and at this point I’d be happier if it did. I tried to focus on Professor Mystic’s words, but when I looked at him, he wasn’t alone.

A man around my height, with dark skin, and a long beard and hair was standing behind him. And he was looking at me. For whatever reason, my hands suddenly felt trapped inside my gloves. I felt my breath quicken and quicken.

For one, horrifying moment, it looked like he was going to attack me. Like Paragon had. Nobody else seemed to notice him though. Mystic continued his lesson, while everyone was either ignoring him, or listening to him.

I felt like I was on the verge of either an asthma attack, panic attack, or both, so I leaned back in my chair. I focused on evening out my breath. I felt a hand on my forearm, and I turned to see Sofia looking at me worriedly.

“You okay?” she asked, her bubbly nature coming through even in her concern. “You kinda spaced out for a minute there.”

“Yeah,” I said carefully. I sent another look over to Mystic, only to see that the man wasn’t there any more. “Everything is fine.”

For a while afterwards, everything was normal. Relatively speaking of course. We finished the lesson, and we made our way outside. So, before I knew it, I was looking at the mansion from the other side of the bridge, waiting for whoever would be our professor for gym, or basic training, or whatever the class we were going to have was.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” It was Sofia again.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“I realise that you’re probably not a party person,” she said, putting too much of an emphasis on the word probably for it to be anything other than sarcastic, “but they’re organising one over at the top ten house. According to Sadid, who heard it from Ivan, who heard it from his roommate, who heard it from Azam’s roommate, Birgit will be there.”

“What are you trying to tell me?” I asked with a clench of my fists. “Other than the fact that every bit of information travels faster than light here.”

“She’s trying to sow doubts in your mind,” interjected Ivan. He slung his arm around my shoulders. “I wouldn’t worry though. I’ve seen you and Birgit. True love, huh?”

I thought back to my nightmare. It wasn’t real, I repeated to myself silently. It wasn’t real. And even if it was, it was in the future. What was the likelihood that it would come to fruition now?

Birgit would have scoffed at the idea, and she wouldn’t be wrong. So why did I feel a sudden emptiness in my stomach?

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“I’m not trying to say anything like that!” said Sofia indignantly. “I just think it’d be nice if you went with her. Have a bit of a romantic time there, you know?”

“Well, that doesn’t sound too bad,” said Ivan, letting me go and going next to Sofia. “What do you say, Don Juan?” They both now sported identical shit eating grins, and they were staring at me expectantly.

As if on cue, a-a green skinned lady with blonde hair, pure black eyes just appeared behind Sofia and Ivan. She was dressed in the same outfit as we all were, except she was holding a tablet as well. She was Madame Where, a superhero with the ability to teleport anywhere within a ten metre radius. Others had noticed her too, whispering among themselves and coming closer.

“I’ve always wanted to say this,” I said, doing my best to keep my inner fanboy, well, inner. “Behind you.”

They turned around, almost perfectly in sync. They yelped and stood completely straight when they understood that she was a professor.

“Nice to see that I have everyone’s attention,” she said quietly. Her voice was breathy and haughty, but you could feel the gravity of everything she said. She teleported away once again, not a sound or obscene visual following her. She just wasn’t there anymore, instead having taken a place on the bridge, probably so that she would have a better view of all of us.

“She’s…interesting,” said Ivan, but I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. I found myself staring at her. The novelty of seeing a hero, especially one that I knew, like this hadn’t gone away quite yet.

“In this lesson, you will learn how to harness your powers to their full potential,” she said, still quiet, but clearly heard by all of us. “Then, later on, comes control, correct?”

A few people nodded, but most didn’t. I remembered Loudmouth and his trap questions. Seeing that there were many who agreed with her, she sighed.

“That statement is partially correct,” she said admonishingly. “It’s not about power. It’s an important part of you, yes. And you will have to learn how to use it. But your mind and body, the basis of it.

“No powers needed. They are what will make you stand out. Your limitations are more important than your strengths. Never forget that. Limiting yourselves will be just as important as letting loose, even now. But enough about theory. There’s a gym nearby, where we’ll be conducting our lessons. Follow me.”

And we did. It was a nearby gym, close to the city, that was almost identical to the one we fought in a couple of weeks ago. We hadn’t done anything like that since, although I knew that Birgit still trained with Azam and Ivan.

“Alex? You good?” Ivan’s voice broke me out of my thoughts.

He was breathing heavily and sweating buckets, but I couldn’t blame him. We had gone through the workout of a lifetime. I barely made it through with my asthma–it was only thanks to Jensen’s regiments that I was able to honestly.

“I’m-I’m fine,” I said, smiling. “Not the first time I’ve been through something like this.”

“I see that you handled day one relatively well,” said Madame Warp. “I’m proud of that. Do not settle though. This will be just a portion of what awaits you. But that’s not all. You all have unique talents and powers. As such, we the professors, and our TAs, have a tradition. One professor, and one specially chosen senior or alumnus, will help you train and master it.”

I found myself messing with the seams of my gloves again. Training my power. Training with my power.

It still felt…wrong. Everyone around me was excited though, so I tried to be as well.

Or at least seem like I was.

“Silence,” said the Madame. Once everyone had quieted down, she looked down at her tablet and started again, “I’ll be calling on you in grammatical order, giving you the details of where and when you will meet with these people. Starting with Mister Adamos Alexander.”

Suddenly I found myself cursing the fact that my last name started with Ad. Still I made my way through the crowd and to Madame Where–which I had to admit was pretty cool.

She smiled at me. “No need to be worried, Mister Adamos.”

“Of-of course. Thank you, ma’am.”

“Looks like we’ll be working together for this. Miss Beatrice Accardi is a senior and TA who will be working with us.”

Beatrice Accardi? If I remembered correctly, she was from Ahmed’s school club. I tried to keep my irritation in check. There was no way that this was a coincidence. Plus, for once, this wasn’t too bad. Things could always be worse.

“Thank you, ma’am,” I told her. “When will the session take place?”

“This Friday, at six o’ clock. I should also inform you, that you won’t be the only student there. Ahmed Ibrahim and Maria Papadopoulou, will be joining us as well.”