“How? Why?” I asked him, struggling very hard not to snap at him like I had at the park a few days ago.

No, I wouldn’t.

Because this wasn’t bad news.

No, not at all. Hero Academies existed all across the globe, and which one you’d go to was based on your region. We were supposed to go to the Mediterranean one–Atlantis–since we lived in Greece. The Northern European and American ones were among the best, sure, but it was unlikely for someone to get in–especially someone from out here.

“It happened when I went to put my application in for the university,” explained Iraklis. “They checked my background and were impressed. They told me that if I wanted it, and scored high enough at the entrance exam, I could be on the list of people that will be transferred. Similar to how your training partner will come to this one.”

It took me a moment to register what he had told me. Transfer. Yeah, that made sense.

So why couldn’t I be happy for him?

“You’re my only friend,” I told him, and I could feel my own eyes begin to water slightly. It was the first thing that came to my mind, and I believed that I needed to say it.

I clenched my fists once more before punching my bed. Damn it. Why couldn’t this have been easier?

This was the right thing. It was more beneficial for him in the long run. And most people, most sensical people, would go for the option that was better for them in the long run.

“Trust me when I tell you that goes both ways,” he said, bringing his head up to look at me. The tears were now flowing down his face, and he made no attempts to stop them. “I want you to believe me.”

“Can you please leave?” I asked him, barely getting the words out as I wiped my face before my own tears could spill.

I needed some time alone, some time to think. I couldn’t believe that I was starting to miss having my biggest worry be my aching muscles.

And that was only a couple of minutes ago.

“Come on, Alex. Don’t make me feel guilty over this,” he said, and I could feel the desperation in his voice.

I didn’t say anything. What could I say? That I wasn’t mad at him? That would be a lie. I was mad, I was angry, but I was also ashamed of that fact. And I couldn’t lie to him. I couldn’t reassure my best and only friend by lying to him.

So I didn’t say anything.

“Talk to me Alex,” he said, clearly struggling to keep calm.

And I just kept quiet.

“Say something, dammit!” he snapped at me, getting up and knocking the chair down once more.

“Leave,” I said through gritted teeth.

He took a deep breath in, before wiping his face of any tears. He picked up the chair, putting it back in its place and turning to leave, this time through my room’s actual door.

“We still have two months here,” he said without turning to me, and I honestly couldn’t understand the emotion behind his voice. “And video calls and messages are a thing. I beg you Alex, don’t let this be a goodbye.”

He left my room with that, and I was certain that he had left when I heard the front door close.

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I clenched my fists and attempted to breathe deeply in order to calm myself.

When that didn’t work, I just screamed my lungs out.

There were many words I could use to describe myself at that moment.

And none of them were nice.

The event didn’t leave my mind at all during the next few days. I chose to keep it to myself, meaning I didn’t tell my parents about it. It wasn’t like I had anyone else. Iraklis was my only friend and I was going to ruin that if I didn’t get my act together and at least try to be happy for him.

And for some reason that seemed like the hardest thing in the world at that time.

“Alex! Concentrate!” The voice of Jensen booming from all directions broke me out of my thoughts. I was hearing him through speakers hidden all across the room.

He was of course speaking in English, so I had to translate his words in my head.

Usually I was pretty good at English, but this wasn’t exactly my finest moment. It had been five days since my fight with Iraklis, if you could even call it that, and we hadn’t come into contact with each other since then.

“Yeah, Alex,” taunted Birgit at the other side of the arena we were in. The same Arena I had seen her fight in nearly one week prior. She had her left arm stretched out in front of her, and an arrogant smirk decorated her face. “Are you ready to see which one of us will come out on top?”

This time she was also speaking English, as instructed by Jensen. He’d explained to us that the language was the main form of communication in the Academy, since people from all over the world would be there.

“I’m ready,” I confirmed it in English.

I flexed my fingers. They were free. We were about to begin training, and I wasn’t wearing them. I tried my hardest to convince Jensen that this was a mistake, but he countered by saying that I couldn’t properly test and train myself without removing them.

And so, there I was, facing Birgit, who was wearing the same things she wore when facing her brother, while I was in a hoodie and thick pants.

One thing that hadn’t changed in the past week was Birgit bringing winter with her whenever she went, even if the temperature around her decreased to something akin to a soft breeze rather than a winter’s storm.

“Then fight to your utmost power!” called Jensen so loudly that the speakers started to glitch and produce some white noise.

A wall of ice came straight to me. I shattered it to pieces by touching it, small particles scattering across the air in its place.

Before I had a moment to relax, a series of spikes came toward me. They were quite wide and quick, but they were notably slower than the previous wall and only reached my chest in height. It was only a few seconds before they reached me, seconds that I used to jump up and above them.

Thinking on my feet, I started jumping on them right as they slowed to a stop, jumping from one another and toward her. Birgit, for her part, launched herself upward by creating small pillars on the floor.

She made a small arch and flip as she reached me feet first in a single moment’s time. I balanced myself on the spike I was currently on and I crossed my arms in front of my face as she hit me, thankfully absorbing some of the damage, but I was still knocked back, and ended up falling to the floor from the top of one of the spikes.

I put both my hands down on the ice below before I properly fell, breaking it into pieces and falling on the floor. I fell on my side, my left arm taking the brunt of the fall. I tested the arm, moving it and turning it from hand up to hand down to check if it was broken, which it thankfully wasn’t.

So I ignored the pain and got back up as fast as I could, seeing that Birgit had done the same. Bits of frost were all over her exposed skin just like when she fought her brother, and she was trembling as well. She clearly had a limit to how much she could take, and I would assume that her large attacks were bringing her dangerously close to that limit.

All I needed to do was hold out until she was over the edge. It was a cruel thought, but the easiest way I could think in order to overcome her.

Ice once again seemed to come out of her feet, creating a short ramp that she used to come towards my direction. She stopped close to me, jumping with one of her legs raised up to her head–I had to admit that she had great flexibility–before she brought it down, right to where I had been.

Thankfully my reaction time was decent enough and I was able to sidestep her attack.

And the next moment, I could feel the temperature drop so low that I would have thought we had somehow teleported to the North Pole.

I flexed my hands once more, trying to take in every little movement of Birgit’s. She intended to go big this time, and I had to do my best in order to beat her.

For her part, Birgit seemed to stand completely still, other than a few trembles from the cold. And there were many more pieces of frost littered on her body than last time. Her breath was visible as smoke, and I realised that mine was as well.

And I only then realised the pain in my whole left side. I had landed on it, and while nothing seemed to be broken or fractured, it was something that I could definitely feel.

“Enough!” came the voice of Jensen. Only this time it wasn’t booming from all directions like before. I turned around at the feeling of a surprisingly warm hand on my shoulder, being met with Jensen’s frowning face.