I woke up with a start. I was drenched in sweat, and I felt the pit in my stomach increase evermore. It was a dream, a nightmare, it–I didn’t remember it. I clenched my hands and chose to not dwell on it.
It was 9:45. Close to when I’d set my alarm, so I just got up. The written exams were today, and I wouldn’t let anything get in my way. Not even if Crisis were to really break in my house would I give up.
I took a long cold shower, shaved, and prepared breakfast for myself. Given that both of my parents were working, I was completely alone in the house which was both a blessing and a curse.
A blessing because I would avoid my parents’ usual question and not-so-subtle excitement and nervousness. A curse because that left me alone with my thoughts. And that wasn’t something I liked to be just before an exam. I had studied as much as I could but I was no star student even back in school. My Panhellenic scores were average at best and to get in Atlantis I would be facing off against the best of the best.
The only part of the exams that I was confident about was the interview. Everything else could go either way, but I didn’t like my odds. Deciding that this wasn’t a good train of thought, I took my phone and called Iraklis.
“Hello, hero-in-training,” he said after a few–more than normal–rings later.
“Hello short-and-blonde.”
“Shut up, you dickwads!” he said in English before turning back to Greek. “Sorry about that, the guys here are really loud.”
“Am I interrupting anything?” I put the phone on speaker and went to get myself a glass of water. How I managed to dehydrate myself after being awake for literally half an hour was beyond my comprehension.
“Nah man, lemme just float a bit higher so the noise doesn’t bother us,” he said easily, and I could hear the smile on his face. “What’s up?”
“The written exams,” I said after I took a sip. “Wanted to talk to someone before it all started.”
“Well, I’m honoured you called me instead of going off and smooching with the Ice Princess.” I choked on my water and I could almost feel him barely holding back his laughter.
“You just keep giving me reasons to make your defeat in our next fight as humiliating as possible.”
“History says the opposite, lover boy,” said Iraklis, this time not keeping in his laughter.
“Hey! You only get one bad nickname, not two.”
He gasped dramatically. “Of course. How could I make such a grave error? Not since Mortician challenged Poseidon has there been such a grave error in history.”
“And I have Poseidon’s shirt.”
“Which is so not fair,” said Iraklis, genuinely sounding like a child whining. “I will never be able to match that coolness. Plus, that was one of three defeats the Mortician has even had to date. That’s ten years, Alex. Ten years!”
“And Poseidon’s three hundredth victory in twenty,” I said, taking the phone off speaker mode. “Don’t get me wrong, WPW wouldn’t be the same without Mortician, but Poseidon is cooler than Lady Flame is hot.”
“You know, I bet there’s a way to send that clip to Birgit.”
“You know what I meant, you blonde little deflector,” I hissed at him. A ping interrupted our conversation, and I saw that it was a reminder I’d set. Apparently I needed to leave in ten minutes.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“What’s wrong, hero-in-training? Admit that you shall once more lose against my might?”
“You can literally fly at super speeds and still haven’t caught me in a chase, so no. I just have to go, exams and all.” I said with a sigh.
“You know Alex, I believe we became friends for a reason,” said Iraklis in a very sage-like manner.
“We were the nerdiest kids in primary school?”
“No,” said Iraklis indignantly. “Well, yes. But also because you believe in yourself so little, that the universe needed to bring you someone that equaled that out. So go out there and knock ‘em dead! Plus, there’ll be something awesome waiting for you there. ”
“I assume you won’t tell me what?”
“Of course not.”
In spite of all my doubts, hearing Iraklis made me smile. “I’ll call you with the results.”
After I got ready, it was just a matter of waiting for Stelios to pick me up. Apparently Jensen had arranged for transportation for both stages of the exam. He arrived right on time and, after we picked up Ahmed, we headed back to the same building we had the interview and battle in. It was a quiet ride with Ahmed not opening any conversation and the only back and forth being my answering Stelios’ questions.
The main difference being that this time there were a lot more people. Apparently Heraklion’s base was one of two that Atlantis had in the whole of Greece so it was quite crowded.
“I don’t like this,” said Ahmed with a frown. He was dressed more casually than before, but with his black tank top, military style pants, and impressive size, he looked just as threatening–hell, I was a little intimidated by him and I was pretty sure he at least tolared my presence.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll knock it out of the park,” I said in what I hoped was a reassuring voice. I wasn’t good at things like this, but if he was anxious I might as well try to relieve him.
Judging by his unimpressed stare, I didn’t do such a good job.
“Alright everyone,” came a booming voice from the front. Speaking in English. “I hope you’re ready for the test of your life.”
Ahmed pushed through the crowds to get further front. I followed him, apologising awkwardly to all the people he pushed around. When we eventually made it to the front, I was able to get a good look at the speaker.
It was the first Loudmouth, an American hero that had the power to disperse his voice to a large crowd, like a phone speaker. He couldn’t use sonic attacks or anything like that, but he still made a name for himself fighting essentially powerless.
Of course, that was all thirty years ago. He was now a balding old man with pure white hair and a bushy beard–still in shape for his age mind you–and supposedly one of the greatest mentors a hero could hope for. He also took charge in certain missions, leading by example whenever he could.
“Pick up your drool,” someone whispered next to me, speaking in English with . I turned around to see a pale guy with blonde hair smirking at me. “Is the American hero really that cool?”
I messed with the seams of my gloves in embarrassment. “Sorry,” I said awkwardly.
“Relax, it was a fora–how, do you say, a joke?,” he said with a small laugh. “I’m Ivan Novak, nice to meet you.”
“Alex Adamos,” I said, somewhat awkwardly. People were murmuring all around us, and I couldn’t see Birgit anywhere. I tried to reassure myself that this wasn’t school–I knew it wasn’t school, but the sheer number of people didn’t help.
I took a few deep breaths in order to calm myself.
I focused on Loudmouth, who was looking over all of us.
I focused on my right hand, with which I was messing with the seams of my left, almost automatically.
I focused on the cold hand that grabbed my arm.
Wait, cold hand?
I turned to the new guy, Ivan, but Birgit had taken his place. I felt myself relax slightly.
“You’re late,” I said lightly. In any other scenario, I might have been annoyed at her for that, but now I frankly didn’t care. God, I was really out of my depth. How could I hope to be a hero if I couldn’t even handle crowds like this?
“And you look like you’re doubting yourself for no reason again,” she said with an eye roll. “So, how about instead of that you introduce me to the good people that are staring at us?”
I turned to my other side, only to see Ahmed and Ivan staring at us. Ahmed’s eyes were narrowed and trained on Birgit while Ivan was smirking at me almost suggestively.
“Of-of course,” I said with a blush. “Ivan, Ahmed, this is Birgit.”
Ahmed opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Loudmouth telling us it was time to start. We made plans to meet up here after we were done–plans that were almost exclusively made by Ivan pestering us, although I couldn’t say I minded–before heading inside.
This would be it. My final step in either getting into Atlantis and getting one step closer to achieving my dream, or failing.