It was safe to say that I was shocked at the sight. It was a large circular building–even larger than the gym which was already pretty gargantuan–and dwarfed all buildingsI had seen in Heraklion. The most notable thing about it though was the banner showing Atlantis’ insignia–a golden trident with two circles of stars surrounding it.

“You’re late,” said a heavily accented voice as soon as I left the car. I turned around, only to see a very bulky guy around my age smirkin up at me. He had a clearly overfilled sac voyage hanging from his shoulder, dark skin and eyes and long curly hair.

“Guy can’t help it if Jensen has an uncontrollable mouth, can he?” said Stelios from the car. “Alex, meet Ahmed. Ahmed, meet Alex. I have to go, but try not to get killed, alright?”

“It’s an interview, how can we get killed?” said the guy, Ahmed, with suspicion in his voice. Instead of answering, Stelios just waved and drove off, letting us stew in the awkward silence that followed.

I cleared my throat. “That was reassuring. Jensen mentioned you, you know. You must be pretty good.”

“I don’t have powers. I have to be good.”

I clenched my hands at his words. Powers weren’t all they were all cranked up to be. They could turn you into a monster. But I had the feeling that that statement would lead to an argument, and I certainly wasn’t in a mood for one. Not to mention losing my temper and snapping at someone I just met would be pretty bad for my evaluation.

“Let’s go inside then,” I said calmly.

“After you.”

I let out a deep sigh and walked toward the building, Ahmed right behind me. The welcome hall was the first underwhelming part of it.

It was massive and grand, sure. It even had twin staircases at the back that lead to the second floor. But it was all so barren. Apart from a small desk at the centre of the room and lights at the ceiling, there was nothing there. Not even windows to let in sunlight.

And nobody was even sitting behind the desk.

“I don’t like this,” said Ahmed.

“What do you mean?”

Before he could respond, all the lights started breaking one by one engulfing the entire place in darkness. Before I had even realised it, I had removed one of my gloves, preparing myself for anything that might be coming. There was a chance that this was a test of some sort, but after everything that had happened I wasn’t willing to take that chance.

A loud crash was heard and two small, glowing white spots appeared in the distance, looking almost like eyes. A larger round light appeared a bit lower than them, with two lines on either side of it. Almost like they were tracing a man’s upper body.

“Duck!” said Ahmed, grabbing me and pulling us both down to the floor. Almost instantly after, I felt and heard the woosh of a couple of small objects that narrowly missed us.

“Whoever he is, he must have some sort of night or thermal vision,” said Ahmed quietly. “Can you do anything about that?”

I looked down at my bare hand. Whatever this situation was, I couldn’t afford to hesitate. Not like last time. It would be destructive, yes, but with the lights out and whoever our opponent was so far away, I couldn’t do anything else.

“I can cause destruction,” I said simply. And God, was it difficult trying to act so matter of fact about my power. “Bring down the floor from here all the way to where he’s standing.”

“What are you waiting for then?” I could practically hear the crazy smile on his face. “Blow him up.”

I put my hand down. A moment later, I could feel the crowd rumbling, and dust surrounding us. The lights were no longer in front of us, but I could barely make them–and therefore our attacker–on the ceiling. And he was crawling straight to us.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“My turn,” said Ahmed with irritation clear in his voice. I felt him grab my shoulder and shove me aside. A red beam of light flew from some sort of gun that he was holding–it wasn’t bright enough for me to see clearly. It hit the ceiling, and the man fell right in front of us.

I heard metal spheres fall to the ground and, a moment later, a flash of light illuminated the area, before shimmering down. And at long last, we could see. The man was wearing a cowl mask that covered his entire face barring his glowing eyes. Same went for the rest of his body–a black full bodysuit, with a grey belt and the lights on his upper body being the only splash of colour.

Ahmed pointed his gun, which looked more like a syringe gun than anything else, at him. “Move, and you’ll regret it for a year.”

The man didn’t say anything. His right arm began to faintly glow white and he rushed at us, dodging Ahmed’s blast. Before he could strike however, I ran up to him, and pressed my bare hand on his chest.

The round light shattered and he stumbled back. Ahmed ran forward himself, punching the man in the face before flipping him over. He pointed his gun at him. “Let’s try this again. Move and you’ll regret it for a year.”

And the man laughed. Not a villainous laugh, no. If anything, it sounded almost proud. Pieces of the walls started moving, revealing large windows that lit the place up once more, revealing the damage I had caused.

But before I could even properly feel guilty about it the ground seemed to split open and swallow the ruins. Another platform, identical to what we saw when we entered, rose to take its place.

“Well done,” said the man as he stood up. He took his mask off to reveal a surprisingly kind looking face. He was young, younger than Jensen by far, with small earrings, brown eyes and red dyed hair. “I’m Nick, and I hope to see you in Atlantis this year. Good physical examination. Well, a bit sloppy, but nothing that can’t be straightened out.”

He extended his hand out. Ahmed shook it and–after I put my glove back on–I did the same. I didn’t really have my heart in it though. A wave of almost overwhelming excitement and nervousness seemed to pour into me.

I had a few suspicions of course, but now that it was confirmed, I couldn’t help but go over every little detail of the battle. It was an improvement over most of my sparring matches–both with Iraklis and Birgit–and definitely an improvement over the two actual battles I’d been in.

But was it actually good? Or did I cause too much destruction? Maybe I relied on Ahmed too much? Would I, after everything, fail everyone who somehow believed in me? Or-

“Everything good, man?” Nick’s voice broke me out of my thoughts. He was sitting behind the desk, looking at me expectantly. Ahmed was going up one of the staircases. I had clearly missed something.

“Sorry, I just spaced out for a moment,” I said in what was hopefully a convincing tone. He didn’t look convinced, but he also didn’t look like anything. At least, I hoped that he wouldn’t.

“Interview room for you is on the right staircase, the third door on the left side,” he said, pointing vaguely in the direction. “Relax a little. Δεν σε πάμε για σφαγή,” he added afterwards.

“I didn’t realise you were from here,” I said in Greek with a small smile. “Are you from Heraklion? And your-your hero name? If that’s alright with you?”

“If it’ll help you relax a little,” said Nick with a small smile. “I’m from a village outside of Rethymno. The average age of the place was over ninety, so I got out and ended up here. Went to Athens. Hero name’s Nemesis.”

I racked my brain for information about him, but I couldn’t remember anything other than the name coming up in a few articles as a team player. “I’ve mostly heard you through others. Could I have a picture or something like that?” I brought my hand up to my mouth as soon as I said that. “Sorry, I’m just a bit of a fanboy for, well, heroes in general.”

Nick, or Nemesis, let out a small laugh. “It’s alright. If I’m here after you’re done I’d be glad to take one. Just remind me on your way out. Also, If there’s one thing that Atlantis does well, it is give everyone a fair shot. So don’t worry.”

“I’ll try,” I said with a forced smile. I could only hope that they wouldn’t dig up too much of the past, but I knew that was too good to be true. And if they started down that rabbit whole, who knew what they were going to ask me?

Before I realised it, I was at my destination. For such a large place, I seemed to get around it rather fast. It was a simple door. Wooded, with the words Kent Smith written on it. After staring at it for what felt like forever, I knocked.

“Come in,” said a voice–probably Kent Smith–from the inside. He spoke English and sounded relaxed, almost chipper with excitement. For some reason, that only made me more nervous. Still, I couldn’t delay this any further.

I took a deep breath, reached for the door handle, and I pushed.