A feeling I couldn’t quite describe dominated my body when I woke up the next day.

Like there was a pit in my stomach, but also weights-just a ton of weights pulling me down. I forced myself to sit up, taking large breaths and stretching as much as I could in an attempt to shake the feeling off.

Not that sleep was fun either. Flashes of my dead body, of that weird vision and the figure in it–Paragon–woke me up at odd times. The hairs on the backs of my neck stood even thinking about it. My parents almost broke the door with how many times they opened it to check up on me.

It wasn’t the first time I’d felt like this. No, the first time I did feel this was years ago after the whole situation with Maria. God I was so scared and guilty back then. I used to have nightmares about that day whenever I slept.

I clutched the sheet with my hands. I couldn’t go back there. Back to that time–to the person I was back then with the nightmares and constant guilt and emptiness.

I was in a better place now. Granted, I was more stressed out than I’d ever been, constantly questioning myself and was on the road of losing my only friend if I didn’t do anything about it… Yeah, I’d really dropped the ball, hadn’t I?

“Γαμώ το σπίτι μου,” I said to the empty room. I used to say that I wasn’t a swearing person. First three weeks of June and I swore twice in two days.

Fantastic.

Well, today was a new day. And if there was one thing that I could say with certainty, it was that I wouldn’t give up. Not now. An image of Alpha Surge flashed through my mind, standing tall over defeated villains, saving people from disasters both natural and unnatural.

But neither of those was my favourite moment of his. The pinnacle of his heroism in my eyes. That came at a different point. I still remembered watching the crappy–now taken down–cell phone video like it was yesterday. A man was trying to kill himself. Jump off the edge of a building.

And Alpha Surge…he went up there. Talked to the man and then brought him down with no difficulties. He didn’t catch him as he fell, he didn’t fight a monster that was trying to kill him. But he saved that man.

I smiled involuntarily. That was the ideal I wanted to leave up to. And I could never leave with myself if I didn’t at least try to, now that I had the chance. There were entrance exams for the Atlantis Academy. A written exam, a practical one, and an interview, all taken during mid to late August. Jensen would update us on the exact dates, but it wasn’t far.

Everything we were doing was preparing us for what waited there. And even then, that would only be the beginning of a new journey. One that I was constantly told I wasn’t cut out for. I was too weak, had a power that was too dangerous or whatever else.

And they were all probably right, of course. There were only about a hundred hero academies in the world and it wasn’t easy to get into them. Not to mention Atlantis was one of the top of those.

To say I was aiming high would be an understatement. To say that I was stupid for not thinking about alternatives would also be an understatement. Granted, applications hadn’t opened yet, but I didn’t really have many other aspirations. Ever since I could remember, it was all about being a hero.

All about being like Alpha Surge.

A ping on my phone interrupted my thoughts. It was on the bedside table and I couldn’t see what it was about. Unlocking it I saw that there was actually a string of messages there. One was an ad from the phone company, one was my dad saying that he had to go to work while I was asleep, and there was also one from Iraklis.

I almost dropped my phone when I saw it.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Maria told me what happened. I’ll see you at the school. Also, for God’s sake man, don’t go wandering into trouble! Not before you even make it to Atlantis at least.” It wasn’t much, but I had to hold back tears while reading it.

I didn’t really know what to respond with, given the situation, so I chose to go with a simple ‘Thanks’ and ‘I’ll see you there, there’s a lot I want to say.’

Moving on to the final message, it was from an unknown number. It was quite concise and straight to the point, so much so that I didn’t need to open it fully to see the entirety of it.

“I’m here-Jensen,” was all that was written there. Jensen was there? I wasn’t exactly at my best in order to train, so it must have been something else. Did he realise that he made a mistake by choosing to train me? Maybe Birgit or one of the heroes told him of how awful I was last night and the fact that I couldn’t even handle one proper villain attack.

Before I could further regress to my self-deprecating thoughts, the door swung open, and my mother walked in, followed closely by Jensen. My mother being there wasn’t a surprise, she’d managed to get her day off and I was sure she’d planned to spend it being here and watching me.

“Are you alright, Alex?” she asked, the panic clearly audible in her voice, even if she tried to hide it. She came over and messed with my pillows, just fussing about really.

Nearly a minute of that and, while I did appreciate her concern, I couldn’t help but get annoyed as well. Neither she or Dad had any tact or calmness in situations like this, and it could honestly get on my nerves a bit.

“Mom.”

“Yes, honey?”

“What’s going on?”

“Well,” she said sheepishly. “A nurse brought Mr Jensen over, but we couldn’t exactly communicate. You know, my English is limited to less than a dozen words.”

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing lightly at the idea of my mom and Jensen waiting around for me to wake up awkwardly, unable to hold a conversation because of the language barrier or even saying completely different things. It was silly, but I needed something silly at that moment.

“Everything alright, professor?” I asked him after I stopped laughing. He looked at me confused, and I realised that I didn’t switch to english. I had another small laugh with myself, this one more forced than the last, before I repeated in the correct language.

Jensen nodded, looking at me with something I couldn’t place in his eyes. “I wanted to talk about Atlantis.”

I looked down at that, turning to my mother. “Can you leave us alone for a minute?” I asked her dejectedly. She nodded, although she did appear reluctant to do so, but she did as I asked, which I also appreciated.

Jensen looked at me like he was appraising me. I always forgot how gaunt the man was. He was almost sickly in his appearance, but neither he nor Birgit ever seemed to bring it up, so I didn’t mention it either.

He always wore various suits, this time wearing a black one with silver stripes and a rainbow tie, a disarming smile on his boney face. He always held an aura of experience and control, especially during training, that I overlooked his age and apparent physical weakness.

“I’ll get right to it, then,” he said. He sat down on a chair on my left side, clearing his throat and crossing his arms. “I have quite a bit of pull at the Academy. Most teachers like me use this power to tip the scales for young people they have found interesting. I do so as well, even if I do find it quite unfair.”

“Well, Birgit doesn’t need it, so I don’t suppose it’s me that you want?” I said, trying to muster up all of my energy to act normal. Truth be told, I was still tired, but I wanted to face whatever rejection he was about to offer with my head high.

“No,” he said simply. “I’ll instead sponsor a powerless young man. His application has been rejected twice, and I suppose I see myself in him. I’m powerless as well, you know.”

“Really?” I tried to keep the shock out of my voice, I really did, but it wasn’t possible. I had always pictured Jensen with a strong power, maybe one that came with a huge cost as well, considering his whole presence. Something that would make him appreciate and understand things just a little bit better. “I never pictured it.”

“Not as common as it used to be,” he said with a long sigh. “He’s a talented young man, and I believe he deserves it. Besides, I believe it will do you good to go through all the exams normally.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” I said, looking down once again. I clenched my hands as tightly as I could. “I understand. I just-”

“I see myself in you as well,” he continued like I never spoke up. “You started behind everyone else as well. You don’t think you can do this. You don’t think you deserve this. You want it, you want it more than anything else in the world, and yet-and yet it seems so far away.”

“You’re scary,” I said to him. “You are really scary.”

He put a finger to his bicep. “Power is good.” He put it on his head. “Mind is better. Combining both will make you nigh unstoppable. I see that in you, Alex.”