I rushed home. I had to admit I was pretty excited. At the same time, I was nervous. I was worried that maybe he would tell me something horrible but at the same time maybe he would tell me an easier way to become a hero. Although the latter felt pretty unlikely. I didn't know very much about Apollo other than his Minion Media name SniperOfBeauty. Plus the fact that he is Paul I guess. When I got back it seemed that Paul had yet to arrive.

I was a little disappointed but it made sense my match was pretty quick today I only died around a hundred or so times.

Each second of waiting felt like years. I was sure that there was something more important that I could be doing other than walking in circles but it was all I could do in that moment.

After maybe twenty minutes he finally arrived. I tried to hide my excitement as I didn't want him to think I was eager to pry into his past.

"Hey," He spoke.

"H-Hey" I responded. His strange briefness was surprising to me.

I had never seen Paul like this before. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.

"Before we begin I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" I responded.

"If you hear my story and still plan on dropping your reputation to become a Hero then this is the last time we will ever meet," Paul spoke.

"What!" I replied.

"I refuse to watch you throw your life away like this, I worry that you're willing to do anything to become a hero and if you are then I don't want to see you go down the same path I did," Paul spoke.

I didn't respond. I wanted to tell him I wasn't willing to do anything to become a hero but, I wasn't sure if that was true or not.

"Relax, I won't make you decide until after my story." He spoke.

I couldn't help but take a sigh of relief.

"Anyways, I guess I can't stall forever, huh? Before we begin however I need to explain some stuff. Do you know what happens when you become a hero?" Paul spoke.

Now that I thought about it I wasn't sure. Becoming a hero was always just a goal I had because I felt it had to be better than living as a minion.

"Not really. I know you fight in matches and stuff I guess." I spoke.

"Not exactly, the heroes you see in matches aren't the heroes. They are people in the real world piloting a replica of a hero. The real heroes live in a separate world from the minion society called hero society. There everything works on something called the popularity poll. The more popular you are as a hero the more rewards you get such as a nicer house, better food, and basically whatever you want if you are a high-ranking hero, if you're low, however... you get nothing pretty much."

"What rank were you then?" I asked

"Number one." He spoke.

"What! You gave that up to become a minion!" I responded.

"Hopefully, you'll see why. But anyway, to increase your popularity you do events and promotional matches against other heroes. That's how I became number one. Let's start right before the match I did to become number one. It was against the current rank one Hero Kronos, although I'm sure that you don't know who that is. He's not a very popular hero anymore, I don't think I've seen anyone play him since I became a minion again. Back in the day, however, he used to be the most popular and it wasn't even close. For easily over a decade he was a top hero. I, however, was the first hero to match his reign. Well start that morning I had just woken up next to my wife Freya........"

"Wait Wait Wait! Your wife was Freya!" I yelled.

"Ah, yes anyways I woke up next to her......."

"Hold on just a sec! So then did Charlotte used to be F-" I tried to finish but he cut me off.

"No, no she isn't. They are two separate people. Anyway, I woke up next to her........"

"So then are you divorced?" I asked.

"Newbie, are you gonna let me do my damn flashback or not?" He asked.

"Sorry. I'll stop." I spoke.

"Alright, so I woke up next to her........"

-----------------------------------------------(FLASHBACK)------------------------------------------------------------

Today was the day.

I stood looking out the window of my penthouse apartment. The sun was just coming over the horizon. I could barely contain my excitement. Everything I had built for as a minion and a hero was all for this. I would finally reach my goal. I couldn't help but think about everything that brought me to this. I could hear Freya just getting up, although I paid no attention to her, as my mind was elsewhere. Although a few minutes later she cut off me reminiscing with her placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you nervous?" She asked.

"Not at all" I spoke.

"You're lying." She spoke.

"How would you know?" I asked.

"You're standing naked at the window. You haven't noticed the crowd watching from below either." She spoke.

I looked down to see the crowd that was standing gobsmacked.

"Oops," I spoke.

"Let's just get going shall we? Don't want to be late." Freya spoke.

"Alright," I responded.

She kissed me on the cheek and walked away.

I took a moment longer to look out at the sun before remembering the crowd again.

I should get dressed, shouldn't I?

--------------------------------------(FLASHBACK INTERRUPTED)---------------------------------------------

"Hey, I don't think that was necessary, was it? You could have just left that part out. I didn't need to see your ju-" I spoke but he cut me off.

"Sorry, I was just trying to set the scene," he spoke.

"That was setting the scene? For what? This isn't that type of flashback you know?" I spoke.

"Look sorry, I don't do a lot of flashbacks, I will try to cut those parts out alright?" He spoke.

"But how was I able to even see your Flashback? That doesn't make any sense." I spoke

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

{I know why! It's a part of the System. If someone is explaining something that has happened in the system and you both are willing participants then the Flashback system is started and you can see it as if you were that person. There's actually a whole part of the red light dist-}

"Stop! Stop! Stop! I get it, thank you, Samantha." I yelled.

"What did she say?" Paul asked.

"Just don't worry about it. Anyways let's get back to the flashback." I spoke.

"Alright, so me and Freya drove to the arena for our match...." Paul spoke but I stopped him.

"The Arena?" I asked.

"Oh, it's a part of Hero Society. You see Heroes don't have to do matches every day like us minions. Instead, they can schedule matches that people in the real world can see and watch. The whole point being of course to increase your popularity." Paul spoke, waiting a second to see if I would ask any more questions before he continued.

"Okay, so me and Freya made our way to the arena........"

----------------------------------------(FLASHBACK)----------------------------------------------

We made our way into the back entrance of the arena. There was a man in a black suit, his face was a paper bag with a face drawn on the front. He was a worker for the system. He was responsible for getting us set up.

"Excuse me Miss Freya, but as you are not one of the two main competitors I cannot let you into the arena this way, please use the main entrance." He spoke.

"I know, I know I was just walking him to the entrance. See you later." She spoke.

"See you soon," I responded before kissing her before she walked away.

He then showed me to a white room with a bench and a holographic device.

This was the pre-planning stage. Where we would decide on who we would draft on our team for the ten v ten. After this me and Kronos would meet for a pre-game meeting where we could talk in private. Then we would have a pre-game meeting with the public to create some excitement and then we would draft our teams and head into the match.

All of that I had to worry about later however, right now I needed to think about who to draft.

I had to counter Kronos which if I was being honest sounded impossible, but the thought of it made me excited.

His normal abilities were strong. His first is TIme hold, which would hold a person in place, preventing them from moving.

He then had Time acceleration which would let him speed up himself and his allies, along with the ability to time reset, which would let him reset the match by five seconds.

Along with his Passive TItan's strength which when below fifty percent health he would gain a giant steroid that would let him beat anyone in melee combat made him a tough opponent. Although all of that seemed beatable at least.

His abilities all had long cooldowns and his passive Titan's strength was useless if we used ranged attacks.

The real problem was with his ultimate.

Time stop.

For seven seconds he and his team could do whatever they wanted. If we managed to survive this we had a chance as it was a five-minute cooldown but the problem would be surviving it in the first place.

If I could figure out a way to deal with that then I was sure that everything else he threw at me I could handle. Of course, my abilities were also strong but, they couldn't do anything against this ultimate. My first ability was the Arrow of Duality. I could either fire an arrow that would heal allies hit or poison enemies. My second was the Arrow of Music. I could fire an arrow that would play music and distract my enemies. My last normal ability was Arrow of Prophecy. I could fire an arrow and see multiple different outcomes for that arrow and choose which one I wish to happen. My passive is that every fifth arrow I shoot does additional damage. My ultimate is Archer of Beauty, my next five arrows all domy passive damage and I can rapid-fire shoot them. In addition to that they will all randomly have one of my normal abilities effects on them. Also if I get a kill with it I receive an additional arrow for my ultimate.

My ult is my most powerful ability and if I get a chance to free fire at my opponents with it I can easily wipe a fight but, the problem will be getting that attack.

So my team should be able to deal with Kronos's time-stop ability and also allow me to free-fire on my opponents, which admittedly will be hard. My first thought went to my Wife, Freya. She had been with me ever since I became a hero and had helped me every step of the way. I had also promised her that I would draft her in the match, so of course I started my team with that in mind. Before I knew it the man from earlier had come in and started talking.

"Time's up. It's time for your meeting with Kronos."

I took a sigh. I wish that I had a couple more minutes but it didn't seem like he was willing to give them to me. I just had to shrug it off, plus with me having to counter his draft I was sure that my team would change a little than what I wanted it to be. My current plan was to draft an engaging team, which sounded crazy especially as we would run straight into Kronos, but I was hoping that the frontal assault team would cause him to be forced to use his cooldowns and then I and maybe one or two more ranged could fire down once his abilities were on cooldown leaving him wide open. Whether or not it would work was another story.

I was following the man while I was lost in thought and hadn't noticed that we had arrived at the meeting room. He stood holding the door open for me and I walked inside. He didn't enter but closed it behind him. The room had a golden chandelier on the roof and in the middle was two red velvet couches on top of a glass bridge with a running river full of fish below. Although I paid it no mind, I had seen this room before many times, instead, my focus was on the man on the couch opposite of me.

The man looked young but had the posture of an older gentleman. His hair was white, full of life, and in a wolf-cut. He wore a half-open black button-up that showed his pale muscular chest. He had a large blue coat over the top that matched his blue eyes, along with black dress pants and gold rings with a gold necklace. Despite his loose attire, he sat upright with his hands gently placed in his lap, almost as if he sat at a funeral, his eyes reflecting the same sentiment.

"It's finally time" Kronos spoke.

"Time for what?" I asked.

"The birth of a new era." He responded.

"Confident in your demise already?" I jested.

"Of course not, but even when I win this match your popularity will rise." He spoke.

"How so?" I asked sitting down on the seat across from him.

"Who would the crowd cheer for? The man who's crushed all opponents who dared face him in the last few decades, or the up-and-rising newcomer who skyrocketed to the top and became the people's champion. As long as you put up a good fight, which I hope you will, the people will naturally favor you. If not because of your beauty or bravado simply because they wish for a new king or rather a new dynasty." He spoke.

"Already counting yourself out?" I laughed.

"No boy, just speaking truths, something you would do well to learn if you wish to keep the top spot." He spoke.

That was when two people with paper bags came over. One man, one woman. They handed us each a pen and a piece of paper, a contract that listed some jargon that I dismissed and signed immediately. I had read it before, I didn't need to see it again. Kronos, of course, doing the same. They took the papers back and left.

"It seems we still have a few more minutes before the match. How's Freya doing?" He asked.

His general casualness was surprising to me. In previous meetings, he was much more fierce and much more trash-talky.

"She's uh, she's doing good," I spoke.

A moment of silence fell on us as we sat there. I started twiddling my thumbs when he spoke

"You're going to pick her right?" He spoke.

I hesitated. Was he trying to trick me here?

"I won't counter-pick her or anything I promise. Hell, I'll even tell you my every pick right now if it means you'll promise you will pick her." He spoke.

"Yeah, that was the plan I was going to pick her," I spoke.

"Good, that's good." He spoke before the silence returned.

I thought for a moment before speaking,

"How come you care so much? Every time we meet you ask about her." I spoke.

"She's my daughter, of course, I care."

--------------------------------------------------------------(FLASHBACK INTERRUPTED)--------------------------------------------------------

"What now?" Paul spoke.

"Freya is Kronos's daughter? Heroes can have kids?" I asked.

"Will you let me get to that? You stopped me before I could show you what he said." Paul spoke.

"Sorry, sorry. It was just way too shocking ya know? It came out of nowhere." I spoke.

"Think about how I feel! My greatest rival just told me that my wife was his child. My eyes almost popped out of my damn head when I heard it." Paul spoke.

(Hmm that's strange cuz-)

"Don't you dare spoil it, Samantha," I spoke cutting her off.

"I forgot you still had your system advisor." He spoke.

"Sometimes I forget too. Anyways let's get back to your flashback I was invested." I spoke.

"Oh, right anyways so he told me that Freya was his daughter........"

However, before his flashback could continue.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Minions have spawned" A woman's voice spoke.

"There's no way that-" I tried to finish but I was rushed and killed by The Murders before I could finish and the world went dark.

In the dark, I talked to Samantha.

"Did that just happen?"

(Yes, it seems that you just got... what's the word?)

"Cliffhanger, he left it on a damn cliffhanger."