All of us were sitting in front of our lockers getting ready for the match. Geon looked loose and ready to go while Aurora stood authoritatively, going over the general ideas and strategies we had to employ in this match. Savian did his daily leg stretches on the floor and Lila looked determined and focused. I would have normally been listening to every single thing Aurora was saying, but this time it was different. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Hey, I need you. I focused hard and listened inside my head for a tiny voice…hoping to get an answer. I heard a voice pop into my head. “Hey! You actually asked me something! Ha! That’s a good sign.” I almost fell off my bench and got a weird look from Savian. I gave him an uneasy smile and looked away. The small voice spoke again, “You actually believed the dreams I sent you. Normally people have a hard time even believing that the symbols are real and all, but look at you…”

I focused hard. “Hey, I need to ask you something.”

“Hey! Do you even know my name yet?” I pondered it for a second and realized that I had forgotten what this symbol’s name was.

“No.”

He sighed, “It’s Hiem, you can call me that. Or anything else, I don’t really care.”

“Ok, Hiem. I need to ask you…That explosion thing, I know you saw it, can I do that too?” There was a silence in my head.

“Yes you can, but my power is far greater than mortal humans. If you do what that human did you would kill lots of people. Of course I wouldn’t care too much but I suspect you would.”

I collected my thoughts.

“So, what if….you and I worked together in order to create a smaller blast of yours. We could end this early. I’ll put a barrier around my friends. Will that work?”

Somehow I could feel Hiem smile inside my head.

“Yes, it would. It’s good you are cooperating. For your reward, you’ll see what it’s like when you use my power properly.”

I heard a loud gong go off and we all walked through the tunnel. I walked towards the back of our group and Savian put a hand on my shoulder. “I can see you're planning something. I know that look in people's eyes.” I gulped, but when I looked at his face he didn’t seem angry. In fact he didn’t seem bothered at all. “Whatever you do, make sure you don’t mess it up. Once in a blue moon, bad decisions can have good outcomes. If what you're planning is that bad…Let’s hope it’s a blue moon night.” Savain walked in front of me and I looked at my team. We walked out and heard the same ground shaking roar of applause in front of what seemed like even more people. The announcer roared our names into the microphone and I saw the opposing team walk out. The nation of Leona….they looked fierce and ready. The announcer shouted out their names, and I made a mental note of all of them. I closed my eyes and prepared for the worst.

I heard the announcer’s voice roar into the crowd. “May the match begin!” Before anybody could do anything I let out a loud scream and white robes adorned me. I felt my insides burn up and my eyes turn gold as I heard a small voice in my head.

“Good job.” I didn’t have time to put barriers around anyone as a blinding explosion of golden light detonated from my body. The whole world turned into a flash of gold as an explosion which sounded like it could crack the world in half echoed into my ears. The floor incinerated beneath my feet, and the liquor barriers shattered as I fell to my knees. The world started to regain its normal colors as my eyes slowly gained their vision back. Aurora, Geon, Lila, and Savian all looked shocked, but I was even more shocked to see that they had been untouched. I looked over and the entire Leona team was not just knocked out, but literally knocked outside of the arena. Most of their unconscious bodies were being held up by spectators in their seats. The announcer spoke after a long silence.

“The—the…the winner of this match is Taegan. They advance to the next round!” A cheer went off as I fell on my side and felt myself pass out.

I awoke in a hospital bed. It was morning outside. The sky was a weird shade of light blue and pink, and I heard the morning song birds call out to each other in long melodies. It was early, really early. My eyes weren’t fully open but I saw a group of young nurses huddled around a newspaper. They looked distressed as they spoke to each other quietly. “That boy, he’s got so much strange power…It's frightening ... .I hope he is alright but to think he could be our enemy..” Are they talking about me? I’m not scary….how could I ever be scary? Can I be scary? They spoke again. “Well maybe it’s a good thing he’s a warrior. With that butcher out there the world isn’t safe.” Another nurse spoke.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Oh Teras…..terrible….terrible….I mean he’s been a threat ever since I was a child….How could he still be such a threat now?”

“The imperial guard are trying to catch him but I heard even they’re not much of a match.”

“The imperial guard? Those Taegan peoples and their emperor are a match for anyone ....surely Teras, as horrible as he is, is not that strong.” My head swam. I remembered what Aurora and the others had said about Teras. A butcher, a mercenary that was so strong he once killed a noble. It was scary to think a criminal like that was on the loose. But everything else about the emperor, and his guards was weird ... .I did hear a lot about the imperial guards. They were the strongest amongst the warriors selected to be at the right hand of the emperor. So if these guys weren’t enough for Teras….what kind of monster was he? “Well, all we can do is hope.” I heard the nurse sigh in a worried tone. Suddenly, something came to me in my head. Wait, how can I understand their language? I’m not in Taegan so how can I understand them? I’ve never been able to understand them from the start…Why now?

I spoke with heavy suspicion, “Heim…” I closed my eyes and spoke in my head. “Heim, are you doing this?” I heard a small chuckle in my head.

“Yes, I can understand all the tongues you humans speak. We always know what you are saying, which is ironic since you humans are particularly hard to understand sometimes.”

“That’s….really weird but also cool. How long have I been out?” Hiem took a while before answering.

“Only three hours. Your body exerted a lot more energy than I thought. Usually humans hesitate when something feels too powerful, but not you…” I sat and pondered for a second. Am I really that powerful? Was I still likable? Was I still a good teammate? A good friend? I did just blow my own team up… As I questioned myself all my friends walked through the door. Aurora, Savian, Geon, and Lila came in with concerned faces. I opened my eyes and saw all their faces fill with relief.

Aurora ran up to my bedside and grabbed it with force. “Are you ok? Any serious injuries? Can you see?” She tried to pry open my eyes. I shook my head to get her hands off and I spoke.

“Yes, yes I am.” Everyone looked relieved but they didn’t look too happy either. Aurora got away from me and she looked at me with a pained expression.

“Hey, what was that?” She sounded slightly angry but more hurt.

I was confused. “What?”

She sighed. “You…you just blew everything up. You could have hurt yourself.” Everyone looked at me with a pained expression. My eyebrows began to furrow.

“I…I won the match. Guys….I won..I mean, that’s what we’re supposed to do, right? I got them all and didn’t even blow you guys up..so what’s the big deal?” They were silent. I was shocked. I had done something good. After having done nothing at all last match I had finally brought our team a win. Why were they mad? What did I do? Why? I began to get angry.

“Come on! What? I’m sorry I blew you guys up, ok? Is that good? I don’t get it! I finally do something good and you guys are mad? I mean, when did winning ever feel this awful!” Lila couldn’t meet my eyes and Geon seemed a little hesitant to say anything. Aurora spoke.

“Evay, we’re not mad you won the match. We’re disappointed you didn’t tell us anything. We had a plan but you didn’t stick to it. You won but we would've liked to hear what you were going to do first.”

I raised my voice. “So! Sometimes things happen! What’s the big deal?” Aurora raised her voice too.

“You can’t trust us, is what it tells me! The spontaneous action and the risky behavior tells me you're not willing to ensure every precaution for our team either!”

I started to yell, “You don’t think I care about you guys?”

Aurora’s eyes flashed in anger, “You weren’t when you blew everything up! You don’t think that Geon or Savian could do something like that! They could! But they don’t because they want to ensure team safety! Also you could’ve died! What happens then?”

“Well none of that happened so whatever! Sorry!”.

Aurora looked angry. “If you get hurt or over exert yourself too early it takes time and resources to heal you! It puts us at a disadvantage! Don’t you realize that! If you don’t tell us these things someday your plans will fail! So that’s not an attitude to have! I can’t believe you, of all people don’t realize that!” Aurora crushed the metal frame of my hospital bed and stormed out the door. We all watched her in silence as the nurses watching her pass by looked scared to death.

Geon nervously smiled at them. “Sorry. Teenagers, am I right?” The nurses stared at us in shock before the patient alarms snapped them out of their trance. They rushed over to the patients' beds and got back to work. Lila sighed. “I’ll go follow her and make sure she doesn’t kill someone.” She looked at me with a somber expression. “Evay, I get what you're saying. But we’ve had this discussion before. Be open, tell us things. If not us, who else could you trust?” With those words she ran off after Aurora. Savian pulled up a chair and put his legs up on my bed. He leaned back and forth and put his hands behind his back and Geon jumped on the end of my bed and sat on it.

Savian spoke first. “Well, my bad. Guess I should’ve told you to tell everyone else.” I sighed.

“No, it’s fine. It’s me who blew everything up.” Geon pulled out an apple from his pocket and began eating it.

“Listen, sometimes you feel like you can change the tide of battle. I get it. I’ve been there too. But sometimes you realize that you miscalculated and then you fucked everything up.”

Savian butted in. “And when that happens, it’s on you. The risks you take can lead to really good things or really bad things. That’s the point we’re making–that’s the point I did make to you.”

Geon spoke again. “So don’t be an idiot, you idiot.” He tossed his apple and made it float on his finger. “When Aurora yells at you, you’ve probably done something wrong. Well, she yells at me all the time but you would need to mess up really badly for her to yell at you.” I sighed.

“So? Am I supposed to apologize for winning the match? Don’t tell me you guys think that too.”

Savian spoke up. “Nah, but you should apologize for not trusting us and being an idiot. You should also apologize for yelling and causing a scene like a child. Well, I guess you are a child but still.” Geon laughed and spoke.

“Yeah, your girlfriend might stay mad at you if you don’t.” I felt my face turn red.

“She’s not my girlfriend. You can see that, can’t you?” Geon smiled.

“No. If I did something like that she would probably try and kick me off the team. The most she could do for you was get a little angry. See what that means?” Geon and Savian both got up and Savian turned and spoke.

“Try and not let this affect you. If you’re good, Aurora will feel better. Next match is in two days, we’re facing someone a lot better this time.”

“Who? Who won the match between Vollimen and Mevillime?” I saw Geon break into a huge smile.

“Mevilime. The strongest military on Earth.”