I rubbed my eyes as I stumbled through campus. The sun shone brightly as sweat began to darken areas of my light blue t-shirt. I should have gone with black, but in my half-asleep state I just grabbed the first shirt I could find in my closet before heading to class. I passed by a number of students happily walking in groups on the way to their next class.
Everything always seems to annoy me a little bit more when I’m sleep-deprived and some of the vapid conversations I would catch small snippets of were really getting to me. Who cares how much you had to drink last night? Droning on about how your boyfriend liked another girl’s instagram photo is not productive. Why not just talk to him about it like the adult you’re supposed to be… I might just be too pessimistic. Due to my power, I’ve never been much of a conversationalist. It’s hard to have a conversation when you can have random flashes of that person’s life play out while talking to them.
I put in my headphones to dull the sounds around me until I made it to the auditorium style classroom. Eric waved at me from our seats in the middle of the room and I squeezed past the couple of students sitting in seats closer to the aisle. I pulled out my headphones after sitting down and turned to look over at the smiling Eric.
The quickest description I could give him, as much as I dislike the concept, would be social media model. He was tall and muscular with short, cropped black hair. He used to play a number of sports, but our recent endeavors had been taking up all our time recently so we quit any extracurriculars to focus solely on our project.
Eric’s smile slowly faded as he got a closer look at my current state. “You didn’t get any sleep, did you?” He was frowning now. I just shrugged while pulling out my notebook. “You know how it’s been lately. I’m having a tougher time keeping the memories out.”
His worried look gave away what he was about to say, “Maybe we should take a break. It could help you clear your mind. A hard reset could be what we both need to get a better grasp on the situation.”
I shook my head immediately. “We’re fucking close and you know it. We can’t afford to stop now. The memory we found yesterday was from only a few days ago. He has to be in the city.” We were whispering now as more students started to fill in the seats around us.
The professor walked in shortly after and our conversation was put on hold for the moment. Our professor, Doctor Anderson, started writing a word on one of the six chalkboards in the room. The soft scratching sound echoing through the now silent room. The sounds of occasional screech where the chalk hit the board at an odd angle made my skin crawl, but the professor didn’t even pause until the word was displayed in her elegant handwriting.
“Super humans”, she said while tapping the word she had just written. “This is where we are at now in our World History lesson.” She paused while walking back to her desk at the center of the room, “It is estimated that now close to two percent of the population have some form of extraordinary power. That is roughly one-hundred and sixty million people! I can guarantee we have at least one or two powered up people in this room. I doubt they will ever admit it though.” She stared out around the sea of students before locking eyes with me. I wasn’t sure how, but she knew, or maybe I’m just extremely paranoid.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Who can tell me when the first powered human came to be?” A number of students’ hands flew up into the air before Doctor Anderson chose a student close to the front. A clear, confident voice rang out through the hall, “The first powered, a Korean citizen named Lee Chun Hei, gained the power to heal others roughly twenty-five years ago in 2025.”
Doctor Anderson nodded, “Good and who can tell me what happened to her after she went public with her powers?” A similar situation from before happened, but this time a student at the back was chosen to answer. “She was exalted as a hero and soon conscripted into the Korean army. Her help is what ultimately led to the fall of North Korea.” The teacher looked up at the student in the back with interest, “How so?”
The student paused before trying their best to answer her follow up question. “Well, her healing powers were and still are unequaled in terms of power. It’s said she could practically revive the dead and did so in large numbers. This allowed for South Korea and their allies to push through the North Korean troops with minimal casualties.”
Doctor Anderson smiled before walking back to the board. She erased ‘Superheroes’ from the board and in its place started writing a list of names, both English and Korean. I didn’t recognize a single one. “These men and women I have listed were just a few of the real heroes of that war. These are some of the soldiers, leaders, and strategists you won’t hear about in most history books. They gave their lives for the cause and each held rather large contributions for the war effort. The reason we don’t hear about any of these heroes,” She turned back around to face the class, “Is because what powered humans contribute is so overwhelming that everyone else falls into the shadow of their achievements. Not that its a bad thing since so many lives were saved thanks to Lee Chun Hei’s contributions.”
She paused again, gathering her thoughts. “We’ve already managed to detract from the topic.” She gave a light-hearted laugh before diving back into her lecture. “Now, after Lee Chun Hei came out, many other powered people started coming out of the woodwork. At first it was entertaining. Each country had their own little force for good.” It was at this point my eyes started to get heavy. At first I thought it would pass, but the next thing I know, I was getting shoved awake by Eric next to me.
“Thanks for joining us again, Mitch” Doctor Anderson smiled up at me. I just drowsily looked back at her trying to regain my bearings. “Were you having an interesting dream?” It was a loaded question. I looked over to Eric for help and his face spoke volumes. I must have said something in my sleep. I couldn’t even remember the dream I was having.
I turned back to Doctor Anderson and chose to be as polite as possible, “I’m sorry for disrupting the class, professor. I wasn’t able to get a lot of sleep last night.”
“With dreams like that I can’t blame you, but please try to at least wait until you’re out my classroom to take your naps.” I nodded, it seems as though she was letting me off the hook pretty easily. “Of course, professor.” With one last glance up at me, she went back to teaching her lesson.
Once Eric and I were out of the classroom, I had to ask, “What did I do this time?” He just shrugged, “More of the usual, it was a mostly screaming.” I nodded and we silently started walking through the center of campus. It had only gotten hotter out after the class had ended, but the sun felt nice after being cooped up in the classroom for so long.
“Mitch and Eric.” A familiar voice stopped us in our tracks as Doctor Anderson walked up to the two of us. “Can I speak with you two for a minute.” I glanced over at Eric, but we both nodded and followed Doctor Anderson back into the classroom.