Lure vomited, emptying her twisting stomach. Dying is no pleasant experience even if it happened in an illusory realm. The last seconds, when one realizes that one will inevitably perish, are simply unbearable. She still couldn’t forget them, as the threatening globe of pure energy was still raging in her mind in form of vivid images. Sinistra’s soft touch, her warm embrace from behind, helped Lure to not focus on the most unpleasant memories. The cold, whistling wind, too, alleviated some of her pains by numbing her skin and nerves.
“I desired to show you how death feels. Our profession is, sadly, a dangerous one, especially so for young, talented girls who know nothing about life. Don’t take risks,” emphasized Huic.
Tired and beaten, Lure nodded. The message found the recipient. Transported back to the real world, she was lying on the ground, under the protection of an old willow tree.
“I’ll talk later with you two about how to evolve your abilities, and I’ll prepare your grand entrance to the society of us villains,” said the headmaster. He was playing with a watch, one that didn’t have any digits nor watch hands. “Another week or two, huh.”
Lure didn’t understand the rambling old man as she was still far too weak and tired to analyze his words.
Looking into her eyes, he exclaimed, “I’ll introduce you both to the group I belong to, the Banished Diplomats.” He snorted when he turned his head towards the other girl. “ Don't look at me like this, Sinistra. Our group has its own charm and the name has actually its own history.”
Sinistra replied with fierce eyes and clenched fists, “Fine. But please no more secrets.” She repeated, “No more secrets.” The night was starless, still and silent.
“I’m sorry, but if there is one thing I can’t promise, then it's this.”
Reflecting on her last adventure, Lure expressed, “I experienced a call, a voice when I used my abilities.”
Huic turned away from the girls and said, “This is to be expected. Your actions shape your being and will influence your evolution choices.”
“You could have told me so.”
He sighed, still looking away. “You need strength and desire authority, right? You have to use your given tools to achieve this. Life is dirty and unfair, sadly.”
He then faced the girls again – his face looked unusually sombre, but at the same time affectionate. “Trust me, I do it for your well-being, even though you might not believe me and hate me in the future.” He clasped his hand with a thud. “Now I’ll bring you back to your dorm. Good night.”
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The class was a gossip hotspot and Lure the target. It was that time again. An improbable scenario was about to happen, but it had nonetheless occurred every single day for the last two weeks: someone dared to question the authorities.
Voices were whispering, “Will she be punished?” “Probably.”
Of all the people in the room, the protagonist of this event did not care the slightest bit. Lure was starring at her prey with the predatory eyes of a leopard. Her victim, the poor teacher of this lesson, met her eyes solemnly, for Lure would not go down with a fight and embraced the challenge. Not this time.
Voidless raised her voice. “Dear students, superheroes in the making, the history of philosophy is the most important subject in your curriculum. You should soak up all the knowledge like a sponge.” She moved through the class, eying the teenagers. “Today, we shall embark on a voyage to the old Greece, and I shall explain why democracy has failed. Remember: freedom leads to anarchy. Like Plato said in the Republic, our society needs guardians, strengthened in an intellectual and in a physical way. We are the guardians, and we need to be educated on how to live a virtuous life. This is my task as a philosopher, to teach you how to be virtuous."
Lure raised her hand, politely waiting for her reply.
“Yes, dear Lure, you may speak.”
“I doubt that Kant and Hegel would share this view and in fact – “
The teacher interrupted her. “The history of philosophy is full of bias and errata. Take, for example, the medieval philosophers. They believed that there was an almighty god – what nonsense. Furthermore, some concepts lost their validity in the market of ideas. Hobbes's social contract theory needs to be revised. We superheroes are – unlike the old noble’s claim – better than the average human. Not all humans are equal; an Empowered is simply better in most aspects than a non-Empowered. This can be proven statistically.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Lure acknowledge that what the teacher said held some merit. Empowered humans were either dumb and had incredible physical strength like Brutus or they were far more intelligent than the average man, grasping concepts most people couldn’t fathom.
“But why should the empowered humans rule, they are guardians, not rulers? And why did the Belgians invade the US, doesn’t it feel like the colonization of the Congo, under the rule of King Leopold II?”
With elan, the teacher replied, madly running through the class and further pushing her agenda, “Society should be ruled by the best and most competent, that’s what an aristocracy actually meant in the beginning before it was perverted by ignoramuses. See, philosophers are the most virtuous, for they study being virtuous. They have better cognitive abilities and are better suited to reign since they can better reason. Moreover, democracy has failed. This country was a dunghill before our arrival, tainted by propaganda machines like CNN or Fox News.”
“Yes, we need the Enlightenment back…”
“I’m sorry, but the Enlightenment was a big failure. Did people, especially the average man, really become enlightened? No, the average person is ill-suited to vote, for he lacks the time, interest and capability to follow politics and the most important societal issues.”
Lure wanted to reply, but she only managed to get a “Hmgmghhhghmmmm! Hmgrhmhhh!” out, since her mouth was suddenly sealed by Voidless. She could breathe through her mouth, but speaking words proved to be nigh impossible.
“Ah, indeed. See, Lure, you agree with me.” The class started chuckling. They weren’t dumb and knew what had transpired. “Further guiding you is a task the headmaster has personally asked me. I simply cannot bear to fail him.”
“Hghhhhhhhhgmmmm!”
“Where were we? Ah, yes.” The teacher’s eyes were still sparkling, childlike. “Scholars debating the achievements of the Enlightenment mostly agree that it lost its influence and veracity after The Awakening. Many philosophers rediscovered Nietzsche. Sometimes wrongly translated from German, it is not the Superhuman, but the Overman or Beyond-Man that describes best our core being. We, philosophers, strive every day for a better version of ourselves, every day after the Morgenröte, the dawn or red sky, we awaken as our betters, godless, unlike the plebeians and the popes who worship a donkey*.
“Hmmmmmmmgrrrrrrhmm.”
The class suddenly broke out in a cacophony of muffled sounds.
“Hmggrhhhhhhhhhhhhh”.
“Hmgrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”.
“Hmumumumumumumum.”
“Hhmmmmmmgrrrrrrrr.”
Not only Lure, but several boys and girls were also making similar noises. Although it is true that most superheroes subscribed at least partly to the current ideology, core virtues espoused by the philosophers were freedom of speech and rationality – and were dearly protected by most empowered humans. The teacher basically preached cookies, but delivered oatmeal gruel.
Ura and Sinistra were actually trying to sing in canon when Lure was forbidden from speaking. “Hmghhhhhhh!” Several students joined them, either because of boredom or fraternity, a spirit that hadn't died yet.
Voidless, perplexed by the sudden turn of events, crossed her arms and shouted, “Enough! Don’t derail the lesson. Behave!”
Yet, the students didn’t stop. Superheroes valued companionship, after all.
“Silence,” she commanded.
Silence did not fill the classroom. “Hmmmmmghhhhhh!”
She shouted, “Suspended, everyone! I tell what happened to the headmaster. He’ll punish you. She stormed out of the classroom into freedom, for she did not like being suppressed.
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“The punishment isn't so bad,” said Ura while cleaning the ground with a mop. Her waist-length pink coloured hair was too long and a real nuisance. She might actually swab the ground more with her hair than with the tools, Lure thought.
“At least, we didn’t have to do the toilets,” agreed Sinistra.
“The dorm floor stinks already enough. In what age do we live? Ah well, I know the common people don’t have access to electronic stuff like cleaning bots.”
“Where I come from, this smell would be considered a luxury,” replied Sinistra with a self-deprecating smile, hitting the floor with the mop rather than doing the actual cleaning.
Lure knew that her friend hadn’t seen her little brother for two weeks – this might seem trivial, yet not for two siblings who shared a very close, intimate bond. She didn’t know either how to comfort her without saying truisms and insubstantial stuff…
The girl with the pink hair carefully touched a banana peel and threw it in a bin. “Eh, even heroes can be dirty. I always wondered about one thing: why do we officially write ‘superhero’ as one word, but ‘super villain’ in two? I have never understood this.”
Sinistra burst out laughing, “This is ridiculously obvious. A matter of framing the enemy. Heroes are noble and work together, thus you write ‘superhero’ as one word. Super villains are selfish, evil and megalomaniac, that’s why you write ‘super villain’ in two words. Makes sense, no? This is just some bullshit, not touching anything fundamental.”
“Woah, I didn’t think you would know so much stuff about the hero-villain dynamic,” acknowledged Ura.
Sinistra shrugged. “Villains are always defamed. I know the bullshit those philosophers always babble. With time, it gets old rather quickly.”
Ura inspected carefully her surroundings and hesitantly asked, “Hm, are you two still villains?”
Both Lure and Sinistra stopped working and looked at each other in the eyes.
“Yes, please don’t tell anyone, though,” said Lure.
“The class already knows anyway, you’re too… obvious.” Ura finished cleaning. “Oof, finally done.”
“Don’t you think of us as an enemy?” asked Sinistra.
Lure agreed, this question had to be brought forth. Else, it might become awkward in the future.
“Nah, I spoke with the other classmates. You two are rather helpful and considerate in general. You treat us with respect and you fight earnestly alongside us. Why shouldn’t you be our comrade?”
Sinistra said with watery eyes, “Ura...”
Lure put her mop away, dashed towards them and embraced all together. “We’re friends?”
“Right.”
“Right.”