Tragedy of the Greatest Heroes

Background (optional although recommended):

In the beginning, there was insanity. A vast sea of chaos of which coexisted an infinity of reality and fiction, of sentience and imagination, of existence and non-existence. Inverse and opposite concepts fought each other for an eternity before the dominance of time across an infinite expanse before the rule of space.

One day, however, the chaos was forced back by a force of order and restriction. The chaos screamed as the gods, the creators of all things, and the beings who existed before the chaos descended. They created the universe and all its majesty as the concepts separated. Order finally reigned supreme over existence and upon a small grain of dust the gods made life.

In the bones of all their species, they decreed that they would provide a gift to the species that proved themselves to dominate over all the others. It permeated the subconscious of all known beings, inciting competition among them. After 5 billion rotations around the sun, a species of primates invented agriculture and thus proved themselves to be the pinnacle of mortals.

The gods provided them with a gift, psychic powers. With it the species that would become known as humans were given a fraction of the power of the gods. They could wield the elements, chop down forests, and crush mountains with their newfound powers. They formed complex societies and dominated nature, creating a world dominated by the human race.

But, humans were selfish creatures. Unlike the gods they were flawed from the start, full of greed and hatred. Those who had naturally stronger powers than others abused their strength and so began wars and conflicts across the planet. So came the group of people known as heroes. These heroes would fight tooth and nail against these “villains” to protect the weak and ensure peace throughout society.

22 thousand years after the advent of psychic powers and 20 thousand years after the appearance of the first heroes would begin the new age of heroes, during which the greatest heroes and the darkest of villains would wage war. Among the heroes, two would stand out in history. One would lead the world into a war where billions would die and the other would destroy all that they had worked for.

Volume 1

Chapter 1: Our Past and My Future

‘Never. I will never let you out.’

‘…’

‘You know why we can’t. Stop asking. No matter how often you ask, I will never let you out.’

‘...’

‘I don’t care. Just shut up and leave me alone.’

…

The sun was shining through the window of my bedroom. Well, more specifically the light was bouncing off my neighbor's window and shining into my face. How annoying. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around groggily.

‘I couldn’t get any sleep tonight.’

His words kept ringing in my ears. I felt slightly bad. He seemed to genuinely want to help me. But I couldn’t trust him anymore. We just couldn’t take the risk.

‘The fact that He keeps trying despite knowing what would happen. What an asshole.’

I sat up in my bed and gave a large yawn before looking around. If all went well I wouldn’t be seeing this room for a long time. I was sleeping on a queen-sized bed, larger than anything I needed. In front of it was a desk with writing utensils, a laptop, a monitor, and a gaming pc. Next to me, there was a closet and a bathroom. The closet was almost empty, only some dust bunnies, a suitcase, and toys from when I was a kid remained. Around my room, there was also a collection of headphones and a series of posters from my favorite shows and movies.

‘Take it all in man, you won’t be able to bring any of this stuff with you.’

I entered the bathroom, the cold tiles on the ground helping wake me up. After brushing my teeth and changing my clothes I grabbed my suitcase I stuffed in the closet and headed downstairs for breakfast. The aroma filled the air, the smell of eggs, bacon, shrimp, and more enveloped me. I began salivating at the mouth. In front of the dining table stood my younger brother, sister, and my mom.

‘They really did go all out for me. I suppose it is a potential farewell ceremony for them. The gods have blessed us with a beautiful breakfast.’

I eyed all the food hungrily. But it would be unkind to just sit down and start eating. I looked around at my family. I definitely didn’t start tearing up.

“Thank you so much. This is the most beautiful breakfast I’ve ever seen.” (I was definitely tearing up now)

My family stood there looking at me. My mom's eyes were red and tears were already streaming down her face. She had been preparing herself for this day for a long time but I suppose no amount of mental training can prepare a parent to say goodbye to their child.

“Honey, I’m gonna miss you a lot,” she said through her sobs. “You had better come to visit us every single weekend you can or else I’ll take you out of school. Do you understand that Mark?”

“Yes Mom, I promise you I will.” Yep, I was definitely crying by this point.

My mom came over and hugged me and she buried her head into my shirt as she held me for several seconds. When she stopped there were wet spots on my shirt where she had buried her face.

My little sister and brother came running to me. My brother was a little teary but my sister was bawling her eyes out. I understood why, I had served as a role model and protector for years with them. For their entire lives, they could look to me for help and I would be able to fix their problems. But those days could be ending today.

“Mark, I really want you to do your best and everything ok? You're the best older brother in the world.” My sister was barely breathing at this point. Admittedly I wasn’t fairing much better.

“GO BEAT THEM ALL UP MARK!!! I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!” As always my little brother was adorable. He was always loud, likely as a result of his social disability. But I knew he always looked up to me. Whenever his friends came over I would always hear him at least once talk about the things I had done or how cool I was.

“I’ll do my absolute best to destroy them all you two. I love you both.” I looked at my little brother, “Tyler make sure you do good in school and be sure to protect your older sister.” I turned to my sister after kissing Tyler on the forehead and said “Make sure that Tyson stays good when I’m not around. And also be sure to tell me if you get a boyfriend so I can make sure he doesn’t hurt you.” My siblings laughed at that. Little did they know I wasn’t joking.

They both gave me a tight hug. My sister's sobbing caused her face to dig painfully into my side while my brother's arms began to constrict around my body. I began to hear a cracking sound, seemingly originating from my ribs, and forced my two siblings off of me.

After a short 3 minutes of consecutive crying, I sat down and ate breakfast. It was incredible. A variety of flavors packed into my mouth and melted my taste buds with their taste. I had never had such an incredible meal before. I was practically drooling while eating my food. It didn’t take long for me to finish everything on the table. I gobbled down benedicts, salads, shrimp and grits, and more in just a few minutes.

‘Hehehe. I think I might have eaten too much. My stomach is stretching out my shirt.’

“So when is Dad coming Mom?”

“He will be here soon to pick you up. He had to go into work for an emergency call at the hospital.”

My dad was a kind man. I didn’t feel mad at him not being here to see me eat breakfast. After all he was a doctor, there were more important things for him to take care of. Luckily my mom didn’t have any emergencies at the hospital to take care of either, or this would have been a completely different breakfast.

Soon enough the food in front of me disappeared, consumed by my family and I. We began to clean up, everyone throwing in a hand in cleaning the dishes. “May the gods bless us” my mom said. Me and my siblings nodded as we focused on scrubbing off yolk stains from plates and crumbs from the pans used to cook the food.

An hour passed and we heard honking at the front of our house. My dad had finally come back and was honking to grab our attention. My mom rushed outside and I quickly followed, carrying my large suitcase. I stuffed the suitcase into the trunk of the car and sat down in the passenger seat next to my dad.

“So Mark, are you ready for your application?” my dad asked excitedly.

“I‘m more ready than I’ve ever been for anything else in my life.”

Yes, the application. The reason everyone was crying so hard and the reason I got the special breakfast today. I was applying to a hero academy, specifically to a school called The Academy of the Greatest Heroes or AGH as it was most often referred to. Considered one of the top 5 most prestigious hero academies in the world, it lives up to its name as The Academy of the “Greatest Heroes”. AGH had been responsible for 98 of the world's current 400 S-Rank heroes and 12 of the current 57 SS-Rank heroes. It was one of the best and most rigorous training academies on the planet, proven by a successful track record, as such, it was extremely difficult just to qualify for the application process. Going here has been my dream since I was a kid.

The application happened 4 times a year and it lived up to the standards of AGH. Just to qualify to apply for the school an individual had to reach B rank by the age of 16, something that would make one considered a genius by most of the world. On top of that the only available age that an individual could apply for was 16 years old and they didn’t accept transfers from any other schools. Any older or younger than 16 and there was absolutely no chance to get into the school. Even then, the application process itself eliminated most of those that qualified to take it, with only about 5% of the applicants per year getting accepted and it took a full week to complete.

While on the way to the application grounds my parents and I talked about all the things we had done in the past as a family. We talked about how I used to cry all the time as a baby or how I, unlike my siblings, had never once tried to eat anything I shouldn’t have. We talked about how I used to be scared of the dark and of dogs. We talked about how I was so excited after breaking through B rank at the age of 15 and a half, qualifying me for the application for AGH. We became so immersed in our conversation we nearly missed multiple exits.

I looked outside of the window. The city passed by me in a blur. Every now and then I could make out a person wearing a colorful suit, almost certainly a hero, doing their part to better society. They patrolled everywhere, anywhere, anytime, all the time. It was more difficult to not find a hero than it was to find one. Of course, most heroes were only Mid to High C-Rank, the jump towards B-Rank was a rather difficult jump that most people couldn’t pull off.

Soon the towering buildings disappeared as we approached the outskirts of the city. While still in the city, the application center was in a much less bustling environment. This way the builders had enough space to add anything they wanted. I was well aware, the building I would see would only be the housing area, the applications itself would probably take place nearby in more AGH owned land. Being within city boundaries also meant that all AGH owned land in the area was entitled to protection from heroes, preventing petty crimes and maybe even large scale attacks on potentially elite future heroes.

“Alright here we are Mark.” my dad said with a smile.

There were about 78 other applicants outside the building already, with a whole lot more to follow considering I was a whole 30 minutes early. The building itself was a giant covered stadium, at least twice as tall and long as the stadium for a football field. It was made seemingly out of metal and painted blue. Statues of some of the greatest heroes to ever come from the school were in front of the entrance, along with plaques detailing their school and career achievements.

I got out of the car, the sun shined down on a beautiful day with clouds few and far between. My mom and dad went out of the car and gave me a hug. My mom had begun to cry again. She squeezed me even tighter and for a moment I thought that she had caused a fracture in my spine.

“I’m going to miss you.” She kissed me on the forehead and squeezed me even tighter than before.

“I’m going to miss you too mom. I love you.”

‘And please stop squeezing me so tight.’ I thought to myself.

She let go of me and I turned to my dad who also gave me a hug. He didn’t start to cry or even get teary eyed but I expected that from him. He tried not to cry as much as possible. I told him he should be willing to be more emotional but I don’t think he really cared about that.

“Mark, remember what I always told you?”

I nodded, it was my dads favorite thing to tell me. He adopted it soon after becoming a doctor.

“Always do the things others won’t, because if you won’t then nobody else will.”

“I promise I will dad.”

With that he let go of me and after a few photos my parents left in the car. I turned around and faced the building in front of me.

…

“I was worried about him for a long time.” the woman said.

“I know honey. I know.”

“When he turned 13 he just had a complete emotional shift. It’s like he became a different person all of a sudden. He did look happy though.”

“Yeah he did.”

“But I’m proud of him. I’m really really proud of him. He’ll grow up to do great things won’t he?”

“Yeah…”

The woman turned and looked at the man. Tears began to form on the man's face as he entered into a silent cry.

“Looks like you’re crying after all.”

“... yeah”

…

There were now about 100 total other applicants here with me. They came from all over the world it seemed. Understandable, many would kill for a chance to go to this school. I walked towards the building and examined some of the statues and plaques. The statues were extremely detailed, almost lifelike, no doubt crafted by a master artisan. I wondered how long it took to create these statues. One statue in particular caught my eye, it was a statue but the face was smoothed over. I looked down and read the plaque.

The Unknown Hero

Unlike other heroes this one wishes to remain anonymous. He has spent many years as an undercover hero, traveling through the criminal underworld and eliminating targets or providing intel from within. While he was at school he proved himself to be one of the brightest students but also a prankster and as some would call him, “a scam artist”. He is still currently active with only certain individuals being aware of his current status.

Current Rank: S

Interesting… for such a strong hero to remain anonymous to the public they usually had to apply for it. Heroes were a symbol of hope, something which got more true as a hero got stronger. By A-Rank they would already be an inspiration to potentially millions of people and a celebrity in their main city. That being said, this country, Panaj, was one of the stronger countries in the world and it wasn’t uncommon for strong countries to keep some of their power hidden.

I continued moving towards the entrance where most of the other applicants had gathered. I stopped looking at the statues and began to observe some of the applicants. It was an extremely diverse group of people, all of them likely having come from different countries of the world to meet at this school.

‘I’m glad we have a standardized language now.’ I thought to myself.

2000 years ago language wasn’t standardized and as such communication between different countries could be nearly impossible. While accents sometimes made it hard to make out certain words, at least now everyone could communicate pretty effectively.

Some of the applicants caught my eye. One applicant was almost 7 feet tall and radiated confidence. Based on appearances alone I’d definitely have to be cautious of him during the application. Another applicant seemed to be as light as a feather, with their feet only just barely touching the ground every step they took. Another had bulging muscles and looked at least 10 years too old to take this application, one had hair that dropped all the way down to their feet, a different one had tattoos all over their body and another came dressed in pajamas.

‘Actually, looking at them all, I might be one of the few that are dressed or look “normal” around here.’ I thought to myself privately.

I sat down at a bench on the outskirts of the crowd and began to daydream. What would my future be like? Would I end up becoming a powerful hero? How many lives could I save? What kind of villains will I face? These questions flew in and out of my head as I envisioned my ideal future in silence. I felt a smile begin to form itself on my face as I pictured my future life.

“Excuse me?”

The voice startled me out of my daydream. In front of me was a girl, seemingly Korean, wearing a gray jacket, a pink shirt and some blue shorts. She was pretty short, likely almost ¾ of a head shorter than me. She carried with her a purple suitcase and a gray bag full of art equipment including brushes, different colored markers and a whole lot of paper. Her hair was somewhat frayed, as though she was in a rush to do it this morning. But what caught my attention the most was her face. Despite her showing no emotion whatsoever she was one of the most beautiful girls I’d ever seen. Her lips were a perfect red and her skin was smooth with no visible acne or pimples. Her face was perfectly proportioned and her ears, lips, nose and eyes were each placed perfectly on her face. For several moments I sat in stunned silence looking at her.

“Are you ok?” she said with an emotionless tone.

“OH yeah sorry. What do you need?” I was so stunned by her appearance I had forgotten to respond to her.

“I just wanted to know if I could also sit here. Everywhere else is taken.” she said, once again, without a hint of emotion in her voice.

“Yeah sure.” I scooted to one side of the bench and allowed her to sit down.

She placed her bag down on the side of the bench and placed her suitcase in front of her.

‘Shit. I forgot to grab my suitcase. Well I’m sure it'll be fine. My parents can probably just send it to the room I’ll be staying in through the school somehow.’ I turned back at the girl, I wanted to start up a conversation. Sitting in silence next to someone always made me uncomfortable.

“I’m Mark, what's your name?” I said with a smile and a warm tone.

She looked back at me with her emotionless face again. Looks like she wasn’t someone who enjoyed revealing her emotions a lot. She sat for a few seconds, seemingly contemplating a response. For a split moment, I saw a hint of warmth in her eyes as she responded to me.

“Violet Woo.”

End Chapter 1