A tall, burly man sat on the shore of a beautiful island dominated by a large ivory palace. His beautiful white hair blew in the strong winds coming from some distant galaxy, eager to visit the man.
The man smiled as he listened to his young son speak excitedly.
"It must be great to be a bear, Dad, believe me!
"Oh, you think so? Don't you like being human?" asked the father humorously.
"Of course not! Humans are so small and weak!" said the boy passionately.
"Weak? Of course not, my son. Humans are small, perhaps. They are naive. But weak?" said the father as he looked at the huge scar on his scarred abdomen. "No, never."
"Then why is Mom weaker than you, Dad?"
"You're wrong, my son," said the man, looking at the starry sky beneath the floating island. "Your mom is not weak."
The two looked at the vast universe, the boy swinging his legs in the void of space.
"Son, can you promise me something?"
"Anything you want, Father!"
"Find your mother when I'm gone. Will you do that for me?"
"I will, Dad!"
"Be good, kid."
"...What?"
Then, the man placed both hands on the boy's head, and a warm light like the glow of a star flooded the place. Seconds later, the boy fell gently onto the grass of the floating island, unconscious.
***
"...Mr. Rodrick? Mr. Rodrick!?"
Rodrick woke up with a start, realizing he had fallen asleep at his desk. All his classmates looked at him strangely, and Rodrick could even hear some soft laughter in the back of the classroom.
When he looked up, the first thing he saw was the angry face of his teacher, Mariana, standing in front of Rodrick's desk, frowning at him.
"What's wrong, teacher?" Rodrick asked, feigning an innocent smile.
"What's wrong?! You've been asleep the whole class, Rodrick!" The teacher rubbed her forehead briefly before continuing. "Go to the principal's office. I'll be there in a moment."
Rodrick packed his things into his backpack and left the classroom, his classmates' eyes fixed on his back. As he left, the entire school was silent, which was logical, as most of them were turning eighteen and awakening the system, something they had all been looking forward to after all. Turning eighteen and becoming a tower aspirant, gaining wealth and glory—wasn't that spectacular?
Rodrick sighed wearily and ignored the overwhelming silence. Rodrick walked to the principal's office.
When he arrived, Rodrick sat down in one of the chairs outside to wait for the teacher.
Meanwhile, Rodrick took out his cell phone and opened his social media accounts.
"High-class tower contender achieves the impossible!"
"A new imperial-class contender is born!"
"Six months to go until the world contender tournament!"
Rodrick snorted and turned off his cell phone. Social media was always full of the same thing: aspirants, towers, battles, blah blah blah.
Rodrick wasn't interested in towers and achieving glory at all.
A minute later, the Marian teacher arrived. The young woman knocked on the office door and entered with the principal.
A tall, old man with brown hair greeted them with a frown.
"Again, Rodrick?"
Rodrick clicked his tongue in annoyance. His father looked the same as always: annoyed, tired... and strong.
"He fell asleep at his desk again, sir," said Teacher Mariana disappointedly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't sleep well yesterday. It won't happen again," said Rodrick, hurrying out of the office.
"Rodrick, if you're having trouble sleeping on your own..." The principal stopped talking to answer a call.
As he picked up his cell phone and looked at who was calling, the man's face softened. Rodrick clicked his tongue again...
That was his father, showing a strong face at work and a gentle personality at home. Rodrick resented that. He disliked those who carried everything on their shoulders alone; he disliked heroes...
When the call ended, the principal looked at Rodrick with a softer expression.
"Don't let it happen again, Rodrick. Now go home. Your aunt and uncle are visiting us tonight."
Rodrick turned and left the office without asking for further details.
His footsteps echoed throughout the school. As he passed by a classroom full of students, he could see how all attention was directed at him for a moment.
"He's the principal's son..."
"They let him go again?"
"They should expel him!"
The young people really believed that Rodrick couldn't hear them from outside, but unfortunately, Rodrick heard everything, although for him, this was normal. He was quite famous at this school for always leaving before the scheduled time.
"Mind your own business... idiots."
As he left, the rain quickly soaked him. The city was enveloped in an overwhelming silence, just like the school.
Such was Noumber, a small town located on the border between Mexico and the United States. It was lonely; few people had come to live here, as the towers were far away. Without the presence of the Eagle Tower Association, why would anyone live here?
Rodrick walked along as he took an old gray umbrella out of his backpack. Seeing it, worn out, made him sad. This was one of the gifts his sister had given him on his fifteenth birthday. It was very important to him. His sister was far away. She was eight years older than him, and unlike him, she had decided to take the path of the aspirants and was now climbing the Tower of America.
When they received the news that their daughter would become an aspirant, his mother and father were so happy that they even decided to pay her tuition for a newly founded academy for tower aspirants in Asia. She left the academy a year ago and is now climbing the tower.
Rodrick was proud of her. Although he was not attracted to this world, he loved his sister dearly, the only person who had managed to understand deeply how Rodrick felt about the world.
Since the age of thirteen, Rodrick had felt out of place, far from everyone else. He didn't feel like he belonged in this world; nothing appealed to him and few things excited him. His sister was the only one who could get him out of the house, and when she left, Rodrick's sad story began.
Rodrick walked through the city. The bakery where they always used to buy bread was closed, but next to it, his mother's pastry shop was still open. Rodrick smiled and decided to go inside. Upon entering, his eyes widened in surprise. His mother was sitting in one of the chairs in the shop, eating with a young woman with navy blue hair. A smile appeared on Rodrick's face.
"Emily?" Rodrick asked, approaching slowly.
The young woman with blue hair recognized the boy's voice and stood up. Emily smiled and ran to hug her brother.
"Rodrick..." Emily said as she hugged her little brother.
Rodrick hugged his sister tightly.
***
The family was having dinner in the large dining room of their home. Aunt Claudia was talking about celebrity gossip with Rodrick's mother, his father was chatting with Uncle Lucas and cousin Dany, who had recently become a mid-level aspirant and was the main topic of conversation at the table. His sister Emily was talking to her cousin Marley.
Rodrick frowned as he ate, trying to ignore the annoying presence of his cousin, the talented cousin John.
"And then I cut the creature's thigh hard so it couldn't escape! Do you understand how amazing my intelligence is, Rodrick?
Everyone at the academy says I'm the most talented student of my generation! I'm sure they're right..."
Andrew simply ignored cousin John's "amazing" stories of glory. His cousin was only a year older than him, and had already entered the Aspirants' academy before turning eighteen. His father wanted the boy to become someone great.
While Rodrick tried to ignore cousin John, his sister, mother, and aunt got up and went to the kitchen together.
"Oh, well. Here they come..."
The three of them arrived with a large cake while singing the typical happy birthday song. Rodrick wanted to bury his head underground; he hated this. He didn't like being celebrated, but he accepted it, just because his sister was here. Rodrick smiled, feeling the warmth of his family for the first time in a long time. All this food and gathering had been prepared for Rodrick's eighteenth birthday.
"Happy birthday to you... happy birthday..."
Then, the whole celebration stopped abruptly. All the family's cell phones rang at the same time, except for Rodrick's. Everyone checked theirs and was startled. His sister was the quickest, the one who hesitated the least. She quickly put on her jacket and left the house. Rodrick followed her, scared of where she was going. As they stepped outside, the cold night air mercilessly chilled Rodrick's uncovered body.
"Sister! Where are you going?"
"I'm sorry, Rodrick, they need me at the tower, there was an overflow..."
Rodrick didn't understand what his sister was talking about; these terms were beyond his current comprehension. Then, his sister's feet lit up with energy.
"Aura!"
That energy was the energy that aspirants globally used, the aura.
His sister then shot up into the sky and disappeared, leaving nothing but a trail of aura in the heavens.
Rodrick quickly returned home.
"Emily went to the tower," Rodrick said bluntly, very sad.
When he looked up, he was even more surprised. His father and uncle were already getting ready to leave, and even his cousin Marley was ready to go. After all, most people here had been aspirants at some point in their lives, and the government had just sent out a distress signal to all the aspirants on the American continent. They had to answer the call.
Rodrick couldn't understand it. Why would they sacrifice their lives for the world?
"Is it really that important?" Rodrick asked, trying to get them to stay. "I don't think it's that important, do you? There are many strong aspirants out there. They don't need you."
Uncle Dany looked at Rodrick.
"It's the least we can do, Rodrick. We're not going to sit here while the world we live in goes to hell," his uncle replied forcefully.
"But why?!"
His father, now annoyed, decided to respond:
"Because that's what humans do, Rodrick!"
The room fell into a heavy silence that crushed Rodrick's chest. As if a truth that should never have been spoken had just been revealed, Rodrick clearly didn't understand what his father meant, but he was still upset and ran out of the house to his room.
Rodrick put an old record on the turntable, and a soft piano melody instantly filled the room. Rodrick threw himself on the bed and closed his eyes in frustration.
"Why can't I understand them?"
The dark, rainy night accompanied Rodrick's sobs throughout the night.
***
The next day, Rodrick got out of bed as usual, walked to the bathroom, and looked in the mirror. His blond hair was very messy, and the dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping these past few days were still there. Rodrick sighed and took a quick shower.
Leaving his room, Rodrick went down to the living room ready to receive a lecture and apologize, but instead of finding that, he found an abysmal silence. Again... more silence. No one was home, so Rodrick picked up the home phone and called his mother.
"Mom? What happened? Where are you?"
His mother took a moment to speak, and when she did, her broken voice could barely tell her son how sorry she was.
"I'm sorry, Rodrick... Emily... Emily got lost in the tower."
A tight knot grew in Rodrick's throat, a knot that squeezed even tighter around Rodrick's already broken soul. He knew it, he told them, why the hell didn't they listen?
"Are they looking for her already?" Rodrick said, forcing himself to stay in control.
"They've been looking for her and her group all night, there's no trace. Don't worry, son, they'll find her... your sister isn't weak, I'm sure she made it back to the second floor and everything is fine..."
"Yes... everything is fine."
Rodrick hung up the phone and walked over to his armchair. As he sat down, he didn't even know what to think or do. He was scared, he wanted to cry, lament, and scream... But none of those emotions came to the surface. In the end, only one emotion emerged, the strongest Rodrick had ever felt, one beyond any feeling he had ever experienced.
Determination.
Rodrick took out his cell phone and looked at the time.
7:06 AM. The exact time he was born.
He had just turned eighteen.
Then, a white panel similar to those in video games appeared in front of Rodrick.
"You have reached the age required to become an Aspirant. Do you wish to accept?"
[Accept] [Decline]
Rodrick thought... He hated this, he hated heroes, he hated those who sought glory and excused themselves with phrases like "I do it because I want to" or "I do it to create a better world." He was sure that behind those words there was only ambition, ambition to be revered... but what did it matter now?
"If I have to be a hero to save her, I will."
Rodrick stretched out his arm and pressed the first button. To save his sister and his entire family, he would do anything, even... give his life.