The end of heroism-The Last hero

Chapter 4- The Past

This time, when I fell asleep, I didn't dream about death and destruction. Instead it was a dream about my past and my family...
The park, a beautiful and happy place. I am walking with my parents and I am elated. They had bought me cotton candy. It was probably the best thing I had ever tasted. I look at my laughing parents and I look at the person walking with us. I didn't recognize her at first but then I realized who it was. It was my sister. The background changes and I am watching a movie with her. It was a comedy and she was laughing hysterically. She always did have an amazing laugh. The background changes again and this time she is crying her eyes out. Her boyfriend had just cheated on her. I see myself go up to the ex. I see how I almost beat him to death when he is older than me by about 8 years. The background changes again and this time,I am sitting at a table in jail with my sister and she is crying. I do not know what for. When she is about to say something, there is a giant explosion and a hooded figure is grabbing her and taking her away. I am running after her and I am about to grab her when they vanish into dust and I am falling through the floor.....
I wake up with a jolt. This time I am the one levitating. I realise this and fall on my bed and roll over and fall on the ground. I get up in pain and I check the time on my watch. It's 1:00 in the morning. I lay on my bed, looking at the ceiling until I fall asleep again. This time, all I see is black. I wake up again and it is 6:00 in the morning. I get up, brush my teeth and shower. I put on my Braves Ones outfit and walk to the kitchen. I eat an apple and go for a run. I pass my neighbour's houses and wave to cyclists and other runners. This reminds me of when I used to do endurance runs around my neighbourhood a couple years ago. I shove this thought out of my mind and run faster.

I reach the Brave Ones stronghold and there is screaming. I run in and it is the hooded figure. He is standing in the middle of the training ground and 20 of the soldiers are standing around him with laser spears pointing at him. I am about to walk in to tell them to stand down when Casey walks up to me. "Who is that," she asks me, condescendingly
"He is my mentor," I blurt out
When I say this, the hooked figure turns around
"I have been waiting for you," he says
At this, everyone begins to charge their laser spears. I then tell them to stand down and that he is an acquaintance of mine. They look at me weirdly and then the commander walks in and tells them to do as I have said. They lower their weapons and the commander gestures for me to follow him. As I am walking forward, the hooded figure grabs me by the arm and whispers:
"To walk in to the room of an unknown enemy, is like putting you hand in a tame lion's mouth. It's instincts are to bite you but unless told to, it will not"
He then lets go of me and walks behind me as I enter the commander's office. I gestures to a chair and I sit while the hooded figure stands against a wall. He looks at me for a second and then speaks:
"You are a strange boy, Alex. You have strange abilities and you have strange friends who just teleport when they please..."
"I am not his friend," the hooded figure interjects.
"Anyway, you seem to have become something of a mystery to me. And this displeases me," the commander continues.
"Wait what. I didn't even know about these powers and I didn't ask him to come looking for me here," I jump up and almost shout.
"Oh really. Did u now," he says mockingly.
"It was my fault. I came here looking for him as I wanted to take him somewhere. Sorry I did not inform either of you," the hooded figure apologized and looked at me
"So you just think you can teleport into my stronghold," the commander slammed the table.
"If u must know, I am not very....accustomed to society and I did not realize that I could not enter here. I apologize," the hooded figure did a slight bow.
"You can apologize by leaving my facility and taking Alex with you. You can show him whatever you like for however long you like as I am releaving him of his position," he looked at me
"You can't be serious.... ," I tried to argue.
"You know the rules. Get out or I will send someone to remove you personally," he showed me the door.
I got up, looked at him and pushed the door open and it almost flew off its hinges. I looked back and carried on walking, almost completely ignoring Casey Strom's look of despair

We got to a safe place, out of earshot and the hooded figure looked at me. I asked what was so important that he had to teleport to my 'place of work'. He told me to take his hand. I asked him why. Then he said that I will  understand when we get there. I grabbed his hand and in a second, I was standing in the open air, looking over at a barren town.
There was a park with three swings and a lot of trees on one side. There was a factory across from a block of flats. There were three schools and one of them had log-cabins for classrooms. Two were next to each other and the other one was two streets away. And then something caught my eye, the once barren town was now filled with laughter of children and the silhouettes of people were stalking the streets. We then dropped to the ground and we walked around. The hooded figure told me to not concentrate on what was happening around us and he further explained all it was, was the memories of the dead who have not found rest. I looked around bewildered as we carried on walking. When we got to the end of the street, he told me to look to my right. As I turned to my right, I stared at the house for a second and then dropped to my knees. This was the street that I grew up in and this was my house. The hooded figure patted on my shoulder and said, "To progress , you first need to see where you came from and let go of your past failures."