For the next thirty minutes or so, Arthur ate his breakfast in complete silence. The atmosphere inside the kitchen turned colder noticeably. The words Mr. X had said resonated in his head continuously as he tried to finish his meal.
He didn’t know why, but something about them felt off… Really off and in a very unconventional way. On the outside, they seemed like a noble reason.
‘We wish to create heroes, huh? That shouldn’t be a problem. Yet, why does it sound like one to me?’ The more he thought about it, the more he frowned.
Heroes were supposed to be the good people and creating heroes means creating better people that can take care of the world and protect it. Ignoring the obvious question of ‘Protecting the world from what?’, Arthur had a bigger problem with this answer.
“Well, I’m going to excuse myself now. I have stuff to do.” At some point, Mr. X stood up and bid Arthur farewell as he started walking away. Arthur followed him with his eyes. Before he could leave the kitchen, Mr. X seemed to remember something as he turned to look at Arthur.
“We are going to reach our destination soon, Mr. Arthur. I hope you are ready.” He said before he vanished.
The boy looked at the door where the man stood for a second before he clicked his tongue annoyedly and turned away. “He knows what I’m thinking of. The bastard.”
Resting his head on the chair, Arthur looked at the ceiling dazedly. His mind was filled with a lot of thoughts. The sound of the AC and the plane engine echoed in the background like white noise to his internal voice.
‘Why are they only taking people my age to train? We are but a considerably small demographic compared to younger or older people who are playing the game. Why specifically us? Wouldn’t younger kids have more aptitude to learn? Or even older people have far more experience than us?’
The questions kept hailing down on Arthur and he only felt like he was bashing his head against the wall. In the end, he rubbed his hair as he stood up too. “I’m not going to rest at ease till I know why I had this feeling. I’m not usually an overthinker so this is really odd.”
Even though Arthur knew that he was most likely just looking too much into it, he could not simply ignore such a strong gut feeling when it was his very first time feeling it. Whether it was true or not, he had to check.
But, there was one very tiny problem he was facing.
‘How am I going to even do that?’
***
A while later, Arthur was sitting in his chair looking at his phone with a dazed look. Since there was no Wi-Fi he couldn’t use his phone for much and he also felt too tired to go back into the game. So, he just spent his time idling around and enjoying the snacks provided by the plane staff.
Some of these snacks were things he had never seen before and yet were extremely delicious. He was also able to finally taste a high-quality chocolate which was surprisingly not that better than the normal chocolate he knew and liked.
As he was like that, he heard footsteps walking outside his section. With a curious thought, he peeked over the door at the same exact moment as the person passed by him. Their eyes looked at each other.
It was none other than the boy Jack with whom he had a small skirmish a few days ago. The two instantly frowned as if they had seen something foul.
“Oh, if it isn’t small stuff,” Jack said with a glare.
“Oh, if it isn’t the guy that got punched by small stuff.” Arthur retorted with a malicious grin. His response made Jack glare daggers at him.
“You were a lucky bastard that he stopped me from sending you to the hospital.”
“Sure buddy, I believe you.” Arthur whistled as he looked away.
“Hey, you! Don’t test your luck anymore, bastard! Do you think I care if they know I beat you up to a half-death state? Nobody had disrespected me and lived to tell the tale.”
‘So edgy.’ Arthur pursed his lips. ‘But, it looks like he is telling the truth. Rich second generations and their antiques. Do they think they’re some kind of higher species than us?’
“Listen here, uh, what was your name again, Jacky?”
“It’s Jack!”
“Ok, Jacky. I have no problem with you or your little group of idiots. I just want to mind my own business and do what I need to do. I won’t disrespect you if you don’t disrespect me and I’m not looking for trouble either. I’m a very peaceful person you see. I don’t even hurt flies.” Arthur shrugged casually.
“Let’s forget this ever happened. How about that?”
Although Arthur would’ve not chosen this path usually, he wasn’t really in the mood to keep a grudge against someone. If they continued bashing their heads against each other, there would be an end to it.
‘I’m too busy for this nonsense so he better just accept and move on. Can’t bother with this dipshit anymore.’ Arthur mused as he looked at Jack.
“‘Let’s forget this ever happened’?” Jack muttered as if he was in disbelief. His eyes widened as he stared at Arthur. Then, he stepped forward till he got very close to Arthur. “You… You don’t seem to understand what is happening here. The only reason I didn’t kill you yet is because I don’t want to ruin my chances. Once we land, you better run away and hide for the rest of your miserable life.
Because, once I find you, I’m going to make you regret ever crossing paths with me.”
Jack’s tone was as condescending and as arrogant as it can get. But, Arthur could see the deep hatred within his eyes. He didn’t need a second to realize that what he thought was perhaps a small problem was now getting blown out of proportion.
‘This guy really hates me, huh? I wonder why… I only punched him once. What if I punched him twice? Would he lose his goddamn mind?’ He asked himself confusedly.
Although it felt like he was overreacting, Arthur didn’t like how he was threatening him in such a manner. Threats didn’t work with him because he never cowers especially when he was being targeted.
“Is that so? Well, if that’s what you think. Then, by all means, go ahead and try me.” Arthur said as he rested his arms on the door. “Just make sure your health insurance is renewed beforehand.”
Jack started laughing coldly. “Keep that attitude till I get my hands on you. We’re going to land soon.”
The moment Jack finished that sentence, the entire plane suddenly shook violently. The sudden movement was so strong, Arthur was thrown off balance to the side. Smashing into the door, he fell to the ground.
“AGH!!”
The entire plane tilted as if it smashed into something. “What the heck!”
Jack was also tipped over and couldn’t hold onto anything as he started rolling to the other side of the plane. Alarms went off everywhere on the plane.
“Please, get into your seats or beds. We are getting into the atmosphere of the island! Hold on tightly!” A voice spoke through the microphone across the entire aircraft.
Without waiting a second, Arthur dragged himself toward his chair. The plane continued tilting left and right as the boy fought with all his strength. Eventually, he was able to reach his chair and lock himself on it using the seatbelt.
Yet, even then, he was still being thrown left and right. ‘What kind of place are we going into?! This is insane!’
Unaware of what was happening outside, Arthur anxiously grabbed into his chair. With how much chaos was happening around him, he felt like crashing might be a possibility now. He didn’t know what the pilots were doing or if they even had control over the situation or not.
At the same time, he heard the screams of the other passengers as they were thrown by the sudden tilt. It was completely out of control.
“*Gulp* Where are they bringing us, for god’s sake?!”
