Some Dreams Are Meant to Die

"Keep moving. Don't stop. I can't stop."

Blood and sweat glued the raw flesh of Kirien's feet to the tattered insoles of his shoes. Each step peeled them apart, before squishing back together once his foot landed.

"It doesn't hurt. It doesn't. I haven't even been walking that long." Behind him, footprints were etched into the desert sand and went back as far as the eyes could see.

"Don't think about anything. Just keep moving forward."

His throat was stone dry, and his voice cracked from thirst. Despite pushing himself this far, he could barely see the final gate floating above the dunes in the distance.

It had been three days since the superhero exam had commenced, three days since he had last seen anyone. Everyone spoke about how the reckoning tested potential heroes in unique ways, however, Kirien could not imagine how any un-powered individuals could complete this challenge.

"Please. Keep moving." He felt a lump move up his throat. He would've been in tears if he still had any fluid left in him to cry. He was not going to make it; 18 years of dreaming, gone because he could not put one foot in front of the other. He felt so useless.

His legs wobbled and caved in, he hit the hot desert sand with a thud, and it seared at his skin.

"Don't stop. Please." He dug his hands into the sand, and they boiled the tips of his fingers like lava. He pulled himself forward, clawing and ripping at the sand in an attempt to move faster. However, with each inch he moved forward, his body grew heavier.

"Why are you so weak?!" His scream came out as a strained whimper, and for a moment, he stopped moving.

Taking in a deep breath, he tilted his head up at the gate — a massive stone gateway, with blue energy emanating from deep within its dark entrance. Even if he made it all the way to the other side of this desert, how was he going to jump a kilometre into the air to get to it?

He'd already suspected this when he had first started his reckoning, this exam was designed for him to fail. It was the system's way of telling him that he did not have what it takes to be a hero. The universe's message, that he would never be like the heroes he looked up to, that he would never be strong.

A sentiment he knew all too well, one that haunted him every day of his life, and one he'd been fighting against ever since he could remember.

Kirien gritted his teeth, and let his body relax. He was tired of fighting, he had been doing it too long.

All the pain that he had been pushing back seeped into his body like cold acid in his veins. His legs and feet throbbed with burning heat, and the side of his face lying on the hot desert sand was beginning to peel.

[Examinee 5099. You have three seconds to show consciousness.]

[Three.]

The system's voice was like a distant muffled whisper.

[Two.]

His parents and friends had warned him that he didn't have what it takes. They had tried to tell him there were safer careers; more realistic goals for him to pursue. But still, he had wasted all his time training, and for what? This was just the reality of being from a non-hero bloodline. He wasn't built to endure the massive responsibility of superpowers, right?

[One.]

'To hell with all that.'

Kirien opened his mouth and let out a mad growl. A deep energy rose from within him, and he powered through his pain, through his body's rejection of his demands. 

"I'll stand beside them even if it kills me." He plunged his hands into the sand and pushed his body up. His muscles trembled under the strain, and in that instant, it felt as if he were trying to push up the very sky itself.

"Even if it kills me!" he grunted.

The pain in his feet bit into him once more, but at least he was standing. A weak smile crept across his face.

'I'll show you all.'

He took a step forward.

But as his foot hit the ground, the desert floor came rushing up towards him.

He could no longer feel his body; the pain was gone, but so was everything else. His vision slowly left him, and the last thing he saw was the gate, floating in front of the vast blue skies, laughing at the futility of his efforts.

[Examinee 5099, you have failed the reckoning.]

[Current Aspirant Status: Unresolved]

[Transporting you back to the planet 2B...]

#

No one really understand what it is. The Americans call it The Great Consciousness from the World Behind, The Russians call it Winter's Voice, and The Chinese 'The Heavenly Benefactor'. The rest of us just call it the System.

It first appeared after World War 2, the massive death toll is said to have summoned it here to help us rebuild. Utter bullshit if you ask me, but the major powers of the world took to it quickly. The power of nukes had woken them up to the disastrous effects power could have. And when an entity capable of creating men strong enough to eclipse even a nuke appears, you don't ask too many questions, lest your enemies bow to it first.

A cold war ensued, and humans did what they do best. They destroyed each other. That was known as Humanity's Last War, because humans no longer fought on the battlefield, super-humans did.

A quarter of earth's population was lost in the shock-waves of that war, and until today we still haven't recovered completely.

The League of heroes was formed shortly after, the super-humans got tired of being the playthings of old men several times weaker then them. Their goal was to act as a police force for super-humans, and help in humanity's advancement. The system seemed to like this idea, giving anyone who joined extra benefits.

And today little kids dream of taking on the reckoning in hopes that they can complete it and join the League themselves. Getting paid billions in sponsorships, fighting super-villains in between, and venturing to The World Behind to complete missions for a mysterious space entity is as exciting as a career path can get, a chance to live the dream.

But for some of us that's all it'll ever be. A dream.

And a stupid futile one at that.