Chapter 2 - Breathless Destiny

Black Star Condominium…

 Central Park…

- Mr. A (sitting on a bench, reading a newspaper)

- Grey (in blue/white academy uniform, running through the park, waves) - Hi guys! Kim, I'll give you your game back when we leave for school tomorrow... (keeps running)

- Kim (sitting in a uniform, watching Grey run) - Where is he going?

- Havanna (looks at Kim, laughing) - Grey is crazy…

- Grey (drawing near to Mr. A, panting, settles onto the bench) - Good morning Mr. A, how hot...

- Mr. A (folding the newspaper with deliberate care, his gaze settling upon Grey) - Good afternoon, Grey. I see you're excited for the story...

- Grey (his excitement barely contained, a smile breaking across his face) - Yes!

- Mr. A (smiling knowingly, his hand thoughtfully stroking his chin) - Hmm, where did we stop? … Right, the girl left…

Director Odyssey, Arthur's grandaunt and owner of the most prestigious and famous school of the world, went to the island to test his burgeoning prowess, and he passed with a mastery that belied his years, and the director admired him, so much that she wanted give him incentives to attract his interest in the academy, but he refused them all, demanding only that he had a roommate, the position of vice-president of the academy's discipline department, and be registered as Arthur Henry, son of a noble, removing the Treadway from his identity and hiding the fact that he is son of a queen, but it was difficult to hide the face of the supreme champion, and it was agreed that the next day the boy would go to the Future Academy. The next day, Arthur said goodbye to the queen, to his mother and his sister, he got on the ship and headed towards a new adventure.

- Mr. A (his sigh carrying the weight of untold stories) - … 

 At the academy's hallowed halls, he was greeted by the principal, and the awestruck gazes of many students who recognized him as the champion. 

He then embarked upon the Director's guided tour, and later to his dormitory, where he was introduced to his roommate, Tristan Ashura, the last son of the Ashura's patriarch, one of the venerable elders of the United Kingdom, dispatched as his sentinel.

 Already in uniform, they went to the opening ceremony. The director, with gravitas, inaugurated the proceedings and introduced the student luminaries: Hera Olympus, president of the student council; her deputy, Eleanor Havelock; her secretary, Drako, who harbored a clandestine enmity for Arthur; Alander Odinson, president of the Discipline Department; his deputy, Arthur Henry; Selena Glayder, doyen of the Scientific Department; Maya Mayara, marshal of the military department; Sir Havelock the president of the parents' council; and Doctor Nagasaki Hiro, chieftain of the teachers' council 

He began his adventure at the school, where he left a teacher in a comatose state and assumed the mantle of instructor for the close combat class, drawing the ire of the administrative council. Yet, amidst these tribulations, a darker enigma unfolded.

Students were disappearing, and the students found were dead and with their cores removed, prompting Arthur's assignment to unravel this mystery. When presented with the bodies, he discerned the markings of amazonian martial arts, a revelation that multiplied his questions.

And over time he started making friends, against his will, princess Hera, Tristan, Selena, Eleanor, Drako, prince Alander and later, Qin-Shi Huang di, who was always singing that he would be the king of the Mandarin empire, and Temujin, who would be known as Genghis Khan.

 In one of the martial arts classes, on the academy's field, the kid activated his domain, the Endless of Dim domain, and crossed half the arena in a mere heartbeat to shield Hera from impending harm. He succeeded, yet not without cost, sustaining injuries that fractured his backbones. Alfred, the nanomachine, was rendered impotent by the queen's decree, forbidden to heal the boy until he reached fifteen. This left his peers and mentor Nagasaki pondering in awe - "How did he do that?!" – while Arthur's own questions tripled in number – "Where did those marks come from?" "What happened to me?!" 

 And his injury was the reason for him and Hera to talk again, and to talk over the last 3 years. Happiness was short-lived, the usurper's killers found him, and the director announced a program to investigate the disappearance of students, designed by her, and the Scientific department, and worse, Arthur's grandmother, the director's cousin fell ill...

- Grey (sadly, sighs) - I remember that part, she was poisoned, and Arthur didn't know...

- Mr. A (his own sigh mirroring the gravity of the chapter) - Yes, as an amazon, she might have been restored, but she was already old. At the venerable age of one hundred and forty-six, if memory serves, she was poisoned, her cells were dying, an agonizing death, from inside out. Yet, the grace of the amazons is such that even when old, they maintain their young appearance, even at one hundred and forty-six, she retained the beauty of her youth. In brief, the program...

 Its purpose was to collect information about the places and areas where students disappeared, the director did not want bureaucracy or a bad reputation for her academy and wanted Arthur to be responsible for the entire battalion. The program would be activated 2 years later, at the boy's 15th birthday, strategic time, enough for them to train and evolve. Meanwhile, Arthur met Jin Olympus, son of Zeus's older brother, Hera's cousin...

- Grey (quivering, tears welling in his eyes) - Mr. A, please, I don't like to talk about Hades, he scares me a lot...

- Mr. A (his smile a bastion of reassurance, strokes Grey's hair with a paternal gentleness) - Okay, let's leave that for now, but we have to talk about him eventually, he's very important in the story...

 Right from the start, Jin didn't get along with Arthur and his group, he was arrogant, proud and provocative, and that's how Arthur met Temujin, Temujin was the son of the head of a clan in the cold lands of the north and was bullied by Jin, but Arthur put an end to that and helped him become a great martial artist.

The assassins launched their campaign against the academy, targeting Arthur, and to add to the intrigue, it was Zeus who decreed the queen's poisoning, and dispatched his son Apollo, the one seen as the god of perfection to extinguish Arthur...

In the middle of all things, Arthur began to show a strange behavior, a violent bloodlust. It was his domain manifesting, the domain of Infinite Darkness, which showed that he would be the next Heavenly Dark Lord, contrary to the prophecy...

Days later, Apolo began to make his appearances, to make the boy realize that his time was coming, until it came. The fight began late at night, Apollo, seen as a god, fighting a fourteen years-old at the level of Extreme Proficiency. Tristan had to help, and they both cut Apollo's arms, and Hera seeing all this, crying and begging both of them to stop.

She ran to help his brother and after an emotional farewell, he died, and an out-of-control Arthur lost consciousness, and entered his domain where he had to fight against his personification to escape. And a few days later, Alexia appeared, an amazon archaeologist, daughter of the headmistress and Arthur's cousin. She was sealed with the king's force on Mount Everest to protect Arthur, but ended up being protected by him...

- Grey (looking fixedly at Mr. A) - Mr. A, why don't you show the scenes like you did before?

- Mr. A (with a stoic face) - I'm too old to talk too much anymore. Now, pay attention, what I'm about to say is important for the story…

 The day after that, she traveled to the Future Academy, where she met her mother, and met Arthur, she was placed as the academy's librarian, and this brought her very close to Arthur, who loved spending time in the library. And at the end of classes, Zeus found out that Apollo died and sent Ares and Artemis to the island to kill the brat and put the amazons on their place, while the queen' state only worsened, and King Aca's assassins discovered how to get to the island.

 Finally, the supreme championship, unlike the previous edition, Arthur was well received by the amazons at the Coliseum, and in the first fight Arthur won with a perfect and broke the record for the fastest victory in the history of the championship.

- Grey (mouth agape) - The Emperor Solar king was on another level…

 The championship continued, and it was victory after victory, and the doctors gave the queen only 1 month to live. The queen, knowing this, organized a farewell dinner, days before the fight between Arthur and Victoria, a friend who was rejected by him. At that dinner, the queen gave Arthur a book, which contained her conscience, her knowledge acquired in these 147 years of life, recommendations, ideas, advices, wars, travels, mysteries, discoveries, inspirations, fights, martial arts and much more, also gave him her sword, which has been passed down from generation to generation since Hippolyta, the first amazon queen.

She left the throne of the amazons in the hands of her daughter, Andromeda, and asked Arthur to be king of the amazons one day, but Arthur rejected, she also asked him to marry an amazon, but this request left Hera heartbroken, and Arthur did not respond to this request, not knowing that these were his last moments with the queen, his grandmother who he loved so much.

At bedtime, in the queen's room, she blessed Arthur, her grandson, and days later she fell into a coma again, Arthur thought it was normal, he didn't know they were the last breaths she was taking...

- Grey (head down) - He didn't deserve this...

- Mr. A (looking at Grey, smiles) - With time you will learn that it rains for the bad, but also for the good...

 The final arrived, the fight between two friends, confused and unrequited feelings in the air, the girl knowing that Arthur is strong, prepared herself, with special materials, pieces of drakine, silver armor, and surprisingly that was enough to leave bruises in Arthur's body, but in the middle of the fight the queen started having convulsions, the presenter announced this, and Arthur ran towards the palace, but...

The queen did not resist, she died, Arthur in the corridor, hearing this from the doctor, was furious, crying without stopping, he discovered that he had been lied to, the queen had been poisoned, and had been dying for a long time, and that was enough for him to stop talking to Hera and his mother…

 Days later, the queen was buried, princess Andromeda was crowned, and Arthur was eager for revenge. Zeus rejoiced only upon receiving the news of the queen's death, and Ares announced that he to finish Arthur's life, on his 15th birthday. The attack began, in one of the island's cities, women and children died, houses were on fire, and everyone moved to put an end to the invaders, and the attack was controlled by Arthur, queen Andromeda, and her army...

 After arguing with his mother, Arthur ran from the palace, and went to the woods near the palace, giving himself up to death, Ares and Artemis found him and massacred the boy, leaving only the body of a 15-year-old boy bathed in blood...

- Grey (surprised) - What?! He died?!?

- Mr. A (sighs) - If you interrupt me, you won't know…

 … Hours later, they organized searches to find the prince, and the queen went along, and found her son's body, in the middle of the woods, and crying in agony ordered him to be taken to the palace. The tears, the anxiety, and the despair in the palace, the waiting for the doctors' response was palpable, and it ended with the guardian family feeling that the boy was taking his last breaths, and the man who sent Alexia, becoming disappointed and re-entering the cave at the top of Mount Everest…

- Yuna (wearing a long dress, hair down, approaches) - Mister A, good afternoon. How are you? I came to get Grey…

- Mr. A (smiles) - Okay, we're done... (looks at Grey, realizes he's crying, runs his hand through his hair) - Calm down kid, we'll continue tomorrow...

- Yuna (gently wipes the tears from Grey's face, smiles) - What is it, honey...? (takes his hand)

- Grey (crying) - Arthur died…

- Yuna (looking softly at the boy, smiles) - Dear, calm down. People die, that's how life is. Now say goodbye to Mr. A...

- Grey (with tears, waves) - Goodbye Mr. A, see you tomorrow...

- Yuna and Grey (hand in hand, going home)

- Mr. A (smiling) "This kid..."