V - A call to action in the worst moment

A week had gone by with me doing almost nothing but living a regular life. I spent my time at school talking to Felicia, getting to know her better and trying to do my best in class; I wanted to get a good GPA.

It was Sunday and I was playing Pokémon White 2 on my 3DS, when I had the sudden realization that my life had been extremely normal for the past couple of days. In fact, I was pretty much a regular teenager, just with powers. I wasn't going on night 'escapades' to fight crime, since I didn't really feel any need to do that nor did I want to. It was at that moment that I thought about what my life would entail in the future. I would probably fight creatures of unparalelled power. I would face world-ending calamities. Did I even want to do all of that? And then I got stressed. The only reason I had accepted to the responsibility of becoming a Campione was, basically, that I would be able to be with my family.

And then I remembered what happened as soon as I arrived at this universe. It had been a week already and my mind had sort of blocked off the memory, but it was... too much. The amount of enemies, the dead civilians I saw, the Chitauri I killed without batting an eyelid. It made me feel a bit sick. But just a bit. I didn't feel much empathy for the Chitauri and I felt nothing but a little bit of sadness at the dead civilians. I cared more about having a successful career than about that, and that made me even more sick –sick with myself. Something about me had changed. I was still the same, but some things were now different. And that is when I realized that I was no longer an actual 'human', in the most objective of ways.

And that thought just brought me even more stress. It was a stupid issue. I knew it was. But I was nonetheless affected by it. And very affected at that. I just felt like I didn't know who I was anymore. Those small details I had seen in my behaviour made a huge difference in my mind, even though they weren't really that big.

"I don't think I would've even felt bad if I left permanent damage on Felicia's harassers." I muttered in panic. And then everything seemed to stop, the Pokémon music stopped playing, the screen wasn't moving and I couldn't hear any of the sounds you usually hear in Harlem's nightlife.

"Mr. Seong, I hope I am not bothering you too much." Someone said as they appeared in my room through a portal I could quite easily recognize. And I was already sure of who she was. After all, she was know for appearing like that when needed or when she deemed it necessary to appear.

"Just call me Alan, please, Ancient One." Alan said amicably. Even if his mind was in turmoil, he didn't have any reason to act rude or negatively. Though the distress in his voice was easily felt –even more so for a woman about 700 years old.

"I feel a rude though in there somewhere, but anyway." The Ancient One said smirking, and I knew she hadn't read my mind. A woman's intuition was just that scary of a thing. "The Earth needs of your services, Campione."

And then my face crumpled in even more stress. I knew that things like this would happen and I knew that it was my job, but didn't Campione not bow to no man? I knew that I would still do it, but I couldn't just... accept and go. It was something my pride, my soul, my very being didn't want to do. I wanted to do what was right, but because I wanted to, not because someone told me to.

"It that a request for help or an order to do something I am supposed to do?" I asked, fully showing how I didn't like her approach on this matter. I was a Campione, not a Hero. I wanted to do what was right, but I didn't spend my time saving people in danger just because I could. I didn't feel guilty about not saving someone from another human. I wouldn't even feel guilty from not saving a civilian from something they couldn't save themselves from. Something that could threaten cities, countries or the entire Earth. It was me knowing that not doing it was wrong that made me feel guilty.

"It is a request for your help. After all, the matter of Heretic Gods are a Campione's specialty." Yao said in a calming tone. I was stressed, a bit angry, not in the state of mind to listen to others. She was tactful and knew how to hop around those things and not press the buttons I didn't want pressed. "Even if I have the means to, I have no right to order you to do anything, youngling of Epimetheus."

"Again with the weird titles... *sigh*..." I sighingly whined the words before taking a deep breath to calm myself down. If there was a Heretic God, I wanted to slay it before it caused any harm to anyone. "So, which is the emergency?"

"Thank you for your understanding. You are the most agreeable among all of the Campione I have dealt with." She said with a bit mirth, reminiscing about my predecessors of time –probably centuries– past. Yes, I by no means believed I had been the only Campione in history. But I did believe I was the only one in this generation. "Bríg left some of herself in Scotland and there have been signs of those remnants awakening soon."

"So you thought it might be wise to ask me to deal with it, right?" I asked a bit annoyed. I knew she was more than capable of dealing with it, but she almost never got involved when it could be avoided. I actually didn't know exactly why she came here, since it wasn't necessary. But since I didn't feel offended nor in danger, I simply decided to ignore that little detail.

"Indeed. It would be unwise for someone who doesn't really have the power to completely erase them to get involved." She explained and, I had to admit, she was right about that. After all, according to what I had been told by Osiris and the lot, I was the one supposed to slay Heretic Gods.

"I have only one problem, I am not exempted from school or anyone else. I can tell my parents the truth, but not the rest of the world." I stated, asking her for a solution to that problem. And she came with a solution that I didn't like at first, at all.

"Why don't we make it so that your school has a trip to Scotland to study the Celts?" She seemed... oddly excited at the thought, something I didn't understand the reason of. And I didn't like that idea at all. For some very important reasons. That would put my entire class in danger. That would put Felicia in danger. And I didn't like the idea at all. "Oh don't worry Alan, I will be there acting as the guide for the entire time you spend there and I will keep everyone safe."

"That is reassuring... I still don't like it, but it seems like the most feasible idea without me suddenly being sick or just disappearing a few days." I said, reluctantly accepting her idea. The Ancient One looked glad that I had been so understanding and agreeable, which actually made me feel like I had done a good job at keeping myself in check.

"Well Alan, it was a pleasure talking to you, I'll see you again shortly." She saidbefore disappearing. I was honestly glad that she had left because I was slowly losing my grip on my own emotions. Just why had I felt so angry at the thought of her giving me an order? Why had I wated to scream at her when she did nothing to me? I needed to sort myself out soon, or else my mind would break down in pieces.

"Just what is going on with me?" I muttered as I sat on my bed while hugging my knees.