The dream was slightly hazy, but Bo felt a strong sense of deja vu.
From waking up with a stomach ache, to his sister not finding him, to the knock on the door.
Everything was so similar.
He now stood in front of the door, debating himself.
He remembered clearly what happened next.
How Master Power was beyond the door with a guy who looked new to the job.
He also remembered Hunger's maniacal smile, how he got split in two, and how he died.
With the first dream about the Doors, and now this one, he wasn't certain that it had been just a dream.
Maybe it was a premonition.
That was why a greatsword was leaning on the wall and was in his reach.
He felt stupid for doing this, but he was afraid.
No matter what he had to do, he wouldn't leave Abi alone.
Bo opened the door, where two figures stood.
The right figure was tall and combed and wore a suit. He had a bright smile. A shiver ran through Bo. Maybe it was just a dream, but he remembered Hunger's maniacal smile clearly as he cut him in half.
To his left stood a shorter man wearing shorts and a hoodie with a logo on it. The moment Bo and he locked eyes, he looked at the floor, pulling on the top of the hood to cover his face.
Next, Bo looked at the white symbol on the hoodie.
The symbol was a white carp fish that seemed moving, but a second later it changed into a symbol of an oak tree, its branches and roots connecting in a circle around it. Then it changed again into a symbol of the sun. It seemed like a drawing of a child, its rays depicted as diagonal lines, and the sun itself was just a white circle.
The transitions between the symbols were seamless. It felt like Bo missed by a fraction of a second the exact moment of transition between them every time, but he knew that it wasn't the case.
After three transitions, his head began to hurt, and Bo had to look away.
This was the ever changing symbol of the Organization, representing the Path of Life.
It was impossible to recreate it, and it was tattooed on every member of the Organization, but each member got a static one representing the Deity the chose them.
He never thought that this symbol, which was rarely seen, was printed on a normal hoodie.
Bo looked at him twice and realized who this guy was. This was the Creator.
The guy on the right began speaking.
"Hello! My name is Al, and I'm scouting for recruits to the Organization. Are you Novice Greatness's little brother? The first one anyway." The tall guy said, still having a bright smile.
"Yes, I am," Bo was about to say Master Power's Name, Hunger, but he stopped himself. He was now realizing that these were the exact people in his dream. Bo, remembering the horrifying death that he went through in this dream, started to sweat.
Al continued to smile. "Well, I am happy to announce that you have been chosen by a deity! You might have a hard time recalling the vision that you have experienced, but if you think about it, you had a weird dream about doors, right?"
Bo recalled the dream, the other one. It was a dream about doors, where he stumbled on something, and then a searing pain came in his stomach.
Then he recalled the dream with Hunger in it, the dream that made him feel as if he had experienced this already.
Then he remembered how Hunger split him in half with that maniac smile, and how a grey orb was sitting in between upper and lower body.
'That's weird,' Bo thought. 'If I think about it, the first dream was in the second dream. Is that possible?'
Before Bo had time to ponder more, Hunger continued.
"Now that you remember, please check your status to be sure which deity chose you. Sometimes people get confused and get it wrong just by remembering the dream." He said all that with his great smile. That smile felt fake to Bo. It was only a small feeling, but it was there.
Bo wanted to ponder some more, but feeling afraid, he discarded his thoughts for now.
"Status," Bo said.
A status window opened up, as always, it was still hazy grey, but the screen itself changed.
--------------------------
Name: Ư̸̧͍̣͍̤͈̘̦͍̘̹̦͕̟̓͛̀̔̆̚n̷̨͉̜͔̯̙̙̖͈͇͑́̇̎͘͝ŗ̴̧̧̟̣͇̰̘̤̼̈́̍͛̀̿̀̌̚̕ȩ̸̧͇̟̲̣̌͂̿̔̉̈́̆͝a̸̹̳̞̍̒͑͜d̶̢͈͈̱̥͖̟̉̌̐̎́̿̄̌̍͜a̶̰̰̦͗̋͗͊͒̓̚b̵̻̩̠̍̒̌͆̐̈́̽͠l̴̢͇͇̝̭̃̅͌̂̇́̔̐̓͐̏͌͆̕ͅe̴͔̞̼͖̥͉̣͋̋͊́̾̈́̽̎̍
Cultivation Stage: Novice (Pure)
Legacy: Bitter Obedience - First Stage
--------------------------
It was the same as in the dream.
"How?" Bo uttered in shock.
"Oh, are you one of those?" Al said, his bright smile changing into a comforting one.
"That usually means that a greater deity considered choosing you as its Chosen. You should be grateful for witnessing such a door, not many Heroes do."
Bo was still in shock, hearing only half of what Al said.
The screen was the same one that was in the dream. Everything about this is the same.
Was it real?
Can he see into the future now?
He was scared.
He remembered that his sister was still in her room. 'I should be careful, in case I'm not going crazy, and Hunger may kill me if I make a mistake.'
Hunger was beginning to look impatient, but only a little, as if he was concealing it almost perfectly.
"Well?" he asked.
"Ehm. Yes, sorry. I'm quite shocked. I thought Happiness chose me, but it seemed that I was mistaken."
"Happiness? What an honor you've had. That one is one of the greatest deities. Don't feel bad about not being chosen by it. Many powerful heroes today were almost chosen by it as well. It only means your potential is higher than most!" Hunger said, his smile now brighter than before. It felt forced.
"Well, what deity did choose you?" Hunger asked.
Bo thought, trying to remember the dream about the doors.
As it looked as if Hunger began to be impatient again, Bo recalled a name and said it immediately.
"Acceptance. The deity that chose me is Acceptance."
----
Bo was coming home from his job. It was late, and he was tired, but that was normal.
He thought about the meeting today.
After their talk, Hunger told him that he would get him to the Organization headquarters tomorrow morning. He didn't know that there were other headquarters than the main one, but he was going to learn many new things in the near future.
He was excited, but also scared. When his brother became Greatness, he got an astounding amount of money, making their family's life much better than it is today.
Also, he would think that his parents would be happy to hear the news, which meant a stable future for his family.
On the other hand, the job was dangerous, and he didn't know what the danger was.
The heroes were fighting something, even if no one knew who, and there were injuries and deaths. He may be crippled or even die, and he'll leave his family behind. He couldn't do that to his family, especially after Cal's death.
He was still thinking about the dream. He was sure that something wasn't right.
You may call it a gut feeling, but it was strong.
When he woke up in the morning, he was about to take his sister to school again, but Hunger greeted him at the entrance to their apartment again, telling him that someone else would take care of her.
At first, Bo was hesitant about giving his sister to someone else, but he decided to trust him. It was still the Organization, a league of heroes saving humanity.
As they walked through the street, Hunger started explaining the process of becoming a hero.
"First, you will go through some trials, then you will be assigned a rank in the Organization so that we will know what you're capable of and assign you to a group that is most fitting for you. Then you will go on your first mission. It's a quick process, although a bit intense. Isn't that exciting?" Hunger said while walking together.
After a quick walk, they entered a building with the Organization logo on it.
They immediately went down below the building using the stairs.
The staircase was long, so it took more time going down than walking to the building.
Finally, they arrived at a grand hall.
The hall was huge. It was at least 10 meters tall and twice as wide.
The walls were made out of a shiny metallic material and were decorated with art and posters about Heroes.
In the hall were many gates, each made out of a different material, reminding him of the dream about the doors.
One stood out. It was made out of a dark red material, and it gave him an ominous feeling, a feeling that he felt once, but he couldn't remember when. Bo wasn't an idiot. At this point, he connected it to one of his dreams. He slowly remembered feeling this while looking at a certain door in the dream of doors.
They entered a gate that was made out of the same material. While entering, Bo felt a suction force.
Beyond the gate was another huge hall made of the same material, having similar or different doors. Bo didn't manage to take a look at them, as curious as he was, as he followed Hunger, who seemed to walk without waiting for Bo.
They went up a staircase and entered a hallway that led to a reception.
It was a well decorated reception with an office ambiance.
The walls were made out of glass, showing the street outside.
The street wasn't familiar to him at all.
The reception desk was made out of a bright brown wood, and a pretty woman wearing makeup sat behind it in a formal black suit.
Hunger went to the receptionist, still holding his bright smile, as if he had maintained it all this time.
"Hello, Ares, I'm here to recruit a new Novice," Hunger said.
"Great! What is his name?" Ares asked, starting to tap on the air, as if she had an invisible touch screen in front of her.
"Bo, Novice Acceptance," Hunger said.
"Fantastic, follow me." She finished typing, swiped at the air, and began to walk towards another hallway.
Bo was confused, as everything happened too quickly.
"Sorry, Master Power," Bo said as they walked.
"Yes?" Hunger replied.
"May I know where we are?" Bo asked.
"In our headquarters, of course." Hunger said with a bright smile.
"Where is it located?" Bo asked.
"In Europe, of course."
Shock filled Bo. The headquarters wasn't anywhere near where he lived.
In fact, it was on another continent.