Hero (english version)

Chapter 3

The sky is pink. From up here everything seems different, as if nothing affected me. For years, Catra and I have been climbing up here to feel like we're on top of the world, as if nothing and nobody could reach us.

But today it's just me.

After I finished the job helping in the training room, teaching basic self-defense movements to the newest in the field, I couldn't find her. I thought she might be here, but it's not the case.

A gentle breeze makes me release a long shiver. I sigh. There's not much to do around here. We just train, eat energetic bars, take showers, train some more, sleep and start all over again. Maybe this is not for me. Maybe that dream... what if it's not just a simple nightmare? I grew up listening always to the same words:

"You'll conquer Etheria, Adora."
"You're special."
"You'll save the planet from the princesses, you'll be a heroine."

Heroine. What a concept. How is someone born as a heroine? Or to be one of them...

"Why am I here?" I mumble, even though I know no one's listening.

I stare at the horizon, trying to imagine how the world is beyond these borders. Dangerous princesses, that's what I know. But, what else? Is everything beyond it really only inhabited by evil and powerful princesses? Is there really... nothing else?

Once more, I sigh. I drop the weight of my head onto my hands, resting my elbows on my flexed legs. Suddenly, I remember my own words to Catra: I'm not sure if I really want this. Did I really mean it? I shake my head, giving a sad smile. I've told it to Catra, of course it was real. I have never lied. Not to her.

I stand up, on the edge of the crane. Just one more step and I'd fall down. I slowly open my arms, imagining I can fly. And get out of here. Find out what's outside these walls. Suddenly I feel an irrepressible urge to scream, but I don't. Instead, I shut my mouth, step back, and drop back down, returning to the position I was a few minutes ago.

"My name is Adora... and I'll conquer Etheria," I say to myself. "I was born for this".

I thought that if I say it out loud, I'd believe it. I'd make it mine. But that's not how it works. I hide my face in my hands. "What I'm going to do?" I ask myself.

I cross my legs and sink deeper into myself. "I don't know who I am".

Just when my tears lie in wait for my cheeks, my mind goes out for a few moments. As if nothing hurts, as if nothing really matters. Because, it's in that moment, when a voice, just a simple voice, takes all those ideas and feelings out of my head. A voice that only utters two mere words...

"Hey, Adora!"