May 11, 2011. Denzel is 18 years old in his senior year of high school. He was born without an ability. Despite that his parents pushed him to be the most intelligent person in whatever school they sent him to in his early years. Then they sent him to the Graham High School of the Super Powered. A school that specializes in teaching teenagers how to make it in a super powered society. Over his 4 years at Graham he took a variety of classes.
In order of his years in each major subject, he took: English 1, 2, and 3 Honors, Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition; Algebra and Geometry in the same year, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, and Advanced Placement Calculus BC; World History Honors, Advanced Placement Villain History, Advanced Placement Hero History, History of Music; Biology Honors, Chemistry Honors, Forensics, Advanced Placement Physics. For his electives he took: Philosophy, Physical Education, Health, Economics, Power Research, Psychology, Hero Duties, Food Science, Orchestra, and Hero Law.
He passed all of his classes with marks in the 90s. The only class he struggled in was Physical Education. He believed that it was unfair for students to be allowed to use their powers in PE. So in freshmen year he refused to partake in any classes. Some people thought he boycotted the class because he was powerless and lazy. Then they saw him top the class in every test they ever took. People flocked to Denzel, "I need help in this class! Can you help me study? I'll pay you for it."
Often Denzel would always reply, "Okay. Just don't give me money. I rather you send it to a charity." He was the most popular person in his class. "The Powerless Denzel", they paraded the hallways with chants of his name.
On May 11, 2011, Denzel sat in his school's open yard. It was a vast several acre land of grass and recreational sporting fields, including a soccer field, a football field, tennis courts, and a basketball court. Denzel specifically sat on wooden lunch tables near the main school building. For lunch he simply ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and water. He wore his school's uniform, purple blazer with a black tie, white button-up and beige khaki pants with professional black shoes. His hair a white layer of snow on his head. His eyes icy and black.
At approximately 11:40 AM, a woman of a pale complexion, wearing the school's uniform and big round foggy glasses (for the female version of the uniform, a skirt was worn instead of pants, the color persisted) walked up to Denzel as he took a bite out of his sandwich.
"Denzel," she parted her long blonde hair and pressed her fingers together, "I know you don't like going out anywhere. And you're always saying that you wouldn't like to do anything after school. You're always busy I know, but I really want to know. Especially since it is the end of our four years together. Would you. Would you like to go out on a date on Friday? We are off and I have a couple of cool places I would love to show you. Then maybe we can go to Chad's party afterwards and I don't know, enjoy ourselves there?"
"Okay," Denzel responded, "What time should I come pick you up?"
"10 AM should be fine!" The woman handed him a folded slip of paper, "That has my number on it." She squealed as she ran away.
Denzel looked at the slip of paper, placed it in his pocket and finished eating his sandwich. He drank his whole water bottle as he noticed something, "I don't know her name." He took out the slip of paper and unfolded it, it read: "Naomi's number (+2) 313267-328197-91"
"Hm," Denzel said, "Interesting."
On May 13, 2011 at approximately 10 AM, Denzel got off a bus and walked to Naomi's house. He stood outside her white picket fence suburban house wearing a black trench coat, disco pants, a white t-shirt, and a black fedora. He waited 25 minutes.
"Hey Denzel!" Naomi came out of her house glowing. Her eyes were as bright as the sun. She wore a long skirt with a pink sweater. Her smile outshined the bright blue sky.
"Can you turn your powers off, they're blinding me," Denzel chuckled.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Sorry, sorry. I was having a talk with my friend and they pissed me off."
"It's fine." Denzel said as the glow in Naomi's eyes died down.
"You know I've been reading up on how emotions rule abilities."
"Really," Naomi's eyes glowed.
"Yeah, we can talk while we walk."
Naomi got onto the clean even sidewalk of her neighborhood, she lead Denzel as they walked down the street from her house.
"I don't really know much about it, but I hard from some type of study saying that the brains of people with super powers are completely different. For one their amygdala is bigger than non-powered individuals. Usually for NPIs that would mean we're more susceptible to depression and behavioral disorders. But because usage of powers require stimulation to the amygdala and control of said powers through the frontal lobe. The larger amygdala is actually a benefit for some people. It's funny to me, what causes depression in most people is the cause of other's greatest joy."
"Do you ever wish you were born with powers Denzel?"
Denzel paused, "Of course. When 30% of the population is running around with powers. I would love to get out of the 70%. Do you ever wish that you were born without your powers."
"Yeah. I always wanted to know what it's like to live in your shoes."
"I can let you borrow a pair if you'd like."
Naomi laughed. "It's not that though, where is your reading comprehension Mr. AP."
"I'm hearing you not reading you though." Denzel laughed.
As they walked they crossed upon kids playing on the sidewalk. They all wore solid colored t-shirts and complementary shorts. All of them had a towel tied around their neck, it draped over their backs like a cape. "How suffocating," Denzel whispered to himself as the kids started jumping around making whooshing noises with their mouths.
"I'm Ubermensch! Stop villain," the smallest out of the children would say.
"Fire Roch will stop this villain Ubermensch settle down," the little girl would say.
"Oh help me," the biggest of the children would say laying down on their untied towel.
"Zhe ha he. I will kill you all! I'm the master of the world! Doom will follow." a child said as they attacked the other children.
Denzel and Naomi stopped. Naomi smiled as she watched the kids play. "They look so cute."
"Sure." Denzel replied. He looked around the neighborhood, there was no other children out. Just a few adults walking their dogs.
"Children," a cranky old woman yelled at the kids. "Stop playing and let those fine folks through." The woman sat on the porch of the house that the children played in front of. Without any hesitation or question, the kids stopped playing and stood in two single file lines on either side of the sidewalk. Clearing a pathway, and bowing their heads as they all simultaneously said, "We're sorry."
Naomi nodded her head, "How obedient." She took the first step, her body glowed as she walked past all the kids. Denzel took a glance at the old woman. She had a cane next to her, not s regular old person one, but one for the blind. Her hair was silver and longer than her hunched back body. Her nose was long, "Pinocchio". Her ears were large, "Dumbo". She wore a long black robe with her hood up to cover her pumpkin like head, her lips looked as though they were carved into her head at birth. She had as many wrinkles as you could guess her age to approximately be. Well into the hundreds. Her eyes were mostly closed, but for the split second she opened them.
Denzel gasped and looked away. He scurried over to Naomi who looked like a walking sun. The kids continued to bow as Denzel swiftly got past them. "Is your neighborhood this creepy?"
"What are you talking about," Naomi asked Denzel.
"Did you not see that old woman?"
"What old woman?"
"The one who just asked the children to move."
Naomi stopped glowing, "What are you talking about?"
"The old woman with no eyes! She had no eyes, an empty socket. She had a blind person's cane."
"Denzel, you were the one who told the kids to move for us. You said it so confidently, I was so impressed. Are you pulling my leg?
"Hm," Denzel said, "Interesting. Maybe I'm under somebody's spell."
"Do you actually still believe in magic?"
"I'm a man of science," Denzel said in an Australian accent. Naomi laughed.
They continued to walk through her neighborhood. Until the houses stopped and the business began. They walked to a cafe called "Le Faux". They sat outside of the traditional French cafe, it was a round wooden table covered by a white flared sheet. Their seats were wooden with a purple pillow for seats.
"Why'd you bring me here?"
"Okay, Denzel I know you don't believe in magic, but at this cafe there is a witch."
"A witch."
"Yes, she tells you your fortune."
"Like which college is going to accept me."
"No. She tells you when you're going to die."
"Interesting. It's an ability isn't it?"
"No. We don't know. There's been 27 reviewers who came three times, all of them asked for it twice in separate times of the day. Mathematicians, Physicists, Power Experts. All of them got their date of death predicted. All of them have died right down to the second. They all documented their deaths and they all ended up dying in the exact same sequence, the thing is, the witch is blind and no one ever talks to her."
"How peculiar. How do we get an audience with her?"
"We order number 13 on the menu, 6 times with 6 condiments and 6 sides of deviled eggs."
"What's number 13?"
"A slice of red velvet cake called The Black Cat."
"Okay. Let's do it."
So they did, when the waitress dressed in a maid outfit came, she took their order, gasped, then brought them inside the cafe. She took them to the back of the cafe, into the kitchen, then down cellar steps. She left them once they began descending the steps. It was pitch black, but Naomi activated her ability, Denzel couldn't determine whether it was out of fear or not. They made their way down the cellar and into a small room with a table covered in a royal purple covering. The walls had purple curtains draping over them. Behind the table was a woman with silver hair as long as her body and a black robe.
"Hey that's the old lady I saw earlier."
"Woah, creepy," Naomi said.
"Naomi Thomson, you will die when you are 20 years old. An Apocalypse will come and you will suffer greatly for the origins of your birth."
"But I'm 18 right now. I'm going to die in 2 years?"
"Less than 2 years. Denzel Peters," the witch turned her head like a machine, she opened her eyes. She had no eyes.
"I am the horseman of death. You should have died 4 years ago, at the age of 14. A student at your school should have attacked you after your Physical Education class, and murdered you in cold blood. Yet you are alive. You have escaped death. You are the perfect candidate to be my Avatar."
"Woah woah, wait. What is happening here? Avatar, Apocalypse? Origins of my birth? What do you mean I'll die," Naomi yelled, "You're full of shit! Denzel let's get out of here."
"You say I was supposed to die 4 years ago. I was beaten to a pulp 4 years ago. Why am I allowed to still be alive? How did I escape death? What the hell is this Apocalypse?"
"You know they say curiosity killed the cat? Those curious of death are sure to meet it. You have escaped death, and I'm sure you wish to meet death to answer that question of yours, am I right Denzel?"
"What does meeting death entail?" Naomi tugged at Denzel's trench coat sleeve. "Come on, let's go." He resisted.
"It entails dying. I'll give you a dilemma. I can kill you now and all your questions on death will be answered. You can kill Naomi now and you will live to see the Apocalypse."
"Denzel! This bitch is batshit crazy, let's get out of here and just go watch an opera."
"Yeah, you're right Naomi."
Denzel turned around. Naomi smiled and exhaled. "Finally."
"Sorry Naomi, I'm just a really inquisitive person."
"It's okay that's why I like you," Naomi turned around and tarted walking up the stairs.
BANG
A hole in her heart, blood gushed from the wound. She turned around, collapsing on the stairs as she saw Denzel hold a pistol. He put it back into his trench coat as he crouched down and caressed Naomi's hair. His eyes shifting from black to a deep blue. "Through my many inquiries Naomi, I've come to discover a fact about myself that no one else knows. I hate people. Despise them with all my heart, but I won't hate something I don't understand."
He got up as the glow in her eyes disappeared, "You say you're the horseman of Death. What happens when I become your Avatar."
"Your ability, well technically you don't have one, so you will gain an ability. If you successfully conquer me, you too will be able to see death like I do."
"Then I accept the offer."