They were here to murder me—there was no doubt about it. I found it funny that they had come all the way here to die by my hands in hopes that they would murder me. Perhaps they did not know—I am the shadow at the end of every path, the whisper in the silence of my enemies' last breath.
It is said that two thousand years ago, a large green meteor crashed into the earth, creating natural disaster after natural disaster. Thereafter, diseases became rampant. A whole lot of people died, and some organisms even went extinct.
A hundred years after the meteor crashed, diseases had been regulated, and humans had started to live life normally when a new type of mutation occurred—a mutation that made people become superhuman.
A mutation that let people do impossible things, like creating or controlling fire and water. But as history has taught us, power tends to corrupt people, and that's exactly what happened. People started committing crimes with their newfound powers, and for that reason, the United Nations created the International Superhero Agency (ISA) to fight against crimes committed by superhumans due to the incompetence of the police force in their many bloody confrontations.
That's how superpowers came to be. About forty percent of the world now had superpowers, and while the ISA had become huge and much stronger, there were still more villains than heroes. And as if that wasn't bad enough, villains seemed to be stronger than most heroes. Superpowered villains now mostly operated in groups, participating in organized crimes.
Things don't look too bleak, though. While we have the Big Five villain groups—which include the Dark Phoenix, the Shisui Clan, Cipher, Oblivion, and Thanatos (whatever that means)—we also have the Big Three invincible heroes: Apex, Magnificent, and Cold-Fire.
Apex was especially feared because he was practically impossible to beat. He had super strength, superhuman speed, could breathe fire or ice, could fly, and was incredibly durable. You would literally break your hand if you punched him, even if you had super strength.
Magnificent could manipulate metals as he saw fit—he could change their shape and control metals as much as he wanted. Cold-Fire simply used ice and fire simultaneously.
Of the three, my favorite was Apex. He just seemed perfect. Although rumors circulated that he had been alive for over a hundred years, I found that beyond impossible—he was too young to be that old.
Apex was my role model. Everyone found that incredibly funny. Why? Well, remember when I said about forty percent of the world was superpowered? Well, I belong in the other sixty percent. I have no superpowers, so I could not become a superhero.
By the age of ten, most people would have manifested their superpowers. I am sixteen now, and like all the members of my family, I have no superpowers. But since I still wanted to save people, I planned to join the police force.
Unknown to me, my life was about to drastically change.
It was the last day of our winter break. News had been going around that the Big Three were fighting the five largest criminal groups simultaneously in Soula, and God knows, things were not looking good for them.
Other heroes who had joined in the fight were quickly unalived. The battle had been going on for days, and the calamities were in the thousands. People were advised to stay home, but even that did not guarantee safety.
I went out to get some groceries, and on my way back, I decided to take a shortcut through Hope Alley. There, I was beaten and robbed. They took everything except my phone and the milk I had bought.
I thought the craziest thing that could happen to me today had already happened, but boy, was I wrong.
I was sulking and randomly kicking a rock along the road when Apex crashed right in front of me.
What the hell? I thought they were fighting a country's length away from where I was—how in God's name did he get here?
I was still in shock when he asked me to come closer. He asked for some of my milk, and as I gave it to him, he asked if I had any powers. I sighed and told him no.
For some reason, he smiled and muttered, "Thank God," to himself.
He was really thanking God for the fact that a useless human who could be of no help to him was here? His brain must have been in critical condition from the beating he must have received.
He looked terrible—you could honestly tell that he was close to death. He was pale, white, and looked bluish. He just looked… dead.
He asked me to lean in and told me he was going to give me his powers. I gasped and stared at him. "What?" "That was supposed to be impossible." He laughed. "That's impossible for most people, but not for me." I asked him how and why he would give me his powers.
His response to my question was this, "Only someone without power can handle this power, I needed someone untainted by the system in any case, you are him, this is your power, He Who Exists In Inexistence demands it is given today. Both of us are here because he wills it and his will has been carried out."
"Stretch your hands," he said right after.
As he held my hand in a tight handshake, I saw a golden ray of light pass from his hands into mine. It traveled into my body, and as the golden light surged inside of me, my veins burned like molten lava. My skin crawled as if a thousand invisible needles were rewriting my very being. I wanted to scream, but my voice was lost in the hurricane of raw energy flooding my soul.
"Be careful," Apex warned. "The system will guide you in using your newfound power properly." I frowned. "What system?"
A voice echoed in my head, "User detected. Power transfer initiated. Welcome to the system." With that said, Apex grew into an old man—then turned into dust. I looked on in bewilderment. My heart raced and my body shook as I pondered what in hell had just happened. This had to be a dream. No way this was real. No way Apex, THE Apex, just crumbled into dust in front of me. I was scared, do I have his power now? Am I the APEX now? I noticed a couple of people approaching and knew I had to get out of there.
I immediately began running—and woah, what the hell? I was running way too fast. Impossibly fast.
My clothes no longer fit me. Some parts tore, my toes had ripped through my shoes. I had grown taller and much more muscular.
I ran and did not stop running till I got home and went straight in. Luckily, Mom was up in her room.
I tried to find clothes that would fit me, but none of my clothes were my size. I had grown considerably bigger.
I had to barge into my elder brother's room, which was a very bad idea—because I must have had super strength now.
The door flew across the room, and that seemed to have woken my mom up.
I put on some of my brother's clothes and came out to see my mom looking at me in awe.
She was so shocked. "Riyadh, have you been to the barbershop? Your hair looks so good! Also, why do you look taller?"
So let me get this straight. The world's strongest superhero just exploded into dust after giving me his powers, I somehow grew muscles in the blink of an eye, and my mom is mostly worried about my new haircut? Yeah. Totally normal day.
I looked at her oddly and told her I was fine, but seriously, I was really tired. I told her I'd explain later and went straight to bed.
But my body was now bigger than my bed, and I was really uncomfortable. I had to leave my room and just go to my elder brother's room.
I slept for so long and had the most interesting dream. Then, I woke up to my mom screaming my name. The first reason? I was late for school. I don't remember that ever not happening.
The second reason? She had seen what I had done to the door of my elder brother's room. And she was not happy about it.
She screamed at me for doing it. I apologized. Hadn't she seen it yesterday? She told me it was okay—but that I had to hurry up for school. "Okay," I responded, then went straight to the bathroom.
I was brushing my teeth when I saw my face. Woah, woah, woah. I looked really good.
Damn, my receding hairline was now perfect. My teeth were flawless—completely unlike before. My skin was so fresh and glowy. My hair was darker, almost as if I had dyed it. It was also perfectly aligned and cut.
I looked really good, if I do say so myself.
I took a bath and, after drying myself, went into my big brother's room. He had a body sized mirror I wanted to use to dress up. I looked into the mirror and barely recognized my own reflection. My shoulders were broader, My fingers tingled with an unfamiliar strength, and when I clenched them, I swore I could feel the air itself bend around them. I had power, real power.
I put on a gray hoodie, blue jeans, his gray sneakers, and a blue jean jacket.
Honestly, I hadn't gone into his room in months—ever since that unfortunate event.
A word of advice: if you are falling from a very high altitude without a parachute, do not think about falling into water. You will die painfully. My brother found that out the hard way.
Anyway, I kissed my mom goodbye and went off to school—onto a new BEGINNING.