Chapter 1 - That Day

I remember…

That day began like any other.

I felt it 15 miles away, but in reality, what I felt was nothing.

Disdain for "Supers" as we were called had grown of late, the people felt we brought more trouble to the world just by existing.

If anything came out of this senseless day, it was just how useless we were … or are.

A group of young "Supers" in the game for the wrong reasons were hunting down the perpetrator of a botched robbery … three people died that morning, not because of this man, but because of their inexperience.

It was this inexperience that ended the reign of the "Supers".

The man was in over his head, hell he had a gun, and was up against Gods with the minds of teenagers.

He made it to a warehouse in the center of the city and tried to hide out, but it was no good.

They had found him, and there was nothing he could do.

He walked out ready to surrender, holding the gun out, and then boom.

It happened in the flash of an eye. Everything led to this moment.

The bullet in the chamber, the inexperience, and fate.

Fate brought them to this warehouse, to bring about a new world. A world without "Supers".

As quickly as the young "Super" pounced on the man, the gun went off, setting off a chain of dominoes unlike any other.

Their teammate … no their friend, had just been shot by an "evil" man, that was just as scared of what was coming as they would be in the coming moments.

You see what they hadn't realized is that this warehouse was out here for a reason, it stored hazardous materials, a lot of it.

The second the young "Supers" flames went on, it was over.

He looked around to see the world around him ignite, the man was dead, and so were his friends.

In the coming moments, countless others would die, and the city would be forever devastated as the mushroom cloud grew, and the shock-wave was felt as far as 20 miles away.

Not only was he the epicenter of this blast, but he was impossible to stop it. A singularity occurred in his abilities, the second he turned them off, the surrounding heat would reignite him. Creating a perpetual oven and keeping him alive the entire time.

He would later be known to the world as "The Man on Fire" for better or worse, this was his fate.

At first no one knew what it was. A foreign attack. Domestic terrorists. Or just a bored vagrant in the wrong warehouse.

It wasn't until they discovered the sobbing man in the center that the focus shifted to the "Supers".

He didn't fight it of course. Who would? He knew what he had done, and there was no coming back.

At first the "Supers" came to help. It was what they were here for. But not today. Today they were turned away.

One of their own, albeit indirectly, was responsible, there was nothing they could do.

Seeing how unwanted they were set the ball rolling.

Many realised their time in this world was over and retired, staying away until the public could accept them once again – this never came.

Some thought they were needed now more than ever. A noble sentiment, but they were wrong.

In the following weeks, the politicians announced they were working on restructuring the power dynamics of our world, and phasing out our reliance on "Supers", and that they should just live the normal life, like everybody else.

But for some this wasn't good enough. Those that didn't retire were hunted. The people were scared, and public favor had been lost. Civilians lured "Supers" in, and killed them, and out of this violence rose "The Humanity First Party".

The HFP would later gain traction when a former "Super" publicly announced a gene suppression device that would remove abilities. He used it on himself, and quickly rose through the ranks to be the leader of The HFP.

It didn't happen overnight, but it did happen. "Supers" were gone. The HFP rose to power, and outlawed any use of abilities, and any discovered "Supers" had two options, suppress their abilities or die.

In the 7 years that followed that day the world changed. I don't kid myself, it was never a Utopia, if it were this would never have happened. But it was a lot better than what we have now.

In the year 2020, there were 1 million known "Supers", now, in 2027, who knows how many are left.

I was in the first wave of heroes to leave, I had faith we would be needed, but humanity isn't the victim we made them out to be and they soldiered on.

I'd like to believe we still have a place in this world, whether in 10 years or 10,000 years. But for now, I just have to survive.

I don't have the power to change the world, but someone out there does.

All I have is my family, and that's all I'll ...

….. Shit. Why here? Why him? Why Now?

Why is the man on fire on my porch?

He sees me, and I see this empty look in his eyes, this is no man anymore. He is but a puppet.

There is no soul in there.

I try to reason with him, but I know it will be of no use.

I throw the firewood to the floor, and brace for impact, he keeps moving as if I don't exist, as if he wants to push through me.

He snags me on a nearby tree to reveal the numbers tattooed to my arm; 41992, the number of people who died that day, acts as a constant reminder for me as to why I stopped. Why I protect only my family.

I consider fighting back, but there's no point.

He's stronger, faster, and better. And I'm past it. A relic of a forgotten age, who thought he could be forgotten about…..