Chapter
1 – Conflict and Conspiracies
Today’s a relaxed workday for me.
Managing and caring for my own hero association, the Dominion, can be a lot,
even with someone as smart and talented as my brother-in-arms, Timeo Severe. It
can be challenging, especially when I choose to do some of the hands-on work
myself. It's good to take a break now and then and do things I enjoy just as
much as being a hero, like fulfilling my other roles as a father, husband, and
deacon. Waking up to a simple, sunny day with my wife, Deborah, and seeing our
two children, one of whom was recently born, brings me happiness. I love making
breakfast for them and my parents and seeing them smile. This job of spreading
joy also takes place in my hometown of Poca Bellezza, where I use my
superpowers of speed and strength to carry things and people to their
destinations quickly.
On a smaller scale, I help my
Knights’ council, community, and members of the Dominion make lunches for the
poor that get shipped out on trucks and carried by speedster superhumans to
places where they’ll be needed. I also help the community clean up houses and
certain places where parties and events are going to be held. Later, I serve my
duties as a deacon, first by spending a silent hour in adoration. When I was a
child, I unintentionally snuck out to adoration since I’ve had a close
connection to God ever since I was born, a given because an adoration chapel
was my place of birth and how I got my powers. The adoration chapel and
Eucharist are the best ways to get to God and
Heaven on Earth. Here, you experience a peace unlike any other, and can
achieve much more in an hour of silence than you can in years of talking to the
greatest minds of the world.
I’d spend the rest of my life in an
adoration chapel if I could, but I have other duties to attend, so I kiss the
monstrance and help serve at mass. As I’m about to give out communion, an
explosion originating from the person in front of me envelopes the church and
everyone in it. My attention is first drawn to the broken pieces of the Body of
Christ on the floor. It sinks my heart like seeing a dead child who was
trampled on because of a frightened crowd. I then look around me to see the
injured and dead bodies of friends and neighbors whom I spent much of my life
getting to know. Before I can do anything, a squad of robots that shares the
same design as my long-deceased friend, Luke, comes down and finishes off the
survivors by detonating themselves.
Another squad of robots descends
upon the town and starts attacking everyone. I won’t let this atrocity claim
any more innocent lives! My skin, eyes, clothes, and hair turn completely white
as I move faster and hit harder than I usually do, and within seconds, I take
down all the robots across town, ensuring that no one else gets hurt or killed.
It’s then that I realize that this is a targeted attack against me and race to
my family and save them from another horde of attacking robots. Thankfully,
Deborah was there to defend my parents and our children with her acid powers
and held them off so I could finish off the rest.
When the dust settles, I hardly
have enough time to embrace my family and check them for injuries since Timeo,
in his dark, shadowy hero form of L’Obscurité, appears in front of us. “I’m too
late. Thank God, you weren’t.”
Even with his featureless face, I
can tell he’s pained and upset.
Continuing, he says, “I was in Meridian
protecting my family and friends, and didn’t think to immediately come here
until after ensuring their safety.”
“I can’t blame you, especially in a
situation like this.”
Another realization comes to me in
an instant, and both Timeo and I know that our other Dominion offices are under
attack.
“Go and save them. I’ll bring
everyone to a safe location and protect them, John,” Deborah says.
“I know you will,” I say before heading
out with Timeo.
Our first stop is Solis, the Sunny
City of Tomorrow, which we arrive at in seconds. There, I find my sister,
Idelle, ripping apart our attackers and defending our office with our allies.
Usually, I try to tell her to be easier on our foes, but in a situation like
this, I let her run wild. Together, we’re able to fend off our attackers, though
they have done serious damage to our office and the surrounding area. I embrace
my sister, and then am interrupted by reports of our new office in Meridian’s
suburbs being attacked. Idelle tells me that she’ll handle the cleanup here, so
I hug her again and leave with Timeo, reaching Meridian in minutes, despite its
far distance.
Unlike the other foes that we were
facing in the different cities, which were robots in Poca Bellezza and superhumans
in Solis, here in Meridian’s suburbs, we fight superhumans who are using psychological
and supernatural powers. Their powers mess with my mind and make me remember nightmarish
memories, such as the day I lost my blood-related parents, Isaias and Irlene, my
friends, Luke, Titus, and Mark, and many of my other friends in Poca Bellezza.
“You couldn’t protect your home
before, and you couldn’t do it again, John,” I hear dark voices say.
I then see Timeo with someone who
looks like him, being suspended in the air and having their limbs and neck
broken.
“Your brother didn’t pray for his
older brother as his powers of justice killed him, even though he knew his brother’s
soul was bound for Hell,” the voices say.
“Both of you have failed, did fail,
and will fail in the future. What makes you think your little league of mercy
and justice will accomplish anything?”
“You can’t protect anyone. Your
victories mean little when you aren’t consistent. Even now, your Dominion falls
and will soon receive a fatal blow. Give up while you can, if you want to save your
family, John.”
I scream out so loud that the
illusions shatter and the horned enemies around us turn to ash. My body’s
natural color returns to normal, and after checking to see if everyone is okay,
I pass out. Waking up back at my house, I hope that everything was a bad dream
until I see the damage to my family’s farm outside my window. Still, I feel
better when my family hugs me and I know that they’re fine. Timeo sits in a
corner of the room with a relieved look on his face as if he was holding his
breath the entire time I was out cold, so I bring him into the family hug.
As my family goes downstairs to
make dinner, Timeo sits by my bedside and tells me to relax. “You may be practically
invincible against physical attacks, but not against supernatural and
psychological attacks,” he says.
“I’m fine. I just need to eat, and
then I can get back up to help you and the Dominion,” I say.
“We’re recovering just fine, so
please, get some rest.”
“Do we know who attacked us? They
seem to know a lot about us.”
“I’m not sure, but I have contacts
in the police who have taken prisoners and are allowing me, or rather, L’Obscurité,
to interrogate them and reach into their memories for answers. I can handle
things from here, since I have a lot to make up for.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s my responsibility to be prepared
for attacks like this, and I failed utterly. All our offices suffered major
damage, and dozens of civilians, men, women, and children suffered and died
because of it.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You
can’t see every attack coming.”
“It’s my job to, and I failed!”
I hug Timeo and say, “It’s okay, brother.
We all have our limits and times when we fail when we should have succeeded. I
know the feeling. We’ll be okay.”
I agree to rest as Timeo wants and
let him handle the situation from here. As I eat dinner with my family and try
to relax for the rest of the day, I can’t feel the same feeling that I usually
do. Being with my family and seeing them safe and happy is the best feeling in
the world, second only to being in the adoration chapel, and yet, I feel
nothing. Deborah seems to notice it as she looks up to me with concern in her
eyes.
“John, what’s wrong?” she asks.
“Nothing. Why?” I ask.
“You’re not smiling like you usually
are. Please, if there’s something wrong and I can do something about it, let me
know.”
I smile, kiss her, and say, “Can
you smile for me? Do that and be the same as you always are, and I’ll be fine.”
Deborah forces a smile on her face
and says, “Okay. I will.”
This brings a bit of comfort to me
and allows me to rest easy for the night. Immediately, when the next morning
arrives, I eat breakfast, call Timeo, tell him I feel better, and ask if he
needs any help or if I should be with him. He’s hesitant at first to permit me,
but after a little pushing, he agrees. He gives me his location in Meridian, I
thank him, and am about to leave when I see myself in the mirror, not smiling. I
touch my face, remind myself of God’s love for me, and the people I have to
give up to so make myself smile. I then fix up my blond hair and make sure my red
deacon, superhero shirt, cape, jeans, and boots are all tidy, tell my family
what I’m doing, kiss them goodbye, and head out.
When I arrive at the basement of
the police precinct that Timeo is in, I see him in his dark hero form and a mass
of flesh and bone that looks like a spiderweb in front of me. Various faces
moan in agonized pain as their bodies are combined and stretched out, with
their arms and limbs hanging off it. Such is the fate of horrible people like
them, and yet, they still live, a merciful and just act to allow them a second
chance.
“What did you find out?” I ask.
“The attacks were a result of bad political
and corporate actors from a foreign government, Nexum, who are ideologically and
religiously opposed to us. They attacked us because they know we’re unkillable
as we are, so they decided to go after our legacy instead,” Timeo says.
“Why?”
“If you can’t kill a hero, then you
make him look incompetent. Make it so that no one ever trusts him again.”
“Still, what in their ideology
makes them think they couldn’t coexist and debate with us, peacefully?”
“Not in their ideology. Their faith
is threatened by the fact that we prove ours to be true by our many good deeds
and accomplishments. In their minds, their actions are justified so that their
false truth can exist without being proven wrong.”
“Are there any more of them out
there?”
“There are. I have their location,
if you’d like to go now.”
“Let’s end this before they can
cause any more trouble. Agreed.”
Timeo and I tell the outside guards
we’re done with the prisoners, who will return to normal if they repent. We
then head out with hopes of bringing a swift end to this fight and justice for
those they wronged in the pursuit of getting to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment