William Janson was your average teen, well, average for the universe of Spectacle that is. The rise of superpowers 5 decades ago had initially caused huge amounts of destruction and death. The specific cause of superpower endowment (Superhumanizaion) is unknown but speculation runs rampant to this day. Governments, Aliens, accidental release of a science experiment, sunspots, God... its all been suggested, argued, debated over and none of it changes the fact that this is our reality.
What is interesting, is that the advancement of technological breakthroughs skyrocketed after this... we went from beginning to understand machine learning to having a completed general AI in a year, Followed by android companions in 5 months. Plasma weapons appeared a year later. And machine sentience appeared around a decade after that. Maybe it was due to superhumanly intelligent people... or maybe it was from the same source that turned people superhuman to begin with.
In the decades following, order was mostly restored. People were tested for the cause, source and nature of their super powers but nothing conclusive could be drawn. People of any age can develop powers. There were endearing stories, like the one of a comatose patient mind controlling staff to bring ice cream for their feeding tube, to horrifying stories, like the one of a two year old throwing a temper tantrum and turning all organic matter within 12 feet of them, into cotton candy... including their mother, some plants, and half a bystander, who didn't survive. People get powers, sometimes, and chaos ensues, but for the most part, people do try to be decent.
But when I say order was restored, that is of course excluding the "Hot Zones." HZs are sections of major cities that were abandoned and remain so to this day. They are unsafe places where dangerous and many times bad guys dwell. Heroes go in looking to prove themselves, and bad guys defend it to the extent of attacking anyone who dares to enter. Sometimes you hear of an HZ being taken down, but that never ends well for anyone. For the most part HZs are simply quarantined areas where you can go if you have a death wish. And some do just that. Other times people with volatile powers that awakened choose to quarantine themselves there to keep from hurting anyone.
But back to Will! Will was 17, and a normal by all accounts. He didn't have superpowers, wasn't super rich, didn't have a stash of plasma cannons or light sabers, and didn't have any nefarious or misguided plots to destroy humanity, yet.
He lived in a small suburban town. A town that was safe, and far away from any Hot Zones, gangs, or noteworthy criminal activity. This night, he was at his friend Kenny's house working on a science project... well, we are using the term working very loosely here. Listening to music talking about movies, games, everything and anything except science... Eventually he had to go, his mom had called on her holo-phone and she demanded he march his keester back home this instant.
With a few last chuckles and a wing slap (think fist bump but with elbows) he exited to make the 6 block journey home. The air was cold and they were a week from winter break. Curfew in this town was 9pm for anyone under 25 and it was 10:30 on a school night. Whoops...
Will jogged the first few blocks but the cold air burned and breathing slower didn't, so he stopped jogging. He passed a 30 something year old man who was walking his dog. The fact that Will was there caused the dog to bark which echoed through the barren street. Annoyed at Will's presence, the man didn't hesitate to remind him that its well after curfew and he shouldn't even be there... "Yes, sorry. I know. Going home now. Was working on a science project for school." he called back sheepishly.
Will rounded the corner and was only one and a half blocks from his house when a voice came from the shadows... "Have you been good?"
Will paused looking for the source of the voice and who it was talking to, "You have the overwhelming and undeniable stench of guilt about you... so I ask again, Have you been good?"
Figuring that someone was about to tell him he's going on the 'Naughty List' because he's out after curfew, "Yeah, I know... its after curfew and my mom is going to ream me out..." Will started apologetically with a light chuckle but was interrupted by a glimmer of light and a shockwave of energy washed over him.
Will no longer felt the cold or even his own body, instead he was reliving his earliest memories, actually, memories he didn't even remember. He saw the frustration he caused as an infant when he pooped everywhere, when he woke his parents up in the middle of the night, how annoying he was when he was done eating and would throw food everywhere, when he would cry inconsolably. He saw every tantrum he threw as a toddler and child. He saw his first lie, and every subsequent one. He saw every time he was mean, disobedient, deceitful, underhanded, or inconsiderate. He saw all the pain he ever caused in all the ways he ever caused it, the final memories being Kenny's mom popping in and telling him "Its late, your mom called and wants you home right away" and him looking at the time and cringing, followed by the man from just a moment ago, annoyed that he was out so late.
Will came back to his senses slowly to find that he had collapsed to his knees. "Do you wish to purge yourself from existence?" the ominous voice asked.
"What did you do?" Will asked in a whisper barely beginning to process all he had seen and felt.
"I have shown you what you truly are that it may set you free... Do you wish to purge yourself from existence?" the voice hissed.
And that was the moment something inside Will broke, or twisted, or grew, or shattered. No matter how you look at it, that was the spark of the wildfire that was yet to come...