Chapter Text
Snow dumps onto a desolate playground as the sun sets. The swings sway in the wind. The slides slowly get covered in a thicker and thicker coat of snow. The symphony of excitement from all the playing kids is long gone. All that's left is the hollow sound of icy wind. Suddenly, the sounds of violence push through. Two people, both young adult men, relentlessly beat an older man, kicking him against a tree. After a few kicks, blood splatters as the man collapses. They kick him a few more times. He’s completely unconscious.
“What an idiot. Check him,” one of the men says coldly. The other guy's eyes begin to glow. After a few moments, a similar glow begins to shine through the fallen man’s jacket. He opens it and grabs a wallet. As he looks through it, another person walks past the playground. It's a kid wearing a middle school uniform. He was short and scrawny, with long bluish hair that nearly covered his dark eyes. He put his headphones around his neck. He walks until he notices the two men. He makes a face of subtle freak out before he starts walking faster, avoiding eye contact. He can only avoid it for so long, however. With one glance at them, he sees the old man slumped against the tree. Suddenly he stops. The two thugs continue looking through the wallet.
“How much?”
“Not enough.”
“Disappointing. We’ll have to find someone else.”
“Hey!” The Kid yells. He stands a few feet behind them. He throws his bag to the side. Despite his small stature and the intense bags under his eyes, he stood confidently against the thieves. Both men started to laugh.
“You must be crazy! Check him!” The first man said while half laughing. He gestures over to the other man. His eyes begin to glow again. He sees a few glowing spots on the kid's body.
“He’s got a lot more.”
“Heh, all I needed to hear.”
Both of them rushed towards him. He looked unbothered. Right before they reached him, he quickly bent over, grabbing a fist full of snow. He precisely tossed it right into the face of one of his attackers. While one was stunned, the other threw out an unskilled punch, hitting the kid across his face. He shook it off quickly, catching the next punch. The first attacker smacked the snow out of his eyes and charged in. Before he could reach him, the Kid trips the other guy, forcing him to fall to the ground. He then jumps and lands bottom first right onto his gut. The other attacker punches down, trying to strike the kid again, who moves back, forcing the attacker to hit his already hurt teammate. He lies there groaning. The other guy steps over him and stands against the kid, whose nose had begun bleeding from the earlier exchange.
“You’re gonna pay for that you damned kid!”
He charged in again. He threw a punch that was caught. His second punch landed right in the kid's gut, then another landed right across his face. He tried to throw a third but it was caught. The kid held both his arms. He kicked him as hard as he could right in the crotch. He shrieked in pain before getting slugged in the jaw, he doubled over in pain as the kid stepped back. His nose was bleeding more, and his face was bruised. He took a few deep breaths before the guy stood up, his legs still trembling.
“Who the hell do you think you are!?”
The boy stared with an expression even colder than the surrounding snow.
“I’m just a middle schooler.”
A vein nearly popped out of the man's head. He began to fume with anger.
“You cocky bastard.” He said as his aura amplified. He held out his hand. The cold air was suddenly filled with heat as a massive fireball the size of a basketball appeared in his palm. The intense light shone through the entire surrounding area.
“I’ll blast you into ash with my Quirk!”
The other guy’s eyes grew in shock and panic.
“Hey calm down, we need his money!”
“He had a lot right? I’m sure there’ll be a bit left!”
The ball of flame grew even more intense as the snow around his feet began to shrivel as it melted away. The boy didn't look phased.
“DIE!”
The man launched the fireball, throwing it like a pitcher full speed at the boy's chest. As it zoomed closer, the boy shut his eyes. He took a deep breath in and didn't breathe out. Suddenly something changed. The snow beneath his feet was pushed away by an invisible force, but he didn't go anywhere, he stayed floating an inch off the ground. At the same time, the snow above him stopped falling, as if it landed on a new invisible surface.
*BOOM*
The fireball explodes into a huge cloud of flame. The Inferno engulfed the surrounding area, blasting intense heat in all directions.
“You killed him!”
“THAT’S WHAT YOU GET YOU PATHETIC KID!”
Everything went quiet. Eventually, the smoke clears. The boy stands there, unaffected. His clothes aren’t even burnt.
“W-WH-WHA-”
“I’m out of here!” The other man exclaims as he begins running into the woods.
“HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!?”
“Return the wallet.” The boy said with smoldering intensity. The man hesitated for a moment. But after one more intense stare, he throws the wallet on the ground and runs away at full speed. After a few seconds, he's out of sight.
*Sigh*
That was close.
Towa’s body relaxes. He suddenly looks much less intimidating.
If I was a second too late I would’ve died.
He slings his backpack back over his shoulder as he goes to grab the wallet out of the snow. After shoving it back into the jacket of the knocked-out man, he sits down criss-cross applesauce in front of the man. He pulls out a cell phone and calls the police. After a short conversation, he puts his phone back in his pocket.
He’d probably get robbed again if I left him here alone. I should wait until the police get here.
He just waited. Snow continued to fall. After a while, his eyes began to close slowly.
I gotta get some more sleep…
After a while, he dozes off.
…
It all began in China…
A hospital nursery sits in total calm. All the newborns are fast asleep in their respective cribs. Suddenly, a mighty glow erupts from one of the cribs. The sudden bright light forces all the other newborns in the room to start crying. In the center of the chaos is a single giggling baby. Light radiates off of the baby itself like a chubby lightbulb. Every giggle made the light grow brighter for a moment, before returning to a constant level.
A child who radiated light was born.
The father of the child watches from the hallway in utter and complete shock. He whimpers as he tries to form some semblance of a sentence. Other nurses and Doctors crowd into the room, each unsure what to do.
After that, reports of people with superpowers popped up across the globe. It was like some kind of cosmic switch was flipped. Suddenly adults who had lived their entire lives normally developed powers out of nowhere. No one knew what was causing these “Quirks”. All that was known was that life would never be the same. Some were excited, some were curious, many were absolutely terrified. Before long, the normal went to war with the supernatural. Anti-Quirk groups, including entire governments, tried to wipe these abilities off the planet. The Quirk Users fought back. Cities were obliterated in the conflict. Thousands perished. Nightmares became a reality.
However, despite this, Quirks did not go anywhere, in fact, they only grew more common. Today the world is rapidly becoming a superhuman society, with about 50% of the population possessing some uncanny ability. Some countries thrived. The US even developed the concept of Super Heroism as a profession. Other countries fell into near-apocalyptic chaos. Japan became the most crime-ridden place in history. Chaos and confusion swelled around every facet of life. In a place like this…
Towa’s eyes suddenly opened.
“Shit! I fell asleep! How long has it been?” He frantically checks his pocket for his phone. There’s nothing. He looks in front of him. The man is gone, and only some blood left on the tree remains. He puts the pieces together.
“He robbed me.”
He turns to look at the road, it's exactly as dead as it had been when he arrived on the scene.
“And the police didn't bother showing up.”
He checks through his bag to see what he still has on him. Eventually, he gets up and walks away with an empty expression on his face.
…who wants to be a hero?
Chapter 1: Desolation
To be continued…