The world did not end with fire.
That was the first lie people believed.
Fire is loud. Fire is dramatic. Fire gives witnesses something to scream about.
What ended the world was clarity.
On the night everything began to tilt toward ruin, he stood on the edge of a sleeping city and felt nothing. No rage. No grief. No hesitation. The lights below flickered like a fragile illusion—millions of lives bound together by habits, promises, and lies they called meaning.
He understood them perfectly.
That was why mercy never crossed his mind.
People liked to believe destruction came from madness. From pain. From broken hearts seeking revenge. But those were excuses invented by survivors. True annihilation came from reason—from the quiet realization that the structure itself was flawed beyond repair.
If a system produces endless suffering, is preserving it not the greater crime?
The answer was obvious.
He closed his eyes, and the world responded.
Something ancient stirred within him—an unseen mechanism clicking into place, as if reality itself had been waiting for permission. Power did not flood him. It aligned with him. There was a difference. Floods were chaotic. Alignment was inevitable.
Far away, another boy woke up at the same moment.
That boy felt fear.
He would later call it destiny. Fate. A calling to protect. He would cling to words like hope and choice because they made the weight on his chest easier to carry. He would believe the universe had chosen him for a reason.
That belief would become his weakness.
Because destiny was never a gift.
It was a weapon — and weapons chose no side.
The first boy opened his eyes again and looked at the sky, calm as a judge delivering a verdict long overdue. Somewhere out there was his friend, still dreaming of a world worth saving.
He did not hate him for that.
But ideals, like people, were expendable.
"This isn't betrayal," he whispered to the night, though no one was listening. "It's correction."
Above the city, the stars watched in silence.
They had seen this story before.
And they knew only one destiny would survive.