Fighting against all odd for the greater good, to improve the world and to make those who cry smile again, that is what a hero strives to be – The Green Saint

The raindrops hammered down upon the bus Justin Bell drove home from school. It had been raining for the last few days and there was no sign of it stopping as the weather turned more and more harsh as winter approached. It has been this way since the awakening a few years before.Villains and Heros emerged overnight.
Noone knew why and in the end, it did not matter.
Even with politicians trying to contain it, trying to garner favors from everybody with a calling.Humanity as it was known, ceased simply ceased to exist.

The Superheros and Megavillians out of the cinema became real.
People who could control lightning or bend water.
People who could heal wounds and turn invinsible.

Everything a human desires is a physical possibility. There is nothing thats just fantasy. It is just fantasy, for now! - The Masked Man

The young boy that sat on the bus home looked outside of the window, looking at the raindrops racing downwards. Or rather he looked through them, his gaze was blanked out and his mind somewhere else.

He did not want to go home, but he must.He did not want to go to school anymore, but he must.He did not want anymore at all.

Too deep had been the scars he collected over the years and hope for a better life had vanished long ago, when his parents died in the awakening. And it is there where his mind goes whenever he was alone. To that faithful evening.

Our duty and pleasure is to serve the people, to make their lifes better, to make earth a better place. - Krazy Kyle

Justin remembered it as if it was yesterday. Clear sky, bright moon. The cars running behind them on the street, honking and speeding around. The city buzzing. Nothing was wrong in this world.
The Bells were out to enjoy the long promised trip to the cinema. A late birthday present to Justin as the movie was not released when he turned ten. He was dressed up in his favorite superhero costume to watch the adventures of him. The white Duckling. Looking back at his former self he could only scuff.
Heros and Villains, for Justin they all had become garbage. They took his parents away.
On this day, this seemingly normal day, the three of them stood in line outside of the cinema as it happened.

And it happened so fast.

The strong are there for the weak, and the weak are there to remind us of our shortcomings. - Dreamgirl

An explosion erupted on the street the bus was driving on and shook through the windows shattering them in the process. As the driver slammed the breaks the young brownhaired boy jumped out of his seat.
This explosion, this sound. He would have recognized it no matter where he was. He hear it in his dreams. It haunted him, day and night.

He rushed to the front of the bus and saw him.
The one person responsible for everything.
Explosion
He did not need another name. Even the press staid with just a simple explanation of what he did as his name.

There he stood in a crater just a few meters away.
Laughing at the carnage he caused. His wild mane of bright red hair waveing in the hot cinderes caused by his power.
And anger began to flare up in his mind turning his vision into a jumbled mess of past and present.

His parents laying in front of him, bleeding out.The smoke coming off the cars surrounding him.

Sounds of sirens everywhere.

Justin climbed out of the front of the bus. Not feeling how the sharp glass cut deep into his flesh. Walking, ever so slowly, forward burning with hatred. Hearing his parents scream resonating in his head. Hearing his own voice in his head, begging him to kill this Human.
This Guy.
This BEING.
The Laughing of Explosion began to stop and he kneeled down. Justin could not see what or who it was, but he could hear Explosion, loud and clear.
“I finally got you. This game of hide and seek is over. I WILL RULE THIS TIME!”
“You will never rule, not as long as we-”
But the laying there would not be able to continue, as explosion rammed his foot into him and loud, agonizing screams began to resonate in the streets.
“I do not care what you think, you will die here. And I will live. Have a good end to your life. Monkey King!”, the Villain exclaimed as he slowly strode away.
As the all consuming anger of Justin drove him towards the crater he saw the Hero known as Monkey King. His legs torn off by the explosion and bleeding beyond help.
What Justin saw as well was that Monkey King saved a young child by shielding it with his own body.
Seeing Justin arrive at the crater the Heros face lit up.

“Young boy! Please, take this child. It needs medical attention!”

“How? Why?”, was all that Justin managed to say

“Because I am a Hero.” the hero who used to be known as Monkey King said.
His eyes clued to the child, crying , hurt and bloodied, but alive, as he slowly took his last breaths.
Monkey King, formerly Viktor Clark, did not anymore see how Justin Bells body began to glow. How Justin Bell turned into the next Monkey King.

--- A year later---

“Being asked the question why risk their lives to save people the Hero Monkey King replied

“Because I am a Hero”

And the Young Boy with brown hair known as Monkey King rode his magic cloud into the sky, to safe yet other people in need, Oliva McCansy for HeroNewsOne!”

In my head he would not get arrested, but Carl would not make it out of this situation. His goal wasnt to escape, his goal was to gain recognition.
I left the end out, because i did not want to copy this detail and leave it to imagination. But if you want i can send you the left out part in private, as i do think it might not be appropriate publicly

Many would have been thrilled by the life Carl Siggs has lived even if his name was not mentioned in history books. His name will never have the ring to it like Capones or Clydes, Ghandis or Nietzsches or how the real famous people are called nowadays.
He was now an old man in his late sixties. Sitting around on this bench he used to sit on like every day, leisurely taking in the days as they come, enjoying his pension from the store he had run.
From the outside Carl was just the ordinary old guy that made it. Not to wealthy and not to poor. Someone who could enjoy his late life with dignity.
And so he sat there on the bench in front of small river in the of his house as Maria Reas, his young and rather attractive maid came rushing to him. If he would have been a few years younger, he would have tried to play with her.
As the brunette women tried to catch her breath Carl managed to look up to her and saw her confused look.

“Mister Sigg, the police is at the front door. They said they would like to talk to you. It sounded urgent”, she managed to exclaim
.Carls head turned back towards the pond where some ducks swam over it but did not say a word. The silence was deafening.
“Sir, what shall I tell them?”, she asked with a hint of confusion in her voice.
“Ah Maria my dear, I expected them. Please would you be so kind and lead them here?”, the already balding men answered her.

The old men did not take his eyes off the pond, he kept looking at the ducks, three ducks to be specific, as he heard Maria quickly move back into the house to lead the police to him.

He expected them, that much was true. The timing when they finally turned up on his doorstep was rather unexpected.
He closed his eyes and the world around him vanished. A new, or rather past world, began to move in his mind. Carl Sigg was what many would call a selfmade men. Grown up in an orphanage run by the church he had no one to rely on. His fellow companions were not the brightest candles on the cake as he used to joke. They had no fantasy, no vision like he did. He learned this fact quickly. They were normal.
Carl Sigg was everything but normal.
His nimble frame and his highly skilled hands, his fast mind and quick judgment were all extraordinary.
And his hang towards the morally gray was already visible at a young age.
His first act was when he stole the wine meant for the holy mass. It was so easy to get away with it. Humans, specifically people of faith, are easily fooled. The need just a little push into the right direction.
His normally stoic face let a small smile slip past his usual neutral demeanor.Felix Hammar was the name of the poor kid that he framed. Carl let his plan play out in front of his mind again. It had been a rainy day when he decided to steal the wine and Felix and his friends decided to play soccer on a field behind the church.
The priest was, what he liked to call “out of town to find god”.
In reality he used to go to Misses Escondars house when her husband was not at home and found god, devil and the sin in the bedroom, or wherever they ended up to do the deed.
For Carl it was the perfect time. He took the boots of Felix and pressed them into the mud in front of the priests resting room, making sure to leave a nice and cleanly visible imprint.He then broke open the door, hurried inside and just stole the wine.
Most of it he sold to gain funds for his later life, but one bottle he used to further frame Felix. He spilled some white wine onto the fresh sheets in Felix small cupboard and hid the now emptied bottle between them.
As soon as the priest returned, he began to search around, finding the bottle and demanding answers.
Felix, obviously denied to have done it, even his friends claimed that he was with them the whole time. And the priest was leaning towards believing him. That was until he saw the boots.The was the last time Carl had seen Felix.And it was the first time he put his talents to use.
Since then it had been many years and many rather sinful things he had done. And he was called many, many names.
The Magician, which was one of his favorites. Mainly because it favors his talents which seemed like magic to some, when in reality it was just skillful and clever use of the enviroment and people around him. Clever misdirections and fakes, but thes did their duty.
Icecube, this was a name he was not fond off. He gained it when he assassinated a rather influential politician. He remembers a young pregnant wife who lost her husband tasked him with this murder. The men was to die like her husband did, frozen over with no means of escape. So Carl arranged it.
The God of diamonds, was a great one in his opinion. When he was around twenty years old and bored he decided to collect diamonds, not to sell them or something fancy. Just to know if he could. And he could. The five most valuablle diamonds known to mankind were stolen and burried. Just beneath the very bench he was sitting on right now.

It was then when a the deep voice typical of a chainsmoker and one too many drinks ripped him out of his memories.
“Mister Sigg, thank you for taking your time. I hope you are well. Hope we can make this quick. Its just a few questions if you would not mind?”, the men spoke.
Next to Carl stood a plum officer in his thirties, a trench-coat one would have expected back in the eighties. He seemed disinterested in this ordeal, not expecting much out of it.
Another end tied up with no catch like they always did end up with when they tried to catch Carl, even when this was the first time in all those years they managed to find even the slightest hint or clue towards the identity of the true criminal.
The mastermind behind murders and thievery.
The officer of the police began to wonder if the old men on the bench heard him as there was no visible clue he did so. If he could have seen inside of Carl he would have known of the anger and frustration he managed to hold in.
All these years he did not want to be caught. They searched all over the country, all over the world. Made taskforce after taskforce and never ever did they come close to even find him.
He was just to good.
And in the end, Carl had enough of this incompetence. He decided to do one last series of crimes. One that would be remembered for all of eternity.

And these dumb bastards were not able to add one and one together.

He tied up his crimes, replicated them again.
Stole money from the biggest Banks, like when they called him magician. And left behind some small clue.
He murdered some corrupt officials by freezing them. And left behind the same clue.
He stole diamonds again. And left behind the same clue again.
And again.
And again.

Just as the officer wanted to call out again, Carl moved and gestured to the officer to sit down next to him.
“Sit down, whats your name?”, he said while swallowing his anger down.
“Officer McCarty, Sir. It will be real quick-” the policemen began.
“I did it”
McCartys face showed a look of confusion as he sat next to Carl.
“Sir, you don’t know what it is I want to ask you questions about. It is no small matter, so please for the both of us, do not joke around and let me do my work.”, McCarty said in an annoyed tone.
“The magician, Icecube, The hunter, King of diamonds, The invisible men.”, Carl said in a nonchalant way.

“How did you know I wanted to talk to you about these cases?”, the officer asked visibly confused.
“Well, how else than if I had lead you here? How else than if I would let you catch me?”
“Just one quesiton then. Why?”
“Why? Because I wanted recognition as the greatest thief who ever lived. And making you realize that even now, knowing that i did all off that, you can't do anything about it.”

They said it would take almost fifty years for nature to reclaim what humans destroyed. They said humanity will prevail. They said so much before it happened.

But look at us now, only a year after.

Separated.

Frightened.

Destroyed.

And all it took was taking away our stars. We didn’t knew how vulnerable we were. How deeply fear loomed in our very souls. Who would have know that the fear of darkness wasn’t just one children had?What bad things could happen if we would be just covered in darkness?It didn’t take long after the stars disappeared for humans to turn on each other. First some crazy ones spoke of the apocalypse. Many took their own lives. Then the people turned crazy in this never ending darkness. Killing each other. You could only trust your family. And even then, they changed. Everything changed.

The even the very nature changed. Animals turned to monsters. Becoming more ferocious.The few survivors after the first months were those who adapted fast or had resources horded beforehand.It was as if someone just turned off everything. People began to wonder why it happened. Was it punishment from god? Why take away the stars? And not only the stars. Every advanced technology stopped working. Will it ever come back?Humanity learned fast how depended they had become. Most people where not able to tell how much time had passed. But there where a few.We call them Timekeepers. How would have thought that people with hourglasses would become some of the most important ones in the few reclusive communities that had survived?I am one of them, Timekeeper Raphael they call me. Probably because of my blond hair and handsome face which reminds them of drawings of an angle.My real name though is Raphael Morgenstern. I used to be a janitor at a High school. Nothing fancy, just a job to meet ends.

In a few hours it will be a whole year for me and the people around me living in total darkness. Helping and surviving off of each other. Hunting, cooking, learning together how to live in this new world.I looked up in the sky, wondering if I will ever see the stars, the sun or the moon again.

We all lost so much, and we will keep loosing.

But then it happened.

A Bell rang.

It resonated deep within ones very own soul.

“Awaken and use our power”

And the darkness was gone. In front of me, the stars humanity missed returned. More brilliant and beautiful then ever. Recognizing differences from before. Earth used to have one moon. Now it seemed as if we had three. Blue, red and yellow moons orbiting the earth. And I am pretty sure other stars changed positions as well. Are they the same ones as before? Did earth travel in space?What voice did I hear?

I streched out my hand towards one of the moons.

My hand was glowing.

“Awaken”, they voice said.

“Use our power”, it repeated.

“The age of magic has begun”