HE WAS BORN POWERLESS UNTIL THE WORLD TRIED TO KILL HIM
At 19, Kael had no superpowers. In a world where powerful people ruled everything, he was considered useless.
One night, a mysterious creature attacked his city. Heroes arrived to stop it, but one by one, they fell.
Kael tried to save a little girl trapped beneath a collapsing building. Just as the structure came down, something impossible happened.
Time stopped.
Not for the world for everyone except him.
He watched dust hang in the air, flames freeze in place, and a falling stone remain suspended inches above the girl's head.
Then a voice spoke inside his mind.
"You were never powerless. You were the prison."
Suddenly, time returned, and Kael discovered his ability: whenever someone used a superpower near him, he could absorb its energy and make it his own.
But there was a terrifying catch.
Every power he absorbed came with a memory from its original owner.
The more powerful he became, the more other people's memories invaded his mind. Eventually, he could no longer tell which memories belonged to him.
Months later, the world's strongest hero confronted him.
Give those powers back, the hero demanded.
Kael froze.
He recognized the man's face.
It was the same face he had seen in his dreams the face of the person who had murdered his father.
Before Kael could react, the hero whispered something that changed everything.
"Your father didn't die protecting you. He died trying to stop what you really are."
The ground cracked beneath Kael's feet.
For the first time, his powers activated without his permission.
And somewhere deep inside his mind, a second voice began to laugh.
Because Kael wasn't absorbing other people's powers.
He was awakening something that had been stealing them for centuries.
And now, it wanted its body back.