The world ended at 9:45 a.m.
And was reborn in fear.
---
š[Earth ā Modern City ā Morning]
Kael's school was the same as always.
Chalk dust. Echoing bells. Classmates laughing about nothing. Teachers dragging through dull words.
But Kael never laughed.
He watched. He listened.
And sometimesā¦ he heard things no one else could.
Like today.
Like the low hum in the sky ā growing louder.
---
š£
At 9:42 a.m., two nations went to war.
By 9:43 a.m., a nuclear missile had launched.
By 9:44, it was streaking toward Kael's city.
Sirens. Screams. The world watched it live. News drones captured every second as a weapon of extinction ripped through the sky.
And in all that chaosā¦
Kael sat on the school rooftop.
Silent.
Calm.
As if he had seen this moment in a dream.
He whispered to no one:
> "He's coming."
---
āļø
Thenā¦ the air split.
The missile didn't explode.
It froze mid-flight, surrounded by impossible energy.
The clouds darkened.
The wind stopped.
Birds fell from the sky.
A ripple of black lightning tore across the atmosphere ā and from it emerged a being draped in obsidian armor, his face hidden behind a crown of flame.
He hovered above the city like a judgment made flesh.
The world held its breath.
> "This is your only warning," the figure's voice echoed across continents.
"You aim destruction at my bloodā¦
You suffer in return."
One blink later ā the entire nation that launched the missile was erased.
No explosion.
No radiation.
Just silenceā¦ and absence.
---
š
News feeds died.
Then flickered back.
Every screen on Earth ā phones, tablets, satellites ā showed the same image:
The dark figure floating above Kael's city.
Eyes burning like suns.
Cape dragging space behind it.
They called him: The Protector.
But he was no savior.
He was a force.
A god.
A myth made real.
---
šļøāšØļø
And on the rooftopā¦ Kael watched.
No fear.
Just familiarity.
Because Kael knew that figure.
That god.
That king.
That monster.
> "You're late," Kael whispered, a small smile twisting on his lips.
Because that being ā the one the world now feared ā had raised Kael.
Taught him power.
Taught him pain.
He wasn't a father. He was a weapon.
And Kael?