The ivory chamber was next to godliness with gilded trimmings accentuating the heavenly veneer. Designed by the greatest architectural minds in the past twenty-thousand years, daylight flowed through from seemingly impossible angles, quashing the need for artificial light. Sounds reverberated to every corner of the massive hall so that whether in the first row or hundredth, the lone woman seated in the front pews had no need of a microphone. Her smooth raven hair betrayed no hint of the timorous yet fervent emotions battling inside her.

Elexia sat rigidly before the Interplanetary Scientific Council, the ruling body of the hegemony for six millennia, in an emergency meeting upon which she had insisted. Her research led her to a discovery that could rock their society to its core, but could also propel them to the next evolutionary era through the removal of biological restraints. The Council quietly conferred among themselves about her research and her proposal as the sun moved from the Northern to Southern Hemisphere.

“Rise for our verdict.” She was startled from her reverie by the deep voice of the Council’s Premier who was sitting on the elevated stage with the other members. She smoothed out her formal uniform as she stood, erasing any deformations that accrued during her wait. “We, the Council, have unanimously decided to deny your proposal.”

Elexia was dumbfounded. “But you don’t understand, the ancient records are empirical evidence that someone meddled with our genetic structure, this also coincides with the Enlightened Age’s major advancement in technology and an increase in overall physical limitations of our species. Nothing has changed in thousands of years, this could advance our species again.”

“We believe it is you who does not understand the full ramifications of what you are asking. Your proposal could end countless lives.”

“Not if I have a little time. I can improve the genetic mutation process” she countered. “I could make it more stable, or only impact a certain type of the population.”

“Elexia Lucere, Chief Genetic Research Scientist for the Interplanetary Council, this council.” The Premier paused for a moment to ensure Elexia’s full attention. “We have read your research and your proposal. While you are one of the leading minds in the genetics field and your research is truly momentous, we do not want to change the world, we want to keep order.”

Her fists clenched at her missed chance to change history. Her blue eyes looked down as she realized his equivocal words. A wisp of her dark hair fell to her face, usually, she would fix it immediately, but she let it hang. A smile pursed her lips as she understood what needed to be done.

“Yes, your Excellency. I will follow the Council’s wise decision. A full report with all my research will be submitted by the next lunar equinox.” She saluted with a closed fist over her heart and after she was dismissed, she walked briskly back to her lab.

Two thousand years later

A figure clad in leathery red armor, black boots, and a cape materialized from the air and landed heavily, breathing hard in the thin atmosphere. He had never been to the space port’s launching docks, not many people had. People weren’t supposed to be outside that high up. He should have frozen to death already, but his powers kept him warm with a bombardment of electromagnetic waves.

The number of small pods covering the usually flat surface of the launching pad was staggering. The small pods were multiple rocket launchers and each had numerous tubes jutting out of the base and pointing to the sky. With only enough space for a person to walk in between them, another figure, obviously female stepped out. She was clad in all white with a hood, which concealed her face in conjunction with her mysterious powers of light that had made her a champion of the world for ages.

“Agamen, what are you doing here?” She wasn’t upset that Agamen was there, just surprised as she greeted him.

“I’m here to stop you.” He pretended to pay no attention to her casual use of his real name instead of his villainous name Anarchy. However, he had never met Lady of Light and it disturbed him that she knew who he was since she was known to be very powerful.

“Don’t be silly. Even if you could stop me, why would you?” She said dismissively.

“Even though I’ve been branded a villain and I willingly admit to my failings. I can’t stand by and let you destroy the world.”

“You think that I’m going to destroy the world?”

“The Alliance sent a message to every hero, which I intercepted, that you were planning to release a virus that will kill off ninety-five percent of the population. The message called for them to assemble here and I couldn’t stand idle. I don’t know where the others are, but I can’t let such a genocide take place.”

“They are all unable to make it this time, I made sure of that,” Lady of Light said, then grabbed a Holotab resting on the closest pod and started to tap on the display.

“Lady of Light, you mean to tell me that you, the paragon of justice, is going to annihilate everyone?” he asked exasperatedly at the thought.

“Regardless of what you’ve heard, I am not going to kill anyone on this planet. I am merely conducting an experiment that was already conducted in our solar system. Only I’m doing it on a galaxy-wide scale so the rest of the universe can experience the same benefits as us.”

“So, you’re going to kill people across the galaxy?”

“I’m going to improve all forms of life across the galaxy.”

“So, no one will die.”

“You are so closed-minded, just like they were. It depends on the genetic makeup of the organism. Although, statistically a large number of creatures will die, but they are weak and the strong will live. Just like what already happened here.

“When did it happen here?” His curiosity overpowered his brain.

“A few thousand years ago, when Powers first manifested. There wasn’t time to perfect the process, so the change was messy, but the world would have stagnated and fallen apart if not for me.”

He attacked with an electromagnetic blast from his hands. She spun her arm in a circle and his attack appeared to hit a wall, but the force turned the pod behind her, which she was pushed into.

“If you keep that up, I’ll have to kill you.” Lady of Light said with a saccharine tone.

Agamen yelled, sending his power in all directions, trying to fry the pod’s electronics, but his blast reverberated off a bubble surrounding him. Lady of Light clenched her fist and the bubble shrank and Agamen screamed from the pressure. Suddenly, a small electric blade sliced her hand, causing the bubble to disappear. Lady of Light spun to see a sky filled with super beings, villains she noticed.

“Did I forget to mention that I sent the notice to every person who has power?” Agamen said.

Every launcher fired as Lady of Light swiped her hand through the Holotab. Hundreds of different powers from the assembled beings attacked the projectiles and the sky flared like a laser show in a mirror maze. All the missiles were obliterated or stopped, save one that shot in a different direction than the rest and out into space.

Lady of Light walked up to Agamen’s prostrate form. She kneeled over him and the light disappeared, revealing her face. She had fair skin, full lips, and a youthful face even though she had been a hero for as long as Agamen could remember.

“You think you’ve won, but I have all the time in the world. This will not be the last.” She said calmly as her body became insubstantial. She smiled at him and just before she disappeared, a wisp of dark hair fell to her face

Earth- 200,000 years ago

A bright green ring burst into existence in the sky and like a falling angel, a small metallic spheroid pierced the mesosphere with a colossal tail of light. It roared like an exploding volcano through the other layers of the atmosphere. Every creature struggling to survive the harsh life on the dry savannah was alerted at the spectacle. With hereditary knowledge passed through blood alerting them to the deadly possibilities of impact, the majority of animals fled. However, not far away from the metamorphosis of the meteor to the meteorite, watching its fall and insignificant impact, was a creature that possessed an unhealthy curiosity about the world. It was a pack animal with no claws, dull teeth, and only a little fur to cover its body. Although, the other animals still shied away from them due to their omnivorous eating habits and uncanny way of running other animals to death while only using two legs. Since all the other animals left the area and the danger seemed to pass, the creature decided to feed the curiosity.