When he reached the school the next morning he taught his classes as normal. Throughout the day he felt nervous knowing that he had the phone call to look forward to. By the end of the day the anticipation was almost more than he could bear. When the work-day had finally ended, he brought out his phone, and made the call. She answered in an even, professional tone.

“Hello? This is Danica.”

“Hello, Danica? It’s me, the man who rescued you last night.”

“Oh, hello! What can I do for you?” Her tone had switched from the professional tone to a light, cheery one.

“Well I was wondering if you would like to get dinner sometime? I wanted to make sure you’re ok in person.”

“Oh that would be great, let me just get my appointment book.”

They set up a time and place at a fancy restaurant, and ended the call. The butterflies fluttered madly through his stomach. It was ironic that with all the difficulties he faced on a daily basis, the act of asking a woman out to dinner was far more difficult than any of the trials he regularly endured. Driving home he watched the sunset, and thought about how different he felt from only the day before. The sunset remained beautiful but the way he felt about it had changed. Where before it was only a momentary respite from a life gone horribly wrong, today it was a sign of change. He watched the skies and remembered his life with Amanda. In a way the sunset felt like her smile beaming down on him from above. It was almost unbearable to suddenly remember her absence from his life. Looking down he realized that in his grief he had unconsciously crunched the steering wheel between his fingers. He quickly released it as a flash of anger pierced his heart.

The world was so fragile, how could he bear to live here? He destroyed everything good in his life. Was it his fault, or was it just that the world was too fragile? Right now he could reach out and lay waste to everything with his bare hands if he wanted. What was he protecting when his pain stemmed from the failures of a world that wasn’t strong enough for his own existence? Sighing he tried to let go. His life was changing, and it was time to release this burden. He knew that it was his responsibility to interact with the world, and not the other way around Still, it was a difficult feeling to shake.

Reaching his home, he donned his costume, and went out to live his second life. He was grateful for the time he had spent designing a way to reduce his need for sleep. Flying through the city, he perfunctorily played his role until he received a visit from Zed. As they spoke, they were interrupted by what sounded like a massive thunderclap. His face was bathed in orange and red as the most massive explosion the judge had ever seen blossomed in front of him. If he didn’t know how many people had just died, he would say it was beautiful. He knew it was unlikely there would be any survivors, but still he flew into the epicenter of the blast.

Whatever had caused the conflagration, it was sustained. There was no way of knowing how long it would last, or how many innocents had died as a result. He felt a pit of rage growing inside him. Howling he lashed out into the flames with a powerful bolt of energy sent from the palm of his hand. A beam of red power futilely pierced the inferno. He howled, intensifying the beam until it cleared away a part of the inferno. A small window appeared in the flames as his rage abated. He slowly settled to the ground feeling numb. Resting on the ground, he watched the inferno tearing into the sky. It looked like a giant monster devouring the world. Though it appalled him, the inferno itself had a certain beauty to it. A moment of peace set in as he watched, and for a time he simply sat and felt the stress melt from his shoulders. He closed his eyes and wished he could feel like this more often. Even knowing his reprieve had been bought by the deaths of so many.

He just felt emotionally spent. All this time, he had been carrying a heavy weight, and now it was being slowly lifted by time, and by renewed hope. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Amanda had been gone only a few months but already he was letting her go. He couldn’t bear the thought of letting her slip into oblivion, but what else could he do? the memory of her was enticing, but it no longer held any substance. So he had to move on. Continuing to process internally, he basked in the warm glow of the fire.

It slowly died down, and he flew away, examining the crowd surrounding the flaming area. The police had set up a cordon to prevent curious onlookers from endangering themselves. He scanned the crowd looking for who might be the cause of the explosion. No one particularly jumped out at him until a loud-speaker came on.

“Anarchy sends it’s regards. All you people living your ordered, dull, boring lives, we want you to know that your days of order have ended. No one else should have to suffer from the dullness of civilization anymore. Change is coming to this town, and if you want to survive, you’re gonna have to play along.”

There was no image to go along with the sound. It seemed to be coming from all around. He concentrated on the voice, and realized that there were speakers set up all around throughout the crowd. There was no way to determine who the source of the voice was, assuming he was even present. The hero was frustrated, but there was nothing he could do. He located Zed in the crowd, and alighted in front of him.

“Were you able to find him?” The Judge said.

“No, these speakers seem to be pre-recorded.”

“Then what do we do?”

“There is nothing we can do unless you can think of some way to track him. I suppose we should keep our eyes out for any other threats for tonight, but beyond that I don’t see what we can do.”

The night passed in relative calm, but the next night there was another such attack. Every night for a week the same pattern presented itself. The terrorist group would hit seemingly random locations with massive explosions, and announce themselves with the same announcement. It was clearly a pre-recorded announcement, as it was exactly the same every night. Despite all his powers there was nothing he could do. They could set their charges wherever they liked, whenever they liked, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. So far he hadn’t even seen an explosive. For all he knew, he had passed them in the street unknowingly. Still, he patrolled every night, hoping to get lucky.

On the seventh day of the week, everything changed. He looked at a map of the burnings and finally realized something that he could not have known until now. The explosions formed the shape of a giant A. The only part left was the tip, so he rushed out the door, in full Hero costume. Reaching the location, he began to search. Despite his hyper-intelligence, and augmented vision, he found nothing unusual. Until a seemingly mundane man, strolling down the street burst into flames. Looking down the street, he saw that everywhere he looked, passerby were exploding with raw energy. There was nothing left of them, only a flame that burned hot enough to obliterate any remains. Looking at them with his augmented vision he realized that the very atomic structure of the materials was being sundered.

Finally, with the fires raging, he noticed one man who seemed unaffected. He stood in the middle of the flames in a reverent stance, arms outstretched, eyes closed. His facial expression was peaceful and self-righteous while the fires played shadows on his pasty white face. The Hero advanced toward him, and the man opened his eyes. They had a wild look to them. They were a deep red shade but it was hard to tell whether this was their true color or a reflection from the inferno still raging around him. They contrasted in a darkly attractive way with his long mane of snow white hair.

His intense gaze raked into the Judge, as they studied each other. Finally, the man spoke.

“So, you are the one. The one who will bring about the apocalypse.”

“Sir I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are you responsible for what’s been happening? For the Anarchist terrorism?”

The man paused for a second, with a thoughtful look on his face. Finally his face broke into a manic grin.

“A necessary evil. I have seen the future. You will falter and when you do you will be the horseman of death, let loose on this world.”

“And who are you in this prophecy?”

“I am an emissary of god, gifted with a cleansing fire, and it is my role to cleanse the evil of mediocrity from this land. What I do here is only the beginning, for I must herald the apocalypse. I am the Prophet of your salvation.”

With that he looked at the ground, which erupted with a pillar of flame, a blinding white that left the hero seeing stars for several minutes. By the time he could see again, the Prophet was gone. The man’s words chilled him. Not because he expected to start the apocalypse, or believed the man could see the future, but because by the man’s own admission this was only the beginning.