"A World Without Angels"
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> "Monsters exist.
But not under beds.
Not in shadows.
They wear uniforms.
They smile in suits.
They shake hands on TV."
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3 Days Later — A City of Shadows
The sewer reeked of rot.
Rael hadn't spoken since the day his family died.
He hadn't cried.
He hadn't screamed.
He simply breathed, in and out, trying not to choke on the smell of dead rats and mold.
His stomach twisted.
He hadn't eaten in 2 days.
The girl — the one who saved him — had given him a stale piece of bread yesterday.
He split it with a boy he met underground.
That boy died in his sleep last night — quietly, bones too visible, stomach bloated from starvation.
Rael didn't bury him. There was no dirt here.
Only concrete… and silence.
---
Above Ground: A "Rich Parade"
The city was alive — for the powerful.
Outside, on the main streets, there was a celebration.
Rich men and women in silk suits threw fake coins to poor children.
Their cars glided past starving families like gods ignoring insects.
One man laughed, holding a girl no older than 16 by the waist — her eyes empty, her body forced to smile.
> "She cost me a fortune," he said, laughing to his friends.
"But they don't cry after a while. You just have to break them right."
They laughed.
A small girl in rags ran up, asking for food.
He kicked her in the chest.
She flew back and hit her head on a stone.
He didn't even look back.
---
Inside the Red Zone Barracks
A group of soldiers played cards.
They were drunk.
A 17-year-old girl sat, hands tied, blood dripping from her mouth and thighs.
One soldier put his boot on her head.
> "Don't pass out yet. We're not done."
They all laughed.
Another soldier, bored, grabbed a screaming 6-year-old boy from the prison cell.
He began to cut off the boy's fingernails one by one.
> "Let's see how loud this one screams, eh?"
Then he took a blade.
He sliced the boy's cheek open.
> "Smile for us, little angel."
The boy screamed. The girl cried.
The soldiers just kept drinking.
---
Back Below — Rael's Awakening
Rael sat in the sewer, staring at his shaking hands.
He hadn't eaten in over 48 hours.
His lips were cracked.
His legs weak.
His fingers cold.
He remembered holding his baby sister's hand.
He remembered pulling it away after realizing…
> It wasn't connected to her body anymore.
He remembered his mother whispering his name as she bled out.
He remembered running through fire.
He remembered stepping on someone's face in the mud — not realizing it until he looked back and saw the crushed skull.
> Why didn't I die too?
Then…
He heard something.
A cry.
From a tunnel nearby.
---
A Child, Crying
He crawled toward it.
What he saw was worse than anything his mind could've prepared for.
Two soldiers — not adults, just boys in uniforms — had caught a girl about Rael's age.
They had ripped her shirt.
One was holding her arms, the other was opening his belt.
Rael froze.
She was crying, whispering "please," over and over.
One soldier laughed.
> "You think begging matters here? You're not even a person anymore."
---
Rael Snaps
His body moved before his mind could stop it.
He grabbed a rusted pipe from the corner and charged.
The first soldier didn't even turn in time — Rael slammed the pipe into the side of his skull.
It cracked.
Blood sprayed the wall.
The second soldier drew his gun.
Rael dove at him.
The gun fired — but the bullet missed.
They rolled, punched, bit.
Rael got on top of him.
> Bang bang bang bang bang
He didn't stop hitting.
He didn't stop screaming.
He didn't stop until his hands were red, and the soldier's face was a puddle of pulp.
The girl had run.
Rael didn't know where.
He sat there, gasping, surrounded by blood.
And in that moment… something inside him opened.
---
Power Awakening – The First Echo
His eyes flashed silver.
The air around him rippled, like heat waves in summer.
Suddenly, the walls of the sewer… changed.
They glowed.
Projected images.
His pain, now alive.
Visions appeared — real but not.
His mother screaming.
His sister bleeding.
The soldier cutting the child.
The man kicking the girl.
All around him, a storm of memories and trauma, played like a film from his mind.
> But it wasn't just him who saw them now.
The corpses of the soldiers… twitched.
Their bodies shook in fear, reacting to something — as if their souls were being forced to relive everything Rael had seen.
His eyes turned black for a second.
> "You made me watch everything," he whispered.
"Now it's your turn."
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His Power: "Cinematic Pain" (Stage One)
Rael can project his memories, pain, and thoughts into reality, turning them into illusions so powerful they feel real.
Enemies trapped in his illusion experience everything he went through.
They feel the heat, the blood, the fear.
They suffer — mentally, emotionally, even physically if their minds break.
> This is only the first stage.
---
Rael Collapses
His body is too weak.
His power shuts off.
He faints next to the bodies.
---
Back at the Surface
A news broadcast plays in the luxury district:
> "We are proud to say that the Red Zone War was a victory. Peace has been restored. Heroes will be honored. The world can sleep peacefully tonight."
The camera pans to the burned bodies of children, being dumped in ditches.
> "Let no one say we didn't fight for peace."
_______
> "Peace isn't given.
It's stolen.
Bought in blood.
And I'm going to collect every drop."