PROMETHEUS ACADEMY
PROLOGUE
The world held its breath in 2019, COVID-19 swept across continents like wildfire, claiming millions of lives and bringing civilization to its knees.
But humanity fought back.
By 2020, vaccines rolled out globally. Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca-names that became as familiar as household brands. People lined up at vaccination centres, hope in their eyes for the very first time in months.
The vaccines worked. COVID-19 was defeated. Or was it.
The world celebrated its victory over the pandemic. What no one expected was that the real story was just beginning.
Something has changed in human DNA. Something that wouldn't reveal itself for another decade.
---
February 25, 2030 - Beijing Elementary School
"Okay, class. Try to solve this equation."
Liu Wei stared at the math problem on the board, his ten-year-old mind struggling with the numbers. His chest compressed. Palms growing sweaty.
I can't figure this out. Everyone else is writing. Why can't I think? Mom always says I am useless. Why am I so dumb.
A strange warmth spread through his body.
"Liu?" The teacher noticed the boy's distress. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I… I don't know." Liu's voice cracked. "I'm getting hot. Really hot. My body is feeling like I am burning."
The girl who was sitting behind Liu was also feeling the heat coming from Liu.
"I'm getting sweaty as well. It's like being in an oven."
Liu's skin began to glow like a light was inside of him.
It was very dim in the beginning. Then brighter. The other students looked up from their papers. They were feeling the heat. The classroom had become a desert.
"Liu, you need to relax," Teacher said, stepping closer. "Don't worry about the equation. It's okay if you can't solve it."
But Liu couldn't hear the teacher anymore. The heat kept building inside him. Like a furnace. The glow intensified. His vision blurred.
"I'm sorry," the boy whispered. "I'm sorry, I can't-"
A loud explosion.
The entire classroom vaporized. In an instant to be precise. Smoke cleared nothing remained but the ash.
Teacher, students, Liu gone.
Liu Wei was never found.
---
August 13, 2030 - Panama City Dockyard
"I've got something amazing to show you."
Carlos grinned at his girlfriend Maria as they walked the containers. He thought he was invincible. At 16, the power he'd discovered months ago only added to his ego.
"You've been so secretive lately, running off and never coming back," Maria laughed. "Just show me already!"
Carlos raised his hand.
Every container in the yard-hundreds of them, each weighing tons-lifted into the air.
Maria was shocked and attracted to him at the same time.
"Honey… how are you doing that?"
"I can mess with the gravity, however I like," he said arrogantly, making the containers dance in slow circles above their heads.
"I can control it."
"That's incredible! Can you do more?"
Maria grinned at him and teased him a bit.
Carlos's grin widened.
"I thought you'd never ask."
He clenched his fist.
Three containers crumpled like paper balls.
"Hey! Stop what you're doing!"
A security guard rounded the corner, hand on his radio. "I'm calling the-"
"No," Carols said quietly. "You're most certainly not."
Gravitational force increased tenfold. The man's bones shattered before he could even scream.
Maria stared at the corpse sinisterly, then at her boyfriend. Her evil grin was the sign that added to Carlos's sense of invincibility.
"Carlos… you know what this means, we could take anything we want. Who could stop us?"
They robbed 6 stores. When police surrounded them at a gas station, Carlos turned their patrol cars into metal pancakes.
The officers who survived the encounter quit the force the same night.
---
December 10, 2030 - Munich Parking Garage
"Stop.. please someone make it stop…"
Twelve -year-old Greta Hoffmann sat curled in a ball, her hands pressed against her ears. But the voices wouldn't go away.
-worried about the mortgage payment- -she's cheating on me, I know it- -should I tell mom about the diagnosis?- -I can't live like this anymore-
Every thought from every person within a mile radius flooded her mind. A constant struggle, overwhelming scream of fears, desires, secrets and pain.
"It's too loud," she sobbed. "I don't want to hear them anymore."
A shimmering force field formed around her, keeping the approaching paramedics at bay.
-poor little girl, what's wrong with her?- -never seen anything like this before- -is this some kind of terrorist attack?-
"STOP!" Great screamed.
The mental pressure built beyond her breaking point. Blood trickled from her nose, then her ears.
-oh god, she's bleeding- -we need to get her to a hospital- -call for backup, this is getting out of hand-
The voices crashed together like ocean waves in her skull. Her young mind, overwhelmed by the psychic noise of human consciousness, simply couldn't take any more.
She collapsed.
She never woke up.
---
"All of these incidents suggest only one thing: that these children need guidance. Not to be looked upon as an abomination or threat towards humanity."
Alex Chenning said to the Secretary of Dept. of Education.
"If they would have been guided or taught like any other normal child. I would not have lost my daughter that day."
I haven't forgotten what happened on Lily's birthday.
---
Evening of June 15, 2045
Lily Chenning's 12th Birthday
"Mom! Look, I am flying the cake."
Lily Chenning giggles as her birthday cake floated in gentle circles above the dining room table.
Her mother Emma was recording it as a memory, tears of happiness streaming down her face.
"You're amazing, sweetheart. Absolutely amazing."
Her father was watching them from his study room. On his monitor from the security cameras in the dining room.
CRASH
The living room window exploded.
A teenage boy tumbled through the shattered glass, terror etched on his fifteen-year-old face. Behind him, the heavy thrum of helicopters filled the air.
Target acquired. Moving to intercept.
The boy's eyes darted frantically around the room. When his gaze fell on Lily, still innocently floating her birthday cake, something flickered across his expression.
Another awakened human. But so young. So happy.
"Hey," Alex said, breathing heavily, seeing him coming running in the dining room Alex ran to protect them.
"Are you alright, son?" He asked after seeing him scared.
"No," the boy gasped. "They're trying to lock me up. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I don't know how to control this."
"What is your name, son?"
"Alex. Alex Morrison."
"I am Alex Chenning. That's my wife Emma and my daughter Lily."
He gestured toward his family. "You're safe here. I won't let them get near you."
"Your daughter is cute. She is pretty."
"Yes, she is the most beautiful thing in my life."
For a moment young Alex's shoulder relaxed. The fear in his eyes vanished.
"I have a mom," he whispered. "I'm all she got. If I get locked up, who's going to take care of her?"
The SWAT officer fired. Young Alex saw the bullet heading toward Lily.
"No!" He threw himself forward, his powers erupting in panic.
The energy wave meant to protect them consumed everything instead.
Not even ash remained.
Alex Chenning stood alone in the ruins of his home, staring at the empty space where his family had been laughing just moments ago.
---
"It has been 6 months since that incident. And I have realized that your efforts are nowhere near to put a full stop on the situation."
"So, you expect us to do nothing and wait until fateful when these children take matters into their own hands and decide that they should be above everyone else."
"These children are just getting astray. They need guidance just every kid needs in this whole world. If they had gotten that I never would have lost my family."
"So what do you want us to do, train them. Give them a place in the military."
"I want to open Prometheus Academy, where I will educate these children. Help them understand their abilities. Guide them to take control of them, rather than losing themselves and causing harm to others."
---
The world had forever changed since that February day in Beijing. What began as humanity's victory over a pandemic had evolved into something no one could have predicted.
Enhanced individuals now walked among ordinary humans as protectors, predators, and everything in between. The scared children who once broke out of containment facilities had grown into adults wielding power beyond imagination.
Some chose to help. Others chose to harm.
And some... some had stories that hadn't been told yet.
The age of the enhanced was only beginning.