Picture the perfect home. Green grass, white picket fence, a loving family, everything a young boy would need to grow up happy. Inside the home images flashed across a TV screen in the same room where a young boy, James, was playing. Blocks were scattered over the carpeted floor and coloring books lay sprawled out ready to trip an unsuspecting passerby.
Mealtime was a pleasant experience. Mom, dad, his brother Jeremy, and James all sat at the table and talked about their day. Mom and dad talked about their time at work and all the people that annoyed them, the tasks they had to do, normal stuff. Jeremy and James talked about their day at school and all the bullies they avoided, homework they didn't do, normal stuff. This was just before life would become a nightmare for James.
Before Jeremy discovered his powers he and James were very close. They stood up for each other and had each other's backs just like brothers should. But that soon changed when one morning Jeremy was at the dining room table and was getting frustrated with his math homework. He kept trying to get the right answer to an equation on his homework but math was never his strong suit. Most things that required deep thinking were not his strong suit.
In anger he smashed his fist into the table and splintered it in half. After that his parents took him to a local heroes guild to be examined and sure enough they confirmed he had extraordinary abilities.
His parents also took James to get tested alongside his brother. He was ecstatic, the thought of him being a hero was all he could ever wish for. He imagined him and his brother taking out monster left and right, serving the public in epic tights.
Unlike his brother when he went to be tested he failed. They stated he had no special resistance, no super strength, no hyper-intelligence. He was just a normal boy, with normal abilities.
Life got rough for James after that. His parents began to praise his brother constantly and Jeremy became the brother who could do no wrong, commit no sin, and make no mistake. His friends in school worshipped him and he quickly rose to the position of most popular. Girls wanted to be with him and guys wanted to be him.
Besides seeing each other briefly at home they didn't speak. James often became the punchline for a joke as people talked about how unremarkable he was when compared to his brother.
His parents never said the words, but James could tell he was second in their minds by their actions. He started retreating inside himself and became depressed and resentful. He even hurt himself several times trying to prove that he too possessed superhuman power but all he ever proved was how frail he was, how hurt he was, and how bitter he was becoming.
Friends, family, even romantic partners all saw him as lesser, a black sheep, and not worth the time. Meanwhile, his brother rocketed to the top of the superhero world. His abilities were legendary, his fame was worldwide, and he was among the most idolized and popular heroes to exist.
Eventually, James faded from everyone's memory. The end result of all this was hatred and anger for the world and the way it worked. He dreamed of somehow, someday, being able to make a difference and prove them all wrong, to tear down the twisted thrones that society built for their heroes and the people that worshipped them.
That opportunity never felt like it would come and so from up on a ledge, James sat ready to end things the only way he felt they should. He never expected to meet a mysterious being like Kazav, to be offered the power he wanted his entire life. Now that he had it he wasn't even sure of what to do with it.
Should he join the heroes guild and change it from the inside? Should he destroy it and teach the world a lesson? Or maybe he should become the very threat he wanted the world to face. These were all things that James was thinking about while lying on that dusty bed in that stuffy room.
A long period of silence dragged by before James said anything else. Amidst all these questions he was having about himself one cropped up in his brain that threw all those to the back burner and took center stage. It was a question he realized he needed to ask before he could go any further.
"Kazav," James called out into the silence of the cold, empty room, "who are you?"
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