"The world is changing rapidly and advances are being made towards a better tomorrow. To be apart in the study and development of these changes is not only a blessing but a privilege that we would like you to be apart of. The Institute of the Chimera has chosen to accept you into our group to be apart of that change. We at the institute have been given a unique chance to study the changes to our lifestyle and to the world in recent years, this is of course referencing what some can only call magic into our everyday lives. Here at the Institute of the Chimera have dedicated our lives to the study of this magic through research and practical application.
We hope that you feel the same dedication towards these endeavors and would seek out enrollment at our institute. We will eagerly await your reply and wish you the best of luck in your future."
He had no idea how many times he had read the letter. Even after sending his response he still found that maybe if he read it again his mind would change. Sprawled out on the couch, the note held above his head as if it was some kind of treasure map or important government missive.
“You’re not going to figure out the right thing to do on my couch moping.” His mom was of course the voice of reason in the situation, there was of course never going to be a chance those words would ever come out of his mouth. His mother had always been the voice of reason even before his dad had passed.
“I don’t know about that, in this lighting I think I can see a hidden message.” The smart response of course landed him a sack of laundry in the stomach nearly knocking the wind out from him.
“You can fold your own laundry then my special college boy.” It was a jest, he hoped. He grabbed the laundry and put it beside the couch so he could sit up. It had been a year since he left high school, the first he spent at a community college taking different classed trying to figure out something that was worth studying long term. Of course there were distractions. It was a new place, new people, homework, and of course the stunts he pulled to get the letter he had been reading.
His senior year of highschool weird things had started happening all over the world. People had woken up or been going about their day when people just started exhibiting super powers all at once. Not like leaping tall buildings (there were a few cases) but little things all over the world. There was a panic, people were running around, banks were getting robbed, and he had fallen asleep on the roof of the school and nearly missed the entire thing. Scientists would later say that out of the entire population about 60% had begun experiencing some kind of ability, including him.
Waking up from possibly the best nap one could get from skipping math class his body had built up enough of a static charge that he nearly gave everyone in the top three floors of the school the best hair days of the year, and charged all their phones in record time. While the world was trying to figure out how to deal with life he decided to do what most people would have done, he first emptied out all the vending machines in the school, and then tried to learn how to use his ability.
The true stunt was a few days after it all started. They were at the bank getting money to go buy some food for the one year anniversary of his dad’s death, when the bank was robbed. Two guys, the first guy who looked like he had hit the gym everyday since birth and the other a scrawny guy who he had sworn had scales on his face, came in toppling tables with guns blazing. His mother of course was cool as any other day sat and stared at him, trying to keep her son and any other people nearby calm. What the two hadn’t known was that he had been so nervous the entire time that he had enough electricity built up that he might have been able to blow up the building. When the big guy came over to move them, something triggered in his head and after one punch the man was sent flying through the room, it was like watching a gorilla launched by a catapult. His body looked like a live wire even after he hit the ground. Hands outstretched bolts of lightning streamed to the other man his gun falling from his hand and his body fell right beside it.
Newspapers were all over the story, “Local Boy Stuns the Community” or “Shocking Event in Local Bank” the articles were as bad as the titles but that didn’t stop the story from spreading. It was everyone in the world feared and dreamed of. Here were superhumans using their abilities for evil but there were also people who wanted to help. But worst of all there were people out there that had the power to level buildings. Where he had the ability to control lightning, the lady down the street could grow her entire garden from seeds in a day. He learned that day that some people were just more powerful than others, in other words nothing had changed in the world.
The heroics didn’t end at the bank, after finishing high school and starting college he spent every minute honing his abilities and fighting crime which lead him to this letter. It was on that day on the third anniversary of his father's death that he decided to accept. Once the laundry was folded he would be ready to go.
