It happened without warning.

  One moment, the world was as it had always been—ordinary, predictable, tethered to the familiar rules of nature. The next, everything changed. The shift was imperceptible, a ripple in the fabric of existence that went unnoticed by all but the most attuned. And then, in an instant, the ordinary was shattered.

  A shift felt in every human rattled through the population. It was a moment that could be described many different ways—an awakening, a disaster, a divine act—but the only name that seemed to fit was The Wave.

  It started as just an uneasy feeling in the chest, a brief dizziness, then almost out of nowhere… Power. Uncontrollable, unexplainable, power coursing through the veins of the population, twisting reality as it was once known. In homes, offices, and streets, people stumbled and crumbled with new senses or abilities tearing through their very being. Some felt the uproar of energy coursing through them and embraced it, while others screamed in agony as bodies betrayed them, twisting and changing in ways they shouldn’t and never possibly could.

  Chaos was the new norm. Within minutes, the world was brought to its knees.

  In the US, a man’s skin turned to steel, bullets from panicked police officers bouncing off him as he rampaged through the streets. In Japan, a woman wept as she watched her tears freeze the air around her, creating deadly shards that rained down on innocent bystanders. Across the world, cities burned, flooded, and crumbled under the weight of destruction caused by their own inhabitants.

  The world had changed in an instant, and nothing would ever go back to the way things once were.

  Governments crumbled, their leaders no more prepared than the people they sought to protect. Nations declared states of emergency, martial law was imposed, but it was like trying to cage a tornado with a ball of twine. Communication lines failed, partly due to technological issues caused by some powers but also due to those who manned them suddenly found themselves speaking tongues or unable to touch anything without it disintegrating.

  Amiss the chaos, new factions emerged. Some people, terrified and disoriented, sought refuge in the remains of the old world, clinging to the idea that it could be contained, that everything would return back to the way things once were. Others saw opportunity in the ashes, rallying those with similar powers and viewpoints to form their own territories, their own laws, their own justice.

  Then there were those who took matters into their own hands. Heroes, vigilantes, whatever they were known as—they were the ones who rose from the debris determined to help people and restore some semblance of order, even if they had to bring everything down with it.

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  Jack Donovan was one of them. The cop that once believed in the power of the law found himself lost among those that no longer applied. His ability seemed like a cruel joke in a world where people could move mountains with just a thought. But Jack was not the sort of man to give up so easily, even after he was laid off when the new power allocation system was put into practice. But the streets of Chicago had hardened him, and if the world needed someone to stand between the innocent and the chaos, he would be their veil to hide behind.

  As the world reeled from the initial impact of The Wave, more problems began to surface with every person who reveled in their newfound power, there were two more who feared it. They feared what it would do to them, what it could make them do to others. The first year after the wave was a year of blood and loss, as those who embraced their powers clashed with the ones who refused to bend to them.

  But the human race is nothing if not adaptable. By the end of the second year, the world had found a new type of normal, though not in the way that anyone could have predicted. Cities rebuild, though they were not the cities of old. New structures were created, built to withstand those who inhabited them. Laws were rewritten, accommodating the newfound powers that had become a part of everyday normal life. Jobs were reassigned, entire industries were rewritten due to the simple know fact that now, power was everything.

  During the fourth year after The Wave was when the power allocation system was really put into the world. The world had found a sort of equilibrium, though it was a fragile one. The term “Supers” arose to classify those with powers, since those who had yet to go through puberty had not yet gained any abilities. As time went on, Supers were categorized, ranked, and where possible, controlled. The strong, the fast, the nearly indestructible, were invaluable to the workforce, where their abilities could be used, and more importantly to the governments, monitored. Those with the ability to teleport objects or people, became the new lifeblood of global trade. Supers with the ability to manipulate and create machines or objects on a fundamental level, were seeked out by corporations and governments alike.

  But those who truly ruled the world were those who could mess with minds, bend reality, or control the elements. They were feared and revered in equal measure, they became the new elite, their abilities making them valuable—and dangerous.

  The heroes, those that rose up in the early days, had become old relics of a bygone era. Vigilantism had become outlawed when the ones who swore to protect, did more damage then the ones they were fighting. The “heroes” who didn’t fall in line with the new government- sponsored agencies were hunted, just like the criminals they had once fought.

  But in the shadows, whispers of dissent grew louder. The fragile equilibrium was starting to crack as unseen forces began to stir, their intentions unknown. The world had changed, but it was far from stable. As new alliances formed and old grudges simmered beneath the surface, a storm was brewing—one that would test the very foundations of this new order. And when it struck, the world would once again be thrust into chaos, only this time, the consequences would be far more devastating.