A Villain's Guide to World Domination

"My name is Ray...but my mom likes to tell anyone that cares enough to listen, the story of how she gave me my name. How it was because the first time she saw me, she thought I looked like a Ray of sunshine.

This is why she sometimes calls me "sunshine". Blehhh...right?

But moving on...Yesterday was my fifteenth birthday and today is the day I get my powers.

"In my continent and the city of levigne, everyone gets them at fifteen however it differs. Some get powers that can cause earthquakes while others can barely lift a pencil but I, I can't get anything that isn't earth-shattering...," I write taking a pause and lifting my head up, taking a quick glance at the wall clock at the center of my room, taking note of how much time I had left before I continue writing.

"Father's powers of foresight were amazing so I'm sure mine shouldn't be far behind,"

"...As long as I never become one of those crazy clowns dressed up in colorful jumpsuits, going around saving people. (p.s in case you're from the future and you're reading this, I'm talking about a self-righteous species of humans called heroes," I write, scribbling even faster than before , so I'll be able to finish be...

"ray!...raYY!..RAY!," a voice suddenly yelled, one that seemed to get closer and louder with each call,

In seconds, my head goes blank, my heart starts to pound in my chest as my hand hovers on my black diary for an instant in fright,

I come to my senses and I immediately dive underneath my bed, lifting up the huge mattress before slipping the diary under it,

My sense of danger skyrockets and I barely have enough time to drop my mattress, laying my bed sheets over it before my door forcefully swings open.

"She probably knows," I think knowing how disastrous it would be for her to find my diary. A book consisting of all the dirty thoughts that should never come from the hero she hopes for me to be.

Caught bending over my bed with my hands on my sheets...I start to cough.

Light enough to be trivialized but enough times to catch a person's attention, especially that of an intruder,

"Ray?" the formerly loud voice softens, laced with arrows of care as it moved closer to my bent form,

Without hesitation, I quit the otherwise perfect performance(if I do say so myself), raising and turning my head quickly before I become nothing more than a cuddled bear draped with human skin,

"Mo-ther..." I weakly call out, with drooping eyes when thankfully my inner voice whispers to me

"Tone It DOWN,"

Which I quickly did, since averting mini-disasters was its specialty,

"Ray, are you okay?" she asked scanning my body with such focused eyes that I couldn't help but doubt if an X-ray would have done a better job,

"I'm fine Mother," I reply slowly, inching away from her and walking slowly towards my table to pick up my forgotten bag, remembering how many things I had prepared and placed in it.

"I'm just nervous, you know...about today...," I said slowly lifting my head, before smiling and showing as many of my teeth as I could,

"But I'll be fine, Mother. So you don't need to worry,"

"Oh my brave superhero," She says as I internally cringe, my smile almost breaking apart,

I fix it quickly, shining more of my teeth towards her, standing perfectly still, allowing her to rub my head to her heart's content,

"You'll be late, If you don't get going," she says with a super proud look as she continues rubbing my curly and unruly hair, trying her best to part it down even though we both knew how much of a lot cause, that was.

"Regardless of whatever power you awaken, you'll still be my son," she said with a huge smile even though I could tell that deep down she was terrified,

I could feel the shaking of her hand against my head, and the tears packed inside her eyes waiting to fall the minute I walked out of the house.

We had too much debt since father died and the only way to fix it was for me to become a hero, a good one and for her, I would do anything.

It was common knowledge that powers were graded on three things: Safety, Control, and Rank before the final result was graded into two: Hero-like(H) and Villain-like(V) one of which came with more problems than my mother could afford to have.

The worst part was that depending on how high on the spectrum V, one entered, one could be instantly sent to the Red prison, where in the government's own words: Highly Potentially dangerous people were kept and cared for.

"I'll be fine, Mother," I assure her for the second time, keeping my brave signature smile on my face.

"You don't need to worry...I promise," I tell her since with her being my mother, my propensity for evil couldn't be all that bad, right before taking another look at the clock a second, watching any chance I had of being early to the awakening examination sink into a bottomless pit.

"I need to go..." I whisper loud enough for her to hear me, and not jerk her suddenly away from the many thoughts I could tell were running around in her mind as she held my head close to her chest.

"I know…" she replies in the same tone, slipping her hands out of my hair, as they fall to her side.

I ground my teeth together, having lost the smile I had as I quickly walked towards the open door of my room, not wanting to go back, knowing fully well that there was nothing more to be said.

I step out of the room about to turn to the right, and head down the stairs, out the front door to leave when I hear her shout at me, from behind.

"I love you, Ray, and I always will. Come back soon," she shouted with pride and I could barely count the number of emotions I heard in her words as I halt, my legs unwilling to take another step,

Stupidly terrified, I immediately wonder if she would say the same, if she knew, my deepest thoughts and the things that went through my head,

"Would she still call me her Ray of sunshine then ?" I thought.

Without saying a single word in return or looking back, I rush down the stairs flying out of the house, hoping that I don't end up missing the examination entirely.

I close the door behind me gently, confident in my ability to take on anything, even the world.

As I ran down the street heading to the Hero Headquarters, for a second I wished I had told my mother how much I loved her too.

"Stop," yelled my inner voice and I immediately obeyed, knowing fully well that no one could change the past, not the seven ruling heroes, and not even god.