1 The World Mourns

"Today we regretfully announce the passing of the Heroes' Union founders the Saviour and Artemis..."

"...we have lost two of the founders of the Hero Alliance, Saviour and Artemis..."

"...it was a long and hard fight...."

"..against the leader of the villain organisation Pandora, the Immortal."

"...Also known as the Lich. The Hero Union is currently unavailable for comment."

"The world mourns as the passing of the world's greatest superheroes...."

"The world mourns..."

"The world mourns..."

*Blink*

A small hand switched off the televisions and set down the remote a mahogany desk.

A young man with a neat, black suit, with silver hair and a trimmed white beard stood beside a leather chair in the study and looked at the black TVs in silence waiting for his young master to speak but no words came.

"Master Reign..." the young man started to speak.

"They are dead, Lucien." A boy's voice came out from the leather chair. "My parents are dead."

The butler's name was Lucien. He was an awakened and nearly three hundred years old but still looked to be in his mid-thirties. He had served the Salvatore Household for ten generations.

"It is a terrible loss for all of us, Master Reign. The world loved them and so did I."

"I suppose that is why the world knew them better than I did." A small hand grabbed the chair's armrest and shattered it.

Lucien grimaced.

"Master Reign, please calm down." Lucien would have continued but a knock on the door drew his attention. He cast one look at the back of the chair then walked to the door and opened it. He spoke in hushed tones then returned to his original position.

"Master Reign, some special guests who worked with your parents have arrived to offer their condolences."

'Special guests' was the agreed upon term to announce people with abilities and superpowers.

"I do not wish to see them." Reign said calmly.

"But Master Reign..."

"I will not leave this study, Lucien and I will not hear anyone talk about my parents in the past tense. I do not want to see their pity or hear their words. Friends or not, my parents died protecting them."

Sometimes it was easy for those who served the Salvatore bloodline and knew of Master Reign's existence to forget that the boy was only twelve years old but sometimes Reign did say things that reminded them that he was still a child.

"I understand. I will go attend to them with your permission."

"Go. I do not need you right now."

It would be a lie if Lucien said that the words did not hurt him but having been dismissed, he could only bow and take his leave. Yes, two of the world's greatest heroes had died but a young boy had also lost his parents.

It was truly easy for others to forget that considering the overshadowing legacy master Damien and mistress Kathrine had left as the Saviour and Artemis.

The door closed and Reign turned to the screens one more time. He began a search on the internet, not surprised that his father's superhero name had already become one of the most searched names on WatchTube.

He found the video he had been looking for. An interview of his father and mother, two years ago in 2133. It was after they had saved, New, New York from a powerful and poorly named villain. He skipped ahead to the part he wanted to see.

"So Saviour and Artemis, you both have been a couple for decades, when will we hear about new little superheroes to carry on your legacy?"

The Saviour and Artemis looked at each other with smiles that were made to be on camera.

"Well," the Saviour responded, "ideally, we hope that when the time comes our children will not need to save the world. We hope that the job of superheroes become obsolete."

"Yes but we know that may not be the case." Artemis stated. "So whether or not our children decide to dawn the title of superhero, we only wish for them to be happy and create their own legacies in whatever they choose except if they are villains, of course, then we will be there to stop them."

"An awakened child of Artemis and the Saviour as a super villain, now there is a scary thought. Haha...well there you have it..."

*Blink*

The screen went black again.

"If only you were here to do anything mom and dad."

Reign took a paper and wrote a letter addressed to the butler, Lucien. He then went to a painting of one of his grandfathers in the study and took it off the wall. Behind it was a new-age safe that could only be opened by Reign and his sister. It was there in the event that Salvatore Manor fell to villains.

Inside was money, fake documents, safe locations and people that could be trusted. Reign took the money, documents and picked a location. He took one last look at the study.

"The value of our deeds are weighed and decided by those who live after us." Reign recited the Salvatore family motto. "I am living, father and as a hero, you were amazing but as a father, you left much to be desired." He then walked onto the balcony.

He rose up into the air. He took a look at the manor as he rose above it, when the manor was far beneath him, he broke the sound barrier as he fled to begin a new life.

*****

In a semi-abandoned mansion a party was going. Teenagers, awakened and human, were drinking, dancing and laughing.

Flashing lights, music and a lot of awakened were showing off their powers.

The powers on display ranged from weak ones like bubble generation and levitation to powerful ones like pyromancy and super strength.

The outside of the mansion looked tragic, murderous even but the inside was well furnished and had lavish conveniences.

The party was stellar.

"Ray!" a boy who barely looked nineteen appeared out of thin air.

"""FLICK!!!!""

A third of the party shouted when he suddenly appeared in the room. Even those who were in a self-induced trance were happy to see him.

His real name was Silas. He actually had the ability to teleport as well as inhuman strength and intangibility.

The awakened abilities made him very popular.

"Ray!" Silas called again completely ignoring the attention he had drawn simply by being present. "I wish I had the ability to boost my voice." He sighed.

"Ray, where the hell are you?!" he shouted louder.

"He is on the roof!" another awakened who couldn't stand his shouting finally told him.

"The roof? He only goes up there when..." Silas came to a realisation and disappeared.

Silas reappeared on the roof. It was quiet and empty except for one person. He stood on the roof looking at the starts. He had white, braided hair, wearing jeans, a white vest and a leather jacket. That was Ray.

Ray turned around, his handsome face smiled but his emerald green eyes were a little sad.

"You know, for a guy with super senses, you really need to get checked out. Did you not hear me shouting?" Silas teased.

"Ha!" Ray scratched his head and shrugged apologetically. "I am sorry, I zoned out and it's not like I am always listening, bud."

Silas walked over to Ray and punched his shoulder then held his hand like he had been hurt.

"You been working out?"

"A little." Ray responded, smiled then turned to look at the stars again.

"Hey," Silas took a sharp breath, "you only come up here when the people down there start talking about..." Silas paused.

"Red Monday." Ray finished Silas' sentence. "Yeah, they started talking about it down there."

Red Monday, as it had come to be known, was the great battle between Pandora and the Heroes' Union six years ago.

Ten capital cities in ten different countries fell all around the world, millions of people died before the leader of Pandora, the Immortal was stopped by Artemis and the Saviour.

Back then the whole world went into mourning, it seemed like everyone had lost someone in that chaos and the death of two heroes who were thought to be invincible shook the globe to its core.

Red Monday was still a big topic. Everything seemed to change after that. There were those who found fault in the Heroes' Union. Why did they not come sooner? Why did Artemis and the Saviour fight the Immortal alone? Others rushed to their defence but the sentiment still struck a chord with some.

In two days it would be the day of Global Remembrance. A day where the whole world would remember the people that they lost, the countries that nearly collapsed and the deaths of the superhero duo.

Silas had lost his brother during Red Monday. His only living relative. Sy had also known Raymond for four years and seeing how Ray reacted every time Red Monday was brought up, he figured it was because Ray lost someone too.

They never talked about it. They were just two street kids at the time, looking for their next place to crash or their next meal to eat. When things were really bad though, Ray always had the money to cover both of them. They seemed to be joined at the hip.

A year ago, they came across this abandoned mansion and Ray came up with the money and idea to trick this place out and charge teenagers to party there.

Ray found another awakened drifter with illusion and noise cancellation abilities to make the house look abandoned and avoid any nearby people from hearing their daily parties and alert the cops.

This had been their life for a year. They finally had money, a home and freedom but the weight of their past still hung heavy on them.

Sy was about to say something when the door to the roof opened. Another resident drifter came out in a panic, the door was open but no music was playing.

"Ray, Jack is here and he is causing trouble again."

Ray and Sy looked at each other. Sy nodded and teleported while Ray ran to the door and went downstairs.

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