A New Order

It was labelled "The Verdant Dawn."

83 years ago, an asteroid collided with a satellite from a popular news network.

Scientists had already predicted this, and watched the event unfold with rapt attention. They all had an idea of what would happen, but expected a mostly harmless collision that would set back the news station by a few million.

The resulting reaction was unlike anything predicted.

First, when the two collided, a violent explosion occurred at the impact zone.

This made no sense as it had hit the solar panel port and not the main body.

What happened next was even stranger.

The asteroid released unidentifiable waves that were transmitted to the malfunctioning satellite. With its remaining energy, it transmitted a odd signal to earth.

The strangest part about this signal was that it….was visible!

A visible radio wave!

This green wave headed towards Earth, all while the scientists tried to understand what had just occurred as they scrambled formulas and shared hypotheses.

They should've called the news station and told them to shut down its network.

The wave connected with a comm tower, and just like that, it spread.

Moving from signal to signal, leaving a trail whenever it was transmitted, it wasn't long before all of the world, except the most remote parts, turned emerald.

It was only this way for 5 minutes.

The effects however, would last forever.

They weren't immediate. At first it was just a spectacular phenomenon and people lived their lives as normal. They had a story for their grand kids and a piece for the history books. The scientists noticed nothing too strange, other than a general improvement of health across the planet.

Then things got crazy.

In Egypt a street scuffle had occurred, and while trying to block a punch, a man had sent a brick flying at his opponent's skull.

People thought this was edited and the witnesses were drunk so they were untrustworthy.

Then in China, a man commiting suicide jumped off a bridge built over a lake, and the water cushioned him midfall the second he regretted his decision.

People still didn't believe this, and called it a discriminatory jab against those who needed help.

Finally, in America, a riot turned violent when a superpowered individual erupted from the crowd and attacked the police, burning 20 of them alive.

This was on live broadcast.

Someone finally noticed it.

"Are superpowers real?"

That question was the beginning of something dreadful.

All over the world, empowered individuals were born. Some would say this was a great thing.

But the powers didn't discriminate.

The balance of power between nations went to hell when someone could capsize several battleships with a flick of the wrist and crush aircraft with a thought.

There was even a man who could absorb kinetic energy and release it, making any form of explosive weapon a folly against him.

The man happened to be a terrorist, as did the other two.

A lot of empowered individuals had one thing in common.

They served no one but themselves

Chaos ensued.

Governments were overthrown and established laws made into ruin.

Guns were useful but when your opponent could take a kinetic round from a tank...their value became debatable.

Those with powers were called the Manifesters as all powers manifested themselves in some way.

All empowered individuals had 3 base abilities.

Increased strength, healing, and durability.

They all had different powers however. A theme began to arise.

No one had flight or laser beams alone. All powers came in a package. All powers came with a theme.

Of course in this chaotic day and age, one could care less.

The planet was rife with wars.

Factions rose and fell, ideals crushed by those with power. Those unfortunate enough to not have been affected by the wave were either killed, protected, or enslaved.

This was the state of the world for 50 years.

Then she appeared.

Angela was her name.

A human...no, calling her a human would insult her.

A being whose power was absolute.

Everywhere she went, she conquered effortlessly.

Uncontestable, unbeatable, and apparently all powerful.

The world was hers within months.

Forming a union, she created a society that could accommodate the new world order.

Now that powers existed, many world issues were easy to solve.

Thus society was made around this.

People had tiers assigned to them based on their powers.

Tier 4 meant you had...nothing. You were allowed to live as a human but provided nothing of value other than your innate intelligence….which was a power someone already had. Hence they lived simple lives in a wageless society, having what they needed provided at intervals.

It was a sad fate...but they were no longer of any use now that 90% of the planet had powers.

Tier 3 meant you had a power….but you either hadn't used it to even half of its potential, or it was just really weak with you.

No power was weak...but compatibility was a thing.

A fire power needed passionate inventive users.

A water power needed calm users who were precise with what they wished to accomplish.

In this way powers could either grow or diminish based on a user's affinity.

Tier 3 humans had horrible affinities mostly. Those that haven't figured out their power moved to Tier 2 if they did and had an affinity with it. Their lives weren't much better than Tier 4 humans, but they had to work for their keep by using their powers for the greater good.

Tier 2 humans were those who could use their abilities to a modest to high level, or just had very strong base abilities. They were to use their powers in beneficial ways like the others, but crime still ran rampant.

Tier 1 was an elite class. Reserved for humans who had reached the peak of their abilities, or humans so absurdly strong that even the best Tier 2 stood little chance in a one on one.

The hyper intelligent human Terrance King sat here comfortably, solving global issues with ease now that society had returned to its senses. The kinetic terrorist known as Newton also resided in this tier.

Treated as elites by society, they nonetheless had to follow the same laws as their Tier 3 fellows. They had some leeway however...as the consequences if they were displeased were dire.

Then there was Tier 0

Angela.

Terrence King made a world wide statement about the 14 year old girl the day their society was formed.

"I have run 13,070,987,567,245 simulations of a battle against her."

"In no scenario do we, humanity, win."

Ever since that day their society was set. There were dissidents, but they acted in secret. If anyone dared to openly declare war on society, she would appear, and deliver judgement.

Otherwise….no one but her retainers knew what she did with her time.

The only thing that was known was that her palace was in the middle of Tier 4 territory, which itself was surrounded by Tier 1 cities.

An odd layout, but it is as she willed.

Society remained this way for 30 years. Progress was made and technologies restored.

If not for the great war it was said humanity would have reached the moon and beyond with minds like Terrance at the wheel.

Well...at least powers were finally categorized.

There were 4 types.

Elemental powers, the most common class. These humans could control certain aspects of the natural order. Some to a finer degree than others. When mastered, they could stand on par with the strongest Tier 1 human.

Conceptual powers. Powers over things that weren't inherently explainable. Powers like hyper intelligence and control over physics fell into this category. These powers were weak if one didn't understand the concept they were blessed with and would never use these powers to their fullest. Those who did however...became nearly godlike.

Mutation powers. Powers that affected the physical structure mainly. If maximized, one could reach Tier 1, but with difficulty. Most in this class however, were relatively low.

Emotion powers. These were rare, and fickle when found. They required the user to feel them strongly to be at full strength. Unfortunately that wasn't always a good thing. Sadness could make someone suicidal, joy was useless if the user wasn't in a joyous situation and fear...even more so.

Only a few emotions were useful...and the others were used more for therapeutic sessions than combat or construction.

Don Lee was one of the first generation of children born into this new society. Most children born in this time period had a power, and he was no exception. Children had come before them, and powers tended to show themselves when a child reached six to twelve years of age.

His father had the power of wind and his mother that of earth. He thought about how fun it would be to control fire or freeze stuff with his breath.

Which is why he was surprised when on his 8th birthday, he was given an Emotion classification.

He had gotten angry when someone broke one of his toys, and a dark red aura seeped out of his body like steam. Throwing a tantrum, his parents rushed in to check what was happening and gasped.

They carried him to the car and rushed him to the classification centre, where he was analysed and given his classification.

Tier 3, Emotion Class: Anger

This was what he started with. He thought he was going to be someone great because Anger sounded like a cool power to have.

Except one had to be angry to use it.

And Don lived a very comfortable life.

An incompatibility issue with a hard power to use!

"Why me!" He would scream in his teenage years, but as every other aspect of his life went well, his anger never lasted long.

As he was never able to exert his full power, he eventually gave up on his dreams of grandeur.

Gone were the days when he was a hero.

Now, he was just a simple college student trying to get a job as a public speaker as he could get people fired up very easily due to his power.

This was the majority of his days. A bland speaker who occasionally made a splash in the news due to his rare typing.

"It's something I guess." He said one night as he walked to his hostel from a conference. Swerving around the corner and making his way, he thought a lot about his circumstances and imagined what life would be like if he had a more regular power.

But what he saw terrified him more than anything had before.

Not a murder or a terrorist….but a girl in a white plain garment.

"AN-"

"It's time, Anger." Were the last words he heard before he fainted.