The New Reality

Six months later and the world is very different yet things seem so similar. Six months is all the time that elapsed since the first people were able to manipulate elements. It started as a collection of weird coincidences. Flooding with no apparent cause, a string of fires across the world, days where the sun never seemed to rise. Governments around the globe discovered that people had gained the ability to manipulate everyday life in a way never thought possible. There didn't seem to be any order or a reason for who gained these new abilities. It wasn't until a tech billionaire developed an artificial intelligence whose main focus is to analyze and quantify these new changes. It is known as a POWER watch.

It is unclear how artificial intelligence is able to determine these new powers. It can even be used to identify people we have not shown any evidence in developing this extra-human control of the world. Most people could be categorized into element-based categories like water, fire, and nature. There were a few outliers that the AI categorized as shadow and light but there are so few people with these abilities that the full extent of their control is still unknown.

Naturally, these new found powers easily fell into the wrong hands and mayhem ensued. Governments all across the world deployed military forces made up of soldiers with and without powers to attempt to control the masses and maintain order. These militaries created special programs for exceptional people with control over their powers in an effort to consolidate the more powerful people into their own ranks instead of fighting against them. This was only an option for some people however as not everyone that shows the ability to control elements has a power skill to exercise that control.

In line with Newton's 3rd law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Just as there were specialized military forces to maintain order, opposing gangs began to form of people combating the over controlling government in an effort to maintain their freedom. They were known as the opposition. The intent behind each side was the same, to keep everyone safe and protected while maintaining normalcy. The execution and deployment of maintaining this goal created a divisive society. These forces constantly fighting against each other only instigated more violence. With all of this happening, people continue to try and live their lives as normally as they can hoping that things do not spiral out of control.

Schools remained open, people continued to commute to their nine to five jobs, life went on. There were certain occupied zones that everyone knew not to travel through but that did not affect most people. These zones contained areas of active combat or the opposition forces which often led to theft and physical harm to those who entered. Every now and again, you would hear about a murder that occurred in one of these zones but all you can think is the killed person brought it on themselves for trespassing through a dangerous territory.