Where Shadows Walk

December 15, 2040 Tokyo

Seventeen-year-old Akira Tanaka pressed her hand against the research facility's window, her breath fogging the surface as she watched the strange light continue to descend from the sky.

For the past six hours, streams of an ominous green light had been pouring down in the form of thick fog, covering the city in an otherworldly glow. The familiar glow of advertisements and streetlamps flickered on and off, overpowered by the unnatural radiance of the mist seeping through every alley and every window.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Dr. Chen adjusted her glasses, her eyes fixed on the monitoring equipment. "The energy readings are off the charts. Nothing in recorded history comes close to this."

Akira nodded, unable to turn her gaze away from the spectacle. As a junior research assistant at the Quantum Physics Institute, she should have been terrified. Instead, she felt an inexplicable sense of anticipation, as if every cell in her body was awakening to something profound.

The laboratory's emergency lights cast red shadows across the walls. Most of the staff had been evacuated hours ago when the phenomenon first appeared, but a skeleton crew remained behind to document everything. Dr. Chen had allowed her to stay, knowing her passion for quantum anomalies.

"Look at this," she called out, her voice filled with excitement. "The energy signature... it's not just electromagnetic. It's an entirely new periodic element."

Before Akira could respond, a blinding flash filled the room. She stumbled backward, atoms dancing in her blurry vision.

Through the window, she vaguely saw the streams of light intensifying, getting thicker and spreading much more quickly.

The monitoring equipment around them began making all kinds of noises, displays flickering with readings that were off-the-charts.

Dr. Chen rushed from station to station, frantically trying to record everything. "This is unprecedented! The energy is... it's attempting to interact with organic matter!"

Suddenly, Akira felt what Dr. Chen was implying. She felt a tingling sensation that started in her fingertips and rapidly spread through her entire body.

She looked at her hands, watching in awe as tiny specks of light appeared across her skin. "Dr. Chen..." She called out. Her mentor didn't respond, when she turned around, she saw Dr Chen had collapsed to her knees, her body trembling in pain, her breath coming in short, difficult gasps.

All around the city, similar scenes were playing out. People falling, crying out, as the light touched them, changing them at the molecular level.

At this point the world had been completely covered in green.

-----

48 Hours Later

Sarah Martinez stood in the ruins of what had once been downtown Los Angeles, her notebook clutched tightly in her shaking hands.

As a junior reporter for the LA Times, she'd covered riots, earthquakes, and wildfires. Nothing had prepared her for this.

A man floated twenty feet above the cracked concrete road, his eyes glowing with the same strange light that had covered the Earth for two days.

Around him, other people were discovering their own transformations. A woman's touch was healing the injured. A child's cry shattered windows for blocks.

"This is crazy," Sarah whispered to herself, despite the danger she knew she had to document everything. Future generations would need to know about the day humanity changed forever.

Her phone buzzed with another emergency alert. Similar reports were coming in from every corner of the globe. Beijing, Moscow, London, Cairo, everywhere the light had touched, people were manifesting abilities that defied explanation.

A sudden explosion drew her attention to a bank down the street. Two men burst through the walls, one shooting flames from his hands, the other deflecting them with some kind of energy shield.

The first signs of chaos were already emerging.

Sarah's hands trembled as she wrote: "Day 1 of the new world. Humanity has been forever altered. Early estimates suggest roughly one-quarter of the global population has been affected. No one knows why some were chosen and others weren't. More importantly, no one knows what comes next."

------

Five Years Later Global Powered Alliance newly built Headquarters, Geneva

Director Elena Volkov stared at a new invention, a holographic display that showed the latest casualty reports. Another conflict by the powered had leveled a small city in Brazil and the death toll was still climbing.

"This can't continue," she addressed the emergency council. Representatives from every major nation sat around the table, their faces grim. "In the five years since the light's descent, we've lost more lives to powered conflicts than both World Wars combined."

She gestured to the next display, showing the growing factional divides. "The powered population now stands at 24.1% of humanity. Without unified regulation, we're heading toward extinction."

A Chinese official stood. "And your solution?"

Elena took a deep breath. What she was about to say would change the world as we know it. "We establish the Global Powered Alliance, universal registration, mandatory training and a classification system to monitor and control power levels. Most importantly, a unified force to maintain order."

"You're talking about surrendering national sovereignty," an American general protested.

"I'm talking about survival." Elena's voice cut through the murmurs. "Look at your screens."

New footage appeared: a teenager in Singapore accidentally vaporizing a school when his powers manifested, a powered warlord holding an entire African nation hostage, corporations exploiting powered individuals for profit.

"We created the UN after World War II to prevent global conflict. Now we need something stronger. The light that fell from the sky didn't recognize borders. Neither can our response."

One by one, the representatives began to nod. They'd all seen enough destruction. Something had to change.

"The GPA will be different," Elena continued. "Not just bureaucrats and peacekeepers, but a complete system to understand and manage this new reality."

She paused, giving them time so that they could digest her next words. "And a specialized force to handle those who won't comply."

As the council began their deliberations, Elena turned back to the window. Somewhere out there, the force that had changed humanity was still watching. She could feel it. The light hadn't just fallen by accident.

And she suspected humanity hadn't seen the last of it.