What Maketh a Man

WHAT MAKETH A MAN? To the external observer, there was nothing extraordinary about him; he had lived what would seem, to the disinterested, a very normal, almost boring life, a steady job, an unremarkable upbringing in a non-descript town by almost-invisible parents, brothers, and sisters. He had gone to school without creating, or even leaving any kind of impression upon his fellow students, indeed, any of those he had known would have great difficulty in remembering him at all. But all this was part of his skill and subtle strength. Although he had known immediately he was different in some way, right from his very smallest beginnings, he had the innate sense to realise that he had to hide his true self, blend in, keep a low profile at all times, for he knew that the outsider in society is never made welcome, that he would easily become a target for those who do not readily welcome the different. For he was different. Yet even he himself did not have any idea of the full powers he possessed, at least until that terrible day in August when everything in his life changed forever. Six men. They had killed his children and raped and abused his young wife before also ending her time in this World. The life that he thought he knew was destroyed, completely vanished as if it had never been. He was left suddenly alone, more alone than he had ever thought possible. Even his loved ones had not truly known who he was, what he was deep inside, but his beloved family were the only beings in existence who had kept him this side of sanity, considering all that had been going on secretly inside his head, his private thoughts of his status on this small planet, and all the confusion surrounding who he really was, what he was. But all that was changed. Since that terrible day, he had become someone else, his real self was made fully known to him, and there was nothing left to hold him back, to prevent his destiny. As he solitarily walked through the dead leaves of yet another fading year, the wind gathered the leaves around his feet and howled, as if in fear and mourning of what was yet to come. They would face the full wrath of his Potential.