At the age of ten, Johan Černá no longer felt like a child. His body may have been small, his face may have held the delicate features of youth, but his mind was something else entirely. It had outgrown the confines of childhood, stretching into places no ordinary boy could ever reach. There was no innocence left in him. No dreams of adventure, no simple joys, no sense of wonder. There was only understanding. Understanding of the world. Of people. Of their weaknesses. Of how easily they could be broken. His childhood had been a time of games, of careful manipulations and small tests of influence. But that time was over. He had stepped into a new world. A world where his reach extended far beyond a single town. One where he no longer played with people. He controlled them. Johan had not looked back when he left the town he had destroyed. There had been nothing left for him there. Nothing worth saving. And yet, as the years passed, he had observed it from a distance. Watched as the people tried to rebuild their lives. But they were not the same. Even as the buildings were repaired, even as new leaders rose, something in the town had changed forever. The people walked with uncertainty. They spoke in hushed voices, as if afraid that the very air carried secrets too dangerous to utter. Trust had become a myth. Every glance held suspicion. Every handshake felt hollow. The town had survived. But it had never recovered.  Johan had watched it all happen. Watched and felt nothing. Because destruction, he now realized, was too easy. Chaos was a tool, but it was not the goal. If a town could rebuild, then destruction alone was not enough. He needed to go further. He needed to prove that the entire world was nothing more than an illusion. And that he was the one who could tear it all away. There had been a time when Johan believed that power was the ultimate goal. That to control people, to bend them to his will, was the pinnacle of his abilities. But now, he saw the flaw in that thinking. Power was nothing. It was a shadow, a fleeting illusion that gave the weak the false belief that they were strong. Even kings could be overthrown. Even the most powerful leaders could be broken. Power did not last. But despair? Despair was permanent. Despair was something people could never escape. And so, Johan no longer sought to control the world. He sought to break it completely. To strip away everything people held dear. To force them to see that their lives were nothing more than fragile constructs, waiting to be shattered. And then, once everything was gone… Would there be anything left? Would people still pretend to believe in hope? Or would they finally accept the truth? That the world had never belonged to them. That it had always belonged to him. Johan had destroyed a town. But that was not enough. Now, he needed something greater. A new city. A new stage. A place where the stakes were higher. Where the people had more to lose. Because the greater the illusion… the more beautiful it was to watch it fall apart. The city stretched before him like a maze of possibilities. Skyscrapers towering above like monuments to human delusion. Crowds moving in perfect synchronization, each person believing they had a purpose. Leaders who believed they were in control. But Johan knew the truth. They were already doomed. They just didn’t know it yet. And so, he stepped into the streets. A child with no name. No past. No future. Just a smile. A whisper in the dark. A shadow in the crowd. And soon… they would all be his. Johan never acted immediately. That was not his way. He did not throw stones into the water to make ripples. He breathed into the air and let the storm build on its own. He started with observation. Watching. Listening. Learning the weaknesses of the city’s most powerful players. Who were the decision-makers? Who held the most influence? And more importantly, who was the most fragile? Because it was never about bringing down the strongest. It was about making them bring themselves down. And once the first domino fell… the rest would follow. Johan could already see it. The cracks beneath the city’s surface. The secrets people pretended didn’t exist. A politician with too many enemies. A businessman hiding a fortune built on corruption. A police chief drowning in guilt. They thought they were safe. That their sins were hidden. But Johan… Johan could see everything. And soon, so would everyone else. Because the only thing more terrifying than being watched… was realizing that you had been watched all along. Johan knew that he had found his next stage. His next masterpiece. The city was perfect. It was strong enough to make its fall truly spectacular. And he would be the one to make it happen. Not with force. Not with violence. But with whispers. With doubt. With fear. Because destruction was not about brute strength. It was about making people destroy themselves. And as he disappeared into the streets, a shadow among thousands, he smiled. Because this city had no idea what had just entered its walls. No idea that its days were already numbered. And by the time they realized… it would already be too late.