"Moments after the explosion..."

A man wearing dark sunglasses approaches with his hands in his pockets. He looks down and sees Hector completely destroyed.

— "After all this misery, can you still rise, Hector? Can you bring light to this darkness?" — says the man with determination.

"Present time..."

Hector and his mother are inside the car.

— "Son, you are a mutant!" — says Hector's mother with surprise.

Hector's face shows shock, but not too surprised.

— "Well... I kind of already knew, hahaha." — says Hector, laughing.

Hector's mother looks at him and becomes discouraged.

— "Mom, you already knew?" — says Hector.

— "Your siblings received powers too." — says Hector's mother.

Hector freezes for a moment and replies:

— "What do you mean? You don't even seem surprised, Mom!" — says Hector, perplexed.

— "Son... there are things your father and I never told you, and we asked your grandmother to stay silent." — says Hector's mother, saddened.

— "But what do you mean?" — says Hector, confused.

Police sirens begin to be heard, and Hector’s mother says:

— "We’ll talk later. I'd better take you home."

Hector looks a little down, but agrees with his mother, and they start heading home.

"At Hector's house..."

Hector and his mother enter the house, and soon his siblings come running toward them with some new news, but Hector responds:

— "You received powers. I know." — says Hector, unenthusiastically.

Hector’s mother notices how he feels and says:

— "Arthur, Layla, go to your rooms. I need to talk to your brother about something serious." — says his mother.

They hesitate, but end up obeying and going to their rooms.

Hector sits at the dining table in his usual spot. His parents sit in the chairs at each end, and his grandmother sits across from him, his father to his right and his mother to his left.

— "Alright, now tell me, what’s going on?" — says Hector, getting irritated.

Hector's mother takes a deep breath and begins to speak:

— "Son, many, many years ago, there was a race called the Dark Ones. We don’t know their origin, but they’ve been on Earth for thousands of years. They lived alongside humans, and some interbred with women, having mutant children. It went on like that for a long time until they were wiped out. But the Dark blood still exists out there because the family line survived, and it reached your father. He is a human with Dark blood. Over the years, the Dark blood faded, until we had you and your twin brother, Kepler. He was born, as you know: white skin, red eyes, and gray hair. Well... your brother is a Dark One. He’s half human, half Dark. In other words, he’s a mutant. And that’s why we weren’t surprised by your abilities and your siblings’, but we were worried about one thing. We moved to Old Vile because it’s a place without mutants. We didn’t want a life full of mutants, we wanted to run away, because we know where there are humans with powers, there is misery. Son, we’re worried, because we know that you and your siblings, with such kind hearts, will want to save people. But people with powers will think they’re superior and do evil, and I don’t want my children coming home half-dead, much less dead." — Hector's mother cries — "But son, remember: villains will want to be above everyone. But heroes, the ones who bring light to people, are like citizens: let them proclaim you a hero. That way, you'll be above only to bring light. 'Be light in the midst of darkness'..." — Hector's mother finishes.

— "Alright, Mom. I’ll be that light... But where’s Kepler?"

Hector’s father remembers and quickly replies:

— "Son, we lied. Your brother isn’t on a trip. He disappeared in the middle of the night, just said he’d stay a bit longer, or something like that, and never came back. As you know, it's been days since he left. We're afraid something happened to him." — says Hector's father.

"The scene shifts. A dark setting, someone is chained and half naked."

A black figure of a man appears and says:

— "Brother of the Power bearer, Kepler, you’ll be very useful to me..." — says the dark figure.

Kepler, chained, says:

— "I’ll never work for you!"

The dark figure says:

— "You will give in to my power, Dark One. The darkness will take over you, and you’ll be a great help in my plans."

Kepler lifts his head, his eyes glowing with pure purple.

The dark figure starts laughing menacingly.

Hector feels a chill, stands up abruptly, clenches his fist, and says with determination:

— "I’ll find Kepler and bring him home!"

The end... to be continued in the next chapter...