Originally, Ivan's life was expected to always be successful from the start. At 20 years old, he was enrolled in his university of choice, studying Astrophysics, as the study of space was his lifelong passion. His family didn't always support him, but he always had a place to fall back in case his plans would fail. Ivan didn't always experience success, but failures made him stronger more often than not. Not a diligent student, but a good one. Not a 'player', but finding a girlfriend was not an issue. Not out of debt, but financially aware enough to know how to get out of it. All in all, Ivan led a very balanced and promising life. Or did he ?
When he was 17 years old, Ivan had a certain curiosity when it came to his father's archeological interests. This second hobby of Ivan appeared when his father talked to him about Moon fragments he managed to acquire, mostly in an attempt to connect with his son. Ivan didn't give too much thought about his father, and they didn't always have the best relationship, but this surely brought them closer. It wasn't a done deal from the beginning however, since the Moon fragments were not what Ivan imagined. Or in fact, it was what he imagined, just a hundred times smaller, almost like pebbles. That disappointment was mostly compensated when his father allowed him to use his microscope to get a closer look at the Moon fragments. This is when the real connection was formed between the two.
Eventually, towards the end of high school, Ivan put away Astronomy for a while and spent more time with his father, who was always happy to share parts of his collection. His mother never cared about his father's passion for archeology and collecting all sorts of ancient items. She thought, however, that his collection was so amazing that an exhibit could be made solely with the items his father owned. What really kept Ivan interested all along, was surprisingly not the Moon fragments - both agreed that this was really a terrible purchase, especially after the price was mentioned - but this fascinating, though small collection of ancient Aztec artifacts. His father did not know more about them than about his other items, but the story he told to Ivan reminded him of the reasons why he became interested in Astronomy in the first place.
At 11 years old, Ivan was nothing more than a normal first world kid, leading a life quite shallow, but fulfulling for any other pre-teenager. He would rarely go outside because of his strict mother, but he still spent most of his time doing something, mostly reading comic books and playing video games, though he preferred the former activity. One Saturday, he left his room and went to tell his mom : "Mom, I'm bored. I don't want to do anything" This wasn't an exaggeration, but kind of over-dramatized. She suggested the Planetarium. Initially, this idea didn't please him, because in his past experience as a kid, leaving the house other than to go out and play with his friends was a setup for disappointment. He followed through nonetheless and accepted the offer, and never regretted his choice for more reasons than one.
What kept him fascinated at the beginning was mostly the vastness of space and the perspective of adventure. He didn't like movies like Star Wars too much, but liked the idea enough to keep imagining himself cruising through space freely, navigating between the planets without worrying about anything else. Astronaut became his first career idea ever, an idea that was mocked by his classmates at the time, since almost all of them fantasized about it years before him, and were 'past it already'. But as time went, he realized what really kept him interested in space : the discovery of space itself. This feeling came originally from his history class, which he always had mild interest in, except for some parts like scientific revolutions. For a long time, he didn't consider Galileo Galilei as a hero, but at least as a huge source of inspiration.
And this is exactly what Ivan found in the study of Aztec artifacts. He was interested in commonly observable aspects like the materials used or the shape of the objects, but the part most interesting to him was what the items actually meant. For most, they represented the close relationship between the former civilization and the deities. He himself didn't realize it at first, but he started to find a profound link between mankind and gods. He wasn't a believer, but not an atheist either, and the study of ancient civilization kept this doubt awake long enough to make him consider what he really wanted to believe in.
However, all this theoritical process eventually came to the end, leading to practice. Somehow, Ivan felt that the idea of experiencing a physical link to deities was terrifying. He didn't give much thought about it, but he was happy with remaining a simple human, observing his environment. Unfortunately for him, this was not his decision to make. For the first time while exploring his father's collection, alone, his hand reached for one of the Aztec statues he spent a lot of time researching. As his hand gripped the middle of the carved item, he felt something intense, like a shock, in his entire body. That led him to immediately let go of the object, making it fall on the ground, followed by a panicked arm flail that knocked off a few items from the shelf he was examining. He rushed downstairs to call his father, but he wasn't there. He knew he had to clean his mess up, but was too scared because of what happened.
Looking up to the stairs leading to the attic, Ivan took a deep breath, as he was about to confront a horrifying monster hiding upstairs. As he started to move, quite in a hurry, he suddenly felt an immense rush, not unlike the first time he touched the Aztec figure. His hand grabbed the staircase ramp for support, who suddenly crumbled below his hand. This freaked out Ivan hard, who immediately let go of it. He just stood there, terrified of himself.
The more time passed, the more he felt a terrible dread settle inside him. What happened to him ? Why did any of what happened… happened ? Unaware of what other strange manifestation could occur, he carefully climbed up the stairs to the attic. He anxiously reached to the doorknob, and something else happened. As he approached his hand, the door started to crack, as he was forcing it with a ram. He couldn't lie to himself now : something was wrong with him. He didn't know if the appropriate emotion to feel was being scared or excited. But he suddenly could do things that normal people can't do. He was also terrified because he had no idea what his powers were. And as a result of them, he was already destroying his parents' house unintentionally. Suddenly, superpowers sounded way less cool than he imagined.
As he eventually reached the attic, without being able to stop himself from damaging the whole house around him where he put his hands, his eyes converged immediately in the direction of the Aztec artifact that gave him the shock that started everything. He started to walk towards the shelf, keeping his hands still as if they were bombs that could go off at any second. As he approached it, he slowly extended his right hand in an attempt to take the object off the ground, as he was struck by an immense feeling of anxiety. And just as he felt his heart constricting, the item started to crumble and eventually turn into a pile of dust just before his eyes, as he pulled back his hand towards him. Ivan then fell to his knees and started crying. He thought the life he knew was over.
Three years later, Ivan is still, to everyone else, a normal person. In fact, why would they even doubt that ? It's not like magic is real, anyway.
Unaware to most people, those three years were some of the worst Ivan experienced. The first one mostly consisted in hiding and going to open areas alone to determine what his powers really were. In his house, he repeatedly put the blame of his unwanted actions on falling objects causing destruction, and this was not a pleasant time for anyone in the household. At that time, Ivan also skipped class a bit too often, which caused all sorts of problems, but he managed to pull through thanks to his good grades. Thankfully, he managed to hide his powers fairly quick, which made him able to do things just like before the incident.
The second year was the year of experiments. Aside from his admission to university, Ivan spent a lot of time testing his limits. He got almost caught by the police once after setting a field on fire half-intentionally, because he tried to do it just by wishing so, to see if it worked. And yes, it worked. As time passed, he realized that he could be a superhero, if he wanted to. But he never went through with it, as he was never sure where his powers stopped, and he knew a misuse of powers could turn a superhero into a supervillain. Supervillain was a bad career choice, he thought. 'Life never ends well for them.'
His third year was mostly about going back to 'the normal world', which he did fairly easily. He had no problem hiding his powers, and even if he never used them when anyone was watching, he knew how to control them. It simply became a hobby of him, just as space was, now that it became his field of studies instead. Life went back to being great, after suffering for so long.
His (current) girlfriend was called Vanessa. She wasn't in college yet, and she met Ivan through a mutual friend, but they both like sharing knowledge between each other, sometimes taking for hours. He knew their relationship wasn't going to go anywhere, but he still felt satisfied with it, because it gave him a sense of humanity, more than anything else since the incident that made him become abnormal.
One time, as he was hanging out with Vanessa, they decided to stop by a supermarket to buy stuff for a party they were going to in the evening. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except for Ivan. He felt something he didn't even want to feel, something that made his heart suddenly constricted. He didn't know why, but he felt fear. And then, as if a holy voice told him to do so, he turned his head towards the entrance of the store.
Three masked individuals came into the store, armed with rifles. "Everyone freeze and raise your hands !" one of them shouted, and everyone else in the store did as instructed, clients and staff alike. While one of them went to grab some stuff in a bag starting from the register, the other two were holding people cashiers at gunpoint to make sure that nobody tries anything stupid. This included Ivan and Vanessa, the latter being terrified and scared for her life so much that she started sobbing. This angered one of the assailants, who got pissed off and reminded her to not move an inch, following his statement by pointing his rifle at her directly.
Ivan felt a mix of too many emotions at once. He was scared, but also extremely excited. Adrenaline spreaded in his entire body, preparing him for a fight he never knew he had to participate in. He trained so much for this moment. He could save everyone, drop off the mask of a normal person and become a superhero. For the first time, he really wanted it.
In one confident move, he raised his hand towards the robber holding Vanessa at gunpoint. The masked man suddenly was thrown back forcefully against the wall, as if suddenly hit by a truck. He died on the spot as his spine broke. The other one immediately turned towards Ivan and prepared to shoot. Just then, Ivan focused and looked at the second robber with what looked like intense anger. Suddenly, the entire body of the robber caught fire, and he let out an awful scream that could have woken up the dead. That robber managed to shot a couple bullets at Ivan, but they had no effect on him, and bounced off his body.
Ivan had a few seconds to contemplate what he just did. Adrenaline was slowly leaving his body, but then, something brought it back in full strength. Ivan heard gunshots coming from behind him. It was the third robber who went back to help his two partners. He opened up fire without thinking, hitting two store clerks and Vanessa, who was just behind Ivan's back. Ivan froze in shock, while bullets were being reflected by his motionless body, and he finally looked up at the last robber and gave him the same fate as the first one, this time multiple times and stronger every time. The robber's body was so messed up that he became unrecognizable.
He turned back at the survivors, and what he expected to be looks of gratitude turned out to be looks of shock and terror. Another store clerk, who was wounded but not mortally, had passed out, and all the other people looked at him. They were all horrified, not only by the scene that just occured but also at Ivan, the freak, the monster. "Why did you do this ?" asked one of the surviving shoppers between two sobs. Ivan knew it. He failed to protect the people around him. At this instant, he went back to square one : being an uncontrolable monster that had the potential to spread destruction around him.
During the following five minutes, everyone waited for the police to come, and no one came to see Ivan, who they all avoided like the plague. Some people cried, some people just stayed silent. They confirmed that the three people the third robber shot directly were, in fact, beyond saving. When the police came, one of the clerks stepped outside to talk with the leading officer. Ivan noticed that the lady was pointing at him, which resulted in the officer staring. The officer immediately drew his gun and pointed it at Ivan. "Stand up, arms in the air !" Ivan followed through. He said "that's not what you think" "We'll see about that", replied the officer.
Ivan assumed he was being transported to the police station, but after driving towards it, they eventually went past it. The leading officer was receiving orders on the radio that Ivan could not hear. He really didn't like this situation.
"Where are you bringing me to ?" he asked.
"You will see." the officer replied.
After a good ten minutes of driving on uncommon roads, the car pulled over near a field. There was nothing around, no habitations, and definitely not a single soul. Ivan didn't like what was going to happen. He got out of the car, still with his hands cuffed, and followed the officer who ordered him to walk into the field with him. After a while, they could barely see the car any more. Then the officer told Ivan to stop walking.
"So, you're immune to bullets ?" the officer asked.
"Did the clerk tell you that ?"
"No, she didn't mention it. My superior told me. You're a special case, you know."
Ivan was completely lost. All along, he thought that no one would every know about his powers. But yet, some people were aware. How ?
"Why do you think we let you go when you burned a field two years ago ?"
Again, Ivan was completely dumbfounded. And he didn't like where this was going.
"You knew it was me ?"
The officer laughed, then pulled out his gun and pointed it at Ivan.
"You're not like the other kids your age. You have powers, right ?" he asked rethorically. "You've always been a pain in the ass. Since your little arson, we had to monitor you all this time to see if you made a move. We wanted to believe in you, they wanted to believe that you would never do something stupid. Personally, I never did, and I was right."
This revelation brought intense anxiety to Ivan, who started to feel scared for his own life, for the first time in years.
"You know you can't kill me with this gun !" Ivan said in an attempt to intimidate the officer.
"With these bullets, I can. According to one of our 'experts', those specially crafted mahogany bullets can ignore your powers, so we kept some of them just in case."
"An expert ?"
"Yes, your father. He's really knowledgeable about this stuff, you know ?"
Ivan was shocked. During these three years, he thought he was tricking everyone, and worked to become normal again, for the sole purpose of keeping safe the people he cared about. The metaphorical backstab felt real to him, and this amplified the anxiety he felt, who became mixed with anger.
"Sorry, Ivan. We tried."
Ivan looked at the officer, eyes filled with hate. He broke the handcuffs, and with a swift move raised his hands, and suddenly, the gun turned into dust. Suddenly panicked, the officer let out a "Shit !" and started to run, but Ivan didn't want to. The officer fell and yelled as much as he could. His left leg slowly started to turn into dust, and he was feeling this excruciating pain all over his body. Eventually, the entire officer's body turned into dust, and Ivan watched him die.
Ivan felt no remorse. To him, humanity blew away their chance of protection. But as the anger provoked by the revelation faded away, he realized he did not feel hate. He didn't want to turn into a villain. So he made a decision. Or more precisely, he conformed to what he thought society's decision was. From this moment on, he was considered an outcast.
Six years had passed since then, and once again Ivan was leading a completely different life. For a long time now, Ivan had lived secluded in the mountains. There was not a moment where he didn't feel the regret of not living a normal, but fulfilling life. Maybe getting married. Maybe getting a PhD, and making an amazing breakthrough in Astrophysics. Maybe gaining the trust of his family. As much as he tried to shove those feelings away, they would live eternally inside him.
He got up from his makeshift bed, feeling the same as how he felt everyday. His body didn't fear any illness and could adapt to any environment or temperature. Ivan didn't want to kill himself, but he felt like that he should have never been there. In the mountains, he used his powers freely, not causing any harm to anyone. Sometimes, he went on small adventures, but was careful not to cross anyone's path. He was vaguely aware that an international warrant was filed against him, but the real reason is that he didn't want to hurt people any more.
One day, as he was sitting in front of his campfire, he started to fall asleep, just as the flame stopped burning. He briefly thought that this was kind of a poetic metaphor for death, but he was still alive and well. He knew he couldn't be killed anyway. He simply closed his eyes, trying to find sleep. Suddenly, the flame started to burn once again. He noticed it just before falling asleep, and he knew this didn't come from him. He raised up his eyes and saw a man standing there, in front of him.
The man didn't introduce himself, as if there was no need to. He just smiled and said to Ivan :
"You too, huh ?"
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