Power.

Such a seemingly simple word. One that had so many meanings and repercussions, every part of human history could be traced back to it. Pure strength, a commanding presence, the ability to bend the world to your every whim. Once, entire armies were needed for that.

Once, gargantuan militaries or economic might was what one needed for that feeling, that goal to be accomplished.

But the world evolved. Society evolved. And so did power.

Feats once considered mythical were as close to mundane as they could be. Single people, or small groups, wielded the capability to move mountains and had the capability to expertly manipulate and move the elements.

Where once stood soldiers and myths of gods and monsters, now stood heroes and villains.

But power, power wasn’t just raw strength and element manipulation. Oh no. There was also something smaller, more subtle.

That was where I fit in. The power to project myself, somewhat like a hologram, to a being whose blood I had ingested. Physically revolting, and not at all terribly impressive, but certainly useful for my purposes.

That was how I had found myself in a large farm, with barely grown crops and animals, staring at the one-armed, sickly thin figure of the man I had been tracking down for the past three years. It appeared that disappointment was going to be a constant in my journey.

And he wasn’t even looking at me, crouching down to inspect his badly grown… I couldn’t even tell what it was trying to be.

“It might not look like much, but considering I never even went near a farm in my youth, I’d say the fact that it’s not burning to the ground is a good sign,” he said in a quiet, raspy voice, one that was evidently not used in years.

I smirked. “You look different than I expected, but you certainly have some edge to you.”

I felt it before I saw it. My form was not solid, but I still could slightly feel its interactions. His lower arm went through what was supposed to be my neck. But I didn’t see him stand up, or even move at all apart from some tensing in his seemingly weak form.

“Your form might have lessened, but your power certainly hasn’t,” I said, getting a better look at him. Overalls, and a white t-shirt that was a size too big, and a gaunt face with unreadable eyes, shaggy greying hair and a pure white beard.

“You’re not with Atlantis, or any of the Hero Associations,” he said thoughtfully. “And I’m pretty sure that the organizations of my day are as much a relic of the past as the people they fought. So what business do the Houses of Doom have with me?”

I let out a small laugh. For someone like him, who seemingly hadn’t seen any action in as long as I had been alive to still be so sharp-witted and ready for action… If I didn’t hate everything he stood for I would be impressed.

“It’s been nearly forty years since your time,” I said as I walked past him. I tried to search for any clues as to where he was, but there seemed to be nothing on the horizon. No roads, no other houses, nothing. Just a small house, a stereotypical barn and the man’s crops.

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It was as if he had just dropped this barn in the middle of a desert.

“The Houses of Doom are in hiding, gathering their forces, as you are. As for me, I will join them. And through the unity of our forces and intellect, we shall bring forth a new dawn for our world, and crush the hero society once and for all!”

“I wouldn’t suppose you’re here for my help,” said the man, walking past me, through me, and crouched down to his pathetic crops once again. “You don’t even know who I am. If I were a betting man, I’d say that you barely have enough proof to support your claims regarding the Houses as well.”

I took a deep breath, careful not to snap at the man. And not because he was right, no, rather, because he wasn’t. He thought I was a fool, going in unprepared to face off against this nearly inconceivable mission.

Technically though, he wasn’t wrong about one thing. I didn’t know his name, or anything about his identity really, apart from a single piece of information.

“During the war, the heroic forces used you. They used you in secret. Even the villains’ grandest plans or force couldn’t take you down, although they clearly did make a dent. You have barely aged since nineteen-ninety-six. You might just be the most powerful being on Earth but I, I will stop you,” I said, growing more audibly bitter with each passing word.

My and Rosita’s visit to that base had been both fruitful and fruitless at the same time. The vast majority of the reports and information there had been deleted, and even what was there was incomplete.

Mentions of this man were there, some corrupted videos and incomplete articles and memoirs.

They were heavily coded and corrupted, but they were not impossible to solve, and I was willing to fight, cheat, steal, lie to and manipulate whoever was in my way in order to get to the truth.

Because hidden there was a way to bring borth unparalleled conquest as well as defeat him. Instructions to make something, to make someone…

The man began to laugh, loudly, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“What in the devil’s name do you find so funny?” I snapped at the man’s crouching form, unable to contain my annoyance and anger at him.

He got up once more, and turned to me, a smug smile decorating his dishevelled, bony, downright repulsive figure.

“You are a fool that doesn’t understand anyone or anything in the world,” he said, looking up at the sky wistfully. “I was like you once, and you want to know my end? A man destroyed my arm simply by touching it with his bare hands. I was lucky to have survived.”

“Do you have a point or are you just trying to get me to feel sorry for you?” I said to him, my mind now half made-up on just leaving him alone. The other half, of course, was simple curiosity, and it ended up winning.

“Heroes and villains don’t matter. Power doesn’t matter. It’s either order, or chaos. Those are the absolutes. I seek order, I am order. And order will always prevail,” he said, and I had to admit I was taken aback.

Not because of his words, no.

But due to the way he spoke. It wasn’t like he believed in what he said, or that he considered it fact. It was as if that was a truth of the universe and I had no right to question it.

But, after I composed myself, I let out a chuckle of my own. “Well then, Order. You still seem pretty cocky to me. But I’m not going to be your enemy, oh no, you can think of me as… Frankenstein, and it will be my monster that you will have to worry about.”

“Frankenstein?” laughed the man. “Order against Frankenstein. May the best man win.”

I didn’t know who he was but that didn’t matter. He was just another obstacle, like the heroes that roamed the streets, seas and the skies.

And I would destroy him alongside them, nothing would stand in my way. Not now.

Because I was finally there. I had finally reached the beginning of my story.