Humanity
Story
Castor Walters, a school student, scorns at the quote "Hell is empty and all the demons are here" while joking with his friends at the back of the class, as they get scolded by their Literature teacher. Meanwhile, several people all over the world suddenly begin developing superpowers. Castor gets excited, saying that there can be superheroes and fun. However, a schoolmate whom Castor had almost gotten expelled by reporting him to the principal for repeated plagiarism breaks into his next class and murders the teacher by strangling him with plants. Castor runs out of class and realises that several students and teachers have gotten similar powers and are now attacking one another. Castor runs through the canteen and is pinned down by Balthazar Atwater, the same student who murdered the teacher. Anthony Johnson, Castor's friend, saves him and pushes Balthazar off Castor. Castor begins sprinting home, with only his smartphone and wallet in hand.
CHAPTER 1: COWARDICE
A few days later, Castor hides out at home as he sees the world in utter chaos as people kill those without powers. Castor theorises that the power makes the people into devils and the power controls them, making them evil. Castor, a bookworm, decides that the world needs a hero to save it from the evil power and sets out, not knowing his parents' whereabouts. He meets Trevor Quentin, a superpowered person who helps those in need. Castor befriends him and tells him his theory, believing that Trevor is a special case that was unaffected and hence, 'the chosen one' to save the world. The duo set out to find others and Trevor warms up to the idea. However, Trevor soon makes a name for himself and several 'devils' chase the duo. Trevor leads Castor to keep first watch for the night. Castor, however, flees in terror upon seeing the devils, leaving Trevor to his fate.
CHAPTER 2: SELFISHNESS
A year later, Castor finds out that a few mortals, those without superpowers, have developed a gun that can kill the 'devils', who were previously unaffected by normal weapons. Castor begins to hunt down these people to take the gun. He gets information from a 'devil' that was shot, and realises that the gun does not kill them but takes away their powers. Castor believes that this would return them to normal. He teams up with the former devil, whose last name is Hunter. Castor and Hunter use Hunter's description of one of the men who shot him to track him down. Castor and Hunter extract information from him about the whereabouts of the gun. Hunter kills the man, and Castor argues with Hunter, saying that killing the man was morally wrong. Hunter reveals that not only was he shot, but they used him as a test subject to develop a 'cure' for his 'affliction'. The man they captured was his jailor, and had frequently traumatised Hunter. Castor tells Hunter that he only cares about the gun and not Hunter, and Hunter angrily storms off. However, the people who developed the gun had tracked the both of them down from a tracker they kept in the jailor's shirt and beat Hunter. Castor holds one of them at knifepoint and obtains the gun, before running off with the gun and Hunter. Hunter dies along the way, revealing his first name in his final moments, but Castor doesn't hear him, instead focusing on how to duplicate the gun.
CHAPTER 3: BETRAYAL
A few months after Hunter's death, Castor privately celebrates his birthday(December 3rd) and hears a noise in the bushes. Readying the gun, he near the bush when he finds out that it was Anthony, who had escaped the school. Castor lies to Anthony saying that his time was uneventful except for the gun. He shares his theory with Anthony who gets offended, as he has powers and did nothing bad. They both hijack a truck and drive to a store, to work on duplicating the gun. Anthony decides that they need to find the lab where the original gun was produced. Castor remembers where the lab was as his and Hunter's former captive had told them. Anthony gets the feeling that Castor was lying about his years being uneventful as Castor wouldn't have known about the lab's location. The duo break into the lab and find the blueprints for the gun, and Anthony stalls the lab workers with his fire powers while Castor steals the necessary components. They break out but are caught. Anthony makes a deal that in exchange for their release, they would give back the guns and blueprints and run away. Castor prepares to run, but it is revealed that Anthony had actually exchanged Castor for the guns and his power. Castor shouts at Anthony, telling him that this proves Castor's theory that the power makes them evil, but Anthony reveals that he had turned on Castor because the lab workers told him about Hunter and how Castor had cared about the gun more than Hunter. Anthony says that he, like Castor, had cared more about the guns than his companion, and tells Castor that he(Castor) wasn't an innocent victim but a hypocrite. Castor is shocked into silence as he is dragged away by the lab workers.
CHAPTER 4: WRATH
Three years later, a lapse in security leads to Castor escaping from the prison he was contained in. Angry and betrayed, he sets out to find Anthony. Meanwhile, Anthony is warned by the lab workers of Castor's escape and fortifies his home to prepare for Castor's revenge. Castor manipulates a homeless man to enter Anthony's house, and Anthony temporarily takes down the protections. Castor breaks in and brutally attacks Anthony in hand-to-hand combat, stealing the guns from Anthony. A severely wounded Anthony escapes from Castor, who rests for a few days before continuing the chase. Along the way, Castor encounters a few 'devils' and sees them incinerating a building. One of them turns to face Castor and Castor recognises him as his own Literature teacher, who was previously unaffected. Castor realises that the 'devils' can make other people into the 'devils' and watches it happen to a village. The Literature teacher attempts to convert Castor but Castor escapes. Castor helps a few mortals escape from a mysterious devil who took residence there. Castor realises that the devil was Balthazar, who was injured by Anthony. Balthazar and Castor team up to find and kill Anthony. Anthony makes contact with the lab who are also searching for Castor. They tell Anthony that Castor was more dangerous than before. However, Anthony dismisses it and focuses on finding Castor. Balthazar locates Anthony and calls Castor. Castor arrives just in time to see Anthony burn Balthazar. Anthony stabs Castor, and Castor's intestines spill out. Castor reveals that the experiments conducted by the lab workers led to him becoming a 'devil'; his power is animals: he can talk with them and adopt their characteristics. Castor tells Anthony that a sea cucumber can expel its internal organs and still survive and stands up with the gun, shooting Anthony and taking away his fire powers. Anthony begs for mercy and asks Castor not to kill him. Castor instead spits venom in Anthony's eyes, and bites off his ears before using porcupine quills to cut Anthony's mouth, effectively rendering him deaf, dumb, and blind. He then leaves Anthony in the care of medical workers, before flying off.
CHAPTER 5: MORALITY
After taking his revenge on Anthony, Castor flees to an unknown country, where he crash-lands into a building. He is rescued by a brother and sister-Mark and Vanessa Wilkes. Mark and Vanessa are 'devils' who feel that life is simpler now. Castor says that the power they have is evil and causes destructive impulses-Vanessa, however, disagrees with Castor, arguing that Castor has kept the power. Vanessa says that humanity is dark and twisted-who they were could only be seen when they were placed in an environment where there was no repercussions. Mark tells several stories to Castor, each of which show that the power wasn't evil but the wielders were. Castor tells him that these stories are fictional and Mark doesn't deny it. The weather conditions worsen and Mark, Castor and Vanessa seek shelter in an abandoned building. However, the building breaks down and Castor and Vanessa escape; Mark dies. Vanessa cries over Mark's death and Castor comforts her. Castor suddenly has a strange dream that night and has a headache the next morning. He and Vanessa realise that their powers had faded away overnight, and so had everyone else's. Castor theorises that the storm had taken away people's powers. Day by day, the world returns to normal. However, Castor still gets mild headaches from time to time. Things get stranger as Castor doesn't age at all and neither does Vanessa. Castor realises that the happenings are too strange and finds that the stories of Mark are becoming real but the negative endings are now positive. Finally, Castor asks Vanessa what her power was and she replies that it was to control weather. Castor realises that she lied as she would have stopped the storm that killed Mark and opens her diary, finding that her power is to create illusions. Castor realises the she created an utopia and trapped them in it, and confronts her. He tells her that what she did was wrong and she asks him what right and wrong was. Unable to answer, Castor remains silent. Vanessa reveals that all of Mark's stories were based off true events. Castor finally breaks free, leaving Vanessa stuck in her own illusion. Castor flies away, with Vanessa's question ringing in his head.
CHAPTER 6: VENGEANCE
Castor lands back among the wreckage of his school, feeling sad. The area has been taken by devils, and Castor visits his old house, which was trashed during Castor's imprisonment. Castor meets a young child, who was being bullied by other demons, and saves him. The child's name is Samuel, and Castor befriends him due to a mutual love for animals. However, the devils begin to attack Castor, and he and Samuel fortify their position. The devils, led by a mysterious monster, start breaking through the defenses. Only a handful of devils remain, and Castor and Samuel attack them using the guns. It is revealed that their leader is Trevor, who had survived the attack but was scarred for life. Trevor singlehandedly kills Samuel and Castor, enraged, murders Trevor. He comes to his senses and breaks down, realising that he murdered someone.
CHAPTER 7: APATHY
The remaining mortals equip themselves with similar guns and begin to remove the powers of devils. The world is driven into a civil war, and several workers start gunning for Castor. Castor begins to kill the workers, joining up with the devils. Some of the devils defect to the side of the humans; the two sides are in a pitched battle, with those who lost their power joining up with the mortals. Several of the devils fall day after day, and Castor befriends a few other devils: Terence Hayes, Adrian Wallace, and Mary McAllister. They make up a squadron and kill several humans. However, the devils begin sustaining casualties and think of negotiating peace. Castor sees through the trap but the rest of the devils don't see it. They go to negotiate peace and get massacred, with Castor watching them. Castor realises that he feels no remorse for letting them walk to their deaths.
EPILOGUE
20 years after the war, Castor is the last devil left alive, and the world returned to normal. The time was called World War III, and the children were going to school again. Castor is called into his neighbour's house because their child wants an interview for a History assignment. Castor tells the child that the war did a lot of things. The child asks whether Castor was good or bad, to which Castor asks Vanessa's question. He then elaborates that good and bad were only what society saw-he draws several examples of prejudice. The child asks Castor if that was why he didn't come out often and tells Castor that there are people who symbolise good and are human. Castor smiles and tells the boy that he doesn't believe it, saying that "Hell is empty and all the demons are here."
Characters
Castor Walters
Anthony Johnson
Trevor Quentin
Balthazar Atwater
Mark Wilkes
Vanessa Wilkes
Hunter
Terence Hayes
Adrian Wallace
Mary McAllister