Chapter 3 — An Unbalanced World
January 2023
Humanity took less than twenty-four hours to descend into panic.
One person with powers would have been a miracle.
Twenty-nine, an existential threat.
The confirmation was clear and irrefutable:
A single person with superhuman abilities per country.
No more. No less.
Governments reacted first.
The people, after.
Colombia
Juan Camilo was classified as a National Strategic Asset.
Not as a citizen.
Not as an individual.
They didn't attempt to capture him.
Because the reports all agreed on a single phrase:
There is no human weaponry capable of neutralizing him, and those believed capable were not cost-effective.
United States
Theirs was "diplomatically escorted." Psychologists, strategists and lawyers surrounded him.
—A single man is worth more than a fleet —they admitted in private.
China
There were no announcements.
Their superhuman disappeared from public view.
Control was absolute.
Russia
They called him the new deterrent.
—Bombs can be intercepted —said a general—.
—A person cannot.
Brazil
The population idolized him.
But the military watched with concern.
The United Nations
In a closed session, a phrase was spoken that would never be made public:
Humanity remains in charge…
but no longer in the same way.
Juan Camilo
He turned off the television.
He looked at his hands.
He understood something with absolute clarity:
He had not chosen to be different.
But the world had already decided what it meant that he was.
And somewhere on the planet, someone was thinking exactly the same thing as him.
Important notice: This work is a work of fiction. The characters, events and dialogues described herein are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real persons, including public figures such as presidents, political leaders or institutions, is used solely for narrative purposes and is not intended to reflect real events or opinions about such persons or entities. It should not be interpreted as a faithful representation of reality, but as part of a fictional universe.
