HER FUTURE VILLAIN

Sparkles burst forth from the diamond ring on her right-hand index finger, the sharp reflection flashing across her face like lightning. She squinted but kept her eyes fixed on the dazzling jewel. Her heartbeat raced in a furious rhythm, heat rushing to her head and stirring her insides.

Trepidation, sadness, and dread weighed her down. This couldn’t be happening. All around her echoed the anxious voice of Betty Callman, the CBO Network reporter.

Dressed in suede blazers, the red-haired newscaster reeled out one disastrous headline after another from the TV screen. The viewer’s thoughts drifted into an abyss of grief as she listened to the grim description of Doomsday.

“About 200 people are feared dead and scores are missing from the wreckage. Rescue teams and firefighters are still trying to save survivors while searching for others who may be trapped. In the meantime, the federal government has declared a state of emergency across the country with immediate effect. This comes after three renowned buildings collapsed in less than two months, in addition to two plane crashes last month.”

“We will continue to bring updates from the accident scenes in our subsequent reports. This is Betty Callman, reporting for CBO Network.”

Tears slid down her cheeks, but she ignored them. Her storm-tossed mind needed resuscitation, and the only solution she could think of was The Astral Craft.

The sound from the TV cut off as the screen went blank. She realized she was still holding the remote, her thumb pressed on the power button longer than necessary.

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Ellen woke up from her nightmare, drenched in sweat and panic. Slowly, she opened her eyes wide and sat up in bed. She climbed down and went into the bathroom. Turning on the faucet, she bent down to wash her face, letting the cool water calm her. She felt a little better, but the dread from her horrific dream refused to leave her.

She turned off the faucet and stared at her own reflection in the mirror. At once, Ellen knew what she had to do. The very thought of taking that step unsettled her, yet in the face of such bizarre circumstances, she felt she had no choice.

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A pair of deep-set blue eyes behind thick-rimmed glasses studied Ellen intently, but she didn’t care. Her mind was made up. It was now or never.

The world was crumbling faster than a house of cards, and no one seemed willing to save it from extinction. What would be left for the generations to come if her own generation allowed the planet to fall apart? If nothing changed, future heirs would inherit nothing but bleakness and ruin.

She, Ellen Gadscar, would bell the cat and damn the consequences. Her future children deserved a world worth living in, and she would make sure they had something to hold on to.

“…are you sure about what you’re about to do?” asked the woman with the deep-set eyes. Her words were slow and deliberate, but her solitary audience had drifted away in thought.

“Huh? Were you saying something?” Ellen asked absently, snapping out of her reverie.

The older woman sighed and shook her head sadly.

“You’re not even listening, are you, Ellen?” she said, her voice edged with concern.

“I’m sorry. I was lost in thought,” Ellen replied, guilt softening her tone.

“Are you listening to yourself?” the woman pressed.

“Mariene, I can’t be myself until I make this journey and see the future for myself,” Ellen said defensively, an icy edge creeping into her voice.

Why couldn’t her mentor—who was also her mother in every way that mattered—understand her? This was something she needed to do. Why was it so hard for Mariene to accept?

“It’s dangerous. You may never be able to return,” Mariene warned, her tone like a mother hen shielding her chick.

“I told you a million times already, I’ll be fine!” Ellen almost yelled, exasperated by Mariene’s caution. “I’m a superhero, for goodness’ sake! And I have the ring and the magic belt with me.”

“Nobody can save the future from its destiny,” Mariene said quietly, unfazed by Ellen’s outburst.

“What you saw in your dreams—the earthquakes, car crashes, collapsing buildings, bomb explosions, mass shootings, terrorism, all those horrors—were written long before the world was formed. No one, no matter how powerful, can change the future, just as no one can alter the present. Stay out of this, Ellen. Let the universe decide. You may be a superhero, but you were destined to save lives, not time itself.”

“Isn’t that what I’m trying to do—save lives by saving the future?” Ellen shot back. “If I can use the Astral Craft to see what’s coming and stop it, maybe we can spare the next generations the ruins I saw in my dreams. If these tragedies continue, the earth will be left empty, and how would the future rebuild? Where would they even start?”

In her mind, Ellen could already see herself aboard the Astral Craft, soaring into the future—but Mariene stood in her way.

“You won’t like what you find there,” Mariene warned softly, her voice laced with a touch of sorrow.

“What difference does it make?” Ellen countered. “I don’t like what I’m seeing now. In just a few months, more than a thousand people will die. Billions of dollars will be lost. I can’t watch this happen anymore, or I’ll go crazy and do something reckless. If everyone else wants to cower, then superhero Ellen will stand apart.”

Mariene exhaled heavily and shook her head. It was official—her mentee of twenty-three years was irredeemable. She felt a wave of pity for the young woman. Ellen’s mission was bound to fail; Mariene had foreseen it in her visions. She knew Ellen’s intentions were noble, but her recklessness could become her undoing.

Mariene herself was a forty-seven-year-old superhero who kept her true identity hidden from the world. To maintain her cover, she worked as a lecturer in psychology at a New York university. She had met Ellen as a three-month-old orphan whose parents died in a car crash. Mariene adopted the child, and years later discovered her foster daughter’s supernatural abilities. From that moment, she vowed to protect Ellen and train her to use her gifts for the good of humanity. So far, she had succeeded.