[ WP ] A person gains a superpower through an accident , and must decide if they will be a superhero or a supervillain .

Morality. Mortality. In a man's life, there always comes a point in time when a choice has to be made between the two. This I know from all my time spent observing men and their lives. 
 
 These are the two basic forces governing the world. Kill to live or die for your morals. Without one, the other can not exist. Thus, an immortal being is also without morals. This I learned from my early centuries of immortality. 
 
 The ritual that took my life and twisted my soul was inherently flawed, or at least, that's what I first thought. The king's alchemists had succeeded in the creation of a perfect elixir, but the process that they first used to imbibe it within a human was flawed in that they used non-living bodies as cornerstones. These bodies had no life; the alchemists theorized that since there was no beginning for life, there would be no end. In this they were right. 
 
 I was not a mere test subject. What good would it be for a peasant to attain eternal life? No, I was the king's son, bloated with ambition. I wanted a way to cement my rule as king once my father inevitably died. I would live on, a legendary, immortal king, ruling his kingdom forever, with no chance of being assassinated, overthrown, or dying and passing on my kingdom to someone less worthy. No, I would have been a living god. All that lust for power was pointless. I understand that now. 
 
 I awoke in a dark, confined space that smelled of must and decay. I realized that this must be my coffin. I had died during the ritual and the king had seen fit to bury me. I was not buried as the son of the king, but secretly, so that none would know how or why I had died. I know that I should have felt rage. At the very least, I should have felt fear. But I had no concept of my own emotion. I understood emotion, but I could not feel it. I could not feel pain. I could not feel joy. I was beyond envy, lust, gluttony, wrath, greed, sloth, and pride. I became a being ruled by pure logic dictated by knowledge and circumstance, and in that way, I ceased to be human. 
 
 I spent the next few weeks doing the logical thing, waiting for something to happen. Eventually, something did. An ambitious graverobber realized that the dead prince would have some of his worldly possessions buried with him. Alas, I was buried only in the garments I wore on the day of the ritual. The man was surprised when he opened the coffin and I opened my eyes. I could not expose my existence to the rest of the world, so I disposed of him with a quick blow to the base of his neck. I stuffed his body into my own coffin and reburied it. 
 
 Logically, I could no longer interact with humanity. I could, however, observe them. I became a spectator of the world. In the early years, I watched my father as he tried to repeat my own experiment, while banning the topic of eternal life everywhere else in the kingdom. This time, test subjects were used, disused and disposed of. A crucial component was added, however. Living humans were used instead of corpses for cornerstones. All of them died during the ritual, and the alchemists viewed all of these as failures. I, however, knew the truth. 
 
 I dug up every failed test subject and watched as they revived and found themselves virtually immortal. Unlike myself, however, the others retained emotions. However, each one was an immortal body tied to and governed by a single emotion. None were perfect beings like myself. There were the males, formerly prisoners bound for the gallows, namely Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Greed, Sloth, and Pride. There were also the females, the king's own daughters, my former stepsisters, namely Kindness, Love, Self-Control, Joy, Generosity, Industry, and Humility. 
 
 I tried to equip each of them before setting them upon their own paths. Even though their bodies were basically immortal, I knew that their all-too-human emotions would one day destroy each of them. Because of this, none of them were true immortals, merely failed experiments. 
 
 For millennia, I watched as they controlled and influenced the world and the people living in it. I watched as the deadly seven ravaged the world. I watched as the seven sisters added humanity to it. For millenia, this went on. As the fourteen created and destroyed, I observed, becoming wiser and gaining more knowledge. I never interacted with humanity, merely staying in the shadows, usually in the guise of a street beggar, or other such insignificant person of no interest. 
 
 I watched as the evil seven grew in the hearts of humanity. I watched as the benign seven accepted this and did their best to keep their namesakes alive. Nothing could stop the innate evil that was man's nature. This I knew. The sisters also knew this. They refused to give in to circumstance. Morality over mortality. Thus began the downfall of all the good in mankind. 
 
 Approximately three thousand years after I took my first immortal breath, the seven sisters were nowhere to be seen. Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Greed, Sloth, and Pride had taken over the human race. I had long since retreated to a remote cave, for it would only be a matter of time before a human infected with the plague of sin started seeking eternal life. Mortality over morality. Besides, I had grown tired of watching the endless parade of sin without the respite of goodness, as I would have been tired of an endless paradise of goodness without sin. I knew though, that good still existed somewhere in the world, for without one, the other can not exist. 
 
 On an otherwise ordinary day, I sensed an old woman entering my cave. It was Love, come to seek me out. She brought with her an infant, swathed in a roughly woven wool cloth. 
 
 `` Love,'' I said, `` To what do I owe this visit to?'' 
 
 `` I am getting tired, my brother,'' she replied with a smile, `` Sin's onslaught has taken its toll on humanity. Good has all but withered.'' 
 
 `` This I can see,'' I said. 
 
 `` I know you can,'' she laughed, `` Omniscience is your hobby, after all.'' 
 
 `` But I can still miss some things,'' I added, gesturing to the child she brought. 
 
 `` Ah yes,'' she said, turning her loving gaze to the infant, `` I have come to ask a favor of you.'' 
 
 `` Speak,'' I said, `` I can not guarantee I'll fulfill it, for if it is not logical, it is against my nature.'' 
 
 `` I do not have long in this world,'' she said, `` The sins of man have made sure of that. My sisters and I have all felt it.'' 
 
 `` Speaking of your sisters,'' I said, `` Where might they be?'' 
 
 `` Dead,'' she replied, sorrow clouding her features, `` Or at least, their bodies are.'' 
 
 `` Intriguing.'' 
 
 `` Well, we had one last trick up our sleeve. Do you remember how we were created?'' 
 
 `` How could I forget?'' 
 
 `` My sisters sacrificed themselves to imbibe their essences into this child.'' 
 
 For the first time since becoming immortal, I was surprised. 
 
 `` My favor, my dear brother is that you take the child. I can not care for her anymore.'' Her hands shook as she passed the baby to me. I had never before held an infant. 
 
 `` I can not take the child,'' I said, `` I am a true immortal. The moment I choose between mortality and morality, I will cease to be.'' 
 
 `` Then make your choice,'' she sighed, slumping to the floor. I knew she was dying. I also knew it was inevitable. Trembling, she reached out to the child. `` Her name is Hope.'' Her trembling hand slowly fell, and Love's eyes closed for a final time. Thus, Love's body died and her essence flowed into the child named Hope. 
 
 The child began wailing. I had to make a choice. Would I give Hope to mankind and watch it grow and flourish, bringing balance to the world, or would I prevent Hope from entering a world of sin, watching as mankind spiraled towards its obvious, logical conclusion? 
 
 For the first time in millennia, I had to make a choice. Kill mankind to live or die for its morals? 
 
 Morality. Mortality. In a man's life, there always comes a point in time when a choice has to be made between the two. This I know from all my time spent observing men and their lives. 
 
 With the wisdom of the ages, I made my choice.
