[ WP ] A world where kids dream of being accountants , cashiers , bank managers etc . In the adulthood their dreams are crushed when they have to become astronauts , cowboys , ninjas etc .

The first sign of something amiss was at his CPA exam, when he crushed his pencil. Not snapped it. Crushed it. Into dust. 
 
 The second sign was immediately after. While he stared at the pencil dust in disbelief. It caught on fire, as a result of what would later be called his voluntary optical infrared emissions. 
 
 The third sign was being able to hold a small fire in his hand with no pain, and no burning. At one point later in his career he would withstand molten steel as if it were nothing. But on this day the shock of discovery was too much, and he passed out. 
 
 When he woke up he saw a ring of concerned faces. Concerned, but pitying. They knew. Knew what he was. Knew he would never again feel the joy of tabulation. The hot sweats that come from a balanced ledger. The enduring joy of an audit. He'd be fitted for a cape, cast away to the skies. His days would be the endless tedium of stopping the mad alien races, escorting mole men to the depths, and caretaking those who really mattered. 
 
 When, much later, he was crushed under the boot of Sarnac, the world destroyer, he had saved 1,245,574 people directly. He'd counted. The earth had been rescued from certain annihilation 4 times. An easy sum. He had carefully taken 423 cats from trees and returned them to their owner, every one a mark in the ledger in his head. But his last thoughts were of none of this. It was regret that filled his mind as his fingers stretched. A powerful hand fell, powerless, reaching for the pencil that had forever eluded his grasp.
