he town sits in the valley of two mountains, permanently blanketed by the shadows of the twin structures. The man sits near the edge of the village, dangling his feet over the edge of the roof. Calm, stoic. Waiting for dusk. Rays of the sun that are so rare in this village fade away, and the man stands up. Leather rubs against leather as he jumps to the ground, his feet crunching on the stone path, leaving spiderwebs.

He walks slowly, taking in everything the village has to offer. Two rows of houses, mixtures of wood, brick, and stone. Shops have closed, businesses have retired for the day, and people are already inside their homes, preparing for bed. Thud. Thud. Thud. Everything is quiet now, no life, no movement, nothing. Just the man and the motionless village. He closes his eyes, and the village fades away. Just himself. A pinpoint of energy in the vast quietness of the village. He focuses on his heartbeat, his mind, the veins and arteries that twist and turn through his body. His trachea and esophagus, his respiratory system, circulatory system. It is only him now. Time to begin, he calmy thinks. His consciousness is drifting. Floating. Powerful.

Right now, the man is in full control of his body. He can feel every process in his body, even the autonomous ones: digestion, heartbeat. He starts the process known as posse in corpus: Empowerment of the body. First is the respiratory system. Cells and nerves twist, break, and group together as his trachea and lungs expand, limits of the human body broken. Waves of strength surge through him, his levels of oxygen quadrupled with his ability. Next is his circulatory system. He consciousness dives through layers of muscle and fat, reaching a fast-beating hub of blood. Blood pounds through his head as his heart rate increased, tripling in speed. A sound is forced from him, a primal roar, the need for pent up energy from his body to be released.

The sound echoes around the village. People stir, but then fall asleep. This village is peaceful. No crime incidents in its history. Why would there be one tonight? Yet, hidden from them, a monster lurks. A man who has forced his body to disobey laws set to protect humans from themselves, to restrict power. Yet he has broken them, increasing the vitals of life his body can hold. His body now grows, bone and tendons expanding. Muscles bulge. Veins pop. He takes a single step, his foot smashing dirt and stone and a ditch appears underneath him.

Chunks of stone and wood spew out into the night air, the village slowly being ripped apart by the rampaging beast. No one is able to stop it. There are no guards, no troops to defend, nothing to protect the village against the man. Houses are ripped apart by raw, bare hands, lights are snuffed out by his touch, signs of the living are completely erased. The village falls silently in the night, all sounds and signs of destruction muffled by the two mountains encompassing it.
Dawn comes, an empty sunrise that should symbolize a new beginning but instead just highlights the death and destruction of the village in the mountains, showcasing the marks left behind by the man.