[b][i]Mosul, 2016[/i][/b]

Lucas looked over the ruins of the city, filled to the brim with corpses, both Muslim and Christian, and saw that whatever the differences in faith, their killers were the same - people who presented themselves as the public face of their religion, yet killed more of their co-religionists than people of other faiths. So many people he couldn't save, so many people dead because of him, because he wasn't good enough, because he wasn't strong enough, because he didn't have the right set of [i]powers[/i]. What good was it to have power if one cannot use it to protect innocents? With a series of gestures, he gathered the nearby rainclouds, and made it rain on his city block. The water would wash the blood away, at the very least.

[i]Remember this,[/i] Lucas remembered his father saying, [i]Absolute, Objective Good does exist. However, human [b]sight[/b] of that Good is with flawed eyes, meaning that our attempts to promote said good must be fraught with caution; do not trust even our Church [b]blindly[/b]; use reason and love in conjunction.[/i] Lucas had ignored those lessons; still ignored them now.

"I know what is right; why isn't that enough?!" shouted the man into the rain. "Why, if Absolute Good exists, can't it be promoted?!" The memories of his father's words continued to sound out inside the Meta's head, insisting on being heard. 

[i]Because we, our faith, though we deem our words sufficient for salvation, have left out certain alternate perspectives, ones that are good, just, well, above the minimum for 'sufficiency'. Do you know that in the Jewish Mishna, they say that 'whosoever saves a single life saves the entire universe'? Our faith forgets that sometimes, we just have to settle for just one life saved, that if you try to save everyone and everything, you wind up saving none.[/i]

"I can't!" Lucas said, weeping in the rain, "I have to save everyone!"

[i]Then you'll never be happy,[/i] the memory reprimanded.

"All or nothing, dad," the man said as the rain kept falling, "all or nothing." He'd had this discussion many times before.

[i]Lucas,[/i] the Meta remembered his father sighing in exasperation, [i]we've had this discussion many times before. So I'm going to say this: [b]We[/b] are the Light of the World, not the flame that sets it on fire. Even if you believe that the Revelation of John isn't an allegory, it still doesn't mean that we should destroy both ourselves and the people we are trying to save. Because that's what happens when we try and save everyone, we destroy them instead.[/i]

"I'm not listening to you! You're just a memory!"

[b][i]Present Day[/i][/b]

Lucas was watching for intruders, but his eyes had glazed over from the weight of his thoughts. He then looked up and around, to where the people were partying.

[i]You can't stop it, bad things are going to happen; you cannot stop the world from growing worse.[/i]

"Then there's nothing to live for," he whispered to himself. "Lizzie would probably be better off without me - she'll cry, but she's strong enough emotionally, stronger than me." He shuddered, his military conditioning being the only thing that held back the tears this time. "We've seen a glimpse of good only to know that it will never be fully realized in this world. Oh, God, why am I alive in this day and age? Why do I have to witness so much pain and suffering?"

"Is there really a better world, Lord? A better world in this life? All is futile, futile, all is dust and all is despair."