His task was clear. Never before had he felt so much courage in his heart. He had trained for months, years, a lifetime for this moment. He wasn’t sad. He wasn’t mad. He couldn’t even say he was happy. He had transcended those feelings. He had found a peace that only the truly enlightened achieve.

He checked around himself and pushed his way into the crowd.

The images surrounded him. They encircled him, meaning to cause confusion. The feelings they were meant to trigger bombarded his senses. Where normally he would have to fight them, shake them off, stagger against their weight, today he passed right through as though emerging from a waterfall.

He was ready.

He raised his head to heaven and felt his own spirit soar. It circled himself, everyone, on the wings of an eagle. His body worked mechanically now. His hands reached for his jacket of their own fruition and tore it wide. He could hear his own voice as he pressed the trigger.

The explosion blew out all of the windows for a mile.