《Essential Masks》


 Chapter 1: Why do I Live Mundanely

    ¡°Hey man, sorry to hear you''re going.¡±


    Putting my advent calendar into the cardboard box, I looked over my cleaned-off desk as Nick came up and gave his condolences.


    ¡°It''s fine,¡± I muttered, under my breath. Sighing, I said, louder, ¡°I''ll be okay, Nick. I suppose I wasn''t really a good fit for the great Prometheus Inc.¡± Inwardly, the sense of sarcasm that leaked out into my voice made me wince.


    ¡°What are your plans now, Matthias?¡± Nick asked. I knew that most of my other coworkers were pausing at the question, perking their ears for the latest office gossip as one of my best friends here acted as the office''s liaison.


    ¡°I''ll be going back to the job search, finding something I haven''t done yet. Maybe go back to school,¡± I chuckled to myself.


    ¡°No way, you? Matthias Dewey, going to school to become a Super? That would be amazing!¡± Nick exclaimed with his own broad grin at the jest.


    I just thought to myself that they probably would be amazed and shocked if I demonstrated my ability, even though that very gift caused me to despair.


    It was only possible to understand my position, I ruminated, in the context of history. Today, the strata of society were very clearly divided into the Supers and the Mundane. However, 50 years ago, everyone was Mundane, when a secret experiment out in the Pacific exploded, giving birth to a strange and insidious dust. This dust caused the event that was later known as the Mutation, as men and women around the world found themselves inexplicably and irrevocably changed with incredible power, though not necessarily for the better. A relatively small number of people were changed that day, as their bodies and minds and very existences were changed into things that casually broke the previously known laws of physics, whether they gained the ability to move things with their minds or suffered from being turned into stone. From this group came the first Supers, individuals who had the power to effect great change and used it to separate themselves from the Mundane, whether for good or for ill. However, as transformative as those first Supers were, it was the animals, plants, and minerals that were affected by the Mutation that truly changed the world.


    Strange flowers that overtook cities, deposits of minerals that started to grow with unearthly light, and animals that grew to enormous size began to propagate, spreading these changes faster and farther along thousands of paths. The Mutation created monsters and dangers in the wild that humans had begun to think mastered, bringing in a new need for the Supers to combat this new threat as mundane military could not. In addition to new threats, though, these materials and creatures also opened up new opportunities, as some were able to research these animals and use them to create processes that turned normal humans, mundanes, into Supers.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    As such, Supers began to infiltrate into all levels of society, as the rich and powerful found their ways to get those powers that were most beneficial, whether that be enhanced intelligence, a powerful physique, or any other number of abilities. This trickled down, as companies started hiring upon the basis of abilities, or based on the possibility. Eventually, schools that were created to transform and then instruct in the proper use of abilities popped up in the developed countries (while the less developed countries created their own methods to transform and educate their Supers). As such, those who didn''t have opportunity to become Super, or who the procedures, for whatever reason, did not work on, became the Mundane, removed from positions of power and relegated to the dregs of society as there were people who were measurably better in almost every way.


    Fortunately, in the United States, the government passed laws through Congress that protected ¡°people unaffected by the event known as the Mutation¡±, giving basic living subsidies to the slowly shrinking percentage of the population that didn''t register themselves as Super in some way.


    I reflected on this change in position as I walked out of the office, my belongings in my own tiny cardboard box. There weren''t any hard numbers, but there were some people who were listed as Mundane, even if they were changed by the Mutation. Some of them had abilities that simply did not allow them to live normal lives, relegating them to be permanent outcasts, whether for their own safety or for the safety of others. Some of them did not have abilities that registered as life changing, whether that be a changing eye color or more efficient stomach. And some of them, like myself, knew that our abilities simply would not fit into the world and let our abilities lie unexposed in order to stay in the comfortable anonymity of the Mundane.


    All along the way home, from the wait at the rickety bus stop to the three narrow flights of stairs up to my subsidized apartment, I allowed myself to fantasize how my life would be if I just allowed myself to enter the world of Supers. I could make a name for myself, using my abilities to fight crime, improve the world, or simply make a ton of money. Or, I thought to myself as I turned the key and entered my modest abode, I could fall to the other percentage of the population, the ones that found themselves living on the outskirts and using their abilities to force their own wishes onto the world like in parts of Africa or the state of Cuba. There, people with powers could easily become commodities, their fall from humanity as hard as a meteor as they were traded around and sold for their ability to give youth, to create gold, or any other of a myriad powers that were of great value, but did not allow them to protect themselves.


    At home, I pet my cat, Preston, and as was my ritual, used my power on him. A rush of ethereal water rushed out from my hand and rushed into him, making him purr as he rubbed his cheeks against my hand. And then he walked away, rising into the air as he began to fly.


    For that was the reason that I couldn''t risk letting my power out. The ability to choose to give anything a power, with the variety of possibilities that I''ve found over the years, wasn''t a gift. It was a great big bucket of gold that I would hold in my own, frail hands, that I could not let anyone else know about.


    No matter what.

 Chapter 2: Things Change

    The next afternoon, I was brooding on my way home from the city employment office, mulling over the news that Wilbur gave me. Wilbur had become somewhat of a friend as, over the years, he handled me as I went into and out of employment. I had scheduled today''s appointment a couple of weeks ago, as soon as I got the notice that I would be fired, and today I just went in to finalize the paperwork to start receiving my unemployment subsidies. As we had finished up, and he ensured that the first checks would make it in time to pay for my monthly bills, Wilbur mentioned some news.


    *****


    30 minutes ago


    ¡°So, I don''t know if you keep up on the news, but there''s a bill passing through Congress right now, relating to the subsidies.¡±


    I was packing up my papers in my bag, but looked up, a frown on my face. ¡°No, I haven''t heard anything. Are they reducing the payouts or something?¡±


    Wilbur gave me a wry smile as he shook his head. ¡°No, they''re talking of retracting the whole program entirely. There are other details, but that is the main thrust.¡±


    I frowned at the news. ¡°Why? Well,¡± I immediately said, as multiple reasons came to mind. ¡°I guess it isn''t too strange, considering the amount of money going into it. I thought that the Worker''s Protection Union was behind the subsidy program in the first place?¡±


    Wilbur shrugged. ¡°They''re getting overruled. The big companies simply have too much clout, and it doesn''t help that the Supers are getting voted into office more and more.¡±


    Sighing, I finished putting the sheets of paper into the folder and slipped the manila folder into my satchel. ¡°Well, there''s not much I can do but plan around it. Hopefully, by whatever time that is, I''ll have another job.¡± I gave a thin smile to Wilbur and we gave our goodbyes, but the smile fell from my face as the thoughts continued to tumble through my head until the bus.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    *****


    My thoughts were turned back to the present when the bus abruptly braked, almost bringing my head smashing into the seat in front of me. Cries sounded throughout the vehicle as we craned our necks to look through the windshield.


    About a hundred feet in front of us was a sight that was both novel yet familiar, as a man was slammed into the pavement in front of us. He was dressed in a bright blue and white suit of thick lycra, dirtied now by fragments of asphalt and dust. Coughing slightly, the man stood up from he was kneeling, looking up into the sky.


    ¡°Is that all you got, you ruffian!¡± With a flexing of his knees, the obvious Super shot back up into the sky, leaving a greater crater in the street. The bus started to go forward again, taking the next turn as the bus driver explained to the passengers.


    ¡°Excuse me, folks, but we''re going to have to make a detour. As per company protocol, for everyone''s safety, we will now be taking a four block detour around the incident, as Supers are directed to try and keep any violence as localized as possible. As such, we will be late to the next stop at Rivers Dr. Thank you for your patience and understanding.¡±


    Most people on the bus were only half listening, as phones lit up in people''s hands and videos started to play of news broadcasts detailing what was happening. I did the same, of course, as the brush with the world of Supers made it blatantly obvious just how close but divided the two worlds were.


    The Mundane were protected, as much as we could be, by government practices and the Supers'' grace. On the other hand, Supers could take hundred story falls onto hard concrete with nothing more than a bruise, and then go back into the skies to combat these forces. This came with a risk, though, as I read the news report of the details surrounding this incident.


    ¡°We have confirmed that this is an attack on Marchfield''s offices of Protectant International, as the criminal gang known as the Black Crows have launched a kidnapping attempt on some individuals. According to conversations recorded from the scene, the Black Crows are in the process of fleeing with a young man and woman, though we do not know for what reason. The Protectants are following in force, though they have already taken two casualties. Please be warned, the following images contain graphic content.¡±


    The newscaster''s calm and measured voice sounded in my ear buds as I watched on my phone''s screen sights of destroyed buildings, and a woman lying in a gurney with blood across her face and a dark cavity in her torso. The camera only lingered for a moment, but that was all I needed to remind me that, whatever power is offered in the Super''s world, the dangers were just as pronounced.


    However, this train of thought just brought me back to the news I just learned, about how Mundanes will no longer be protected by the system, even if only financially. This sliding shift in the priorities of those who could protect those defenseless was a blaring warning sign to me, as I wondered what I should do in the face of this.


    ¡°Maybe, just in case... I''ll have to talk to someone about this.¡± I muttered under my breath as I thumbed through my phone to my contacts. Pausing for just a second, I swept a name to the side and started the phone call.


    Once the ringing stopped, I spoke softly. ¡°Hey, Olly? I need your help for this decision.¡±