MICH : LEVEL 10

DAY 176 : H-DAY, SECONDWEEK, FULGORA, YEAR 1

CENTRAL 15 : ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT 2 : TRAP

It didn’t need to be here. There are Name Changing Stations all over Central. But this is the closest one to Central Station. So this is where I went as soon as I got back from Earthtopia. Even after checking into a resort down the street, I’ve been back here every day since.

Way back when, I’d been in the middle of spelling my actual name when I accidentally confirmed it three letters short. But, turns out, I like the change. It’s refreshing after a long life of being called the same thing every day. That said, a slip-up can’t be the best I can do, right? I was originally going to rename myself to ‘Mike’. That’s what I decided on the train. But the appeal kinda fell flat when it actually came time to do it. So, over the last several days, I’ve changed my mind and intentions back and forth until I finally, only this morning, landed on the obvious choice.

I mutter to myself while looking at the unactivated System-automated Name Change Terminal looking for all the world like a miniature vantablack Tower in the middle of the room. “Call me ‘Mick’.” Or maybe… “What about ‘Micky’?” Yeah… No, absolutely not. Okay then, ‘Mick’ it is.

Activating the Mini-Tower, the top glows with a rainbow light and I get a prompt I haven’t seen in nearly 176 days.

[ PLEASE ENTER NAME ]

Wasting no time in what has thus far demonstrated itself to be a complete waste of time, I type in the fated four letters.

[ MICK ]

But then I see it spelled out. Aaand I’m immediately skeeved in the same direction. Analyzing my thoughts since I woke up… What kind of weird greaseball did I fantasize about being here?

Really? I wanted to be ‘Mick’? Holy hell, that’s funny. “HAH… ‘MICK’!!!”

The ten-or-so nearby people don’t seem to get the joke as they adjust their path to avoid me by even more space than they were already doing thanks to my earlier muttering.

Deleting the ‘k’, I replace it with an ‘h’.

[ MICH ]

And, of course, I get the same idea I’ve had every time.

[ MITCH ]

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Just like all of those times, it immediately feels wrong. I mean not technically ‘wrong’. It’s definitely ‘correct’. Just not for me.

[ MICH ]

I was so sure about Mick… But suddenly, I don’t really know what I want to do about the whole name thing. Just like every other day this week…

So, walking the same sort of bemusedly away from the terminal for the fourth day in a row, I mentally file my own name back down at the bottom of my list of things to figure out. A list whose growth seems to have only accelerated since I first arrived in Central. I was honestly expecting more answers and less questions from the moment I got here. At some point, the questions have to run out. Unlike my time to find the answers, they aren’t infinite. Right? God, I hope not…

But I suppose that most of it can wait until after I have what I need to defend myself. As useful of a tool as my blanket is, I never want to spend my life hiding under one of those again. God knows I’ve seen where that kind of life goes. Go to work. Go home. Play video games. Sleep. Repeat until dead.

I became afraid to take risks. Even the risk of trying new things. I never went anywhere new… Never met anyone new… And I slowly slid into a deeper and deeper depression. I wanted to kill myself. Thought about it all the time… Fantasized. I never did it, of course.

But… Wait, hold the phone. What does it mean to ‘die a hero’? Was this what I wanted all along? Would I have even made it here if I did? Was I saving everyone? Or was I just running from them? I thought I’d gotten out of the slump… I was passionate about my job. I was even up for promotion. Which I’m pretty sure I would’ve gotten if not for…

My eyes bulge.

The man surrounded by the group of girls with primary-colored hair patiently lectures to one of them on the structure of the world. “Red, each kingdom has a ‘topia’, ‘berg’, and ‘land’ leading up to the territory of an Elemental. So no, Glowberg is, in no reasonable sense of the word, a ‘neighborhood’. In fact, all the ‘bergs’ combined probably have more than half the world’s resorts. For Humanity, anyway. Can’t make any guarantees for other races. But that’s not the point. The point is…”

True to his word, he points out in every direction. “You can clearly see them all stretching out for hundreds of thousands of miles. That’s how big they are. Although, you can barely see all The Prime Apexes at the best of times in this city. So… Actually, let’s get higher up. I can’t remember if we’ve all done that together. I’ll show you what I mean.”

I’ve seen guys like this. Superman in public. Clark Kent in private. Lex Luthor on the internet.

But the girl he called ‘Red’ seems distracted by the blonde girl getting berated by some other jerk.

Actually, between him and said blonde, it’s hard to say who’s being the jerk. “So here’s an easy way to tell whether or not something is kink-shaming. If you found out your own child was into it… Would you be afraid for their safety? Not for their soul. Not for their social standing or whatever bow you put on the value system you’re projecting. But for their safety. SAFETY. That’s it. Because if the answer’s ‘yes’, then it’s not kink-shaming to say that what you’re proposing is disgusting.”

Clearly far out of the element he thought he was signing up for today, the jerk stutters. “Y-yeah, but like what if the kid…”

Fully distracted now, Red clearly can’t stop herself from disengaging from her own conversation to cut in on the other. “Duuude… You can’t just accept her premise like that. That’s a looong road you just let her walk you down.”

The blonde glares at Red.

In answer, Red takes out a Trap and seems to relish in triggering it like how I’ve seen addicts with any number of drugs before passing it back to her dealer to reactivate.

What… The shit…