Lucien stood inside his childhood room, glancing around at the posters and the bed, exactly as it had been before his mother had died. His eyebrows furrowed and he turned towards the door, walking over to pull it open and step into the hallway. The faint scent of brownies lingered in the air, encouraging him to follow it as he made his way down the wide second level corridor and to the stairs leading to the bottom floor and front of the house.

Taking them slowly, he vaguely remembered something about being injured, but the thought vanished as soon as it came. Instead of dwelling on it he finished his descent to the bottom floor, turning away from the front door and heading for the kitchen. Inside he found a fresh plate of brownies on the table, and no sign of his mother. The only other person present was a large boy his own age, with shoulder-length hair as white as fresh snow.

His features were handsome, with olive skin and a kind of inner vitality that shone through his flesh. He looked like he was made, not born, with perfectly symmetrical features and a strong jaw that demanded respect. In fact he looked oddly recognisable, from the shape of his cheekbones to the way his features seemed… familiar and yet refined. It was like looking at a finished version of a lesser product, though what the lesser product was he couldn’t put his finger on.

“Hey.” The stranger said, smiling warmly as Lucien took a seat at the table.

“Hi.” Lucien replied, reaching out to pick up a brownie as if the entire situation were normal.

“Wasn’t sure you’d make it here.” The other boy said, folding his arms and shifting in his seat. He wore a simple white shirt and black-trimmed white blazer, with ‘HYPERION’ and a silhouette of the hero — both in gold — emblazoned on his chest. From what Lucien could tell, the other teen was very well-built: With visible muscles under both the shirt and blazer.

“What do you mean?” He asked, biting into the brownie with a smile of pleasure.

“You were pretty near to death by the end there.”

“I…” The memory of the beach came back to him, and he coughed on the brownie. “Oh my god, the beach! Jason! Am I… am I dead?”

“Relax, dude.” The Adonis across from him said calmly. “You’re alive, just… you know, kinda fucked up at the moment.” He waved his hand and another Lucien appeared in the chair near them, unconscious and covered in horrible bruises, cuts, and other heinous injuries. “Okay, really fucked up.”

“Jesus.” Lucien said, strangely calm despite the situation. “Man, I look like a mess.”

“Yeah, it’s not pretty.” The stranger took a brownie himself, biting into it and gesturing to the unconscious Lucien idly. “Not dead, but definitely close to it if Ty hadn’t found you.”

“Ty found me? Oh! The SOS function!” He smiled to himself as he remembered activating the emergency protocol on the back of his phone. “Good thing Auntie V insisted on installing those.”

“Mmhm, probably saved your life.” The stranger said, leaning back to kick his feet up on the table. He wore popping blue jeans, and white laceless high-top canvas shoes. “Which brings us to why we’re here.”

“Why’s that?” Lucien asked, finishing his brownie and taking another.

“Well, you’ve got a choice to make, dude.” The other boy waved the brownie at Lucien, and the image of his battered self vanished. “Whether to advance or remain.”

“What do you mean?” Lucien asked. “Like whether I want to die or not? That’s a dumb question.”

“Nah, not that.” The stranger said easily, waving it off. “Whether or not you want to become who you were born to be, or stay who you currently are.”

“Are you sure these aren’t special brownies, dude? You sound crazy.”

“Crazier than looking at your own beaten up unconscious body and not reacting to it?”

Lucien paused, then gestured as if to say touché.

The stranger accepted with a gracious nod, smiling. “I’d love to get really into the nitty gritty of it, but we don’t really have time. You need to make the choice before it’s made for you.”

“Okay, so what’s the actual choice, then? Can you tell me that?”

“Yeah. What this boils down to is consequence. You have two possible futures you can choose for yourself, and my job is to give you fair warning of their lasting effects.” He motioned to Lucien indicatively. “The first option is you as you are now. Regular old Lucien. You recover and your life plays out the way it has been. Your acne will probably clear up and you’ll definitely get a nice-paying job somewhere in the private sector. You might even meet a girl you can tolerate and have some kids, but that’s it. No fame, no fortune, no lasting world impact… Just life. Like everyone else.”

The stranger gestured to the nearby window and suddenly they were looking out at New Avalon Central, at thousands — no, millions of people going about their lives. Wake, work, home, sleep. Rinse and repeat. The monotonous consistency of a normal life. Watching it made Lucien faintly horrified, for reasons he couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t that the idea of a calm, harassment-free and utterly safe existence repulsed him — it was more that there was something so… hollow about it. It was as if he were looking into the face of a mediocre future, and being given the chance to accept it. The thought made him shiver.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Not a fan?” The stranger asked, finishing his brownie and dusting off his hands.

“I dunno how to explain it, but that just… Like I said, I dunno. Feels horrible. Like I’m living in someone else’s story. I hate the idea of that. I know that probably sounds insane, given how my life has gone with the bullying and… well, you saw my body. But this…” He shivered. “This seems like some sort of waking suicide.”

“If that’s how you feel.” The other boy said with a shrug, not commenting either way. The image vanished and he folded his arms again as he continued. “The second option is, in a lot of ways, the scarier one. Your life as you know it will cease to be. You’ll never be able to fully experience normalcy again. You’ll have the power to change the world, but that power will be your prison in more ways than you can imagine. You’ll simultaneously be more free and more trapped than anyone alive. Your every decision will have consequences felt throughout human history. Well, assuming you live long enough to reach the peak of your potential.”

“You make it sound like I’m going to be the next Hitler or something.” Lucien said warily.

“Don’t be reductive, dude. This is serious.” The other boy chided without anger.

“Sorry, sorry. Defense mechanism.”

“I know.” The stranger said simply, arms folded as he waited for Lucien’s reply.

“So what does the whole power thing entail, exactly?” Lucien asked, fidgeting nervously. “Like what does that, I dunno, look like?”

“Me.” The other boy said with a smile, spreading his arms.

“You?” Lucien asked in confusion.

“Dude, we’re in your head. Well, our head I guess.” The other boy — the other Lucien — explained calmly. “I’m what you become if you pick option two.”

“You’re joking.”

“Not even a little.”

“Dude, what the fuck? You’ve got to be like six inches taller than me, and you’re built like a fucking wall.”

“Yeah, that won’t come immediately.” The other boy admitted. “You’ll have to work for the body, but you’ll get a solid start and the height straight away.”

“How?”

“How are any Meta-Humans made, man? Who fucking knows. I’m the potential inside of you, your own subconscious. This whole thing is one trauma defense mechanism designed to let you make a choice. You’re basically just having a wacky inflective monologue right now.”

“What do you think?”

“Bro you need to listen. I don’t have an opinion. If you choose option A, I cease to exist. You’ll probably forget this conversation ever happened. Honestly that might even be the easiest path for you, given what and who we are.”

“But?”

“But all I can say is that Option B is what we were meant to do, even if it will probably be a lot more filled with pain and suffering than option A. Again I don’t really have an opinion either way, but those are the facts as I understand them.”

“This is… a lot. Can I have some time to think about it?”

The other Lucien should his head, smiling sadly. “Sorry dude, no can do. This little session is already starting to destabilise. The stress of the choice is making us lose control. You gotta choose.”

“… Do I get super powers?”

“Pfft, duh.”

Lucien’s heart thudded in his chest as he considered what his doppelganger had said. His stomach roiled with anxiety that was both present and absent, a strange juxtaposition of stress and calm that was both disturbing and relieving in the fact that he could feel it without feeling it. His jaw locked as he weighed the options, cracking his knuckles nervously in thought. On one hand he knew what his Aunt would tell him; take the first option. Live a safe, normal, healthy life. There was no shame in being a regular person. There was no cowardice in wanting to be safe. He knew Leonidas would just support his decision either way, and as for Ty… Ty would choose B. He knew his best friend, his brother in all but blood, better than he knew himself at times.

A glance up at the other him showed the white-haired dreamboat regarding him with the kind of aloof chill that Lucien had never been attractive or confident enough to pull off. Yearning awakened within him as he considered the aspect, the avatar, of what he could become. From the healthy sun-kissed complexion to the calm self-assuredness burning in his potential self’s bicoloured eyes; it made him want that. It made him need that level of… empowerment. It wasn’t even about his destiny anymore. He was just sick and tired of being reliant on others. He never wanted anyone to have to save him again.

It was time he saved himself.

“… Alright. Option B.” Lucien said with finality.

“Are you sure dude? You can’t go back on this. You need to be certain.”

“I am.” He replied more calmly than he felt. “I don’t want to be weak anymore. I don’t want to be mediocre. I don’t want to be the forever fucking sidekick.”

His alter ego smiled. “Well said.”

“So… what now?”

“Now?” The other Lucien repeated, rising from his seat. “Now comes the consequences.”

“What consequences?”

“You die.” The taller Lucien answered simply, before reaching across the chair and slamming his fist through Lucien’s chest.

The vision went black.

He awoke to pain.