As Kara, Jerry, and I make our way off the boardwalk and cross a busy street leading into the city I look inward and begin to study myself. I am a bizarre, potent being, and while I understand many things I don't understand myself. 

By turning inward I can focus on the icons that have been appearing, gradually, over the last few minutes in my mind's eye. Various icons, including things like health, stamina, and magic bars come into clear focus, as do other icons like one representing a mini-map that I can study with a purely mental glance. All the icons are helpful but one is a bit strange... 

In the middle of the bottom of my field of view, there is an icon of a glass bottle. I understand at a glance that this is the icon representing my "Absolute" skill, the "Absolute Essence Creation" skill. I "Select" it and my mind's eye is suddenly filled with a large menu that lists essences by name. 

There are... easily hundreds of them, even at a glance. I don't bother trying to come up with an exact estimate of the total number, due to how overwhelming the total number would surely be. I wonder if I can really create all of these, and I am answered by the same voice that asked me if I wanted to use "Observe" on Kara, minutes ago. 

[Answer: 

You can do more than create every essence you can see. You can create wholly original essences containing properties of your own design, as well as fuse essences and even customize their properties. Your ability to do this is unimpeded by cooldowns or daily limits. You have a uniquely powerful attunement to essences that surpasses any documented past cases of essence-attunement.

Your status as a Pseudo-Omnipotent-Being is due to the strange connection you have to essences. Your ability to edit and generate them freely is a gift that can reshape the omniverse if it is leveraged properly. Until now the ability to craft essences has been one that takes effort and skill, not something that someone can do solely through the application of thought and will.]

That alert is eye-opening. It is so eye-opening that it actually causes my eyes to widen but I manage to regain my composure fast enough for me to not be noticed by my allies as they talk about the "Earth" each of them came from. 

"My Earth didn't have superheroes... It sounds like you came from something out of 'D.C." or something." Jerry remarks as I get to lay my eyes on more people. We are entering the city and are on the outskirts of it at the moment. The few buildings that surround us are mostly cheap housing, and my enhanced senses allow me to be keenly aware of that fact. 

"You know, I've heard that before!" Kara replies, with a bright grin on her face. Jerry and I both study our surroundings even as I listen to the superheroine. For a split second, I turn inward and glance at the updated information I have about Kryptonians so I can see if I know what Kara is capable of. 

[Encyclopedia: 

Kryptonians are an immensely powerful species. Without the boosts to their physique offered by the light of a yellow sun they created technology that rid their world of all but the most advanced illnesses and even created technology so advanced they, at various points in their history, were planet conquerors! 

In the light of a yellow sun, a Kryptonian can gain the power to demolish buildings with ease, fly across galaxies in hours or minutes, and tank incredible damage, though only a rare few will ever match or exceed the power of Kara at her peak. Kara, at her peak, is capable of feats that make the power needed to destroy buildings with a punch look like something a toddler could do, and in some respects, she outclasses her cousin, the famous warrior Kal-El.

At the moment Kara's powers are all incredibly weakened, but they can recover given enough time, perhaps years unless someone intervenes on her behalf and helps her fully restore them. Her powers include things like super strength, super senses, super speed, energy projection, flight, super breath, and other powers that are typical in physique-based heroes, heroes who primarily rely on their bodies being superior to those of humans. At the moment she is only capable of being faster than a bullet and strong enough to lift tanks, with her senses and durability suffering roughly equal losses as well.]

Kara's powers are... amazing if this is accurate. They aren't super fancy or anything, but the apparent scale they operate on is intense. As I wonder if I can replicate her powers, I am surprised when the part of my mind's eye that is scanning the list of essences I can create watches as the list suddenly moves without my input.

It goes to a grand table where all of the essences are listed and highlights two particular essences. "The Essence of the Kryptonian" and "The Essence of the Superman/Kryptonian (DC)" are suddenly glowing in my mind's eye. The two essences are extremely similar but they are not the same. Among the differences, one essence offers the powers of beings who are very decidedly not Kryptonians, like "Strange Visitor Superman" and "Tangent Superman" which my own system tells me are humans who have affiliations to the "Superman Family". 

I feel my mind filling with knowledge of the powers the members of the Superman Family possess and I internally chuckle as I read it. These powers are... hilarious, in how mighty they are. They range from telepathy, in the case of "Tangent Superman" to the bizarre enhanced senses of "Quantum Superman". It is an incredible array of powers, ones that I feel are too far beyond what I can currently use for me to really be able to use them intelligently. 

My system reacts to this information and this decision by stripping the essences I was just looking at of their focus and instead refocusing on an essence called "The Essence of Xenon". I study this essence and begin to modify it ever so slightly. I mentally note the thing's description of "Mutations", "Morphic Patrons" and "Symbiotic Patrons", and "Power Types" with abject interest.

I also begin to make modifications to the thing to make it easier for me to adjust too, including altering it so that the instant I consume it I gain access to only the first two tiers of all of the color-based powers, as well as gain access to a symbiotic patron of my own, at least until I reach a decent level of experience and power on my own. I don't want to become too powerful immediately and as a result of that lose my ability to really connect to normal people. 

As I am being introspective Jerry talks to Kara about "D.C. Comics", unaware that she is... or at least really appears to be, a being from those comics brought to life. Perhaps she inspired the comics, somehow? It doesn't make sense, but Kara IS Supergirl, the heroine that Jerry is talking to her about. My system identified her as Supergirl with comical ease. 

I review the description of the essence before me, noting how I've made modifications to it. This time I do decide to create the essence, and when I make that choice I feel my stomach momentarily fill. It is like a liquid spontaneously generated inside of me, and it takes active willpower for me to not physically react as I sense the powers that are now filling me. But more importantly, I feel my mind expanding. 

No two essence entities have the same biology. Whether someone examines two different humans who've both imbibed essences, even the same essences, or a dragon and an ant who both drank essences, every single essence entity is a unique being on a biological level, incomparable to even their peers. 

The mysterious essence entity who just imbibed the first essence of his own making is no exception to this bizarre rule. The classically handsome young man smiles at his companions as they chat about the worlds they spent most of their lives living on. He has nothing to add to the conversation, so he quietly walks along with the heroine and the bumbling, but well-meaning middle-aged man. 

The quiet creature chuckles as he listens to his more talkative companions chat about their lives. Occasionally they'll glance at him and smile, sadly, well aware that he has little he can contribute to this conversation. Truthfully Arthur is unbothered by any of this and he is taking advantage of the stranger nature of some of his newly acquired abilities. 

Mutations, in the context of "The Essence of Xenon" are powerful genetic alterations that, in theory, could be present in and even affect non-powered people but are primarily useful for people with superpowers and normally manifest after someone undergoes an event that awakens their powers. These alterations grant those who possess them strange senses, enhanced longevity, and other powerful boons. One particularly handy mutation is named "Natural Harmony". This mutation is a powerful one, especially for a being like an essence entity. 

"Natural Harmony" is a powerful mutation that grants those who imbibe or otherwise absorb it a sort of perfected knowledge and control over their powers. The "Perfect knowledge" part is especially important to Arthur. His mind is filling with knowledge about every one of his powers, including his essences even the ones he didn't yet know were baked into him.

If anyone looks at him they won't be able to see what he is looking at, but the young man is intently studying a screen only he can see. This screen is filled with text referring to the two hidden essences the being possesses, and he is working to hide his excitement. 

"Huh... My starting abilities sure are something." The man mutters as he takes in the implications of the potent power of the three high-class essences he has just discovered he possesses. At the same time, he is keenly aware of the strengths and potential of the powers he has acquired through "The Essence of Xenon", an essence that itself grants many powers. 

As the figure and his friends step farther and farther into the city the shadow of the essence entity begins to move, subtly, on its own. The strange shadow is connected to the figure, but not in the way that shadows tend to be. Arthur himself feels a subtle connection to the shadow and is aware of what is going on, but for now, he does nothing with it and allows the shadow to move of its own accord so long as the thing is not moving so overtly that it is noticed.

By the time my friends and I are standing in front of a small hotdog stand, waiting for our hotdogs we have spent several minutes walking through the outskirts of the city. It is a warm day outside and the heat of the sun has allowed Jerry and I to dry off for the most part. 

A young Hispanic man is making hotdogs for Kara, Jerry, and me, even as my shadow dances behind me. Kara is handed her food first, followed by me, due to the simplicity of our orders. We are also given the bag containing the drinks that we ordered. The instant that I take the food my hand touches the wrapper that was just given to me and I feel a flash of something akin to memories flowing into me due to a new ability of mine: "Psychometry".

I take a quiet breath and I push the memories, which go all the way back to when the wrapper the hotdog was put on was first produced, to the back of my mind. This gesture is noticed by Kara who looks at me worriedly. 

"Hey, you alright?" She asks, gently. Her storm-like eyes are focused on me and I nod at her. 

"I'm fine, I just needed to catch my breath is all. I'm more tired than I anticipated after my arrival and I think standing still is allowing that to catch up to me." I explain, causing her eyes to narrow in curiosity ever so slightly but she decides to not question me further.

Soon afterward Jerry is given his food and the three of us walk over to a nearby set of benches installed beside a bus stop. We are able to stop our wandering and sit down, and I smile at my reflection while willing the creature in my shadow to stay still. I can sense the creature's, a "Symbiotic Patron" from "The Essence of Xenon", reluctance but it does as I ask it. 

Over the next few minutes, we eat our food and Kara reveals that we're fairly close to the city's town hall. As we eat I get to practice pushing memories away since any time I make contact with someone or something "Psychometry" activates. "Psychometry" is a psychic ability that lets me see memories, even of inanimate objects, that belongs to someone or something whenever I make physical contact with them.

It is annoying, but each time I take a bite of my hotdog I can feel the power growing in intensity and I gain more and more memories that belong to the pig whose meat I am eating. It is... a very weird experience. The same thing occurs, to a lesser extent, while I drink my soda. 

When we finish we quickly throw away our trash and begin to walk again. As we do I can feel more of my powers flaring to life within me. My senses undergo another spontaneous sharpening. I can hear, and smell, and even see, for miles in any direction provided I have an unobstructed view or the equivalent for whatever sense I am trying to use. I can distinctly hear hundreds of conversations occurring in every direction around me, and more than that I can understand each of them with the same ease that I can hear them. 

I listen as lovers in the throes of exciting, forbidden, affairs whisper lustily to each other with the same ease that I overhear both cops spying on a local criminal and the same criminal, fully ignorant to the efforts to catch him in the act, plans his next crime with accomplices over burner phones. More than that though, I can smell over a thousand different chemical cocktails being used to various effects in daily life. I can smell everything from the scent of alcohol to the smell of a dozen different brands of cleaning products. My enhanced senses also allow me to look into windows and make out every item hidden behind even tinted glass with disturbing ease. 

If Kara's senses are weakened to the extent that my system tells me they are, then I might well have keener senses than she does right now! I think about that while my companions and I continue our journey through the city, spotting humans as well as other, almost-human beings like elves, orcs, and even androids. By the time we are in front of the glittering center of the local government Kara has explained to Jerry and I how three separate non-human species made their way to the city. Kara steps onto the first step leading up to the entrance of the building and she turns to look at me intently. 

"Arthur... You should know that most creatures that are created by the city or are otherwise birthed by the cosmos near Vaporwave City are 'Powered' beings. Creatures that possess superpowers or some other sort of supernatural ability. When you enter that building one of the first things they'll do is test you. Powered beings are equal under the law, but it's can still frighten a few people to get tested like that." She tells me, before turning to look at Jerry.

"Jerry, you'll also be tested. It's not impossible that you either already possessed superpowers, maybe even dormant ones, or that you gained powers when you slipped between universes. Vaporwave City tends to attract a few different types of people, especially among fallers and powered people tend to be drawn here more than many other sorts of people. Though it is less likely than the possibility of Arthur having powers." Kara tells the man. Jerry smiles at her and responds quite quickly.

"I don't think I have powers... But I bet Arthur does. I'm no light dude, and Arthur was able to carry me on his back all the way out of the ocean. And he did it so easily! It was over two miles, at least, of swimming." Jerry says, smiling happily at me as he talks. Kara smiles, gently, at him and turns to look at me. There is a look of curiosity on her face as she studies me. 

"Arthur..." She says, before falling silent. I can tell she wants to ask me if I think, or even already know, if I have powers. But we both know that if she asks me that she can't unask it.

If she asks, and I answer, no matter how I answer, we are locked into a world where we both made choices we can't unmake. She doesn't want to do that, and frankly I don't want her to do it either. If she asks I'll answer but I don't know how I'll answer. I don't want to lie to her, but I also don't want to tell her the truth. It's one thing if I can feign ignorance, which thanks to a specific mutation I possess I can, but it's another thing to lie altogether to Kara. Especially since I know her secret identity...

I can sense a connection between the two of us. It was faint before, but as Kara looks at me I can feel her gaze on my skin even without meeting her eyes, and I can feel the connection growing. Both of us, and Jerry, are still and silent, on the steps to the town hall for several moments before I decide to be the one to break the silence. 

"Hey... We should get going. Linda, I know you have work to get back to." I tell her, a soft smile on my face as I speak. My words snap her out of her introspective state, and her eyes brighten as she regains her focus. 

"Shit! You're right. Ah... Come on, I'll at least make sure you know where to go." She tells us, causing Jerry to let out a gentle laugh as he smiles at me. Kara proceeds up the stairs, while Jerry and I begin to walk towards her. We reach the top of the stairs leading to the front doors of the gleaming multistory town hall building, and Kara pushes the glass doors leading into the building open, allowing us entry into the sleek and modern entry hall of the building. A receptionist sits behind a desk itself situated behind what I initially assume is a metal detector of some sort, but I am quickly corrected when I step into the building and the thing begins to beep out an alarm. 

"Unregistered powered being detected! Unregistered powered being detected!" The device squeals, loudly. Jerry and Kara both turn to look at me and I feign ignorance by purposefully making myself look as confused as they do. Thankfully I receive an alert that gives me some leeway here.

[Alert: Low-Frequency Mutational Variant Now Active

You have been caught as a powered being. This is unfortunate, but it is not a big deal, as you can go ahead and decide what information you want the machine to detect when you are tested. If you wish you can go for something as minor as being an omniglot, or having a very slight, unnatural boost to your luck, both of which a magitech machine like this could detect but neither of which mark you as a future superhero.

All of this is a consequence of your variant of the [Low-Frequency] mutation. In the future this variant will grow stronger and you will be able to hide your nature as a being with powers more fully, but for now you can easily give out false information to those who can detect you. In some ways this might be more useful than telling people you are not a powered being, provided you can use this ability creatively.]

This information helps me relax, but I don't let up on my act. Eventually the receptionist behind the device beckons us to move towards the machine. Kara does the same thing, and for a second I wonder how she fooled the machine, or even if she didn't and is registered as a powered being but with some minor power like my system recommended I be, but I know that if I attempt to get answers now I will be revealing my hand very early by doing something like using a mind-reading power I possess or risk getting overwhelmed by her memories with "Psychometry". Instead of doing that I decide to accept the shit hand I've been dealt and walk towards the machine, thinking on my feet about what to feed it in terms of "information" about me.