The Useless Duo & The Golden Goose

In this world, superpowers are as common as artistic talent. Flight, fire, telepathy, time-freeze—everything you can imagine, someone out there can do it. Powers shape society: your career, your reputation… your entire life.

Not everyone has powers, though. And those without? They look at us like we’re heroes. But honestly? We’re mostly scoundrels. Sure, some people save the world. The rest of us use our abilities for clout and shady bets.

Like the one we were losing right now.

Two guys in their early twenties—my best friend Lenard and me—sat waiting for our turn to fail again. His ability? Compression. Sounds cool, right? Except he can barely squeeze an ice cube into the size of a pebble.

And me? I can telepathically move objects… tiny ones. Keys. Coins and yes, pebbles. Useless stuff.

We made a perfect pair.

Lenard fell to his knees, sobbing dramatically as the tattered pingpong ball landed one mark before our winning number.

“Why do I even try?” he groaned. “I’m a failure. A complete waste of…”

I crouched beside him, ready to explain why gambling with a roulette wheel made from a rusted tire rim was always doomed, when a small barefoot girl sprinted toward us from the city’s direction, gasping for air.

Blonde. Almost white hair. Skin pale like moonlight. Eyes full of terror.

“Help me! Please!” she cried.

We froze. Why would a little girl run away from the city… into the desert?

I wrapped my coat around her shaking shoulders. Between sobs, she explained:

“T-two bad guys… they’re after me… They want my power… I can intensify superpowers. I don’t want to help bad people! They’re evil!”

Intensify powers?

Yeah, she instantly became the golden goose and the ticket out of our miserable lives.

We promised to escort her escapade into the desert.

Big mistake.