After typing a few things from behind his console, Naathan stood up to approach the permeable membrane laying between us. “This field is meant to protect you from the energies which every living thing on this earth puts off.”
“According to our very recent studies, some things, like plants, bacteria, and fungi, as well as other things, put off minimal waves. I believe such should have minimal impact on you in your current state.” He motioned to a small cavity which opened up on my side of the field.
A simple potted fern plant rose up out of the ground.
I felt no pain with its arrival. However, out of curiosity, I closed my eyes and could feel a subtle presence in the direction of the plant that wasn’t there before. Now that I thought about it, I wondered if I could sense the physical mirror as well. Taking a moment to brace myself, I reached for the familiar feeling of my gift when stimulated.
*Cough!* “Aaaack!” PAIN blanketed my senses!
It was like a live wire mesh, searing across the entirety of my flesh but on a deeper level! Dropping to the floor in a shuddering heap, I released my hold on and intent to stimulate my ability as I sought to let go of everything and just exist.
Convulsions ran through my body as I lay there. Each new reflexive wave of my ability triggered another seizure of pain as it sought to protect me from itself.
Simply allowing myself to exist and live was terrible enough as the shooting pains played across my senses.
Concerning tones blared out within the room. From the corner of my eye amidst my agony, I watched as Naathan rushed to his computer, and his fingers played rapidly across the keyboard.
The blare of the alarms was quickly silenced, and a light static charge filled the room. I continued to lie there shuddering in inconsolable pain with my eyes closed. Struggling to clamp down hard on any mental or emotional stimulus to my ability, I forced myself to take in slow deep breaths. The air shakily entered my lungs even as my soul cried out to be free and simply be felt.
For some time now, my ability had reached the point of near reflex. If I experienced a traumatic or painful experience, then something within me would frequently reach out to stimulate the sensations of my gift. This was done in order to experience those soothing and powerful waves of comfort and empowerment amidst the corresponding trauma or fear. Those waves of sensation had nearly always been welcoming within me before. At this moment, however, such an avenue only promised a world of pain.
Finally, after several moments of an occasional flare-up in reaction to slight stirrings of my ability, despite my desperate attempts at complete self-restraint, I was able to settle down.
Naathan watched on in notably concerned silence as I went through this experience. Never before in my life had I felt anything like this!
Pausing for a moment in thought, . . . I reconsidered that claim.
Something nagged at the back of my mind. I had felt something similar, if far less intensely shortly after consuming the esoteric stones provided by Gertrude. When my senses had first been opened up to feeling the emotions of those around me in the virtual reality, a kind of ache had worn down upon me if I had experienced too much close proximity to others.
I recalled the methodical and intentional limiting my exposure, which then progressed to slowly acclimatizing myself to the sensation, and finally, forcing myself to push my boundaries repetitively. Through such methods, I was able to adapt to this new ability. I optimistically wanted to believe that it was born from my personal gift on Earth, but I was still unsure if it was or not.
Here and now though, it felt as if the negative sensations and side effects were multiplied more than a hundred-fold!
Naathan, who had been watching on throughout my latest session of agonal torment and noticing that I had finally achieved a modicum of recovery, spoke up with more than a little curiosity. “What just happened to you?!”
I opened my mouth to respond, but then paused to consider my response. I had to mentally stamp down hard multiple times as I contemplated how to answer his sensitive question. Each time I touched upon the idea of sharing details about my ability, my power would struggle to flare up as if trying to tell me something.
In this case, like many others, it was so difficult at times to know if I was simply projecting impressions upon the sensations of my gift, or if it was truly offering something more than just comfort or invigoration.
Incredibly beautiful, it could express itself uniquely in countless situations. Standing atop a mountain with the chill air rushing around me, crouching by a campfire and gazing up at the stars, or listening to a deeply touching song which tugged at my heart strings; Each of these situations and so many more could stimulate a different flavoring of my gift. Those sensations could easily bring tears of exuberance and regret to my eyes as I dwelt upon the deeper meaning of this power and feeling. This had been with me for as far back into my childhood as I could remember.
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Even now, I believed I still did not have even a fraction of the answers to my own questions. What I had discovered so far, which had yet to be disproven, was that this feeling was deeply tied with the level of hope I experienced; Be it the gaining, maintaining, reinforcing, or loss of said hope.
Empathy was another aspect to it. I felt particularly intimate with many tragic life experiences, which I had never touched upon personally, but witnessed in the eyes or words of others. I would never claim to feel all of that which they felt and experienced, yet a part of me wondered just how close I was to understanding them as these sensations felt so very real.
In the here and now, I was truly considering opening up to another on Earth, about my precious gift and current curse.
My fear of discovery and subsequent handing over to officialdom for my ability, was quickly losing ground to the very real and current circumstances of needing whatever aid I could get in order to recover. Pausing a little longer to look deeply into the eyes of Naathan, I wanted desperately to tap into the encouraging and comforting strength to fortify my resolve, with the rush of warmth and chills. And yet here I was out of necessity, truly bereft of that which I used as a guide for life altering decisions.
The smallest of tendrils escaped my grasp, and it seared a painful path through me as if struggling to show itself to reinforce my decision. Gritting my teeth in pain, I took several deep breaths and spoke.
“I believe that I am one of those supernaturals that others are warned about.” Pausing to watch the reaction of the likely most powerful and influential man on earth, I saw no judgement or condemnation in his eyes. Only patient silence met my admission. And so, I continued.
“As far as I can tell, my ability touches deeply upon reinforcing certain emotional stimuli within me.” Again, I paused as I sought to organize my words and tamp down on the threatening burgeoning of my gift amidst a fresh wave of pain.
“Never before have I been able to stimulate this ability in such a way as to effect anything outside of me. Additionally, there is no physical reinforcement that I have managed to recognize.” I don’t know if I was trying to downplay its impact or reveal it as harmless in hopes of retaining my freedom after this. But I suppose honesty was likely to be the best policy in this situation.
Shrugging my shoulders tensely, I spoke on. “All my life, I felt that there was supposed to be something more to it, as the feelings it was able to instill within me, could at times be so overwhelming and filled with promise.”
A reminiscing smile crossed my lips at certain memories. “Like a storm, it could crash into me and leave me entrancingly energized for a time.”
Looking down at my hands, I again had to stop the creeping comfort which my precious ability sought to gift me even now. “I had pretty much given up hope in expanding upon what I could do and experience with it, as never had it ever affected anything of an external or even physical nature.”
Turning my gaze upward, I stared fiercely into the eyes of a man whom I hoped could be trusted, before softly adding. “Your virtual reality world changed all of that for me.”
“Aaarrrrgh!!” The power inside of me ripped its reigns out of my hands and went on a rampage at my admission.
What should have been a moment of basking in its reinforcing comfort and heartfelt stimulation to accompany this admission, turned into another session of immeasurable agony.
Naathan remained silent for a time as I got myself under control again. Then he finally spoke, with a pained smile gracing his lips. “I’ve actually known since the beginning.”
My gaze sharpened at his words and even my power stilled at the admission. With bated breath I waited to hear to rest.
*Sigh* Letting out a rush of heavy air, as if bearing the weight of the world, Naathan explained. “You are not alone.”
Stepping forward to be further illuminated by the lighting in the room, he held up his arms, outstretched to the extreme. What happened next completely boggled my mind!
Both of his arms up to the shoulder, dissolved into a cloud of shimmering lights!!
Those lights, suspended within the air with no sign of falling then fanned about the room. Passing through the transparent energy field, they brushed by me close enough for me to feel the stirrings in the air. After making a full circle, they then returned to Naathan, reforming into his arms as if they had never left.
My eyes bulged at this display of body modification and manipulation! There was NOTHING like this in ANY of the new science magazines!
Naathan lightly smirked at my expression as he made his reveal. “I guess it is time to explain the real purpose behind this virtual reality experiment.”
Theories and suspicions backed by many of the unofficial conspiracies abounding crowded my thoughts before becoming quiet in order to hear what he had to say.
“Our Earth . . . is changing.” Waxing eloquent like a college history professor, he continued. “If you look far enough back into our history and have the right tools to search for it, you can find traces of where magic used to exist, originating from many thousands of years ago.
Archaeology, prior to World War III had been woefully underequipped to recognize and understand those traces. It was only after having the missing pieces returned to us, that we were able to learn our true history.” Turning a fierce smile upon me he added. “And MAGIC is now returning to Earth.”
The news hit me like a ton of bricks!
I had to struggle again at the attempted rush of confirmation of my power, before I could think over his words.
“Hehe.” A chuckle escaped me as I considered the implications.
I mean, I loved indulging in reading more than my fair share of fantasy novels and I was absolutely loving my experiences within the virtual reality world. However, never could I have ever imagined that such a life could become my reality.
I had heard that the mutations occurring under the radar and whispered about in hushed tones were nuclear radiation based, or the results of horrendous experimental projects from the war. But to find out that it was due to actual magic, was quite the revelation!
Naathan then dropped another doozy on me. His expression turned grim as he continued. “As you’ve unfortunately experienced, not all is good with its return. Your sister’s unfortunate incident . . .”
He grew silent a moment before continuing. “. . . is example of such. With her magically mutated leprosy among many others suffering similarly, we have discovered that magic not only changes humans, plants, and animals on a genetic level, but so too are diseases and non-living materials mutated or changed.”
A vice squeezed my heart at hearing this, almost missing what he said next with a haunted voice. “Technology and our current understanding of biology, can only go so far to treat the symptoms before failing.”
Too many questions I sought answers to rushed through my mind. There were so many things I wanted to ask, and yet the most pressing one regarding my sister’s disease, . . . it appeared to have already been answered.
Millennial Enterprises, the world leading corporation in development and implementation of science and medicine was still struggling with treating just the symptoms of magical diseases. A legitimate cure likely wasn’t even on their horizon.
The hope which flared within me died a quick death.
My thoughts then shifted to a more external view as there was still much to be concerned about. How much of the population had already been changed by magic? Why were the governments and mainstream news organizations keeping so quiet about it? What was the real purpose behind the creation of their virtual reality? How was it created in the first place and was it capable of accurate representation of a magical world despite its supposed technological origins?
Too many questions that I felt I needed to know the answer to rushed to the forefront. And yet, . . . a single humble question, reflecting how far out of my depth I felt at this moment, came out on top.
“What can I do now?” I fearful, yet resolutely asked.