Zanric the mage apprentice was studying his spellbook when his mind began to unfold and expand and then, inexplicably, to access other dimensions.

For weeks, he had been experiencing strange glimpses of insights on random occasions - and then today, as he was poring over a particularly difficult set of arcane diagrams, a sudden burst of insight flooded his mind and he understood to his core exactly what the magic concepts were about.

Instantly, he felt a surge of intense agony as if his brain were about to burst open - and then a split second later, it seemed that it did - as startling and profound thoughts, bizarre concepts that made him wonder how he’d conceived them, wondrous visions of otherworldly places, and mystical abstractions of infinite complexity of design - all cascaded through his mind as if the consciousness of the universe had chosen him as its conduit. Unbearable agony soon turned into blissful fascination as his sense of self receded backward and began to observe and experience and marvel at what was happening.

He sat there, staring off into space for what must have been hours, as his brain raced through a dizzying amount of knowledge and his feeling of appreciation for his existence expanded outward to the world of nature outside. It was so intense and so blissful he wanted nothing more than for it to go on and on and on ...

Until finally, some hours later, his mentor, the wizard Kelvrin, arrived home from his errands.

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The wizard took one searching look at the young apprentice sitting in his dazed, fugue-like state and seemed to understand immediately the situation at hand. He stepped into his chambers and walked over to a dusty old cabinet and took out a bottle of bright orange-ish liquid and brought it out to the main room of the cottage.

He set it gently down on the table, and only then did Zanric snap back into the present moment and saw that his mentor had returned.

The white-bearded old man gave a fatherly pat on his shoulder and said, "It seems you've been deep in thought for some time. Almost as if you suddenly see the world as it truly may be, yes?"

Zanrik just stared up at the old man, dumbfounded. "Yes, master Kelvrin. How did you know ...?"

Kelvrin just smiled, gave another pat and then turned and walked over to the main bookshelf. As he began to rummage through the books, Zanrik stared at the bottle on the table in front of him, seeing it but also not seeing it, as his mind continued its flurries and convolutions.

"Sir, what kind of potion is this? There's no script on it."

"This, my dear boy, is what's called a Potion of Full Awakening. It will carry your present mental state all the way to its conclusion - that is, to full sentience and free will."

"But that means … I didn’t have it? I thought all sentient beings had free will. What’s … happening to me, Master Kelvrin? I feel like I'm losing my mind!"

"On the contrary. You are gaining the greatest gift of true sentience. And this is the key: soon you will have true free will, and the choice will be yours to make for whatever sort of life you want to live from this point forward.”