Grace

(Immediately after the Blue lady disappears)

I can’t see anything because the light is too bright.

Oh. There are words. Sister Maribel taught me to read words.

[Oath of Pacifism]

These words are hard. I don’t know how to sound them out. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

*Grace, being a pacifist means making promises.*

A voice is in my head?!?

Grace: “Who are you? Why are you in my head?”

*I’m the golden crystal you are touching. I’m inside your head because it looks like you can’t read, and I thought it would be simplest to just talk you through the oath. If you can even make an oath as a 5-year-old. Though it looks like we definitely have administrative approval on skill #1, so I’m just gonna go ahead with this.*

Grace: “You’re the crystal? Crystals can talk?”

*Not all crystals can talk. It’s complicated. The administrator gave me some intelligence so that I could create skills that match people’s needs… and she didn’t explicitly ban me from interacting with people since I have to show status screens anyway… and it’s not like I can do my job without talking to you since most of this stuff is too complicated to use pictures for… or at least I’m not creative enough to make pictures like that on the spot… but whatever. Are you able to promise that you’ll be nice to everyone, never hurt anyone, and always try to keep everyone safe, if they are good guys and even if they are bad guys?*

Grace: “Gabe told me there are no bad guys.”

*Well, then maybe this Gabe should be the job change crystal! Wait. That reminds me of something. Let me read your memory before I go off on this tangent.*

I see lots of pictures. Oh look, that’s Sister Maribel! That’s Father Kyrael. Those are the rest of the kids. That’s Gabe! And his brother, and his pretty girlfriend. And Lucia!

*This is Gabe that told you that?*

A picture of Gabe. I nod.

*I take it back. Obviously my ability to make jokes is a bit off, since I’m pretty sure that Gabe is the reason I exist as an autonomous singular entity in the first place… heh heh heh…*

*Alright. Now we get to the complicated part. I don’t get to change the words of the Oath, but I’m pretty sure I can explain them to you.”

A blue box shows up.

Grace: “Oh! It has more words!”

But I can’t even read the first word.

*Tenet 1: I swear to never use my power or influence to hurt or injure another, or to force another to do so… this means that you promise to never hurt someone else on purpose. And that you will never tell someone to hurt them.*

Grace: “What if it’s an accident?”

*If it’s actually an accident, that’s fine. But if you did it on purpose, then you are breaking the promise.*

Time passes.

*Oh yeah. You still can’t read. There’s a handprint. If you promise to never hurt anyone, and want to be a pacifist, you have to put your hand there. But it will hurt.*

Gabe said it would hurt. But I… I want to protect my friends. Sister Maribel, and Father Kyrael, and Lucia, and Gabe, and the other kids. I put my hand on the handprint, and it hurts my finger.

Grace: “Ow!”

*Sorry kid… I can change some stuff, but they didn’t give me rights to make everything kid-friendly. I don’t think admin expected a 5-year-old to be using me.*

*Tenet 2: I swear to always sacrifice myself first to uphold the peace, no matter who is at fault… this means… um… that you will always be the one to stop fights, even if you get hurt, and even if it’s bad guys. Wait, you’re 5 years old. What am I saying? Am I telling a 5-year-old to jump into street fights? Am I ok with this? I don’t think I’m ok with this. There’s got to be something I can do. Why would you give me a moral compass and not give me the ability to actually do stuff?*

I put my hand on the handprint. It hurts my finger again, but a different finger. The spot where I touched is shiny now.

Grace: “Ouch!”

*And I just checked and I apparently don’t have the ability to deny you the proficiency. If you match the characteristics and make the promise, it works. Apparently there needs to be an administrator override for children, but that already happened without even asking for it. So my moral struggles of turning a 5-year-old into a peacekeeper in a dangerous world full of death and misery are falling on deaf ears. And looking inside your heart, there isn’t anything truthful that I could say that would change your mind.*

*Tenet 3: I swear to seek out the weak, the afflicted, and the misunderstood, and to make their trials my own… this promise means that if someone has a problem, you will help them, no matter how hard it is, and no matter who they are, and especially if they are someone that no one else is helping… You know, little girl, you can just walk away from all this. There are lots of jobs in the world that are more fulfilling, better paying, and better suited… well, I just read your mind and heart and can’t lie so actually there aren’t any jobs that are better suited… I’m just gonna shut up now.*

I put my hand, and the same thing happens. It hurts, and the hand shines more.

*Tenet 4: I swear to treat all living creatures with respect for their lives. This means you will be nice to animals, and people, and monsters, and even bugs and dragons and demons and bad guys.*

Grace: “Gabe said there are no bad guys.”

*Yeah. I know. And if I could talk to Gabe I’d give him a piece of my mind! Bringing a kid to a place like this?!? Who does he think he is, putting someone like you in danger…*

I put my hand, and my little finger hurts. I yawn. I think I’m starting to feel sleepy.

*Wait. Don’t fall asleep. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if you fall asleep, and we’re almost done, except I still haven’t figured out what skills to give you since I’m secretly hoping that you’ll walk away from this whole thing and I can go back to being a lonely crystal in the middle of a cave that has never seen the outside world except through someone’s memories…*

*Do I have problems? Is this a problem? I don’t even know because I don’t get to talk to other people. Not that I’m a person. I’m not claiming I’m a person. I mean, I’m sort of a person, since I can think, and process, and talk as much as you do… but… but…*

*Tenet 5: I surrender everything in exchange for the power of a Pacifist… This means that you’ll give up everything you have, and I’ll give you three things you can do to help protect people.*

Grace: “I brought my mother’s necklace.”

*Your what? Your mother’s necklace… you’re an orphan… this was given to you by the people who took you to the orphanage… it’s the only thing you have to remind you of your mother…*

*...you’re serious about this, aren’t you, little girl?*

I nod.

*Do you want to give up your mother’s necklace?*

Grace: “I… I don’t want to lose it. But if I can help people, and protect people, you can have it, mister crystal.”

*You realize this puts me into a bit of a bind, right? There are two different options for surrender according to my coding. I can either take everything that you have, and then return anything that was a gift, or I can just take everything. I don’t even know what I’m saying right now, or why I’m telling you this, because I’m supposed to make the decision based on your memories and there is no difference in power granting, just in making sure the person is giving up something valuable in exchange… but you don’t own much of anything at all, so all you have is a gift. But I can’t honestly take clothes from a little girl, or the necklace of her missing mother… and that was probably taboo to even bring up… I think this is what happens when you go for weeks without speaking to someone and then the first person who you talk to is only 5 years old.*

I put my hand on the handprint and it’s stuck.

*Ok. I guess we’re doing this then.”

I see lots of words and numbers.

*Removing visible stats.*

*Adding core stats.*

*Removing drops, gathers, possessions, and currency.*

My mommy’s necklace goes away. Mister crystal must have taken it.

*Returning gifts.*

My mommy’s necklace comes back! And I have clothes again.

*Calculating Pacifist totals.*

Two pictures show up. On one is things I remember, and the other has numbers.

*We’ll just super fast forward through this. I’ve already looked at your memories once, and you’re an AI, so let’s just do a fast merge sort instead of watching the life movie in fast forward, ok?*

*Obtain Proficiency: Pacifist? (Final Decision)... Push that button, and you can’t go back. You’ll be a pacifist for the rest of your life. And if you break the promise, you will lose everything you have. Everything.*

*The three skills I’ve decided on are the PAX Dimension, Song of the Pacifist, and Peace of the Pacifist. I’m actually pretty proud of them myself.*

*PAX Dimension is the ability to transfer yourself, and anyone within the range of [touch], to the PAX Dimension. It’s an alternate dimension that mirrors the real one, but the only people who can go to it are pacifists. It’s actually a huge project and I had to request additional processing power to get it to go through, but it worked and I’m really proud of it and I am soooooo good at my job but yeah there are drawbacks too. You can’t travel in it - you have to come back at the same spot you went in. You can’t leave people there - you have to leave together. You can’t leave stuff in it - the stuff will get destroyed when you leave. Except you can bring plants and seeds. I don’t know why admin added that in but yeah that’s PAX Dimension.*

*Song of the Pacifist actually builds off your passive skill. I’m pretty sure little kids don’t usually have passive skills, right? So it’s ok if I use it to build something cool, right? Either way, Song of the Pacifist makes it so that when you sing, you can help other people, and animals, calm down a little bit. It doesn’t always make them stop fighting, but if they are just scared, or hungry, or can’t think correctly, it will help them be able to think better. Music soothes the savage beast kind of thing. Right now its range is [audible] which means the thing has to actually hear you for it to work. But it has the ability to shift and grow as you use it like every other Pacifist skill.*

*And Peace of the Pacifist is the skill that allows you to learn skills from other Pacifists. I don’t even know how I got this one approved… since it could become literally the most powerful skill on the planet! Heh heh heh… not that I’ve told admin that so you don’t need to say anything about it. As a drawback, Peace of the Pacifist isn’t as strong as the original skill, and you can only get one skill from another Pacifist, and the skill you can teach someone is chosen when you become a Pacifist. Anyone who learns a skill from you will learn PAX Dimension. But from Lucia, for example, you’ll get the ability to create light. Admin thought it was a little overpowered to give everyone the ability to reflect/refract light, since I’m pretty sure they figured out it meant you could go invisible in the right circumstances. Anyway. And from Gabe you’ll learn Protect. Though Peace of the Pacifist has a much shorter range and the range doesn’t change much as it levels up, and you never get level ups in the learned skills. They’re just sort of sub skills. But if someday there are a ton of people who become Pacifists, then everyone will have an extra skill… I mean, there are lots of people, right? I have enough resources to interact with approximately 250 people at the same time. If 250 people became Pacifists that last skill would make them super powerful right? You following me? Then maybe someday they’ll move me out of this cave and I’ll be able to see the world, and everyone will love me and I’ll have tons of friends…*

Grace: “You’re funny, Mister Crystal. But you’re really nice. Thank you for explaining to me.”

I push the green button. All I see is golden light.

Then I can see again. And Gabe is here.

Grace: “Gabe! You’re here too! I’m done!”

Gabe: “Good job! How did it go?”

Grace: “The blue lady talked about you.”