Editing Character Vignettes (section)

=='''Erin and the Crystal'''==

It was a bit late to be out, but Erin needed to return that library book. For a certain value of "needed", that is.

The library wasn't far from home...And yet, she managed to encounter something quite extraordinary on her way. Something that would change her life.

As she passed near a small alee, she noticed both light and loud sounds coming from it. Looking in, she went bug-eyed as she saw a scene straight out of a fantasy movie: A large, shifting mass of utter blackness, shrieking as it fought a young woman in a beautiful, elaborate green and blue dress.

The fight probably didn't last more than thirty seconds, but Erin lost notion of time as she watched the surrealistic scene. The dark entity, whatever it was, seemed to be repelling light somehow. The woman, by contrast, seemed to be fighting it with luminous blasts, while making incredible leaps that led Erin to wonder if she might actually be flying.

Finally, the woman pointed her finger at the entity, and, with a look of strong determination, shouted out: "It ends here, foulest of fiends! EVIL-SMITING SPIRAL!" As she did, a spiral of multicolored light burst from her finger and struck the creature, which shrieked even louder than before as it dissolved. The woman then rushed toward someone lying on the ground (whom Erin had failed to notice earlier, too transfixed by the battle). "Tommy? Are you alright?" She pleaded as she gently shook the person. The latter slowly got up, inquiring first about the woman's well-being, then about the "nihl", as he called it. She confirmed the first, and said the latter had been destroyed. Reassured, the two left.

Neither of them had noticed Erin, who, shell-shocked, remained motionless for another good minute, trying to process what she had just seen. Actually...Had she seen anything? Had she just imagined it? Was she going insane? It...warranted investigation, to the very least.
Searching the area, Erin noticed that none the attacks of the woman had seemed to damage the surroundings. It was practically as if no battle had taken place...Save for one thing: A black crystal, repelling the light around it like the creature earlier. In fact, it seemed to lie at approximately the spot where the creature had disintegrated - probably its only remains.

As she left the scene, Erin clutched the crystal. It was, after all, her only evidence that what she had witnessed had been real.


''Research journal, entry #43: I've begun experimenting on the crystal.''

''This thing is more than a little unusual. When I touch it, I can perceive some thoughts it seems to be having. How this works, I have no idea; the scientific implications are staggering.''

''I've looked up known types of crystals, but nothing matches this. I don't dare run tests to determine its chemical composition; if this thing can think by itself, as I suspect it can, then I might inadvertently kill it by doing so.''


''Research journal, entry #46: The crystal seems to be reacting to my own thoughts with its own. I think it's trying to calibrate something, in order to be able to communicate with me.''


And eventually, it did.

"So...what exactly ARE you?"

"The term is 'void crystal'. I exist to manipulate magical energies."

"Magical? But magic doesn't..." she remembered the scene that had led to her finding the crystal. "All right, we'll call it magic for convenience's sake. What is it, really?"

"I cannot give a meaningful answer to this question. I have very little knowledge not directly pertinent to my function."

"Ah. Well...what about your origins? Where you come from? Who or what created you? I remember you mentioning the name 'Shao' at some point..."

"Miscommunication."

"Ah. Then what about that girl in green and blue you were fighting?"

"Insufficient information. I was attacked without warning for reasons I am not aware of. It is clear, however, that she was using magic."

"Sigh...That doesn't give me many leads."

"You wish to know more about magic?"

"Well, yeah."

"That fits my purpose. I can teach you how to use magic yourself."

A yet-undiscovered field of scientific research. How could she refuse?


The Watsons's garage had de facto become Erin's lab years ago. That she was spending even more time there than usual did not particularly worry her parents at the time. If they had only known...

"Looks like I have fine control now," said Erin, observing how the beam generated by her laser pointer was curving around her finger. Manipulating space itself was proving to be her forté.

"That you do, but this remains only very basic magic," said the crystal. "Our research is progressing slowly."

"I know, I know" Erin sighed. "The stuff I can already do is very interesting, and I'm really grateful for your lessons, but I just can't seem to do any of the advanced stuff."

"You are not magical by nature. It may be impossible for you as is."

"As is?"

"It ought to be possible to change that."

"Please explain."

"There exists a procedure for void crystals to fully empower humans with magic."

"Isn't that what you've been doing for the last two months?"

"No. I've only allowed you to channel some of the energies I create. The operation I speak of would fully empower you, giving you abilities as advanced as my own."

"Whoa. Any reasons NOT to do it?"

"The process requires a lot of energy on my part. I will need a few days to recuperate."

"Oh. Is that...a problem?"

"You are a good student. I believe it is worth the effort."


And so, they prepared the operation. As the void crystal explained, it involved creating a direct mental link between their minds, which would allow it to unlock her own abilities.

Finally, they were ready, and began the ritual. Erin could feel the mental link forming, and the thoughts of the void crystal becoming clearer and clearer.

Then, suddenly, something began to feel really wrong. Hate. Suffering. Despair. And this horrible, horrible world all around her that had to be DESTROYED at all costs!

Which...didn't really feel like her.

"What...what's going on?"

"Oh, that is simply void crystal possession kicking in."

"Wait, possession?"

"Why yes, you foolish, foolish girl." Foolish. Worthless. Those thoughts assaulted her mind. "A full mental link means I can override your thoughts with my own. Really, I have been quite lucky - not only did that brightly-colored imbecile fail to realize she had to destroy the crystal to truly destroy me, 
I was found almost immediately by an easy-to-manipulate host! Well, you may take solace in knowing that, for once in your wretched life, you've actually accomplished anything worthwhile!"

That last part felt like it was making far more sense than it normally would. "You're...being...more colorful than usual..."

"Oh yes. I've felt it would be better to display no personality while manipulating you. No need for that now, of course."

"You were...lying to me all along? How much was true?"

"Only what I had no reason to lie about. Not that it matters. All that you need to know now is the following:

The universe is a blight."

It was. Such a horrible thing. It filled her with disgust.

"Oblivion is the only true path."

Very true. It would be so much better, with this horrible, awful universe gone.

"Reality must be destroyed."

Yes. Burn it to the ground! Unmake every atom! Erase space and time!

"The Nihls must triumph."

The Nihls. Beings of non-being. The inevitable destroyers of reality. She would smash the world for them.

"There is nothing but the Nihls' quest for oblivion."

Nothing else mattered. It was all she existed for. Yes...

No. Those thoughts weren't natural. "That's...That's just mind-control. You're making me think those things."

"Doesn't make them any less true."

Of course. The crystal was right...

NO! The crystal was WRONG! "This is all lies! All of it! Truth is based on reason, on facts and deduction, not on...on FORCING someone to think something!"

"Poor, poor deluded human. There IS no truth. Only oblivion."

"Now you're not even making any sense! If there's no truth - and there IS - then what YOU'RE saying isn't true either!"

"Shush, human child. That's enough from you. Accept your new goal - your only goal - as my host in the war against existence.

Yes. NO! "Get bent! The universe DESERVES to exist!"

"It most certainly doesn't. It deserves to be erased, leaving only glorious void for the Nihls."

"Bullshit! This universe...It's...It's...Magnificent!" Breathing deeply, she went on, trying to summon every bit of mental and emotional strength at her disposal as she struggled to remember all that made the world worthy of existing. "You don't understand, you stupid little piece of rock! You just fail to see the beauty of it all! How such simple physical rules can form the fractal of reality! How everything, through every order and scale, fits together! How it all connects! How it all makes perfect sense!"

"Futilities! All of it is abhorrent!"

"All of it is FREAKING AWESOME! You see...You take the world. Then, you start doing things. And other things happen as a result, and at first, you don't know why.

Then you come up with an idea that could explain why. But you don't know if it's true yet. But if it's true...then it would imply that other things should happen. So you run tests. And your idea was right...those other things WILL happen. Because that's how the universe works: By being consistent. By making perfect sense."

"Rubbish, all of it! It doesn't matter if it all fits together - none of it should exist in the first place!"

"And then," she ignored the interruption, "once you have an idea of how things are...You can start figuring out how to use those rules in your favor. That's how you create technology out of science. And again, it works. Because that's how reality rolls."

"You think that impresses me, imbecile?!"

"It impresses ME. And I've barely started."


Indeed, she barely had. The mental tug-of-war last for quite a long time, as the void crystal kept trying to force the Nihls' ideology onto her mind, and she kept countering by poking holes at its logic, and reassuring herself that if the crystal's ideas made no sense, they couldn't possibly be true.

The crystal tried to force her to betray all she stood for. She explained how trust made logical sense, and kept society working. It pushed her to destroy the world. She went on a long tirade about the worth of human life; she praised happiness for the sake of happiness; she called the crystal's campaign against both nonsensical. The crystal would make her hate the world. She would make herself love it again by remembering all the bits that she had previously found so wondrous.

And it worked. She believed - to the very bottom of her soul - in the primacy of logic and reason. And she clung to that as she resisted the crystal's mind-control, countering every attack with hearty arguments in favor of the world. It got easier and easier - in fact, she could distinctly feel the crystal weakening.

"You are...such an idiot" the crystal pressed on. "You think your puny reason and science triumph over all? What makes you think the world makes sense in the first place?! What makes you think it's not all random?!"

"Nothing."

"Nothing at all! Wait. What?"

"I do NOT, in fact, know that the universe makes sense. I just choose to work on that assumption."

"Wha...but..."

"Again, this is only logical. If the world makes sense, then we must treat it as if it makes sense. If it does not, then there is no meaning to anything we do or think at all. Under the assumption that it makes no sense, there is no point in anything...So, pragmatically, one must assume that logic does, indeed, reign supreme."

"But you don't know that! And since you don't..."

"Your mind-control has gotten a lot weaker. You're relying more and more on arguments."

"I..."

"And all of those arguments - every single one - requires logic and reason in order to work AT ALL."

"..."

"Schroedinger's cat got your tongue?"

"Shut up! I am a void crystal! I serve the Nihls' campaign of oblivion! Your words are meaningless to me!"

"So, destroying the world is the meaning of your life?"

"YES! And..."

"But you keep insisting that there's NO meaning to anything. No purpose."

"But..."

"Don't you see the contradiction? You seek purpose in the very destruction of all purpose!"

"I seek nothingness!"

"For no good reason! You're not serving nothingness - you're just doing all you do for NOTHING! None of what you say has any worth or substance whatsoever! Even when you say you want to destroy the world, you're still operating under the basic rules of cause and effect!

So come on! I DARE you to say something, ANYTHING, that doesn't require reason in order to work!"

"I...I am...I am..."

There was a crash. For the first time since the battle had begun, Erin noticed she had been surrounded by utter darkness - which was suddenly receding as the void crystal shattered into thousands of pieces and evaporated before her very eyes.

Erin caught her breath and looked around. She was still in her lab...the garage that is. Slowly, she walked through the door and into the living room.

"Hey sweetie."

She looked at her parents. Everything seemed normal.

"Sweetie? Are you all right?"

She paused for a moment. "Yeah. Everything is all right. Everything is all right."