Emmelines True Potential

One day had passed, and I was stuck up in this room, reading books to pass time. The food here was great, and so was the support from Mona and her students who helped in the Health Division.

I got plenty of rest, took a clean shower, and was brought new clothes from the students. The clothing was nothing special, just a hoodie with a coat over it, long black socks that went up to the knees, a black skirt, and Converse shoes. Not to mention a pair of glasses.

Even though I learned Ether, my eyesight was still bad. I'm not gonna waste my energy by just focusing it inside my eyes all the time.

"Are you feeling any better?" Mona sat across the room on her rolling chair, typing on her computer.

"I couldn't feel any better than this. Thank you so much, Ms. Mona, it's been nice staying here." I said with a smile.

"Of course! It's more of an honor to me, you know? Never in my life would I expect to be taking care of the Prophecy Child."

I twisted my expression into confusion. "I still don't understand this whole Prophecy Child thing, it's still puzzling to me."

"Oh." Mona stopped her typing, turning around in her chair to face me, "Fifty years ago, Olias, one of the Grand Wizards who held a close connection with the Goddess, Absceline, was told of a prophecy. That prophecy involved you."

I crisscrossed my legs in bed, gazing at Mona in curiosity.

"Well, what did the prophecy say?"

"On the day of Apotheosis' return, phantasms will lose their strength, and revive their queen to restore balance to their kind. However, once their queen is revived, they will find a way to enslave humanity."

"W-What?!" My jaw dropped. It felt like my heart skipped a beat from what she said, "So, I'm some bad omen? Is that what you're saying?"

"N-No sweetie, it's nothing like that! It actually helps us to know that you returned."

"It does?" I asked, puzzled as ever.

"Yes." Nodded Mona. "Now that we know Apotheosis has returned, we can plan the eradication of the Phantasms since they're so weak. Even basic Wizards can take the strongest Phantasms down from them dwindling in strength."

My worried look mutated into a smile of relief. "Oh... that's a great idea, but how exactly are we gonna do something like that? Aren't the Phantasms directly connected to the collective consciousness?"

Mona nodded her head before lifting her finger with a smile, "That's easy. All it takes is for us to access the Abstract Domain—that's where you come in, Emmeline."

"Eh?"

There was a slight pause as I stared at her, lost in thought.

"I-I don't understand. What can I do?"

"Ara~Ara, you are still inexperienced. But you're the key to destroying the phantasms for good with your ability to interact with the Abstract Domain."

"I thought interacting with it is something all wizards could do..." I muttered under my breath.

"Not exactly. You see, there are 10 individual senses that one can unlock through training, and through birth. Do you know what those senses are?"

"Well, I heard of the five senses that a human naturally has." I lifted my hand to count on my fingers. "There's sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch as the five common senses. Above that is the sixth sense which allows one to see things like Phantasms and stuff after someone unlocks their Ether, right?"

"Correct. But, have you ever wondered what's above those six individual senses?"

I dropped my hand, tilting my head to the side, placing my finger against my chin in thought.

"Hmm, no, not really. I mean, I couldn't see that Wraith at first, but when I focused Ether into my eyes and ears, it became distinguishable."

"How impressive, you learned the 7th sense in a day... you truly are fearsome in potential, Emmeline."

"Y-Yeah, I get that a lot, but it doesn't really feel like it to me. Maybe became I'm so insecure."

"You're quite self-aware, aren't you?" Mona chuckled at me before standing up, and approaching my bed, sitting down at the edge, "You've done things that would take even the Supervisors years to master, so you should be happy with your potential. You're also the key to stopping the battle between phantasms, and humans." She placed her hand against my leg to comfort me, saying, "Just know this; you're very special, to me, and to everyone else in the Magus Association, that much is for certain."

I had a slight smirk creep upon my face, blushing at her words.

"Gee, thanks I guess." I couldn't help but only become embarrassed.

"So, you saw the Wraith, is that correct?" She asked, changing the topic.

"Oh, yeah, it took a little struggle, but it wasn't hard at all."

"Seeing Wraiths requires the seventh sense. I'm certain you're confused, so I'll explain all of them as best as possible."

"Oh, alright." I placed my hands behind me, leaning back to get comfy.

"The sixth sense is a given after someone awakens their Ether. They can see the fears, rumors, and urban legends of humanity, also known as Phantasms. But above the sixth sense is where things become complicated. The 7th sense is where one can perceive the Wraiths, and creatures of the Spiritual World, also known as the Abyssal domain."

"I have that level of awareness, right?"

"Indeed." She said, winking at me, "But, above that is the 8th sense. This is where wizards can perceive apprehension streams."

I twisted my face in confusion, asking, "Apprehension streams? What's that?"

"It gives us wizards a sense of outcome. We can predict future events through perceiving apprehension streams. It also helps us in battle."

"So it's like precognition?"

"Something like that." She said with a chuckle. "Apprehension streams come directly from the mind. They're streams of Ether that hold information of what one is thinking, and reading these streams allows one to know what someone is about to do, in either battle or in general."

Interesting. Crossing my arms, I looked down in thought before asking, "What happens if you interact with those streams?"

Mona looked at me, smiling anxiously, "Well, doing that is very dangerous. If you interact with an apprehension stream, you can either destroy it, which annihilates the person's thoughts or memories, or you can manipulate it, to change their thoughts and memories into what you desire. There's a reason most wizards are forbidden to use the 8th sense." She sighed, "We only use it on individuals who see phantasms, by destroying their apprehension stream, which erases the memory of what they saw. It's a way to keep them safe and hide the unknown from them."

"That makes a lot of sense. Then what about the 9th sense? What does that do?"

"The 9th sense is where one can interact, and see the Cognizant of other people."

Oh, cognizant, I remember what it was from Absceline.

Cognizants must be awakened through meditation, and understanding one's mind, body, and soul. A cognizant is essentially our primal form. Humans weren't always mind, body, and soul, but we existed as something else before those things came into being. It was a void.

Humans have always existed as a void before we obtained mind body and soul, and only master wizards can access their cognizant.

Once you awaken your cognizant, you're essentially immortal. Even if your body and soul were to perish, you could still exist as a void and give yourself a new form, with your same memories, and same soul.

Not even being erased from the collective consciousness of humanity through Ether can kill someone who's awakened their cognizant.

But it was still a difficult task to complete. From what I gathered, only a handful of Wizards across history have awakened their Cognizant.

"Are you confused as to what a cognizant is? If so, I can go into detail-"

"No, it's fine, I understand it. I just never knew the 9th sense had something to do with it."

Mona looked at me, quite amazed at my understanding. "Oh my… you know what a cognizant is at such an early stage. It's like Absceline herself gifted you knowledge."

You'd be surprised…

"I'm assuming the 10th sense is dealing with the abstract domain."

"Indeed." Nodded Mona. "Everything that makes up the world exists in the Abstract Domain. From ideas, thoughts, fears, rumors, theories, and concepts. We call the collective consciousness, the Monad; it governs over everything, even the abstract domain. It's the true creator of existence."

"The Monad? I read about something like that in history class, when learning about religions in the past."

"It's quite known among some people, yes. Absceline is one of the Gods who exists in the Monad Realm, where the other Gods of humanity's beliefs coexist."

"Huh? Other Gods" I widened my eyes, shocked by those words.

"Yes, humanity's beliefs create gods, and those gods crave worship. Without worship, they perish, it's why the Abrahamic God is so greedy when it comes to receiving worship."

That started to make a lot of sense. Wow, this was a learning lesson for me.

"With your power, Emmeline, you can access the abstract domain, and destroy the Metaphysical Crystal that governs over the Phantasms. If that's destroyed, then they will perish, forever."

"I have the power to do that?"

"Yes. No Wizard in history has ever accessed the abstract domain and interacted with it, except you."