Daybreak
"Well, I guess
" said Blaine, scratching his head. "I mean, if you're going to throw my entire reality upside down, you might as well make me a hero in the new one."
"Oh, Blaine, that's great news!" said Sonja, beaming with happiness. "Oh, I wonder what your power will be! We'll have to pick a good one for you. I'm thinking something with range, or maybe brute strength "
"Sonja, you never actually explained the vision thing to him," said Cassidy, snapping her out of her excitement.
"Oh, I guess I am getting ahead of myself, huh?" she replied, disheartened. "Right. Well. So, we'll start with the fundamentals. You exist in one universe, which has multiple co-existing realities. You exist in all of those, but usually you only ever function in one of them. So, your vision can only see into one reality. The one you're used to is the mundane reality, or the mortal plane.
"But, thanks to the demoninja, you can now see two others. First, there's the ethereal reality. That's the one which makes you see everything in shades of holy."
"Sonja, humans don't see holy as a color," interrupted Cassidy. "They can't process it. It's probably a sterile blue to you," she said, looking at Blaine.
"Well, anyway," said Sonja, "that's the plane where angels and demons primarily exist, like the name suggests. Consider it a sort of soulscape. Nothing without a soul can be seen on the ethereal plane. So, instead of seeing a coffee shop with tables, chairs, and people, you just see a bunch of floating, whispy souls. You also see the full forms of angels, demons, and other beings like vampires."
"Or like werewolves and zombies?" asked Blaine.
"What? No," replied Sonja, blinking in confusion. "Don't be silly. Those don't exist. Why would you believe that those are real?"
"But, I "
"Anyway," continued Sonja, "as you can imagine, it can be hard existing in a plane where there are no physical objects besides other people. That's one of the reasons we invade the mortal plane so often. But I digress. The second plane you can now see is one of the ways we can accomplish things. It's the one that looks like a pale shade of strength."
"Probably a dingy shade of orange," added Cassidy. "Y'know, since your inferior non-angelic vision can't see in shades of concepts."
"Does it matter? It's the only other new vision," said Sonja, with a sigh. "Anyway, that vision shows you the reality of well, there really isn't a word for it in English. Think of it as a plane of imagination. Anything you can imagine will become and stay real, so long as it fits the size of the mundane object you're hiding it in. That's why the demoninja had knives and throwing stars, but no swords."
"Okay, now that's a little hard to believe," said Blaine. "I mean, I can see it, so I know you're not lying, but anything I think becomes real? Doesn't that mean that anyone with half of an imagination would be effectively omnipotent by now? You could have, like an army of tiny robot warriors or super powerful death rays or something."
"Really?" said Cassidy, rolling her eyes. "Well, gee, is that all we had to do? Well, gosh, why didn't we think of that. Oh wait, we did. We're giving you the simple version. Creating is hard. It takes a lot of stamina. And it all depends on belief. Everyone sees a sword and thinks it's a sharp blade. Everyone sees a gun and thinks that it will shoot. If you make a futuristic blaster that's capable of disintegrating a demon in one shot, but I think it's just a toy space gun that makes noise, my simpler reality wins. Your blaster becomes a toy. Everything in this reality wants to become as simple as possible. It's like one of those chemical reaction laws. Wood wants to become ash. Ash doesn't want to become wood. The fancier the object, the more likely it is to get ruined by someone else.
"Admittedly, they'd have to observe it first," she added, as an afterthought.
"So, wait," said Blaine, "If that's true, then anything you imagine would work against other normal people, right? They can't see the object, only the real object that contains it. What's stopping you from enslaving all of them, or something?"
"Ourselves," replied Sonja, with a laugh. "Angels simply don't do that sort of thing. And it's our job to ensure that no other supernatural force does that sort of thing, either. What do you think we're fighting against, anyway?
"Besides," she said, staring Blaine straight in the eye. "We're angels. Do you really think we need more power to do something that trivial?"
"I ummm, I guess I didn't think about that before asking," admitted Blaine, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh, Blaine, that's great news!" said Sonja, beaming with happiness. "Oh, I wonder what your power will be! We'll have to pick a good one for you. I'm thinking something with range, or maybe brute strength "
"Sonja, you never actually explained the vision thing to him," said Cassidy, snapping her out of her excitement.
"Oh, I guess I am getting ahead of myself, huh?" she replied, disheartened. "Right. Well. So, we'll start with the fundamentals. You exist in one universe, which has multiple co-existing realities. You exist in all of those, but usually you only ever function in one of them. So, your vision can only see into one reality. The one you're used to is the mundane reality, or the mortal plane.
"But, thanks to the demoninja, you can now see two others. First, there's the ethereal reality. That's the one which makes you see everything in shades of holy."
"Sonja, humans don't see holy as a color," interrupted Cassidy. "They can't process it. It's probably a sterile blue to you," she said, looking at Blaine.
"Well, anyway," said Sonja, "that's the plane where angels and demons primarily exist, like the name suggests. Consider it a sort of soulscape. Nothing without a soul can be seen on the ethereal plane. So, instead of seeing a coffee shop with tables, chairs, and people, you just see a bunch of floating, whispy souls. You also see the full forms of angels, demons, and other beings like vampires."
"Or like werewolves and zombies?" asked Blaine.
"What? No," replied Sonja, blinking in confusion. "Don't be silly. Those don't exist. Why would you believe that those are real?"
"But, I "
"Anyway," continued Sonja, "as you can imagine, it can be hard existing in a plane where there are no physical objects besides other people. That's one of the reasons we invade the mortal plane so often. But I digress. The second plane you can now see is one of the ways we can accomplish things. It's the one that looks like a pale shade of strength."
"Probably a dingy shade of orange," added Cassidy. "Y'know, since your inferior non-angelic vision can't see in shades of concepts."
"Does it matter? It's the only other new vision," said Sonja, with a sigh. "Anyway, that vision shows you the reality of well, there really isn't a word for it in English. Think of it as a plane of imagination. Anything you can imagine will become and stay real, so long as it fits the size of the mundane object you're hiding it in. That's why the demoninja had knives and throwing stars, but no swords."
"Okay, now that's a little hard to believe," said Blaine. "I mean, I can see it, so I know you're not lying, but anything I think becomes real? Doesn't that mean that anyone with half of an imagination would be effectively omnipotent by now? You could have, like an army of tiny robot warriors or super powerful death rays or something."
"Really?" said Cassidy, rolling her eyes. "Well, gee, is that all we had to do? Well, gosh, why didn't we think of that. Oh wait, we did. We're giving you the simple version. Creating is hard. It takes a lot of stamina. And it all depends on belief. Everyone sees a sword and thinks it's a sharp blade. Everyone sees a gun and thinks that it will shoot. If you make a futuristic blaster that's capable of disintegrating a demon in one shot, but I think it's just a toy space gun that makes noise, my simpler reality wins. Your blaster becomes a toy. Everything in this reality wants to become as simple as possible. It's like one of those chemical reaction laws. Wood wants to become ash. Ash doesn't want to become wood. The fancier the object, the more likely it is to get ruined by someone else.
"Admittedly, they'd have to observe it first," she added, as an afterthought.
"So, wait," said Blaine, "If that's true, then anything you imagine would work against other normal people, right? They can't see the object, only the real object that contains it. What's stopping you from enslaving all of them, or something?"
"Ourselves," replied Sonja, with a laugh. "Angels simply don't do that sort of thing. And it's our job to ensure that no other supernatural force does that sort of thing, either. What do you think we're fighting against, anyway?
"Besides," she said, staring Blaine straight in the eye. "We're angels. Do you really think we need more power to do something that trivial?"
"I ummm, I guess I didn't think about that before asking," admitted Blaine, rubbing the back of his neck.