𝓚𝗼𝐭𝐥𝐜 𝓞𝐧𝐞-𝓢𝐡𝗼𝐭𝐬

The Heart Of The Matter

These are excerpts I wrote that are supposed to be from Cassius's book "The Heart Of The Matter." So, um, enjoy XD

The Heart Of The Matter" by Lord Cassius Sencen

Excerpted for your reading pleasure

Emotions are a slippery thing. Traditionally, it is said that with physical contact, Empaths can feel the emotions of other elves. Of course, some species have stronger emotions than this— particularly humans, and this is especially fascinating considering how it contrasts how weak their minds are. Then again, elves' minds are far more affected by guilt (more on this in later chapters).

But as new research and theories unfold, it becomes more and more evident that there is a piece of this puzzle that is missing. Perhaps emotions aren't as black and white as we are led to believe, and Empaths are only able to capture a piece of this puzzle.

***

It is a popular misconception (though a mistake that I would never make) that when Empaths take a reading, they are getting the full scope of the person's emotions. If they were— which could potentially be possible, if they were enhanced by a very strong Enhancer— the sensation would be far more overwhelming.

So what determines which emotions an Empath can read?

This leads to a hypothesis I like to call the Head Vs. Heart Theory. In essence, it says that everybody has two sets of feelings: ones in your head, and ones in your heart. Ones in your head can be consciously changed, altered so that they match up with what you want to feel. These are the kinds of emotions Empaths can sense. Meanwhile, heart emotions cannot be changed no matter how much you would like them to. They are purer— like light coming directly from the source, not yet filtered by the atmosphere— but makes a smaller impact on your behaviors. The things you want, but won't allow yourself to have. Empaths cannot feel these, aside from when enhanced (and even then they would be unable to feel every emotion).

Of course, as it is more commonly known, feelings can also be buried even more deliberately. Many people can be quite good at hiding even their head emotions from Empaths to, say, cover up a prank they did. A/N: We all know who Cassius is thinking about right now ;) But that is beyond the point.

***

As you are probably aware of, the elvin mind is incredibly fragile when it comes to the emotion of guilt. In most cases, the result is the shattering of the person's sanity. However, there are exceptions. Certain elves may instead resort to a completely different mechanism altogether. Recklessness.

Perhaps the ones that resort to recklessness do this because they filter their head emotions more than average. This inference comes from the fact that when you allow your sanity to shatter, you are accepting the guilt, punishing yourself for it. But if a mind has a tendency to bury down emotions they don't want to feel, they may try to push down the guilt and try to fix things. Ultimately, this leads to rash— reckless— actions.

But no matter how a mind copes with the astonishing emotional force that is guilt, it is fascinating the way heart and head emotions intertwine, and how surprisingly complex Empathy may be. Talented Empaths like myself are able to take this information and use it to our advantage.