The Silicarite

Chapter 9: Awakening (Crystal)

Nearly one hundred years ago...

Endless swirling pastel colors, countless random incoherent thoughts, so many dreams. A collection of every hope and desire. Then, all of a sudden....

There she was. Sentient, conscious, thinking. No longer just a bundle of vague half-thoughts and long forgotten dreams.

Who am I?

She looked around. She was completely enveloped by a multi-faceted crystal. No, wait, she was the crystal.

I am Crystal.

But what was a Crystal? How did she know what that was? How did she know what anything was?

I have to find out.

Could she move? She was just Crystal. Crystals can't move. How did she know that? If she could just try-

Floating. Effortless. Drifting outwards and into the air. She could see herself- wait, was that her? Or was she her? She was Crystal- but the crystal was right there. A perfectly cut heart-shaped diamond, or gem, or something. It was her, but she was her....

Both are her, both are Crystal. Yes, that felt right. Crystal, the heart made of crystal, the Crystal-like heart. The heart-like crystal? Crystalline. The Crystalline Heart. Yes, yes, that was even more right. Crystal, and the Crystalline Heart. She was both. Consciousness and gem. Heart and Crystal.

She decided to stop herself for a moment, since Crystal wasn't sounding like a word to her any more. She wanted more than anything to hold onto the meaningful name.

She looked around. She was in a cave. Another word that she somehow knew. She felt like she would be able to describe anything, if she saw it. She knew so much but didn't know what she knew, yet.

Her thoughts still felt like they were settling into place, forming exactly who she was. She had existed for a while before today, she knew that, but now she was able to sort herself out, see what she was and what she wasn't. Her own feelings, not these other feelings. Where were these other feelings from?

I need to see to learn what I know.

She drifted up, gaining speed as she phased through the dirt above. Ground, rocks, soil. She passed through it effortlessly. Grass, bush, trees. The forest was made of purples and pinks, but easily recognizable to her. She flew up and out of the pastel canopy, up higher and higher into the air.

Sky, sun. Ocean.

She knew these things, and she knew that she had never seen them before. Her mind was a cacophony of thoughts, and suddenly she became aware of other voices. Voices that weren't hers- memories from other people. So many other people, people that she had never known but she knew so well. And she knew what they knew, too.

Or at least, their dreams.

Not just their nighttime visions, although she saw all of that, too. She knew their hopes and aspirations, wishes and desires. I want to marry her, I want to cast Fireball, I want to steal that charm, I want to pilot a ship, I want to praise my Divine. Everything, big and small.

It was wonderful, feeling everyone's desires; even if most of them hadn't come true yet, the thrill of possibility was so exciting. She wanted to see them, talk to them, learn more about why they wanted the things they did, and what they would do when they got it.

She flew as fast as she could, racing in a random direction towards anyone she could find. Nope, okay, that's just a beach. This way, then! No... okay, another beach, that's fine...

It was beaches, then oceans in every direction.

She was on an island.

Well, let's fly across the ocean then! There's definitely people out there! She took off, dropping altitude and skipping across the water. It was fun! She wasn't getting tired or anything, the island was already shrinking behind her, she could do it! She could-