Keep going or the world is gonna end

1: Valium (preview)

"Valium.  Element number 0.  It has no protons, neutrons, or electrons.  It's made of soup of quarks that is constantly shifting and changing.  It reacts with carbon to make life.  Every living thing has Valium in it.  But animals are special in that they have it not just in their cells but dissolved in their blood.  And humans are even more special.  Humans have the ability to control it.  Valium can act like whatever it's asked to be.  It can be flammable.  It can be solid.  It can be radioactive.  It's basically magic.  It was discovered in the 1940s by a German scientist whose name had been lost.  It didn't take long to realize this substance could do amazing things.  But it was used as evidence for a theory that motivated a horrible person.  After World War Two, valium's existence was shared with the rest of the scientific community.  Its strange behavior and its only known source at the time made its study hard to classify.  So the world chose to call it Alchemy.  The year 1990 rolled around, and valium still didn't have any good uses other than the fact that people can do party tricks with minor magic.  Until someone found a deposit of valium in Texas.  With a solid source of valium that wasn't unethical to obtain, research into it was redoubled, and enchanting was discovered.  In the year 2020, the first valium reactor cars were made.  In 2030, the effects of valium on the ecosystem were discovered when a truck crashed off the side of a cliff, causing valium gas to escape into a forest.  Of the fifteen members of the cleanup crew sent in, only one made it out, with stories of monsters from myths.  The MSU, Monster Slaying United, was founded three months later.  Despite that, almost everything we interact with today used valium somewhere in the process of making it." Aaron looks around at the audience of four people.  The four people who decide if his hard work is worth a masters in Alchemy.  He gulps.  "My conclusion is that valium's many uses outweigh its consequences," Aaron says, his confidence suddenly waning.  He steps away from the podium, slouching his shoulders again.  He brushes his curly brown hair behind his ears and waits.

The four men talk amongst themselves for a moment as Aaron nervously fiddles with a ring on his right middle finger.  The four men nod and turn to Aaron.  "Thank you, Aaron, for that presentation.  We have read through your report on your capstone project and have come to a consensus.  Aaron Izechiel Smith, we would like to congratulate you on a job well done, and we look forward to awarding you your degree at graduation."

He breathes a sigh of relief.  He walks forward and shakes hands with his professors, his bonny fingers dwarfed by the fat hands of the university dean, and he gathers his things.  "Thank you so much, this means the world to me.  I can't wait to be at graduation!"  His voice is full of joy, and he has huge grin on his face.

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Aaron slumps his face on his wooden desk, his bonny elbows rest on ether side, and his hands grip the hair on the back of his head.  Three months since graduation, and he still doesn't have a job.  Coffee might give him the motivation to send in one last application.  He scoots back in his chair and gets up, groaning as he arches his back and something pops.  He slips and arm up his grey shirt and scratches his shoulder.  He walks out of his unfurnished bedroom and into the kitchen of his sister's apartment.  He looks out the window to see the sun slowly dropping below the city skyline.  He grins for a second before resuming his frown.  When he was a kid, he couldn't wait to grow up.  Now?  He would trade his sister in for the chance to turn back 6 years to when he was just leaving Highschool.  He grabs his graduation mug out of the cabinet and pours himself a mug of coffee.  His watch buzzes, so he looks at the screen.  It was a text from someone labeled as Phoebe.