Midnight Fury

3/1 - Imaginary Field

The lecture room was silent. More than five hundred young Wielders focused their attention on the podium, where a short, middle-aged man stood. Behind him was projected a complex image. Equations, diagrams, and charts, all with a single purpose.

"And that concludes my lecture on the Imaginary Field Hypothesis, known by some as 'If Theory.' I will now take some time to answer your individual questions."

A hand shot instantly into the air, barely discernible against the multitude that had done the same around. Somehow, the man on the stage singled out the hand's owner by name.

"Yes, you there, Ms. Kingstone? I should have known..."

The girl rose from her seat. This was the same Evette Kingstone that we have already met, if a few years younger.

"Professor Sakabe, you claim that if the Imaginary Field were to exist, it could be host to make-believe life forms such as dragons and fairies. You also state that a sufficient amount of energy could bring these life forms into the real world. What about non-imaginary lifeforms?"

"I assume you are referring to people and animals? Well, the Imaginary Field encompasses that which is unverifiable. As it is impossible to prove a negative, dragons and fairies will always remain in a state of pure imagination, and therefore exist within the Imaginary Field. Extinct lifeforms, such as non-avian dinosaurs, could also exist there because it can never be definitively concluded how they looked and behaved, even with fossil remains."

"What about people, then?"

"Fictional characters of the last few centuries are out since their origins can be definitively traced. Mythical or historical figures, especially those who existed before the information age, could conceivably be brought into existence. However, they would not be the real person, but instead an amalgamation of whatever the one who brought them into the real world believed them to be. And of course, they would not be able to exist for very long."

"Why would that be?"

"That's where sapience comes into the equation. Most animals have only limited self-awareness and operate far more on instinct. Humans, while retaining their animal instincts, have a sense of being that is absent in dogs, mice... If a human were to be taken from the Imaginary Field and brought to the real world, they would be aware that they only just begun to exist. Everything would feel like a dream to them, which they would soon awaken from."

"Surely, though, if whoever brought them into the real world was able to convince them they had amnesia, perhaps, the existential crisis could be altogether avoided."

"Ms. Kingstone, we're crossing over from theoretical physics to the realm of psychology, which is regrettably not what I have a doctorate in. The idea of creating life through the Imaginary Field is merely conjecture, and I find its application to particle physics far more exciting in its potential uses in the real world. However, if a magicist were able to somehow gather enough resources to create life from scratch, and keep it in a self-sustaining chain reaction, then I suppose that Wielder would never have to fear being alone."

Looking dejected, Evette sat back down. Some of the other students sent confused looks her way. She could sense each and every one of their emotions, but in the vast sea of electrons was unable to discern what they were.