Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Essences

I feel information about the computer my powers are manipulating flow into my mind even as I will the thing to turn on. The computer beeps to life even as its specifications are almost… beamed into my mind, for reasons that initially elude me.

It takes me a second to recall that the “Essence of Creation” allows me to supernaturally understand things that I manipulate. It does this for the sake of making it easier for me to create things from nothing using the primary superpower it has granted me, as the more I understand what I seek to create the easier it is for me to do so and the less creative energy it takes me to create objects in the first place.

I smirk as I feel the information someone who works at a tech support place might need to perform any sort of meaningful diagnostics of the device flow into the back of my mind. The information is handy, and I quickly attempt to visualize a computer with these specifications in my mind’s eye. I’m doing this because I believe that if I can visualize it clearly I should be able to guesstimate how much energy it’ll take me to actually make it, from nothing.

It takes me more than a few moments of focus before I can see a thin line appear within the weird pool of creative energy that I possess that I know, instinctually, denotes how much energy I’d expend if I created an exact copy of the decent computer the public library uses. Now that I understand the computer it costs significantly less than it did even minutes ago and the total cost is a little less than half of my total pool of creative energy. I also know that if I practice altering books using my creative power I can probably earn enough energy to make a mundane creation like this closer to effortless…

I use my power over computers, which thanks to the “Cyber-Corruption Eye” is fairly absolute, to log onto the device and I command the thing to open up a browser window. I’m far from tech savvy, but I can explore the internet unaided, although even for someone who grew up with internet access like I did exploring the internet through supernatural means like this is weird. My eye translates my intent into commands for the computer to follow but there is still a touch of lag between my telling the computer what to do and it actually doing it.

I take my time and I activate another of my demon eyes, aiming one of my ocular eyes tucked away inside of the library. The demon eye I activate is one known as the “Eye of Information Devouring”, and it is a low-level gluttony eye.

As it observes the computer I watch the end results of the work I direct the computer to perform by using my cyber eye. For the next few minutes my time is split between researching the most expensive and valuable but reasonably common books and then searching for PDFs of the books I deem worth turning my books into.

Each time I find a working link to a PDF of a book I instantly know the total contents of the pdf, down to page numbers and the fonts the letters are typed in. This information is safely tucked away inside of the eye itself and I can perfectly recall it at any time that I wish to remember something I used it to learn.

I decide to really grind the potential of my demon eyes by multitasking. Situated throughout the library are various ocular eyes that are either only partially in use or are entirely being ignored, and that doesn’t feel very efficient of me. I turn those eyes towards the various bookshelves that fill the library, and I use multiple instances of the “Eye of Information Devouring” to tremendously speed up the rate at which I can memorize the contents of books.

Meanwhile my actual physical body begins to get out books and arrange them in front of me. There is no one around to witness the magic tricks I am about to do, and even as I take advantage of the power of the free digital library I can recognize the world-shaking potential of my actions here. This power is amateurish for now, but if I practice using my transformative abilities in time I’ll be able to create and arm armies!  

I pour creative energy into the books that are placed on the floor in front of me, and I watch them change. Some of them are holistically transformed, even their whole sizes changing to become identical copies of things like college textbooks and new hardcover novels. Others endure less dramatic external transformations, but the words that line the pages of the books are still radically transformed.

Each time a book is transformed I feel a, for the moment anyway, meaningful chunk of my creative power seep into the book in question. That said, as a power that requires training to reach its maximum potential, I can also feel the pool of creative power I possess deepening, and with each book each subsequent transformation is less draining. After I’ve transformed a handful of books I feel my ability to regenerate lost energy beginning to surpass how much each transformation costs me altogether, which brings a smile to my face.

In a matter of minutes I have edited more than a dozen books. The books arrayed in front of me range from college textbooks to brand new hardcover novels of books that have only been out for a few days. I admire the collection I have managed to make, even as I turn my mind’s eye to the book symbol floating in the upper left corner of my range of perception.

The book is a thing that has loomed in my field of view for many minutes now. Truthfully I’m almost dreading looking at it, as it embodies possibility and choice and that’s a little frightening. The book is filled with a complete library of every essence, and by clicking on it I will have the power to leisurely study every essence that I can create out the jump.

I’ve already seen what even a few essences can do, and the knowledge that there are hundreds, probably thousands, more waiting to be created is a bit overwhelming. Nevertheless, if I actually want to use these powers to move up in the world… I can’t be afraid. Or at least I can’t let my fear paralyze me.

My body continues to work on the books, beginning to rely on a strangely esoteric form of muscle memory, while I steel my will. I think about the confluence of bullshit that has led me to this moment, everything from getting denied apartment applications to not getting jobs I was qualified for, one after another for years, and all of it steadily fills me with anger.

After years of bad luck, and a slowly atrophying bank account, I was rendered homeless and for the last year and a half I’ve been in survival mode. But now… Now opportunity is right in front of me. All it takes is for me to reach out and seize it.

In a move that is equal parts determination and anger I reach out and touch the symbol and am so caught off guard by the thing expanding to fill out most of my field of view that I almost gasp. I sigh in annoyance when I recover from my shock, and begin to read what I can now see.

The first thing I see as I focus on the parts of my vision that are now dominated by the book is a list of names. They are curious things that often seem to be fusions of two words placed together without any spacing or punctuation marks, or a word followed by a series of numbers.

It actually takes me a second to realize that they must be names, almost like usernames on a forum or online game. For a moment I wonder if they are the creators of the essences, and this is simply the essence’s way of acknowledging their contribution to… eldritch sciences.  

After the series of names I begin to see a list of essences. I recognize a few of them, but for the most part these are essences that are wholly new to me. As I mentally scan them I realize that their letters become italicized when I focus on them, and right as I realize that my eyes linger on one of the essences. I also notice that some essences are greyed out, which I immediately assume means that I can’t create them yet. This is a new power after all, it makes sense that I don’t get to use it maximally right away.

The “Essence of the Unnamed Darkness” is the essence that my eyes fell upon when my eyes lingered on an essence, and because of that I find my “book” flipping through countless “pages” until I am in the part of the list that describes the essence. It is also one of the essences with a name that is not greyed out, which is encouraging.

I allow myself a few moments to read it, curious about what it can offer me. I do this because the fact that the name of the essence is not greyed out should mean that I can create this essence, and I want to see the level of power of the essences available to me right away.

This peculiar essence is intriguing, but it’s also incredibly weird. At its core the essence is all about becoming some sort of eldritch entity made of darkness that can consume anything and everything. It is another trainable essence, which explains why I can create it right away.

Training seems to be a central component of my abilities, but curiously some of my abilities are not trainable. My quirks are not trainable, as I have full control over all of them innately, though I instinctually know that I can “acquire” more if I can somehow get to the world where that set of powers originates. And my demon eyes are not trainable either.

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On the other hand, my creation-based abilities, and my ability to get new abilities are all trainable, which is kind of nice. I like knowing that as impressive as my abilities are, there is room for meaningful, dramatic growth.  

When I’m done reading the description of the unnamed darkness essence the book automatically goes back to the index of essences. I am once more able to see a list of long and impressive seeming essences.

There are a range of intriguing names before me. Ones that, at a glance, interest me are ones like “Essence of the Dungeon Master”, or “Essence of the Dollmaker”. I like the idea of being able to create a safe place for my friends to rest every night, and I know that I can do that with something like the ability to create dungeons, though I have a feeling that the dollmaker essence is more than just its name suggests. I can imagine many different ways that that particular essence is deceptively named…

Just glancing at the names is not enough for me to get sucked into reading its full description. If I want to get mentally teleported to where a full description of an essence is located I need to actually focus, even just a little, on an essence.

As I’ve been doing this all of my books have been changed into more expensive books. All in all I have over two and a half dozen books that have been turned into more expensive and noteworthy books than they were originally. At this point I have added a total of half of my initial pool of creative power into my eldritch stores of unnatural energy, which is not a tremendous amount but is enough for me to want to have fun with my powers.

I refocus on my physical body as I allow a part of my mind to keep thinking about what to do with regards to what essence to gain. Part of the reason this matters is that I will have to wait five days after this before I can successfully acquire another essence, barring me risking another journey into the supernatural warehouse, so what choice I make matters a whole lot. At least for right now. This is the weakest I’ll ever be moving forward, so for the next five days a lot is hinging on this choice.

The part of me focused on my body uses my ocular eyes quickly uses eyes placed in the area of the bookstore to absorb more books from the bookstore’s “Free” bookshelf. I use my actual, physical eyes to shunt the books from the void-like inventory I just put them into onto the floor in front of me. I chuckle as I do this, since it shows the sort of incredible power that can come from mixing powers.

The part of my mind that is focused on essences decides the prudent thing is to investigate the quirkier seeming essences. There’s no doubt in my mind that essences with names like “The Essence of the Warlord” or “The Essence of the Scholar” will be powerful, but ones with names like “Essence of Powerlisting” and “Essence of Infernal Augmentation” are a bit harder to gauge at a glance.

For the next few minutes I investigate various essences that I can invest my energy in. Doing so reveals lots of fun superpowers that I could potentially gain, either right now or in the future, from the power to create viruses to the power to transform people into unshakably loyal, immortal dolls that do my bidding. Annoyingly, that particular essence is also a trainable essence but its manner of training solves many of my problems…

The dollmaker essence is, surprisingly the one I am the most interested in at the moment. It is an incredible tool in the hands of the right mastermind, especially if someone has the same sort of will-corroding powers that I possess. Those who imbibe it gain the power to transform living creatures into dolls that serve them, so long as the dollmaker can overwhelm a potential doll with a pool of energy that the dollmaker is granted when they imbibe the essence. The dolls themselves are upgradeable, but even right away they are immortal, do not need to sleep or eat, and are irrevocably loyal to their maker…

This is a dark essence, but in my hands it’d be used for some good… I could combine my powers to transform criminals into my servants. And after that I can use their resources to serve the community, since they’ll be willing to give me all of their stuff. And superpowers are only “good” or “evil” if the people using them use them for good or evil, right?

I spend a few moments unsure of what to do next, aware that my next major decision ought to be which essence to create. This decision is critical, especially now that it’s close to nine forty-five in the morning. Time is passing, and not at a particularly slow rate either. If I want to actually help my friends tonight, it would be good of me to make this decision now.

Ultimately, while I’m no hero I do want to help people when possible. I debate the morality of a power as thorough as the dollmaker essence, for several minutes before I make a choice about what essence to create. When my choice is made a black vial filled with a sickly yellow fluid appears in my hand and I watch the timer tied to my most critical essence begin to countdown.

I open the vial and chug the fluid. It is not a pleasant tasting thing, but with it I gain powerful superpowers that I know are worth the disgusting taste that I feel flowing down my throat. As the powers begin to fill me, and as a new pool of supernatural energy appears in my mind’s eye, I frown. Despite the fact that I am frowning, I know I have tasted victory. All that is left is for me use my new powers for the first time.

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The thing about possessing eye-based superpowers is that they tend to make someone observant. Observant people are dangerous, especially when they are able to observe people without being noticed in turn.

Wielders of demon eyes, in the universe they hail from, are feared because of their ability to get their hands on all sorts of intel and their ability to target people who are truly staggering distances from them. The world of Henry’s birth is a mundane place where knowledge of magic is purely speculative and in very rare cases, consists of ancient, half-remembered memories of a distant past. Nevertheless, Henry’s powers are the real deal.

The already somewhat eldritch figure focuses on the invisible eyes that he has placed throughout the downtown of the tiny town he, unhappily, calls home. These eyes are positioned in various buildings between the bookstore and the library, a distance that is nearly two and a half miles long. The invisible eyes are not only placed in the entrances of the buildings, but in rooms throughout the numerous buildings that make up the business heart of the town.

These eyes can watch, and indeed even hear, what is occurring around them. That fact has allowed Henry to passively pick up a lot of information that he has, until now, been ignoring.

For over an hour this information has been able to be passively accrued by a being with a benevolent agenda but remarkably dark powers. When Henry’s primary usage of his ocular eyes was passive the information he collected through the power was not dangerous, but now is the moment that the other shoe has dropped.

Henry uses the power of the “Eye of Information Devouring”, which he began to use on the other eyes while he was first editing his books and transforming them, to instantly sort through what he knows about the people in the buildings he is spying on. This powerful eye instantly confers all of the things it saw into the mind of its wielder, filling the creature’s brain with hundreds of images and snippets of dozens of conversations in over five different languages.

Far away from the building that he has decided will be the center of his attention, for the moment at least, the figure who drank the essences that he drank nearly an hour and a half ago smirks. By assimilating the information seen by his ocular eyes he has decided on a plan of attack that will allow the fiendish figure to turn someone into a powerful minion of his, while also securing a home for himself at the same time.

All he’s got to do to bring his plan to fruition is take on a surprising target: a secretary who spends her free time sexually harassing and cyber-stalking one of her coworkers. And that is something the eerily empowered figure is certainly willing to do. Getting a home for himself, while also making a workplace just a bit better and happier than it was before? Oh, that’s certainly something he can justify to himself.

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