I awake and find relief from my headache. I still feel disoriented, like someone plucked my brain out of my head and put it into a new body that looks the same, but has all the internals rearranged. I really don’t know how I would accurately describe the feeling.

I rub my eyes and take a look at the room around me. It’s daytime now, so at the very least I slept through the entire night. Magna is still in bed next to me, as expected. Itor’s in the room now, too. He’s speaking with Sheia with his voice raised. I guess the noise from the conversation is what woke me up. I haven’t seen him this angry before. She’s obviously distraught at the show of aggression, but she doesn’t cower before him.

I can’t tell what my reaction to the drug points to. It could suggest that the drug is strange or dangerous, or it could also suggest the idea that my reaction to it was the strange thing, and that nobody else reacts like that to it their first time. I haven’t actually done any sort of mind-altering drug before - not even alcohol - so I have no idea if that type of experience is in any way standard.

Itor catches my eye and notices that I’ve awoken. He takes a break from yelling at Sheia, immediately kneeling down and meeting my eye, muttering to himself and examining my face. He moves my hair around, looking all throughout the strands on my head. Then, he pulls me out of bed and pulls off my robe. Sheia’s face turns a bright red and she turns away from me as my genitals are exposed.

Huh. I had assumed that this culture just didn’t value nudity as sacred, considering the reactions of the people who created me when I appeared nude. I guess they were just looking at me from more of a scientific lens than a personal one. It makes sense that Sheia - who doesn't think of me as an artificial being like Itor or Magna might - would get embarrassed at seeing me exposed like this.

That does help me get a better view of Itor’s mindset, though. I had always thought of him as the one who cared about me more, but considering the fact that he doesn’t seem to see me in any sort of ‘human’ light, he probably would feel a lesser sense of empathy for me.

He searches my entire body, similar to when he thought I created the stone knife I used to dissect the spider monsters. I wonder if these two events are linked somehow? If he is indeed checking for wounds which indicate the use of their creation ability, that means quite a lot.

First off, he has already established to himself that I do not possess that ability. If he’s checking again, that means it’s possible for me to gain it despite not having it before.

Second, he feels it’s pertinent to check my body now, after the most recent incident. That means there is some sort of link between the drug I took and the creation ability. This link could be that the drug has the capability to grant you the creation ability, or it could also mean that those with the creation ability react more strongly to the drug. It could mean many different things, but they’re somehow linked.

He also is obviously quite upset with Sheia. He might not want me to have the ability for some reason, or he might not have wanted me to take that drug, or perhaps he became upset with her for potentially damaging me after seeing my unwell state. His anger has clearly not disappeared after seeing me wake up, but it has in some amount subsided.

Itor gives me my robe back after he has finished checking my body, taking a deep breath and seeming to make an attempt to calm his nerves. He sits down on the floor and offers me a soft smile, heavily contrasting his previous behavior. He says something to a thoroughly flustered Sheia, who nods and leaves the room.

Itor pats the empty space next to him on the floor, seeming to offer me a seat. I accept, sitting down near him with my legs crossed.

Itor takes a moment to think and compose himself. It seems that this moment of my being in danger really affected him in some way. He must have more on the line than a simple pursuit of knowledge.

Itor holds out his hand, palm facing upwards, and closes his eyes. Slowly, a small pebble materializes in his hand. It seems he’s showing off his creation ability to me. He turns his hand over, dropping the pebble to the floor.

Then, he turns his hand and points directly at me.

What? Is he trying to tell me that I’m a creation? Yeah. I know, buddy. I nod, and, to ensure that that’s what he meant, point to him, then the rock, and then drag my hands up my body to symbolize the way the rock was created.

Itor looks at me, confused. Is that not what he meant? What else would he be telling me?

Itor grabs my hand, turning it over and putting it in the same position he had his hand in when he created the stone.

Wait…

He grabs the stone he created and puts it in my hand, then points to me.

This doesn’t mean…

He drags his hands up around the stone to symbolize the way the rock was created.

He points at himself, and then points at me.

A rush of excitement hits me. Can I really create things in the same way they do? Itor smirks curiously at my expression. Okay, no. I have to stay calm. Emotions get you in trouble. I take a deep breath. I close my eyes, trying my hardest to imitate the exact way he was sitting when he created the pebble.

Huh. How do I actually do it, though? I try to visualize a pebble being created in my hand. Nothing happens. Maybe if I visualize the pebble in extreme detail? I imagine all the little cracks and crevices that might be inside a small rock. I imagine the bumpy exterior and the hard surface. Nothing.

I open my eyes. Did I misunderstand Itor again? He nods encouragingly when he sees my look of uncertainty, motioning for me to continue.

I give him a general questioning look, trying to communicate the idea that I have no idea how to do this.

He looks confused for a second, then nods to himself. He looks back at me and takes a moment to think. I guess it would be difficult to communicate a complex idea like this.

He gets back into the position and closes his eyes like he did before. Then, he opens them and gets into a pleading position and expression, portraying himself asking something of some imaginary figure in front of him. Then, he gets back into the original position, and points at his head.

I think he’s trying to communicate that the pleading thing is happening inside your head while you’re actually in the original position creating the stone. I guess that’s supposed to represent prayer? Like, I’m supposed to ask a god to create the stone? That’s an interesting point of view, but I doubt it’s what’s actually going on.

When I break down what he was showing me to do, he was showing me to ask for something. He - and presumably all others with this ability - frame this in their heads as asking a god for the stone, but in essence, they’re creating a request inside of their heads for something. So if I stop thinking of this as me creating the stone with some special ability, and rather as me asking for the stone to be created, will I get results?

I close my eyes and hold out my hand.

Give me a small pebble.

Nothing, huh. Should I act more casual, like I’m speaking with a person?

Hello. Please give me a rock, right here in my hand. Thanks.

Still nothing. Let’s try going back to what I did before, where I added detail. All of those knives and spikes that Itor and Magna made were pretty much identical, so they probably have to specify every last detail when creating them. Otherwise, I’d imagine random variation would occur.

Hello. Create a small pebble in my hand. I want it to be exactly one millimeter in diameter, with a smooth surface. I want it to be made of stone with no air pockets inside of it and no cracks on the surface.

Hm. Still nothing. Maybe “made of stone” is too broad? Perhaps I have to specify what type of stone.

Make it out of basalt.

Woah. I feel a jolt throughout my body. Like if my brain was a computer, and, for the first time ever, someone else just picked up the mouse and keyboard and started using it. It’s like an outside entity is interfacing with me. I can understand why people would assume this is a godly being.

I’m shaking, haha. This is oddly terrifying.

It’s requesting something from me. A part of my body? I already specified I want the stone to be created in my hand. My shoulder sort of came pre-selected, like a default, for some reason when this request came up. Okay. I want it directly in the center of my palm. I imagine the exact spot on my body I want it in. I feel a tingle right there.

I feel a biting pain in my hand, like a small part of it is being eaten away. I open my eyes. Over the course of a split second, a stone takes shape right above the palm of my hand. I see tiny particles collecting and pressing together, becoming an exact replica of the vision I had for it in my head. It finishes coming into existence, and then drops down and rolls innocently around in my fingers.

I did it.