An Entirely New World *Some Restricitons Apply

Over time, the world did return to some semblance of normalcy. Across the globe, politicians and media members began to consistently roll out the phrase, “We Have to Get Back to Normal” as a chant and order for the general populace to come to terms with their strange new shining neighbors. By the time Christmas Day arrived the next year, and it was time to reflect on the first anniversary of everything changing, the world found itself acknowledging that very little had actually changed.

Work had all but returned to its previous form. No governments were toppled. There was no reflective shift in how society viewed reality or cared for one another. Everything was as it was, only now glowing crystals were jutting out of every corner of the lands, and there would occasionally be massive, pulsing glyphs of unknown languages that would appear in the sky, then vanish.

Around the world, governments scrambled in competition to be the first to understand these new forms of matter. A select few knew the truth of their origin, or at least how they got to our world, but that information was shared with only the smallest number of privileged decision-makers. For everyone else, it was a new arms race. The first ones to understand these shards would likely be the ones to truly control the future.

Thus, militaries, government researchers, and private corporations all rushed to lay claim to the shards that lined the world’s canvas. Bidding wars began for land rights. Imminent domain seizure protocols allowed mysterious groups to swoop into forgotten towns and close off entire forests. All around the world, more domes, tents, fences, and security barriers appeared.

Then the breakthroughs began.

Over a year after their arrival, the mysteries of the shards began to be revealed to the public. The world’s scientists had found ways to mimic the shards with lab-grown gems. They didn’t have the true composition of the shards, but they were close enough to harness their mysterious power. That power became known as a single, familiar word: Magic.

Magic was the best thing anyone could compare it to. Energy surged through the shards, creating matter from nothing. Elemental bursts of flame, wind, rock, and water could be pulled from oblivion and formed into a never-ending supply. Signals could be sent into the shard to create glyphs like the ones in the sky, all of which had different abilities and uses.

And, as so often happened, these earth-shattering changes to our understanding of the universe were immediately commoditized, packaged, and sold.

Posters and advertisements arrived in a storm of announcements. This was the new world:

ArcanFlame: Better heating for your house! Some restrictions apply.

ArcanBarrier: The latest in automobile crash safety systems! Enhance your ride with our patented Manu-crystal integration platform! Call today to find out more. Some restrictions apply.

ArcanFlow: Level up your data center’s cooling and water supply functionality. Some restrictions apply.

Every facet of existence had some new shard integration, which was now being referred to as Arcan technology.

But the struggle remained. Groceries were still getting more expensive. Subscriptions to Arcan offerings kept their blessings and bounties hidden behind paywalls. Even though the streets were lined with jagged chunks of magical power, their wonder was kept in profit-seeking hands.

Regular people were not allowed to engage with the wild shards beyond normal existence. There was no experimentation or connecting with those, beyond what the supposed owners were allowed to do. Even if regular people tried to engage with the shards, nothing happened. They did not respond to touch or word. No matter how people interacted with them, they stayed silent.

Except for Miu.

It was subtle, but in time she noticed that the shards would glow when she walked by. Most wouldn’t even notice it, or would simply assume it was random. But after dozens upon dozens of instances, Miu could not deny that the mysterious rocks did in fact seem to acknowledge her. Even more so, she would feel a faint tinge of something energetic in her left eye socket every time she got close enough to them.

Thus, she did her best to stay away from their proximity.

With more and more private fencing and research barricades blocking the shards from public eyes, that became easier every day.

By the time she was out in the world working on weekends, the shards were all but cut off from daily life.

She was seventeen now. After much deliberation and numerous requests to her caregivers, she was allowed to start working. Never on school nights, and never more than eight hours a day. But for those weekends, she was allowed to go to a nearby restaurant, where she was first a table busser and eventually a server. Every paycheck she received instantly went into a savings account that had been set up by the state.

Within months, she had set aside over two hundred thousand yen.

All of it was for their plan. Ever since their discussion that day in the garden, Yuki and Miu had set their minds towards trying to find a way to be together when the time came. Their plan was flawed but straightforward. When Miu aged out, she would become Yuki’s guardian. If they were successful, she would be able to take him from his orphanage, and they would be able to live together. Both of them had already begun researching as much as possible so that they could prepare for whatever court challenges and concerns might arise.

There was a faint glimmer of hope in all of it. It was small and weak, but it was there, glowing softly in the darkness of their daily struggles.

For Miu, the struggles were already wearing her thin. Between schooling every weekday and working sixteen hours plus commuting an hour each way to her job, Miu found herself feeling weaker than before by the time she woke that Saturday to prepare for her shift.

As always, her left eye’s invader was there shining back to her when she looked in the mirror to start rinsing her face. It was raised and curved, far from the smooth curves of a regular eye. That made it difficult and unpleasant to blink. Not blinking made her eye socket dry. The eye patch made it frustrating to apply eye drops. She hated it all.

Quiet reflection hung in the cold October morning air. The calendar beside her told her their goal was not too far away. She would age out on November 11th. Once that happened, she would be free. Once that day arrived, they could formally begin the guardianship request process. Yuki was fifteen, and there would be concerns regarding their relationship and his physical condition, but they didn’t care. Both had spent every free moment preparing for this.

For now, Miu had to go to work. 

Makeup was applied. Uniform clothes were layered and hidden beneath a heavy coat. Her eyepatch was returned to its place.

The commuter rail was now outfitted with Arcan LevTech, which amounted to it having a slightly smoother ride than before. Gone were the metal wheels of old. Now the cars drifted along in a slight hover. This was the glorious new world.

Advertisements highlighted all of the new offerings available. As Miu tried to read her notes on potential processing timelines for the guardianship transfer, she heard segments of a new advertisement selling the latest artificial intelligence and quantum processing systems.

“Automate your back-office workflow instantly with our proprietary ArcanDrive AGI! Our revolutionary new AGI functions just like human thought, allowing your customer service experiences to be as close to the real thing as possible, without the need for all of the expenses that come with regular employee quotas. Call today to find out more! Powered by Arcan shards. Some restrictions apply.”

The words briefly stuck with Miu as she pondered a world where companies leveraged magic and automation more than people. If there were no jobs left, where would they go? How would they survive? She wasn’t overly smart by academic standards. She’d never excelled in class or had any subject that jumped out. If service jobs like her current one were all she had in her future, how long until those were replaced?

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case for now. She was still employed and was clocking in for her shift a few minutes later.

Lunch was relatively calm, but by the time dinner crowds arrived, the rush was full. Dozens of patrons called for help as they tried to navigate the ArcanMizuServe systems at their tables. It was the restaurant owner’s newest tool: small manu-crystals mounted to simple mechanical supports. Supposedly, a simple touch and incantation would allow patrons to refill their water glasses on their own. But the tool was faulty, rushed, and underdeveloped. The manu-crystals were already known to be cheap and mass-produced.

So much of Miu’s nights were spent helping guests navigate the device. This was another one of those instances.

A table of several young people was all struggling and had waved Miu over to help.

“The UX on these things is terrible. I can’t believe we have to say something woo-woo to it to get it to do anything. Why can’t it just be touch-based?” asked one of the young men as he waved his hand in front of the small cyan crystal.

“Yeah, what if you have a mouthful of food, or can’t speak?” asked another.

“First iterations of new tech are never ideal,” said one of the young women as Miu arrived.

As always, she noticed their subtle glances at her scars and eye patch as she reached their table.

“I can help,” she said quietly.

Her fingers reached out to touch the device, which once again glowed. No one seemed to care.

“Pour, don’t spill. My cup, refill.”

After she spoke, the crystal shone again, and a small stream of water appeared directly from the crystal. The clear water poured down into the waiting cup. Once that cup was full, her finger lifted slightly, and the stream stopped. When another cup was in position, her finger returned, and the flow began once more.

“You’re good!” laughed one of the men.

“You’re just incompetent, Tatsuro…” laughed another.

Miu paid them no mind and continued making her way through the six glasses.

“So are we still on for Fukuoka on the anniversary holiday?” one of the young women asked.

The words sent a chill through Miu’s fingers. For many, the anniversary dates of the Christmas arrival had turned into vacation holidays. Whereas that date was one she and Yuki had almost lost everything, and had suffered so greatly, many now saw it as an opportunity to travel and drink. Though Miu didn’t notice, the water flow intensified.

“I’ve already got the reservation confirmation! Shuhei, are you bringing that sake from Sapporo again?”

The water stream was now a heavy rush. The cup overflowed and spilled onto Miu’s hand, pulling her thoughts back.

“Oh, sorry!” she murmured as her finger lifted.

But the water didn’t stop.

“Hey!” said one of the men as the power continued to grow and sprayed across the table.

“Stop! Stop! No more water!” Miu ordered the crystal, but her touch only caused it to gain more power.

All across the restaurant, every crystal began to pour out ferocious streams of cold water.

“Stop! Stop! Please stop!!” Miu shouted.

Then the flames of the grill began to rise and roar. Now, everyone was screaming. Steam began to fill the room as the grills burst into small blazes and the watering crystals drenched every patron. Tables flipped and chairs toppled as dozens of people rushed to the door in confused fear. All the while, Miu was screaming at the small crystal, trying to get it to stop.

“PLEASE STOP!!!” she cried as humiliation and fear overwhelmed her.

Once more, the excruciating pain in her eye returned. Only it was more intense than usual. It had been months since it hurt this bad. As Miu’s hand jerked up to her face, she saw her palm illuminated by an eerie blue that was shining through the cloth of the eyepatch.

“I SAID STOP!!!” she screamed.

But instead of stopping, the water turned to a torrent, and the fires rose to the ceiling. Flashes of light glitched around the walls, and strange sigils appeared then vanished. Miu was left alone in the blaze and flood. All she could do was rush to the door as hysterical tears of terror and confusion overwhelmed her. Once outside, she turned to see the entire restaurant becoming consumed in flames. Shocked, horrified gazes turned to her as she tried to cover her glowing eye.