"hush!"  

 

 

sëbus was amazed to be woken up by a cat saying "hush!"    

sëbus wasn't scared
though the cat's face was so close
so big

the cat was pawing sëbus' chest, staring him right into the eyes  

 

 

"hush!" the cat articulated, to leave no doubt

"come!"

he jumped off the bed  

 

 

sëbus sat up

it was all a bit funny
even as a cat, mr bean was making everything funny all the time

and of course it was a little scary
sëbus wasn't scared but it just was

and sëbus also felt good about it

he knew something was going to happen
an adventure

the second episode!
in the middle of the night

the boy slid off the bed and tiptoed after the cat into the hallway  

 

 

mr bean disappeared around the corner

sëbus ran after him  

 

 

the magic started

the corridor suddenly became weirdly long
sëbus was running and running

the cat was galloping ahead

this was still their familiar house, but the corridor just stretched
and sëbus realized why: because he was enjoying the running
the reality was obediently bending space and time for him

and as soon as he stopped enjoying it, his run was over  

 

 

he ran out to the balcony

their house had several balconies
this one was sëbus' favorite
he liked to play here

"put on your space suit, it's chilly"     mom would call out of the kitchen
but sëbus disliked the space suit

he loved launching paper planes from the balcony
aiming at stars

in space, a paper plane always flies along a straight line
it never slows down

so all you need to do is take a very careful aim
and then, you can relax
the plane will hit the star

just that it will take it very long to reach it  

 

 

now, sëbus was standing on his balcony

he was breathing deeply
not from running: from surprise

everything was the same and not the same
not the same at all!     even though exactly the same

the stars were the same: immeasurably distant
but sëbus knew: now he can     reach     any of them

he can literally take any star out of the sky
stretch out his arm and take it

and that star will be happy
happy to be chosen

the stars were looking at him
shy but hopeful
he almost heard them whispering

something like "me!"

and mr bean, he was sitting on the fence, not looking at sëbus
his black fur glinted in the starlight  

 

 

and there was someone else there on the balcony

it was a she!
sëbus even thought it was the mom, for a moment
but no, it was someone else

someone unknown
some     girl

a girl in black

a glintless black dress
black hair
slightly shining face

she was     beautiful
sëbus wasn't entirely sure but she looked like she was

and she approached sëbus
very quietly

and she looked at him in a way he rather liked  

 

 

and sëbus discovered that he knows her name!

her name was:
noctis

full name:
noctis-without-time  

 

 

and here's another thing sëbus discovered:

he is now the ruler of the world

something like a king

a real king, not a pretend king
the maximum king possible
more king than anyone before him, that's how much king!

so he has total power over everything
and everyone

over space and time     and spacetime

over the stars and the void

over the good and the evil

over the existent and nonexistent

over the living and the dead

"— and the minecraft ones too?" sëbus blurted  

 

 

so he asked
and he got his answer
noctis' response was direct and immediate

sëbus felt a new power!
a different one
a scary one

now, he could not only stir stars and loop up time:

he could, at the flick of fingers, change the rules of any formal system
such as mathematics

he could just wish and one plus one will no longer be two
[real world parallel: non-euclidean geometry]

he could even introduce contradictions into formal systems
he was not obliged to comply with the no-contradictions rule — or any other rule  

 

 

why this mattered? because minecraft is just another formal system
it's a program

and now sëbus could wish it to change
in any way he pleases

he could make minecraft different, instantly, all actoss the universe

for example, he could get rid of the creative mode!
(sëbus disliked creative mode because it's cheating)
he could just wish, and poof     it's gone     no one even remembers it ever existed

no one except sëbus

and then noctis gave her verbal response, too
she said: yes

meaning: yes     the minecraft beings too     you have power over them too

"and wendy?"     sëbus asked again
he wanted absolute clarity on this point  

 

 

in response, he felt one more power in him
one more!
the third one

"hope it's the last one"     sëbus thought
he was feeling slightly exhausted by omnipotence

"yes     this is the last one"     noctis was smiling
(by the way: her name meant "night" in latin, genitive form)

she was smiling now
because sëbus felt like it would be nice if she was smiling

and now: she was smiling

because this third power was: the power over all sentient beings

over everyone alive
everyone intelligent
or superintelligent

this was power over the knowers themselves
i now have this power, sëbus realized with a shudder

i can

i just can  

 

 

"of course you can"     noctis was smiling

"you can wish anyone to do anything at all"     noctis was sounding very persuasive

"it won't be like you make them do it, i know you don't like giving orders"     noctis was making it impossible to not understand her

"it will be like they wish it themselves"     noctis was entirely reasonable

"for example, your parents, sëbus"     noctis was playful

"you can wish them to do anything     anything at all"     noctis-without-time was infinitely patient  

 

 

sëbus was silent  

 

 

and then noctis got really close to him

she kind of floated up close
her face was right in front of his

and her face was, sëbus now saw it plainly, it was —

it was —

it was wendy  

 

 

not the real one, sëbus realized instantly
this is not wendy
this is noctis

but

and then he was thinking very fast:
"i have the power, i can make it so she's real, i just need to wish, and she will be here now, the real wendy —"

just to wish!

"i just need to wish" was the broken record playing in his head

but he couldn't wish
all he could do was keep saying this phrase  

 

 

he wanted it!

he just couldn't wish

he wanted wendy to be here
to grab her, to have her, to make things fair, to undo the unfairness of her going away from him

but the want didn't crystallize into wish
sëbus was mentally stuttering  

 

 

and then something changed in him
the want was gone, too

not that something scared him     no
sëbus is not afraid of anything

it's just

he no longer wanted to grab and have     and make it fair
he no longer wanted to want

even if, as noctis claimed, wendy would want it herself!

sëbus did not want to have powers anymore  

 

 

the powers were not real
just like wendy  

 

 

even if this stupid noctis would stop nudging him

the happiness from powers was just gone
if it even was there

sëbus made a face right into noctis

sëbus turned away from her

sëbus went back home