Scientists estimate that most humans are between 20% and 60% real. with some outliers that achieve up to 70% materiality. Wei is different. He breaks every chart and destroys every reality sensor in a 20 mile radius. He is the only true human, and the rest of us are just figments of his imagination.
His presence is like a gravity well. You feel drawn in towards him, as if the ground always slopes downward in his direction. He weighs heavy on your mind and the things he says seem to carry more weight and importance than anything you have heard before. Even if he just says "Hello", you find yourself playing and replaying it over and over in your mind, wondering at the hidden meaning of it, dreaming of that short moment obsessively.
His opinions carry a similar weight. You find yourself falling down into them and agreeing despite yourself. Now that he says it like that, it makes perfect sense. You don't know how you didn't see it before. You find yourself doing whatever he asks you to. You can't help yourself.
Wei is the outlier, but other High Reality Individuals do exist, with higher than 70% reality.
After prolonged exposure to a high-reality individual, you slowly lose the ability to think of anything but them. They stand in front of your vision at all times, even when asleep. Slowly, you realise you can see all sides of them at once. You percieve their front and back, their outside skin and internal organs, all at the same time. This is the final, terminal stage of unprotected reality exposure.
These individuals tend to end up in positions of power and influence, almost despite themselves. They don't understand the effect they have on people. They feel deeply lonely, although they don't know why. They live in a world of ghosts and fog.
High-reality persons cannot be meaningfully harmed by low-reality individuals or objects. Your fists will seem like nothing but smoke against them. For this reason, the government keeps an elite Excess Reality Squad on standby at all times in case they ever become a threat to national security. Constantly rotating shifts of operatives monitor their activities 24/7, viewing them only through filtered TV screens in order to avoid becoming contaminated by reality exposure. They keep a small box of high-reality items, capable of wounding or killing these dream-titans.
It is unknown what would happen to our universe if these individuals were ever killed.
As Sir Terry's Death said,
ReplyDeleteHUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.