"Is this awkward for you? Fine." I took off the ring and slammed it on the table. "There! No one had to know, but you felt the need to tell them anyway, didn't you!"
"Sorry, Ian, I--"
"I just-- sorry Zoe, I'm stressed out right now, and that ring is the only thing that gives me comfort."
"So that ring does what, exactly?" asked Greta.
"It allows me to see things that are alive in... an odd way. I see them as what they are, things of nature, of simple beauty. Things that aren't alive appear as a haze. Things like cars, or instruments, or.... clothes."
"How is that comforting?" asked Alisha.
"What allows me to see things that way is this strange...force. It flows through me, and I don't have to pretend to be what I'm not. I don't have to be human."
"Ian, this is very important. What does this force feel like?"
I looked at Zaak, expressionless. "The Earth's beating heart."
"My God."
"What is it?"
"That ring is... forbidden."
"What do you mean?"
"The magic in that ring has the power to become nature itself."
I picked up the ring.
"Ian, how long have you had that ring on?"
"Um... four days?"
"And you haven't lost your mind?"
"Zaak, I lost my mind a long time ago."
Zoe decided to enter the conversation.
"What do you mean 'you don't have to be human?'"
"Zoe, I haven't felt like a human being since I was changed. With that ring on, I don't have to try to feel like I'm a person. I can be a force."
I slipped the ring on, and I felt relief flood through me.
"How does it feel?"
"I feel... alive. I feel like a force, an action. I feel powerful. I feel like I can do anything, but I don't have to do anything."
"So you can see... everything?"
I willed myself to stand in front of Zoe, and my body brought me there in an instant.
"I do. But I don't see things the way a human would. What is beautiful to me is the blood rushing through your arteries, the fibers of your muscles seamlessly contracting and relaxing, gliding back and forth to produce motion. But I appreciate their beauty the same way you appreciate the colors of autumn."
"Ahhh that is so creepy. It's like your looking right through me, to underneath my skin."
I looked into her eyes, sparkling with the gentle beauty of life.
"I am."
"What? You can see my insides?"
"And by simply touching you, I can learn everything that there is to know about your body."
"Really?"
"For example." I appeared next to Greta and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Greta, you've broken three bones in your life, burned your left palm twice once exactly eight years ago and once two years and 67 days ago, and you've drank 3.275 onces of alcohol since you were born."
"How do you--?"
"Your body remembers everything."
"That's creepy," said Zoe.
"Creepy? That's beyond creepy!" replied Alisha.