Chapter 30

'Was that nothingness, is this nothingness, what the hell is nothingness?'

During the whole stupid meditation exercise, I felt a few moments of relaxation, a few moments I could almost describe as nothingness; yet, how does one really know if they've achieved nothingness?

After another few minutes of feeling like I would never accomplish nothingness, I finally opened my eyes. Oh, I achieved nothingness alright. The room in front of me was completely different than the one I closed my eyes in. This room wasn't empty of chairs and desk like the other one was, and there was no writing on the blackboard.

Sure, Damian could have wiped the boar clean when I was busy fin- ding nirvana, but he couldn't move all these desks without me he- aring a thing.

I walk out of the room and find I'm one room over from where I started. I walk back into the room I was originally in and see Damian looking at me through the glass window.

"Congratulations, my young student." Damian says as I walk into the room.

"I can't really say I felt nothingness, but I must have found success at some point."

"You found it about ten minutes in, I was watching you the whole time."

"Wait, so I spent like twenty minutes just sitting around in there for nothing?"

"I'm sure the extra time helped you further master nothingness."

"Or, you just thought it was funny to make me waste my time."

"Yeah, mostly that. I knew it'd take you more than a day to get any real hold on nothingness, so I decided to put in a little extra practice for my enjoyment."

"When do I master nothingness then? Surely you know."

"I have an idea. Different futures have you develop it differently. Either way, telling you will only make you rush things and it'll make it take even longer. Patience is the key to nothingness."

"More like patience is good for nothing."

"Now you're just being resistive for resistance sake.".

"And why shouldn't I be resistive? I still think the whole thing is nonsense."

"You literally just saw visible success from it."

"Anyways, how much more of today do I have to dedicate to meditation?"

"The whole day. One success does not mean you can just stop. I need you to be fully dedicated to mastering your powers. Think of this like a job, because that's how I want you to treat it."

"Oh, you shouldn't use the word job, Yuri's not a big fan of those."

Terri says as he walks into the room.

"Speaking of job; do you have one?"

"My internship hasn't started yet, so no."

"Then why are you the last one here?"

"Cause you both live in this building?"

"You live in a dorm that's a ten minute walk away. Yuri is working as hard as I think she's capable of, and you're strolling in here with the day almost halfway over. Maybe you should motivate Yuri by showing up the same time as us?"

"I don't really see the point. You haven't said a word about my importance to the big fight. As far as I can tell, I'm irrelevant."

"You are not irrelevant, but you're not the most important part either. But either way, you should at least be here to push Yuri forward.

"I feel like you think that was really motivational, but I want you to know that it really wasn't."

"Is helping a friend not motivation enough?"

"I'm talking about the I'm not important to the final battle stuff."

"I said you weren't that important, not completely unimportant. Besides, you do have some importance. I'll let you know that in any version of the future where you don't show up for the final battle, Yuri is guaranteed to lose. I would consider that very important."

"What do I do that makes the difference?"

"In various futures you do various things, but your actions aren't the most important aspect, it's just that you being there makes it more likely that she wins."

"I don't get that. How can it not matter what I do, yet, me being there makes the big difference? Wouldn't that imply I have some pivotal role in the final fight."

"It implies nothing. You confuse correlation with causation. You aren't the cause of the final victory, and it's that simple. It is more accurate to say that the universe needs you there, yet you being an active participant is irrelevant. Either way, it doesn't matter. Whether it's the consciousness of the universe, or just random, you make the difference. You need to be more involved in this whole thing so we can better guarantee the best future."

"Fine. I don't like the idea that my actions don't make a difference, yet I also feel like it's a big burden to know me not showing up guarantees the end of the world. I'll be more dedicated to this from now on."

"Ten percent. Good job."

"Wait, like ten percent chance of success now?"

"Yep."

"Just because I decided to commit more to this thing?"

"Exactly. You're ninety percent more likely to be at the final battle in the universes where you make the commitment to the group. I can now rule out almost all the universes that fail because you don't show up."

"I still can't imagine why I wouldn't show up."

"You may or may not find out. Spoiling it will only make the percentage go lower, so let's get back to the training Yuri's avoiding right now."

And with that, Terri joined the group and we all sat in boring meditation.