Re:PERSPECTIVE

Ơ̸̡̨̢̺̬͈̦̩̣͛̔̾̄́̿͝ͅw̵̧͚͎͇̝̜̲̝͊̈́͆̇͊̽̅͋̕!̷̪̯̌́̀̑ ̵̞͕̮̹͍͚̦̪̽W̵̧̬̥͙͍̯̖͍̭͆̊͒̆́͝ͅh̷̯̠̍͑̇͌͛͝e̶͚̤͕̲̞͔̓͆̽̐̐̐͜͝re… am I?
Ơ̸̡̨̢̺̬͈̦̩̣͛̔̾̄́̿͝ͅw̵̧͚͎͇̝̜̲̝͊̈́͆̇͊̽̅͋̕!̷̪̯̌́̀̑ ̵̞͕̮̹͍͚̦̪̽W̵̧̬̥͙͍̯̖͍̭͆̊͒̆́͝ͅh̷̯̠̍͑̇͌͛͝e̶͚̤͕̲̞͔̓͆̽̐̐̐͜͝re… am I?

Ẁ̴̡̢̛̤̟̣̥̮̈́̓̊͂̏̕͜͜a̸̧̛͌̓̎̅ḭ̴̀͛͝t, what?
Ẁ̴̡̢̛̤̟̣̥̮̈́̓̊͂̏̕͜͜a̸̧̛͌̓̎̅ḭ̴̀͛͝t, what?

H̵͍̮̐͘͠o̷͔̾́͊̊̎̾͊͒͘ͅͅḷ̸̨̱͐̑̾̒͋̃̕͘͝͝d̸̯̫͗̀̆̂͘ ̸̣͎̘͋͐̈́͂͜͝o̸͉̱̱̠̝̘͒͜ͅn, I’m me. Thea Wahren. Skilled hypnotist and-
H̵͍̮̐͘͠o̷͔̾́͊̊̎̾͊͒͘ͅͅḷ̸̨̱͐̑̾̒͋̃̕͘͝͝d̸̯̫͗̀̆̂͘ ̸̣͎̘͋͐̈́͂͜͝o̸͉̱̱̠̝̘͒͜ͅn, I’m me. Skylar Wahren. Skilled hypnotist and-

...shit. Are our consciousnesses merged? Who even are we anymore? What’s going o-

~ ~ ~

My name is Skylar Wahren, and at that time I was deep in the throes of scheming while standing in the throes of encroaching darkness.

Well, that might be a bit of an extreme description. The room really was gorgeous, for starters. It was basically a money-sink suite situated at the top of an overly-schmancy Vegas Strip hotel, but it was somehow my dorm room. Where the hell was this school getting all the money from? Did everyone get a room like this? Probably, yeah. So WHERE THE HELL was the school getting the money from?! That just made the question even bigger! Damn, would I have access to resources like that by graduation? That would be sick…

But it was a sick thing that I’d need to contemplate later. At that moment, all I was really focused on was my roommate- a strange girl called Harley.

From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew two things:

One, she was kinda cute and I needed to see about her feelings on rolling around.

Two, she had access to power.

Big power.

ENORMOUS power.

Power enough to finally take out my bitch of a sister for good.

- - - - - - -

We’d always been rivals, honestly. Fraternal twins in all the same classes, it was bound to happen. Still, it always felt like we had at least SOME common ground. The hatred hadn’t started yet.

Until we woke up one day and suddenly neither of us looked like what we used to.

Our entire form, our identities… gone.

In their place was a new form, one that… we shared.

I couldn’t believe what Thea had done. She actually sacrificed her entire identity, every slice of individuality she had ever earned for herself, just to steal mine? It was idiotic! And she had done stupid things before, but such a petty way to get the leg up? This would haunt us for the rest of our days! I don’t even know how she did it!

The questions were numerous, from everyone around us. We didn’t know how to answer.

Well, Thea TOTALLY knew, but she didn’t say anything. Yeah, I called bullshit to myself. But at the same time, who’d believe me if I said anything? That somehow my sister was responsible for physically transforming us to share an appearance? Not much revenge I could extract from the loony bin.

So, I waited. I bided my time. Took small paybacks wherever possible. I even looked into hypnosis techniques and trained myself: no better way to force a confession than to get it out of her subconscious. What I didn’t see coming, though, was that she also had the same idea- except to bolster her mental defenses.

Damn.

I needed skill to break through. But maybe more than that, I needed power. Raw fucking POWER to break her.

And when I got the invitation to this MCU, I felt in my bones that this was the place I would get every last piece of power that any world had to offer.

SO OF COURSE THEA GOT INVITED TOO. GOD… DAMN IT.

Well, no use crying over it. She was here, and I needed to get over it. Just… sped up my timetable, is all.

I glanced at the book. That right there was the ticket to everything. She ALWAYS had it, it had to mean something big. Bigger than big, HUGE. Oh man, this was gonna be so sick…!

“Hey, roomie?” I called out. She was handling some idols in her suitcase in another room. Religious, huh? Maybe a DEITY involved?! Ohhhhhh man, I’d done so good this time…!

“Yes, what is it?” called back her voice.

“This book here. ‘Zat your scripture or something? How you pray to those old people you were talking about?”

“Oh, goodness, yes, the Tome of Darkness! Be VERY careful with it! I’d love to discuss its mysteries with you in a safe manner, but a mere plebian gazing upon the power at ra-”

Pfft, yeah, like paper and ink could scare me that much. No frustrating cut could hold me back from finally getting back everything owed to me-

POWER.

Yes. YES. I felt it everywhere.

YOU SEEK POWER. CONTROL.

Give it to me. I want it now. I don’t care what, I just want the-

AN EXCHANGE SHALL BE MADE. TO BE GRANTED THE POWER, YOU MUST BE PREPARED. ARE YOU PREPARED?

Yes, yes, I’ve been prepared for forever! Now give me the-

IT SHALL BE DONE.

And I felt it.

The whole room fell away from me in that moment and pure, raw, unimaginable POWER SURGED THROUGH ME. This was… the power of gods… and Harley never took it all for herself? How could she not have-

YOU HAVE NOT PREPARED.

Um…

AS YOU ARE, YOU CANNOT WITHSTAND THE POWER. YOUR WISH SHALL BE FULFILLED TO THE BEST WHICH CAN BE ACHIEVED. SHOULD YOU SOMEHOW RETAIN THIS TRAIN OF THOUGHT, THE EMOTION YOU WOULD FEEL MIGHT BE BEST EQUATED TO… REGRET.

And the purple void around me crackled with electric might. Searing in every direction, the darting bolts of extradimensional power continued to leap around, as if searching for a resting place. It was almost too much to keep track of.

Slowly, though, they started to coalesce.

And the point around which they coalesced… felt like me somehow.

But also… not… like… me…?

But even so… felt… so… good… so… powerful… to power… one… kneels…

Mind-Control University Class 762

Time: Week 0: Orientation Day

Harley, having finished unpacking, walked out of her bedroom and back into the living room of the suite. And on the floor, she gazed upon the conscious-yet-convulsing body of Skylar Mahren- or rather, what once was Skylar Mahren and her alone.

What it was now was the spirit of Skylar Mahren, twisted to serve the greatest power she would ever know… and a small connection to said power. A parting gift, of sorts.

She continued to twitch and mutter for a good ten minutes more before resuming intelligent conscious thought.

- - - - -

My name is Thea Wahren, and at that time I was deep in the throes of scheming while standing at a new beginning.

Well, that might be a bit of an extreme description. The room really was gorgeous, for starters. It was basically a money-sink suite situated at the top of an overly-fancy Vegas Strip hotel, but it was somehow my dorm room. Where the hell was this school getting all the money from? Did everyone get a room like this? Probably, yeah. So WHERE THE HELL was the school getting the money from?! That just made the question even bigger! Damn, would *I* have access to resources like that by graduation? That would be sick…

But it was a sick thing that I’d need to contemplate later. At that moment, all I was really focused on was my roommate. I didn’t know her name yet, but it hardly mattered.

From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew two things:

One, she was kinda cute (that pink hair was really my thing) and I needed to see about her feelings on going to bed every once in a while.

Two, she seemed like a schemer of an INCREDIBLE mind.

And that kind of schemer meant power.

Big power.

ENORMOUS power.

Power enough to finally take out my bitch of a sister for good.

We’d always been rivals, honestly. Fraternal twins in all the same classes, it was bound to happen. Still, it always felt like we had at least SOME things in common. The hatred hadn’t started yet.

Until we woke up one day and suddenly neither of us looked like what we used to.

Our entire form, our identities… gone.

In their place was a new form, one that… we shared.

I couldn’t believe what Thea had done. She actually sacrificed her entire identity, every slice of individuality she had ever earned for herself, just to steal mine? It was idiotic! And she had done stupid things before, but such a petty way to get the leg up? This would haunt us for the rest of our days! I don’t even know how she did it!

The questions were numerous, from everyone around us. We didn’t know how to answer.

Well, Skylar TOTALLY knew, but she didn’t say anything. Yeah, I called bullshit to myself. But at the same time, who’d believe me if I said anything? That somehow my sister was responsible for physically transforming us to share an appearance? Not much revenge I could extract from the loony bin.

So, I waited. I bided my time. Took small paybacks wherever possible. I even looked into hypnosis techniques and trained myself: no better way to force a confession than to get it out of her subconscious. What I didn’t see coming, though, was that she also had the same idea- except to bolster her mental defenses.

Damn.

I needed skill to break through. But maybe more than that, I needed power. Raw fucking POWER to break her.

And when I got the invitation to this MCU, I felt in my bones that this was the place I would get every last piece of power that any world had to offer.

SO OF COURSE SKYLAR GOT INVITED TOO. GOD… DAMN IT.

~ ~ ~

Well, no use crying over it. She was here, and I needed to get over it. Just… sped up my timetable, is all.

But, if Mistress proved anything to me, such timetables are a fool’s errand.

After all, the only plans that mattered were the ones that Mistress deemed as important.

And I’d be right there by her side, as whatever tool she’d need.

For ANY purpose.

She just wondered aloud what I taste like. I’d be delighted to teach her…