Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong Just Won't Die Origins "Can you explain to me how our world works?" Asuka asked Ranma scratched his head, "Huh? How our world works?" "Well, considering all the stuff you've been through and've seen, it should be pretty obvious you know about how the world works than anyone else alive," Asuka stated. Ranma shook his head, "Um, not necessarily. Most of the stuff I learned I forgot. If you want to ask someone that knows a lot, ask Urd. There's basically nothing she doesn't know. Also, why are you asking me this all of a sudden?" "Well, I had to find the truth to something and write a report about it," Asuka answered, "As I did research, I learned that, well, I don't really know all that much," "What are you talking about, Asuka?" Ranma was surprised, "You're very smart, one of the smartest people I know," "If you consider me so smart, then why does it seem like I don't know much about everything?" Asuka asked. Ranma shrugged, "Because, what you know is a circumstance of what you've experienced. Based on what you've experienced over the course of your life, you know a lot of answers to a lot of things. Of course, if you compare it to the experiences over the course of, say, my life, that's a totally different story," "Like what?" Asuka asked, not at all angry at Ranma's comment that she was basically stupid compared to him. "It's best you not know," Ranma said, "Some of the stuff I know I wish I never knew. It makes for a much less interesting life. A life of question and mystery is definitely more enjoyable than one without," "So what are you trying to say, that ignorance is bliss?" Asuka asked. Ranma smiled as he nodded, "Bingo," "If you could erase all the things you currently know, would you?" Asuka asked. Ranma paused for a moment, deep in contemplation. "You know what? I really don't know. It's kinda like a double edged sword," "I'm really interested in knowing how everything came about," Asuka asked Urd. "Where did this come from?" Urd asked, "Don't tell me that damn report you wrote now has you suddenly wanting to know the ins and outs of all of existence?" "Is that so bad?" Asuka asked defensively. Urd said, "No. I'm just not interested in explaining it yet again," "What do you mean by that?" Asuka asked. "You think you're the only one that thought of asking me how the workings of the universe works since you know?" Urd smirked, "Ritsuko, Misato, Linna, Luna, Lina, and Nene, they've all asked me previously before," "They have?" Asuka was surprised to hear this. "Yep," Urd answered, "The only person that managed to listen to a good chunk of this universe's workings was Ritsuko. Eventually, even she gave up in trying to understand everything and went to work. That's pretty surprising considering Ritsuko's way of thinking revolves around seeking answers to all questions, period. The only person with a somewhat firm grasp of how this universe works is Ranma, and that isn't saying much since he probably forgot most of what he once knew," Asuka asked, "You know a lot, right?" "More than anyone I know," Urd smirked. "What about Skuld? She is God afterall," Asuka said. "She can make herself know more than I can," Urd shrugged, "That doesn’t necessarily mean she knows more. She's like a person with access to a library of all the information in the world while I'm the person who have at one time read almost every book in said library," "I understand," Asuka said. "You should save yourself the trouble trying to figure out how everything works," Urd said, "There's no real need to know all the answers since some of the things are trivial and doesn't really pertain to you. And even if you knew, there's nothing much you can do about it anyway," "Well, can we try anyway?" Asuka asked. Urd shrugged, "I guess so," "If you're pressed for time and don't feel the need to explain it to me, that's okay," Asuka felt a bit sad, "I guess I try and get what I can get from Ranma and Ritsuko," "It's not that," Urd said, "It's just that, really, once you know what you know, you can never go back to not knowing. Once you cross that line into knowledge of the universe, all the mysteries and enjoyment of trying to figure it out for yourself will no longer exist," Asuka was hesitant for a moment. She then asked, "Well, if it turns out that I really don't want to know, can you alter my memory so that this conversation will never've existed?" "I can, but then you'll be doing me a disfavor," Urd said, "That's because I'll go on knowing that you are no longer a naïve girl unaware of many things around her and am instead a person incapable of handling the truth and decided to take the easy way out. My opinion of you change. Basically, the next time you meet me, you will not know what you have done wrong and why my opinion of you have suddenly changed," "Then just tell me why and I'll understand," Asuka said. "And just what makes you think you will?" Urd smiled, "How do you know I haven't already talked to you before and you couldn't cope with what you've heard and I've already altered your memory before? For all you know, this is the second time you're talking to me about the workings of the universe but have no memory of our first conversation," Asuka said nothing. Urd smiled, "Don't worry, something like that hasn't happened. I just wanted to point that out to you, that's all," "Oh," Asuka said. "So, you still interested in finding out exactly how everything works?" Urd asked. Asuka thought for short moment before she finally nodded. "Is God perfect?" Asuka asked. Urd burst out laughing. "I take that as a no," Asuka gave a sheepish smile. Urd said, "Don't worry, it's a classic misconception of who or what God is. Frankly, I'm surprised you asked such a question since, based on your experiences, you're aware that Ranma used to be God and he is, by no means, perfect. I myself am not perfect. And Skuld, she's not perfect either," "So what is God by definition?" Asuka asked. "God is basically a boy or a girl, depending on who is God at the time, with an ant farm," Urd said. "Um, that's an odd analogy," Asuka said. "But it's true," Urd said, "You see, God is the supreme being of all that exist. What He or She chooses to do can be done. There is NOTHING anyone or anything can do about it. If God wanted to destroy human kind because She felt like it, She can," "That's a bit disconcerting," Asuka said sadly. "Don't worry about it, humans aren't all that interesting to God," Urd said, "Keep in mind that God is in charge of all of existence, not just humans. There are other more important things to observe than humans. It's simply human hubris that makes human thinks God favors them when there are a lot of other races that are much more interesting," "Like alien races and stuff?" Asuka asked, "How come God doesn't particularly care about the human race?" "Because the human race is kind of stupid," Urd smirked, "If you were in God's shoes, what would you rather do, watch some dog go about its day or watching a human go about his or her day?" "A human of course," Asuka said, "A dog doesn't do much or know much about what's going on," "That's why God doesn't pay much attention to humans, because they are like dogs compared to the humans, them being aliens," Urd said. "Oh," Asuka said, "If that's the case, how come Skuld constantly stops by and checks up on us?" Urd gave a sigh, "Because, one of the dogs is constantly taking a dump on the carpet of fate and Skuld doesn't have the heart to shoot it for constantly doing so. Can you guess which dog it is?" "Ranma?" Asuka smirked. "Yes," Urd shrugged, "That's basically the gist of it," Asuka giggled. She had an idea Ranma was a nuisance to Heaven in general but never figured it was to that extent. "So, is there a grand scheme for us humans?" Asuka asked. "Yes," Urd said, "Humans were put here to learn and grow. There is a particular timeline this world follows and it's the humans' job to follow the timeline and do the best they can do while following it," "But you said there's no such thing as fate, that we are predestined to do what we do," Asuka said. Urd nodded, "Yes, you humans are tied to fate. You can't avoid it. But that doesn't mean you can arrive at your destination differently. For instance, let's say you are destined to destroy all of Japan. There is no direct path laid out for you, so long as the ends justifies the means. You aren't predestined to do this, and then this, and then this, and then that, and so on until the result is the destruction of Japan. If you are predestined to destroy Japan, you will destroy it no matter what, but the course of your actions leading to that result is basically by your own volition," "Does that mean we are loosely tied to fate?" Asuka asked. Urd nodded, "That's totally correct. You're tied to fate, but the string you're tied to is loose and can be shifted around. Unfortunately, it's still tied to a result of which you can't change," "What about Ranma?" Asuka asked. Urd sighed, "He's an exception. He's like a loose thread with nothing tied to at the end flapping in the wind that gets tangled with other threads of fate and basically breaking those threads from results of which they are tied. I don't particularly care about getting into detail about that simply because it annoys me how much trouble he caused me when I was God as well as how much trouble he's causing Skuld now that she's God," Asuka decided to change the subject, "Okay. I found out that there's really no such thing as 'evil'. Can you elaborate more on that?" "What would you like to know about?" Urd asked. "If there is no 'evil' in this world, where did the notion of the Devil come from?" Asuka asked. Urd laughed, "Oh, you mean 'Satan'?" "Um, yeah, I guess," Asuka said, "Or Lucifer or whatever his name is," "For your information, Lucifer is an entirely different name that has no bearing to 'Satan'. Anyway, do you know the story behind 'Satan'?" Urd asked. Asuka shook her head. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Urd said, "Most people don't. Anyway, what do you consider Ranma?" "Huh?" Asuka was confused. "Do you consider him a generally nice guy?" Urd asked, "Would you consider him almost altruistic?" Asuka thought about that for a moment, "Um, well, if I think about it, he's probably the most altruistic, albeit ethically challenged, person I know..." Urd laughed. "It's hard to put it into words," Asuka said, "He's generally a nice person, but he could be the biggest jerk also. I think the best way to describe him is that he's extremely altruistic until it becomes inconvenient for him," Urd smirked, "That's a good way to put it," "What about him?" Asuka asked. "Well, in the eyes of everyone in Heaven, Ranma is the modern-day 'Satan'," Urd said. "He is?" Asuka was surprised to hear, "So he's the devil reincarnated or something? I find that hard to believe. How can he be the devil?" Urd shook her head, "No. What you need to do is shed your human-taught assumptions. Come on, you did a report on this not too long ago, on how the truth to a lot of things have been lost over the span of time," "So 'Satan' wasn't some anointed Angel that went against God and was banished to Hell for inciting a war?" Asuka asked. Urd shook her head, "Not one bit," "So who is 'Satan'?" Asuka asked. "'Satan' was basically God's right-hand man, so to speak," Urd said, "That position is basically the position I had when Ranma was God, and the position I have now now that Skuld is God," "Seems like you're a better side-kick than God," Asuka smirked. Urd smirked for a moment, "I'll let that slide. Anyway, much like I'm the overseer of everything to make sure everything runs smoothly, 'Satan' did the exact same thing ages ago," "Okay, I follow you," Asuka nodded. "After God created existence, He let 'Satan' watch over them, to make sure they prosper," Urd said, "Over the centuries of watching, 'Satan' grew impatient and decided to jump start mankind's development by bestowing them fire," "Wait, the devil is the reason why humans can create fire?" Asuka asked. Urd nodded, "Yes. Unfortunately for him, God didn't like that. 'Satan' basically did exactly what Ranma did, and that's tamper with the fate of mankind. Well, God didn't like that one bit at all and banished 'Satan' to Hell," "Where's Hell?" Asuka asked. "Hell is right here, Earth," Urd pointed toward the ground, "Before you even ask, no, Hell isn't this underworld full of fire and brimstone where there is eternal torment. Hell, by definition, is living the mortal life on this world," Asuka said nothing. "Now, granted, you think of the word Hell and think bad things," Urd said, "It can't blame you because that's what most people were taught to believe it was. If you banish that belief, much like how you should banish all your beliefs, you'll realize that Hell is nothing like what you're led to believe. Hell simply means living here on Earth. In Heaven, we like to joke around and go 'Skuld's going to send you to Hell if you piss her off' to which most people go 'Okay, I'll behave. I would rather live here in Heaven than on Earth'," "Is that why Ranma looks down on people who misses their loved ones so much that they wished they were alive?" Asuka asked. Urd nodded, "That's correct. Ranma sees it as nothing but human selfishness. A person living in Heaven to be brought back to life is basically a person living in Heaven and suddenly being brought to Hell," "Oh, I get it," Asuka said, "That makes sense. So why do we get the notion that Hell is this place of eternal damnation?" "The passage of time distorts the truth," Urd said, "It's kind of sad how a few thousand years could distort and mutate the truth so much," "If it annoys you, how come you don't tell everyone their beliefs are all messed up?" Asuka asked. "Because, as much as it saddens me, it's necessary," Urd said, "The meaning of life is to learn and grow. Finding the truth to many of this world's origins is a very good task for humans to undertake. The problem is that, should they already know the truth of origins, they can be spending their time growing instead of learning old forgotten truths," "What do you mean?" Asuka asked. "You knowing how Ranma's is basically considered inhuman?" Urd asked, "Well, that's because he's not like everyone else, where they go about their life not really knowing much about anything, and instead dedicated his life to growing. Before he met everyone and everything happened, he was well on the path of the meaning of life. The meaning to his life at the time was revenge. That sense of revenge was what fueled his growth for the most part. The yearning to grow to be strong enough to exact revenge was set him on the intended path God originally wanted humans to traverse. The Ranma you know now is the byproduct of a human that basically grew up, not grew up in terms of age and such, but in terms of human development, of mind and body and psychology and spirit," "So are you saying-" Asuka began. "Yes, every human has the potential to grow up to do the things Ranma can do," Urd said, "Ranma happens to be a special case because, should someone else be in that same predicament as he was, they wouldn't grow as quickly as he did. Ranma has an edge on basically every human alive and that's his ability to learn. His brightness is what makes Ranma remarkable," "Wow," Asuka said, "Wait, is Ranma the only one? What about Ryoga?" "Ryoga is the same as Ranma," Urd said, "Revenge fueled his growth as well. But over time, Ryoga overtook Ranma," "You mean Ryoga is stronger than Ranma?" Asuka asked. "At this point in time Ryoga is at least ten times more powerful than Ranma," Urd said, "Ranma has basically slacked off on his growth while Ryoga continuously grows. The gap is widening between them," "But how can that be?" Asuka said, "How can Ryoga be that much stronger?" "Because the growth of human power is exponential," Urd said. "Um, just how strong is Ryoga?" Asuka wondered. Urd thought for a moment, "Hm, well, at this point in time, he is the strongest human entity in current existence," "Holy crap!" Asuka gasped. "That doesn't say much," Urd shrugged, "There are more powerful non-human being out there that can take him out, like me for instance. However, if mankind needed a representative to fight on their behalf to keep existing should an alien race stop by and test if mankind is worthy to survive, Ryoga's your man," "What about Ranma?" Asuka asked. "Ranma will eventually catch up to Ryoga, but he will never surpass him," Urd said, "Ranma had surpassed Ryoga at a few points in time. It will not happen again," "Don't tell Ranma that," Asuka smirked. "Ranma already knows that," Urd said, "The only possible way Ranma could catch up to Ryoga is if Ryoga stops growing. Ryoga has been growing ever since the Nerima Massacre and there is no reason for him to ever stop growing," Asuka smirked, "What if Ryoga decides to settle down and start a family or such?" "Then Ranma will stop growing as well," Urd said, "Ranma and Ryoga are rivals. If you no longer have a rival, the drive to surpass him disappears. Knowing Ranma, he will probably settle down not long after," Asuka said, "Wait, so what you're telling me is that if Ryoga settles down, Ranma will settle down?" Urd nodded, "Most likely," Asuka blushed. "Hey, what the heck are you thinking up in your mind?" Urd smirked, "Don't tell me you're going to scheme to get Ryoga to settle down in hopes of getting Ranma to settle down with you?" Asuka blushed a deep shade of red, "I-I was thinking no such thing!" "Riiiight," Urd grinned, "Whatever you say," Asuka cleared her throat, "Um, anyway..." Urd said, "Anyway, back onto growth. What's funny is that, even though Ranma forgot the meaning of life, he's displaying it in his teachings. He's teaching things like how to shoot ki-blasts and such, something humans shouldn't know at the time being. That's why he's considered the modern-day 'Satan' because he's teaching mankind human development much like 'Satan' taught mankind fire," Asuka said, "Oh man, this is so much to take in. But wait, if the meaning of life is to grow, why would God look down upon 'Satan's interference in mankind's development? 'Satan' helped mankind grow," "Good question," Urd smiled, "But you need to understand God is not all sunshine and rainbows. God is a person with an ant-farm like I mentioned earlier. Let's use this analogy. You have a dog and you take delight in watching the dog learn how to get food from the fridge. It's the learning process you wish to observe in the dog. So how would you feel if someone came along and taught the dog how to open the fridge and get food for itself and therefore bypassing the entire learning process in general?" "But the dog learned anyway, albeit faster than intended," Asuka said. "No, it's not like that. God likes observing the epiphany within mankind, the joy mankind feel upon discovering their ignorance and overcoming it," Urd said, "That is what God likes, growth by one's own hand," "Oh," Asuka said. "But alas, God got tired of watching how slowly humans grew and basically stopped caring," Urd shrugged, "Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, Hell. Living here on Earth isn't that bad. It's just no where near as good as living in Heaven. You'll see. When you live in Heaven, you will NEVER want to come back," "I've died a couple times before," Asuka said, "If what you say is true, how come I'm still here? Wouldn't I have chosen to stay dead instead?" Urd shook her head, "No. You see, you never went to Heaven. Everyone is fated to die and go to Heaven. That goes without saying. Unfortunately, Ranma played a role in your death so that prevented your passage into Heaven. Therefore, when you died, you never experienced Heaven which is why you're here today. You don't know what you're missing so it doesn't bother you that you're still living here," "Oh," Asuka said. "Your death and the death of countless others due to Ranma's actions was completely unexpected," Urd said, "You're alive because your death was wrongly timed. That's all. Don't worry about it, you'll be in Heaven soon enough," "Back onto 'Satan'," Asuka said. "Right," Urd said, "I can't believe I digressed that much. Anyway, 'Satan' was much like what Ranma would be when mankind was basically a newborn. Well, 'Satan' decided to jump start mankind's progress by giving them fire. Well, that wasn't what God had planned. Humans weren't supposed to discover fire for several centuries later. To make a long story short, 'Satan' helped mankind and was banished to live with them for helping them," "That seems kind of heartless," Asuka stated. "Yes," Urd smiled, "Now this is what I find rather ironic. Humans view God as a loving being that sympathizes with mankind and watches over them and is eternally forgiving of one's sins. Humans view 'Satan' as the devil, as a being of pure 'evil'. The irony is that here we have, a supposedly 'evil' being, displaying sympathy toward mankind, only to be banished from Heaven by God who didn't seem all that forgiving for what 'Satan' had done," "So 'Satan' wasn't banished from Heaven for starting a war in an attempt to take over God's throne?" Asuka asked. "Nope," Urd shook her head, "Once again, the truth is distorted over time. Stories of who 'Satan' is or was became bastardized over time and eventually came to this ridiculous belief that he tried to take over Heaven," "Wow, I never knew that," Asuka said, "I've heard the name Lucifer mentioned in the same breath as 'Satan' before. Does that have any connection?" "None whatsoever," Urd said. "Wasn't it mentioned in the bible? What's the deal with that?" Asuka asked. Urd sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Man, I wish people stop referring to the bible as a source of information. The bible is the perfect example of information being distorted over time," "What do you mean?" Asuka asked. "Lucifer is not 'Satan's name," Urd said, "Lucifer represents a fallen Babylonian king that was basically considered a bad guy in his time and age because he persecuted the children of Israel and somehow made its way into the Bible. Basically, the name of a fallen king somehow became the name of a fallen Angel. That goes to show you how the truth can be distorted over time. The irony here is that Lucifer means 'Light-Bringer' or 'Light-Bearer' which is exactly what Jesus is referred to. Kinda funny if you think about it, people who believe Lucifer refers to 'Satan' refers to the same title used to refer to Jesus," "Very ironic if you ask me," Asuka snickered. "Very," Urd nodded with a smirk. "How is 'Satan' viewed as bad?" Asuka asked, "If he showed pity to mankind and was banished, why was he considered evil?" "He isn't evil," Urd said, "He basically became a scapegoat. When bad things happened to people, rather than blaming themselves for what's happening, people blamed it on Satan. And what's worse is that his history has been long forgotten. Have you ever heard of Prometheus?" Asuka nodded, "Yes, only slightly. Isn't it a Greek myth about how he gave mankind fire? I don't know much else," "In ancient Greek myths, Prometheus was known to have brought light to Mankind by giving mankind the gift of fire," Urd said, "Prometheus had saved mankind from darkness and cold. Unfortunately, he was damned to live a life of torment for doing so. Does that story strike a bell?" "Wait, that doesn't make sense," Asuka said, "If Prometheus gave mankind fired, and 'Satan' gave mankind fire..." "Notice a correlation?" Urd smirked. "Wait a minute," Asuka's eyes widened, "You mean to tell me that 'Satan' was actually Prometheus?" Urd simply smiled, "See how easily you can pick things apart if someone points things out to you? You're only half correct there. Why do you think I call 'Satan' 'Satan' during our conversation? It's because it would've confused you if I referred to him as 'Prometheus' instead," "So why did the Greek myth of Prometheus stay intact while the Christian version of 'Satan' didn't?" Asuka asked, "How come it was never mentioned that 'Satan' gave mankind fire?" "First off, to keep you from being confused, 'Satan' and 'Prometheus' are the same person, but I'll use 'Satan' since you're used to that name it instead of 'Prometheus'," Urd said, "While the name satan means 'adversary', that is not what Prometheus was. He was never an adversary of God or of mankind," "So what was he?" Asuka asked. "The First Savior," Urd said. "That's very interesting," Asuka said, "Never would I have ever suspected something like this before," "Back onto the story of 'Satan', the story of 'Satan' originated from Prometheus," Urd said, "It's just most unfortunate that neither stories hold the truth of his past. You see, Prometheus gave man fire and was punished for it by being exiled from Heaven to live in Hell. The problem with the Greek myth is that his true banishment was lost, that he was never cast from Heaven to Hell but instead chained to a rock for all of eternity. The other side of the story doesn't even mention of him being banished from Heaven for giving mankind fire, but instead, indicated that he started a war in Heaven," "So it seems like both stories are only partially true," Asuka said. "If you combine both stories, then you will find the truth," Urd said, "Because the story of Prometheus is more ancient than the story of 'Satan', it's surprising his name remained intact. Unfortunately, when myth became belief, and people needed someone to blame, his name was forgotten since most people viewed Prometheus as an adversary of God and mankind so his name was replaced with 'Satan'. Prometheus' display of mercy turned him into a scapegoat Time distorted him into someone that acts with malice when the history of his mercy was lost long ago," "How come the name was retained in ancient text while his banishment surfaced in future texts?" Asuka asked. "I think you're a bit confused," Urd said, "The reason for Prometheus' banishment was intact. It was what his banishment that was lost. The story of Prometheus and what he did for mankind is probably the closest rendition of what the so called 'devil' did for mankind. Unfortunately, no one associates those two stories with one another since the story of the devil seems much more insidious and gives people a thing or person to cast upon blame," "Oh," Asuka said, feeling sad for this person named 'Prometheus' who was now known in today's society as 'The Devil'. "How do you know this? Where is the proof to all this?" Asuka asked. "What, my word isn't good enough for you?" Urd smirked. "I don't mean it like that," Asuka said, "It's just that I find this especially hard to believe," "Fine, I can point out a few truths. It'll be no problem," Urd shrugged, "First off, you need to be open-minded enough to believe 'Satan' isn't this 'evil' being. If you can get past that belief, it'll really open your eyes. Let's pretend 'Satan' and 'Prometheus' aren't the same people, and are, instead, two different individuals," "Okay," Asuka said. Urd said, "Second, you can't believe in whatever texts you've read. You see, humans have written those texts and humans are prone to making errors. Over the course of time, the truth is distorted. Much like the way a gossip turns into a rumor which turns into an outright lie, that's how written text is but over a longer period of time. Think about it, who can you believe in more? The writings of humans, a species which is prone to error, who have never been there or seen any of this and merely relay the message over and over again in writings over the course of time, or the sayings of a divine being like myself who've been there when it happened?" "You've been there when 'Satan' was banished?" Asuka asked in surprised. Urd nodded, "Yes. That doesn't mean I'm as old as time. I have the ability to traverse time and visit any time period and observe. And yes, 'Satan's banishment was one of the things I observed," "Wow," Asuka said. "Also, have you read the textbooks about the 'Angel Wars' on this world?" Urd smirked, "You know, from when you and Ranma and the others were fighting Angels attacking this world?" Asuka nodded, "Yes, I've read about it. None of our names were really even mentioned. It mentioned of how Earth was under attack and a band of people grouped together to fight them off," "Was what you read the truth?" Urd asked. "Not entirely," Asuka said, "There's so much more to it," "Exactly, you've been there," Urd said, "So now you should know where I'm coming from when I'm trying to explain to you who 'Satan' was," "Oh, I never thought of it that way," Asuka said. "You know of the story of how our universe isn't as old as people believed it to be?" Urd asked. Asuka nodded, "Yes, it's constantly being recreated. There are clues left behind for human to discover to deceive them into believing its billions and billions of years old," Urd nodded, "That's correct. Well, you know when the universe was first recreated?" "No," Asuka shook her head. "Remember how I said the meaning of life is to grow and learn?" Urd asked. Asuka nodded. "I guess I'm one of the lucky people to know that God exists," Asuka commented, "What about all those atheists out there that truly believe Skuld doesn't exist? What does she think about them?" Urd laughed, "You've got to be kidding me if you think it even remotely bot "People believe resurrection is impossible," Asuka said, "But I'm well aware that it is possible. How do you think people who argue against that will respond?" Urd shrugged, "Nothing is impossible. To those people, it's more likely improbable than impossible," "Okay, how do you think people would view something as improbable as resurrection?" Asuka asked. Urd said, "Well, you ever hear of a thing called the American Revolution?" Asuka nodded. "Well, for America to win that war, something that seemed entirely improbable, most people have been known to believe ghosts contributed to America's success," "How does magic work?" "Magic, at least on this world, is a term generally used to describe some form anomaly that you humans don't comprehend," Urd said. "How do people like Lina and Luna know how to use magic?" Asuka asked, "Do they understand the world better than most people to be able to comprehend and use magic?" Urd thought for a moment before nodding, "More or less," Asuka scratched her head. She was hoping for a more elaborate answer. "I can give you an analogy of how humans view something like 'magic'," Urd said, "Hopefully, you'll be able to comprehend it," "I'll try," Asuka said. "Humans understand the three dimensions really well because they are, for the most part, four dimensional beings," Urd said, "The four dimensions are length, width, height, and time. The three dimensions give you humans shape and form while the dimension of time is something you have no firm grasp upon which is why you travel forward in time on a linear path. You understand one dimension less than what you are basically composed of. Because you understand height, width, and depth of your world, you can easily alter those properties. For instance, you understand how to make yourself taller and slimmer and such," "Okay, I still follow you," Asuka felt like she was going to become confused real quickly. "Well, since you don't understand how to alter time, that's why you live in a linear timeline," Urd said. "Wait, you mean to say that if we understand the forth dimension as well as we understand the three dimensions, we could travel back and forth in time?" Asuka asked. Urd nodded, "Correct. The nanban mirror is a good tool in grasping the forth dimension better. Much like a tape measure is a tool for measuring and helping alter the three dimensions that you know, the nanban mirror is tantamount to such a tool," "I've never thought of it that way," Asuka said, "But what does this have to do with magic?" "I'm getting to it," Urd smiled, "Anyway, since human understand the three dimensions really well, when a four dimensional anomaly crosses their path, they see it as magic," "You lost me," Asuka sighed. "Because humans don't understand the concept of time like they understand the three dimensions, when a forth dimensional anomaly crosses their path, they don't understand what happened and consider it magic," Urd said. Asuka scratched her head. "Okay, how about this?" Urd said, "Ants, they view the world in two dimensions. They only see the world in terms of length and width," "Hm, I never knew that but okay," Asuka said. "Well, what do you think crosses an ant's mind when you place a hand down in front of it?" Urd said, "Since it doesn't understand the dimension of height, it doesn't realize that a third dimensional anomaly had just occurred, that someone had simply placed a hand down in front of it," "Ohhhh, now I get it," Asuka realized. "It's like passing a sphere through an ant's world," Urd said, "Since the ant only understands two dimensions, it'll be like a sphere passing through a world that existed inside a piece of paper, the ant will first see this dot, and then the dot suddenly expands into a circle, only to grow small again and become a dot again before finally disappearing," "Hm, now that I think about it, that would seem like magic," Asuka said, "It'd be equivalent to me seeing this dot suddenly expand to form a sphere, only to shrink into a dot and eventually disappearing," "Correct," Urd was impressed with Asuka's ability to grasp something like that, "This is how magic came about. It's a term referring to an ability most humans couldn't comprehend," "Well, why didn't you just say that instead of using that crazy analogy?" Asuka asked. "Because you asked," Urd smirked, "Come on, think about it. If you aren't aware of magic actually existing, would you truly believe magic exists?" Asuka said, "No. Actually, until I met Lina and Luna, I didn't believe magic existed. Of course, I never considered Ranma's ability to throw ki-blasts a form of magic," "Surprisingly, magic and ki-blasts aren't all that different," Urd said, "They're just different forms of human abilities," "Like what kind of abilities?" Asuka asked, "What kind of abilities do humans have or at least have the potential of mastering?" "Many things," Urd answered, "Telepathy, pyrokenisis, telekenisis, psionics, magic, elemental-manipulation, ki-manipulations, alternating realities, and many others," "Wow, that sounds like some awesome abilities," Asuka said. Urd said, "Humans have an almost infinite potential for growth. Heck, humans of this time can't even begin to comprehend what they are capable of doing a few centuries from now," "What do you mean?" Asuka asked. "A few centuries years from now, the human race will grow at such a rate that the babies of that time would be more powerful than Ranma," Urd smiled, "A few centuries from now, the human race will have caught up to where Ranma currently is right now and surpass him," "Huh?" Asuka asked. "What, you haven't noticed?" Urd smirked, "Ranma, the way he currently is, is at least a couple of centuries years of growth beyond that of the average human," "Well, I knew Ranma was strong, but to be that much stronger..." Asuka began. Urd laughed, "He's a special case. His ability for growth was unlocked. You see, humans aren't supposed to grow that strongly that quickly. The human race is supposed to grow at a slow pace," "God placed some kind of lockdown on us to impede the growth of our abilities, right?" Asuka asked. Urd nodded, "Yes. If the human race were allowed to grow at an unlocked rate, the rate of which Ranma grows, within a millennia, the human race will not only be the cause of destruction of a many galaxies and thousands of alien races, but they will also challenge God, believing they can actually defeat Her. At that point in time, the human race will be erased from existence, a 'necessary evil' as what one would consider," "The lockdown of growth prevents this?" Asuka asked. "Yes," Urd nodded, "This way, humans will grow for aeons before needing to be wiped out instead of only a millennia," "Since the human race's destruction is inevitable, why not just let humans grow unimpeded?" Asuka asked. "Think about it," Urd said, "Imagine if we have a world full of Ranmas running around. Within a hundred years, the Earth will be so messed up from the fighting among the humans that the human race will be FORCED to start colonizing other planets, only to end up destroying it in the process as they continue fighting before and moving on and on and on. At least this way, humans will start colonizing space more peaceably since they will start colonizing other planets when they run out of resources. Basically, a meek human race will be a lot less destructive in the colonization of space than a super strong human race. That's because humans will believe themselves the bullies of the galaxy and start forcibly taking over planets already occupied by alien races. Existence doesn't need a race like that," "Now that you've put it that way, it seems like the most logical choice," Asuka said, a bit disappointed. She couldn't help but wonder how awesome it would be to have even a fraction of Ranma's powers. "Think about how much trouble Ranma causes, and keep in mind that he's basically one of the ONLY human that has had his ability for growth unlocked," Urd shuddered at the thought, "Now imagine what kind of world we would live in if everyone had his abilities," "It wouldn’t sound that bad," Asuka had to admit. "Um, you do know that you wouldn't be living in a world with Ranmas," Urd said, "You'd be living in a world with people with Ranma's abilities. There're are only a handful of people even remotely as altruistic as Ranma," "Are you sure?" Asuka said, "There are a lot of good people. Heck, everyone I know have similar altruistic views like Ranma," "That's because you're thinking of people like Sylia and Priss and Ritsuko and such," Urd said, "The people you know to be good people are that way because of their direct and constant interactions with Ranma. His altruistic ways rub off on them. There is no way there would be more people like them if everyone had Ranma's abilities. Heck, you should already know this. Think about it, what would Sylia, Priss, Linna, and Nene be doing if Ranma didn't enter their lives? They used to be vigilante group called Knight Sabers and will have most likely've been killed many years ago. You, Misato, Ritsuko, Rei, and Shinji, you would've destroyed your world after causing the Third Impact. Heck, you probably can't even begin to fathom how this world would be if Ranma wasn't around. He has directly influenced this very world in profound ways," "What do you mean?" Asuka asked. "Because of Ranma, this world no longer has boomers," Urd said, "Genom Corporation didn't get a chance to implement its OMS chip and take control of this world's boomers and basically take over this world. It's downright mind-boggling just how much he has influenced entire worlds," "He was fated to do so, right?" Asuka asked, "This world was fated to change because Ranma was fated to take part in changing it," Urd shook her head, "No, Ranma was fated to go to your world and save Shinji. Everything else was his own doing. All these chain of events occurred because of one person, that being Shinji. No, not the Shinji you know, but the Shinji that had survived Third Impact and ended up on a totally destroyed. He made a dying wish that eventually resulted in Ranma ending up on your world. And, well, you know the rest from there," Asuka said nothing. She was aware of Ranma's past. It was such a tragic past. Frankly, it made her wonder how a wonderful person like Ranma could survive such a terrible past. Asuka changed the subject, "You said that humans have almost limitless potential for growth and that one of their abilities is ki-manipulation. Exactly how good is Ranma with his ki-manipulation ability?" "Ranma? For a human, he's basically the best," Urd said, "He's not the absolute best, but he's definitely one of the best. There are very few people that exist that can manipulate ki like Ranma can," "Just how powerful is ki-manipulation compared to all those other possible abilities?" Asuka asked. "It happens to be the best," Urd said, "That's one of the reasons why Ranma can accomplish so many things. He happens to excel at one of the best abilities to possess in general. "There are many things people don't understand. For instance, people today still think sodium fluoride is good for you," Urd said. Asuka asked, "Isn't sodium fluoride some kind of hazardous-waste by-product from the manufacture of aluminum?" Urd nodded, "Yep, that's the exact same thing. Did you know people believe fluoride is good for you?" "What? That's insane," Asuka said, "Who the heck would think of something that's poisonous could be good for you?" "Entire countries," Urd smirked, "The United States is one of them. They have toothpaste that contains it and a good percentage of their drinking water contains it as well," Asuka was astounded, "Jeez," "This might bring up an interesting thought," Urd grinned, "The United States is basically the most powerful country in the world," Asuka nodded, "Well, that goes without saying. They're basically the last and only remaining superpower," "Don't you find it kind of amusing that the world's most powerful nation is not the world's smartest nation?" Urd grinned, "As of right now, out of the hundreds and hundreds of nations around the world, in terms of intelligence, they are the on the lower half of the tier," "That I never knew," Asuka said, "Wait, could fluoride be the cause of it?" "Bingo," Urd smiled, "They believe fluoride is good for them. All the while, their constant exposure to it is making their nation dumber and dumber with every passing year. They're completely unaware that exposure to it lowers their IQ, promotes cancer and mental disturbances, accelerate osteoporosis, and makes people more naturally docile and subservient which makes for easy targets for manipulation. Their drinking water has it. Heck, they have people walking around who would actively buy a brand of toothpaste because it has fluoride in it because they associate fluoride as something good," Asuka was stunned silence. "Earth is definitely a funny planet," Urd smiled, "Around 99.99 percent of the people on this world know very little about the things around them," "Is Ranma one of the few .01 percent that knows a lot about the things around him?" Asuka asked. Urd nodded, "Yes. Of course, that stems from the fact that he was once God and knew everything. Most of what he knows now is from what he remembers from during the time he was God. All in all, when he remembers is actually more than what most of this world's most brilliant minds currently knows," "Man..." was all Asuka could say. "You should see the kinds of pranks Ranma pulls on humans," Urd chuckled. "Oh?" Asuka asked. "Every here of a thing called Déjà vu?" Urd asked. Asuka nodded, "Yes, it has something to do with you experiencing something that you could've sworn you have experienced before even though you're very sure it had never happened to you before," Urd nodded, "Right. Well, people aren't aware of how déjà vu works and Ranma messes around with him because of it," "How?" "Well, he did it when he was God, but he doesn't do it anymore simply because he doesn't have the power to do so," Urd said, "You see, déjà vu is the result of when your short term memory AND your long term memory accidentally gets stored with data from an experience. When you experience something, it originally gets stored in your short term memory where it will eventually be turned into a long term memory. Well, sometimes there's a mess up and an experience meant to be stored in your short term memory initially is accidentally stored in your long term memory as well, leading you to believe that what you had just experienced had occurred in the exact same fashion before," "But how does Ranma mess around with people based on that fact?" Asuka asked. "He likes messing around with Atheists," Urd said, "Sometimes, he has it where a person's brain constantly stores data in both short term and long term memory, leading the atheist to believe that there might actually be some form of reincarnation," Asuka was confused, "What, Ranma converts non-believers to believers?" Urd said, "Yes. He actually finds it really fun doing so, especially when non-believers die and meet up with him in Heaven," "What does he do then?" Asuka asked. "He usually says something like 'Remember how you believed is no life after death? Well, it seems like you're up the shit creek now because you're dead and this is the after-life and I'm God. What do you hafta say about yourself?'" Urd laughed. "There are atheists in this world that not only claim that God doesn't exist, but live accordingly," Asuka said, "What do you, Ranma, or Urd think of these atheists? Doesn't it annoy you when these people denounce the power of God?" Urd shook her head, "Not at all," "How can it not? It would certainly bother me if I were in Skuld's shoes," Asuka said. Urd said, "Because, no one can truly understand our powers. I like Ranma's analogy of how little humans understand things. Humans can not grasp God's power. That is absolute. It's no different than a dog trying to grasp your world's Theory of Relativity. It is never gonna happen. The fact that human are trying to humanize God and believe they know the concept of God is like seeing a dog trying to grasp the concept of the Theory of Relativity. It's never gonna happen. Religion and science will NEVER figure God out, not even until the end of time. Because of this, is a bit of a crying shame to see so many people dedicate so much time trying to understand something they will never understand," Asuka said nothing. "I don't mean to sound rude, but as a human, you will never understand God," Urd said, "Therefore, you shouldn't really dwell on it and pretend you understand nor try to understand,"