Round 2.

I wonder how a physical object (like, say, an element crystal) can exist on the astral plane.

I exist here, of course, and so do many others, but we aren't truly-well, physical. Anyway, I really ought to concentrate on finding the thing, instead of pondering the metaphysical. Heck, I AM metaphysical, so I guess it's the same thing as physical beings pondering the meaning of life? Whoops, there I go again.

As I drift along, I take peeks into different parts of the physical world. I can do that, of course, like peeking through the chinks into a log cabin. There’s lots of stuff in the physical world, all different universes, not to mention planets. There can be different planes of existence in the physical world, but the astral plane is universal. That kinda thing is confusing to explain. But basically, it means that there can’t be multiple astral planes. Just this one, and I can see everything from here.

So I peek through the knotholes into various worlds, primitive and not-so-primitive. Remembering the information I gleaned from Terra, I leave myself open to any presence that might try to reach me on the astral plane.

There it is, a figure shining light blue. It looks sort of like a sentient soul, but one can never be sure. So I glide up to it and study it carefully. I feel a tingle, and am suddenly in a sithing link with it. Instantly I am feeling the entity’s every emotion, and have total access to its thoughts. Such as they are. The foreign entity tells me plainly that it is the physical manifestation of the crystal. We both have a good chuckle over the oxymoron of a physical soul, and it gives me another insight into its existence.

The crystal is powerless in itself, merely a tool. That would explain why the crystal need not be a part of the physical world, but take the astral form of a floating blue shape. It’s like a funnel placed in the elemental, to pour the element’s power into that person. It is exhilarating to realize that I am sithing with the aether element itself. I wouldn’t have even thought that possible.

I know, through the consciousness of the spirit before me, that I am indeed the chosen of the aether element. This gives me a feeling I can describe only as joy. It’s a shock for me to realize that I can feel joy. I never knew astral shades could feel emotion. But I am young, and I have never known much about me or my kind. I brace myself at the unspoken warning, and the blue spirit flows into me, filling up some empty place deep inside--my soul? do I have one?--with a kind of understanding I have never known. I feel complete, now, filled. And if I had a mouth, I would be laughing with the joy of it.

I drift again, feeling along with my new senses. I realize that I need drift no longer; I can be anywhere, anytime. I am being fed information by the crystal entity within me. Of course, I should have realized from the first that the crystal for aether cannot be physical, because it exists only on the astral plane. The crystal is, in effect, not only actively working for me, but inside of me. The crystal directs me to one of the peepholes into the "real" world. Excitement rises in me as I contemplate the idea that for the first time, I have the power to leave the astral plane.

With a shudder--is this possible for astral shades? or am I only deluding myself into believing that I am shuddering?--of delicious excitement, I brandish the crystal as my authority and slip through the crack. The metaphysical grows blurry, the physical sharpens and becomes distinct. I’m through.