Symphony of the Universe: A Melody of Knights V
This story is about Edmund Knight, it is meant to take place before the events which occur in the comic series Symphony of the Universe.
College was a radical shift from home life. Edmund settled quickly into the mathematics department, gaining a position right away as a teacher's aide. It was a joyous thing to be surrounded by other left brained eccentrics. He spent days immersed in probability theory and general education. Nights were spent in study, in a mix of heavy doses of caffeine and alcohol, in conversations that went on until sunrise.
Edmund grew himself a proper beard, let his hair grow into a wild mass of spirals, wore the same clothes for the entire weekend. His dormitory was a disaster of notes scrawled on every scrap of paper he could get his hands on. But his theories were brilliant, and he knew when to wear a suit and slick his hair down. His reports were presented in a neat and professional way. His work always complete in a timely manner. He was contributing heavily to the University program. They were happy to have him around, and he was happy to be there.
He also learned a word for his pain. A word for his difficulties in speech, in concentration, in bringing people to see connections only he could see.
The word was Schizophrenia.
No one was ever going to see the world as Edmund did. Now he knew it. Knew it deep down. The perceptions he had thought were so brilliant may have only been delusions. This was devastating to him. Some of his leaps of logic were what brought him to his mathematical theories, and it was impossible for him to separate the difference between the delusions and the useful information.
So he relied upon the professors and the other students to help sort his jumbled thoughts. He started to work with speech and cognitive therapists in the hopes of becoming a better communicator. Surrounded by mathematics students however, poor verbal skills were not uncommon.
Schizophrenia.
The word haunted him. He read about it. He tried to understand it. Tried to pick it apart the way he tore apart any other equation. But the solution wasn't as simple as finding the value of an imaginary number. He missed Edwyn terribly, he wanted to write to him, but didn't want to write about being ill. So he wrote to him about mathematics, and that his skills in Greek were improving due to working with the speech department.
Edwyn did not write back to him. Edmund was pained by this. Perhaps his brother was angry at him, Edmund thought. Perhaps he hated him.
Edmund immersed himself into his studies. Edmund also realized something very useful.
All of that probability study made him one hell of a gambler.