Hobus Crystal

Description
The Hobus Crystal is a magical crystal that floats in the air and glows with a red light when in use.

It is one of the items in the possession of the Inner Circle.

Origin
In 1873, a Professor Hobus, who was on staff at Miskatonic University, was on an expedition in the Middle East, when he discovered the crystal. When Hobus returned to the United States, he brought the crystal with him, The crystal was thus named after him.

Powers
At some point, it was discovered that the Hobus Crystal contained magical powers, and thus the Inner Circle took charge of it (it remains unclear if Professor Hobus himself was a member of the Inner Circle or not).

The Hobus Crystal has the powers to project possible time lines and then project those same time lines into the sleeping minds of people. Said people will actually experience living in those time lines, even though they are just dreaming it. Although the Hobus Crystal can project possible time lines, it is unable to see into the actual future that will come to pass.

The Inner Circle were able to determine that an ancient Sumerian wizard created the Hobus Crystal, but, as yet, have never been able to find out why the wizard did it.

Randolph Carter uses the Hobus Crystal
In March of 2016, Randolph Carter asked Rex Buckland and Hannah Webster to meet him at Miskatonic University. When the two former Warlocks arrived, Randolph used a spell to put them to sleep. Randolph did this in order to use the Hobus Crystal on Rex and Hannah. Via the crystal, Randolph showed Rex and Hannah a time line in which they never existed. In that time line, the Old Ones had escaped their prison and had wiped out all life on Earth and beyond.

Although Rex and Hannah did not fully approve of Randolph's action in this case, they did understand why he had done it. They understood that the future of the human race now rested in their hands.