Unnatural Laws (The Whispering Crystals, #1)

by H. C. Mills

  With shaking fingers, I reach out and gently press on the bone.

  “Nnngaaaaaahhhh! Suri, I can’t!”

  [I don’t see any other options, Emma,] Suri chimes.

  “What if... what if you bring me into a trance again, to lessen the pain?”

  [If I did that you would sit there gazing blankly until the wound closed. For the Meditation Skill to help, you would have to enter a lucid state of trance. However, as I explained before, that is the next level of the Skill, which you haven’t reached yet; I can’t help you do that.]

  “Can’t or won’t, Suri?”

  [Emma, I—]

  “CAN’T OR WON’T?!”

  [I am not allowed to help you like that. The rules don’t bend that far, and I cannot break them.]

  “Shit... SHIT!”

  [I’m sorry, Emma,] Suri chimes. It almost sounds genuine.

  “All right, even if you can’t help me... the lucid trance, can I do it?”

  Suri remains quiet for a moment. [Well, perhaps. You do seem to have a knack for figuring out Skills. In fact, if you lean into the pain, use it to keep yourself awake, this might turn into a rare opportunity.]

  “Stop trying to turn me into a masochist,” I joke weakly.

  [You’re doing a pretty good job of that yourself, dear.]

  I shake my head. Just yesterday I’d never have imagined Suri cracking a joke.

  Anyway, I don’t know about enjoying it, but I’m certainly getting used to pain.

  Time for another dose.

  I start gently pressing onto the bone, hissing from the pain as I simultaneously attempt to activate Meditation. However, with the pain overwhelming my senses, I can’t get anywhere close to a trance.

  On my second attempt, I try to get a trance going first, but as soon as I exert the slightest pressure, my trance disappears like snow before the sun.

  I try again and again, every way I can think of. At one point, I actually slip into a deeper trance, and Suri has to wake me. No matter what I do however, the lucid trance continues to elude me.

  “Ugh, Suri, this is impossible,” I complain. “It’s like I’m trying to sleep while stabbing white-hot needles into my leg!”

  [It’s a difficult feat for sure, but not impossible. After all, many have succeeded in gaining the second level of this Skill before you, and many still will.]

  “Not impossible then, I just suck. Great pep-talk, Suri.”

  I lapse into silence for a moment.

  No, Suri’s right. I can’t be thinking it’s impossible. It is possible, I’m just not doing it right. In fact, maybe my thinking is the root of the problem. It’s not like trying to sleep at all; Mediation is a Skill. A Lavi-based Skill, which means the trigger for this Skill should have something to do with imposing my will on my Lavi. I just need to impose my will harder.

  Once again, I press gently onto the bone and simultaneously try to activate Meditation. The Skill fizzles out almost immediately, but now that I’m paying attention, I can feel the slight swell of something coursing through my body.

  Encouraged, I try again, willing the swell to last longer, push farther. Slowly but surely, a kind of tug-o-war begins between Meditation and the pain, as they both vie for my attention.

  Sometimes my eyelids start to droop as my Skill threatens to pull me under, and the pain barely hauls me back out. Other times I press too hard and the pain puts cracks in my trance. As it goes back and forth, I slowly sink deeper, still watching the bone, still pushing it.

  Bit by bit, the pressure I’m able to exert increases, and I find a balance between pain and trance, between the sharpness of the discomfort and the sweet lure of sleep. The bone starts to move closer to its original position. Every time it moves, the pain pulls me back out of the trance a little, requiring me to sink back down as I dance the line between living and dying.

  Two inches to go. One and a half inches to go. One inch to go and the jagged edge of the bone presses into my flesh. With the Crystal of Restoration and my trance combined, the pain is less sharp, more of a dull throb.

  The final bit is the hardest. I have to press my fingers into the wound, which makes the bleeding start anew, and try to align the jagged ends of the bone together.

  Somehow, I am able to continue. I view the white-hot pain as a bright light in the distance: sharp and searing, but ultimately unable to touch me.

  Finally, Suri gives the verdict.

  [They’re aligned. You can let go now, Emma.]

  I release and slump back; as my eyes close I enter the sleep of the dead, knowing I will come out alive to see another day. Or the rest of this one, at least.

  I carefully put weight on my left leg. No pain.

  I half-expected it, and yet I can hardly believe it; my left leg is as good as new. There’s not even a mark on the skin.

  However, that isn’t the only pleasant surprise I wake up to. I also get the following notification.

  Sweet! Being able to go into a lucid, pain and Lavi-consumption-reducing trance on command is bound to come in handy, one way or another.

  [You are a real survivor, Emma,] Suri chimes unexpectedly. [I am very proud of you.]

  Aww, stop it. You’re gonna make me cry.

  “Thank you,” I say. And I mean it.

  Now that I finally feel semi-okay again, I decide to check how the contents of my bag are faring after I landed on it earlier.

  Thankfully, the Doritos and the cup noodles are still intact. The blade of knifegrass seems to be fine as well; only its roots have shrivelled a little. The Moonshade Flower, on the other hand, has seen better days.

  I unwrap it, only to find that its petals are wilting and have all but lost their glow.

  It’s heartening to see something logical in this dimension for once. No, my broken bone doesn’t count.

  The bottle I forced the stem in is filled to about a quarter of its capacity with viscous, purple glowing sap. It looks downright deadly.

  I would hate for that to leak out. Good thing the stem was stuck in so tightly. Although, the stem has also lost some of its turgidity and moves around a lot more easily.

  I decide to cut my losses. I dig the bottle’s cap out of my backpack, remove the wilting flower, and screw the bottle shut. I dump the flower in a corner; it seems quite clear most of the Toxic Energy is concentrated in the sap, and that’s all I need.

  Satisfied that it’s secure, I hold up the bottle with its dangerous contents. For some reason, the bottle is rather cool to the touch.

  Weird.

  “Appraise!”

  Consumable? I shudder and gently put it back into my backpack. Like I’d ever put that stuff anywhere near my mouth.

  “All right, time?”

  [19 hours, 14 minutes, and 17 seconds left.]

  Well over four hours wasted...

  Actually no, not wasted. I learned a lot. I overcame grave danger at the cost of terrifying pain, and I grew from it.

  I’ve learned about how gravity works, learned how to use Boost Physical in action, and have gotten to know the dangers of this Trial.

  And now it’s time to kick its ass.

  It takes me a mere fifteen minutes to get back to the rope swing, and most of that time is spent waiting for my Lavi to recover after using Boost Physical.

  The rope is now hanging in the middle of the pit, out of immediate reach, but that’s only a minor obstacle.

  I leap for it, grab on, and start swinging back and forth. Soon enough I have all the momentum I need to launch myself onto the platform, where I stick the landing.

  The next couple of challenges are more of the same. Handholds on an upwards-sloping ceiling. A double bar swing, where I have to leap from one bar to the next. A double rope swing. Peanuts.

  But then the doorway leads into a staircase down, and when I arrive at the bottom I look up and swallow.

  Because for the next challenge, it looks like I may have to jump back and forth between two walls, all to reach a platform that�
��s about thirty feet up.

  Yup. Still going to die.

  CHAPTER 16

  Too many walls, not enough bridges

  [YOU SHOULD EAT SOMETHING,] Suri suggests when I don’t move for a few seconds.

  Guess I might as well. Can’t be expected to perform crazy, death-defying stunts on an empty stomach.

  What I do after that, in a corner of the room, is entirely my business. Pun intended.

  From the lack of food-wrappings and bloodstains I’ve come across so far, I’ve concluded that the Trials get ‘sterilised’ pretty well after every participant, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

  Which begs the question if anyone—or rather, how many—died in this room.

  I take another look at the intimidatingly high back-and-forth wall jump in front of me and the spotless rock floor beneath it, and decide not to think about that anymore.

  God, I never thought I’d miss people this much. Like, in general. These Trials would be so much easier to face if I didn’t have to do it alone. I mean, Suri is pretty good company, but it’s not the same.

  All right, enough with the pity-party, Emma. This is just another obstacle, just another challenge. You’ve faced worse and you’re not even bleeding or anything, so get it together.

  The opposing walls are about thirty feet high, but also eight feet apart; definitely too wide to stretch my arms out between them and touch both sides. There don’t appear to be any handholds or anything of the sort, so jumping back and forth really does seem like the only option.

  I try out the gravity near each wall, but the pull isn’t as pronounced as it was during the wall-run. It’s probably because the walls are so much closer together. Still, I can feel a slight pull near the walls, which makes them feel slanted and should help me maintain grip.

  The real problem here is that I have to make it to the top in one go. If I fall from near the top, I could easily break something again and get hurt too badly to make it back to the Crystal of Restoration.

  I need absolute confidence in making it before I go that high, which means I need to practise.

  With a sigh, I start stretching out my legs. Only when I’m confident they’re properly warmed up, do I take the challenge for a spin.

  I activate Boost Physical, jump up against one of the walls, and push off. Unfortunately, the fresh wave of power coursing through my limbs from the Skill makes me push off a little harder than intended. I twist around in mid-air, only to barrel face-first into the other wall, and land on my butt.

  Right. Let’s try this without Boost Physical and focus more on spinning in time.

  After a while of practice, I find I’m actually getting the hang of this ridiculous obstacle.

  I’m using Boost Physical again and am learning how to control the force of my jumps. I quickly find that while I don’t actually need the boost in Strength for the jumps, I still need to use Boost Physical to replenish my stamina so I can keep going. Who knew jumping back and forth between walls would be so exhausting?

  It’s interesting that the stamina replenishing effect of Boost Physical was never explicitly stated...

  I soon run into a new problem, however. I am now at the point where I can quickly ascend about fifteen feet if I put my mind to it, but a controlled descent is much harder.

  That is to say, I’m falling. A lot. Not from too high of course, and I try to angle my back-and-forth jumps down when I want to descend, but as I pick up downward speed it gets much harder to maintain grip. I’ve even taken off my shoes, as I’m getting more grip with my bare feet, but I’m still bruised all over.

  Most falls and landings I handle pretty well, but not all of them.

  “Oof!” I let out involuntarily as my back slams into the floor.

  Falling on my back is the worst; it knocks the wind right out of me. It doesn’t help that I took off my backpack for the training, but I’d rather not have the bottle of Moonshade Sap burst open.

  Or worse, my bag of Doritos.

  But as I lie there, wheezing, an unexpected notification pops up.

  I kinda hate the part of me that now thinks I should perhaps fall some more.

  No matter what Suri says, I’m not a masochist!

  [Ah, good,] Suri chimes. [That should reduce the chance of you getting another debilitating injury. This seems like the perfect time for a serious attempt, wouldn’t you agree?]

  I sit up and take a deep breath. My ribs seem to be fine, which is nice. I carefully roll my shoulders, one by one, testing them.

  [Come on, Emma, quit stalling. You’re ready. You just need to have a little faith in yourself.]

  I sigh. “You’re probably right.”

  [I usually am.]

  I get up, grab my backpack, and strap it on extra tight. I glance around, hoping that I’ve forgotten to do or grab something, but of course I haven’t.

  I move to the bottom of the walls and turn my gaze upward.

  Oh man. I better not screw this up.

  I dry my sweaty hands on my wrinkly, smelly uniform, and prepare myself for action.

  Activating Boost Physical, I launch myself up at the first wall. For the first wall-jump, I kick off with a single foot, trying to get as much height as possible. From the second jump onwards, I catch myself on the wall with both hands and feet, maximizing grip and stability. I make sure to twist back and forth during the jumps instead of turning in circles like I did in the beginning.

  I learned not to do that after getting dizzy and smacking my head onto the floor only once. Go me.

  The rhythm is becoming second nature by now. Jump, twist, catch, jump, twist, catch, jump, twist, catch...

  I don’t look down or up and I don’t think. I just keep going, boosting only when I feel my Strength wane.

  And suddenly I run out of wall. That is to say, my stomach smacks into the ledge at the top.

  My breath comes out in a rush, but I manage to hold on and crawl onto the platform. I look down over the ledge at a thirty-foot drop.

  I friggin’ did it!

  CHAPTER 17

  They just keep moving the line

  AFTER RESTING FOR A BIT, I take my shoes out of my backpack. The blood on the left one has almost finished drying. Almost. Honestly though, I might as well leave them off. The extra grip my bare feet provide will probably come in handy.

  I stuff my shoes back in and sling the pack over my shoulder. I take one last look down before skipping through the doorway.

  The hallway I enter slopes down and leads me to the next challenge, which is a twenty-foot-deep, ten-foot-wide, thirty-foot-long pit, with exactly nothing above it. However, the walls do go all the way up on both sides.

  Ah, I see. They want me to do a wall run while jumping back and forth between the two walls.

  If I’d come across this two hours ago, I’d have found it hard to swallow, but now...

  I check the straps on my backpack and wipe any potential moisture off my feet and hands. Let’s do this.

  I activate Boost Physical and angle myself into the left wall. I run along the wall for a few paces, then push off before I start gaining downward momentum. Two steps, another jump. And again. And again.

  I still gain downward momentum near the end, which forces me to jump back and forth with every step, but it no longer matters because I am close enough to get there with one last jump.

  I land lightly on the other side and look back in satisfaction. Only now do I notice that this pit doesn’t have any handholds. If I’d fallen down, I would have needed to use the jumping-back-and-forth-technique to get back up.

  Pssh, only twenty feet up? That’s child’s play.

  I move on to the next challenge, which is a rope swing into a bar swing.

  Apparently mixing and matching is the new thing.

  My prediction is right, because after I ace this challenge I find myself facing an extremely long pit with several small platforms on pillars and various means to move from one to the next.

  Wall runs with
jumps into bar swings, rope swings into wall runs, etc. The pit actually continues underneath the walls I’m supposed to run on, and the ropes are too short to reach from down in the pit, likely to make sure I can’t cheat by climbing up farther on.

  It looks challenging to say the least, and yet I’m filled with an odd excitement. If they’re stepping it up to this extent, this may very well be the final bit!

  It wasn’t.

  There were some hairy moments, but I made it through without falling.

  Now I’m at another handholds-on-the-ceiling type of challenge—like in the first room, except this one has the addition of two bar swings.

  Who comes up with these things? At least the ceiling is only about fifteen feet high again.

  I sigh and start climbing the handholds that lead up the wall to my right. Everything’s smooth sailing until I hit the first bar. It hangs about three feet below the ceiling, just out of reach from the final handhold.

  I swing from the handholds I’m grasping, making sure to string together activations of Boost Physical to keep my Strength raised continuously. I release on a forward swing and briefly sail through the Aether. I grasp the bar with one hand. My arm muscles strain but hold. I bring my other hand onto the bar as well and sigh in relief.

  It’s a weird feeling. Because of the extra three feet between me and the ceiling, the downward pull of gravity is a bit stronger now compared to when I’m hanging onto the handholds. I’ll have to take the difference into account for my next move.

  I need to get to the next handholds, which are about six feet away, and I need to grasp them and hold on mid-jump.

  Remind me to never complain about Suri’s advice again. I’d have been dead three times over in this challenge without Boost Physical.

  Though to be honest, this is still easier than it would’ve been on Earth, thanks to the difference in how gravity works here. If I had still been in the shape of my days as a gymnast, and not full of Toxic Energy, it wouldn’t have been much more than a good workout.