Unnatural Laws (The Whispering Crystals, #1)

by H. C. Mills

  [Any last questions?]

  “I only have one more. Why can’t I ask ‘philosophical’ questions outside of the five-minute window?”

  [Answering complex questions consumes a considerable amount of energy.]

  “What? Is that really it? Energy conservation?”

  [In a nutshell.]

  Well, I guess that’s plausible. But again, I’m not sure I buy the whole ‘limited resources’ rhetoric.

  [Your time is up, so I will end the session here.]

  “All right. Show me the Consumables Shopping Window please.”

  A menu pops up in front of me with three categories: food, drinks, and medicinal. It also displays my current Trial Points: 22.

  [You can use gestures to navigate the menu.]

  “Really? What gestures?”

  [Anything. As long as I can understand your meaning. And don’t be crude.]

  I can’t help but smile at the disapproving tone Suri used to say crude.

  I pretend my hand is a gun and shoot at the ‘Food’ category, making sure to include the sound effect.

  Suri sighs. A new window replaces the previous one.

  Different foods are listed, starting at prices as little as one point for a portion of birberries or jicca nuts, but growing increasingly expensive farther down the list.

  “Does that mean I no longer get those for free?”

  [Yes.]

  Damn.

  There are more nuts and fruits listed, but at the higher end also things like yams, eggs, raw meats, and even a kind of cake, which costs a whopping 10 points.

  I go back to the previous menu with a wave of my hand and select the drinks menu.

  The cheapest option here is a kind of waterskin, which has zero Lavi content but offers very good hydration. After that come things like Lavi-supplementing teas, fruit juices, and even smoothies! The fruit juices and smoothies come in skins and range from medium- to high-grade as Lavi supplements, but they last for an hour at best. The teas are medium-grade Lavi supplements but last significantly longer, averaging at about four hours. However, they’re sold as dry goods, with pots of hot Hydrum available as a separate—albeit cheap—product.

  Since I’m going to be traversing a hot and dry environment, possibly for a very long time, I’m probably better off taking plenty of regular Hydrum, as well as foods that can supply a medium-grade Lavi supplement with a duration of up to eight hours. I start out looking at nuts, but the medium-grade ones are rather tough, so I decide on a yam instead.

  Before I make any purchases, however, I check out the last category: medicinal.

  This is a highly varied category, ranging from bandaging material and salves to pills and fresh medicinal plants and fungi.

  Huh. Some of these effects are pretty cool.

  A pill for replenishing blood, to cure the ‘Anaemic’ status condition, a salve to prevent Radiation-burns...

  Isn’t that just sunscreen? Or do they mean something more akin to ionizing radiation? Do ions even exist here? So many questions.

  Finally, I come across an item that makes me yelp and shoot upright, the window moving with me in a dizzying manner.

  CHAPTER 19

  Breathe in life and breathe out

  A LOW-GRADE DETOXIFIER that lasts 8 hours for only 5 TP! Farther down the list I find a medium-grade detoxifier at a cost of 10 TP, but that one works for only 4 hours. I feel like that might mean it actually detoxifies a similar amount in a shorter timeframe, so my choice is simple.

  “One Blue Angel please!”

  [You are about to purchase a Blue Angel for five Trial Points. Would you like to confirm the purchase?]

  “Yes.”

  I hear a rumble in the alcove and expectantly look over. Something small and blue tumbles down the chute.

  That was fast! Is there like an entire vending machine type of system up there? I’d love to go find out, but with the Toughness of these walls being 63, I can only dream.

  I collect my prize. It’s smaller than I had expected. The white ring over the cap reminds me of a halo, so I can see where it gets its name.

  “Do I just, eat it?”

  [That would be the preferable method of taking it in. For both of us, I imagine.]

  A muscle twitches next to my eye, and I decide not to dignify that with a response.

  I sit back down on the bed, bring the Blue Angel to my mouth, and bite down with some hesitation.

  Yuck. My mouth scrunches up involuntarily. “Man, that is bitter. Kinda makes me wish I knew Meditation level three, just so I could turn off my sense of taste for a bit, you know?”

  [Don’t talk with your mouth full,] Suri admonishes.

  I snort, but keep my mouth respectfully shut.

  An artificial intelligence that cares about table manners? Never change, Suri, never change.

  I manage to finish my disgusting treat and flush away the taste with some Hydrum.

  Let’s check where my Toxic Energy is right now. “Open Status Window.”

  Only 1.6 Onkh over the limit. If this gradual Detoxifying effect can help me get rid of the status effect entirely, that would be perfect. Since I’m about to head into low atmospheric Lavi conditions, nothing could be better than that. I’m not sure if one will be enough to achieve that, though. Guess I better check in eight hours and decide if I need another Blue Angel then.

  If one turns out to be enough, I can purchase three of these 5 TP yams that I found in the foods section.

  That should sustain me for twenty-four hours. If I require another Blue Angel, however, I’m giving that priority, and only buying two honeycomb yams. Sixteen hours should be plenty of time to clear the next Trial. I hope.

  Considering my prodigious Lavi absorption from Aether, I may not even need the yams if I can cure my little Toxic Energy issue.

  “Suri, can you wake me in eight hours?”

  [Sure thing.]

  With hope blossoming at the prospect of finally being rid of my Toxic Energy Poisoning, I move into a lotus position on the bed and sink into a lucid trance to practise Respiration.

  “Open Status Window.”

  Looks like that Blue Angel cleared about 1 Onkh of Toxic Energy over the last eight hours. Not a lot compared to the effect of the oasis, but still much better than the regular rate at which it leaves my body.

  I hesitate a little, but then decide to buy another Blue Angel. If I can’t use my lucid trance while navigating, that 1 Onkh of Lavi per minute that I’m currently still losing could make all the difference.

  I eat it with a healthy dose of reticence and promptly buy two honeycomb yams. I spend my final two points on a waterskin and a small sack of jicca nuts.

  Now all that remains is training and sleep. My sleeping rhythm is completely messed up right now, thanks to the Meditation Skill. A full trance is practically the equivalent of sleep, while a lucid trance is like being awake, but in a state of lower mental energy consumption. That’s to say, it doesn’t exactly rejuvenate me, but it does mean I can stay awake for much longer before I get tired and have to rest for real.

  I still prefer actual sleep over the deep trance—it’s refreshing in a way I can’t put my finger on—but the difference is small, and since sleeping doesn’t allow me to increase my Lavi Pool, I can’t afford to do it too often.

  I decide to train for another eight hours, this time fully awake, so I can really focus on Respiration. Training in a lucid trance has its uses, but I had some unrealistic expectations of it helping me maintain my focus really well that didn’t exactly come true. Training in a lucid trance is more like mindlessly performing a task over and over; you still get better at it in small ways, but it doesn’t help improve your understanding of the task, the way actively engaging with it can.

  I’ll finish up with going into a deep trance for the final stretch of seven hours or so. That way I can start the next Trial fully focused.

  As I sit down to continue my training, I feel a little sorry for the person pot
entially waiting to start the Trial behind me, but I need to make the most of my time. Who knows, maybe I’m actually helping them somehow by forcing them to spend more time preparing?

  My training isn’t going as well as I’d hoped, which is rather frustrating, to say the least.

  Suri told me to focus on directing my exhales, so I’ve been trying to blow the airflow away from me on my exhales. It kind of works, but I can’t really get into a proper rhythm. More and more, I’m getting the feeling I’m doing something wrong.

  There’s also this very annoying lock of hair dangling in front of my eye that’s escaped my ponytail and keeps getting loose from behind my ear with all the breathing I’m doing.

  I let out a frustrated huff, and watch the lock go flying up in satisfaction, only to feel doubly annoyed when it settles back in place a moment later.

  I bring up a hand in defeat to once again push it behind my ear, but then I freeze. Hold on a minute... just now, I wasn’t even aiming for it, was I? I let out a huff while thinking about how annoying that lock of hair was, and somehow, the Aether went up!

  It hits me like a bolt of lightning, and I sit up straight. I’m going about this all wrong! Suri said all Skills rely on energy manipulation, that is done with the mind.

  Just now, I directed the airflows up to my hair without using my mouth; that has to be the secret to the third level!

  I dive into my practice with renewed determination. It takes me a couple of tries, but I manage to replicate my earlier feat of redirecting the Aether without using my mouth. Soon enough, I figure out how to properly control the Aether: by manipulating the Lavi it carries.

  Unlike when I trained in the lucid trance, I’m taking frequent breaks to eat and take care of bodily functions. It’s more or less by accident that, upon returning from such a break, I continue my training with an exhale through the nose.

  I don’t notice it at first, because it feels so natural. And since I’ve switched to directing the Aether without relying on my body or muscles, I no longer need to exhale through my mouth. After a little more experimenting and checking my Lavi flows, I’m more than convinced: exhaling through the nose is much better. The additional resistance the nasal passage provides helps slow my breathing down and bring it into a steady rhythm.

  Turns out my PE teacher was right all along.

  However, after forcibly directing the Aether away from me in twin streams for a while, I start to feel mentally drained.

  Hmm, am I still doing it wrong, or is it just that I’m not used to doing this?

  Despite the fatigue, I stubbornly persist. I’m so close to success that I can smell it.

  With the tiredness pervading my mind, I start cutting corners a little. Forcing the Aether away from me so hard is just too tiresome, so I allow it to flow more naturally, and just push it along a little. When I let go of my rigid control, however, something interesting happens. The Aether I exhale forms two swirls.

  Interesting.

  A while later, close to the end of my allotted training time, I am once again seated on the bed in the lotus position. I take in what feels like enough Aether to fill a small bathtub, hold it for an average of ten seconds, and exhale with the force of a leaf-blower.

  Except the air jetting from my nostrils doesn’t simply blow the floor clean. No, the two streams of Aether I create curl away from each other, forming swirls that spin away from me to the left and right, not unlike the ones left behind by the proper stroke of a paddle in the water.

  At this moment, I manage to achieve an intake of 11 Onkh per minute for the first time, and when I finally get into a stable rhythm, the following notification pops up:

  “Yes yes yes!” I shout, jumping up and down on the bed. Unfortunately, my mattress is still about as bouncy as the front of a train, so it’s not as fun as I’d imagined.

  Well, whatever. This is what I’m living for now. This feeling of progress, of growth, is what’s keeping me sane.

  At least for the moment. I really need to see some other people soon.

  Still high on success, I feel like storming into the next Trial and just getting it over with as quickly as possible so I can get one step closer to human contact.

  But my fatigue soon catches up with me, and I quickly decide to stick to my plan and spend the remaining time in a deep trance.

  CHAPTER 20

  With great talent, comes great responsibility

  TIME FOR A FINAL CHECK; I fill up all my empty bottles with Hydrum from the sink and count my jicca nuts. The waterskin I bought is nice and full. It contains at least two litres and rests comfortably over my shoulder.

  “Open Status Window.”

  I’m finally rid of that bloody status effect! I feel much better, too. It’s also nice to see my Lavi Pool grow steadily, though it’s still below the average starting size of 50 Onkh.

  It will have to do, because time’s up. Here goes nothing.

  “Begin Trial.”

  The door rumbles open.

  I pass through into a small stone room, and the door slams shut behind me.

  In the middle of the mostly bare room stands a pedestal that holds two golf-ball-sized, octahedral crystals; one black and one white. At the back of the room is a ladder which leads up through a square hole in the ceiling.

  Determine which crystal resonates. All right.

  I pick up the white crystal first.

  “Appraise.”

  That’s weird, it’s listed as ‘Unavailable.’ So far, the objects I’ve appraised were either ‘In stock’ or ‘Not for sale.’ Does this mean it will be for sale eventually, and I just haven’t unlocked it yet? The fact that there’s a price listed seems to support that hypothesis.

  Also, it’s listed as ‘equipment,’ which seems to suggest there’s an ‘Equipment Shopping Window’ that I have yet to unlock, through which I might buy things like this in the future.

  Guess I’ll find out at some point.

  Of course, that’s assuming I make it through this Trial, for starters, so maybe I should focus on that.

  The crystal is warm to the touch which feels comforting, but I’m not getting much else from it, so I put it back down and pick up the black crystal.

  The black crystal reacts the moment my finger makes contact, sending strange tingles through my arm and up my spine. I guess this is the one I need. Unlike the white one, it’s rather cool to the touch.

  “Appraise.”

  As expected, this one is the Yin to the other’s Yang.

  “Cool. Guess this is the one I need. Can I take the other one as well?”

  [No. You wouldn’t be allowed to leave the room with both. The other would be useless to you anyway.]

  Useless? Who cares about that? Like I would pass up a free item worth 25 Trial Points!

  I stick the Yin Focus Crystal in a front hip pocket and hover my hand over the Yang one for a long moment.

  [Do me a favour and leave it, Emma. Trust me, you don’t want to be caught breaking the rules.]

  I sigh and let my hand drop.

  I give the room one last sweeping glance and climb the ladder.

  I come up in a lifeless yellow desert.

  As I step off the final rung, what looks to be a kind of manhole cover finishes grinding shut over the hole I came from.

  However, I’m too busy gaping at the gorgeous night sky to give my lack of a way back much thought.

  It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, a multicoloured sea of stars, nebulae, and streaking comets that take my breath away. One comet is particularly beautiful, trailed by an icy tail as it slowly streaks across the sky, getting bigger and bigger.

  And bigger...

  “Suri, is it just me, or is that thing moving towards me?”

  [Oh my. It would appear so, Emma. Well, that’s rather unfortunate, isn’t it?]

  I watch in horror as it expands in my view to the size of a truck, then a house, and finally a small mountain.

  This is just unfair.

>   “What the hell, Suri? Is this part of the Trial?!”

  [I’m afraid not, Emma. It’s just bad luck, really.]

  I have no time to spare for some poignant final words, because it’s coming down a few hundred feet to my right, in three... two... I squint and brace for impact.

  A wave of light spreads through what appears to be a dome-shaped hexagonal grid as the meteor slams into it and explodes into a million pieces. A massive boom followed by a wave of pressure rushes past me after a short interval, causing my hair to flap in the screaming Aether.

  In the quiet after it passes, I can hear my own heartbeat. Above the grid, the remaining meteor fragments float away, spinning at various speeds while seemingly unfettered by any kind of resistance or gravitational pull.

  Suri is laughing at me.

  “You bitch!” I exclaim. “I thought I was about to die, that’s so not funny!”

  [It kind of was, though.]

  I press a trembling hand to my chest and feel my heart thunder. “I could’ve had a heart attack,” I grumble. “Would have served you right.”

  [Oh, don’t act so dramatic, you were never in any danger. Well, no more than usual that is. This is still a Trial, after all.]

  I shake my head. Okay, maybe it was kind of funny. In hindsight. Is my personality rubbing off on her or something? Is there some learning algorithm that personalises her into being a suitable companion for me? Guess I can ask after the Trial.

  Again, only possible if I make it through first.

  I take a deep breath and roll my shoulders back. Suri at least wasn’t lying about there being little atmospheric Lavi here. Time to take stock.

  I take one last look at the vast cosmos above me. “Open the Lavi Flows Window please.”