Unnatural Laws (The Whispering Crystals, #1)

by H. C. Mills

  I try to will the flow to accelerate. Some of the flecks speed up a little, only to falter again.

  [You need to believe it, Emma, it will happen as you want it to. You will make it happen.]

  I grit my teeth and try again. A small wave of Lavi billows up and dies out once more.

  [Again.]

  “Time?” I pant.

  [15 hours, 47 minutes, and 17 seconds left.]

  “Maybe I should take a break, Suri, I’ve been at this for three hours...”

  [You’re almost there, Emma! If you give up now, you’ll lose the feeling, and might not gain Boost Physical in time at all. Successfully performing a Skill for the first time is as important as it is difficult; obtaining a Skill means more than just recognition of your ability.]

  “Really? What difference does having a Skill make, then?”

  [That’s classified. Just trust me on this.]

  “Fine.” I’ll have to remember that question.

  I close my eyes again and view the meridians around my—for now—beating heart. I will the Lavi flowing towards it to accelerate.

  As the snake of Lavi rushes through my heart, I attempt to yank its head in the other direction. Instead of reversing, however, the flow just halts there. Lavi builds up until I can no longer hold it back and the flow continues.

  I sigh.

  [You have the movement down and you have the timing down, but you’re still being too gentle, Emma,] Suri chides me. [This is not a gentle Skill, it’s a Skill born of desperation, where you stake your life to beat the odds.]

  “Well, that’s a little hard to do while sitting safely on a bed, Suri,” I complain.

  [Is it? Because it looks to me like you are going to die, Emma.]

  “What?”

  [You heard me. You will only have 24 hours to clear the next Trial, and don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s going to be a short walk like the last one. If you don’t gain this Skill before the Trial, you are pretty much done for. Do you think you can use a difficult, practically suicidal Skill like this while challenging a deadly obstacle course, without any practice?]

  Shit. She’s right! I have to be able to do this without closing my eyes and looking inside. Hell, I may have to do it while hanging upside down over a pit of scorpions for all I know!

  [Well, do you think you’ll manage that?]

  I grit my teeth. “No.”

  [Then do me a favour and try like your life depends on it.]

  I breathe in deeply, filling up on a little extra Lavi. I’m going to need it.

  Once again, I accelerate a flow of Lavi and sent it hurtling towards my heart. This is the fastest it’s ever flowed. Will that make it easier or harder?

  No, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to succeed, because I have to.

  The moment the flow is about to leave my heart, I yank it back recklessly, as hard as I can.

  The flow reverses. Just like in the Dreamscape, flecks of Lavi collide and burst into a spectacular display of fireworks inside my heart.

  It hurts like a bitch.

  “Aagh what the hell!” I call out, clutching at my chest. “Suri...” I start, before trailing off as a wave of power floods my limbs.

  A notification pops up.

  “Wait. Not that I mean to complain, but did I really do it right? I mean, that hurt like hell! You never said anything about pain...”

  [Don’t worry Emma; your execution was textbook,] Suri chimes. [This is a Skill that causes an entire Onkh of Lavi to explode inside of your heart; of course it hurts.]

  You tricked me! I want my money back!

  Is what I want to say, but I can’t, because this is the only way for me to survive.

  [From what I’ve seen so far, you rather enjoy inflicting pain upon yourself. That’s why I figured this Skill would be perfect for a crazy, masochistic human like yourself.]

  Suri, you’re joking, right? You don’t actually think I’m a masochist, do you? If you are joking, try not to sound so serious please!

  [Anyway, you’ll thank me later. Though you still have a lot of practising to do before the Trial starts, if you truly wish to survive.]

  “Can I take a little break first?” So I can cry.

  [Very well, you’ve earned it. Ten minutes. And eat something, you’ll need your strength.]

  Suri, you heartless slave driver!

  [600 seconds left.]

  I let out a long breath. Looks like my training is finally done. I can’t say I’m a fan of this Skill. It hasn’t gotten any less painful, and the boost turns out to have a really short duration—only six seconds! But at least it works. I can do this.

  “Open Status Window.”

  Let’s see. It says Boost Physical burns 10 Onkh of Lavi per minute, and since a single activation lasts 6 seconds, then one use of it indeed costs exactly 1 Onkh. Doesn’t seem likely that that’s a coincidence, which warrants further investigation, but not immediate concern.

  Unlike the gradual dissipation of Toxic Energy from my body, which appears to have slowed down further. That is definitely a concern.

  Is my body reluctant to let it go, like a heroin addict clinging to the last of his stash? I shiver at the thought.

  “Suri, could I take a look at those Shopping Windows again before I start the Trial?”

  [You could, but they’d be empty.]

  “What?”

  [You can only see items you can afford, remember?]

  Damnit, I only have 2 points left!

  “I’ll have to wait till the next preparation room then I guess.” If I make it there.

  I’ve already finished my preparations, including my warm-up and stretches, so if I can’t take a look, there’s no sense in stalling any further.

  Time to see if my training was enough.

  I tighten the straps of my backpack and stand tall in front of the door, taller than I feel right now.

  “Begin Trial.”

  The door rumbles open.

  CHAPTER 12

  Fatal attraction

  “GEE, THANKS,” I MUMBLE. Glancing up behind me, I indeed spot a pink Crystal of Restoration over the doorway. That’s a little comforting, at least.

  Unlike what I see before me.

  A spacious stone hall stretches out in front of me. Jutting out of the wall at the far end is a balcony, which features the only other doorway out of the hall.

  Stone handholds—which remind me of those indoor rock-climbing holds—go up the wall to my right, cross over to the ceiling, and extend all the way to the balcony.

  The ceiling is about fifteen feet high and the balcony at least sixty feet away.

  Oh boy.

  “I don’t suppose I get any chalk?”

  [I’m afraid not. But I think you’ll find this obstacle to be less challenging than it appears.]

  That seems doubtful.

  I walk over to the wall on my right.

  I stumble a little when I reach it and catch myself on one of the handholds. That’s weird. Is this wall slanted? It looks pretty straight.

  The handhold is cool and rough, and it provides me with a firm grip, at least for the moment.

  I sigh and take another glance at the ceiling. I am not looking forward to that.

  But time is ticking, so I start climbing.

  However, I have the weirdest sensation that I’m tilting forward more and more as I do.

  About half-way up, I take a moment to assess the situation. Okay, this wall is definitely slanted away from me now. It doesn’t seem curved, so is it moving as I climb?

  It certainly seems that way. For as I carefully continue climbing, the sensation gets stronger, until it feels like the wall makes at least a thirty-degree angle from perpendicular to the floor.

  I look down. The wall looks straight and appears to be connected under a perfect ninety-degree angle with the floor.

  “Suri, what is going on? Am I tilting this entire room? You’d tell me if I was getting that fat, right?”

  [You have n
ot noticeably increased in weight since entering the first preparation room, though you could stand to lose a few pounds for optimal mobility,] Suri chimes.

  Why you little—

  [What you are experiencing is a difference in the workings of gravity in the Realm of Crystals compared to the Entropic Realm.]

  My jaw drops. “I can’t even trust gravity in this place? Do I need to worry about floating off into space here?!”

  [Don’t be silly; there’s a ceiling. Besides, considering your weight, you couldn’t float off if you wanted to.]

  “Enough with the fat jokes! More importantly, are you suggesting it might actually be possible to float off if not for the ceiling?”

  [Under the right circumstances, yes. Gravity works under a much shorter range than you are used to here. Much, much shorter. Since you have moved away from the floor and onto the wall, you are now being pulled slightly more sideways and less downward.]

  “You’re messing with me. I’ve been near plenty of walls and never felt a thing!”

  [The previous spaces were much smaller, resulting in the pull of all walls affecting you simultaneously, which mostly cancelled each other out. You should have noticed the pull of the ceiling making you feel a little lighter than outside, however. Of course, the main pull still comes from down below, where the mass is simply much greater.]

  “You know, I’m still having a little trouble understanding which things are classified and which aren’t.”

  [Outside of the five-minute window, practical questions—meaning questions pertaining to problems and situations at hand—will still be answered. Inquiries of a more philosophical nature will not.]

  “Why?” I reflectively ask.

  [That’s classified.]

  Yup. Walked right into that one.

  “Would you have told me about gravity if I’d asked about it in the previous preparation room?” I ask, changing tack.

  [No. And that’s regardless of whether you had asked during your five minutes or not. The information about gravity was declassified when you started the Trial because it is one of the Second Trial’s central aspects.]

  “I see. All right, then. Thanks for letting me know about the super-weird gravity.”

  Time to conquer this Trial. Or, well, at least the start of it.

  I climb up farther, trying to sense the direction of gravity as I do. I can tell this is going to take some getting used to. It’s rather disorienting.

  As I near the ceiling, the wall seems to slant even further, and I also start to feel lighter.

  The ceiling must be pulling me towards it. So weird.

  Its pull is still far from enough to keep me afloat, however, so I start trying to transition into hanging from the ceiling.

  As I feared, there’s nowhere to plant my feet. I have to do this hanging from just my arms, 15 feet up in the air.

  I look down and take a deep breath. The mildness of the burning in my lungs at least tells me that the Aether here contains very little Toxic Energy, comparable to the level in a preparation room.

  I first try to lift myself off my footholds while using just my arms. This leaves me hanging from the ceiling handholds, weirdly angled towards the wall.

  That’s where I run into trouble. Even if I can hang from two arms, how do I move to the next handhold?

  The problem isn’t that my arms are too weak to hang from individually—it’s my grip strength that’s the issue. There’s nothing to put my fingers on top of. I can only grab the handholds and squeeze, hoping to get enough of a grip.

  Even with the counteracting gravitational pull from the ceiling, hanging from a single hand like that with a Strength of 6 feels close to impossible. And this is just the first obstacle! I see now why Suri told me this Trial couldn’t be done with low Strength.

  Time to get serious. Man, I was not looking forward to this.

  I accelerate a flow of Lavi and yank it back. I groan in pain as it detonates in my heart, but revel in the rush of power that floods my limbs with every pump.

  I let go with one hand and swing myself forward a little on the other arm in order to reach for a new handhold.

  Got it. Nice! I try not to look down at my uselessly flopping legs, which are now angled slightly less towards the walls. I manage to swing twice more before my Strength ebbs again.

  I have to move quickly; neither my arms nor my Lavi will last very long.

  Actually, that gives me an idea.

  “Suri, could you give me an indication of how long I could use Boost Physical for, considering my Lavi in and outflows?” I ask, taking a moment to activate Boost Physical once more before I continue swinging.

  [Well, I suppose I could,] Suri chimes. [But I have a feeling this question might come back more often, so I have a better idea. I’ll add your net Lavi flow to your Status Bar, and you can calculate it yourself. You’re capable of simple arithmetic, yes?]

  I frown and come to a stop as my Strength ebbs once more. “Well, sure—”

  Something flickers into existence on my Status Bar.

  So my net flow is +3 when Boost Physical isn’t active, which makes it -7 Onkh per minute when it is. That means I could currently use Boost Physical about five minutes consecutively before running out, I suppose.

  Huh. This is actually a pretty convenient addition to the Status Bar. Maybe I can ask Suri to keep it active even after the Trial.

  I accelerate another flow, biting my lip as my heart withstands the battering once more, and continue swinging.

  Almost five minutes later, I’m near the edge of the balcony. Unfortunately, my Lavi is getting dangerously low.

  Well, I guess it’s not really dangerous, just scary, since all I have to do to not die is stop using Boost Physical when I hit 1 Onkh.

  However, at plus three Onkh of Lavi per minute, it takes roughly twenty seconds to get another Onkh, so that would mean having to give up this attempt, as hanging around that long is not exactly an option. If my arms had voices, they’d be screaming at me. I’ve only made it this far on sheer Willpower.

  I glance down for a second; it’s not that high, so dropping from here shouldn’t be too dangerous.

  I blink. Wait, what if this place has something like fall damage? I mean, it’s not high, but if dropping down from here would cost me, let’s say 3 Onkh of Lavi...

  Shit shit shit! At least I’m only ten feet from the balcony, and I’ve got at least another two activations of Boost Physical in me. That’s twelve seconds of increased Strength and Agility; it’ll just have to be enough.

  However, the low level of Lavi in my body is also making my fingers grow cold and numb, and activating the Skill once more doesn’t help.

  I swing forward and end up lightly grazing the handhold I was aiming for with my fingertips. Panicked, I reach for it again, pulling harder on my other arm, but I’m now on the backswing, so I feel it brush my fingertips a second time. By now, the extra Strength from my last boost is slipping away, as is my grip.

  I make one last, desperate attempt, but then the hand I’m hanging from cramps and I am forced to let go.

  I’m falling. As I drop from the ceiling, the pull in my stomach increases. Right, the ceiling is losing its grip on me too!

  Oh god, is this how I die? Fall damage from a stupid ten-foot drop?! That would be the lamest death ever!

  Thankfully, years of gymnastics training taught me to reflexively right myself in the air and land on my feet.

  “Oof!”

  It still friggin’ hurts. Man, this floor is hard. But... I didn’t die!

  I could practically weep with relief.

  [Too bad. Take a ten-minute break to restore your Lavi and try again,] Suri chimes.

  “Oh no, I’m fine, Suri, thanks for asking. How are you?”

  [You’re welcome. I am fine as well, thank you.]

  Ignoring my sarcasm, eh? Well... I got nothing.

  I check my Status Bar.

  Hmm, it doesn’t seem like I received any fall
damage. Guess Lavi doesn’t work entirely like hit points after all. On the other hand, maybe the fall just wasn’t severe enough to give me ‘damage.’

  However, let’s make sure. “Suri, is there such a thing as fall damage in this Realm?”

  [Only in the sense that fragile beings such are yourself tend to break when they fall, and then bleed to death.]

  That’s clear enough. No video-game-style fall damage that reduces my Lavi; guess I was worried for nothing.

  I limp over to the entrance, flop down underneath the Crystal of Restoration, and spread out like an exhibitionist on a nude beach.

  It could be my imagination, but my sore arms and feet almost immediately start to feel better.

  I experimentally stretch my fingers. Nope, I am not imagining things: this crystal is amazing. Can I pry it off the wall, maybe? Nah, it looks practically welded in. Pity.

  Oh well. I close my eyes to Meditate.

  “Suri, wake me in ten minutes please.”

  [As you wish.]

  Roughly fifteen minutes later, I drop down from the final two handholds, onto the balcony, and stretch out my numb, tingly fingers.

  I check the Status Bar one last time.

  Five Onkh of Lavi left. I must’ve moved pretty fast. It’s still scary, having this little Lavi in my body—especially with the accompanying coldness, numbness, and black spots in my vision—but I’m starting to get used to it.

  Time to take another ten-minute rest.

  And then, the next challenge.

  CHAPTER 13

  Of the Princess Diaries

  MY HEART SKIPS A BEAT when I step through the doorway on the balcony, because at first sight, the next challenge looks like a twenty-foot jump.