Unnatural Laws (The Whispering Crystals, #1)

by H. C. Mills

  I swing on the bar, trying to get just enough speed, then release at the right moment.

  At the apex of my jump, I grasp for the handholds, but I seem to have overestimated the effect of the diminished gravity. My fingertips scrape the bottom of the handhold and I go plunging down.

  Thankfully, my landing gets full marks. I’ve had plenty of practice today.

  I kind of want to try again right away, but I need to wait for my Lavi to recover a little, so I sit down and shake out my fingers to get some blood flowing again.

  For the third time now, I’m at the second bar. The distance between this bar and the handholds on either side is slightly larger, more like seven feet.

  The first two times I came short of the handholds, and the last time I overshot the mark, but this time I’m going to get it right. I can feel it; I’m in the zone.

  I’m swinging, back and forth, back and forth. When I feel the speed is just right, I squeeze all I can out of Boost Physical and pull hard on the bar, right before releasing it. I learned to do that to get the extra height I need. Last time I overdid it and came out too high. That gave me plenty of time to grasp the handholds, but my downward momentum pulled me off.

  This time my trajectory is just right, the handholds heading straight for my hands.

  A pop-up window appears, blocking half my vision. The dominant half, unfortunately. Even though my right eye has been replaced by a crystal, that apparently hasn’t changed. Go figure.

  Somehow, relying on instinct, I still grasp the handholds and manage to hold on tight as I swing from them until I lose my momentum.

  Well, I can’t say I’m not happy, but...

  “Suri, could you not throw those things up in my vision when I’m busy please?” I ask irritably.

  [Sorry, Emma, the notification was set to automatic,] Suri chimes, not sounding all that apologetic. [I’ll keep an eye on it in the future.]

  Is she messing with me? Well no matter. I have a hard time being angry about it, perhaps because I’m whooping and cheering inside since I grew stronger.

  I finish swinging to the platform and shake out my hands again.

  The doorway on the platform leads to another staircase down, which exits into a very high room.

  It’s like the inside of a hundred-foot-tall tower. Looking up, I spot a variety of bars, ropes, handholds, and platforms in the corners. Way up near the top, there’s a balcony. I don’t even have to see it to know there’s going be a stone door up there, with another fugly humanoid carved into it, looking all kinds of miserable. This place has ‘final challenge’ written all over it.

  I look at the start of the course: a quarter-pipe-shaped wall, going fifteen feet up. Looks like I’m supposed to run up it, and then launch myself back onto the first bar-swing.

  This is not going to be easy.

  I stand corrected. It actually was pretty easy.

  There were a few close calls, like the time I misjudged the distance and ended up grasping onto a bar with the fingertips of my left hand, but all in all it was far more doable than I expected.

  I suppose using Boost Physical to raise my Strength to 10—the supposed average Strength of an adult human male—is rather an advantage. That’s a lot of power for my small frame so that definitely helped, but another big factor was that as I climbed higher, gravity became noticeably less. My jumps gained ridiculous airtime, and my landings became increasingly gentle.

  All the way up here, it feels like gravity is decreased by at least a third!

  As I swing myself up onto the balcony from a final bar swing, the stone door—complete with grotesque carving—rumbles open.

  Trial exit? Check. Carving of a fugly humanoid? Check. Totally called it? Check, check, double-check.

  I sit on the ledge and look down. I can hardly believe I actually made it through this Trial. Looking back though, it wasn’t even all that bad.

  Except for the part where I broke my leg. That part sucked.

  Apart from that, it was actually kind of fun. Or maybe not fun but thrilling. It made me feel alive. I guess I hadn’t realised how much I missed gymnastics.

  I look at the open doorway over my shoulder and ask, “Time?”

  [14 hours, 21 minutes, and 56 seconds left.]

  That’s still quite a lot. Most of the time I did use I actually spent unconscious underneath the Crystal of Restoration.

  “Open Status Window.”

  It seems the detoxification of my body has slowed down further. My Toxic Energy Tolerance isn’t rising much either, probably because the concentration in my body has gotten so low. I guess I’ll have to thoroughly intoxicate myself again if I want to see any significant gains. Well, that’s for later concern.

  If I have some extra time, I might as well train.

  My breathing, that is.

  I mean, this Trial was thrilling, but I’m not suicidal enough to have another go at it for fun.

  No, I want to live, and the Lavi I take in with Respiration is my most important lifeline. And with the low Toxic Energy concentration in the Aether here, I shouldn’t build up any extra Toxic Energy in my body. Heck, I might get rid of some extra in my exhales.

  What was it Suri said about the third level of Respiration? Right, I have to direct my exhales farther away... Maybe I can practice in a lucid trance. Not sure how that would affect the results of my training, but it would allow me to further reduce my Lavi consumption, so I can force more Lavi into my body and hopefully increase my Lavi Pool.

  I move away from the ledge, sit down in a lotus position, and snack on some jicca nuts.

  I stop mid-chew, frowning in confusion. Do jicca nuts grow softer with age? Because normally they kinda hurt my teeth, but these don’t.

  Or did my teeth grow harder when I raised my Toughness?

  Does that mean I may one day be able to actually sleep comfortably again if I get beaten up enough?

  I shake my head, deciding to shelve this question for later.

  “I’m going to train. Wake me ten minutes before the end of the Trial?”

  [Sure thing.]

  I close my eyes and start periodically pinching my skin.

  Just to help me get into a lucid trance; this is only the second time I’m actually trying to achieve one. I’m not a masochist.

  Thanks to my expert ministrations—and the second level of Meditation—I soon sink away and lose myself in the rhythm of my breathing.

  In. Out. Slower. Deeper.

  Whatever comes next, I’m going to face it as well prepared as I can.

  CHAPTER 18

  Loving angels instead

  IT APPEARS MY LUCID trance still needs some work, because roughly halfway through the fourteen hours I have left, I fall asleep. Well, I guess it would’ve been stranger if I hadn’t.

  I can tell the lucid trance does less for restoring my mental faculties than regular Meditation, but the upside is also obvious; though I haven’t reached level 3 with Respiration yet, it has clearly improved.

  My breath has slowed further, and my exhales have gotten a lot more forceful. If I ever get to blow out the candles on a birthday cake here, I’ll have to be careful not to launch that sucker across the room. Most tellingly, however, I can now absorb 10.5 Onkh of Lavi per minute.

  As Suri counts down the seconds until the Trial ends, I stretch lazily, grab my backpack, and walk through the door. The slam of the stone slab hitting the floor behind me doesn’t even faze me anymore.

  Only points for increases in physical stats, huh. I guess they only reward things that are specific to the Trial. Bunch of cheapskates. I suffered for that increase in Willpower!

  [Congratulations. Would you like to start your five minutes?]

  Well, somebody’s all business today. That’s fine; I have plenty of questions.

  “Yes, let’s start,” I say as I carefully lie down on the bed. It seems a bit softer than I expected, less like concrete and more like wood.

  “First question... I’ve been
trying to wrap my mind around this ‘All are One’ business. If I understand it correctly, then in this Realm, things are a whole, not a collection of parts. As in, my body has a ‘Toughness’ that applies to the whole thing, correct?”

  [Correct.]

  “Then how come when I slipped from the rope, I broke a ‘part’ of my body, namely the bone? Shouldn’t, like, my entire foot have snapped off or something? Not that I’m complaining, but...”

  [Ah, I understand your confusion. It’s a little more complicated than you imagine. You are One, but that doesn’t mean you are a blob of homogenous matter. Your muscles still supply movement, your skin still protects you from invasive species, and your bones still form the structural support.]

  I frown. “So, is it more like I’m a single thing, like one big Jell-O pudding, but with different flavours in different areas?”

  [That may be the worst analogy I’ve ever heard. It’s wrong on so many levels that I don’t know where to start critiquing it.]

  I snort. “In that case, don’t bother. Instead, could you explain what you mean in a little more detail?”

  [Of course. When your Toughness increases, it signifies that all of your tissue has grown more resilient, because all of your tissue shares a value of Toughness. However, when your Strength increases, the difference is only noticeable in your muscles, as it is the only type of tissue that applies Strength. Your bones may not have a higher Toughness than your skin, but they are less flexible. They will bend less under pressure, but as a consequence may break when the stress becomes too great.]

  “So it’s more like I’m a kind of robot, and if my Toughness increases, that’s like all of the materials I’m made of are replaced by slightly more durable ones, and if my Strength increases, it’s only my motors that get upgraded?”

  [Weak but passable, as analogies go.]

  Did Suri just grade me a C?

  “Let’s talk Skills. What does the next level of Meditation entail?”

  [The third level of Meditation is not so easily achieved. Not to say that the second level was easy, but this should require substantially more time and effort. It involves the ability to separately numb each of your major senses.]

  Interesting. Though I don’t immediately see an application, Meditation has saved my life twice over already, so I’m definitely not going to stop practising it.

  “What about Boost Physical?”

  [The second level of Boost Physical is achieved when you learn its second mode of operation. However, trying to explain the second mode without showing how in a Dreamscape would be like trying to teach someone how to dance in a dark room.]

  Damn. Suri’s analogy game is definitely more on point than mine.

  [To be honest, it is quite impressive how far you’ve come with Respiration and Meditation in this limited timeframe, especially without any proper guidance.]

  Well, not to brag or anything, but I’ve been breathing since birth. And I took this class in meditation once...

  Focus, Emma, focus.

  “You mentioned last time that all Skills in the system are to do with energy manipulation. Does that mean there are no Skills for things like karate or swimming?”

  [There are not. Those kinds of abilities rely heavily on muscle memory and the specific shape and weight of the individual and the weapon, so they are impossible to generalise. I can still give you tips to improve if you practise that sort of thing in the future.]

  I sigh. “There’s going to be combat in future Trials, isn’t there?”

  [That’s classified.]

  That means yes.

  I’ve been mulling it over for a while now, but this place is just way too deadly. Especially the Second Trial. Even though the Toxic Energy in my body made it way harder for me than it needed to be, I still bet a lot of people would have a hard time making it through this. It also unfairly favours men, as they are on average stronger and more athletic.

  I’m clearly not going to get a straight answer out of Suri, but maybe I can probe for information indirectly, find the holes in her story.

  I clear my throat. “Say, Suri, are there any theories on why the void-shifts always happen in places with lots of people around?”

  [I’m not aware of any, no.]

  Well, that was less useful than expected.

  It obviously can’t just be a coincidence though. The more I think about it, the more likely it seems that—unlike what I’m being told—people are actively being transported here for some unknown purpose, probably by whoever built this death-trap. The question is: is Suri aware of the truth and lying to me, or does she not know any better?

  “Are there ever any void-shifts that bring in life from other parts of the Entropic Realm?”

  [You mean extra-terrestrial species?]

  “Yes, that.”

  [No. It is believed that the void-shifts are mostly ‘vertical,’ if you will, meaning shifts through dimensional space, and not ‘horizontal,’ or shifts through space relative to position within a Realm.]

  I’m not sure how much stock I should put in what Suri tells me, but I cling onto the hope that at least this much is true, as it sounds like my worries about relativity screwing me over may be unfounded. This isn’t really getting me anywhere in the present, however. Time for a question that’s been weighing heavily on my mind. No pun intended.

  “Suri, have any overweight humans ever made it through the Second Trial?”

  My question seems to have surprised her, because it takes a while for Suri to respond.

  [Questions about other participants are generally not answered, as they have a right to privacy as well.]

  “What about rhetorical questions about other participants?” I joke.

  [Those are definitely not answered,] she retorts without missing a beat.

  “Right. I guess my real question is, doesn’t any of this strike you as unfair?”

  [As I’ve explained before, this place is both meant to train, and to weed out the ones who aren’t worth investing limited resources in. Essentially, it follows the principles of survival of the fittest, to prepare only those who stand a chance at survival in the outside world. So, regarding your question, the ‘unfairness’ is inherent to this Realm, and not a product of this facility itself.]

  Limited, she says, but they had enough resources to build a facility so ridiculously huge that people could be separated and ‘trained’ individually?

  The thought of all the people who despaired at the very sight of the Second Trial hurts my heart, and the thought of some group of assholes deciding to kidnap entire masses of people just to put them through the wringer is starting to seriously piss me off. How the hell do they justify this?

  I take a deep breath and attempt to stay calm.

  Anyway, it seems continuing this line of questioning is pointless.

  Not like I can do anything but go along with what’s happening here.

  However, when I get out of here, I’m going to find whoever’s responsible for this shitshow, and give them a piece of my mind.

  For now, I say a little prayer for Fat Misty and the other obese con-goers and personnel. I’m not exactly religious, but hey, considering my circumstances, who knows what else is possible.

  I pray they never make it to the Second Trial.

  Because I shudder to imagine having to face such an impossible challenge, where I could probably not even manage to pass the first obstacle, followed by a twenty-four-hour-long wait for death.

  I sigh. “Great, now I’m depressed. Suri, be honest, am I likely to ever see another human again?”

  [Yes.]

  I blink, having not expected such a blunt, let alone positive answer. “Really? Does that mean I’m, like, almost done?”

  [Oh goodness, no. However, there’s a reason Hub One is called Hub One.]

  I shoot up into a sitting position. “Does that mean I’m coming up on Hub Two?”

  [Correct.]

  “How soon can I get there?!”


  [Quite soon. If you live. About one minute left. Perhaps you should focus on more pressing matters.]

  My cheeks hurt from how wide I’m smiling, but I would be hard-pressed to care less. “Awesome. All right, what can you tell me about the next Trial?”

  [It’s hot and dry, with low atmospheric Lavi.]

  Suri put some extra stress on those final words. I guess she’s not allowed to advise me explicitly, but this is enough. I need to find ways to improve my Lavi flows.

  “I see. Then perhaps I should buy some consumables from that new Shopping Window? Preferably drinkable?”

  [Why that sounds like a swell idea.]

  “What else are you allowed to tell me?”

  [Not much. The Trial concerns a type of navigation, but you can’t really prepare for it at the moment. You’ll have to learn as you go.]

  “Mmm. What would you advise me to do in the time I have in this preparation room?”

  [I’d say you had the right idea just now. Practise your uniquely wide array of early Skills.]

  Wait, ‘uniquely’? Sounds like I’m more of an outlier than I thought. Suri’s actually indirectly giving me information about other participants with this, isn’t she? Pretty sneaky.

  I consider pointing that out but decide not to. It would probably just end up backfiring. In fact, if Suri’s not above indirectly answering me, I might be able to abuse this a little.

  “And I suppose I might train Respiration in particular, with there being low atmospheric Lavi and all?”

  [I certainly can’t find any flaws in that logic.]

  Perfect.

  Immediately afterwards I frown. This Toxic Energy poisoning is just biting me in the ass again and again. I better not skimp on those consumables if I’m to survive this. At least navigating doesn’t sound that hard. I may be able to walk in a lucid trance and further decrease my Lavi consumption.