My thoughts were interrupted by Ialos’s return. “Jezai has been informed of what has happened. We are to remain calm for now and to convince Fiekela that there has been no change to your personality.”
I didn’t even get a chance to answer. As if by magic Fiekela appeared, descending through the opening and walking over to us.
“Greetings, Vakuna, Ialos. I hear there has there been a somewhat interesting development?”
“Yes,” Ialos said quickly, preventing me from having to answer. “It seems Vakuna’s Subconscious is different, somehow.”
“I have heard. An anomalous door, no less. How interesting! Shall we take a look, Vakuna?”
I nodded, trying not to speak where possible. It was a tough feat for me.
We appeared in the corridor outside the Subconscious Room. Fiekela gestured for me to lead the way.
“Of course,” I forced out and headed into the room. I continued straight forward into the darkness. For some unknown reason, as I was walking in front of Fiekela, my back started itching like mad.
“So, why do you think this door is here, Vakuna?” he asked as we walked.
I took a deep breath and mulled the words over before I answered slowly. “I do not know.” Fighting against the impulse to say, ‘I haven’t got a scooby doo, mate.’ I applauded myself for succeeding with the cunning deception.
“I admit to being very intrigued,” he replied.
When we made it to the door, Fiekela reached out. I thought he was going to try to bloody open it. My heart jumped into my mouth, I was just about to stop him, but he pulled up short and closed his eyes. “I see, it is more alive than I would expect. It appears to be independent from you, Vakuna.” He stood staring at it for a short while longer. “I am content to have seen it for now. We will develop your Wisdom in another way, at least until we’ve uncovered the truth of this door.”
I didn’t reply. I just nodded nonchalantly.
Once we left the Subconscious Room, I was preparing to leave my Mindscape, when Fiekela stopped me. “I will assess your growth while we are here,” he declared before he phased away.
I took his cue, phasing alongside him to look over my Cerebral Interface.
“Yes, they are still developing at a strong rate. The different machines seem to be successful in supplying suitable alternative stimuli for your physical abilities.”
I scanned over my stats for the first time in a few days. They were still improving dramatically as far as I could tell:
Name: Vakuna
Age: 31 GY
Transcendence Level: 247
Strength: 364/1000
Agility: 208/1000
Speed: 206/1000
Intelligence: 190/1000
Constitution: 480/1000
Wisdom: 19/1000
Mental Resilience: 272/1000
Mental Clarity: 97%
Potential: 99%
“I am concerned that your Mental Clarity has dropped. Has Ialos not ensured you inventory your mind regularly? With the amount of new information that you are absorbing, it is imperative you keep Clarity as high as possible.”
I was about to attempt an answer, but in truth, Ialos had been making me order my inventory every day. I should have remained at 100 percent. I ended up stuttering over what to say.
Thankfully, Fiekela spoke again, saving me from myself. “I will speak to her about this. It will not do.” Then he vanished.
I followed quickly after him to see if I could help the situation at all. No sooner had I left than I found him already berating Ialos for the oversight. There wasn’t much I could do except to defend her, but that would highlight that there were other problems, and neither of us wanted that attention. Judging from her response, I was right.
“I apologize for this oversight, most humbly. I may have become overly focused on increasing his levels.”
“I can understand the excitement at Vakuna’s abilities becoming stronger, but you of all people should know the results will be better if Clarity is at maximum,” he said, his tone softening a little.
“I do understand, Fiekela, and it will not happen again.”
“Very well, Ialos, see that it doesn’t. As for you, Vakuna, I insist you use the rest of the day to practice your physical-mental link for levitation and telekinesis. I have received reports suggesting you may be lacking in this area compared to your other growth. At least, until we can adapt your Wisdom training.”
I was about to say, ‘no problemo’. I stopped myself just in time and nodded solemnly instead.
“You are incredibly quiet today, Vakuna. Normally you are much more vocal?”
I wrestled out a lie as formally as I could, keeping it short. “The door... has… upset me.”
“Ah! Yes, of course. It did have an extraordinarily strong effect. I imagine it would be disturbing for you. We will do what we can for you. Do not be concerned.”
I nodded and waved at him in response, wishing the big patronizing shithead would just fuck off already. Subterfuge did not appear to come naturally to me. I sighed in relief when he did turn and fuck off. I watched him until he disappeared from sight.
“Thankfully, he assumed negligence rather than noticing the true extent of the problem,” Ialos said in my mind. “Jezai should arrive soon. He will help me figure out what to do from here.”
“Do you mean about the Clarity?”
“Certainly. I dare not even look at what is no longer filled away. If you don’t mind, I think it would be best if you didn’t look either. Let us focus on training for the rest of the day until we get word from Jezai. It sounds as though you will be left in peace while they talk it through.”
“That’s fine by me. I prefer fucking about flying around the rings anyway.”
Ialos shook her head, my response clearly causing her stress.
Chapter 11
Vakuna Matata
That evening after training, Ialos escorted me home. She did this on occasion if I had suffered a significant pasting in training. But today I was different. I assumed she preferred to talk to me outside the training facility. Yet, she said very little on our way back, walking with her hands clasped behind her back, deep in thought. I didn’t mind the quiet company; it was still better than being alone.
Arriving back at the house, I walked in to find a stranger waiting in the lounge. Ialos darted past me straight into his arms. They hugged, and he kissed Ialos on the cheek. I felt a surge of some emotion I had not experienced before. A bit like anger, but subtly different. When they broke the hug, his eyes fell on me. “Hello,” he said, acknowledging me, “I will call you Vakuna for now. My name is Jezai, we knew one another briefly, before your memory loss. I want you to understand that I am not your enemy. My hands are tied at this present time, but I have come tonight to help Ialos to modify your speech, so that you may pass any inspection. She tells me you are unable to revert back to a neutral form of speech. Is this the case?” He came closer to me. He seemed friendly, but my danger radar was going wild at everything.
“Look, Jezai. Something really fucked up is going on here, and I’ve no clue what it is. But you people can't just keep messing about with my head, you're all driving me crazy.”
“I will tell you everything soon enough, but for now I must ask you to trust me.”
Ialos interjected, “If you have any trust in me, Vakuna, I ask you to trust Jezai as well.” Her face had a pleading expression.
I eyeballed them both intensively for a few moments, hoping to be able to read their true intentions. I still wasn’t sure, but I finally relented. “It doesn't seem like I’ve much choice, does it?”
“Not if you want the best chance of answers,” Jezai said to me, before addressing Ialos again. “Would you mind giving me a summary of precisely what transpired today?”
“Certainly, Jezai. After discovering a door inside Vakuna’s Subconscious Room, Kirel informed Fiekela, who arrived just after I spoke with you. In the meantime, I’d asked Vakuna
to attempt to speak without his current inflection.” She dropped her head slightly in what looked like shame or embarrassment. “I also accidentally used another name and as a result he suffered a fleeting but extreme psychological breakdown.”
“I suffered a what? I can’t remember that!” I blustered, confused.
“Don’t worry, no real damage was done,” she said to me, then spoke to Jezai again. “When he came around, his mannerisms and speech were altered further.
“When Fiekela came to see the door for himself, he discovered that Vakuna’s Mental Clarity was at 97 percent. For now, he assumes incorrectly that I have not been instructing Vakuna to order his inventory. To avoid further conflict, I accepted the accusation and made my apologies.”
“So, there is a definite breech in the memory barrier caused by whatever occurred in his Subconscious Room. This is an unexpected and interesting development!” Jezai replied.
“Why does everyone keep saying that! All I know is, someone is fucking me about here,” I interrupted. “Whatever’s going on has left me without memories, and I’m growing pretty certain it wasn’t a fucking illness or an accident. You're all telling me you want to help me? Give me my fucking goddamn memories back!”
“We cannot. While I can neither confirm nor deny anything right now,” he answered, “I do give you my word that our intention is to assist you in regaining your memories.”
“I want to trust you, you seem like an okay bloke, and Ialos seems to like and trust you, but I just don’t know if I can.”
“You will or you won't. All I can do is hope that despite your mistrust, you will permit our entry into your Mindscape. It is best for everyone if we can make some minor adjustments that will allow this development to go undiscovered a little longer.”
“Yeah sure,” I said, then paused before adding, “if you tell me why the fuck I’m speaking like this?”
“I believe I have made it clear that I cannot tell you.”
“Vakuna,” Ialos said pleadingly, “you must listen. We want to help you, I promise you.”
Honestly, I was still a bit annoyed at Ialos for kissing and hugging this other dude, but that was petty as they clearly had a close bond. With a growl of frustration, I conceded to their wishes. “Okay, just get on with it,” I said with an irritated wave of my hand. “Somebody better start telling me what the fuck is going on soon, though, because I’m starting to get mightily pissed off about this whole thing.”
“Thank you!” replied Jezai. “Just have a little more patience for me, please.”
“I don’t even know who the fuck you are! I’m only giving you the time of day because of Ialos, plus the fact I don’t trust that stuck up tit Fiekela at all.”
Jezai smirked at me. “I enjoyed your company before all of this, Vakuna, and I’m looking forward to it again when we have a resolution. Now, we need to move fast to repair your language issue so I may leave. I fear I have tarried here too long as it is.”
I sighed. “Get on with it then.”
My eyes caught Ialos’s. She nodded sadly at me. “It will be okay.” Then they both entered my Mindscape. I let out a big huff, before arriving alongside them a second later.
“If you would take a seat, Vakuna,” Ialos said with a gesture to the chair. “Try to focus on your language. The words you are using.” I sat as she’d asked without complaint, while they both stood over the screen that displayed my thoughts.
“Just so you know, I have no bloody clue how I’m supposed to focus on my language.”
“Just try thinking of words that you have recently begun using,” she replied.
I let loose a stream of fucking shits in my thoughts. I could see Ialos was smirking in her beautiful way. Then she flushed slightly. I went red myself as I saw the display switch to a glorified version of her. I squirmed uncomfortably, quickly looking away, trying to get my thoughts back under control. I reverted back to a stream of fucking, shit, bastards, and avoided looking over in their direction again. So I didn’t see what they did just before I blacked out momentarily.
I looked around to find Ialos was in my Mindscape for some reason. “Ialos, what is going on? Why are you in here? In fact, why am I in here?”
“Just look over your Interface, Vakuna. You were feeling unwell after coming across the glowing door with Kirel earlier. I brought you back home to get some rest. Please try to get some sleep,” she said softly, though she appeared to be unusually strained.
“Now that you mention it, I am feeling extremely fatigued,” I answered before leaving my Mindscape and Ialos to whatever she was doing. At this stage I’d become accustomed to her being in my head, correcting and healing things.
In the lounge after returning to my Normal-State, I gave the stationary Ialos a brief appraisal before climbing into my bed. I fell asleep quickly only to be plagued by images of the golden door, calling out to me, yet repelling me at the same time.
I woke the next morning to Ialos shaking me. “Vakuna, wake up!”
“What's going on?” I yawned and stretched out.
“Are you feeling okay? When you didn’t show up at the facility, I came as quickly as I could to check on you. You were mumbling and perspiring notably while you slept. Sorry to wake you so abruptly.”
“For that, I’m extremely grateful,” I answered. “I seemed to be stuck in an endless loop in my dream, staring at that door from yesterday. Too scared to enter, too scared to leave it alone.”
“The council and Kirel will be looking into it, but for now, that’s if you are up to it, we really should begin today's training. We have targets to hit, if you remember? Fiekela wants to push you to an overall score of 500 within the next two weeks. I have no doubt they’ll have devised a plan to increase your Wisdom too.”
“That would be of huge benefit,” I replied, quickly dressing as I spoke.
It wasn’t long before I was hooked back up into the X apparatus again. “This morning I am going to hit you with mental attacks. I want to focus on building that skill as much as we can.”
“Whatever you suggest, although it’s probably the most tedious part of training,” I said, trying to keep the complaint out of my tone.
“Yes, I know, but we must progress in every way, and I believe Mental Resistance will be of greatest benefit to you at the moment.”
“Of course, Ialos. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I was sure that Fiekela had stated that levitation and telekinesis were his priority,” I said, feeling a bit grumpy at the turn of the events. Plus, I wanted to work on my Wisdom. I had a feeling that something wasn’t right and felt sure that low Wisdom was preventing me from connecting together the pieces of the puzzle that was my life.
“We can focus on that afterwards,” she replied. So, with a slight huff, I entered my Mindscape. Ialos spoke into my mind without entering. “I will begin to push now. Do your best.”
I placed my mental barriers, locking all the doors in my mind. I felt her arrive in the corridor and she began pushing against the Cognition Room door. I held it firm, and in response she increased the pressure, but I was up to the challenge. I waited for the usual sudden switch to her attacking a different door. It didn’t come; this time she maintained the pressure on this door, while attacking my Control Room door simultaneously. She almost had me with the change of tactic. Every ounce of me was focused on preventing Ialos from entering either of the doors as she slowly increased pressure on both. When I felt gentle pressure on my Nerve Center door, I could barely muster the strength to respond to it. She steadily began to pile pressure onto that door too. I held on for everything I was worth, but this was like nothing I had faced from her before. There came a point where my mind just gave out and all my defenses dropped at once.
“Well done, Vakuna! That was an impressive display,” she said into my mind.
I was still reeling from the onslaught, but managed to speak. “You do not have to patronize me, Ialos. I failed, once again.”
“My Wisdom and Int
elligence ratings are both at their maximum, Vakuna. 890 out of 1000. My Mental Defense is at 810. You couldn’t possibly hold out against me, yet. I pushed you further than ever before, because that is how you will progress. You learn more from failure than you do from success.”
“That may be, but failure is not great for confidence,” I sulked.
“Believe me, you did extremely well. Bear in mind that you don’t need to achieve my levels in order to keep me out. I’d say another two hundred levels in Mental Resistance and some work on Wisdom, and I’ll no longer be able to enter.”
“How will you train me to increase it past that point then?”
“You must be attacked by multiple people at the same time.”
“Oh, that sounds unpleasant.”
“It really is. But it’s the most effective way to develop the skill.”
“Okay, then let’s keep at it. I’ll be satisfied if I can keep just one powerful person out.”
“Good to hear you say that. Let us go again.”
We spent over two hours building my Mental Resistance. At no point did I feel stronger, but a quick check of my score showed it had increased by a whole ten points after the brutal onslaught Ialos had put me through. So I had to be happy with the development, though it was unusual that she pushed me so hard.
We stopped briefly for some lunch, before Ialos put me on the levitation course. I was far more competent than that first day, speeding around the hoop's in a little under two minutes was my record, though I didn’t make it that quickly every time. I enjoyed this the most of my training. Sometimes Ialos would even join in to explain how best to execute a turn or demonstrate other options to increase speed. Just as I was finding a rhythm, the productive day was darkened by the arrival of Fiekela and Kirel.
“Good day to you both,” Fiekela said cheerily, waving a hand. Kirel loomed alongside him, opting to remain silent.
“We have discussed this mysterious door at great length, and have devised a plan.”
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