M19

Morgan couldn’t help feeling like he’d been cheated. Takamennion hadn’t answered hardly any questions, and now he was saying he was out of time. Still, he spoke up, “I’ll take the Energy challenge. What is it?”

Takamennion studied him and then looked at Issa, and then he said, “Probably a wise decision; I can see your affinity is very high.” The statue made a smooth, barely audible grinding sound as it turned, lifted an arm, and waved at the marble wall to Morgan’s left. A section of the marble wall slid down into the ground. Now, an identical corridor led a short distance to a set of marble steps that led downward. “The Challenge is that way, and only you may proceed, Morgan. Your companion will have to face the agility Challenge while you progress. Time is short; please get moving!” As he spoke, the statue turned and opened another doorway in the opposite wall.

“Wait! Is it dangerous?” Morgan asked, resting a hand on Issa’s shoulder.

“Of course! Though, probably not fatally so. Usually, failure for these two Challenges results in expunction from the Crucible sans reward. Now, please make haste. Provided you succeed, you’ll be reunited for your final Challenge.”

“I’ll be fine, Morgan. Besides, I think I’m better suited for a test of agility than you are,” Issa said, giving Morgan a quick hug and then pushing him gently toward his doorway. Morgan nodded, stepped through his exit, and then turned to ask Takamennion for clarification on their challenges, but a solid wall of marble was already in place, blocking his view.

“That was sudden.” Morgan was fuming inside. He was certain that the little statue-man had been willing to talk to them more. The way he had abruptly cut Morgan off made him wonder if the System had interfered as if it didn’t want Morgan getting more answers to his questions. Then there was the whole thing of splitting him and Issa up. He didn’t like it. What if one of them failed and was ejected. Would they ever see each other again? He didn’t like the idea that he might have just said his final goodbye to her.

Frustrated and angry, he turned and looked to the steps that led down from the short hallway. Like everything else on this level, they were made from smooth white-grey marble. The room below was much darker than the hallway. Where he stood, the light was reminiscent of a fluorescent bulb back on Earth, the source being a softly glowing white orb near the ceiling. Looking down the steps, Morgan saw a definite blue tinge to the light, and it was dimmer, though still plenty bright enough to see. He shrugged and started descending the steps.

The air was cool, almost chilly, and the blue light that illuminated the steps had a calming effect on his mind, and by the time he reached the bottom, Morgan was feeling more relaxed. He was in a large, open space; he could tell by the echoes of his steps, but the light only illuminated the immediate area at the base of the steps. He realized why when he saw the source of the light. A pool of softly glowing blue water was about ten paces from the foot of the steps. The pool was about ten feet wide and on the far side was another marble wall. This wall had a pattern, though. It looked like someone had carved a complicated swirl that branched into five other, increasingly complex designs.

Morgan assumed that his challenge had something to do with the pool and the marble wall with the patterns, but he didn’t immediately understand what to do. He paced around the room and found that the shadows around the pool were quite deep but didn’t contain any clues. In each direction from the pool, he could take twenty steps, and then he’d meet another smooth marble wall. The only exit was back up the steps. Having exhausted other possibilities, he approached the pool and saw that three smooth steps led down into the water. Was he meant to go into the water?

Morgan looked more closely at the pool, trying to discern where the light source was. He couldn’t see any glowing orbs or anything, and after he leaned close to the water, he could see that the light seemed to come from the water itself. Maybe water was the wrong word to use. He knelt at the edge of the pool and held a hand about an inch above the liquid. He could feel the Energy in it, thrumming with potential. He didn’t feel any heat or cold coming from the liquid, so he decided to take a chance, and he dipped the tip of his little finger into it. The liquid had the consistency of water, but the Energy teaming within it was immediately apparent in how it tingled and how his mind craved it. He could feel his Core start to spin faster like it wanted to absorb the Energy, and he almost gave in, just managing to break his connection and sprawl back away from the pool at the last second.

He wasn’t sure why he didn’t absorb the Energy in the water. Surely it would be good to cultivate that Energy and use it to enhance his Core. He thought about the Vortex Core Cultivation Drill he’d learned from the scroll the System had provided. He knew that if he performed the meditations involved in that technique while in contact with the water, he’d surely make some significant gains. Still, he felt that this might be part of the challenge. Takamennion had called this challenge an ‘Energy manipulation challenge.’ The water was steeped in Energy; was he supposed to manipulate it somehow? If he tried to absorb the Energy and cultivate his Core, would that be sufficient to pass the challenge? He felt like there was more to it.

Once again, Morgan studied the wall with the complicated patterns, and this time he noticed something else. The central, spiraling pattern had a stem that extended from the marble wall and down along the pool’s edge and then over the edge and into the pool itself. Morgan walked around the perimeter of the pool and looked more closely at the patterned wall. The patterns were fairly deep grooves; he could easily fit the tip of a finger into them. An idea started to take place in his mind. He could imagine the water flowing up the groove that extended into the pool, filling the big spiral pattern, and then taking the little branching lines from the spiral into the five other, smaller but more complicated patterns. How would he get the water to flow into the grooves, though? Energy manipulation. The test was called Energy manipulation, and the water was saturated with Energy. He had to push the Energy somehow.

Once again, Morgan prepared to submerge a finger into the water. This time he braced himself to resist the desire to pull the water in, and instead, he prepared to send a trickle of his own Energy into the pool. Just as he would to bond with an item, he started a trickle of Energy into his finger, and then he touched the water, pushing the Energy out. It felt like his mind expanded suddenly; he was aware of much more than himself like he was suddenly a part of the pool. He could feel the Energy all around himself, and he understood how he could manipulate it, move it, the way he wanted to, by exerting pressure with his own Energy. He tried to move the Energy infused water toward the little channel that led to the patterned wall, and at first, nothing happened, then a tiny bit of Energy infused water started to climb up the channel and out of the pool. Morgan pushed with all his might, but he couldn’t get it to move more than a few inches. He needed more of his Energy in the pool. He tried to push more out of his body and into the water, but he felt a terrible burning sensation anytime he tried to channel more than a thin trickle. Finally, exhausted, he collapsed backward, staring at the pale, blue-tinted ceiling.

He needed to channel more Energy, but when he did, it felt like he was burning a pathway through his body, and it didn’t feel like it was something he should be doing; it felt like he was damaging himself. Something about the word “pathway” clicked a memory in his mind, and he thought about the cultivation drill that he’d learned from the scroll just hours (a day?) ago. The whole point of the cultivation drill was to improve his Core by teaching his body to channel Energy more efficiently, allowing him to gather more Energy and push it into his Core to increase its density and power gradually. Morgan sighed at how stupid he’d been. The answer was, literally, right there in his mind the whole time.

He backed a bit farther away from the pool and took up the lotus position that Issa had shown him. He concentrated on his “knowledge” of the cultivation drill that the System had taught him and the various steps came into his mind. First, he cleared his mind by turning his eye inward toward his Core. He imagined he could see his Core, spinning, almost like a nebula in space, or a whirlpool in the ocean. As he imagined it, it became more and more vivid until he was sure he actually saw his own Core, and it brought back the memory of when he’d formed it. There, in the center of his being, a maelstrom of golden energy was spinning, and from its outer edges, Morgan could discern tiny, thin pathways that lead out to the rest of his body.

Having cleared his mind and established his Core firmly in his consciousness, he moved to the next step. The Vortex Core Cultivation Drill was tailored to help him build pathways that worked with his Core. Morgan began to follow it, moving painstakingly small amounts of Energy out of his Core and into the specific patterns of the drill, over and over. At first, he was only able to complete the patterns closest to his Core, but as he gradually learned the feel for them and increased the Energy he put into them, they became wider and allowed him to continue the pattern further from his Core, moving ever so slowly outward into his body. By the time he collapsed, utterly exhausted, he’d managed to complete the patterns branching out from his Core into, if he had to guess, about 5% of his body; this was going to take a while.

Morgan chewed on some rough bread and drank some of the watery wine he and Issa had looted from the Urghaks. It seemed like years ago, but Morgan knew it was less than a week since they had taken those barrels of questionable alcohol. He’d never have tasted it, if not for the fact that, a couple of days ago, they’d run out of the plain water in the canteens. Thinking of Issa, Morgan began to worry. He’d be at this for days at this rate, and how was she doing? He decided to try out his Guardian’s Senses ability. Laying there on the cool marble floor, he thought of Issa and concentrated on activating the ability. Suddenly he was aware of Issa’s presence. She was behind him and to the right, a couple of hundred feet away. Morgan knew he couldn’t get to her, but feeling her and knowing she wasn’t that far away, brought him immeasurable comfort. He closed his eyes and rested.