Nearly two hours pass and we’re still jumping from tree to tree. After I successfully jump to the second, Naomi assumes I have the hang of it and she jumps faster and faster. Strangely the more I do it, the easier it becomes and the more the world around me slows down all except for Naomi who always seems to have a good amount of distance ahead of me. I can almost feel the Seed telling me what to do next but it’s a silent voice.

Without warning, Naomi stops in front of me. Even with acceleration I was barely able to dodge her. As soon as I come to a stop, the acceleration ends and the world returns to its normal speed.

“We’ve made great time,” she says as she looks down at her watch. “You’re progressing faster than I expected. Towards the end, we were going nearly eighty miles per hour.”

“Then why did we stop?” I ask as I find a comfortable branch to sit on. “I think I could have gone a lot faster.”

“Yes,” she says, panting from exhaustion. “You could have. Unfortunately, I have my limits. Unlike you, I have a Copy Seed inside me, I could either go slow like this for an hour or two or really fast for thirty minutes before it overheats. One of the flaws that a Copy Seed has, that Pure does not share.”

I notice there is steam rising from her which means that she is overheating. I have barely broken a sweat or lost my breath. There is a vast difference between the Pure and a Copy.

“No reason for us to waste our time. Let’s go to the ground and walk until the Seed cools down,” Naomi says as she jumps to the forest floor.

I follow her but grab hold of a tree base before I hit the dirt to slow my fall. Naomi doesn’t say anything while we walk through the dim forest floor. It’s much different than I expected. The hot thick air and humidity is unbearable. It feels containing. Only small patches of light make it through the dense canopy above leaving us in the dark shadow. The only consolation is that few plants grow down here so at least it is easy to get through.

The jungle is full of life. Birds fly in flocks with ease. Tropical birds are as wondrous as they are colorful. I imagine that Univer’s Paradise is full of birds like these because their colors mimic the wings of angels and the magnificence of Univer’s Kingdom. I have not seen any other animals here, though the Volcano must be too high for land animals to climb the bowl-like edge. Bugs on the other hand apparently have no problem getting up here. The annoying buzzing of their wings follows us everywhere but at least they aren’t mosquitoes.

I am so entranced by the jungle’s creatures that Naomi gets a good distance ahead of me. I notice she slows down. Something must be wrong. I catch up to her. As soon as I get to her side, I see the reason why she came to an abrupt stop. We’ve reached the edge of the forest and before us lies the mountainous crater wall that is a straight climb up.

“The Seed has cooled. Let’s get going,” says Naomi. “You go first just in case you fall. I’ll catch you.”

I nod and jump as high as I can, about one hundred feet in the air before grabbing hold of the steep mountain. Naomi is directly under me.

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∞

It takes us about thirty minutes to reach the peak. At the top, it is surprisingly cold but indiscernibly beautiful. The sky is so close it I can probably touch it if I reach for it. The air is thin and bone-chillingly cold. I shove my hands into my pockets. A large city lies in the valley in between Mount Pe’hēb and a neighboring mountain. From here the entire city can be seen—the farms and suburbs on the outskirts to the urban inner city.

“That’s a good warm up,” Naomi says as she stretches her legs. “Now let’s see how fast you can go!”

“Okay,” I say in excitement.

She runs over to me and grabs me by the arm as she jumps off the mountain peak. Below us is a straight drop to a thick forest. As we soar downward, she pulls me closer to her probably to make sure I don’t fly off somewhere and die from the fall. The warmth of her breath is calming and the feel of her body even in the uniform is inviting. What am I thinking? She is Gandole and more like a sister.

“Hold on tight,” she says as we start to reach the trees below.

I reach in closer and wrap my arms around her and brace for impact. We meet the tree canopy. The branches do very little to slow us down. Just before we hit the ground, she tosses up the old staff. Then grabs hold of one of the tree trunks with one hand and hurls me back up to the canopy with the other.

Acceleration must have kicked in because I fly through the air in slow-motion. As soon as I grab a branch, time speeds back up instantly. I look down thinking I would see Naomi staring up at me but no one is there. I pull myself up and sit on the branch. I notice she is standing next to me. She holds her hand out over her head and the staff falls in her hand.

“This should be far enough,” Naomi says.

“Far enough for what?” I ask.

Naomi swipes her hand over the marking along the length of the staff. The staff compresses to the size of a pencil. She puts it in her pocket and turns to me.

“What are you doing? Let’s go,” she says as she lifts me up on my feet by my collar.

“I was waiting on you, slow poke,” I say as I take the first jump to the next tree hoping to get a good head start. I see her pass me making mocking faces. I try to go faster. She is one step ahead of me, like she knows how much I accelerate and does just enough to outdo me. I see symbols in my head and feel the Seed expanding inside me becoming more and more a part of me.

“Iva’ni makuhua gankai toi Loiki Anie,” the voice in my head says. “You will gain the power of the God King.”

My body feels lighter and lighter. The world around me began to slow even more and I can move faster than ever before. I catch up to Naomi. I am about to pass her. She turns to look at me and smiles as she vanishes into thin air. She wasn’t even trying until now; she can accelerate even more. Although it’s just a Copy Seed, she is much faster than I am.

I can see the last trees before we reach the farmland that lie in the outer regions of the city. I come to a stop. I see Naomi lying lazily on one of the branches staring purposelessly up at the sky.

“It’s about time,” she says as she looks at me.

“What was that,” I ask. “You disappeared.”

“I did not vanish. I moved faster than you could see. I wanted to know how fast you can go. It looks like the Vortex has an advanced acceleration but not supersonic acceleration.”

“Supersonic acceleration?”

“Supersonic acceleration is the fastest version of acceleration. The Black Seed Adrenaline is the fastest known so far. I have a Copy of it that allows me to travel speeds up to Mach six for ten seconds. However this is slow compared to the actual Adrenaline, for which top speed is near the speed of light.”

“That is incredible, but I thought the Vortex was the most powerful of the Black Technology Seeds.”

“Most powerful no doubt, but speed and strength are two different things,” she says as she jumps from the tree.

I jump as well. This is my life now. I guess I should enjoy it while I can before Inferno takes my soul to its darkest depths.