Named Chapter #6

1

“Holy shit! You’re alive!” Jules said in astonishment as John walked into the base.

He was sitting on a bench watching the traffic in and out of the base. He jumped up and ran over to John without hesitation. He surprised John by embracing him tightly.

“I’m so sorry for leaving you. I thought you were dead. But there was nothing I could do. I’m so sorry-” Jules stopped talking as John removed himself and held up a hand.

“You did well. Nothing good could have come from your presence. I had everything under control.”

“But how did you escape? I saw how close the bear was to you. I thought you were dead for sure.”

“It was easy,” John shrugged, refusing to provide more.

“You’re one seriously scary guy,” Jules said after seeing the totally unperturbed façade John wore.

“Perhaps,” John shrugged again.

He quickly bid Jules farewell as he walked toward the trial for Lunar Radiance. All his gains over the last day gave him confidence. He entered the transition pad and appeared in the trial with no delay.

Instead of attempting the course, John laid down, exhausted from the day’s events. It was after dark already, so sleep came easy. In minutes, he was out.

When John woke, he felt the invigorating power of moonlight suffusing his body. He stood and began stretching for his first attempt. When he felt loose, he began.

As John eased his way through the first obstacles, he realized things seemed a lot easier than they had the last time he was there. He passed across the wall running obstacles with near ease. Whether the reason was the many enhanced genes he had received or the addition of the wizened genes to his tally was unclear.

John suspected the wizened genes accounted for much more growth than the lower tiers would. Even a few would make a massive difference. That made the gene in his bag all the more valuable.

John progressed through the course much more easily than he ever had. Before he knew it, he was standing at the last obstacle. The final platform stood challengingly in the distance.

John felt the Lunar Radiance swirling inside him. For the first time, John understood that true mastery of the skill meant spreading the feeling equally through him. To concentrate on one area was to neglect another.

So, without directing the ability at all, John began the obstacle. Instead of pushing the feeling to his arms or legs he concentrated on letting it go where it would. The feeling began to circulate through him like a second bloodstream.

He grabbed bars and ran on walls more fluently than he ever had before. He landed on the fake floor and dove expertly under the wall. His fingers locked on the bar and he swung past.

John ran along the wall and leapt to the slanted wall. He felt the cold vigor of Lunar Radiance swell in his feet without his input and he launched from the wall. John’s hands felt the swell next as he pressed against the wall above him.

With unreal force John dropped down onto the pressure plate. It pressed easily and the wall in his way fell. John ran for the left wall run and was over it in a second.

He pounced on the springboard and leapt up to the last bar. Without hesitation John swung from the bar and landed in a crouch on the library rail. A slick patch threatened his feet immediately.

There was a split second where John felt his balance fail, but before he could attempt to correct himself, his body tilted the opposite direction like a counterweight. With some effort, he was able to right himself without falling.

As he slid down the rail in a crouch, John leaned to each side, maintaining a clumsy surfer pose. His balance had never been so perfect. He praised the addition of the wizened points.

John held strong with each curve all the way to the end of the rail. John knew by this point which parts of the rail were greased by the coloration. As such he knew he needed to jump a few feet before the end of the rail.

As his feet pushed from the bar, John swelled with pride. He knew without even checking that he would succeed. His body launched through the air and his hands closed solidly around the bar on the final platform.

John dangled for a moment as he resisted the urge to bellow his success to the empty trial. Instead, he caught his breath and slowly pulled himself up. Then he confidently stepped on the pressure plate that would signify his success.

“You have achieved understanding of Lunar Radiance. Application:12%

Return to this spot to reach maximum Lunar Radiance in one hour.”

2

The pressure plate opened to reveal a transition pad. John knew without looking that it would take him to the start of the course. He still had to conquer the sun section to pass the test.

John sat down under the moon and allowed his cells to receive its power. There was a direction to the energy. When he let it go where it would, it seemed to circulate from his stomach all the way up to his throat. He could almost taste the coldness on the back of his tongue.

The feeling pulsated to his limbs with each turn passed his heart. John had never felt so invigorated. He sat there breathing for several minutes.

Feeling ready to get some sleep but still wishing to try the course, John returned to the start. With great purpose, he turned to face the sun. John took a step into the area and immediately felt the increase in weight take hold.

Like pushing against two magnets with the same pole, John could feel the resistance wearing on his body. He knew that this course was a test not only of skill, but also of how efficiently he used his energy. He couldn’t waste any time because every second would consume some of the Lunar Radiance he had to spare.

John took a deep breath and shook his hands out. He ran through everything he had learned. Every simple trick, every enhancement needed to pass each obstacle.

When he was sure he couldn’t be more prepared, John stepped from the platform. The drain was immediately evident, as was the heat imposed on John’s refreshed cells. He moved with sure steps to the first obstacle.

His knees shook from the gravity he was under. The weight was greater than the ability Lunar Radiance had to neutralize it without directed circulation. John felt the cool sensation pouring from him at an alarming rate.

It was much more difficult to properly circulate the energy without a steady stream of it flowing in through his breathing. He had to take precious time to change the method of delivery he used to control Lunar Radiance.

It was a difficult task, and John supposed it was this difference among others that would teach him greater than 12% control over the skill. After all, while in the moon section, his body felt like it couldn’t possibly have taken more energy. But if he was going to master Lunar Radiance, he would need to be able to tap into the energy even in sunlight.

John sighed at the lost potential as he finally found a suitable alternative. The act of circulation turned out to be mainly a function of his imagination. The energy only followed his lungs because he had imagined the energy flowing into him through the air.

In truth though, Lunar Radiance soaked in through every available avenue. When John made that connection, his mind solved his issue for him like a key fitting in a lock. He visualized the energy that came through his skin, imagining it returning to where it came in.

The result was actually a much more efficient method of directing the skill. Instead of having the energy travel where he needed it as the need arose, a smaller but steadier amount of energy was diffused all across his cells. Circulation issues solved; John stepped up to the edge with determination.

Feeling the invigoration coursing through every cell in his body was encouragement for John to take the jump. His feet kicked off the ledge with enough inertia to propel him to his goal. The force of gravity was inexorable, but with his channeling, his hands made it comfortably to the bar.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He braced himself against the pull his body had on his arms as the weight settled below him. He found it extremely hard to pull one of his legs up to the bar. With more time than he could afford, John slowly struggled up to the floating island.

Panting slightly and sweating more so, John pushed himself to his feet. The second platform hung waiting for him to reach it. He rolled his shoulders before jogging to the edge and leaping.

His execution was flawless. He was adapting to the increase in weight really well. His hands met the bar with no problem. Indeed, the problem was what happened after they had.

“Fuck!” John screamed in surprised pain as the scorching hot bar of the platform he gripped threatened to immediately blister his hands.

He let go out of equal parts reflex and intelligence. The pain was immediately excruciating. John fell screaming into the net below.

He could almost hear his skin bubbling in second degree burns. His agony lasted for far longer than it took for the net to reset his position. During that time, John began to realize just how much he had underestimated the sheer versatility of the challenges against him.

Not only was the trial a race against the clock and the heat. Not only did his increased weight add exponential difficulty. The obstacles themselves were affected by the unnatural environment.

The sideways progression of the second platform had been unworthy of thought in the lunar section. Almost definitely by design, he was able to pass it without any issue. That was the trap.

The second platform faced the first at a ninety degree angle to the sun. That meant the unnatural ball of fire had conducted massive heat into the grip bar. Without even thinking about it, John had squeezed the bar with both hands, knowing he needed more than just one arm to counter the effects of gravity.

To put it simply, the course was devious. As he tumbled onto the starting platform, John used his wrists and forearms to help himself to his feet. A survey of his hands told him he wouldn’t be gripping any other bars any time soon.

With frustrated resignation, John moved back to the transport pad. The heat radiating from his skin was palpable. He swore at the pain.

John confirmed his return and sighed as the teleportation began to vibrate his body. He had completely forgotten caution in his excitement to pass the test. As a result, it would be days before he could attempt the course again.

“Well at least I didn’t hit my face on this one,” he said to the descending darkness.

3

John didn’t immediately transport back to Earth upon entering his room. He gingerly opened his pack with sore fingers and retrieved the salve he got from his mother. Unfortunately there was just no way to open the container without gripping it tightly in both hands.

The pained exclamation that escaped him was spine chilling, but with tears in his eyes and a ragged throat he got the cap off. Without knowing how to properly proceed, John just took three fingers and dipped them generously into the thick paste. His application resembled watching a toddler play in a bottle of lotion unsupervised.

After several seconds excessive lathering, John finally felt he had saturated his damaged tissue. He didn’t know what the stuff was made with, but the pain in his aching hands slightly eased almost immediately. John leaned back on the small and unadorned bed, holding his hands up in the air on his elbows.

He sighed at the damage to his body. After all the danger and likely opportunity to injure himself that he and Jules had been through. He was out of commission not because he got mauled by a bear, but because he got mauled by a bar.

Rolling his eyes, he let yet another sigh escape at his own foolishness. Then he got up and began the transition back to Earth. Though his time in The Garden had been lucrative, he knew it wouldn’t make up for the loss of time while healing.

As expected, his mother was already worried sick over the time he had been gone. The condition of his hands did nothing to comfort her. The heat they gave off was palpable.

He could feel the alien ointment hard at work soothing him, but he also knew he would have to do more than rub some salve on burns that bad. Luckily, his mom was, well, a mother. She immediately started filling the kitchen sink with some cool water.

“Come here,” she said gently.

He watched in apprehension as she poured a generous amount of vinegar into the sink as it filled. The scent quickly permeated the whole room. John looked at her with reluctance.

“This is gonna hurt, huh?”

“Vinegar will help neutralize the surface burns and take some of the heat out of your skin. It might hurt because of the blistering, but I have something to help that too.”

When he eased them in, John could feel the cool water and vinegar mingling with his hands. It did sting quite a bit, but it was nothing to receiving the burns. He exhaled in relief as his skin got used to the liquid.

“I have some genes for you,” he said to his mom to fill the silence as she prepared something else for him.

“Keep them for yourself. You are the one spending all your time hurting yourself. I don’t need them.”

“I disagree. I’m spending all this time getting hurt so that you have the strength you need to survive if you have to go back. More than that, we should start a stockpile of them for Emma. I’m getting close to one hundred in a couple of them. If you can max out too, everything I collect will be for her. Think about it. She can enter The Garden stronger than almost anyone else.”

“That’s a pretty thought, but what if you get yourself killed trying to accomplish it?”

“Bring me that,” John said, nodding toward his bag where he dropped it.

His mom did, but it was clear in her eyes that she didn’t want to drop the issue. That was fine. She was his mom. It was her job to be worried. He understood that.

She placed the bag on the counter next to the sink. At John’s request, she unzipped it. At just a glance, her eyes grew wide.

“John! Are you absolutely insane? Where did you get all of this?”

John winced as his hands left the liquid in the sink. He gingerly rooted through the contents, careful not to scrape his hands across any sharp edges. When his hands emerged, he was holding three different genes.

“This is the gene of an enhanced ape. I’m not sure how many there are, but it’s more than I can make use of. This one came from a flower. Look at them both closely and tell me what you see,” he instructed his mom.

Her eyes had widened at his categorization of the tooth. They narrowed again at his words, but when asked, she did inspect them both. She felt them like they were loaves of bread at the store.

Her hands pressed and squeezed and rubbed across every inch of the genes before she put them down and looked up at John. There was a question in her eyes. When she spoke though, it was in a certain tone.

“The flower gene is harder than the tooth.”

“That’s right.”

John said nothing else. He only looked at his mom and she at him. Then the significance creeped into her face.

“Is this… an advanced gene?”

“It is. And it’s yours. I won’t hear any arguments. It’s my decision and I say absorb it.”

“John, do you know what this could do for you? You’re the one risking yourself. Why not take the boost?”

“Because I have a list of similar targets to help my progression.”

“Targets? I thought you said you were scouting?” John didn’t miss the tone of warning in her voice.

“It… involved some scouting. It also involved some hunting. Things got out of hand but in the end I was able to capitalize on some chaos, just like last time.”

“John, it’s too dangerous for you to go out hunting things when you’ve never even owned a knife before a month ago.”

“I know it’s dangerous. What’s more dangerous is being the last person to take that risk. You know how people can be. The second anyone thinks they have an advantage over another, things get messy.”

“And what part of that is supposed to convince me that you shouldn’t take this gene? I will never be able to fight like you or your father. I don’t have it in me. You need every advantage you can get. If you insist on giving me something, don’t make it your best gene.”

John smiled at his mother.

“It’s funny you should say that.”

4

“John, what the fuck is that?” His mom exclaimed when he brought the third gene out from behind his back.

It wasn’t surprise at the existence of another gene. It certainly wasn’t her recognition of its tier. No, her reaction was based solely on the fact that she had never seen anyone brandish the spinal cord of a dead animal before.

John took a few minutes to explain the situation he had witnessed between the bear and the gorilla. He left out the finer details but made it clear he had not been in danger. He remarked on his observation that beasts didn’t use genes to evolve.

“So you just took this advanced gene from a bear’s kill? Don’t you know how territorial bears are?” You’re lucky it didn’t come back.”

“Well… actually,” John reluctantly admitted how right his mom was.

She listened in disapproving silence as he recounted the several lucky breaks that accounted for his continued existence. When he finished speaking, she opened her mouth to lecture him again.

“Mom, this isn’t the point of what I’m trying to tell you. Look at this,” John handed her the gene of the gorilla.

“It’s a pretty gruesome way to advance yourself. I would rather take a tooth any day than to have to rip all of this out.”

“Mom, focus. Study it like you studied the others.”

That caught his mom’s attention. She looked at him questioningly before doing as he said. This time, it only took her a few seconds to understand what her son was showing her.

“Is this thing greater than an Advanced gene? John what is this?”

He nodded slowly.

“You are the only other person who knows about this. The bear killed the gorilla and ate its flesh to advance to the next tier. I know because when I killed the bear, the system said I gained Wizened genes.”

“Wizened? There are truly beasts more powerful than Advanced out there? Wait, what do you mean you killed it? How is that possible?”

So, for the first time, John summoned the Lunar Stag Bow and let his mother see it. Her eyes were as wide as saucers at the resplendent weapon. They grew larger when he showed her his newly improved Drowsy Muckray Arrow.

What followed was a long conversation about what exactly John had been doing with his time in The Garden. The revelation that he had not been as careful as he had been promising was not met with equanimity. He had to sit through an hour long lecture about how he had been raised better.

“Mom,” he finally cut in.

She was in the middle of reminding him that “some dumbass aliens don’t get to decide when you’re an adult,” and that “irresponsible behavior like that will get you killed”. It was at least her fifth repetition of the subject. John knew she would have circled back a few more times too if he didn’t interject.

“This isn’t the point. You’re going to keep the Advanced gene because I’ve already showed you it isn’t the best prize I got from the hunt. I know I wasn’t smart about it, but even the cautious die in that place. I’m going to do what I have to do to get stronger. You’re going to accept what I give you and trust that I’m doing everything I can to stay alive.”

She didn’t respond. He knew by the tight clench of her jaw that his words made her cry. He also knew that the tears wouldn’t fall while he or anyone else was around. She had always been that way, never showing her weakness in front of others.

“Mom,” he began more gently.

But she wasn’t listening. She turned away, perhaps to get out of the room before the tears fell, and perhaps because she knew no amount of talking could change either of their minds. She went upstairs and into her room without another word.

“Fuck,” John said to the sink.