The Clone moved out of Josh’s personal space and, as far as Josh could tell, had started a silent countdown.
RoboCop nightmares aside, even though the Clone could accurately be described as a beefed-up stickman from Josh’s childhood Lite-Brite set, his mettle was undeniable. Josh had absolutely no doubt the Clone meant what it said. Josh would be taken out, and right now, if he didn’t do what the Clone wanted. No questions, ifs, ands, or buts about it, and there was a niggling, diffuse itch somewhere between his sternum and his groin that was beginning to bother him. The response wasn’t sensory, not precisely, despite his attempts to describe it with that kind of terminology. The feeling was nebulous and… other, and yet absolutely undeniable.
And distracting as all hell.
Glancing to his side, Josh saw that Senyak’s head was violently shaking up and down in a blatant attempt to get Josh to agree...
Josh shrugged.
...What do I have to lose dancing to this crazy man’s mad music for the next few minutes?
Eyes blinking, Josh nodded and started trying to visualize the area under his belly button.
Josh thought about what was there...
Then... as if brushing a numb hand against the side of an alarm clock before being fully awake, Josh felt... something...
He reached for it again with his mind, and it slowly came into... focus? After a few seconds, Josh saw and felt a small marble-sized lump of...energy...will...power...his mind nearly warped in an effort to define the sense of being that the… core embodied. It mostly felt like life to him!
Josh’s eyes lit up, and he looked back up at the Clone’s churning outlines of every hue of blue in front of him. Shock registered blatantly on his expression.
A slightly less menacing eye roll, “Yes. Of course, it really exists. I placed your core there myself...” The Clone waved a hand, casually dismissing the rest of Joshua’s unanswered questions. “Let us proceed. Your core links with your physical body through a series of channels called meridians. These vessels allow you to circulate, or cycle, Essence to your physical body as a systemic ecology of symbiotic motility and animus.” Ghost man spread his arms, turning as if to take in all of creation as he closed his eyes in what seemed to be poetic bliss. The Clone’s head suddenly snapped around toward Josh, his eyes widening in apoplectic affront. “ABSOLUTELY NOT. It is most certainly not ‘a mystical hoodoo generator’. It is the very basis of divinity. It is life, breath, and existence itself. In cycling Essence–you yourself join a greater cycle of actuality that, by its very nature, transcends your previous pitiful and plodding existence.”
While it was obvious that the Clone needed to emergently correct Joshua’s lackadaisical thinking. His tone was more that of a harried instructor than an axe-wielding executioner.
That’s a slight improvement… Josh let himself think.
The Clone continued without comment on Josh’s personal assessment. “Focus. See the meridian channels that thread their way through your being. You can cycle the Essence in your core through these channels by inducing a directional vector with your Intent. Do so now.”
Not needing further convincing, Josh tried. He first poked his core and saw its swirling Essence whirl around, racing like gold-colored food coloring inside a clear water balloon.
Josh tried to push harder, and soon, he felt pressure building up behind his eyes–
Zenyak’s Clone interrupted Josh’s ineffectual efforts. “Proceed gently, mortal. You will rupture your cerebral vasculature and fracture your core with such little care. As I said, it is your Intent that moves Essence. You must will its movement, not crush it with increased intracranial pressure– Also, breathe. Essence is life, and the essence of life is breath. Until you complete your first tier of cultivation, you will require the use of oxygen contained in this planet’s atmosphere to fuel your metabolism and maintain your feeble consciousness.”
Huh... breathe? Good advice.
Josh took several slow, steady breaths and reached out mentally to his core again. He thought of moving his Essence out from the core along his meridians. He saw it follow a loop up to his head and back again. When it was done, Josh noted that the pain in his head had decreased. But he did feel slightly winded from the effort.
“Good. Yes, the micro-cerebral ruptures from your first clumsy attempt have been healed via the joining of the spiritual and physical. Exempli gratia, cycling your Essence resulted in restoring your body’s intended form and function, thus improving your physicality–”
The Clone held up a hand to stop Josh’s unheard questions, instead proceeding with its intended lecture. “... The cycling of absorbed Essence allows your spiritual and physical natures to grow closer to a unified whole. Closer to the Divine as some describe it. A more unified spiritual and physical body facilitates transferring, storing, and using larger amounts of Essence. In turn, your strength and power as your cultivation increases. Essence is life–to be sure, but it is also power.”
Seeing that he had Josh’s undivided attention again, the Clone provided him with a few more pieces of information. “Cultivation is essentially an upward spiral of growth toward perfection and enlightenment. Simply stated, cycling of absorbed Essence from other spiritual beings will make you better, stronger, faster–” Blue arcs of light radiated from the Clone’s eyes as his unblinking sight line bore down on Josh. “... Yes, Joshua... ‘Like Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man but without the bionic implants’... Now, I’m going to pretend that you are more than a prepubescent, television-addled child, and continue with the information you need to advance your understanding and entire state of being...”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Clearly, the Clone would not be ‘dumbing down’ any more of its explanations for Josh... But that was okay... he thought he was finally starting to get it.
Without a breather, the azure juggernaut continued. “... Cycling Essence improves the connection between your body and soul. It also serves the purpose of purifying or distilling foreign elements from the Essence. Once cleansed, the Essence will be added to your core... growing your cultivation, making you more powerful, strengthening your physical movements and actions while healing associated damaged tissues and injuries.”
The Clone spared a glance for Senyak as it spoke its next sentence. “Mastering these two effects of cycling and accruing in cultivation will sustain you as you hunt down other Essence-containing spiritual beings. For now, and at further points in your growth, you will need to absorb the Essence of other spiritual beings to increase your cultivation.” Sen brightened, clearly learning something new from the Clone’s discourse as he continued.
“Senyak, I know that you already understand the basic principles of cycling mortal Essence. However, you have never before been a mortal. We must move on to a practical demonstration.” A wavering blue hand included Josh, “... for the both of you.”
The Clone formed a fist from the previously waving hand, and Josh felt a sharp pain in his left upper leg. Blood started to pool under his feet, still dangling six inches off the ground.
A sharp smile cut the Clone’s face as he again continued in a matter-of-fact tone. “I have severed both of your left femoral arteries. Being mortal humans with no significant cultivation level, you will most certainly die without medical intervention. I need you both to cycle your Essence to the affected area to understand the benefit of Essence’s healing effects. Do so now. Or die.”
What the absolute fuck! What kind of Steven King banging Charles Manson and hatching Cthulhu babies type of family did Senyak come from?
Josh sent a panicked look at Senyak and confirmed that he also had arterial blood pooling under him in a bright red puddle... But Senyak’s bleeding had started slackening off, while Josh’s continued like a garden hose on a pulsatile-medium-open setting.
Surprisingly to Josh, the first thought that came to his mind was that he didn’t want to admit that Senyak might be better at this spiritual... mental... psychic... whatever-the-heck action this is.
Josh got to work, felt his core, and then willed it to move its Essence to his left leg.
At first, being scared out of his mind, he had poor control. His reflex response was no different from that of a squirrel stuffed in a sack. His first push sent his Essence cycling in all possible directions at once. Only a minimal part, perhaps 5 percent, reached his wounded femoral artery.
Even with this small amount, Josh noted a slight decrease in the bleeding and pain. However, it was not enough to prevent his ultimate loss of consciousness from bleeding out. His mind quickly filled in some intrusive particulars on that front:
With an estimated standard blood pressure of 120/80, Josh would lose approximately one liter of blood every fifty to fifty-five seconds. Josh would lose consciousness from this amount of blood loss in about two and a half minutes. Then, his blood pressure would drop to approximately 40/0. (Pssst. It’s the zero part that’s rather significant.) At that point, mister rapidly becoming dizzy from the loss of too much red stuff would undergo ischemic and hypovolemic shock, leading to cardiac arrest and cascading organ failure from ischemia. First to his brain and heart in about four minutes. Then, to his core organs. His death would arrive minutes after that due to traumatic–
Josh blinked.
Where did that come from? He looked around, taking in the spreading pool of shocking crimson below him. Right. The blood loss! Important lesson here. Never underestimate the mental effects of too much blood loss!
Josh couldn’t help but step out from his thinking. His only medical training had been self-taught by putting Band-Aids on Sophie’s skinned knees... but without question, he knew everything that his brain had just told him was absolutely accurate...
You do not have any time to figure that out now! Josh’s practicality took over.
Which was true. If he believed what his brain told him, Josh only had about ninety seconds left before losing consciousness. As his biological model predicted— biological model? ... Where did that come from? Is that… a technical term? I chose to become a lawyer approximately thirty seconds after that residency graduate attempted to explain histology to me, and I only gave her the thirty seconds because I spent twenty-nine of them trying to figure out how to get her number. Now I can’t even talk to myself without getting all sciency...
Later!
Right now, Josh had to get the Essence moving in the right direction by asserting his will with the correct intention, for the love of little green apples! …Damn. I knew I should have planted those apple trees in the backyard. Miranda and Sophie would just love some little green–
Cutting off the Essence from cycling above his waist, Josh first got it to flow only in his lower extremities. Doing this made a significant improvement. Approximately 45 percent of the available Essence had reached his left leg. It appeared to be enough to avoid loss of consciousness, as the Essence’s restorative qualities became noticeable. The six-inch wound began closing along with slaking of the blood flow.
But man... you can do better!
Josh’s vision swam and began to narrow as decreasing blood flow began to impact the balance and proprioception and consciousness centers of his inner ear and brain. His equilibrium was definitely affected, and his head began to lol on his otherwise paralyzed body. A random thought from his meandering attention thanked the Clone for keeping him upright with his flaming blue voodoo juju. But somehow, his will did indeed limit the Essence flowing to his right leg and groin in a left-leg-only loop. Then, he began to narrow the focus of Essence tightly into only the upper portion before it returned along its loop to his core.
After completing the first cycle, Josh’s bleeding stopped, along with a complete reduction in pain and a regaining of his senses as the healing power of the Essence began to restore his blood volume. Josh's brain snapped back to much clearer thinking like a rubber band, and he quickly took back his gratitude to the Clone. A satisfied smirk was all the response the Clone gave as Josh kept his Essence spinning through the leg loop for a second and a third time. His leg was completely healed after two full rotations. But, after the fourth, he had learned how to pick up speed. He thought of the Essence cycling like slot cars on a track. How fast can I make this go–
“Good. Stop now. You have completely recovered and avoided dying from your own incompetence.”
Josh stopped and realized his breathing was coming in ragged gasps as sweat slicked his entire body. Using his Intent to move his Essence no joke. Then again, maybe constantly being close to death time after time in the last twelve hours also had something to do with it. But what did Josh know… Looking over at showed him in similar condition as beads of sweat runneled down his mostly bald head and neck leaving wet stains on his upper robes.
“I am now satisfied that the probability models of you meeting the minimum requirements to cultivate are accurate. As such, I will inform you of your path and my expectations for you both.”