System Break

It was dark. But I had a familiar feeling and guessed where I was. I was floating in a pool and I was almost certain it was the pool in the mystery cave.

Slowly my eyes adjusted the darkness and I could make out its walls. I turned in the water and noticed there was a portal. It was ensconced in the cave wall, and it looked similar to the portal that Mother made except it had a physical border.

The last time I was here I had not unlocked the ability to see the qi streams.

When I viewed the cave with my qi sight I was rewarded with more clues to its function. At the bottom of the pool I could see another portal and that was the direction of my lump in the new qi world. Calling it a lump now wasn't fair, it was a large, toned, Svartalfar. But it was a term of endearment, so I would continue to think of it as my lump.

I was intrigued that a qi stream connected me to the other portal on the cave wall. I suspected it might lead back to my body in the real world. I was here for a reason, but other than draining my qi I couldn't think of one.

It was then that the qi stream coming from the portal began to pull me towards it. It was attached to me like an umbilical cord. There was nothing I could do. No matter how much I resisted it – it slowly and surely dragged me through the portal.

I did not travel through some sort of wormhole. It was instantaneous and disorientating. It felt like someone beat my head and I was suffering concussion. And, bloody hell, my body ached.

"Breathe," a man said, and I ignored him. I was busy feeling sick.

"Subject eleven, breathe," he said again.

I gulped a pile of air and tried to say, "Subject eleven, what the fuck." I'm sure it came out as gibberish. Eleven is what the technicians at the research facility called me.

"Good," he said as he peered at his tablet. "You survived the journey."

"Thunks," I said. My tongue was thicker than Kim Kardashian's butt.

I realised why I hurt all over, with the exception of my legs, which felt fine. I was back in my old body. "Send me back," I asked after taking a sip of the offered water.

The technician ignored me while he gawked at his tablet.

I lay there for what felt like hours and my pain slowly subsided, or I became accustomed to it, I wasn't sure. Other than the crazy looking machine which was attached through the bed and into my spinal cord, they had attached a drip to my arm. Which kept me nourished and possibly sedated.

I was bored as hell, so I decided to sleep. I drifted off easily until I was woken with a hand tapping my cheek.

"Eleven," the technician said. "Wake it's time for your interview."

I thought it was crazy that a news team was here to interview me, but when I opened my eyes and they adjusted to the brightness, I realised it was just the technicians and a camera.

"Fine," I said, "Get it over with."

I couldn't read the technician's name on his ID tag, but I heard someone call him Shi a few times. He seemed to be the one in charge, because the other technicians showed him respect. He read from his tablet, his English wasn't bad, I was able to understand him fairly easily.

"Did you manipulate qi in the simulation?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said sounding bored.

There were a few coughs, which I interpreted as technicians not believing me.

"Can you describe qi strike?" he asked.

"Yeah, a qi stream runs up your arm and to your fist. It's pretty useless when you're using a weapon. So, I pushed the qi further out my first and onto my spear. I'm still working on it. It's still shit, I prefer qi body right now." As I spoke a couple of the technicians whispered anxiously to their comrades. I guess not all of them understood English and others were assisting until they got the transcript.

"Can you describe qi body?"

I then described what I had been doing and how the inbuilt skill was shithouse.

He did not ask about tree-run, maybe they were unaware I became a Svartalfar. I was unsure how much they monitored me while I was in the simulation.

"Is there anything else you can share with us?" Shi asked.

"Yeah tree-run the Svartalfar ability. It's damn cool. Look, can I go back now. I much prefer it there."

"You want to go back?" Shi asked, his interest piqued. "Was it not dangerous?"

"Fuck yeah, but anything beats this dump."

"I am sorry Eleven, but I cannot make this decision, I will report to the director and he will decide if you are sent back," Shi said.

"What the fuck," I shouted. "Send me back you bastard."

"Eleven," he said patiently, "You have done well, and your results will indeed help the programme. But please be patient there is a protocol we must follow."

"Whatever," I said as I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. I decided the best way to wait it out was to be in dreamland. And I did dream. Of Gisael, Talila, Mother, Ailen and even Sakaala. I was happy in the forest, happier than I could remember. Maybe during my basketball days or when we had leave on special forces, but those days were long since passed. The last six years I had been an invalid and the last thing I wanted, was to go back to that now.

It took more than a day, but the technician finally returned to my room. "I wish we could move you to one of the new pods," he began. "But I do not wish to risk detachment and reattachment to the Psysponder."

"My care factor about your new pods is zero," I said. "Are you sending me back?"

He took a short breath before stating, "To cut a long story short. Yes. We have made progress thanks to your efforts and we wish you to continue as a valued member of the Qi Worlds Programme."

"Fuckin A," I said, "Now was that so hard?" I ignored all the fancy words regarding the project. I really didn't care what they were doing as long as I could stay in the Qi World.

"Eleven," he said softly, "You were our control. But you have been outperforming the other volunteers. I have permission to brief you on the program. Only level one, but it will inform you of what is required for you to stay in the programme."

"I'm listening," I said. I wasn't happy about their bullshit earlier, but I was used to it. And I never expected them to treat me as one of their own. I put my ill feelings aside, all I needed to do was to excel in the simulation and they would keep me in the program.

"We need you to improve the inbuilt skill activations. Qi strike and qi body," he clarified. "The game skills do not matter, only the qi skills. If you can learn any other qi skills from experimentation or the inhabitants, please do so and place them in the quick activation slots. "

"And try not to use so much qi, you need to be efficient, not everyone is blessed like you. "

I wanted to give him something more, I wanted to stay in the programme. "Technician Shi," I said, "Practising forms helped me improve my qi skills."

"Really?" he said and made a note on his tablet.

"Yeah, and what's Affinity?" I asked while I had his cooperation.

"It's rare. One of our volunteers unlocked an affinity for lightning and it made him extremely powerful," Shi said before adding sadly, "Unfortunately, he died, and its secrets were lost to us."

"Holy shit, Lightning," I said. I was impressed with the dead anonymous volunteer. "Why did the other volunteer attack me?" I asked now I had him talking.

"It is the way with most. If you kill you can become more powerful. There are no rules for or against it," he said. "Be wary, we will add more volunteers into your world. I would ask you to not to kill them."

I laughed dryly. "I won't if they don't attack me, but the hordes of monsters and alien races might."

"This is the way. You are to use the monsters to gain power and practice the qi arts. I would warn against depleting your qi again. Unless you want to end up back here. The connection was very weak and the psysponder pulled you back as part of its protocols."

"The pool?" I asked. "Is that part of the psysponder thing?"

"You were aware of the pool?"

"Yes," I replied, and I described it to him since he was being helpful.

"This is rare, you truly have potential eleven, do not waste it."

"Send me back," I said, "I can run in the qi world, if you hadn't noticed that is a major plus for me. I have no desire to waste my potential because I would rather live there than here."

"I am not in charge eleven, but if you keep getting results the director will keep you in the simulation. It is that simple."

I felt myself being pulled away.

"Take good care of the players with your race. They are important …," he said, but his voice was growing more distant by the second. "…Investor…"

I didn't care if I missed a piece of information, I was going back and that's all that mattered to me.