6 Chapter 6: An Aquarian's Trial

'Oh really.' Dolon seemed quite amused at Rydel's realization, 'let me guess, you think the limit is your mental and physical strength?'

'Ah, yes. How did you know?'

'I know, because that has always been the case. Think about it, the artifacts are universally levels of items and systems that are driven by simple beings like us.' Dolon whipped out her arm with the Lighting Rod attached to it, 'I surgically attached the Lighting Rod myself to keep myself alive when no one else is willing to do it or even tried it. And I never knew that this was one of the artifacts, to me, it is just a piece of ancient technology locked away in the basement of the musuem....'

'If you don't mind me asking, how did you know the artifact will keep you alive?' Rydel asked.

'Of course I didn't know.' Dolon waves it around before wrapping that arm around her body once again,'my clan had history of heart failures. I was one of the unlucky ones that was blessed with the same fate. But I was preparing for this, and I knew manipulating electricity is the only thing I can do. Us Aquarians aren't as good as humans when it comes to electronics, not even close. But we never explicitly needed it.'

'But you do if you want to control your pulse...' Now everything is slowly falling into place inside Rydel's head.

'I do need it. I have always been a fighter, so I fought for it.' Dolon swings her arms and signals some intense fighting over the artifacts, 'but your girl isn't all brawl, I have already been a master in Aquarian biology before doing this gig. I knew what I was doing.'

'But how did you...'

'I knew what I was doing, but I do not know if it will work. It was a gamble, but.....as all gamblers are, you have to go for it. I can feel the heart beating out of pace, I am losing stamina, strength, reactions time, concentration...I had no other chioce.'

'If that's the case, did you have to go through some sort of a trial too?' Rydel sat down close to Dolon and asked, 'You didn't fight an evil robot in that state right?'

'Evil robot? What are you talking about?' Dolon laughed at the idea of having to fight an evil robot to get the artifact, 'It turns out, us Aquarian nervous system is extremely potent. That's where I had my trial. I was in a meditation trance the whole time....'

It wasn't didn't take long before the sedative effects of the Moronoro grass started to wear off. The tingling sensation from one of her arms soon expanded to twitching pain and a burning sensation. Dolon tried to shake up the cloudy mind and take a look at the connection between one of her major heart nerve endings and the thing that looked like a purple pitch fork.

Legend has it that during the birth of Aquaria, it was one piece the God of Oceans used to create life. Aquarian nervous systems are so powerful and resilient that the only way they could explain such phenomena back then, was through the one thing that gives out even more electricity than the most dangerous eels on the ocean planet.

The artifact are found near the habitats of the Aquarian black eels. They had been dangers to the Aquarian race and encounters without proper preparation rarely turns out well. They have evolved to utilize the constant bursts of electricity given out by the artifact and utilize it for their survival.

However, as the Aquarian civilization grew ever more prominent and industrial, shifts in local oceanic conditions wiped them all out, and the 'Lighting rod' were tested on for a bit, before being locked in the museum and then took off the exhibition due to the danger it poses to the Aquarian people.

Dolon did the homework. She had been researching into the Aquarian nervous system for years and years trying to find a cure. Not many academic institutions even accepted her into their ranks, as they deemed the topic area of research are as useful as swimming suits. The culture follows what humans termed a utilitarian approach to the extreme, as the number of Aquarians that have any sort of neural disorder numbers in the thousands out of billions, many have even ridiculed that she should have just let the selection of the ocean (natural selection) run its course.

Those Aquarians had been beaten to a pulp.

One way or the other, she got her hands on the artifact. She started researching into laws of electricity, but the ocean water on Aquaria made it extremely difficult. She couldn't even run the simplest tests without shocking herself into a coma. She was going to give up. She was going to let it all go.

'What is going on? Where am I?' Dolon sharply opened her eyes, only to wake up amidst complete and total darkness. She turned and looked in all directions but the darkness is non-discriminating. She tried to contract the arm that she had just operated on but it felt as if nothing has happened. The ends are perfectly smooth, the muscles are still strong under the thin skin. She is not wearing her protective suits.

Dolon started to panic. All the worst fears flooded into her mind and started choking her like tight ropes tied around her limbs. She started to feel her body go numb, feet go sore...Just like the time she went to train in the frozen waters.

Just like that time when she was just in her teenage years. She was one of the best rushers in her Rushing (an Aquarian version of Rugby) team, regardless of gender. Before their biggest tournament of the year, they had trained in realms of hot and cold, not only to push them to their physical limits, but to also get acclimatized to the temperature. She was the one that reacted most to the variance in temperature, but she is way too competitive to show it.

'If there is a way, I will find it.'

'Just breath. Trust the waters.' Dolon started repeating these familiar words in her head. With each repetition she relaxes more. And with each breath she gains back more control. And then, it was only peace and tranquility. The darkness doesn't seem so bad.

Fight! Using the artifact! FIGHT!

That peace was snatched away.

She found herself with a space without edges, yet filled with a bright yellow color tone background. She can now move and see. She looked down at her arm, and the Lightning Rod is right there, perfectly connected to the nerve ending and embedded in and beneath the skin. The seaweed threads pulling the opening tight against each other and the grass paste that clogs the blood and stops bleeding is slowly being adsorbed into her body. She can feel pulses that's like her own heart beat, except strong and steady, coming out of the arm and travelling towards her heart.

Fight? But what am I fighting? Now is the last time for fighting. Dolon, coming off a season in Rushing and advanced combat training, knew full well that she is in no state to do anything right now. The Moronoro grass she chewed had long been digested and broken down and with each pulse the artifact gives up, she also felt a shot of pain.

Suddenly, she dropped onto a rock hard surface, or rather the surface crashed into her, when there is absolutely no external reference, all she felt is a sense of acceleration and the reaction forces coming from the surface. She tried to stand, but her body isn't used to this kind of stress, especially without any exoskeleton supporting. Many of the Aquarian bones had devolved to become extremely thin and flexible instead of strong and stiff. This allows great maneuverability in the water, but is totally unsuited for this kind of work.

With each second she's been pressed onto that rock, she can feel the pressure slowly building up around her.

She is diving deeper.

Despite the fact the Aquarians spend all their lives under water, there are certain depths that even some of the strongest individuals struggle to go to. The Untouched Waters is what every calls it. It's way below the typical inhabitant levels for Aquarians so it's not like there is any need to get down, but at this rate, Dolon knew something really bad is about to happen.

If she is going to do something, she'd better do it now!

Dolon stretched out with all four of her arms and four of her legs, including the one that was recently operated upon, and pressed hard into the rock. She couldn't get much leverage, but as long as she can buy some time for her to move out of the rock's way, she will be fine for now. At least she won't die due to pressure in the next few minutes. Sharp pain came through the injured arm and made her hiss, but at this time she just need all her strength, no matter what.

Once she transitioned the 'weight' onto the stronger lower four legs, she leaped out and back of the rock and gained some distance. To her surprise, there seemed to be no end for this rock.

Instead of a rock, it is more like a plate. A tectonic plate. The edges extended outwards towards the horizons and disappear in and out of the view when she tried to keep some distance between her and the surface. A few jumps later, her legs cramped up slightly. Moronoro numbed her pain, but also her body control. She knelt on the surface and supported herself with her arms.

Dolon had no idea where this place is, but she is not going to die here! If she can't move out of the way, then she will just break through this. No matter a rock, a sheet of paper or a planet, as long as she has a breath, she will force her fist through it. There are no tools nearby and all her arms are too soft to do any damage.

No. Not all.

'Ah you sick bastard...' Dolon laughed at her own ridiculous idea. She swings the arm with the Lightning Rod attached, concentrated and punched the rock. She made a dent, but nothing else. Dolon clearly expected this and simply punched the ground again and again.

By the third hit, the threads burst open and purple blood leaks out of the arm.

By the fifth hit, the Lightning Rod started to get a bit lose and the tissue was ripped open. Dolon shook her head and simply wrapped two of the supporting arms around the open wounds to stabilize.

By the ten hit, she had made substantial progress, but the supporting arms started shaking.

'I will not die here. I have done so much! I have walked this far! I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU!'

As Dolon is about to lose her grip on the Lightning Rod, she lifted all four of her arms up high, got her torso off the ground and raised it over her head and slammed the rod into the ground! Right before the impact, some sparkles of electricity vibrated between the ends of the Lightning Rod and it grew bigger and brighter as the tip got closer and closer to the ground.

'OUTTA MY WAY!'

The tip of the Lightning Rod buried deep, and then bursts of lightning extended out of the tip and dived in and out of the rock surface like dragons travelling through the clouds and ripping it all apart. Everywhere the lightning went past turned dark and crumbles as cracks grew in all directions following the trails of the lightning. Using the last inch of her strength, she coiled up the only arm that's not injured and bashed and swung at the surface.

Like the last straw on a camel's back, the ground beneath her shattered into a million pieces, filling up her field of view entirely. And then, she's thrown right down into the seat she was sitting on during the operation.Dolon looked around utterly confused. The operated arm was exactly the same as when she finished the operation. But she is sweating heavily and her heart is beating fast. Her heart beating, not the Lightning Rod.

Assessment complete.

A voice in her head shook her to the core and she almost fell off the chair. Almost because she couldn't move a single part of her body.

'Wait a second,' Rydel asked immediately after Dolon finished her story, 'So you are saying except for those two phrases at the beginning and the end of the trials, there is no grumpy voice in your head?'

'No. Why?' Dolon began to wrap the arm attached to the Lightning Rod back around her waist after the demonstration, 'I thought the instructions were quite clear, right?'

Rydel thought back to that voice constantly telling him to use the artifact, and him constantly refusing to. He didn't say anything further. In fact, he wondered if he can summon himself away from the embarrassment.

In the afternoon, Dolon got Rydel to test the smallest thing he can move around as well as the accuracy of the drops. He ended moving rock shards the width of a finger, but he can't quite teleport the object of the table just yet. Currently he is sitting at about thirty percent accuracy.

Seeing this is what's likely to be done today, Dolon called it a day and got him to relax for the rest of the day and not overuse the artifacts.

The next day, as Rydel is having breakfast, Dolon surprised him with both a breakfast pack that she is digging into as well as a complete training plan. 'I called this the get lots of varying experience plan,' Dolon slapped a small memory disc in front of Rydel, 'AKA the GLOVE plan. What do you think?'

'I would be happy if the content is as good as the name.' Rydel remarked sarcastically and then inserted the disc into his computer processing unit and waited for a second for the breakdown to show up on the holograms. It shows that he would work in typical seven days a week rotations with Capacity, Accuracy and Maximum effort training all intertwined throughout the week. There is a rest day at the end of the week and also some slots for non-artifact related training.

'If you follow this plan to the T, you will probably suffer, in a good way.' Dolon shrugged, 'Don't be a robot. No offense to them. Just adjust the system according to how you feel. This is just a framework to help you master the basics, not kill you on the third day.'

'Understood.' Rydel smiled at Dolon. Having flexibility and individualization is the hallmark of a good coach, especially when it comes to physical activity. Dolon has obviously done this kind of things before.

'By the way, in ten days time, we will fight again. Be ready!' Dolon was about to leave the room, 'I am going away for a while, but contact me or ask Ol if you have any questions!'

'Oh okay. Where are you going?' Rydel leaned back on the chair as he reads through the briefing of the plan, 'nice of you to leave me alone on the first day of my training.'

'I am going to Hyperion 4. I am also a pro war game player, and it's the biggest tournament of the galactic year!' Dolon slapped two of her hands together, 'I have been waiting a long time for this!'