The Training Facility

By Tanya 

Time Warden Training Centre

Stage 4

Simulation Exercise 3

TW: Selene

Selene landed awkwardly on top of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s sarcophagus. When Bridie and May failed to appear she was not surprised. A set up: she should have guessed this would happen. Quickly she got to her feet and scouted the deserted tomb. Everything was just as she’d left it. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead as she reached into the Emperor’s robes to secure the Luna doll. The doll came out easily and Selene jumped over a river of mercury to the floor. Perspiration poured off her and pooled at her feet. She reached for the door but it burned red at her touch. She looked around; condensation dripped from the ceiling and streamed down the walls.

In her haste she hadn’t noticed the normally darkened chamber glowed red with heat. Concentrating she tried slipping into a time crack. The vision blurred and she swayed on her feet: the heat made it impossible to focus. Time was running out and the walls closed in around her. She found it hard to breath. Perspiration beaded on her brow. Don’t panic: Kristof’s only helpful piece of advice.

Fat lot of good it did her now. She panicked. Without warning the floor abruptly dropped out from beneath her and the world fragmented into a thousand different realities. Selene struggled to get a grip. The time continuum whirl pooled at an astronomical rate. A steep furious funnel swirled and sucked the Emperor’s tomb into non-existence. She tried to wrap her mind firmly around any one solid reality, but it slipped by too fast and she lost her touch. The funnel opening raced toward her and she could hear Cate’s laughter cut through the chaos as the vortex swallowed her. Imploding in an instant the lights timed out.

Game over.

Selene kicked the simulator hard, twice for effect.
Cate scoffed in perfect imitation of her big sister, “It’s only a game.”
Selene turned to Cate. “Yeah just a game. You didn’t say that when you lost!”
Cate pouted and Selene relented, “Come on, it’s time to move on anyway.”
Cate clenched her fists, ‘But we both failed!’
Selene shrugged, “We’ll just have to do better on the next round.”
Cate’s face fell, ‘But…what if we don’t?”
“Don’t worry.” Selene poked her kid sister in the ribs, “We’re a team.”

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