I followed them across the city for a couple of minutes until finally we came across a small cave entrance in the ground. I followed them in. After we went in, the entrance vanished.
Several other people were here. I saw a few more warriors, some small children and parents.
“Those horrible creatures you saw up there would murder everyone in this cave in an instant. They’re completely hideous,” said the girl, with a clear sound of disgust in her voice.
We walked for a bit more.
“That is why we have these cave systems. The monsters have no idea these even exist. But we can’t stay in hiding forever. That’s why we need you. We are going to rally an assault against their kingdom in the next month. In that time, you need training. In these cave systems, we have several areas fit for training children to be warriors and others fit for experienced warriors such as myself. You, being one of the great heroes who can control time completely, should start in a relatively high level training room,” said the boy.
“What about Blake?”
Blake looked confused as ever. He had barely spoken a word since we got here.
“I will start him off in a.. different training room. Both of us will monitor your performance,” said the girl.
I wondered why they didn’t tell me their names. It seemed a bit odd, not knowing what to call them. I guess I’d find out sooner or later.
The boy led me into a fairly large room with smooth walls and floor, all made of the same material. I could see light coming from the ceiling through very small, yet powerful light bulbs.
“Wait here for a moment.”
He walked out of the room.
I waited for a few minutes, wondering what I was going to do.
“Alright. Your first test will be how to control time willingly, not through short bursts of adrenaline. To do this, you’ll be put face to face with a machine that will swing its arms at you, continually speeding up until they are swung faster than the human eye can see. Block them or dodge them. Good luck!”
“Wait, what happens if I don’t dodge one?” I said, nervous as ever.
“Believe me, that’s going to be the least of your problems if you’re going to fight for us in the upcoming siege.”
“Begin testing,” said a female sounding voice with a slightly electronic edge.
The wall on the end of the room opened up, revealing eight robotic arms, all a decent length apart.
They swung slowly at first. I dodged a few and blocked some.
They started to speed up, getting much harder for me to block them. I had no idea how much longer I could keep this up without getting knocked out.
I tried to will time to slow down, but to little avail. This would help me a little bit, but not much.
I managed to block for a full thirty seconds more, until I got hit in the head and thrown back a few feet.
“WAKE UP! You’ve been asleep for almost a minute,” yelled the same feminine voice. A robotic arm came out of the wall and splashed freezing water on my face. Oddly enough, I felt much better afterwords.
“More training?” I asked, clearly not thrilled.
“Yes. To diversify, I will switch to a different training method. This room is made out of very small pads. I can make obstacles for you to navigate and dodge. Reach the end of the room and I’ll have something for you. You’ll need all of your agility for this. Good luck!”
I felt a wave of.. heck, I don’t know. It seemed to course through me, vastly improving my control over time.
I was sprinting through the room now, avoiding every obstacle almost perfectly. I was about to jump to the end of the room when a large pillar made from the pads blocked me.
“Good try, but I’ve been doing this for decades.”

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