The Time Capsule

Chapter Six.

      Several more months passed, and Nadia neither heard nor saw any sign of the Time Keeper. Which was strange, considering the fact that Roman Adair told her that he would visit to help her in a few weeks. A few weeks turned into 2 months, and 2 months turned into 4 months. She was beginning to get restless.
        Ever since that encounter with Fate, Nadia had begun to tread very carefully. Even though she knew her friends couldn’t stay permanently injured, she hated seeing them get hurt. Every so often, she would hang out with them, not causing any rift or strife in the time loop, for fear of angering Fate.
        After it had been 16 weeks exactly, Nadia decided to just… sit on her bed. For 16 weeks, she had been doing activities and jobs, visiting the park, hoping to feel somewhat normal. Well, as normal as you can get when trapped in a time loop. Her only ticket out of here was herself, besides the help of the Keeper of Time. Unfortunately, she didn’t believe he would ever show up, so she started to plan.
         As she sat lazily on her bed, trying to look relaxed in case Fate turned its eyes on her, she set about the task of finding an escape route without hurting herself or her friends. Nadia sighed heavily, not having much hope for the outcome of this plan. ‘Why is Roman Adair not helping me? Did he forget? Or maybe… maybe he won’t come help until I uphold my end of the bargain first. I need to find a successor for him. Preferably not many family attachments or ties. Maybe someone varying from the age of 20-35. Wise and hardened by life.’
         With some sort of goal in mind, she finally put on different clothes than the ones she had been wearing for 16 weeks and counting. Perhaps even longer. Nadia put on a pretty black blouse with blood red flowers on it and paired it with some dark blue jeans and boots. ‘I feel a little better after changing. I’ve been stuck in this time loop for almost a year… that’s insane. Around 10 months. Wow.’
         Invigorated and ready to work, she set off down the stairs, her black backpack hanging from one shoulder. “Bye Auntie. See you at 4:00.” Without hearing the answer, she swung open the door, unlocked her bike from the bike rack, and set off on an adventure. An adventure to find a successor for the Keeper of Time.
       “While I appreciate the sentiment, Nadia Wolfe, I was just away on business for longer than expected. You don’t need to search for my successor right away unless you have nothing better to do.” Nadia was sitting at the bus stop, having searched all over town for someone who could replace. The Keeper of Time had appeared beside her on the bench, now looking to be a 65 year old Chinese man, almost scaring her half to death.
         She practically jumped out of her seat. “Would you stop doing that?” She yelled, already angry at the turn of events. It was almost time for the loop to reset, and her spirit of hope and invigoration was now disheartened.
        “How else could I dramatically appear? By riding a cloud? Ridiculous.”
        “I didn’t have any luck finding a successor today. I’ve been looking everywhere. And I thought you just didn’t show up for 16 weeks because you were mad I hadn’t searched for your lackey.”
       “Lackey? The Keeper of Time doesn’t have a lackey. An apprentice, perhaps, but nothing of that sort. I sometimes have business that takes a lot longer than a few weeks, so it turned out to be… 16 weeks. Apologies. Time moves differently in the real world.”
        Nadia crossed her arms, waiting for the bus to show up so she could drive away from this conversation. “I’ll keep on looking as long as you hold your end of the bargain. I need to escape. Without Fate noticing, and preferably, with my limbs intact. Can you do that for me?” The bus appeared a couple blocks away from the distance, and she stood up swiftly.
       “I suppose so. As long as you find a proper apprentice. AND you don’t try to make my job harder for me. Having to pull you out of the car proved to be difficult. I don’t want another incident of the same nature to occur.”
       “Deal?” Nadia asked him, reaching out her hand to shake his.
        He looked down at her offered hand, then turned his nose up in the air. “I don’t do human handshakes. They’re too disgusting and trivial for an immortal being such as myself. But I agree to the terms. Good day, Nadia.”
         Right as the bus pulled up to take on new passengers, she felt the darkness consume her. The last thing she noticed, however, were the glowing black eyes of the Keeper of Time. The eyes that seemed to be frozen in time, never changing, never bending to the will of Fate. Those eyes… she would come to learn… would help her to wield magic so powerful that time would bend to her will. But the story hasn’t finished yet…
         Opening her eyes, she saw a note beside her on the nightstand. Dreading reading the note, for fear of some bad news, she slowly opened it: ‘DRINK THE CONTENTS OF THE CHALICE, AND YOUR EYES SHALL BE OPENED.’
         “What chalice?” Nadia wondered out loud, right as it quickly appeared on the stand. It was very ornate, with jewels of every color embedded into the body of the cup. The chalice was bright silver, the color of the moon on a night when no clouds were in the sky, just stars and a brilliant light. The contents of the cup? It was the deep color of blood, with no scent, nor reflection. Just a bottomless red pit. Nadia gulped while the hair on her arms stood up as she carefully picked it up, taking a sip.
          It was the nastiest stuff she had ever tasted. The kind of flavor that haunts your nightmares, whether it’s your least favorite food, drink, smell, feeling… Her skin crawled, but she forced it all down her throat. Once she had finally finished it, the world became tipped, and the next thing she knew, the chalice was on the floor, and… so was she.