Sophia tried to breathe thought the fear that being trapped in a dome of blackness, she’d been expecting much worse when the helmet came down. The device didn’t actually touch her head and it wasn’t as tight as it appeared coming down. It was actually loose and allowed full movement of her head. It seemed to only be blocking her sight. This calmed her greatly. She wasn’t afraid of being blinded after all during the storms she’d often worn scarves over her face so she was used to having to rely on other senses to experience her environment. Or having very limited visual input. She started to let her body relax until she felt the first sharp piercing pain. Followed almost immediately by one more and then another and another and another. It seemed as soon as she'd feel one another followed and it kept her disorientated as to what was going on. The sharp pain dulled to a dull itch that seemed to squirm just under her skin.

It took all of two minutes for a series of wires and connections to inject themselves into her body. But soon it stopped and took away the searing pain that had been electrocuting her from the inside. Her nervous system felt overloaded and strained. She had no idea what was happening to her and as much as she wanted to ask she didn’t know how. This was entirely new.

Sophia didn’t have long to wait however, in moments she heard Amon’s voice over some form of communication device, but it was as loud and clear as if it had been spoken right next to her. His words soothed her and made her reach out towards him with her gift. She just wanted to see him.

“Sophia, are you read?”

Sophia didn’t know if she was. She sighed Drawing in a deep breath she said, “I guess,” her voice shook with uncertainty and it made her wish she could see Amon again. Just to be sure she wasn’t alone in this.

“Alright, you’ll hear my voice the whole time, I’ll answer any questions you have that I can, the first part of your training will be held in the simulator for you to acquire a sense of your unique abilities. Today we’re just going to do a baseline run. There won’t be any guidance or input from me, you’ll just have to try and solve the puzzle on your own,” Amon said and she felt so reassured by his words that she couldn’t help it. She pushed her mind out towards him. She could feel the link that he’d established with his computers to her body and she sent herself along it until she was looking out at him. Her eyes couldn’t see anything at all, but her mind saw him. Saw him as if he were standing in the same room as her. Suddenly she began to relax. Until something slammed into her conscious mind and launched her out of the computer system and back into her body and shoved foreign links into her mind, making her see something completely not ‘there’.

She screamed out in pain and fear. Her voice screamed until she couldn’t scream anymore.

Even as Sophia’s voice was beginning to die and the pain was intensifying Sophia could see images, shapes, indistinct things filling her sight. Things that her mind told her were not real. The grassy meadow sweeping out in front of her wasn’t really there, but it felt and looked so real. She tried to bend down to run her hand through the grass and did. She could feel the wet blades against her fingers. Dew clung to her skin and when she brought her hand up to her face it was her hand she was looking at. Her hand wet with the dew from the meadow.

How can this be? She wondered. She turned her head and although her vision still had swirling hexagons and weird geometric lines dancing in it from whatever was forcing her mind to be ‘here’ wherever here was, the meadow was all around. She was standing, well crouching really, in a meadow. A meadow that was slowly crystallizing into clear everyday reality. Weird.

“Sophia can you hear me?” Amon’s voice came through from no where. He sounded strained, shocked, anxious.

“Yah?” Was all she could manage after screaming her head off earlier.

By now the meadow had completely made itself real in front of Sophia. In the distance she could see a tall weird tower that had a strange geometric and spire structure with lots of twists and turns. A town seemed to be even further in the distance. Sophia wondered what she should do.

“Good, good. I can see everything you see here Sophia, don’t be scared. This test is simple. I won’t be able to guide you through, but your objective is to create a mental projection, you will face a series of three puzzles as you progress through today’s session. This is the first part, the testing will commence in T minus 5 and counting,” Amon’s words had become emotionless and clerical. That scared Sophia more then she cared to admit. She was left in a simulation without knowing what she was suppose to do. However, reminding herself it was a simulation was actually supper helpful, it helped to calm her and allow her to think a little easier. Taking a few deep breaths set Sophia’s mind at ease.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This was suppose to be a test of her abilities. A baseline reading, so if they knew about her mind-link then maybe that’s what she needed to focus. Shutting her eyes Sophia let her mind slip outwards sensing for lifeforms, she felt none. Ok so there was no one ‘alive’ here. Weird. Maybe she could manipulate the world. She thought of the spaceport she’d always watched from her window at work whenever she could. She pictured the details in her mind’s eyes and willed the world to shift and become the spaceport.

She opened her eyes and found herself still in the meadow, but appearing around her were people and a ship began to form, the strange architecture of before was gone, replaced by the architecture she was used to. The shimmering hexagonal shapes were back, showing her that even though she hadn’t completely succeeded in shifting the world, she’d done something.

“Very good Sophia, keep going,” Amon said encouragingly to her. Yah as if she was gunna just quit! She’d gotten this far. She wasn’t about to give up now. As the reality solidified around her again she found it kind of peaceful. The half-space-port-half-meadow reality was kinda soothing and clam.

She studied the scene around her, the shadow people that seemed to mill about the meadow-space-port didn’t seem aware. Either of her or of themselves really. They seemed like sleeping people. Their mind weren’t there. How bazar. She tried to reach out to them until her head ached and blood streamed from her nose. Great. She whipped at it angrily and wondered what she should do. Until the peace was shattered by a loud boom.

The ground shook. Rippled outwards and something huge shot out behind her. Effectively trapping her between her meadow-space-port and this new giant ship building thing that was emerging from the ground and spilling fourth humanoid creatures that threw exploding bombs towards the peaceful side. Tearing the meadow’s grass away into burnt ash and leaving behind craters.

The grass seemed to heal itself nearly instantly however. Bizarre, but the people began to advance weapons drawn and the intent was clear. If she didn’t find a way to stop them, whoever they were, her peaceful meadow-space-port would be destroyed. She was certain of this.

Sophia started trying to breathe. Trying to focus her mind on them, but just like the people of her meadow-space-port they didn’t have any conscious minds. Right simulation. This wasn’t real. Damn! Sophia cursed in her head and maybe outloud too she didn’t really pay attention.

That was it. She couldn’t reach them, because they were not really here. So she had to interact with the environment. She could alter the environment. But it seemed the environment could alter itself too. So just wishing away the problem wasn’t going to cut it. She’d have to deal with it. Ok. She needed a weapon. She looked around and realized she didn’t have anything except meadow anywhere near here. Great. So she had to make one.

She focused her mind and closed her eyes. Forcing herself to concentrate and create. Picturing a long ion-canon she’d seen guards use. The force of the mental strain as she pushed her mind to shape hr creation caused her legs to give and forced her to her knees. Panting for breath as her mind strained and her heart pounded she felt the glow of something extremely hot above her.

Her eyes shot open and she looked up. It wasn’t an ion-canon she’d created at all. More like a sphere of raw energy. Ok she could work with that. She slowly reached up to handled the sphere. Still pushing her mind out towards it. Trying to contain and shape it even as it pushed back trying to rip out of the mental cage she had around it.

Her hand reached out and gently touched the orb the sphere instantly solidified into a series of shapes and lines, most of the lines formed into hexagons, but it glowed and shimmered through the cracks as they sealed. Until the glob became a sphere of hexagon panels that glowed bright blue that she could hold in her hands. She tried gently manipulating it with her mind and hand. Slowly moving her hand down from above her head the sphere followed her movement and when she pushed it forwards gently it moved forwards just a touch.

With a final deep breath she pushed it hard away from her and towards the invaders. Who were already reaching the middle of the clearing around her. Fights were breaking out.

The sound of screaming and clanging of weapons was almost overshadowed by the sudden deafening boom of the exploding sphere as it struck the ground sending the groups flying. The invaders seemed to fade into the ground and disappear, but the others just lay there stunned. Realizing this wasn’t going to be enough she closed here eyes and began to gather more energy to herself.

Until she felt the next sphere form and then she opened her eyes and threw it as hard as she could at the next group. Each time she repeated the process it got easier and less draining to hold the sphere, but her head was pounding and she wasn’t going to manage to do this forever. After another three explosions She looked around and was relieved to realize she only needed to do it twice more. Another Ragged breath. This time she kept her eyes opened as she formed the sphere and launched it before it had finished fully forming. The explosion knocked her backwards with a harsh thud and a wosh of air.

Staggering to catch her breath she pushed herself up and looked around slightly confused to find the clearing empty of everything except green grass and trees in the distance. Relieved she flopped back onto her back and stared up at the impossibly blue sky.

Sophia doesn’t know how long she lay catching her breath and trying to ease the pain and pressure in her head, It wasn’t until the sky began to turn into small hexagonal squares of vibrant blue light and fall down towards her that she knew the simulation was coming to an end.

Instead of on her back as she expected to wake up she was still strapped into the chair and hovering upright in the centre of the empty lab. Though now the dome that had been over her head had lifted up back into the ceiling. She looked around at the darkened lab and wondered how long this had lasted? It had felt like minutes to her. A rapid moment that was already beginning to fade just like the pain in her head leaving in it’s wake an exhaustion that reached to her very bones.