The man waited for a few moments, but was met with silence from the crowd. He continued.

“For this qualifying round, contestants are allowed to write in whatever form they would like. Essay, poetry, fiction, haiku, nothing is off-limits. We want to see the very best of what you have to offer. The only restrictions are that the entries must not exceed five pages and must fit the theme of-” he looked down at his notes- “time.” He looked up once more.

“No outside sources are allowed. If anyone is found with any objects on their person, they will be immediately disqualified. In subsequent rounds, contestants must wear clothing provided by the contest hall. Are there any concerns before we begin?”

Despite herself, Li Xiulan found her eyes sweeping over the many contestants sitting near her. They wore baggy clothes in various styles, all of which could easily have hidden a book or scroll of some kind. She shook her head, trying to clear out those thoughts. Surely nobody would be foolish enough to cheat in the very first round, given that the rules would be much stricter later on. It would be ridiculous to make it past one round and then fail immediately.

She tried to pull her attention back to herself. She had to write about time. That was fairly simple, she thought. There were plenty of historical figures she had read about who had caused incredible changes in the future through their actions. All she had to do was choose one, and…

“Your time begins now,” the man at the front announced.

Li Xiulan’s brain stopped.

She held the quill in her hands, but she couldn’t make a single word come out. What was it that she had been thinking? Which historical figure? She tapped the quill against the paper, leaving little ink drops that seeped into the page and stained it. Time. What could she write about time? She was running out of it!

She had been overconfident. The realization slapped her in the face, hard. Everyone around her was writing, the sound of quills scratching against paper filling the air. Was she the only one stuck? Suddenly all she could hear was the frantic beat of her heart. She was shaking. Her grip on the quill tightened so hard she thought it might snap, her breath coming in shallow gasps as she tried to focus on the blurry page in front of her.

Stop panicking, a voice in her mind said. Close your eyes and breathe.

Li Xiulan put the quill down and closed her eyes. She laid her hands over her ears, blocking out the scratching of the quills. Instead, she felt the pulse of her blood against her skin, peered into the blackness beyond her eyelids. She took a deep breath. 

She imagined that she was sinking deep in the ocean. The coolness of the water, the pressure of it as it pushed against her skin, flooding in and filling her lungs as she breathed. She embraced that feeling. It didn’t hurt, sinking. It was calm. Peaceful, eternal, wholly separated from the her in reality. An immortal self, lost forever in time.

She opened her eyes and began to write.