61. ECHOES OF TIME (7)

Enue began her journey in France — Champs Les Sims.

The order of her travels was probably supposed to be different, but Enue couldn’t remember, nor could she find the right Bluesky post to check. :( She bought the necessary supplies and set out in search of adventure!

Her first task led her to the Forgotten Burial Mound. Amidst the stones, she noticed stairs leading into catacombs.

She cleared a rubble pile blocking a wall and, after inspecting it, continued through the corridors. Sometimes to move forward, she had to step on a floor switch, or stick her hand into a hole and pray nothing would bite it off (there was probably no risk, but it was stressful anyway).

Other times she had to push statues into position. Plenty of puzzles, plenty of corridors. Occasionally a skeleton or two. Enue hadn’t exactly signed up for this. But missing elements won’t find themselves.

Almost every building hid secret passages and catacombs underground — or was a trap itself. Once, Enue was sent to the Chateau du Landgraab. She almost got permanently stuck between two electric traps. Another time she explored the Nectary Cellars. Even La Gallerie d’Art had its secrets.

It was in the museum that Enue found the skeleton of a traveler who had been trapped and now haunted the visitors. She transferred his remains to the cemetery. Yet, she found none of the components she was looking for.

So, she continued on her journey.

Next stop: Egypt — Al Simhara.

Enue received more tasks here as well, bought supplies at the market, and began her explorations.

She discovered that wells could serve as tunnels, allowing passage to other parts of tombs. The most dangerous traps were the fire ones— not all could be disarmed. The Great Sphinx kept secrets hidden from her. The Ruins of Karnak weren’t very extensive and the search there ended quickly.

In the pyramids, however, Enue found many mysterious tunnels and hidden passages.

In one tomb, she was attacked by an actual mummy of a pharaoh!

Fortunately, she won the fight, and the mummy turned to ash. In one chamber she found some fruit, but it wasn’t the Fruit of Life.

Because time was of the essence, she often explored tombs at night — including Abu Simbel and the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Eventually, she received information that the Fruit of Life could be found in the Pyramid of the Sky.

And indeed, after fully exploring the entire complex, she found the rare plant in one of the chambers.

Now all that was left was Palladium and a Pink Diamond. Perhaps China would hold what she needed. She began her time in Shang Simla by heading to the Temple of Heaven to obtain the legendary Pangu's Axe. However, she was likely too exhausted from all her travels to uncover the artifact.

Before her next expeditions, she needed to train in martial arts. And although she lost a sparring match with a Master, she received a new clue.

She was to visit the Scholar's Garden for a vision. However, to meditate there, she had to further improve her martial arts skill.

Eventually, she entered a meditative state and had a vision of the Dragon’s Maw.

In the underground chambers, she received another vision — to visit the Dragon Springs. Unfortunately, there were no tombs to explore there.

Just as she was starting to lose hope — as all the tombs in Shang Simla either required a special key or the axe (which she didn’t have) — she found some tunnels near the Market and discovered Palladium there.

Finally, she reached the Terracotta Army, but the passage was blocked.

Disheartened by her search in China, Enue returned to Moonlight Falls to try the miner. Though she dug numerous holes and even discovered secret tunnels under her own house (!), she still couldn’t find the Pink Diamond. All that was left was a prayer to the Watcher.

The prayer was answered — a Reviving Sprinkle (flower rain) was sent, and Enue finally found a Pink Diamond in her inventory! All that remained was to cut it into a Heart-Shaped Cut, and then, with the Life Core complete, travel to the future to meet Emit.

Emit: You’ve done wonderfully! Normally, a Life Core is used to build a SimBot. But for me, it will help repair the Time Portal. And look, my future is fixed now. Everything’s normal again. Finally, no one’s vomiting rainbows.

Emit also asked Enue to build a Time Machine using instructions from the past. Some parts of this now-obsolete device would help properly calibrate the Time Portal.

Emit: Great! Good job! I’ll need a few more hours to make the final adjustments and run some tests. In the meantime, would you like to visit your descendants in this timeline?

Enue: Wait... I have descendants here???

Enue’s family was thrilled to meet their ancestor and welcomed her warmly.

Enue: Are all these kids yours?

Quinnie: Quite the bunch, right?

Enue: Which one of you is actually my descendant? You or Brandon? My info panel says both... but that’s impossible... right? ...right?

Quinnie: ...

Emit: Done! You can return to The Sims 4!

Enue: Wonderful! Emit, do you know what will happen to my descendants when I leave? Will they vanish too?

Emit: Hmm... I believe an alternate version of you will remain in this timeline, with adjusted memories. Time travel is complicated. Now off you go!

Emit: Farewell, crazy traveler! I’m sending you back to the exact moment you departed. Good luck, and see you in the future.

Enue hesitated as she approached the Portal. But she had to trust that Emit wouldn’t send her to The Sims Medieval this time.

Here we go. Goodbye Sims 3, hello... future...

She’s back! She actually came back!

Enue changed clothes at the inn (just in time — a storm was coming) and went to find the Emit of this timeline.

If the past Emit’s calculations were correct, she should have arrived at the exact moment she had left — meaning Emit should still be around.

Emit: Heeey! You’re back!

Enue: Youuuu...!!! You knew this would happen! You knew I’d get stuck there and spend, Watcher knows how many days, in that strange past!

Emit: But why the anger? You did come back.

Enue: And what if I hadn’t?!

Emit: But I knew the me from the past would eventually send you home.

Enue: And what was the point of it all? I didn’t catch the thief. I barely figured out how to get back. We still don’t know anything.

Emit: Don’t we? Now we know the technology works. So we can try contacting the thief. We have his email. Maybe he’ll answer.

Emit: I know you’re mad. But understand — I couldn’t explain everything before. I’ll admit, at first I didn’t recognize you, but then I remembered — you’d already traveled through the past. I realized you had to walk the same path as the Enue I knew from The Sims 3.

Emit: Anyway, I have to go now. But you should write to the thief — I think it’ll clear things up.

Enue: What? You’re leaving me? What if something else happens?

Emit: You’ll manage, crazy traveler. I believe in you. Maybe we’ll meet again someday!

Before Enue could say something, Emit vanished. All that was left was to email the thief. She received an auto reply saying the response would come via regular mail — and might already be delivered! Such a traditionalist...

She returned to San Sequoia to check the mailbox. The letter was waiting.

“Dear Enue,

I’m sorry for all the trouble. I liked your stories about the different Sims dimensions. I saw how passionately you talked about them and that you wished The Sims 4 had similar experiences. So I decided to sneak a few items into your time, so you could keep using them.”