The Extinction Trials

by A.G. Riddle

Life had taught Owen the value of time. How precious it was. How quickly things changed.

“Often, in life, the most obvious path is not the right one.”

And there’s a lesson there: we don’t always remember people—or what they do to us—but we remember how they make us feel. We’re emotional beings, and I believe that is how our memories are stored—and often how we form our opinions.”

But time marches on, a sea that we swim in for a short while, a force that drowns us all in the end. The central question of our life is this: how will we spend our time? Will we invest it in a better future for those that come after us? What will we pass down—like the pocket watch? A better future? Or a darker one? It seems we’ve woken to the darkest era in human history. What comes next, we decide. And we have one thing at our disposal: time. We say that we spend time for a reason—time is a currency. In the end, it’s the only currency that matters.”

In life, negative feedback has one role: as clues to greater success. If one can’t act on negative feedback to improve, the most appropriate action is very simple: nothing.

“It comes down to faith, doesn’t it? Just like my job some days. You go into a dangerous and unpredictable situation, and you’re not sure what’s going to happen, but you keep going because that’s the only thing you can do.”

A fire starts with a spark. A spark gives rise to a flame, a flame becomes a blaze, a blaze an inferno, and finally a wildfire that cannot be stopped. That’s what bad thoughts do to our minds. They begin as a spark—a tiny thought that grows. If that thought gets enough oxygen, it can lead a person to ruin.