Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

Cal woke up in his bed to his father’s call as usual. “Coming, Dad!” Cal answered loudly. He had a lot on his mind. Magic was real. He could use it, and the government was aware that it existed. That changed a lot. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about those changes yet. He spent the day on his regular day-one routine of getting the band back together.

There’s an idea for a wildly different loop, he thought. “Hey, Dad, how would you feel about starting a band and just spending this loop touring? I figure we can teach Bug to sing. Everyone will come to see a singing dog on tour.” Cal’s mood had stayed jovial throughout the whole day.

“I don’t want Bug getting into that kind of life. She’s too susceptible to bad influences.” Stan joked back.

“I am not. I am a perfectly well-behaved and studious dog. Ethel always says so. I even ask the squirrels for permission before I chase them now!”

“Bug, it’s okay. We’re just joking around. We aren’t forming a rock band, and you are a very well-behaved dog.” Cal reassured her.

“Thank you.”

*

The plan for this loop was to learn as much as they could about the cracks and rippling energy at the bottom of the cavern lake. Following that, Stan would also be eating a chunk of the brightstone to see if anything had happened to him. That meant there was no race to beat the bears and, therefore, no hurry to get to the mine. That meant Cal had plenty of time to continue practicing his rock changing, which is exactly what he wanted. He was also curious if he could attract those agents again.

This was why, several years later, Cal found himself in his backyard punching a boulder. Over the years he had been trying to both refine his ability to make shapes with it, as well as use it as forcefully as he could. So far, he had succeeded in making small geometric shapes, but the focus required to make them drained him for hours. Hitting the boulder was much less draining, but he put no control into caring how the rock moved as long as it moved away from his hand. All things considered, he’d say he was progressing well.

Cal heard a noise behind him and turned his head to look at the gate that was swinging open. “Hello, who’s there?” He called in the direction.

Three figures appeared out of nowhere, a few feet in front of him. “A rock shaper of his age? Grab him, we’ll get some nice shit for this kind of find.” Cal had a hard time making out just what the three looked like. Every time they moved, their bodies seemed to blur the area around them. They were vaguely human in shape, and the one that had spoken certainly sounded like they were human.

Cal bolted for the house as fast as he could, yelling for his father as he went. “Dad, there are three people trying to kidnap me, help!”

Within seconds of his scream, Stan came charging out the back door tackling the first one he spotted, and right behind him was Bug, who moved to put herself between the other two and Cal. She started growling menacingly.

“I'd run if I were you, Bug looks pretty pissed.” Cal looked at the two still standing as he spoke. Bug ramped up her growling to new levels.

“Fine, we’re leaving, but you aren’t going to like what comes next. This was the easy way.” Stan kicked the third one away from him. The other two grabbed him and turned back on whatever it was that allowed them to become invisible.

“House now!” Stan spat out after standing up, a look of rage still covered his face. “You have twenty minutes to pack. We need to go grab Jen & the kids and switch to the van.”

Cal saw Stan start throwing random food items from the kitchen in bags as he came back downstairs with three full duffel bags.

“I’m ready. Did you grab Bug’s food?” Cal asked his father.

“Yes. Call Ethel and Andy on the way. Ethel should probably come with us.”

“Where exactly are you planning on us going?”

“There’s a small plot of land in the UP that Jen’s father owns. I’ve been there once. It’s a bitch to get to, but it is in the middle of nowhere and a great place to lay low. Once we are up there, we fill in your stepmom and brothers on what’s going on and do our best to brainstorm about what the hell we just ran into today.”

“Dammit, Ethel, now isn’t the time to ignore the phone,” Cal muttered as he called her for the third time in a row.

“Jesus Christ, Cal, can’t an old lady have a moment of peace?” Ethel finally answered.

“Not tonight, start packing. I just had three people attack me in my backyard. They were able to turn themselves invisible, and while we fought them off, we need to disappear before they come back with more people.”

“You let them leave!? Tell Stan I said he’s too soft-hearted. Fine, I’ll see you when you get here.”

“Hey Andy, we are all going to disappear for a bit. Got attacked. Try to stay safe.” Andy didn’t answer, so Cal settled for a voicemail as they pulled into Stan’s driveway.

“No talking until we tell you to go ahead, okay Bug?” Stan looked directly at her as he spoke.

“Yes, Dad.”

“Thank you. Now stay outside and start barking if you see or smell any of those figures again.”

“Can do.”

As soon as they were through the door, Stan started shouting, “I need everyone out here right now.”

Jen Appeared first from the kitchen. “Stan, what’s up, everything okay?”

“Nope, and I promise I’ll explain everything once we are safe in the van, but right now, we all need to start packing for an extended camping trip up north. Please just trust me. We don’t have time to wait.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Cal added.

*

“This whole time, Bug could talk, and you never told us, Cal? We’re your brothers!” Chris yelled. Cal and Stan had finished their explanations, and apparently, that was the only takeaway Chris had.

“Alright, kids, It sounds like they had a good reason for this. So let’s not fight, at least until we are safely at the campsite.” Jen said.

“I don’t see why I couldn’t bring my laptop. This is going to be super boring.” Camden started complaining.

“We had to leave all electronics behind, as we don’t know what they are able to trace yet.” Stan countered moments before a pickup truck side-swiped the van.

“What the fuck? Shit, it was on purpose!” Stan screamed as another truck forced them off the road, causing the van to collide with a tree.

“Everyone just stay in the van. As long as they agree to let you all go, I’m just going to go with them.” Cal forced the dented door open and climbed out, hands in the air.

“Grab him, kill the others. This was way too public. The agency is going to be onto us, and you all know how much the bosses hate it when we clash with them,” one of the people exiting a truck ordered.

“Dammit, no, I’ll go with you, just leave them alone.”

“Yeah, that option passed when your dad broke my nose. I’ll admit I did want to take you all in for appraisal, but it’s just not worth the time now.” Several of the figures raised what looked like guns and pointed them at the van. Instead of bullets, a bright red beam was fired out of the end of each of them, and the van was reduced to a molten pile of slag.

“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!” Cal screamed as he charged across the field at them.

“No, you won’t.” Several darts hit Cal simultaneously. He felt his body get too heavy to continue moving and dropped to the ground like a stone.

*

Cal opened his eyes. He was in a dimly lit prison cell. The first thing he did was start crying. He thought he had been prepared for this level of loss, having seen his father die before. It turned out you never get used to that, though, especially watching his whole family be taken out in seconds. He fought down the tears and yelled into the darkness. “I know someone is listening. There’s no way you’d go to all the trouble to capture me and then just leave me to rot down here. So why waste time? Let’s talk.”

While Cal waited for any response, he decided the next loop had to be dedicated to finding a way to hide his abilities. He didn’t even know if it was the same people who had discovered him in the last two loops, but either way, this had to end. His family were not playthings anyone. He only had a year until this loop ended. He would make it through this and make sure the responsible parties paid, no matter how long it took.

The door opened, and a man walked in and sat down in the chair across from the cell. “Hello, Cal. I have a few questions for you.” He snapped his fingers together, and the room lit up. He had too many fingers.

“Oh fuck…” escaped Cal’s lips as he looked into the face of one of the aliens sitting across from him.

“You’ve been unconscious for several months. We’ve examined every part of you, and we still don’t understand it. Somehow, you’ve gained access to a natural mana pool connected to an Earth plane. The problem here is that the level of power you’ve developed without any infusions or training, let alone how you would have been able to get into the pool without our notice, leaves us with several questions and no answers.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What is a natural mana pool?” Cal was reasonably sure he knew the answer, but they didn’t need to know that.

“That isn’t important. Do you work for the agency?”

“Yes, and I’m sure they are on their way to rescue me right now.” By some stroke of luck, explosions started ringing out from above them as soon as Cal said that. “Told you!” Cal shouted, not wanting to waste the moment.

“Cal, if you can hear me, duck,” Cal heard Andy’s voice coming from somewhere. He hit the ground right as the door in the room was blown off its hinges. Through the smoke, Cal saw Andy and Bug on the other side of the door.

“Bug, you’re alive?” He shouted from the ground.

“Not for long,” the alien responded, quickly pressing several buttons on a device in his hand.