Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

“Cal wake up.”

Cal jumped out of bed startled. “What? Who’s there?” He called into the darkness.

“Sorry, that was me.” the small electric spirit appeared before him. “I need to get to work on the doorway to my realm, we decided it was best I got first and the void spirit goes last. I just wanted to make sure you knew what I was doing before your dad woke you up this time.”

“Thanks, I appreciate the warning. Alright I’ll go start breakfast and take care of my first week routine. Will you be ready to go by then?”

“I think so, I’m doing this all from instinct, so I’m only mostly sure.”

“Well, I think you can do it, if that helps at all.”

“It does.” The spirit glowled strongly.

*

“Cal, I think I’m done.” The spirit appeared in front of Cal’s dinner.

“Alright, let me finish off my dinner and I’ll join you in my room. Do I need to bring anything?”

“No, everything we need will be there when we arrive.”

“Great.” Cal quickly finished off his meatloaf and potatoes, he really wanted to know what a world of electricity was like. For one thing was it a whole world or was it just a contained area? The amount of questions he asked had grown a lot since these loops started.

“So where is…” Cal’s question cut off as he looked in his room. He had been about to ask where the entrance was, but it was obvious. There was a yellow crack running down the wall beside his bed. “Nevermind, I assume I just touch the crack. I won’t explode again will I?”

“Not immediately no, but the spirits and I consider it a long term possibility, that that is how the loop terminates again.”

“Hrm, well I don’t like that, but who am I to deprive you of a name?” He touched the crack not expecting an answer and felt himself drawn through it. Unlike last time he emerged into a world of light and noise. The air was alive with a thrum of not quite music, but it was still enchanting to hear. Different colored energy streams moved across the landscape creating something rivaling any firework display. Cal took two steps forward and felt his legs give out as he crashed to the ground.

“Oh no.” The small spirit had appeared behind him. “The energy is building in you again. Let me see if I can do anything to contain it.” they disappeared into Cal, reappearing shortly after. “We’ve managed to stem the energies somewhat, this should give us some time to explore and discover who I am, but I don’t know how long we will be able to hold against the tide.”

Cal grunted, getting to his feet. “Don’t worry about it, let’s just use the time we have to explore and see what we see. Is this you or a realm that represents you?”

“That’s hard to answer. I think it’s both. I believe what we see is a representation of me, but the realm itself is me and will grow as my power increases. This small little rift has the potential to one day be its own universe with completely different rules from the one I was born in. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Yes I think it is very wonderful” Cal smiled down at the spirit. “I want to see where the loudest humming is coming from, it almost sounds like music.” They began heading in what they guessed was the direction of the song. With every step Cal took the ground around his feet buzzed and sent sparks into the air that burst into a multitude of colors.

“It’s too bad I can’t stay long, this is one of the most amazing things I’ve seen, which is saying a lot considering my life.”

“I’m glad you like it. I was worried about how I’d manifest.” They neared the source of the humming and stopped so Cal could look around.

“I think I see it. There’s a small pool on the other side of these plants, at least I think they are plants.”

“They are. These are energy trees, my natural essence gives them their form and they grow tall and stronger as I do.” The spirit flew over the trees while Cal navigated through them.

He spotted what he thought was a small pool once through, and while it resembled a natural mana well, he wasn’t sure it was full of water in this realm. It looked more like tiny lightning bolts zipping from one side to the other over and over.

“What’s this?” He called to the spirit.

“Oh my gosh, I already have one? That’s a proto well. Those are all little baby electric spirts that will one day grow big enough to spread out into other worlds and become their own wells. Look at how little they are, aren’t they adorable?” The spirit danced up and down through the air.

“So I think step one in figuring out just who you are. How do you feel inside? Would you like to be called he, or she, or something else?” Cal was hoping they had some sort of inner revelation, as he could feel the energy still building within him. He didn’t want the spirit trapped here without an identity if he burst before this was done. It was far too nice for that.

“Let’s go with she, that seems right to me.” She answered, glowing a shade of green as she did.

“Great, well ma’am, would you like to continue our tour of you? There looked to be some kind of light show in the other direction.”

“Yes, Absolutely.” And she flew off in the direction Cal had indicated, with Cal chasing after her.

“Look Cal up in the sky, there are so many colors.”

This was the show he had first spotted, but now it was much closer and more vibrant than before. He was experiencing colors he had no words for and as he watched the colors morph into new forms as they grew and shrank across the sky the perfect name for the spirit hit him.

“How do you feel about the name Bolt?” He asked her.

“Like a lightning bolt? That’s neat, I like it.”

“Well then welcome to the universe Bolt. I’m happy to have you in it.” His words triggered a literal flight of fancy from her as she danced around the skies joining in the color show.

“So what do we do now?” Cal called up to her.

“Oh yeah, I suppose we better finish before you go kaboom.” She flew down towards the center of her realm.

Cal ran to join her. “Yeah I can feel it growing inside of me, so we should probably go as quickly as we can.”

“We are actually done, I feel myself radiating within you, but I was hoping to invite my friends out for a quick hug before we call this a true success.”

“Go for it.”

“You heard him, get your butts out here, I want my hug.”

The remaining two spirits appeared and floated gently towards Bolt.

“It’s very bright here. It suits you well.”

“Yeah, how big is it anyway, are there any caves under the ground?”

“It’s about a square mile, and there aren’t any yet, but I bet one day we will link our realms together, maybe a nice deep cave with some electric eels to symbolize our friendship.”

“Oh that sounds nice. Hmm for us, could we do something like a starry night?”

“Yes. I’m afraid my friends, it looks like we have to make this short, so one quick hug please.” She pointed at Cal as she motioned them closer. He was glowing brighter by the second.

The bright white explosion swallowed the spirits in their group hug.