Time Looped

Dead goblins covered the bathroom floor. Even more were pinned lifelessly to the walls. Sadly, despite the many killed, three remained alive, standing above Helen’s lifeless body.

For several seconds, Will stood there, his mind unable to comprehend what his eyes were seeing. There was no way Helen could be killed. As a knight, fighting was her element. She had undoubtedly proved it by dispatching all the creatures that lay scattered about, and still they had managed to get to her.

Before he could realize what was going on, Jace rushed by him into the room. One of the goblins tried to turn around, only to get a dish in the face, sending it flying straight into the bathroom window.

“Fuck!” the jock swore, gripping his hand. As much pain as his punch had caused, he felt as if he’d received twice more in return. It was as if the creature he was fighting was made from stone.

The remaining two goblins snarled. Finished with their initial prey, they turned their attention to Jace, swinging at him with their knives. One of the weapons struck the jock’s thigh, sending him to the ground convulsing in agony. Coincidentally, it was this that snapped Will back to reality. Taking advantage of the fact that they weren’t paying attention to him, he rushed in, striking the nearest creature on the back of the neck. The method had worked fine a while ago, but this time he had the misfortune of hitting the goblin at the top of the spine. Lacking strength of accuracy, the tip of the blade pierced the skin, causing some significant discomfort, but failed to do much more.

With a scream, the target of the attack turned around. Eyes glared at the boy, conveying dozens of threats and curses in fractions of a second.

Still gripping the knife, the boy stepped back into the hallway. Losing the element of surprise, he had a pretty good idea of how this would end. There remained a one in a hundred chance that he might evade the goblin’s next attack, but even if he did, it wasn’t like he could kill it off, or rush to his mirror to get the rogue class.

“Why did you appear here?” he wondered, as he continued stepping back.

The goblins didn’t bother answering. No longer viewing Jace as a threat, both charged at Will, snarling as they did. The front one struck, aiming for the boy’s chest. The tip of the knife split the air, far too fast for Will to react, but just before it hit him, something caused the goblin to freeze in place.

Did that just happen? Part of the boy’s mind wondered. The rest instinctively made him swing his own knife, this time striking the side of the creature. The familiar disgusting gurgle followed.

“Lit hit!” Alex appeared out of nowhere.

“Huh?” Will looked at his friend. “Where were you?”

“Usual. Get my class, level up, get the notes from Mister June and the harpy…”

“You what? Why the heck will you do that now?!”

To Will’s annoyance, the goofball only shrugged.

“Tradition, bro,” he said with a smile. “Is cool, bro. Things are cool.”

Looking at the situation, things seemed anything but “cool.” The school was already starting to panic. The coach and a few more teachers were visible at the far end of the hallway, rushing in order to find out what was going on. News of the goblins had probably spread all over social media at this point. It wouldn’t be long before police, firefighters, and all the local media arrived to ask questions.

Meanwhile, Helen was dead and Jace wished he were.

“Time to rush, bro,” Alex said.

“What about Jace and Helen?”

“We’ll see them in eight minutes.”

Eight minutes… that meant that the entire goblin encounter had taken less than two. With all the adrenaline, Will felt that hours had passed.

As Will followed Alex to the exit, possibilities ran through his mind. If he had taken the rogue skill, maybe things would have been different. He’d have dealt with the creatures, that was for certain, possibly fast enough to help Helen before she was killed. Jace wouldn’t have had to step in and break his hand. The scene of panic, though, wouldn’t have been avoided, or would it?

In the background, several of the corpses had already turned transparent. In a matter of minutes, they would have vanished completely, just as the wolves did once they had been defeated.

Sirens sounded as the boys left the building. Naturally, there was yet a school announcement to be made. For some reason, people had a harder time accepting that goblins were real than wolves running down the hallways.

“What happened?” Will asked as the pair rushed across the street. “Were they supposed to appear like that?”

“No clue, bro. First time for me.”

The calmness with which he said it made the statement sound disingenuous.

“Danny didn’t say anything about them?”

“Maybe.” Alex glanced over his shoulder. “He said there were more than wolves a week before he died.”

The running turned to walking. Not long after, they were at their usual coffee shop, drinking cocoa. Several police cars had already reached the school. Even the local news channel had picked up the story, spinning all sorts of theories on what had actually happened. Not even overenthusiastic reporters dared mention the notion of disappearing goblins, so theyw ere keeping things simultaneously vague and ominous enough to increase their audience.

Will checked his phone. Two minutes remained until eight.

“Was it a mistake making her the key holder?” the boy asked, stirring his drink without as much as a sip.

“Girl’s a knight,” Alex replied, as if that explained it all. One had to admit that she had killed a lot more than Will, Jace, and the goofball combined.

“Did any of them jump out of your mirror?”

“Nah.”

“They must appear only when they see the key holder.” Just like wolves in corners. “Why the starting mirror, though?”

“Bro, eternity is…” Alex waved his hands about as if preparing for an incantation in a children’s show. “… eternity. No one knows. Shit happens.”

Will stopped stirring his drink. The liquid continued to twirl on its own.

“How do you manage?” He looked at the goofball. “Weirdness left and right and you’re calm as a champ.”

“Sigma chad, bro,” the other laughed. “Nah, you’ll get there in a few thousand loops. Not much new.”

“The goblins were new,”

“Used to newness.” Alex laughed, then chucked down the cocoa as if it were water, making even the barista wince. “Helen was new,” he added. “You too, bro.”

“Yes, we’re all new compared to you.”

“True that!”

The conversation was an exercise in uselessness, yet it had managed to provide enough calm for Will to start thinking about the problem at hand. Philosophical ponderings aside, they had been given a task with no obvious solution to complete. Last loop, Will was wondering how many loops it would take them to defeat the boss. Now, he wasn’t even sure they could deal with the initial wave of goblins.

“Can I have another, bro?” the goofball yelled at the barista.

“Shouldn’t you be at school?” the man asked, but took his cup and went for a refill.

“Nah. Big oof at school today. Won’t be over till noon.”

Everything considered that wasn’t far from the truth. It wouldn’t be a surprise if school was canceled for an entire week until enough people from enough institutions had done a thorough investigation. From their perspective, something weird had happened a week after the unusual suicide of a student. As far as the world outside the loops was concerned, there was a chance that both events were somehow connected. Speeches would be made, psychologists hired. The entire school would get sessions scheduled with Mister June to discuss what would be considered the most important topic of the day. Helen’s family would go in mourning and hold a small service, then after a few weeks, things would return to normal.

Suddenly, a terrifying idea crossed Will’s mind. What if there was another pause in eternity? The girl had claimed that Daniel was on track to find a way out of the game, then he had died and the cycle of loops was broken until Will had taken his place.

“Did Danny say anything about being a key holder?” the boy asked, checking the time on his phone. Seventeen seconds remained till the end of the loop.

“Nah, bro. Told you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yup, bro. Why?”

“What if Helen’s dead?”

“Hey, don’t worry, bro. Happens. I’ve been dead plenty of times.”

“Dead dead!” Will all but shouted. “We chose her to be the key holder. What if it was our task to protect the key holder while she unlocks the mirrors and finds the boss?”

Several seconds passed with both Alex and Will looking at each other motionless, as if someone had transformed them into a pair of statues.

“Big oof,” the goofball said at last. That was something new that he hadn’t seen coming.

If Will’s suspicion was true, that meant that everything that had occurred today would remain unchanged until another participant was found.

“Sorry about this, but how exactly will you be paying?” the barista asked, placing the full mug of coco in front of Alex.

“Cash, bro,” the boy reached into his pocket.

“Cash?” The barista gave him a suspicious look. In general, the coffee shop accepted cash, even coins. That was part of its charm. Having a school student pay with cash so readily did raise a few red flags, though. “I thought all of you used phones.”

“Nah, bro. Left my wallet in my other phone.”

Before the man could get to make a comment on the topic, the loop ended.

Restarting eternity.

Quickly, quickly!

Will pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly typed in Helen’s number. After the entire Danny file debacle, he had learned it by heart. This time, he wasn’t going to send a text, going directly for a call.

“Where are you?” He looked around. Normally, this was the time about which Jess and her friend would pass by and greet him with a random insult. For some reason, that hadn’t happened.

It’s a reset, he told himself. A new loop started, so it had to be a reset. That meant that Helen had to be alive and everything that happened ten minutes ago—goblins, death, and all—was nothing but a memory. And yet the girl refused to respond.

Pick up! Pick up! Pick up!

The call got declined. Will stared at the screen of his phone, uncertain how to react. Of all the times he’d phoned Helen after joining eternity, she hadn’t hung up on him once. Refusing to accept defeat, he quickly redialed and put his phone against his ear, as if that might increase his chances of success.

“What?” Helen asked in a rather annoyed tone.

Thank goodness, the boy let out a mental sign of relief. She was alive, at least.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“I’m in the hallway, right about to—”

“Don’t go in!” he interrupted. “Stay where you are and I’ll be there in a sec!”

“Why not?”

That wasn’t a question he wanted to hear. Keeping his phone between his head and his shoulder, Will rushed into the school, running towards the boy’s bathroom.

“Don’t you remember what happened yesterday?” he asked.

“Of course, I remember. Why do you think I—”

“Running in the hallways, Stone?” the massive figure of the coach asked, blocking Will’s bath.

The boy swallowed. He definitely didn’t remember this part. Normally, the coach would be gone by this time, off to have his shouting session with the football team. The fact that he wasn’t meant that something had changed. Seeing Helen a short distance away, giving him an annoyed glare, phone in hand, told him that she might have been the cause.

“I need to go, coach!” The boy feigned urgency and rushed by the coach.

The large man made a halfhearted attempt to stop him, but not really. As someone who had experienced similar situations, he empathized with the need to go to the toilet. Still, since his public image was on display, he diplomatically waited for Will to enter the boy’s bathroom, then went on a mini tirade about how it was proper to take care of bodily functions before going to school and not relying on finding a bathroom at the last minute. No one in the hallway paid much attention, which only gave the man the excuse to turn around and continue in the direction he had originally been heading before all this.

Meanwhile, Will went through the standard mirror sequence in the bathroom, tapping all of them in the known order. Messages appeared and disappeared, but he didn’t even read them. Taking advantage of the rogue’s reaction speed, he rushed out into the corridor again. The moment he did, the phone in his ear gave off the familiar sound indicating that the person on the other end had ended the call.

“Well?” Helen asked.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” The boy smiled, then looked at the door to the girl’s bathroom. “Haven’t been there, right?”

“No.” Helen crossed her arms, still a bit suspicious.

“Let me borrow the knight for this loop, okay?”

Not waiting for an answer, Will rushed in. There was no sign of the goblins, nor thankfully, anyone else. The mirrors acted as normal, reflecting everything opposite them, just like any mirror would. Taking a deep breath, the boy tapped every mirror in turn, then ran to the exit, expecting a swarm of goblins to emerge. They didn’t.

I was right, he thought. Suddenly, his phone pinged.

U ok?

The message appeared. Will was just about to answer when he had a better idea, tapping on the video call icon. To little surprise, Helen accepted.

“Any goblins?” she asked, remaining in voice only.

“Not for now. Go full video.”

Helen’s profile picture changed, displaying her face.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Hold there for a moment.” He pointed the screen of the phone at one of the mirrors. There was a moment of tenseness, though it was soon gone as nothing happened. Apparently, the key holder had to be in front of a mirror in person in order for the effect to be triggered.

“Nice try. Want me to come in?”

“No. Call the others. We’re going to the coffee shop. I have an idea.”