Time Looped

After facing an “elite” monster—as Alex had referred to it—the janitor’s storeroom posed no challenge whatsoever. Helen and the goofball resolved everything on their own without resorting to the assistance of Will’s new weapon. The resulting reward boosted Helen’s level by one more.

Of the remaining eight rooms, nothing revealed anything significant. After searching thoroughly for two hours, the group reached a consensus to leave them for later. If the boss didn’t appear after clearing the last room, they’d go back and search again.

“I feel we’re forgetting something,” Will said as they stood at the bottom of the staircase

“One hidden, one normal, and one corner.” The goofball raised three fingers. “For eleven rooms. There’s sixty-nine, so everything’s lit.”

“I know, but…” the numbers made sense.

Going by that, there were supposed to be five more wolf rooms, six elites, and about as many goblin mirrors. Everything was neatly structured, just as it would be in a game. And here lay Will’s concerns. It was too tidy.

“I think we should stop here,” he said. “We won’t have enough time to search everything, and I’m not sure when my loop will end.

“Sadge.” Alex shook his head. “How about one more floor?”

“This isn’t a sprint.” Helen frowned at him.

“Oh, come on.” Alex waved about. “Just one more? Don’t leave me hanging.”

“Know something we don’t, muffin boy?” Jace crossed his arms.

“I want to see Will try out the dagger,” the other said without hesitation. “I just gotta know how OP it is.” He grinned like a child in a game shop.

“You’ll see tomorrow,” Will said.

“For real, bro? Can’t I have dessert without finishing my greens?”

Every instinct told Will that he should just ignore him and wait for the loop to end. Yet, his goofy friend had managed to sow the seed of curiosity within him. It would be useful to see what the dagger was capable of. A few more rooms weren’t going to hurt. It wasn’t like they’d make the loop end any slower.

“Fine,” he said with overstressed reluctance. “A few more rooms. But that’s it!” He had no intention of playing the never ending “one more” game.

The group went up the stairs to the first floor. They’d already been through the bathrooms, so the logical thing was to continue onwards towards the nurse’s office, checking the classrooms on the way.

Weapons at the ready, Will, Jace, And Helen turned in one direction. Alex, surprisingly, went the opposite way.

“Wrong way, muffin boy,” Jace smirked.

“Nuh-uh, bro.” Alex shook his head. “We gotta recheck the starting rooms.”

“Are you stupid? We’ve already been there!”

“Yeah, but you saw that things change when sis is around.”

“Alex…” Helen stepped in. “Didn’t you say that the point was to see the poison dagger in action?” She began in an overly calm fashion, as if she were a kindergarten teacher. “It doesn’t matter which room we start with, as long as we find a mirror.”

Just to prove her point, she went to the nearest classroom door.

“We might just as well start—” she opened the door.

Spikes shot out from the crack, puncturing the girl’s body. There was no warning, no chance to react, just one lethal attack that ended everything.

Tutorial failed.

Restarting eternity.

“No!” Will moved his hand back, ready to throw his dagger at whatever had attacked Helen. The problem was that neither it nor Helen were there anymore. In their place, the familiar school entrance loomed.

More concerning, the only thing in his hand was air.

“Nice moves, weirdo,” Jess scoffed as she passed by with Ely. A few more people let out a chuckle. They couldn’t imagine what had just happened and were a lot better for it.

“Damn it,” Will whispered beneath his breath. The reset had removed the adrenalin from his body, though not the memories of what had happened.

Once second; that was all it had taken since the opening of the door to the monster killing Helen. There could be no doubt that it was an elite, possibly the source of the second weapon. How was it possible for it to be so strong? The knight was the strongest of the four classes. Adding to that, Helen had raised it to level four. With its skills and her loop experience, she should have been able to offer at least some resistance. And yet—

“Will!” Alex came rushing to him. “You okay, bro?”

“I…” There was no correct way to answer. This wasn’t the first time he had seen people die in a loop. It wasn’t even the first time a loop had been cut short. And at the same time, he felt as if he’d walked headfirst into an invisible barrier. “What happened?”

“No idea, bro.” Alex shrugged. “Only caught a glimpse.”

“It was so fast…”

“For real.”

More people gathered, glancing at Will and Alex as they passed by. In their minds, the two were discussing some new computer game or other geeky topic. One unfortunate boy almost bumped into them as he ran by, trying to increase the distance from his mother’s car as quickly as possible. Sadly for him, the woman’s wave from the window rendered all his efforts useless.

“Let’s go inside.” Will went towards the entrance. “We need to talk with the rest.”

To their surprise, Helen wasn’t waiting at the entrance of the girl’s bathroom. Instead, she had directly gone to the arts room to open the windows. Without a word, Will and Alex joined in to help. It was only when Jace arrived that the first words were muttered.

“That was vicious,” the jock said, rushing into the classroom. “It didn’t even wait for the door to open!”

All but Helen looked at him.

“Next time, we’ll have to—”

“Close the door,” Helen interrupted.

“Don’t you usually do that?” He looked at her, puzzled.

“I didn’t get my class,” she provided all the explanation that was necessary.

From what it seemed, this was going to be a simple, non-eventful ten-minute loop.

While Jace jammed a chair against the door, Will went to Daniel’s desk. Sketches and scribbles covered the wooden surface as always, and not one of them provided any hint of what had happened. For all that the previous rogue had discovered in the past, the group had ventured into new territory.

Alex was the first to join in, casually tossing a muffin into his mouth as he sat on the desk next to Will. Helen followed, turning the chair in front to face him.

“So, what was it?” Alex asked, as Jace checked his barricade of the door. “What did you see?”

“I’m not sure,” the girl replied. “It was fast. That’s all I know. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“The room was empty, so it had to be a hidden mirror,” Will said. “We can check it next loop during the day.”

“Yeah? But what is it?” The jock finally joined them. “I thought only goblins were activated on sight.”

“Definitely wasn’t a goblin.” Will looked at one of the drawings on the desk. “And can’t be a wolf. It must be something new.” He tapped on the wooden surface with his finger. “We’ll need to start making a map. If the second threat is this strong, it’ll take us more than a few tries to complete the tutorial.”

“Fail.” The goofball chewed on his muffin. “Doesn’t work like that, bro. Not unless you get a permanent skill.”

Will’s glance slid along the desk. Daniel must have gotten lucky. There was no other way the scribbles on his desk would remain. Helen had insisted that he had jotted them down before her loop so she could catch up, but Will knew that to be a lie. The sketches had been done in layers with new bits of information being written over old. Even if one assumed that the loops didn’t start at the same time, Daniel wouldn’t bother arranging them in that fashion.

The boy slid his fingers along the drawing of a wolf. He could feel how old that had been, scribbled with a ballpoint pen. The lyrics of a song had been added later, covering part of the wolf’s tail, then a series of numbers that still meant nothing.

“Any new hints on the fragment?” He turned to Helen.

“Nothing useful. I checked,” the girl replied. “Our score’s better, but we’re still in last place. The rest is the same old hints.”

“Then we’ll have to remember it ourselves.”

“Seriously, Stoner? How hard could it be? We know this place by heart. The basement was the only place I haven’t been to and we’ve done that.”

“Do you remember how to get back home?” Will snapped.

“You think I’m dumb?!” Jace shouted at him.

“I don’t!”

The change in tone made the jock shut up.

“I don’t remember how many loops I’ve been through. I don’t remember how to get home. I don’t even remember what I had for breakfast before I set off, what argument I had with my parents. I don’t remember anything that happened yesterday—the real yesterday.” He slammed his fist on the desk. “I don’t even remember all my loops.” He looked at Alex and Helen in turn. “I’m sure they don’t, either.”

Judging by the silence, Will had guessed correctly.

“Sure, we’ll remember the next ten tries, maybe the hundred next. But what if we don’t complete the tutorial by then?” he continued. “Daniel knew more about eternity than all of us and even he resorted to reminders.”

At the mention of that, Helen’s eyes widened in shock.

“Yes,” Will caught the change in her impression. “I don’t think he scribbled on the desk to help you catch up. Either of you. He did it so he could remember.”

“No way, bro.” Alex shook his head. “He was lit. Even I remember most of the stuff. The size of our zone, the location of the mirrors—”

“All the people you’ve spoken with?” Will interrupted.

There was no answer.

“You try to remember. That’s why you follow the same routine even when you don’t have to. You’re afraid you’ll start forgetting the important stuff, so you do it over and over again each loop.”

“What’s up with you, Stoner?” Jace grabbed Will by the shoulder. “You’re the last one that should be complaining. Everything went your way! You even got a special weapon. So don’t you dare have a fucking breakdown on us!”

“It doesn’t feel the same!” Will shouted.

Outside people had started slamming on the door. Attempts to open it had failed, catching the attention of the coach. It wasn’t going to be long before he tried to break in using more forceful means.

“Oh, and that dagger you’re so envious of? It never crossed the loop.” He showed his hands. “So, no, I’m not overreacting!”

The banging on the door intensified as the coach tried to push his way in. Jace’s barricade held, though.

“Ooof!” Alex hit his head. “We must complete the tutorial to keep the loot,” he said. “Just like in the games. Once we defeat the final boss, we keep everything we found.”

Will didn’t like the sound of that. It meant that they’d have to face the snake once more, and that was by no means an easy win.

“We take out all the wolves first,” Jace said. “That way, we level up to the max and take on the snake. Then we see.”

“Nah, bro. We take the snake early,” the goofball countered. “It’ll be a lot easier with the knife.”

“What do we need the knife for? We’ve got your traps. We take them out one by one easily, then get the dagger.”

“We make a map first,” Will said with determination, bringing an end to the argument. “There’s still a lot of guessing. What if there are hidden mirrors in wolf rooms? Or we face wolves and goblins together?” All but Helen looked away. “We go through the school, a floor at a time. When we’re certain we know everything about a section, we move on.”

“I agree with Will,” the girl voiced her support. “Just this time, take adequate equipment.”

“There was nothing wrong with the equipment,” Jace muttered beneath his breath. “So, tomorrow we do the first floor?”

“No, we start from the basement again,” Will said. “I want to be sure that our win wasn’t a fluke. And also, if we’ll get the dagger again.”

The door opened a fraction. Jace’s effort had not proved enough to stop the coach. With seconds remaining in the loop, it didn’t particularly matter. Soon enough, all but the group would forget everything that had happened.

“And we stick together,” Will added. “Just like last loop.”

“For sure, bro!” Alex made a high-five sign.

“Worry about doing your part, Stoner.” Jace crossed his arms.

Will looked at Helen to see how she’d react. Just as her mouth opened, everything disappeared.

Restarting eternity.