30th of Season of Fire, 160th year of the 32nd cycle

  “Follow me.” Dandelion led the way through the jungle, heading west. “We should move as quickly as possible. We could in theory run deeper into the jungle, but that would have unknown consequences, and I dislike dealing with the unknown when I can’t change it.”

  “What? Why?”

  “If I die before being alive for two weeks, that’s it, game over. And for game over, I need to kill the outer god. I should be able to, but I can’t guarantee it. Right, you should avoid seers. They have some connection to the outer gods. One of them saw me years ago, but luckily, that one just dropped dead before alerting anyone.”

  “You’re not making any sense!” Newt shouted behind him, struggling to keep up, despite all the advantages he held over his other peers.

  “Life doesn’t make any sense if you ask me.”

  “Dandelion! Can you act seriously?”

  “I’m afraid, Newstar.” Dandelion lowered his voice. “I’m afraid. I’m frivolous and weak, and I know what sort of hell awaits once I’m done with my final loop. Worse, I can’t guess what kind of hell awaits you here if I make a mistake and that thing survives. You’re strong, and you’ll be stronger, but I don’t think you can compete with a god. I know you could’ve handled it if I hadn’t gotten involved, but now, now I don’t know. I gave them too much of an advantage.”

  Newt frowned. He had no clue what Dandelion was talking about.

  “I’ve reset the timeline a lot of times. Each time I do, they catch a glimpse of the future, one hundred and sixty years. The attack on your order, and Maelstrom’s folks, and a whole lot of others happened because the outer gods found immediate threats and removed them. I fight the abominations, but I’ve helped them pave the way. There was an alchemist. He should’ve made a potion, perhaps multiple potions that would increase the odds of awakening and give people an extra shot at it even if they failed.”

  Dandelion grew silent.

  “They killed him. Wiped out his entire family, killed their cats and dogs, salted the ground. That’s a figure of speech, by the way. You don’t have cats and dogs here, and I don’t think the Bone Cult salted anything.”

  “Dandelion,” Newt interrupted his friend once Dandelion started rambling. “Why are we running towards the Tidebreakers?”

  “I want to show you something, and you need to see where I’m going to bury something for you next loop.”

  It took less than an hour for them running full speed to reach the site of the battle the Tidebreakers had fought. A familiar seal decorated the ground, dessicated bodies impaled on long stakes, arranged in a ritual circle.

  Newt stumbled when he recognized Maelstrom.

  “They didn’t make it this time,” Dandelion grumbled, not a trace of shock or anger. “This is the curse I’m telling you about. The last time the cultists attacked the Tidebreakers, Maelstrom survived, but you died. Even if she hadn’t seen me, that would’ve been hint enough for her.”

  “How… Why are you so calm?” Newt’s guts roiled.

  “I’ll save her next time,” Dandelion said calmly. “But I won’t be able to help you. You can handle them if you spend the night setting up proper seals. I’d aim for high instantaneous damage, forsaking everything else. Dreadfire seal perhaps. You know how to scribe one?”

  Dandelion turned around to find Newt retching into a bush.

  “Maelstrom had a similar reaction when she saw you impaled like that. She really cares about you, despite the way she acts.”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “She’s dead!” Newt screamed while wiping his mouth. “Stop rambling!”

  “Identical reaction. I’ll tell you the same thing I told her - She’s gonna be fine in the end. Now, you focus, please. We need to cover what you need to know about the cultists and the outer gods. In a different world, the humans invited the outer gods by abusing magic and making a spell which contained a speck of the divine.”

  “Dandelion,” Newt said, tears running down his cheeks. “Not now, please, not now.”

  Dandelion stared at him. “Fine, take an hour to collect yourself. Don’t touch anything. We don’t know what abilities the outer god has, and we don’t understand the seal—What did I just tell you!”

  While Dandelion was talking, Newt moved the ground beneath Maelstrom’s stake.

  “I’m going to give her a proper burial.” Newt looked up at Dandelion, half expecting an angry outburst, but the man just nodded in understanding.

  “You’re a good man, Newstar.” Dandelion sighed. “A bit dumb, but a good man.”

  Newt had an hour of silence to bury and mourn Maelstrom. He used the time to gather his wits and come to terms with what was happening.

  “So, the cults serve these outer gods. They offer them sacrifices and in return they get power. You’re something between a human and an outer god, and you possess the recently deceased to fight them across different worlds?”

  “I think I prefer to think of myself as a human evolving towards godhood. Your way of saying it makes it sound like I’m from a Greek myth, but yes, I’m somewhere between a human and an outer god, hopefully strong enough to kill one.”

  Dandelion spoke with patience, which made Newt realize that no matter how calm he thought he was, he was still seething inside.

  “You could’ve saved her, couldn’t you?”

  Dandelion’s face was serious, his voice firmer than it had been just a moment ago. “And I will save you, both of you. She already knows. We have spoken in the previous loop, and now I have to inform you, to let you know everything you will need to win. And even then it might not be enough. Do you follow?”

  Newt nodded. His insides were knotted, while he could understand what Dandelion was saying as a concept, bending his mind to accept it was a different matter. With Maelstrom dead, burned for fuel in a Blood Cult’s ritual, it was next to impossible.

  “Can we get revenge?” He voiced the one track of his thoughts that still worked.

  “Sure. You destroy the cultists, kill their gods, and make sure you live with Maelstrom happily ever after. And just so you know, you two are really alike. The conversation I had with her was more or less exactly the same as this one. Some minor differences here and there. She held your body in her arms for a while, instead of just burying it with mana.”

  “How can you say that?” Newt snapped.

  “It happened.” Dandelion shrugged. “Past is what it is, especially the nebulous past that isn’t yet set in stone. I remember, two lifetimes ago, my daughter fell off a tree and broke her neck. I was a king, ruled the world, discussed it with my wife, then killed myself to save our little bundle of joy. Caught her just before she hit the ground to give her a good scare and teach her never to do that again. That’s when I got to intervene. Sometimes I didn’t. Lost two sons in wars. The first one, the enemy thought it would break my resolve. It didn’t. The news arrived too late, so I broke their everything.”

  Dandelion shook his head, sorrow entering his eyes.

  “After that all conquest by my children was more or less a game. Tough negotiations paid by soldiers’ lives. Until a stray arrow hit my boy. The enemy surrendered, and they handled the entire squadron of archers on their own, since they didn’t know whose stray arrow had killed my fool of a son, a general who had decided to charge the walls bravely along with his soldiers. What kind of commander does that?”

  Suddenly, Dandelion straightened, snapped back to reality. He looked Newt in the eye.

  “I understand loss better than you do. I’ve experienced death more gruesome than you ever did, and I remember them, so believe me, I understand your burden. We can only hope yours will be temporary, but that will depend on how we play the outer god. It would be easy if you could just leave now and hide. I can just show you where I will bury my spatial pouch for you to find, and you can read everything I have prepared there for my eventual demise. But we need you to remember this, and that means you have to stick with me until the end.”

  Half-listening, Newt suddenly realized something. “What about Maelstrom’s grandfather? What about her protective amulet?”

  “It only works through an unbroken line of snow, ice, or water connecting them. I asked her last loop.” Dandelion cracked his knuckles. “It’s odd. I still find it odd that the imperials have insisted on you and her by name, as well as some of the others. If not for the obvious proof of conflict between the cults and the imperials throughout the ages, I would’ve thought they were working together. I just can’t believe the imperials are willing to risk so many valuable targets just for bait, then again, perhaps that’s what they wanted the cultists to think, too.”

  “Why didn’t the cults send someone at a higher realm? Why not send exalts after us?”

  Dandelion laughed.

  “You have a really high opinion of yourself, don’t you? Come on, follow me. We’ve dallied here long enough. I have to show where I’m going to plant the pouch.”