The girls said nothing, shocked at the revelation that Arden had been the one to start the time loop. Fear and doubt swirled around their minds like a miasma.

  Had he always known that he was the reason for it? Did he intend to cause it from the start? And if so, why?

  The BOUNDARY put their worries to rest.

  “REDS|HIFT // DID |NOT MEAN // FOR| THIS TO HAP|PEN.”

  “HE // IS A|S SHOCKED // AS THE R|EST OF // YOU.

  The envoy wiped away golden tears that fell from its face. They were quickly replaced with more.

  “GU|ILT // FL|OWS // FR|EE|LY.

  “HE| DOES // N|OT UNDERSTAND // HOW |IT H|APPENED.”

  “B|UT // HE D|OES // UNDERSTAND THAT IT HAPP|ENED // BECAUSE OF| HIM.

  “YO|U // FEARED L|OSING // YOUR REDS|HIFT.

  “NOW| HE /// |FEARS LOSING YOU.

  “ALL // OF // YOU.

  “How…How did he do it?” Vera asked.

  “FIR|ST // ITERA|T|ION”

  “EVE|RYONE // FELL”

  “DEVO|URED ACAUSA|L // PARASITE AS |HE DIED.”

  “WISHE|D THAT HIS // |TIME WITH EVERYONE TO // |NOT END.”

  “PAR|ADOX RESPO|NDED.”

  “The spark responded to his dying wish?” Sya asked.

  “AFFI|RMATION.”

  “NO |TIME // TO G|RIEVE // NOW.”

  “PA|RADOX ENERGY| // RESIDE|S IN // YOUR RE|DSHIFT.”

  “WHEN THIS // END|S // ACAUSAL PARASITE WI|LL // |COME FOR YOU.”

  “WILL| |COME // FO|R PARADOX ENERG|Y.”

  “LA|ST // C|HANCE.”

  “LAST // ITERATION.”

  “SLA|Y PARASI|TE NO|W // O|R BE SLAIN.”

  “BOUNDARY // REMAI|NS IN PLACE // FOR TH|E EQUIVALENT OF // 300 |SECONDS.”

  “AFTER THA|T // YOUR PRI|ME WORLDLINE WILL CON|TINUE.”

  “WHATEVER HAPPENS // WILL BE REAL.”

  “290| AND |COUN|TING.”

  The gold light receded from Arden’s eyes, as did the twinkling appearance of his appendages. Once he looked like himself again, he fell to the ground and stared into space. Upon approaching him, Vera noticed that his eyes were dilated. Tears still fell from them.

  She pulled him into her, and she flinched at how cold he was. He was like ice. The only thing that let her know that he was still alive was his short, rapid breaths that gradually grew in length. His eyes refocused on Vera and he tried to speak.

  “It's okay,” she said to him as he opened his mouth to speak. “I know you didn't mean for all of this.”

  “Guys?” Sya said. “Hate to interrupt the moment, but we don't have time for this. We have less than five minutes until the dark matter beetle comes for us. We need a plan now. Get all sappy with each other after we survive this.”

  Arden wanted to protest, but he knew she was right. He remembered everything that BOUNDARY had said while using him as a mouthpiece. They had little time to think of a plan and even less to actually enact it.

  Arden tried to stand up, but stumbled, discordant white noise ringing in his head. Vera had him lean on her as he tried to regain his balance.

  Despite everything, he chuckled.

  “All that balance training means precisely dick when a fourth dimensional entity wears you like a puppet.”

  “Tell me about it,” Sya said.

  Arden and Sya looked at each other, solidarity flickering between their eyes. Now, it wasn't just Sya who had been host to a deity-like bullshit entity. Whether or not BOUNDARY was actually as strong as the Archons, Arden didn't know. There were two things that he did know, though. One, he was not in any hurry to figure out the power difference between them, and two he needed to make an addition to his notes in his inventory. Flow charts needed to be expanded.

  “A-are you okay?” Kepler asked.

  “Even if I was, we wouldn't have time to dwell on it," Arden said. “The only way out of this is to take more paradox energy from the bug before it takes what I have.”

  “Do you have a plan?” Sya asked. “That was fast.”

  “BOUNDARY gave us the info, and we've already done the legwork. We need to bring everything together. BOUNDARY told you a lot, but he told me even more.”

  Arden was interrupted by a coughing fit. Every cough felt like reality was being yanked away from him, but he maintained his hold. He lowered in the direction of Lodi, still frozen in time.

  “It gets stronger every iteration. It learns. That's why we were able to survive the longest on our first run, when it was learning how to use its powers and how to counter us.”

  “What's the plan, then?” Sya asked.

  Arden looked over at the various people still stuck in place, frozen in time. Volis, Torvis, Liva, Kralis, everyone. Realization dawned on Vera.

  “We need more variables,” she said. “We need people that it doesn't have learned.”

  “Exactly. We'll also need our weapon. Our person who can go toe to toe with the beetle for long enough for us to land the finishing blow."

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Gettle,” Sya answered. “Okay, this is starting to come together.”

  Arden nodded and continued.

  “Sya, you’ll be the one going after Gettle. The rest of us will stay here. We have our own things to do.”

  “Got it.”

  They heard a strange mechanical whine, and color began to flow back into everyone and everything. The flames on the campfire began to slowly rise, and motion returned to the still world. Time was restarting.

  This world was now the prime worldline. There were no more second chances.

  When the world returned to normal, Volis fell back off his stool, and Kralis choked on the piece of venison he was eating. Neither of them had seen Sya or Kepler coming before, and now they were here.

  “Woah!” Volis said. “Where’d you come from?”

  “Its a long story,” Arden said. “We don’t have time for it.”

  Sya reached into her inventory and pulled out a mop bucket identical to the one she used during the fight against the bone rending centipede, and placed it on the ground. The mysterious black solution sloshed when she did.

  “...What are you doing?” Volis asked, recognizing it as her poison.

  “Dip your weapons in that,” she said. “Get everyone to do it too.”

  Before he could respond, she spun on her heels and started sprinting out of the camp. Volis was about to jump to his feet to stop her, but Arden was already next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  “Don’t do it. She’s doing what she needs to do.”

  “What are you talking about? Where did Sya and Kepler come from? Why are you trying to let Sya get away? She’s going to fail.”

  “We have bigger problems than the assessment,” Vera said, looking at Kralis. “We’re going to need your help with this too.”

  He folded his arms, unimpressed. He turned up his nose at Vera.

  “Why would I want to help your team? It has him on it.”

  “Because if you don’t, everyone here is going to fail, or worse get killed.”

  Arden looked between the two guild princes. One was confused, and the other was a prick. Neither seemed willing to help at the moment unless they had context or a reason.

  “Lodi is about to go berserk,” he stated. “In a few minutes, she will be the host for a parasite that defies the laws of causality. She will die, and the parasite will use her body to kill everyone here.”

  “You’re talking out of your ass,” Kralis said. “How would you know the future?”

  “Because we’ve been stuck in a time loop.”

  Vera appeared at Arden’s side, whispering in his ear.

  “Are you crazy? They won’t buy it. Even if they did, then they’ll know us as time travelers.”

  “Not if we win. I’ll use the paradox energy to send us back one last time. With no parasite, the assessment will return to normal. I’ll wish away the time loop and the bug.”

  “Do you think that'll work?”

  “I hope so. But we really don’t have a choice. We can’t be hiding our cards. We’re probably going to need your ice powers for this fight as well.”

  “Do you have proof?” Kralis said, not wanting to entertain Arden’s game. “Why are you the only one aware of this ‘time loop?’”

  Kepler made a contribution to the conversation since it began. Her Status appeared in front of her and she walked up to each of the guild scions.

  “L-look!” she said, nervous at being so confrontational to the children of the guilds. The message was clear for each of them to read.

  “Paradox in progress?” Volis asked. “What’s that mean?”

  “It means that a paradoxical event is ongoing,” Arden said, revealing his own notification. Shortly after, Vera showed hers as well. “This is the last iteration. If we fail here, it's the end. Please, we need your help.”

  “If it's that important, then why did your sister leave us behind?” Kralis asked. “You didn't just send her away to keep her alive, right?”

  “She’s retrieving the weapon. There’s another orange-tier Starborn from the Association in here with us. He’s bringing back Schrell, the guy who attacked us before.”

  Kralis’ eyes narrowed. Vera watched the change closely.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because it's a time loop,” Arden reiterated, growing frustrated. “We tried to use him a few iterations ago. He wasn’t able to beat Lodi alone. But with the rest of us helping as well, it will give us the edge we need.”

  “Everyone?” Volis asked. “Like, everyone everyone? Or just us?”

  “Everyone who can fight. If anyone gets hurt, I will take responsibility for it. If the fight goes well, I can save everyone.”

  Kralis sighed. It was a resigned sigh. There was enough bitterness in the breath to suck the flavor out of a wedding cake. Apparently something that Arden said convinced the young scion of Striven guild.

  “What do I have to do?”

  “Convince everyone you can to get ready for a fight,” Arden said. “I don't care if you have to lie to them or bribe them or whatever. We need all hands on deck. She will only be coming after me, until someone else attacks. I'll draw her attention until Gettle can fight with her.”

  “And then?”

  Arden shrugged.

  “Then it's an all-out brawl.”

  Red sparks gathered in each of the guild children's hands. Volis’ katana and Kralis’ staff. They each dipped their Satellites into the bucket of poison. Inwardly, Arden wondered about the effectiveness of using a blunt weapon as a vehicle for poison, but he didn't question. He remembered seeing the corpse of the Celestial that was Kralis’ quarry in the previous iteration. Poison or no, he was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

  “The mop bucket will remain here,” Arden said. “Rally as many people as you can. If Lodi gets curious, we'll just tell her that I'm trying to help the rest.”

  “She won't buy it,” Volis said.

  “In a few minutes it won't matter.”

  *****

  Several minutes passed just like that. Arden, Vera, and Kepler barely spoke as people came up to coat their weapons with Sya’s poison. The fear of the final iteration's failure ate at them. Nobody wanted to have the responsibility of something of a higher station laid at their feet, and now a group of red-tiers were responsible for the fate of causality and the worldline. Arden himself felt more nervous than the rest.

  He was already responsible for the destruction of one world already. Now he was responsible for keeping this one alive.

  Around half of the participants came to do so, which was a higher number than Arden thought would be possible. When the last of the people who came to prepare left, shooting the group odd looks, Kepler spoke up.

  “I-I have something t-that might help us.”

  “I'm all ears,” Arden said, looking in the direction where Sya ran. Any second, there would be an arrow of water that landed in the camp containing Gettle.

  “I-in the previous iteration,” Kepler continued. “Sya and I survived for almost an hour. We were able to find some materials that I could turn into a discord potion.”

  “A discord potion?”

  “Wait, really?” Vera asked, shocked. “A discord potion?”

  “I was surprised as well,” Kepler continued. “I know how potent discord potions are, and how hard it is to come across the right materials. I never expected that some of the Celestial parts here have the same composition as parts of the potion.”

  “What's a discord potion?” Arden asked. There was still no sign of Gettle. Cold sweat trickled down his back.

  “Basically, it's like a cross between a hallucinogen and a neurotoxin," Kepler explained. “It screws with the brain and makes it respond to stimuli that aren't actually there. It creates a disconnect between the brain and body parts, causing them to lose all coordination and freak out a bit.”

  He stared at the alchemist girl for a few seconds.

  “We’re going to need four of those potions once we're done here.”

  There was a moment of silence that ended when they started chuckling. Then laughing. The joke may have been a low hanging fruit but it was something that all of them needed right now.

  “So do you think we can use the potion against Lodi?” Arden asked.

  “Unfortunately not,” Kepler responded. “I haven't had the time to synthesize it. It will take a few hours to make it work. I still have the materials, powdered and mixed. Personally, I think the best move would be to dust her with it when she goes berserk. It should affect the beetle just as much as it would affect us.”

  “If the dark matter properties don't also give it poison resistance. The beetle was able to drag a fourth dimensional being into the third dimension.”

  “Look alive,” Vera said, pointing towards a blue speck falling from the ceiling in their direction. “Gettle's here.”

  Fittingly, the water arrow landed right in front of the three Starborn. The water that made up the arrow expanded until it formed the shape of two people. One of them was an athletic male with great hair that emerged from the water like he just came from a wet t-shirt modeling gig, and the other was Sya, covered in blood, who fell to her knees coughing up water.

  “How do you live like that?” She asked Gettle in between heaving up mouthfuls of arrow water.

  Gettle looked at the group with fire in his eyes. His knuckles turned white as he clenched his bow strong enough that it made a straining sound.

  “How dare you,” Gettle seethed. “I was told that Lodi had lost it. And now that I'm here, I see that nothing is out of the ordinary. I thought that you guys managed to fix yourselves after the interview, but apparently I was wrong.”

  He glared at each of them, but the only one to look down out of shame was Kepler. That wasn't what he expected.

  Arden glanced at his sister. He could tell that the blood that covered her wasn’t her own. It was probably just Celestial blood she used to look more convincing.

  “Thank god you're here,” Arden said. “You made it just in time.”

  Just then, Lodi’s scream rang out into the cavern.