Throne of Time - Chapter 69: Catching Up With Loopers (Patreon)

Returning to the waiting room should have been a comforting routine, but this time when Suria found herself on the usual chair, she sat stunned for several seconds. First a brutal death, then a loop cut short. Her mind was still overwhelmed by the intense sensation of the time magic passing through her body and she struggled to reengage.

Muscle memory finally made her begin working on her talismans, but for what? She had died at the end of the first hour, just like she had so many times before, and now she had no idea what to expect. Wynchard and Adwyrma had almost certainly died in the same wave of time magic and she couldn't predict how that would make them behave, especially if they didn't remember the last moments.

More importantly, she had no idea what was going on. She had seen Zaasif Drazen die and trigger the "wave of death" enough times that she had assumed the two were inextricably linked. This time, he had seemed to explode into pure magic for no reason. While it was always possible that there had been some attack too masterful for her to even comprehend, Suria had been using her perception spell designed to analyze high tier magic and she hadn't noticed a thing.

What did any of it mean? She could only throw up her hands and try to make this loop less of a disaster than the last.

As soon as the first opportunity presented itself, she dealt with Lirngelf, then doubled back to chat with both Maut-mai and Rije. She knew she was taking everything a little fast, following too much of a script, but she couldn't help but think that Wynchard and Adwyrma were outside, and the longer they waited, the more likely they were to do something drastic.

She considered taking an aggressive counter-action herself, like blockading the door behind her, but that would mean condemning Maut-mai and Rije to death in this cycle. Most likely she couldn't get them both outside in time, even if she rushed. Her ideal solution would have been to have an unlocking spell on the inside that she could trigger from the outside, giving her control of when she returned, but she hadn't been able to figure out such complex augments in the previous term.

No, as she walked to the western exit, Suria decided that she didn't want to play games with the two strongest loopers. She had given them what they wanted and - hopefully - they understood just how disastrously it had played out.

When Suria stepped out of the door, she discovered that they were standing atop the Earth Society Building, presumably in order to give them a vantage point on all exits. Immediately they both leapt from the roof and rushed to her, though Adwyrma wasn't creating a weapon and Wynchard looked more concerned than angry.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"They got us, didn't they?" Adwyrma asked at the same time.

"The thrones did something to you before you could kill yourselves," Suria explained. "All three of us died at the start of the loop, so I don't know how the rest went, but I suspect it was bad. We don't know if we lost anyone else permanently."

"We're not going to try that again," Wynchard said firmly, then turned to glare at Adwyrma. "Right?"

"I still think we should search the rest of the building," she answered sourly.

"I'll tell you what I know," Suria said cautiously, "but only if you promise not to cause trouble again. I want everyone inside to get out safe this cycle, or in the future I'll just lock the door behind me. We can't keep bringing the thrones down on us like this."

After they agreed, Suria explained what she knew about Houdon, Shuguja, and Eluauna's locations and movements. Then she left while they entered, and Suria had to wonder at their confidence: they both knew that they were vulnerable to soul killing spells, so how could they keep throwing themselves into danger like that? Suria wanted to be nowhere near any of them, after the close call that still ended her previous loop prematurely.

Technically at this time she could have gone to the tunnels and intercepted or helped Kiznua, but Suria's mind was too fractured for that. If she attempted it, she would just end up surly and rude, so it would accomplish nothing. Instead she headed straight out, back through the gates into Darmkael. The city was bright and safe during the day, since everyone's meddling in the underworld had been undone.

She marched out to Dsjaho-an's rooms, where found Jeilin waiting there for her, and he straightened up with a broad smile.

"Suria. Glad to see you're alright. What happened last time?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she told him, but she still explained the basics anyway. By the time she was done, Jeilin was shaking his head.

"You have to be careful with Wynchard, because he's a true believer. If he really thinks something is necessary, he won't let anything stop him. And I shouldn't have to tell you how dangerous Adwyrma is."

"Well, they'll be coming for me at the start of every cycle."

"I admit that it's rough." Jeilin thought for a moment, then shook his head. "One option would be to have an unlocking spell on a trigger mechanism, if you have the runic capacity to cast something like that."

"I thought of the same thing," Suria said with a chuckle. "But I got a bad journeymage when I tried to study augments previously."

"I recommend you get in a class with Anstell Milirent and ask him directly. You have to get his attention first, but if he likes you, he can be very helpful."

"I'll keep that in mind. What about you? What happened in Junn?"

"Ah, that's a mess." Jeilin took off his glasses and began cleaning them carefully. "The deeper I get into the politics, the more complicated it looks. For example, there's a faction that's actually off in the Shantic States for some reason. But there's more connection to Darkmoon University than I expected, even though it's across the world. Both revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries are watching what happens here."

"Enough to convince you to stay?" Suria asked plaintively.

"Sorry, but I'm sticking to my plan. I can only wish you good luck."

They split up after that and Suria collected resources from the apartment again. She still had the key and the room was paid up for the rest of the month, so there was actually no need for her to go back to Darkmoon, at least not right away. It was tempting to just stay there and not worry about the chaos, especially since it might end up getting everyone killed again.

But that would mean giving up on the conspiracy... and she didn't have any new books at this stage in the cycle. Suria looked through everything Dsjaho-an had owned, but there were sadly few textbooks on artisan magic, and those were more advanced than would be useful for her.

Staying would mean abandoning Rije and Maut-mai, too. Suria sighed as she accepted that she was entangled with all of this and took some time to recreate the necessary talismans, then headed back to Darkmoon.

She arrived near the end of the hour, so there wasn't much time. With her enhanced senses, Suria could tell that the battle had started inside Convocation Hall and she spotted Maut-mai outside the western entrance, but where was Rije? As much as she wanted to save him, she wasn't willing to throw herself back into the dragon's den.

"Suria, you have to help!" Maut-mai saw her and began wringing her hands. "The guard went back in there! I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen!"

"How long ago?" Suria asked.

"I... I don't know! It was a little while ago, but..."

They were interrupted by the wards shuddering again, then they heard footsteps. Rije was running toward the door, pulling Shuguja along with him, but they weren't fast enough. Realizing that the fire spell was coming, Suria grabbed Maut-mai and threw them both to the side, even as she raised a mana shield.

When they hit the grass, Suria still felt the rush of heat as her shield shattered. But Rije and Shuguja had taken it even worse, and they collapsed onto the path just outside the exit. Both of them were severely burned and Suria realized, even as she hastened to kneel down beside them, that she had a problem.

As a healer her duty was to save as many lives as she could, but in the time loop it all felt so pointless... Suria told herself that she wasn't confident that she could save them both and instead focused all of her spells on Rije. She could restore the deeper wounds, and her ability with burn healing had improved, but there was absolutely nothing she could do about the eye he'd lost, so he'd end up with a massive burn scar across half his face.

This time, instead of thanking her, Rije remained unconscious. Suria understood that he needed more time to recover and switched to Shuguja, but she was already slipping away - Suria cast healing sleep on them both, then that was all she could do. Maut-mai remained hovering nearby, shifting her weight anxiously.

"You saved him," the other woman said, "and you saved me. How did you do that?"

"I had to do something," Suria said numbly. It felt like ages ago, but she remembered that she'd wanted to spend a cycle with Maut-mai, so she forced herself to smile. "I guess our plans for today got ruined, didn't they?"

"Did they ever!" Maut-mai rubbed her forehead with the fingertips of both hands. "I don't know what we're supposed to do from here. All the proper authorities probably know, right? Do we have to just continue our business? Where?"

"I'm afraid I don't know Darkmoon very well, but aren't there other places we can go to begin enrolling?"

"Oh yes, there certainly are. I'm a first year student too, but I've had relatives here."

"Then you can get us started, can't you?" Suria pretended to smile in relief. "We both need paperwork for all kinds of things, like housing and textbook requests, and we need identification pins, and we probably need to make an appointment to be fitted for school robes... I want to get started on it all, but I need to stay with him to make sure he lives."

"I can handle the business," Maut-mai said, seizing hold of something she could handle. "Don't worry, I'll be back."

As the other woman rushed off, Suria sagged a little lower and considered just what her plans should be. She wanted to hide in the library and talk to no one for a month, but that wasn't an option. Many things could have happened in the previous loop, so she needed to talk to Xuhriha or Qanti... assuming that they hadn't been soul-killed while she was dead. The first hour might have ended in the usual pattern, with the university hiding a conspiracy, but that didn't mean she could relax.

"You did well for a start." The voice made Suria jump and she turned to see Professor Gwaslos standing behind her. "I'll take care of him from here."