47 loop 2, part 1

I woke up. Damnit. I was groggy, my head pounding, and then I remembered.

I opened my eyes, braced for the dragon. Instead, I got a white ceiling and the smell of antiseptic. It was the infirmary, somehow.

My hands went over my body, hunting for cuts and nicks and tears—some sign of the withered husk the dragon’s breath should have left behind. Nothing. My body was fine, mostly. I’d shoved Finn clear of a death and hadn’t expected to wake up at all…

So what had happened? I could have sworn the part of the school where the infirmary was had been destroyed. But here I was, and everything seemed intact.

Despite no signs of physical damage, my body felt like it had been wrung out and hung up to dry. And under that was an achy tiredness that seeped into my soul—even more so than my general tiredness.

I flexed my fingers. They worked, but they were slower than normal. My tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth. Whatever had happened to me, it had taken the long way out and charged me for the trip.

Underneath the general ache, something else clawed for room. A flash of memory hit me. Thane came apart in the dragon’s breath, slow and patient, his wand rolling out of an open hand and clicking against the floor. He’d been the one who made me meditate that first time. I shoved the image down. It didn’t go far.

To find out how badly I had ruined myself, I pulled up my HUD. It appeared in a kaleidoscope of colors—truly an assault on my senses as the display settled into place.

[STATUS: LAZLO YARROW] Second Year, MIRKS

Mana: 348/520 (172 reserved)

Mana Regen: 25% per hour (while sleeping), 3% at all times

Enchantment — Level 49

Alteration — Level 49

Soul Magic — Level 24

Manifestation — Level 24

Prestiges: 10

[Efficiency I] -5% mana cost on spells and enchantments.

[Mana Pool III] +220 mana

[Mana Flow I] +5% mana regeneration during rest or meditation.

[Feedback Loop — Passive] When you alter an active spell, recover 10% of the original spell’s mana cost.

[Ambient Draw I] Passively absorb ambient mana, maximum 3% per hour.

[Recursion I] Each successive cast from the same school within 3 seconds costs 5% less. Floor: 50% of base cost.

[Cascade I] After casting the same spell 3 times in quick succession, the fourth costs 25% less.

[Dual Weaving] Cast any two spells simultaneously.

Active effects:

[Soul Tether] Mana reserved. -25% maximum mana. Can’t be dispelled.

[Soul Tether] Mana reserved. -8% maximum mana. Can’t be dispelled.

[Soul Sickness I] Your soul is wounded.

Family Trait: [Soul Sense] Subconscious Soul awareness; allows user to interact with and detect Souls.

Soul Sickness? What the fuck was that? I’d add it to the list of things I’d deal with after a nap. Whatever was happening could wait. I just needed a real break.

I closed my eyes. My body sank into the thin mattress like it meant to keep going straight through. Sleep was right there, close enough to touch.

And then the breath was coming down again. The dark fire pooling behind teeth the size of doors, and I couldn’t get my legs to move. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Get out of my head.

My eyes snapped open. So much for the break.

I’d died again. The breath had come down, and somehow I was back at the beginning of the week. Except instead of waking up in front of Finn at breakfast, I was in the infirmary. With my levels rolled back.

Again. Great. Fantastic, wonderful. Love that for me.

I let out a frustrated sigh. Oh, fuck me. I was going to have to meditate again, too.

I let my head drop back against the pillow and stared at the ceiling tiles until they stopped doubling.

But once I was done milking my invisible injuries, I had the realization I should have had the second I saw my stats.

Time had reset. Again.

The first time this had happened, I had figured it was time travel. Which was the coolest fucking thing that ever happened to me. But I didn’t think that hard about it. It wasn’t worth losing sleep over or spending time on, because… well, fuck. Time travel.

But this was twice now. Twice now, I had gone back to the same fucking Monday. At least this time, it had the courtesy to start me out somewhere different—you know, for variety. Last time, it’d been breakfast, in front of Finn. This time, it was an infirmary cot. I really needed to figure out when I was, exactly. But it was clear I had missed breakfast.

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That was the problem. How does a one-time thing happen twice? Time travel, the way I theoretically understood it, was a once in a life kind of thing. You could reset time back to a point, and you’d get a redo. Go back again, though, and things started getting a little wibbly-wobbly.