Time Looped

"More coins," Luke said as the creature remains vanished.

It wasn't much by any account, but bit by bit it stacked up. Hopefully, by the time the contest phase started, there would be enough for him to buy something actually useful.

"You sure you don't want any?" the enchanter asked.

"It's fine." Will paused to get a breather.

Fighting the creatures wasn't the impossible whack-a-mole that it had been in the past, yet was tiring nonetheless. It was fortunate that the snake remained coiled up on the ground. At least it was allowing them some time before continuing to the next waypoint.

"Get some rest. There'll be lots more before we're done."

"It's not like I'm doing any fighting," Luke semi-complained.

"You're doing the walking. And, you will."

After one more look at the horizon, Luke joined Will, sitting on the ground.

"Like a cat," he said, breaking the rogue's train of thought.

"Huh?"

"The snake." Luke pointed. "It's just like a cat. Leaves us to do all the work, while it's resting as if nothing had happened."

Never before had Will heard a merchant described in such a fashion, but he could see the parallels. The comment also made him become aware of how little he still knew about eternity. Some things had become clear, others he had a pretty good idea about, but the really important questions had no answers. Actually, he didn't even know what the important questions were. He wanted to escape eternity, that was for sure, but did he even know what it represented? Had it always been there? Or had someone done something to start it?

"Your brother," Will began, "did he ever talk about weird stuff?"

"Talk with me?" Luke laughed. "He's seven years older…" his words trailed off near the end. "Was seven years older. He was home all the time, but I kept to myself. I didn't like constantly being compared to him."

Brotherly rivalry. Will couldn't emphasize, but he knew the phenomenon well enough. Growing up, he had friends who had gone through the same, often doing insanely stupid things just so they could be set apart. That never worked, of course. It only gave everyone else a reason to compare them more and scold them that they weren't more like the "ideal big brother."

"He brought in a lot of money once," he continued. "Not directly, but through presents. Everyone got worried, but he said that he'd helped with some research that let him get all of it." He paused. "I remember him getting into an argument with sis about it and saying it was a one-off."

That was a clever way out of things. For someone stuck in eternity, everything was an on-off as far as the rest of the world was concerned. There was no telling how often he had done it before. If Will were in his shoes, he'd make sure to experiment a few dozen times to find the gifts that would be most useful and appreciated.

"Anything else?"

"I think I saw sis with a mirror fragment once, but I'm not sure. Might have been an ordinary mirror. She was into mascara a while back."

"Yeah." Will nodded. It was a long shot, to say the least. No one could make a pattern out of a single occurrence. If a person was careful enough, no one would even notice. Will's parents probably had no idea anything was wrong. As far as they were concerned, he had set off for school half an hour ago and was about to start class. "How did he die, exactly?"

"No one talks about it very much, but they said it was an accident. Service was rushed. Two days after he died."

Two days? That was very rushed. Will wasn't even sure whether Danny had been buried by the time he had joined eternity. Clearly, the one-week pause was part of the rules. In order to learn more about the original archer, he'd have to have a long chat with Lucia, and that was an event he was dreading almost as much as facing Danny.

"Do you think we can take him?" Luke asked.

"Who?"

"The shit that killed my brother."

"Not yet. That's why we're doing all this."

"Yeah, yeah. Afterwards. If I pass all the challenges and get all the skills, will we be able to kill him?"

Will felt he couldn't answer. He definitely hoped so. He had banked a lot on this, but the truth was that the stronger he got, the less certain he became. When he had used the permaskill, he was confident that he had what it took. One encounter with Ely was enough to show him how wrong he was. Also, that was before he had lost his permakill arrow.

"Yes," he said with as much certainty as he could manage.

Just then, the snake uncoiled and slithered off again. The time for resting and chatting was over.

Two more waypoints came and went. Each was similar to the last. Will couldn't say that the enemies were getting particularly stronger or more numerous, but they definitely weren't getting weaker, either. Nearly always he and the shadow wolf would be the ones doing the fighting, while Luke and the merchant snake kept safely away. On one occasion, Will bound the final enemy, letting the enchanter kill it in the hopes something would change. It didn't.

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Days seemed to have passed. There was no way to tell for certain. All electronic devices had frozen, and the mirror fragments refused to provide any such information. The guide, too, was reluctant, merely reminding Will that time didn't pass outside the challenge. Then, a single tree was spotted on the horizon.

Here we go. Will thought.

Unlike the usual trees of the jungle, this one was completely green, sticking out of place like an orange in a bowl of apples.

"Get ready." He drew his weapon.

"I know, I know." Luke sighed. "Stay with the snake and—"

"No," Will interrupted. "This time you get to join in."

Hearing that, the enchanter drew his own weapon.

The boys kept on following the snake, ready to act at a moment's notice. Twenty feet from the tree, Will made a sign for them to stop. The snake, of course, continued.

Will glanced at the message on his mirror fragment. It was closer than the crows' opponent, but the principle seemed the same.

The moment the snake reached the base of the tree, reality shifted.

Now that Will knew that it was going to occur, he got a better chance to see what actually happened. The shift didn't begin with the columns, but rather the spot beneath the snake. The ground there lost its rough form, transforming into a tiled floor. Like spilled water, it expanded in all directions, forming the familiar pattern.

Will couldn't say that he had been in that subway station specifically, but with a few exceptions there was minimal architectural variety.

Soon the first column emerged—square, dirty, with reflective metal on all sides. If there were any wolves to emerge, they'd come from there.

"Stay close," Will whispered as the reality bubble around them increased. The whip-blade in his hands extended in anticipation of the fight to come.

The sun's rays were no more, blocked by the dark subway ceiling. White lights shone down on the scene. They were on the platform now. The snake was on the tracks between platforms, right in the middle. Initially, that seemed like a good thing, but it was the opposite. While there was no risk of the wolves charging at it immediately, it also meant that all packs would do so at the same time; and given the shape of the subway station, and the location of the columns, it was likely that eight packs would emerge.

"Shadow, guard the snake," Will said, then turned to Luke. "Follow me."

Before the other could ask a question, Will was running towards the still-forming end of the platform.

"What are we doing?" Luke rushed behind, doing his best to keep up.

"The wolves here are stronger than normal. I'll bind it, then you'll kill it. Find a weak spot and keep on hacking until I tell you."

"How much stronger?"

At that point, the final part of the station was complete. The column they had headed to was probably fifteen feet away. The side of a column managed to get a glimpse of the approaching Luke. That's all it took for the first giant wolf to emerge.

The size of the creature was monstrous, stopping the enchanter in his tracks. All the mental preparation and Will's assurances proved unable to deal with the fight-or-flight reflex. Maybe if they were half as large and he had his gun, he'd manage to do something. As things stood, a sword might as well be a toothpick.

"Hey!" Will shouted as he struck forward.

The whip blade extended, hitting the wolf's neck.

The creature had figured out that it was in trouble, but far too late. One good tug on Will's part and it was brought down to the platform floor. Although crippling, the attack wasn't enough to outright kill it, although with a few more, Will felt that he could break its neck, if not outright tear the entire head off.

"Kill it!" he shouted. Some mental-type abilities would have been really useful about now. "You just need to get one!"

The clarification managed to break the chokehold of fear that held Luke. Killing one was possible, especially if the monster was bound. From there he'd be able to use his scarabs and make enchantments.

While rationalizing his actions, a black form appeared beneath the enchanter, lifting him up in the air. Reflexes made him grab hold with one hand, while still gripping his weapon with the other.

Shadow wolf? The boy wondered, seeing the form beneath him.

The creature had grown as well, reaching the size of a pony. Doing what Luke was incapable of, it brought him to the motionless subway monster, then conveniently vanished into the floor shadows again.

Luke had only a moment to react, and in that moment, he chose success. The sword moved in front of him, taking advantage of the built-up inertia, and pierced the massive wolf's throat. Against all expectations, that proved enough.

As the blade sank in, both he and Will felt the creature let out its final breath. There was no yelp, no twitch, just an immediate lights-out, entirely thanks to Will's weapon.

That's one. Will pulled back his sword and struck forward, piercing the air. Just as he expected, a second wolf emerged.

The weapon drilled through the creature like a red-hot spike through a block of butter. The binding of the weapon didn't take effect, but there was no need to.

"Get your level up!" Will shouted.

This time, Luke didn't delay. Adrenaline mixed in with the euphoria of his previous kill, sending him dashing towards the green Level up message on the subway column. All fear, doubt, and uncertainty melted away, revealing the truth behind eternity. Despite all the help he'd gotten so far, eternity wasn't a place where one could achieve anything through waiting. In order to progress, one had to search every moment, regardless of danger. That didn't mean that he had to be stupid or reckless, but calm and focused.

Two messages appeared on the column.

That was all that Luke needed. In the past, he had played it safe, focusing on the example given. The fight against his mirror image had vastly broadened his horizons. Releasing the sword, the boy grabbed the golden scarab, tearing off the chain from his neck. Simultaneously, he placed the other palm down on his chest.

"No light!" he shouted.

Both he and the scarab vanished, consumed by pitch blackness.