Time Looped

The new loop came unexpectedly, as usual. This time, Will had finally gotten a proper reward. The class token allowed him to boost any skills he had, and due to the specifics of his new nature, it guaranteed that he'd hold on to those skills until he killed Danny. This was a perfect opportunity to see what level two of the clairvoyant would provide.

Orange messages appeared all over the floor and ceiling of the mirror realm. For several seconds the boy just stood there, his eyes moving from message to message in the hopes he'd find one to contradict the rest.

"Crap!"

How had he forgotten this detail? Back when he, Helen, and Alex were searching for a crafter to complete their group, Helen had gotten indications on her—technically, Danny's—mirror fragment. It was normal to expect that the same would hold true when other participants joined eternity. If so, that meant that Lucia had known about the enchanter the entire time.

There was no way she suspected her brother, though. Will had been very careful about it, not to mention that Lucia wasn't the type of person to keep silent when uncovering something she didn't approve of.

Focusing on the present, Will went through the mirror realm, heading towards the thief class mirror. Given that his usual loop point was near the rogue mirror, it wasn't a long walk.

Conceal. Hide. Will thought as he approached. The last thing he wanted was to be spotted by the thief or anyone else in the vicinity.

A dull pain appeared in his stomach, growing with every step. In his mind, he was all but certain who they would be, yet he still held on to the glimmer of hope that he might turn out to be wrong. Alas, eternity wasn't in the mood to grant him favors.

"For real, bro?" Will heard the familiar voice as he glanced through the mirror from the side. "It wasn't a dream!"

"Nope." Danny's voice was also heard coming a bit further away outside the mirror. "Just a memory of things to come."

"Memory of things to come. That's lit!" The goofball laughed. "So, I'm a thief now?"

"You're a lot more than that. You're the one person I could rely on."

Fucking liar! Will clenched his fists.

Danny was being the scumbag he remembered him being. Listening to him, one would think the two of them were best friends. Seemingly, he had granted Alex a great gift, putting an end to his mental anguish. Naturally, he didn't bother mentioning that he was the whole reason the goofball had gotten messed up in the first place.

"Just be careful, alright?" Danny said. "Here, the nightmares are real."

Will moved closer, trying to get a better peek into the real world. He had to be very careful not to tip his hand yet. As far as he could tell, Danny hadn't gained a lot of new skills, but he had plenty of old ones to make use of. Most important of all, Will didn't want to spook him until he was absolutely ready. Where the former rogue was concerned, even clairvoyant skills weren't an absolute defense.

"For real?" Dread drenched Alex's words.

"Sadly. The difference is that here you can fight back." There was a momentary pause. "Hey, don't worry about it too much. I'll be here with you the entire way."

"Even when we face—"

"No matter what we face, I'll be right there next to you."

If Will had his permakill weapon, he would have risked venturing into the real world just for that. How could such a despicable person exist?! Danny was worse than the goblins or all the other monsters that eternity held. At least they were straightforward when it came to things. Danny took scheming to a whole new level.

"You just have to learn how to use your skills again," the former rogue said.

"Thanks, bro. I won't forget this."

Talk about irony. Will sighed.

"Take it slow," Danny continued. "You've got plenty of time. Get some mirrors, play around a bit. Create a few mirror copies for the fun of it."

Mirror copies? That wasn't right. Mirror copy was a level three skill. Alex couldn't possibly have gotten it. Was Danny talking in general terms? Or was there more to the story? In the future-past, everyone had insisted that the goofball was highly dangerous. All of them had to have become aware that he had been cast out of eternity then rejoined under a different class. That had to mean that either he'd improved a heck of a lot between now and the time that Will had joined in, or had received additional permanent skills upon joining.

"For real, bro! And you?"

"I need to test a few things about my class. I'm new to this as well."

"Pretty sus, bro. We should stick together. When people split up, they get killed."

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"It's a good thing that death no longer matters." Danny laughed. "You can stick around if you want. I don't mind. You'll just have to come to class with me."

Despite his inner fears, Will peeked from the edge of the mirror. Alex stood there in the unofficial school parking lot. He was looking to the side, probably at Danny. Even from this angle, it was obvious that the idea of wasting eternity in class didn't sound at all appealing to him.

"Nah, you're good, bro." The goofball waved his hands. "I'll play around." He turned his head slightly, looking at one of the parked cars. "Car mirrors work too, right?"

"Just for skills," Danny said. "Not for anything else."

"Aha. Got you, bro." Alex nodded.

A longer silence followed, indicating that Danny had probably left the scene.

Will waited twenty more seconds just to be sure before moving fully in front of the mirror. On the other side, Alex had already started breaking mirrors off cars. He didn't seem particularly shy about it, just snapping them off only to break them into smaller pieces.

Ignoring him for the moment, Will looked around as much as the mirror realm would allow. There was no sign of Danny. There was a high chance that the boy had gone off somewhere, although it was dubious whether it had anything to do with class. If Will were in his place, he'd set off to complete as many hidden challenges as he could in anticipation of the contest phase.

"Who are you, bro?" A new Alex suddenly appeared in front of the mirror Will was standing at.

The suddenness of the action made him take a step back. Even after everything that Alex had been through, the goofball continued to be a scary presence. Not only had he noticed Will through the mirror but also used his own skills to perfection to the point that there was no telling whether the real participant had spoken, or was it just another mirror copy?

Several thoughts passed through Will's mind. Getting confronted so early on was the worst possible outcome. His only hope now was to bluff his way out of the situation. Luckily for him, Will also was a rogue.

"You noticed," he looked back at the goofball that had addressed him.

"For real, bro? Big ooof. Wasn't even difficult."

"Others didn't."

"Others?"

"You didn't seriously think that you and Danny are all there is?" Will went on his first gamble. "You remember more people than that. Don't you?"

The momentary hesitation proved that he was right.

"Why don't you come out here, bro?" Alex invited him. "We can have a proper chat."

"And risk stepping into a mirror trap? No thanks."

"That's pretty sus." Alex crossed his arms.

"I can say the same thing. Besides, I know you well enough to tell that you don't trust anything." Will moved a step closer. "Or anyone."

Before Will was able to react, Alex drew a weapon and stabbed him through the mirror. It was a swift and elegant action. Without a doubt, it had been practiced hundreds of times to achieve the result it did.

"Really?" Will asked, more furious with himself than anything.

All this time he had been so worried about what would happen in a confrontation against Danny that he had completely underestimated Alex. It was safe to say that he had completely forgotten how lethal his friend could be when he wanted. Maybe he no longer had the strength to take on powerful opponents such as golems or red goblins, but when it came to single-hit enemies, he remained as lethal as they came.

"If that's how you want to play it."

"Why don't you come out here, bro?" Alex asked. "We can have a proper chat."

Will had followed the events of the past prediction loop as closely as possible, taking special care not to be spotted by Danny. At the same time, he wanted to finish the conversation with his friend. Of course, he had also taken a few precautions.

"And risk getting stabbed?" He shook his head. "No, thanks."

"That's pretty sus." Alex crossed his arms.

"You're pretty sus. Using a mirror copy to talk to me instead of standing there yourself."

The provocation yielded immediate results. Alex leaped into the mirror, followed by three more mirror copies that spontaneously appeared. This time, instead of stabbing Will, each of them threw a series of knives, anticipating all possible reactions.

Will managed to evade a few of the knives, but one managed to hit him in the leg. The instant it did, the rogue shattered to pieces.

Half a dozen mirror copies of Will emerged, descending upon Alex's. The thieves were taken entirely by surprise, getting shattered on the spot. Naturally, the real goofball wasn't among them.

"You're a thief?" a new Alex asked from the other side of the mirror.

"I have the skill," Will replied vaguely. "What about you? It's a bit early for you to be a level three."

"Five," the thief corrected.

"Five? That's impressive." And also explained how he had access to so many skills early on. Back during Will's tutorial, he had wondered how the goofball managed to level up so quickly. It turned out that he never needed to. All that talk about easy wolf locations was nothing more than a convenient lie. "Have any other secrets to share?"

"Nah, bro. First one's free. Everything else requires payment."

"Alright. Here's one for you. Danny can't be trusted."

"Pfft!" The thief stifled a laugh. "For real, bro? That's obvious."

"Didn't seem that way listening to you."

"No one's to be trusted, bro. I've seen enough nightmares to last me ten lifetimes. The pieces don't match up yet, but they will."

For a fraction of a second, Will thought he saw a glint of sanity in his friend's eyes. It was almost as if his memories were trying to make a comeback.

"So, you'll help me?"

"Nah, bro. I don't trust you either. Like I told you, everyone is sus as hell. Danny's the one that helped me make some sense of things, so I trust him a heck of a lot more than you."

Something didn't seem right. It wasn't rare for Alex to go on long tirades about one thing or another. Even before the loops, the goofball knew every conspiracy theory there was, plus a few dozen more that he had invented himself. Yet, he had never been so open with information. The only reason he'd do that was to make use of the thief's main approach towards combat: distraction.

One more instance of the goofball emerged out of thin air within the mirror realm itself. Things didn't stop there, though. Before any of Will's mirror copies could strike. Dozens of thief copies flowed out of the single person, flooding the area like streams of armies.

"Shit!" Will hissed. Once again, he had been had.

Back when the four mirror copies of the thief had invaded the mirror realm, the real Alex had been with them. Ever since then, he had remained there, hidden, biding his time. Then, at the best moment, he made use of his lack of restrictions within there to create an army; just like he had done when facing his mirror image in their shared tutorial challenge.

The battle had become very real, and Will wasn't in the mood of taking a backseat.