Unfought Wars [Time loop Action Fantasy]

Hearn stands with his arm outstretched toward a golden symbol hanging in the air. He waves at us with his other hand. "Oh, I didn't see you there. I was hoping you'd find me."

"What the hell kind of greeting is that!" Finna shouts at him. "I was sure we'd find just a burned out husk. Where did you go?"

Hearn chuckles and shrugs, the combination of amusement and relief clear even from afar. Rworg chuckles next to me as we walk closer, when the glowing symbol winks out.

Hearn turns to look at his hand, but then seems to notice the darkness that has crept up on him. "Um," he says.

"It's a long story. We found a magic rock," Finna says. "Now explain yourself, old."

"You're starting to sound like Rworg," Hearn says, but dodges backward surprisingly nimbly when Finna growls at him. "Sorry, sorry. I got left behind. You run all too fast for me."

Rworg reaches Hearn and puts both hands on his shoulders. "We were in a hurry. It is joyous to see you again, old."

"I have a name, you know," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Still, it is a relief to see you all again, too."

He nods at me, and I nod back, raising my hand in greeting. "I thought you didn't know how to draw runes," I say.

He smiles at me, the darkness leaving his eyes as black holes. He looks like a skeleton, with his white skin and teeth. "I didn't. But I figured it out?"

"What?" Finna says. She plops down to sit against the wall and pulls off her backpack. "Are you asking us?"

"Well, it all got a bit confusing once you got away from me," Hearn says, sitting down as well. "I don't know how long I spent just wandering around, inspecting and marveling at the walls. I forgot why I was here. It felt like my mind was unravelling. I was pretty worried for a while there, you know?"

"How can you worry if your mind unravels?" Finna asks.

"Maybe that was what happened…" I start, but stop myself in time before blurting out anything about the whitelings. It would make sense. Maybe it was that simple, the mana frying their brains, sustaining them as they wandered the corridors, lost forever.

Hearn chuckles, possibly mistaking my words for an awkward joke and rolling with it. "Perhaps it was. Thoughts swam in my mind, but I latched on to thinking about the runes Henna gave you. Turns out, I could remember exactly how they were done. Every single line and motion. I saw her do them back in Jonun, you see."

Finna stops rummaging her bag, arm buried half into it. "Turns out?" she asks, voice flat.

"It must be the mana," I say. "I used it to think faster about the vision you had, remember? When I pushed my face into it."

"Yeah, and what a great idea that was," Finna says, scoffing.

I feel myself blushing and shrug. "Well, it sort of worked. At least for him. Made his memory better, or something?"

Hearn chuckles and reaches out his hand at Finna. Finna places a piece of grey hardtack into his hand and tosses one at me and Rworg as well.

"I ended up drawing the symbol and my mind cleared up immediately after. Who knew it would be that easy?" Hearn says, and starts working on the piece of tack.

"And now you are a walking bomb," Finna says, nudging her head at me. "Better stay close to him."

I lean the back of my head against the wall as Hearn swallows. "It might not be that bad. He didn't explode yet, and the mana had to be pretty damn thick around here."

"That is a relief," Rworg says.

"I agree," Hearn says.

It doesn't take long to explain to Hearn our side of the story. He grasps the concept of the light dimming and getting brighter instantly.

"The flow of time doesn't change in just one direction, though?" he says.

I was hoping he didn't get that far, but oh well. I didn't say anything about it earlier, and now Finna is giving me a look that makes me inch away from her, just in case. "Well, no, but it did when we were moving from the teratome to the ambronite," I say.

"Fair enough, fair enough," Hearn says, placing the hardtack into his mouth.

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I rub the back of my head, scratching at my ear with one finger. I wonder if it's going to scab. "Anyway, we must be pretty close to the teratome again, unless you two have tangled us up completely in some folded-up corridor knot."

Rworg and Hearn glance at each other and both shrug.

"The question is what we're going to do once we reach the teratome," I continue.

"Remind me why are we going there in the first place?" Finna says.

"Well, because, um," I say. "Didn't you lead us there, the first time?"

"I wouldn't have, if I knew what it was," Finna says. "But yeah, it did feel like we were supposed to go there. In addition to going to the ambronite. Look, I told you it's hard to pull apart all that stuff."

I nod, steepling my fingers and watching the ambronite glow in the middle of the corridor floor. Sitting in darkness felt weird, so I took it out and placed it there to illuminate our break. A thing that is more dangerous and expensive and powerful than anything, and we're using it for a light.

"We saw how just the rune affected," Rworg says, waving a hand at the ambronite. "Approaching the monster with the rock will not go unnoticed."

I nod again. Teratomes search out magic. It must have sensed the runes, and it will absolutely sense the ambronite, the sudden void of mana surrounding the stone. "It must be there for a reason. I have a plan how we can kill it."

"A disgusting plan?" Finna asks.

I sigh, lowering my face into my hands. "You know me."

Finna throws her piece of the hardtack at my head. It really hurts.

"If we let her get further ahead, can you whisper the plan to me?" Rworg asks me under his breath.

"I heard that!" Finna shouts.

"She needs to hear it too," I say out loud.

Hearn walks between us and Finna, his head spinning between us, a confused look on his face.

"The problem with teratomes is that they heal. No matter how much you cut or pierce them, they will heal. It's all the magic in their blood," I start. "They live off it. The ambronite absorbs mana, or something. Negates magic. It should turn the teratome into a normal big slug, perhaps wither it outright if we just get near."

"That doesn't sound so disgusting, so far," Hearn says.

"Don't try to patronize me, white guy," Finna says. "You haven't seen his plans. There's a pattern."

"If we just—" I say.

"And stop saying just!" Finna shouts. "It's a massive, rotten mutant monster. Nothing about this is going to be 'just', and you know it."

"Well…" I say. "You might be right," I finish after a moment of thinking.

"I can see the doorway," Rworg says. "Are you done?" he asks Finna.

Finna stops walking and breathes out, face turned to the floor. "Yeah. Let's do this."

"Erm, do what, exactly?" Hearn asks.

Rworg walks forward, arms spread wide to the side, sword in one hand.

"Now he starts shouting at it," Finna says. "That's how this goes."

Rworg bellows at the massive teratome. The stench is overpowering. I have my bow out and a wide broadhead arrow placed on the string. Hearn is on the other side of the doorway, peering in. Finna bounces the ambronite rock in her hand, moving her shoulders and legs, readying herself for action.

The teratome ignores Rworg completely, slithering diagonally away from us, toward the far corner of the big room. It's so damn big, even bigger than I remembered. I don't think teratomes could grow that large outside of this place. There can't be enough mana or food to let them get that big, even if they ate the whole forest.

Rworg shouts at it again, but the teratome keeps ignoring him. He looks back at us and shrugs.

"Your turn," I say to Finna.

"Figures," she says. She blasts into the room, keeping low and running fast like a race hound. The light shifts as the ambronite extinguishes the motes of light inside the stone, but glows with its own blue light.

The smell of ozone hits me immediately. Hearn grunts. Mana rushes back, rolling over me like a wave. I hope that the sight of the gigantic monster will keep us focused long enough.

Hearn's hands are already moving. His fingers leave glowing lines in the air as he draws the glowing symbol into the air. I keep my eyes on the teratome. Warm light shines out, bright and hot. "Whoa," Hearn says. "I hardly managed to finish it."

The symbol burns bright golden in the air, currents of light running through it. It's like the light washes away the worst of the ozone and the cloying thickness of the air.

The teratome raises its front half, pushing itself up by tendrils and stalks slapping on the floor. Finna is getting closer, and it must realize that something is going on.

"Go draw one for Rworg," I say.

"I'm not sure how long it will hold," Hearn says, index finger tracing the glowing symbol, repairing the lines that already started to fray and pull apart, like the mana running through the rune is eroding it.

"Go," I say, pulling the arrow back. It's been a while since I've shot at anything. The movement feels natural, like coming home. The string creaks and I almost laugh out loud, despite the stench and the monster rising tall as a tree and turning to face Finna, her figure a tiny speck next to its bulk. There's only me and the arrow, the tension of the string, the strain on my arms. My breathing slows down as I scan the teratome, but I already see where to shoot.

There are no organs, no visible eyes, but the thickest of the stalks stretches out from the same place every time. It squeezes out from between the same armor plates and slaps into the ground, thick like a man's leg.

I let go of the arrow with a flourish. I can't help it.

The broadhead arrow arcs down, flying heavier than anything I normally use. It thunks into the base of the stalk, squelching and ripping into the teratome's flesh. The stalk jerks and falls limp, the arrow buried in the flesh with only the fletching visible. The wound gushes clear blood as the teratome squirms. I'm not sure if it even registers the wound. Its movement halts, as the thinner stalks are not powerful enough to pull it. Tendrils flail around and more thin strands of flesh whip out from its body, reaching toward Finna and the glowing blue stone in her hand.

She dances backward, waving the ambronite at the teratome. "Come and get it!" she shouts.

Hearn reaches Rworg and draws the symbol into the air. He does it quickly, and it lights up, blazing warm and bright. Like autumn sun seen through thick clouds. I realize the symbol next to me has stopped burning. The ozone smell burns my nostrils. I start running toward Hearn and hold my breath, even if I'm not sure if breathing really affects how much mana seeps in. Maybe it goes through the ears, directly to the brain?

Rworg runs off from the symbol, waving his sword at the teratome.

"Wait! Oh, blast it," Hearn says and runs after Rworg, leaving the symbol to hang in the air.

I guess Finna was right. This is going to be messy.