The Years of Apocalypse - A Time Loop Progression Fantasy

Mirian awoke in her dorm, and was silent. She was silent as she gathered her things and went upstairs to turn off the water heater, silent as she came back down and dressed, and silent as she packed her satchel full of the things she'd need for the day. She moved automatically, not really processing what she was doing. All her thoughts were on what had just happened. The sheer scale of it was overwhelming.

She was out the door before Lily was awake. She couldn't think of anything to say to her. Sure, she could try and convince her time travel was real again, but what was the point? Anyone she saved from the attack would die a few days later when the Divir moon crashed down.

She still couldn't believe it. Leyline eruptions across Enteria. The second moon had fallen from the sky. How could she even begin to stop something like that?

This third reset, the fourth time she'd awoken on the 1st of Solen, made a definite pattern. She had to assume it would happen again. She could no longer live for a future that wasn't going to happen. She had to live for the strange now that had become apparent. Whatever had happened to her wasn't just tied to some attack, but to the very end of the world.

Mirian had been accumulating questions. It was clear to her that there would be no easy answers. Well, she could handle that, couldn't she? She hadn't enrolled in the Torrviol Academy because it was the easy path. She knew how to learn. She knew how to study. She would find her answers, and she would find some way. She had meant the promise she made to Nicolus: she would stop this. What other choice did she have? She knew she would find no satisfaction in some hedonistic life where nothing she did stayed permanent. She had become an artificer in part because she liked building things that would last. It seemed the only thing that lasted was her, so she would need to improve herself—grow until she knew enough.

During the last days of the third cycle, Mirian had time to reflect on what she might do in a fourth cycle. As the foreboding had deepened, it had become apparent to her this was an inevitability.

She waited in the alley next to the Alchemistry building and ripped the satchel off the Akanan spy, then disappeared into the building, lingering in the back with her notebook open while she pretended to read it. It was less that she wanted the scroll with the cipher, and more that she wanted the glyphkey to Griffin Hall so she could return to the passages. The money was an added bonus. The seeker-stone might come in handy too.

When the class was mostly settled, Mirian found a spot with two open seats that was near the door. Sure enough, when Nicolus came in late, he chose a spot where Calisto couldn't sit next to him—which was next to Mirian. Mirian didn't say anything. What could she say? I watched your cradle your dead knight protector. If I don't go with you, you end up trapped in a railcar with her corpse and are probably eaten alive by myrvites. We held hands at the end of the world. And you'll never remember any of it.

The numbness that had settled over her lingered, even as her thoughts raced about. Mechanically, she went through the motions of taking notes, though it was less listening to Professor Seneca and more just transcribing what she had by now memorized. Nicolus invited her to study, and she pretended to be pleased about it. She hoped he couldn't see the pain hidden inside her. The study sessions might be useful, but more, she just wanted that time to be with friends, even if they wouldn't remember her.

Mirian stopped by the Academy crafting area to pick up the wood and copper scrap she'd need to fix the hole and pipe. She decided to ignored the second spy going into the Myrvite Studies building. She couldn't see a use in stopping him, not yet anyways. She just relaxed in Viridian's class and thought. Of course, with her mind totally distracted from the lecture, she couldn't help but notice that Valen kept looking at her. That girl, she thought. But the annoyance seemed small now, and its familiarity brought her a strange comfort.

In Enchantments, she finished her exam and turned it in early, much to the consternation of Professor Eld. After her presentation in Artifice Design, she zoned out, thinking. By the end of class, she'd made her decision on her path forward. That scroll and seeker-stone would be useful after all. It was only Arcane Mathematics that she paid attention in. She drew more four dimensional figures in rotation, trying to get a grasp on the strange lines and shapes that the equations implied, but the human eye literally could not see.

After class, she went up to Professor Jei. "Professor, I have two things that might interest the project you and Professor Torres are working on. This came off an Akanan spy," she said, and handed over the scrolls, "and this is a tracking stone. I'm pretty sure the spies have been planting them on people working on the project. You'll want to keep it encased in metal so they can't track it." She placed it back in the spy's satchel, then handed it over, minus the glyphkeys and the coin she'd already pocketed.

Professor Jei gave her a funny look. "You are acting strange," she said. "Be less strange."

Mirian shook her head. "I could explain it, but no one has believed me yet. Not until it's too late. If you talk to Torres, tell her I know about the Persaman spellrod. Things… go wrong soon. You've never ended up teaching me the Artifice Design class next quarter. So I'm changing that this time. And if you can avoid it, you might want to stop taking the passage underneath Griffin Hall. I'm pretty sure you're not the only one using it." She nodded at the blank wall behind her. "If you want, I can press the secret brick…?" Mirian offered.

Professor Jei narrowed her eyes. "Not necessary. Hm. How do you know these things? You did not know them yesterday."

"Time travel," Mirian said. "As I said, totally unbelievable, so you can come up with some other plausible story and believe that instead. But if you do believe me, I'm open to collecting data on it. I just need someone to come up with the math that needs testing." She smiled at the professor, then left.

On her way to Bainrose to meet Nicolus and Nurea, she glanced back at Giffon Hall. Professor Jei had, for once, used the front door to leave. Good, she thought. She'd have to see what pulling on that string did.

***

She did well enough in Alchemistry the next day. During Artifice presentations, she noticed Torres giving her a funny look, but she didn't say anything, so neither did Mirian. Good, she and Jei talked. Mirian decided against going down into the door under Bainrose. For one, she wasn't sure if nabbing the first spy's bag screwed that up, and for a second, just having a look at the big door wouldn't do much. She needed to be able to fight the spy down there if she wanted to actually have a chance to look at it. Or, figure out whatever he was doing to open the hidden door in the first place and obtain whatever glyphkey was needed—which had the danger of getting caught and imprisoned. Or worse. And she wouldn't be any good in a fight even with the spells she was now learning, because her spellbook was eternally starting with spells that were near useless in combat.

Learn now, figure the rest out later, she decided.

After classes, it was time to meet Selesia again. This time, she let it happen naturally—mostly. At the end of dinner though, she said, to Selesia, "Hey, you seem really into rapier dueling. Do you want me to teach you?"

Selesia bit her lip nervously. "Wait, really? I couldn't, I mean, aren't sixth year classes really hard? Do you really have time?"

Mirian shrugged. "I think I've got a pretty good handle on things. Tell you what, you teach me some Eskanar, and we'll call it a fair trade. I've been meaning to learn the language."

Lily made a face that said no you haven't, but since Selesia and Mirian had been subtly flirting for nearly an hour, she didn't say anything.

She made no predictions for Lily this time. There was no friction between them, or the barely-covered worry in her eyes. It was nice.

In the evenings, she could relax with Lily, or Selesia. Once the second quarter started, she could enjoy the company of Nicolus and Xipuatl. She'd have the new illusion and combat magic classes to learn in. Until then, she had all of Bainrose library at her disposal, plenty of money, and plenty of predictable days. She established her line of credit with Tower Trust bank and loaded up on magical supplies.

Then Mirian started reading up on divination.

Like most magic, divination was complicated, with its own set of associated magichemicals and glyphs. Like illusions, there were spells with a mental component, and spells without. It was the spells without that she was interested in—the kind that could detect seeker-stones, or map a room through a keyhole. Several hours in the library gave her a decent map of the foundations and told her what she would need to focus on. The stuff she'd started on last cycle and the primitive cave-detector she'd made were a good start, but there were other devices that would be far more useful. One spell she zeroed in on was a cartographer's spell. If properly integrated into a device, it could draw maps for her. An advanced version of the spell and device could be linked to a projector spell engine and actually show an illusionary, three-dimensional map. She didn't think she'd be doing that anytime soon, but she could certainly get the simple version of the spell to draw maps for her. That would make mapping the buried tunnels of Torrviol significantly easier.

She made good progress over the weekend. Then, on Firstday, Professor Jei arrived to the exam looking jumpy, and flanked by the usual two proctors. When she made to leave, Mirian leapt from her seat. "Professor!" she said. "Can I talk with you briefly before you go?"

Jei met her outside the door, which she shut so the other students couldn't overhear them. "You are acting strange again," she said.

"Did Torres have the spellrod?"

"What is this about, Mirian?"

"After this day I never see you again. Wherever you plan on going now, I don't know, but no one sees you again. Torres takes over the Artifice Design class next quarter. That's how I know about the spellrod."

"Why are you acting like you know the future?" Professor Jei said. She was more agitated than Mirian had ever seen.

"Because I do. Listen—I talked to Torres last cycle at the King of the Grill diner and made a bunch of predictions. They checked out, but she couldn't be convinced. She wouldn't tell me anything about the project, but I know it's big. I know, because Akana Praediar targets Torrviol for extermination in twenty-three days. Hence the spies, and the scroll. Did you decode the cipher?"

"Obviously not. I have been busy, and I do not speak Eskanar," Jei said. "You know things you should not, but you also do not understand what you are doing."

"You get it perfectly, then," Mirian said. "Look, promise me you don't go where you're about to go. You have to change whatever you were planning or something bad happens, and I don't know what. Promise me, or I'll go press the secret brick right now. That's the only leverage I have, but I'll do it."

Jei closed her eyes. "You do not understand. I… augh! I do not know the words in your language that can make me very understood."

"Did you find a seeker-stone in your stuff?"

Professor Jei closed her mouth in a thin line, which Mirian took to mean 'yes.'

"Something has to change. I'll answer any question you have for me after this—but you have to live through the next few days. I wish I could tell you more, but, well, I'm still new to this whole time travel thing. And no one believes me, even when there's really not another good explanation." Mirian opened the door and headed back in. She turned back to say, "Take care Professor." Maybe that had been enough. Probably not though.

She went back and took the exam. She'd still never actually seen a grade for it, though now she knew why; there probably wasn't anyone qualified to go over it once Jei went missing.

Then it was back to her independent studies. That very evening, she started working on a cartography device.