Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

«Must have been some really weird fumes — the aftereffects almost look like soul magic exposure,» Zorian speculated loudly.

Zorian had expected some kind of reaction from Zach, but what he got was quite a bit stronger than what he had imagined. Zach immediately sat straighter in his seat, eyes wide in realization. «Of course! That’s why I’m still suffering the effects, even after the revert! The son of a bitch targeted the very thing that gets sent back — my soul!»

There was an eerie silence in the cafeteria as everyone stared at the crazy boy shouting nonsense in a crowded dining hall. Zach slowly lowered his hands (he had been gesticulating wildly during his little speech) and mumbled an apology that was too quiet for anyone but Zorian to hear. Scattered laughter rippled through the gathered students for a few moments before everything finally returned to normal.

«Err…» started Zach. «Maybe we should continue this at the fountain, yeah?»

«I don’t know,» remarked Zorian carefully. «If you intend to be this loud, I don’t think it will do much.»

«Oh ha ha,» grumbled Zach. «So I got a little excited… not everyone is an ice cube like you Zorian.»

«Ice cube?» asked Zorian, an undercurrent of warning in his voice.

But Zach was already packing, and Zorian could do nothing but huff in annoyance and follow after him. Still, Zach’s little outburst answered a few of his questions. So it wasn’t his memories, or even his mind that got sent back — it was his soul. That would certainly explain why his spellwork and shaping skills didn’t disappear every time he started over. It was common knowledge that magic was heavily connected to the soul, even if no one really knew the exact mechanism of their interaction.

When they finally reached the fountain, Zach seemed to be in a contemplative mood so Zorian took a moment to study the schools of colourful fish swimming in the basin of the fountain. He actually pitied the poor things, since they were unlikely to last long. For years the fountain had been in disrepair, and it was only due to the grander-than-usual summer festival that it was renovated. How likely was it that the Academy would continue to maintain it after the occasion passed? Not very. And it was even less likely it would be kept in a good enough condition for the fish to survive. Their days were numbered.

«Zorian…» Zach prodded.

«Hm?»

«Tell me… what do you know about time travel?»

Zorian blinked. Well. That was direct.

«Time travel?» Zorian asked with as much confusion as he could fake. «Not much, I guess. What’s that got to do with anything?»

«Ugh, well…» Zach fumbled with words, scratching his chin nervously. «You’ll probably think I’m insane, but I’m a time traveler of sorts.»

Wow, Zach really didn’t have a subtle bone in his body, did he?

«You don’t look very old,» Zorian remarked. «If you come from the future it must not be a very far one.»

«No, no, it’s more like… the whole world resets itself on the night of the summer festival, and I’m the only one who remembers what happened.»

That was an interesting way of explaining it, though the idea of a spell affecting the whole world was even more ridiculous than the idea of working time travel magic.

«I’ve lived through this month… god, at least 200 times by now,» continued Zach. «Honestly, I’m starting to lose count.»

«Wait, you’re talking about it like you can’t stop it,» said Zorian, unable to keep a tiny bit of alarm out of his voice. Luckily, Zach appeared to be too agitated to notice.

«That’s just it, I don’t know if I can stop it!» Zach shouted, before he realized what he was doing and quieted down so as to not attract unneeded attention. «I was hit by this spell in the previous revert, and its effects didn’t completely go away when I reverted into the past.»

Zorian frowned. ‘Previous revert’? What about the other 7? Did Zach somehow skip those or did he simply not remember them? It occurred to Zorian that the after effects of the lich’s spell could have been even more serious than what he was currently looking at — what if Zach had spent the past 7 restarts in a coma? Though that begged the question of why his guardian had reported him as missing instead of bringing a healer.

«I guess it really was a soul magic spell like you said,» continued Zach. «I need to watch out for those from now on. Anyway, at first I thought it’s just some nasty sickness that’ll pass, and to a degree I was right. I already feel a lot better than I did this morning. It’s just that it wasn’t only my body that was affected — my mind has been a little spotty ever since I woke up.»

Oh no…

«I don’t remember how I started this time loop,» concluded Zach, confirming Zorian’s fears. «Or whether it was me who started it in the first place. My memory is full of blanks like that at the moment. I’m hoping it will all come back to me but…»

Zorian stared at the other boy, stony faced. Basically, they were both in deep shit.

Zach seemed to interpret Zorian’s serious look a little differently, though.