Die. Respawn. Repeat.

Chapter 68: Book 2: Loop Anomalies

Rotar is missing.

Tarin and I went to check out his hut, and no one was present. None of the other crows around report any memory of him leaving, and they all seem equally worried. I'm just as worried I don't know if Rotar was missing at this point in time in any of my other loops. I didn't meet him until much, much later.

There's a chance he's just not around, but...

No. This stinks of another loop anomaly.

"Do you know where he keeps his pocket oracle?" I ask.

"He keep in box!" Tarin declares. He doesn't seem as worried as I am, strangely. He hops over to a nearby pile of stuff, stacked so high it's teetering and threatening to fall over any second; it takes a moment for me to realize that there are invisible lines of Firmament holding it all in place. There's all kinds of things in the pile, too, from glass bottles to strange stones to a variety of carvings.

Apparently, Rotar is a much more artistic soul than I assumed. Even Ahkelios lets out a chirp of appreciation.

"Here!" Tarin says, yanking out a box and making the entire pile teeter dangerously I wince back, almost expecting it all to crash to the ground, but those lines of Firmament hold surprisingly strong. Tarin grins at me as if he knows exactly what I'm thinking, then tries to pry open the box. "Hm. It locked."

I reach over, letting my Amplification Gauntlet coalesce around my hand and crushing the lid of the box. "Now it isn't," I say, in a way that's probably entirely too smug. Tarin stares at me, looking dismayed.

"What if box special!" he says. "You not just break people's things!"

"I mean, it'll come back after the loop," I point out.

"Oh." Tarin blinks a few times. "Okay. But if Rotar angry you explain. I not at fault here."

I let out a small laugh at that, momentarily pushing aside my worry about him and Mari. She didn't follow us to the hut, mostly because three people weren't needed just to look for Rotar and, I suspect, because she needed some time to herself. I don't blame her.

I take the now-open box from Tarin for a given and admittedly generous interpretation of "open" and pry off the remainder of the lid from the box, and then peer inside with a slight frown. "It's empty."

"What?" Tarin frowns at me. "That not funny."

"No, it is." I show him the box. "I don't sense any Firmament from it, either, so it's not like I accidentally crushed the thing. I think it just... didn't come back with the loop?"

We were all caught in a temporal storm. I was shoved three months ahead into a moment just before the world was destroyed.

Where did Rotar end up?

I have no proof any of these thoughts are the right answer, of course. For all I know, Rotar woke up with a full set of memories and decided to take his pocket oracle and wander off. But I can't imagine that in that scenario he wouldn't have waited for me, unless he started looking for me...

...Or maybe I'm just centering my thinking on myself too much, and Rotar's retained his memories and wandered off for his own reasons that have nothing to do with me.

Okay, there are two distinct possibilities here. One: Rotar is another looper now, and he's woken up with a full set of memories and decided to leave his hut with the pocket oracle. Two: Something about the temporal storm we were caught in created another loop anomaly, and he's... well, something's happened to him.

He's not dead. Probably. I hope.

There's a point against the first possibility: no one saw him leave. Even if Rotar was sent back with a full set of memories somehow, he's not integrated with the Interface and he doesn't seem to have the right set of abilities to sneak out like this.

"Do you know if Rotar can do anything stealthy with his Firmament?" I ask. Tarin considers my question for a moment, then shakes his head.

"Rotar smart. But his Firmament not strong. Weaker than most, usually. It why he use little strings instead of full imbuement." Tarin gestures again to the teetering pile of Rotar's belongings. "Easier to maintain. It much harder for him to hide."

So probably not the first possibility, then. That's not enough to dismiss it out of hand, but considering I can't even sense any traces of his Firmament...

"I hope he's okay," I mutter to myself. Ahkelios makes a small noise of agreement.

"I want to talk to him about all this stuff," the mantis says. "I can't believe he kept it all from me!"

"...I don't think he knew you were interested, Ahkelios."

"Well, he should've." Ahkelios crosses his arms at me, and I roll my eyes a bit, managing a small smile in response. The little bit of levity is something I need, anyway.

"Let's head back to Mari and figure out our next options," I say with a sigh. "The way I see it, I either go to the Fracture or I try to make it to the Great Cities by myself, but it looks like traveling is going to be a lot more dangerous now. Are those chimeras all over the forest? How did you know where I was?"

"Crow sense," Tarin says, tapping the side of his head, then chortles to himself. "I kidding. I fast. I remember what direction you come from, start to explore. But I see new monsters. So I run back, bring Mari. I not sure if they also on path to Great Cities, but I think it likely. I come with you! I scout."

I... hesitate. But there's no way I can really stop Tarin from following me, and if I'm being entirely honest, I would appreciate the company. I'm just worried about what it'll do to Mari.

"Only if you let me study your Firmament," I decide.

"What? Why you want study my Firmament?" Tarin asks, folding his wings and looking at me suspiciously. "You not copy my Firmament. It mine."

"I already have something like it," I grumble, letting Intrinsic Lightning flow through me for a moment; a crackle of black lightning Firmament sparks through me, and Tarin grins, like he'd been baiting me into doing that. "I just want to figure out why you can remember the loops. Maybe that way..."

I trail off before I continue, mostly because Ahkelios pokes me in the cheek and shakes his head wildly at me. I almost glare at him before I realize what he's getting at, and then I frown. Tarin doesn't even seem to notice the way I trail off, and instead nods enthusiastically to my suggestion.

"Yes, yes!" he says. "Study my Firmament. Massage back too! It hurt from running."

I stare at Tarin, who is currently facing away from me, as if he's expecting me to give him a back massage right now.

Then I grab him by the wing and start dragging him out to see Mari.

"Hey!" he protests. "This violence! Help! Help!"

None of the crows that notice the scene bother to come helping, and a few of them even give me knowing smirks.

Apparently this is a common sight in the village.

"You go Great Cities first," Mari says.

That's her advice, apparently. She's listened to the full story as much as I can explain it, with Ahkelios interjecting every time I forget something he considers important. "Why?"

"You need help from Great Cities," Mari says with a shrug. "You say they study Interface, yes? So maybe they help you. Maybe they know more about loop, maybe they not know but can study. Maybe they know what happen to Rotar."

"And the Fracture doesn't actually have anything else for me besides a few more dead skill shards and a potentially homicidal robot," I mutter. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"I go with him," Tarin says. There's none of his prior mirth in the statement, and he looks at Mari with the full force of his gaze he's serious about this, as playful as he was being earlier. "I help Trialgoer complete Trial. Or do what he need to do."

I glance at him. Tarin doesn't joke when it comes to beating the Integrators at their own game, I think. Both Tarin and Mari have good reason to despise them, considering what the Trials did to their son, so it's not necessarily surprising... But it's always strange to remember that they have this side to them.

Mari stares at Tarin for a long moment, then nods her head in slight acceptance. "You come back," she tells him quietly. "I stay. Protect village. New monsters dangerous."

She hesitates. "Maybe it not matter, if time loop around. But I think it matter, yes? We not act like crow lives not important just because of loop. It dangerous habit."

"Yes." Tarin's agreement is firm. "I help, you stay. I come back to you! I promise."

"I know."

There's a quiet sort of acceptance in her voice that quickly transforms into something harder and more determined. Mari looks around their hut, and then stands up, gesturing towards the door. "Tarin, you pack. Ethan, you follow. I find food for you two."

That sounds like an excuse to talk to me. It works easily enough on Tarin, who immediately dives into his own pile of stuff to start looking for whatever it is he wants to bring along; I follow Mari out of the hut and towards the nearby river, and wait for her to speak first.

When she does, it's with a somber tone. "I not even know if this first time you loop," she says, and then holds up a hand when I begin to protest. "I know it first time. I trust. Tarin not good at lying. But... you not tell me anymore about Tarin in loop. Next loop, or loop after that.

"It not really matter if I remember." Mari lets out a sigh, and I watch her shoulders relax as tension drains out of her. Probably because she's made and accepted her decision. "I want help. You tell me about Tarin, it become harder for me to help. You understand? Tell Tarin. He not listen if I tell him."

"I... are you sure?" I ask.

"I sure." Mari looks out at her own village for a moment. "Tarin and I suspect many things about Trial. We not sure yet. But sometimes... it feel like we in long, long dream. This maybe Tarin's biggest chance to understand. If you need to tell me, it okay. But otherwise, I not need to know."

"Okay." I take a breath. Mari's clearly made a decision, and I intend to respect it, for all that I don't know how exactly I'm going to convince Tarin to go along with this. "Uh, what do I tell Tarin?"

"You tell him it prank." Mari grins, finally, even though there's still something a little sad in that grin. "He love pranks."