Chapter 44: History

  [Déjà vu System: Level 26]

  [Loop Count: 38]

  [Experience Points (XP): 10,908 / 18,500]

  I was woken by a sudden series of knocks on the door.

  What the hell? Is that how every morning in this time loop starts?

  Peering outside the window, I saw only darkness - early morning at best.

  “Come on, Spellsword, open up.” An unfamiliar voice called from outside. “I told you I’d find you once the next loop began.”

  A shiver ran down my spine, accompanied by Déjà vu.

  Goren.

  Adrenaline surged through my veins as I quickly equipped my gear and grabbed Silverfang from the inventory.

  “What do you want?” I called out, hiding behind a corner and keeping an eye on the front door from a safe distance.

  “I have a debt to repay.” This time the voice came from behind me.

  Spinning around, I saw a young man with short dark hair and piercing blue eyes sitting casually at the desk beside my bed. A dark aura surrounded him – Erebus’ mark. Temporal Trace confirmed my worries as it recognized him as Goren Shein, level 113.

  I aimed Silverfang at him. “Get out of my house.”

  He rolled his eyes, chuckling. “Still can’t remember jack shit, can you?”

  “I remember enough to know I need to stay away from you.”

  He nodded. “Fair. But this time, I came here as an ally.”

  “Right.” I muttered skeptically. “Leave.”

  He clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed. “Oh, just hear me out.”

  Right as I considered releasing an Unyielding Charge at him, he spoke again, his excitement barely contained.

  “Don’t you want to know what happened in the last loop? I know you do!”

  I did want to know. Outside of a few things – that something truly terrible must've happened if Chronos became so sick, Kelltins was an Axul, and that his allegiance lied with Erebus – I knew little. But I couldn’t afford favors like this. This was what had landed me in this mess with Goren in the first place, forcing Chronos to strike that deal with Dolos.

  “No.” I said firmly. “I’ll learn everything I need on my own.”

  Goren exhaled heavily. “Still, I need to repay you.”

  “For what?”

  “You saved me in the last loop.” He said, a look of disbelief on his face. “I wasn’t your top priority – understandable – and yet you still tried. I promised I’d repay you in this run.”

  I couldn’t recall any of it. Did I actually save him? What was I even thinking? Was the situation that dire?

  He seized on my inner turmoil, pressing on. “And I want you to know I’m sorry. For killing you eight times. It was wrong. But I…” He paused, seemingly struggling to find the words. “I guess I lost a piece of me in that tomb. And it’s not coming back even after Erebus is dealt with.”

  I eyed him carefully. Something about him unsettled me, despite his seemingly sincere apology. My memory loss was working in his favor. I couldn’t forgive him, couldn’t trust him – but I couldn’t muster anger, either.

  Before I could tell him to leave again, he spoke. “You know, just because Dolos and your god are on bad terms doesn’t mean we have to be.”

  I blinked at him, dumbfounded. “Are you serious?”

  He nodded excitedly. “Of course! I mean, you blew off my first offer to team up because of him, right? But we can still make this work! Now that I know you’re an amnesiac, I can fill you in on everything so we’re on the same page. Plus,” he pointed at Silverfang in my hand, “you’re way stronger now. We can take on the big guys together, and then – “

  “You can’t be serious.” I interrupted. “Goren, in 26 loops we’re set to fight each other with our existences on the line – and it happened because of you. How can you be so…aloof about it?”

  He raised his index finger as if correcting me. “First of all, it’s your fault for lying to me, but details, shmetails, and – “

  “Don’t pin this on me!” I snapped, cutting him off again.

  He ignored me, his voice growing more emotional. “And second of all, have you considered that I hate this as much as you do? Do you think I wanted this to happen? Do you think I ever imagined erasure from existence was an actual thing? How do you think I feel about the fact that I can erase you from existence, make everyone forget you? Had it crossed your mind that I don’t want to do this either?!”

  His tone and words left me speechless. Remembering almost nothing about him, my mind painted him as a cold-blooded psychopath, but now he seemed anything but.

  He pressed on. “We can still make this right. I can still make this right. Please, I’m asking you again – let’s do this together. Let’s end Erebus before we have to end each other.”

  For a moment, I really considered believing him. He just sounded so…sincere. But then I reminded myself of who he was. A killer. The only reason he’d stopped killing me at the start of each loop was because of divine intervention. And most importantly, Chronos had warned me more than once to stay away from him. I had already made the mistake of ignoring him once...

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  I took a deep breath. “You better leave, Goren.”

  He stared at me for a long moment, then sighed heavily. “Very well.”

  He made his way to the door. With one hand resting on the handle, he spoke quietly. “I still owe you, so I’ll tell you this: first, I’m not sure when you originally woke up on this day, but I’d wager I gave you about an extra three hours this run by waking you up early. Use them wisely.”

  Okay…so not all my mornings start like this. Good to know.

  “Second,” he continued, “I don’t know if you remember him, but Kelltins won’t be a problem for us going forward. I already spoke to him.”

  Kelltins – Noctyra – won’t be a problem? How? That didn’t make any sense.

  “That sounds awfully convenient.” I replied warily. “Don’t tell me you killed him or something…”

  Goren chuckled, shaking his head as he stood with his back to me. “I don’t think I’m capable of that at my current level.” He paused briefly before adding. “Anyway, he told me he’s quitting. The quest. Apparently, old Erebus’ dark embrace wasn’t what he thought it would be.”

  Interesting…but could I even trust this information? Even if Goren wasn’t lying – which is a big if – could I really believe Noctyra would just call it quits?

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Goren said suddenly. “I don’t trust him either. He pretty much tortured me, you know? But I guess we’ll find out if he was truthful when we reach the starting line.”

  I nodded reluctantly. There wasn’t any other way to confirm Noctyra’s intentions for now. If he does end up being truthful, then it would be one less thing for me to worry about.

  “And third,” Goren added, his tone becoming more serious. “There’s something I need to show you. Consider it my gift to you. If you manage to remember it between loops, it’ll make your time traversing the tomb much easier.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “And what’s that?”

  He opened the door and stepped outside, pausing on the threshold. “You’ll see when the time comes. For now, enjoy your extra hours.”

  ***

  After Goren left, I stayed awake. Surely, there was no way I could sleep after an encounter like that – one that left me with so many questions and worries.

  I opened both of my inventories and examined the items within.

  The first thing that caught my eye was the Sword of Radiance. It materialized in my hand as I selected it – a shining, radiant sword with a level requirement 24 levels above my current one. I recalled Pix’s words: this sword would keep me hidden from Erebus, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember where I had acquired it.

  Having no use for it at the moment, I stored it back in the second inventory and turned my attention to the memory fragments that caught my attention.

  The fragment about Noctyra left me hopeful. If the last Axul had told Goren the truth – that he would actually leave, it would make things easier. As a child, Noctyra didn’t seem to harbor any animosity toward humanity, so perhaps he’d genuinely changed his mind? As far as I could tell from the memory, his mother was a regular human.

  The fragment about Kaelstrife and Gaelith, on the other hand, was heart-wrenching, especially knowing how the knight's life ended. It was also shocking to think that a man like him became the vessel for something as vile as Erebus.

  But it was the last fragment that unsettled me the most. That woman – Lysandra. The High Priestess of Axul. She’d spoken with Erebus, and I’d bet everything I had that the ritual she planned was connected to him. The more I dwelled on it, a disturbing realization suddenly dawned on me.

  The Axul were last seen about a thousand years ago – the same interval between Erebus’ resurrections. How could Lysandra have been conversing with him if he was supposed to be fighting Chronos somewhere far from our world? How did she obtain the stone that was Erebus' prison?

  Had Erebus somehow found a way to prepare the ground for his arrival in our world a millennium in advance? Was it possible he’d set his sights on us that long ago? Or was it simpler than that and he just found himself in this random world a second after he was imprisoned again?

  I needed answers. I had to ask Chronos about this. Hopefully, he’ll recover soon.

  Still, the High Priestess lingered in my thoughts, and as I continued thinking about her, the unmistakable sense of Déjà vu rang in my mind as if trying to remind me of something. I took it as a sign I was on the right track, and I decided to pursue this lead.

  Now, where could I find more information about the Axul and their prominent figures?

  The best option would be the library in the capital, but that was far too distant to reach in a day. The second-best option was the much smaller – but ancient – library in Westrea, the closest town to my village. Even then, I wouldn’t get there quickly, and the library was likely closed at this early hour. I couldn’t afford to waste time.

  Sure, I could burn an entire run on a library trip. But at my current state, was it worth it? I was still far from being strong – Goren was level 113, nearly forty levels above me. Every run without gaining XP felt like a wasted opportunity.

  So, what was my third-best option?

  I paced the room, deep in thought, until a faint orb of light on the kitchen table caught my eye.

  It was a Temporal Trace mark I’d left for myself in a previous run.

  Examining it further, I knew exactly who could help me.

  ***

  Christian Renner, my guild master, came from a long line of adventurers. The Renner bloodline had reached its peak with his grandfather, Richard Renner, a renowned Spellsword. Richard had capped at level 97 and wielded the Astral Spear – a legendary weapon that remained our guild’s most coveted possession.

  Christian’s father was also a capable adventurer, though far less famous than Richard. Unfortunately for him, his reputation revolved around being “Richard Renner’s son” than his own achievements.

  Christian, on the other hand, didn’t have a towering figure to live up to – at least not like his father had – but he suffered from a different kind of misfortune: he capped at a mere level 37. Despite this, he couldn’t turn away from the family business and took over as guild master after his father’s passing. That decision didn’t stop the few adventurers in the guild from leaving – they didn’t see Christian as a worthy leader. Not even compared to his father, let alone grandfather.

  Then I came along. Running from my own failures and the big city. I needed a guild to keep earning a living doing smaller quests. Maybe I felt a connection to Christian and his backstory; maybe that’s why I decided to settle in Sandrest and joined his family’s guild – the Sand Tigers.

  By the time I arrived, the guild was barely functioning. Christian was its sole member and spent most of his time with his family. As I got to know him, I realized he was a history nerd, which made him the perfect person to help me now.

  As I reached the Renner household, I wondered if on any of my past runs I had already did the same thing...I tried to shake these thoughts off. They didn't really help.

  The sky was still dark, with at least two hours before sunrise. Rounding the house, I stopped by the window to Christian’s workshop. I saw him inside, awake and engrossed in a book. Despite already knowing he’d be up, I sighed in relief.

  I knocked softly on the window, mindful of his wife and two children, who unlike him were likely asleep elsewhere in the house.

  Christian looked up from his book, a puzzled expression on his face as he approached and slid the window open.

  “Aidan?” he asked, confused.

  “Christiiiian! How’s it going?” I whispered, giving him a weak smile. I was fully aware of how strange it was to show up at his house at this hour.

  His expression didn’t change. “Everything’s fine…What are you doing here?”

  “I need your help.” I admitted. “Your incredible history knowledge, to be precise.”

  His neutral expression shifted into a scolding one. “Do you even realize what time it is? What if I’d been asleep?”

  I took a deep breath, refusing to fall for his nonsense. “Christian, I know you’re a night owl. Don’t act like there was any chance you were asleep.”

  He stared at me silently for a moment before relenting. “Fair enough. What do you need?”

  That’s what I like about Christian – straight to the point.

  “What can you tell me about the Axul?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so now you’re interested in the Axul?”

  I winced, knowing exactly what he meant. When I’d first talked to him about this quest – after Yana asked me to join – he’d tried to share what he knew about Gaelith’s tomb. But back then, basically an eternity ago, I was too excited about seeing Yana again to pay attention.

  “I’m sorry.” I said earnestly. “I’ll listen to everything you have to say this time. Please.”

  Christian stared at me for a long minute before sighing and gesturing toward the door.

  “Well, come on in.”