Chương 11: Interlooper

Doom. Impending doom filtered in his system as stars poured into his eyes and a sense of vanishing death covered his being. The texture of parchment in his fingertips, the cold touch of the stone on his back, the frigid breeze of the mountain midnight, it all disappeared as his whole being was overtaken by the astral entities. The cosmic furnaces that illuminated the night sky were the source of much power, and beyond everything else, knowledge. Old knowledge. New knowledge. Future knowledge. Especially future.

"Ah!" Nolotl jumped out of his divination trance as his whole body was covered in early stages of frost.

"I am… alive?" The Tezlan prince looked at his brown hands in confusion. Especially because there was one more than expected. He started palpitating his left arm with his right hand, the lack of phantom pain bewildered him more than the actual presence of the extremity. The gnosiamancer clutched his heart, but there was no cavity to be found, only his defined pectoral.

"Pulsars…" He collapsed on the cold ground of the balcony where he had been performing his celestial observations.

"Did I see one month into the future with the ritual?" The Empyrean pondered over his words; they didn't feel quite right. He connected himself to the local Cognition and checked that the day was Second of Space, not Fifteenth of Death, the date of the total celestial alignment.

"No," he realized.

"Divination doesn't tend to be this detailed, I could get some scenes from the future with pristine quality but… not a whole month. Perfect Recollection is telling me I have almost a whole month and a couple of weeks to spare of memories and Cognition Connection isn't showing any lingering tether of information from the cosmos… No, this wasn't a vision." Still, checking for the wildest explanation was foolish without checking for the simplest.

Just in case, Nolotl ran some Information spells over his mind to check for signs of cognitive harm or degradation. He may have a Boon just to counter that, but resistance Boons weren't immunities; it was completely possible that he had messed up the divination ritual and messed up his brain badly. But he didn't.

"My brain and the local Cognition are completely fine…" Nolotl murmured as he bit his finger.

"What has happened?" He had avoided reaching to any wild conclusions until now as that was illogical, but as he reviewed the memories prior to… his death, he found out wording that made those wild conclusions feasible.

"Enantyum… He acted as if he knew the ambush was going to happen. No," the gnosiamancer corrected himself, "he acted as if he had lived it through. Several times in fact." Nolotl scratched his cheek as logic started to crumble.

"His status!" He realized.

"When I wrote his status, he had three non-starter Boons, meaning that he is at least level 5 in chronomancy. That doesn't mean much considering I'm tethering that level myself and I'm the Empyrean with the lowest level, but… Positive Feedback Loop doesn't sound like a level 4 Boon. Maybe not even level 5… Could he have access to the level 6 Lesser Rewind Boon? Yes, that's quite likely. But that is a non-factor. Lesser Rewind can only make the caster go back in time 10 seconds.

It's a free revival if the chronomancer is killed, but otherwise, not enough to experience the ambush multiple times with the confidence Enantyum was showing…" The more Nolotl thought of the Empyrean of Time actions, words, and status; the more confused and twisted his thoughts and questions became.

"What level is he?" That wasn't the right question to ask at this time, but it gnawed on his mind, nonetheless. Level 9 should be the maximum for a 22-year-old like Enantyum, even when factoring in his Empyrean Title. That guaranteed the man from having a Boon from the Rewind series, but Nolotl highly doubted Enantyum could have a level that high.

Roxina was only level 10 because Light leveled way faster than other Alignments and capped at that level, unlike others like Time and Information that would continue to increase in power.

"I've been avoiding the real questions," Nolotl shook his head and stood up.

"How am I here? How am I alive? And… what does Enantyum have to do with it?" Now, he knew where to find the man if his future memories where to be trusted. If he went to sleep Cillin would knock on his door in about six hours, then when he went to the Central Tower, he would meet Enantyum on the desk. But his active mind couldn't wait for six hours. He needed answers now. Searching for people as a gnosiamancer was easy. Searching for mages… not so much.

Not only did mages of any kind present resistance to the Cognition, but they tended to be hermits, and these types of Cognition divinations only worked were there were multiple points of support, i. e. multiple observers acknowledging the wanted person's existence. That was why searching for akyromancers was so hard. Or remembering that they existed.

"Ugh, I just remembered it," Nolotl clutched his perfectly healthy heart as he walked back into the Information tower.

"That akyromancer who killed me… they were able to completely erase their existence, or at least enough to bypass my Perfect Recollection. If only I had been more aware…" He lamented how he had lowered his guard, but the damage was already done. Or rather… it had yet to be done.

"Am I on the past, or have I just seen a very detailed future?" He moved his hand from clutching his chest to holding his head.

"Only one man has the answers." Using remnants of knowledge from the Cognition, Nolotl was able to estimate Enantyum's last known position. He apparently was at the Time Tower Master's private quarters. It surprised the diviner that he was able to get that information with such ease, especially considering when it had been impossible to track him accurately after the gathering of empyreans.

"Why is his imprint in the Cognition so strong now…?" Nolotl refused to make any theories or wild speculations before he had all the facts, but something was inevitably brewing in his mind. Even if it was a little past midnight, the corridors of the Empyrean Academy were bustling with life. Well, that may be a misnomer, mages weren't the most ecstatic of people, but it was true that there were many passersby for this late hour. Or perhaps early would've been the most adequate descriptor.

Nolotl was lucky enough that his destination was on a similar floor to his own, so he only had to go down a few stairs before crossing a sky-bridge to the Central Tower. From there, he went to another sky-bridge into the Time Tower. From there, it was only time until he reached the tower master's quarters, and he knew Enantyum was inside before knocking on the door. What on the previous earth is that? The gnosiamancer thought, cursing in a Tezlan idiom, as his mind peered into the most flippant of imageries.

From the Cognition, Nolotl could see another mind, a mind like no other. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. But in the worst of senses. Minds—like bodies and souls—tended to have a defined shape and look, but the one he was beholding was… fractured, for a lack of better words. It was not the mind of a healthy person, the signs of cognitive degradation were painfully obvious, but even then, that was not the greatest of the problems.

But before he could continue inspecting the fractured mind, the Empyrean was detected.

"I know you are there, Nolotl," Enantyum tiredly said across the door.

"Make your way inside." The gnosiamancer was able to detect the fellow Empyrean and know he was spotted thanks to his connection to the Cognition, but how was the chronomancer detecting him? Knowing better than to make the man who held the answers to his question wait, Nolotl opened the door to the quarters. The room was extensively decorated with paraphernalia, especially hints of gold and brass in every furnishing, but books were the predominant sight.

Rows upon rows of stacked bookcases composed the walls of the tower master's quarters. Though the trinkets that were more eye-catching were the diverse clocks littered around the room, mostly used as decoration or paperweight. These clocks came in all shapes and sizes as they were time-keeping devices from every culture and country. There even was a circular slab of stone from Tezlan, though it was a calendar rather than a clock. More questions ignited in Nolotl's mind.

Why was Enantyum in the tower master's quarters? Where was the Time Tower Master? But he knew better than to ask such superficial questions.

"To be completely honest, I thought I had failed. The degradation was too minimal that it was just within the reaches of the standard deviation," Enantyum said before Nolotl had time to speak himself. He rested on an armchair with a cup of wine at the side.

"But alas, I knew you would come to see me, though I expected you to… linger a bit more." Enantyum wore at this moment the same outfit he did when he visited the status office this same day. That white and lavender western robe that so promiscuously showed his waist without any shame whatsoever. Nolotl was called a lot of things by dressing as he did, but at least he had the decency to hide his waist. He could see some parts of the man's crotch even in his sitting position. Focus, Nolotl.

Focus, he reminded himself of the situation at hand, but it was hard to focus when he had experienced death barely a handful of minutes ago. His mind instinctively wanted to ramble, to do anything but think about that.

"How so? Why would I linger?" The gnosiamancer asked more out of courtesy than actual interest after realizing than going straight for the throat could play against his best interests.

"People tend to be disoriented after I drag them with me. But you were surprisingly fast, it has been… twenty-seven minutes and nine seconds since the regression. Not the fastest reunion I've had for a newcomer, but surprising, nonetheless considering you have no movement capabilities whatsoever. I guess I am at fault for not trying you out before." The more Enantyum talked, the more Nolotl was sure of his suspicions. But that didn't stop him from outright confirming them.

"Have we regressed in time?" He asked with complete seriousness. Enantyum broke into laughter.

"What are you talking about?"

"You are not going to gaslight me into thinking that I am crazy," the Empyrean of Information continued with his stoicism, a paragon of nonchalance.

"Oh, fret not. You are very much sane," the Empyrean of Time added.

"It is just that we have not simply regressed in time. We have looped in time, to be more specific." Nolotl frowned his brow, looking down at the chronomancer short of a scowl.

"Ah, that is a good expression. People always react deliciously upon hearing the truth, some are outright skeptical, but you just presented doubt without outright turning me down. I mean, it makes sense, but at the same time it does not. It is not unheard for chronomancers to turn back the flow of time for a short while…"

"But unheard of for chronomancers to trap time itself into a loop," the gnosiamancer ended the sentence.

"Exactly!" Enantyum snapped his fingers.

"You are taking this quite well; other mages have gone insane for a few loops until reality settled with them."

"I would be lying if I said I trusted every word coming out of your mouth," Especially with a mind as fractured as yours, Nolotl left unspoken. Considering he had spotted to see that mind until now, it meant that the chronomancer usually covered it up.

"But there is irrefutable evidence of the reversal of the flow of time. And besides, I am interested in how a measly student has not only reverted time but also trapped it in an unending cycle."

"Ah, there is a misunderstanding here," Enantyum finally stood up from the armchair.

"Yes, I have looped time—and for a month and some change as you may have guessed already—but this is not an indefinite process. The loop slowly degrades, I am not that competent, unfortunately."

"How?" The Tezlan prince repeated his question as the dark-skinned chronomancer had avoided answering it.

"Are you sure you want to ask such a simple question?" Enantyum toyed with him, but he remained unmoving. The Empyrean of Time sighed and continued talking.

"The total celestial alignment, that is how." Nolotl expected that answer, but he wasn't satisfied with it.

"Even if Time is one of the most boosted Alignments during the total celestial alignment, it is completely impossible to go back in time this far."

"If it is so impossible," the chronomancer pranced forward with a grin of his visage, "then I must ask you this question: how are we experiencing our current reality?"

"I…" Nolotl had no answers. It was the undeniable truth that they had experienced the future, whether it was by complex divination or turning back the wheel of time. But it was undeniable that one was more likely than the other.

"There are many tricks and exploits that I have applied for this to even be possible. Do not think I have managed to do so trivially," Enantyum explained as a matter of fact. Every word he uttered seemed to be a matter of fact. Nolotl had never seen someone so confident of their every word. No living person had that much gravitas on their voice as the chronomancer before him.

"Now, I am not going to reveal the tricks up my sleeve to you, but I do want to work together with you, Nolotl Xocoyotzin." The gnosiamancer had been expecting this question all this time. One didn't casually bring a person back in time for a laugh.

"What do you require of me, Enantyum Dei?" Being referred by his full name seemed to amuse the man as yet another grin appeared on his visage.

"Be my eyes and ears," he announced with open arms.

"Could you please elaborate?" Nolotl kept his cool regardless of the chronomancer's flair for theatrics.

"I expected as much," Enantyum said with half-a-pout, flair was apparently the name of the game.

"One of the tricks I talked about for making this loop possible is reducing the area of effect. This is but an oversimplification, though if I were to elaborate, I am limited to a bit more than the perimeters of the academy in my movement."

"I saw you on the top of the Mount Empyrean during the total celestial alignment." The image of the supermassive blackhole defying the rules of light still lingered in his mind.

"I said a bit more," and that was all he added.

"As I am personally restricted in my sphere of influence, I require of others to do my bidding."

"Would I not be limited too to that sphere of influence?"

"No," they stayed at an impasse until Enantyum finally dignified himself to elaborate more.

"Interloopers—as I call the people who I bring to the loop—are not subject to the same rules as I. Though that does not mean they are not subject to none, they just work with their own."

"I see," he didn't. As much as Nolotl loved to keep an open mind, this subject was wholly beyond him. Still, panicking and losing his composure wouldn't do him any good. A good gnosiamancer always kept a cool head. If he had done so, he wouldn't have died.

"So what does being an interlooper entail for me?"

"First of all, you can live the experience of repeating the same month and some of your life ad nauseam."

"That does not sound… enticing," Nolotl added with a grimace.

"Fret not, it gets worse." Enantyum happily replied.

"Because I am only pushing your memories back in time, you will not conserve your current changes to your status—Alignment and resources increments included—but at the same time, any damages caused on your body and soul will not be brought back with the next loop."

"That is quite beneficial and… plays accordingly to my personal experience," the gnosiamancer recalled how he dealt with the akyromancer before his death. The wild psychic scream he had unleashed should have resulted in permanent brain damage, yet his mind was completely unscathed. This means I could vaporize my brain if it means leaving my Cognition intact. A common mistake was that people thought that the brain and the mind was the same, but not quite.

Just like the eyes were the gateway to the soul, such was also the case with the brain to the mind.

"I did tell it gets worse." With that comment, Nolotl's blood chilled. He didn't need to use Lesser Read Thoughts to know something bad was coming.

"As I have previously mentioned, the loop is not eternal and slowly degrades. The more things I have to turn back in time alongside myself, the faster this degradation occurs. And because I have unfinished business of indeterminate duration, I cannot afford to freely spend the duration of the time loop, so useless interloopers are without use to me and I remove them from the loop. Any information that the interloopers may have been holding will be erased forever if that case were to happen."

The Empyrean of Information clearly understood the message, but that didn't stop the Empyrean of Time to put it straight.

"In other words, whenever I please, you are dead," the man who had placed time itself on a coiling repetition said coldly, his eyes shining brazen with Time.