Taiven raised her eyebrow at him.
«Well, go on,» Zorian prompted.
«You’re right,» Taiven sighed. «I don’t believe a word of it. So you’re saying the things you know are that insane?»
«At the very least,» Zorian confirmed.
«Huh,» Taiven said speculatively. «Sounds interesting, but you’ll have to tell me those stories some other time. I kept you long enough, I think. See you around, Roach!»
Zorian watched as Taiven left before turning back to Kael and Kirielle. «So. Shall we continue where we left off?»
They both remained silent, staring at him.
«Um,» he said. «Why are you staring at me like that?»
«Is it true?» Kirielle asked fearfully. «Are you really a time traveler?»
Zorian opened his mouth and closed it again. What?
«Your friend may be too oblivious to recognize an answer couched as a hypothetical, but we’re not,» Kael elaborated. «You really do believe that, don’t you? That you’re a time traveler?»
«I… yes. If it’s a delusion, it’s a very convincing one,» Zorian said carefully. «The magics I learn in each iteration of this month transfer over into the next one. Insanity doesn’t give the victim spells and shaping skills.»
«I don’t understand,» Kirielle complained.
«You and me both, Kiri,» Zorian sighed. «You and me both.»
«Perhaps you should explain from the start?» Kael suggested patiently. «Tell us what you do understand.»
«I lived through this month before,» Zorian said after taking a moment to collect his thoughts. «The first time, before I knew about the time loop, I did not bring Kirielle with me to Cyoria.»
«What!?» protested Kirielle. «Zorian, you jerk!»
«I lived in one of the academy-provided apartments and I went to classes like normal,» said Zorian, ignoring her. He glanced at Kael. «You did too, but I didn’t know you then. However, we had an extra classmate.»
«Zach?» Kael guessed.
«Yes,» Zorian confirmed. «Unlike the previous two years I shared a class with him, this time he was amazing. He solved every test perfectly, he had mastered hundreds of spells and he was good enough at alchemy to impress you, of all people.»
Kael raised his eyebrow at him.
«Yes,» Zorian assured. «It was like he was completely transformed during the summer break. At the time I didn’t care very much — I was curious as to how he accomplished it, but it was not my business to pry. And then the summer festival came, and everything went to hell. Artillery spells descended from the sky on the city, and an army of monsters followed in their wake. As I was running through the burning city, I witnessed Zach fighting the invaders. He was throwing high-level spells as if they were candy, fighting with a skill that no third year student could possibly possess. He fared pretty well at first, but then a lich arrived at the scene and demolished him.»
He paused for a moment to consider his next words, but Kirielle evidently didn’t want to wait that long.
«And then what?» Kirielle asked. «What happened next?»
«What else?» Zorian scoffed. «We died. The lich cast some kind of weird spell at us — a necromantic spell, I am told — and we were instantly killed.»
«So how did you go back in time then?» asked Kirielle suspiciously.
«I have no idea. All I know is that I was suddenly back in my bed in Cyoria, with you wishing me a good morning in that uniquely charming Kirielle way. At first I thought this was something the lich did, but I would soon find out this was not an isolated occurrence. Every time I die, or at the end of the Summer festival if I don’t, my soul is transported back to that morning in Cirin before I take a train to Cyoria.»
They stared at him for a few seconds, and Zorian was already becoming certain they would suddenly start laughing and mocking him when Kirielle decided to speak again.
«So you are a time traveler, but you can only go one month into the past and only until one specific day,» said Kirielle carefully. Zorian nodded. She understood that a lot better than Zorian had thought she would. «And you don’t control any of it, except by deliberately killing yourself.»
«Yes,» Zorian confirmed.
«You are the lamest time traveler ever,» Kirielle opinionated.
And just like that the tension was broken.
It had been three days since he had told Kirielle and Kael about the time loop and he was honestly a little bit disappointed by their reactions. They both seemed to believe him, but neither was terribly affected. Both of them were still asking him questions about it whenever they could catch him alone, and he knew Kael was researching the topic in his free time, but they continued to go about their business as if nothing was wrong. They weren’t even giving him weird glances when they thought he wasn’t looking or anything!
«I told you already, I’ve only been in the time loop for little over a year,» Zorian told Kirielle. «I’m not even close to all-knowing and I can’t answer these questions you keep asking me.»
«I can’t believe you’ve been going to school all this time,» Kirielle grumbled. «I’d have quit after the second time.»
«You’d have ended up mind wiped or slaved to Zach in a heartbeat,» Zorian retorted. «There is a reason I’m doing this slowly and carefully.»
A gentle knock on his door stopped their argument short. Zorian was a bit paranoid about visitors ever since he had told Haslush about the invasion, and telling Kael and Kirielle about it only increased that. Even though he had told Kael and Kirielle not to spread the ‘festival invasion’ part of the revelation to other people, he could never be sure if they had listened to him. Especially not Kirielle. He kept expecting assassins to barge into the house any day now, but his paranoia had thankfully been groundless so far. Since only Kael knocked so lightly, Zorian had a pretty good idea who it was.
«Come in,» Zorian invited.
Instead of coming in, however, Kael remained standing in the doorway.
«We need to talk,» Kael said, a hint of nervousness in his voice. «Can you come into my room for a moment?»
«Is it about time travel?» Kirielle said excitedly.
Kael sighed. «Kirielle, I know you won’t like this, but can you stay in your room while I talk to your brother? It’s related to time travel, but it’s a bit… private.»
For a moment it looked like Kirielle was going to complain, but then she shot him a speculative look and nodded in assent. As he watched her leave back to her room, grumbling all the way, Zorian had to admit he was a little jealous of Kael’s ability to control Kirielle. She never listened to him when he tried that sort of thing.
Shrugging, Zorian followed Kael into his room, where the morlock boy promptly dragged a chest from under his bed and retrieved a mysterious black book with no title out of it.
«I’ve been looking into your… problem… the last few days,» Kael said. «I may have found something.»
«You did?» Zorian asked excitedly.
Kael opened the book he was carrying and leafed through for a few seconds before he found what he was looking for. He handed the open book to him and pointed at the page.
«Based on the chant you memorized from the lich, and everything else you told me, I think this is the most likely spell he used,» Kael said.
«Soul Meld,» Zorian read aloud. «Requires at least two targets. Causes target souls to merge and blend into one. Typically used as a component in more complicated rituals, which heavily modify the effects. If the spell is used in isolation, the resulting entity is virtually always rendered insane or otherwise defective from the stress of the merger. Commonly used in… creation of familiar bonds, and soul bonds in general…»