Far from the cosmic chaos, a beautiful female entity stood barefoot in a lush paradise. From behind her, another entity appeared and slowly approached.

“Second have you seen Fourth around? Haven’t seen him in awhile.”

She didn’t look up and only responded with one word.

“Punishment.”

The male didn’t look surprised as he sighed in exasperation.

“What did you do with him this time then?”

She jutted her chin in a direction which his eyes followed.

“...care to explain what I’m seeing?”

“I had an idea and went with it. I call it a loop.”

He stood for awhile and continued watching.

“Hmm interesting but what kind of punishment is this if he forgets each time?”

She turned to face him with a gleam in her starry eyes.

“That’s the point. As soon as it’s over I’ll let him recall it all in one swoop.”

He grimaced just imagining it. That would be excruciatingly annoying even for them. Unsure of how to respond he focused on the ‘loop’, searching for something. His eyes flashed as he turned to her.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Not bad but there are some glaring holes with this idea of yours.”

Her expression didn’t change as she spoke.

“Explain.”

Disappointed with her reaction he continued.

“Well, the storyline clearly needs some tweaking but one of the more obvious flaws lies in his memory. Once he obtains perfect recall how could he not remember the Locket is indestructible? Plus that whole ‘watching as the world resembled his old one’, I mean come on, that’s just shoddy storytelling.”

He went on to list all the mistakes he’d found. More than she would have liked.

She looked at him in silence before nodding begrudgingly.

“You always were a sharp one Third. It’s what I hate most about you.”

He seemed delighted causing her even the slightest irritation.

“I do my best. By the way, how many of these loops does he have to go through before it ends?”

“500 billion.”

He almost stumbled hearing that.

“...may I ask how much he is at now?”

“Around 430 billion.”

He visually paled as he looked at her.

“Isn’t that a bit excessive? Even for you?”

“Fourth messed with my mortals. He shouldn’t have done that.”

“But still 500 billion of those...First is not gonna be happy.”

“He never is. Besides Fourth is getting out of hand. He needs to be disciplined.”

“You have a point there but still, 500 billion? Are you serious? That’s too much no matter what he did.”

“He tried making Fifth.”

His face darkened.

“That’s a serious offence.”

“He should be grateful I saved him from First finding out. You know how he gets when anyone tries breaking his Rule.”

He nodded slowly.

“Guess your right. If he really did try making Fifth he deserves more than 500 billion.”

A smile slowly spread across her face.

“See? I can be lenient too.”

He shuddered and cemented the thought never to offend Second.

“...well I need to get back. I’ll come see you again soon.”

She made a sound of acknowledgement as he disappeared without a sound. Her mind, however, remained solely focused on the points he brought up.

“Seems like I need to work on the plot.”

Her smile widened as numerous ideas sprouted.

“This is going to be fun.”