Andrew hadn’t noticed exactly when it had started, and that annoyed him. When had his perception slipped so heavily? He used to be aware of everything in the room he was in. Sure, his life was now more super science than casual studying, but it was hard to believe that he had missed this when it started.
At some point, after they left to find Libby, Zoz had moved near Twonger. A weak, pained noise had escaped Twongers lips, finally causing Andrew to take actual notice of what was happening where Twonger rested against the wall. Zoz’s antlers were glowing, similar to when Andy had charged them with his own mana, except Andy wasn’t there. There was only a barely conscious Twonger as a source of refined mana,
“Hey is something wrong? Do we have an attack incoming? I’m not sure Twonger has the strength to spare any mana for you right now, but I can probably pop my head into the portal and yell for the others. They may still be in range.” Andrew said, interrupting the scene.
“We don’t have time for that. Something is coming.” Zoz’s words were slurred when he answered. It was almost as if he was drunk.
“Fine, but I think you’ve had enough,” Andrew said, making his voice as authoritative as he could muster.
“It isss not enougghh.” The words were even more slurred now. Twonger’s groaning had decreased to barely audible.
“Dammit,” Andrew thought. He knew where this was going, and he had to act. He grabbed a large stick that he was reasonably sure he could still swing, walked up behind Zoz, and swung as hard as he could.
“I said leave him alone!” he yelled as he swung. Much to his surprise, the makeshift club swung home. It hit Zoz’s head with a loud crack, causing the deer to lose its footing and fall to the cavern floor.
He quickly moved between Twonger and Zoz and took another hard swing downward. It hit again, but this time, Zoz looked more prepared. The deer’s head rolled more with the impact, and he regained his feet.
As Andrew stood there waiting to die, staring down the deer, in popped then other four. They had Libby with them, but Andrew saw the gleam in Zoz’s eyes. Twonger was just the first.
*
Zoz had made a parting attempt to gore one of the group as they fled, but Andrew had once again managed to club him square on the head. As the portal, they disappeared through winked out.
“Well, it looks like they are safe, and now you are left with just me. Little old no mana Andrew.” He said, fully expecting his death was coming and having no idea how that would affect the void house or the stability of the time loop. He wasn’t sure he’d return next loop at all, in fact, due to his unique nature within, especially when he considered that Andy had more or less replaced him as far as Earth had been concerned as the one real Andrew.
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He was surprised to find himself somewhat okay with that. He had been willing to die to save the penguins as well. He really had grown soft over the decades. The thought made him laugh out loud, one of the very few genuine laughs he had since this whole insane debacle had started.
“What do you find funny, human?” Zoz asked, the rage bleeding into his voice.
“The entire stupid situation. Here I am, finally connecting to people, trapped inside a weird series of dreams of proto universes, listening to a wizard deer give terrible supervillain-level speeches. So how about we just stop the posturing, and I try to hit you with this stick a few more times before you manage to finally kill me?” Andrew laughed more.
“Fine, then die!” Zoz charged forward, stabbing Andrew deeply in the side with one of the antlers, and then began discharging a burning hot blast of energy directly into the wound, causing Andrew to scream in pain.
He now knew what it felt like when the monsters hit Cal or Andy, and boy, did he not like it. He resolved to try to be nicer to them if he ever saw them again. Luckily, that was a big if, so he probably wouldn’t have to follow through. He laughed again through the pain.
“That’s it? Really, I’ve seen some of my friends do more to giant monsters, and the best you can do is stab me. Kind of pathetic when you consider it.” He spat blood as he coughed out the words.
“DIE!” Andrew felt more energy surge through his body. All his muscles screamed, and his nerves felt like they were on fire. There was a weird coolness in his pocket, though. Somehow, that wasn’t being affected.
“Interesting,” he mumbled as he tried to get his hand into the pocket. It was a monumental task, as his fingers didn’t want to move, but after a few agonizing seconds, he closed his hand around the eggshell fragment the penguins had given him. Despite the increasing heat of the room, it was ice cold.
He pulled it out and, to his dismay, felt it crumble to dust once exposed to the cavern's air. He laughed again at the absurdity, but his laughter was mostly coughs.
“What? How?” He heard Zoz yell and felt something to his side, but he had lost a lot of blood at this point, and moving his head proved too difficult to see what had drawn the monster’s attention.
Zoz pulled his antler free of Andrew, letting the man collapse to the ground. Finally, he was able to see what had suddenly alarmed him. A small portal had opened on the ground where the dust had fallen, and several penguins were flooding through. Before Zoz had a chance to fight back, dozens of penguins had launched iceballs at him, pelting him and, more importantly, seeming to discharge some of his stolen energies.
Then, to Andrew’s shock, the polar bear came charging through the portal and bit down hard on Zoz’s throat. The scene quickly turned into a melee, with Zoz fighting for his life against a growing army of penguins of an enraged white bear. Just as it looked like they were about to finally down Zoz for good, he yelled something Andrew didn’t understand. His body shifted, and his antlers exploded.
A blinding bright light flashed in the room for a split second, and Zoz was gone.
“Damn, I really thought you all had him.” Andrew coughed out before his vision started to go black.
“We would have if the coward hadn’t fled. Rest now, Andrew. It’s our turn to take care of you.” One of them said, but he was too out of it to tell who.
“You guys could talk the whole time?” He slurred out the question before falling unconscious against the fur of a soft white bear.