“The biggest question right now is whether you're going to be using this power for chaos, for fun, or for profit."

"Chaos, no! I wouldn't. I'll... help people.” Ran sounded vaguely uncertain. “Save the world, right?"

"Well, I suppose it's up to you now. After all, my copy of Temporal Reversion is broken for the foreseeable future."

Ran gaped. “That’s not…”

"Yep. You are now the only time traveler in the room. Congratulations on your promotion. Consider me your wise mentor in chaos."

"I told you I don't want to be a chaos... person."

"Then don't be. This is your show now. I'm only here to enjoy the ride. And to tell you everything you need to know as your experienced guide.”

Ran shifted uncomfortably, eyes unfocused. “This feels like too much power. I don’t think I should be responsible for ultimate mediation in what happens and who lives or dies.”

“You don’t have to use it. Even if it would be boring not to.”

Ran didn’t answer, staring off into the distance.

If it turned out Jair only had the one timeline to work with, that could still be fun. Trying to get everything right on the first try, not attempting anything that the vagaries of minute chance could throw off… Hmm.

Luck, timing, happenstance, they all were the unpredictable tiny pieces of time that couldn't be pinned down perfectly. Even reproducing the same situation almost perfectly, the 'almost' could come back to bite you.

He couldn't try to stop the first invasion single-handedly this time, because he wouldn't have the split second timing necessary to survive the vampire's touch every single time. It had taken him thirty tries even once he knew exactly what to do.

They could settle into the day-to-day of the academy, then the political nonsense of the Veor nobility. Ran could continue his training to take up the Serin inheritance. Jair could act as a blackmail consultant, that would be fun.

As long as he kept up on his exercises and imprinting, Jair would be back to his archmage standing long before Sekir came along, ready to take on the sorcerer-king loop or no loop. Well, once he had Aethron to back him up. If he faced down Sekir alone, that would be the end of him.

Jair finally broke the silence. “Setting that aside for now, is there anything we should specifically be looking for as far as soulspells for you to eat? Do you want Oliss’s prophecy power? That could be fun to play with." Jair laughed as something occurred to him. "I wonder, is this why 'don't share your soulspell' is a thing? Because then people could copy it? I'm sure this isn't the first time someone ended up with this kind of power."

"Could be the case. I wouldn't know."

"You should get Atrek's speed power. That one would come in very handy."

"What about you? Going for the same gravity/lightning focus as before?"

"Naturally. I wouldn't want to be left behind, and I don't have the time to master whole new fighting styles. Those are the spells I'm most confident in."

"So do we know anyone with soulspells that would complement that? If you're going to be flying and zappying, what should I be doing. Shielding? Stabbing?"

"Mobility and perception are always good."

“HEALING!” Ran shouted. “Do we know anyone with a healing soulspell? Because that has to go on the list.”

“I’ve meet a few healers with soulspells in the past, well, future. Not sure how many of them were actually ‘healing’ soulspells though, as opposed to some form of analysis.”

“We can look into it.” Now it was Ran’s turn to laugh. “The whole ‘don’t tell anyone about your soulspell’ thing is going to make information gathering harder.”

“Can just start grabbing things and see what they are before deciding if you keep them.”

Ran started to nod, then hesitated, then frowned. “No… I don’t think I can. I think they’re locked in.” He giggled at the inanity of the situation. “I’m stuck with only forty soulspells. Aelir, this feels like some crazy dream. You sure the dragon didn’t eat me and this is my ascension?”

“If so, I can’t imagine why I got dragged along with you.”

“Yeah, true. If I were going to have some ascendant guide, why would it be you?”

Jair snorted. “I’m the oldest and wisest person you’ll ever meet.”

“Old, maybe. Wise? I–”

Whatever else Ran said, his words were lost as Maelstrom’s insistent humming in Jair’s head intensified, the spiritual pressure mounting to overpowering levels. He winced involuntarily as he struggled to hold it together, to keep it from fraying apart.

Ran recognized the struggle, expression shifting to concern. “Maelstrom?”

“Yeah. Being separated from its physical form for so long is making it hard to control. I don’t suppose you’re in the mood for a quick heist?”

“What kind of heist?” Ran asked hesitantly.

“Maelstrom’s physical form is probably stored with the other unassigned soulswords, and getting it back in there has to be a top priority.”

When Ran didn’t immediately protest, Jair continued. “Unassigned soulswords are stored in the administration compound’s underground vaults. I’ve never broken in without my spell imprints and a few constructs before now, but I’m sure we can figure it out. Especially if you can mesmerize any staff we meet.”

“I can’t be the first person to attune a mental soulspell. I’m sure everyone has shields.”

“Even so. If we get caught, you can revert. Getting Maelstrom out into a physical sword for a bit would help, even if it’s not a permanent solution.”

“I wish we could go back a few hours more,” Ran mused. “If I could follow whoever goes to collect them…” Then he shook his head sharply. “Why am I imagining ways to steal things better? Aelir above, it’s been one day and you’re already corrupting me.”

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Jair smiled at him innocently. “Plenty more corruption to go.”

“Oh?” Ran's eyes began to glow pink.

Jair looked away immediately, unable to hide a grin. "You know you're going to be a complete monster once we get you fully loaded, right?"

"Oh yes. I'm counting on it."

“So, can we go steal Maelstrom now, or do you have something else planned for the evening?”

“Yes, Maelstrom.” Ran sighed in exaggerated affront. “If I’m going to be corrupted, may as well do it properly.”

“You are learning well, young student.” Jair smiled up at him, and made the mistake of meeting Ran’s eyes - he hadn’t relaxed the mental soulspell. Jair’s concentration scattered in a flash of pink.

Decades of experience pulled him back under control in seconds, breaking the effect almost instantly, but it was still seconds longer than he could afford if this were an actual fight.

“I’ve got to get my spells imprinted…” Jair grumbled. “This is why I keep Starshield around at all times.” Reflexively, he started to trace Absorb across his hand. That and Reflect he could complete from memory, the others required more care. Then he stopped, squinting up at Ran. “Let me know once you’re ready to decide on your imprint layout.”

“One thing at a time, I’m still trying to get over the idea of being the sole arbiter of reality itself, picking out spells can wait.”

“You’ll only be the sole arbiter for a few years. Once I regrow my own soulspell, we’ll be rivals again.”

“What do you mean ‘again’...”

Jair only grinned. “You’ll see. First, Maelstrom. Heist? You in?”

“Okay, heist. Where are we going and what do we need? I don’t even know where soulswords are kept between initiations. They’ve got to be somewhere secure, given how rare and valuable the class is. I can’t imagine they’ve not had to deal with disgruntled parents or ambitious adventurers trying to steal them in the past. An intercontinental institute of this prestige can afford some pretty impressive constructs.”

“Indeed. The protection constructs on the whole admin complex are going to be the biggest hurdle. The blade storage vault is in the back basement and the defences are pretty solid if you don’t know what you’re doing. I broke into it before, actually. It wasn't a very good plan, but I needed to convince Delami to help me, and this was the only place I could find enough blank soulblades to support the rebellion–" Jair cut himself off, shrugging. "Well, needless to say, the rebellion went off without a hitch. The heist, though... well, it was easy enough with Delami and Kori, but it won't be simple alone as powerless students."

"How so? What kind of protections do they have?"

"Well, first off... you know Garow Firdon, the stone mage guy?"

"Sure..."

"He was put in charge of the protections. So they're all buried deep inside the cliff. Nowhere accessible by normal means. There's a whole labyrinth down there, with constructs to shield it from normal people stumbling in. And some more complex triggers for more powerful people. It's actually a work of art, if you enjoy studying constructs, you might consider examining it a bit more someday. But it wasn't really worth the time..."

"Do you know how to get in, or not?"

"I do, it's simple, but it won't be easy. The stairs down are in the back storage room of the admin building. Normal lock on that one, but a detection trigger to call for security if anyone goes through without authorization."

"Can we break down the outer wall?" Ran had his eyes closed, as though imagining the layout of the academy. "If that's its location..."

"Very close! Good thinking. Yes, we could if we had access to that kind of breaking power. The whole outer wall of the admin building, though, is fully warded. There's no way through the wall short of burning out the entire network."

For a moment, Jair wondered if any of the teachers knew what would be necessary for the lock, if any of them had soulspells that would be valuable to this endeavor, and if he could spend a few loops forcing them to divulge those details so Ran could grab them with Soul Echo. Then he remembered he couldn't loop on his own any more, and that Ran was the sort of 'upstanding citizen' who wouldn't approve of torture and murder and threats of such, even if it were going to be reverted away a few minutes later.

Instead of chafing at the restraints, he found it oddly pleasing. The thought of not being in charge, of having to find alternative routes through things he'd long ago settled down to a mechanical repetition of actions...

Something different. Something new. Just as he'd wanted.

Perhaps a bit more extreme than anything he would have imagined, but still. He couldn't think of anyone he'd rather have along for the ride.

"So what's the plan, then?"

Jair shrugged. "That's what we get to plan out, isn't it? The first door is simple enough - need to break through one of the inner walls, or bypass the alarm constructs."

If it were up to him, he'd just start trying things and revert until one of them stuck, but he suspected Ran wouldn't be amenable to such a brute-force approach.

"Second, the inner access is a stairway down into the labyrinth."

"Labyrinth... really, that sounds so ridiculous. Who guards their school supplies with a whole rodeing labyrinth?"

"A bored stone mage with nothing better to spend his creativity on than increasingly obscure traps."

Ran snorted. "Fair enough, I suppose. Makes me almost feel sorry for the guy."

Jair had a vivid recollection of the guy in question being repeatedly consumed by a particularly angry dragon. "Yeah, he's not had the best luck."

"But you know the way through the labyrinth, right?"

"Of course. He changes it around sometimes, but once you know the tells you don't need to bother figuring it out. Teachers do still need to be able to get in there quickly and easily, after all. There'll be a path. The second obstacle isn't the maze or the traps, it's the wall."

"The whole wall?"

"No, the wall at the end. Firdon's a stone mage, so he doesn't need to leave a door. The vault is sealed in a solid box of stone. No official access point. If Firdon ever died, they'd have to bring someone else in to unseal it. But that's Larenok's fault for putting someone so eccentric in charge of security, I suppose."

"I still find it hard to imagine there's a whole maze under our feet," Ran said, glancing down at the floor as though he could see the labyrinth under them. "Sounds like the sort of thing students would have gotten into before now, that there would be legends about."

"The first door is pretty daunting to anyone without the right access powers."

"Still."

Jair shrugged. "I only know what I've seen, heard, and discovered. Disbelieve it if you will."

Ran threw a crumpled sock at him. Jair caught it out of the air and lobbed it back. Ran dove beneath the flying obstacle and tackled Jair around the legs, sending them both to the floor. Jair instinctively tried to summon Maelstrom, but that only triggered a flash of soul-jarring dissonance as the blade-soul tried to escape with nowhere to go.

Ran pinned him down while he was distracted, pulling his own soulsword, and Jair relaxed and raised his hands in surrender. "So unless you think we'll have better luck convincing the teachers to help this time than last time, we're going to need to find or build something to either break a wall or disable the security, then something to shift stone. My normal loadout plus Maelstrom could handle it, but..." he waved his bare arms, no spells imprinted, and gestured with his empty hand.

"So we need Maelstrom in order to get Maelstrom."

"Pretty much."

"And you don't think you could hold out for the next two months, if we waited for your initiation?"

"I... could try." Maelstrom vibrated painfully in his head, and Jair shook his head. "If we're going to end up reverting at all, I need to get it out as soon as possible. This isn't sustainable, and it's only going to get worse."

He may not know exactly what was going on with his sword's soul, but he didn’t need to. Something inside his soul demanding that hard to be let out? Refusing would have negative consequences sooner rather than later.

"Sounds like it's time to go recruiting," Ran said, half ashamed, half excited. "We've got a heist to plan."

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