Zach Noveda stared down at the work bench in the room heavily modified with alteration spells. His new friend and fellow time looper, Zorian, had once again claimed this room in what was Tesen's secret villa just outside of Cyoria. It may belong to that asshole of a caretaker who was assigned to him, but there was an odd sense of satisfaction he got out of getting to see the way this scary bastard was using the place to his own ends after claiming it as their base of operations for the restart.
It was strange and extremely complicated trying to figure out wha the thought of the new Zorian. During the last restart, he'd been filled in on the mechanics of this 'higher time loop' as Zorian had called it. Apparently, it is centered on Zorian and overlaps a portion of this 'lower time loop.' To put it another way, it covers the period between when Zorian becomes included in the time loop, and when the manage to either escape from it or this world ends by running out of the power that fuels it.
Oh, yes. That was quite the bomb Zorian had dropped on him as well. This world will eventually end if they do not manage to escape from it in time. The reasonf or this is because this entire time looping world was, in fact, an incredibly fancy time dilation chamber created by the gods by using the body of a primordial of all things. As a matter of fact, it used the body of the very primordial the invaders were trying to release at the end of the month.
Then there was the information about Zorian's higher time loop. While the rules for the lower loop were pretty well understood and most of these aspects of it were confirmed fact, none of the higher loop's aspects were confirmed aside from what could be found from observation.
First, the higher loop lasts for 1 month past the invasion. So, because escaping the lower order loop also means starting over at the beginning all over again, this means the higher order loop totals 2 months. As frustrating as it is to hear he's stuck inside something like this, he als really wanted to see what was past this endless month, even if it was only a short amount of time.
Second, only him and Zorian retain memories through a greater restart, and only Zorian could retain his memories after failing to make it outside of the lower order loop. If Zach got left behind in the lower order loop, all of his memories would be erased just lilke anyone else.
Zorian had explained the temporary markers. He also explained there was a way to bypass the 6 month limit the lower order loop placed on them. However, none of these peole with temprary markers would survive a greater restart even with these modifications.
Apparently, that Jornak bastard aslo has one of these modified temporary markers. Only, it was modified by the primordial rather than whatever method Zorian is able to use.
Zach gripped the edge of the table as he thought about that bastard. Zorian had already peranently killed him, and after Zach had been given the memory crystal, Zorian incinerated the body with a fancy spell of some sort. Now that he'd been absorbing some of those memories, he wished Zorian had left the bastard alive so he could personally beat him to a pulp.He knew for certain that he wanted to do exactly that come the beginning of the next greater restart.
Apparently, he'd already known all about the lower time loop before that bastard had erased his memory. He even managed to piece together the part about the angels being the ones who had set these strange conditions on him.
He had already managed to stop the invasion, and this resulted in the contract revealing to him exactly how he was supposed to escape. The only reason he hadn't already left by the time the red robed bastard had mind wiped him is because he was having trouble figuring out where the damn gate was. According to Zorian, it was right under Cyoria in the hole all along.
He probably could have figured that out with just a little more effort, but... then that twisted lawyer friend of his old buddy went and sabotaged him. That bastard had seriously intended to screw him over so badly that he would have no means of escape. Jornak meant for him to die in this time loop when it eventually collapsed.
Considering everything this guy was up to, Zach almost found it disturbing that Zorian had somehow managed to get attached to this guy. Well, he supposed it made some sense. If he was one of the very few people Zorian could relate to, perhaps it did make sense that he would even start seeking companionship with monsters like that. After all, Zorian seemed even more fond of Quatach-Ichl somehow, stating that the old bag of bones was a rather pleasant person to talk to if you approach him in a non-antagonistic way.
So far as the higher time loop goes, the best Zorian could figure is that the soul meld Quatach Ichl performed must have given Zach something from Zorian's soul just like Zorian had received the marker from Zach.
Going on this theory, Zorian had also reasoned that he was not actually in this 'higher time loop' until after they'd successfully escaped the first time. The evidence for this is the fact that, the first time Zorian got sent back on a greater restart, Zach actually did not remember anything. This meant that the 'higher time loop marker' was not actually present on Zorian's soul the first time they got soul melded by Quatach-Ichl. He'd received it sometime afterward, after their first successful escape from the 'lower time loop.'
Zach's stare continued to penetrate Zorian's workbench as though he was trying to burn a hole in it with his vision. This was the bench that red robed bastard had been laid out on after Zorian dragged him back.
With the source of his seething anger now dead and turned to ash, Zach did not have a target to vent this anger on.
He directed a heavy kick toward the table. Due to the sturdy build Zorian had made it with, it stayed intact and just slid across the floor, jostling some of the projects that were placed on it and sending a few tools rolling onto the ground.
He already knew that, despite the act of violence toward his work, Zorian likely wouldn't even be angry at him. A little annoyed, perhaps, but his fellow time looper did not seem to have
that many attachments to anything in this world anymore. This is something he could sympathize with. He'd only been in this loop for a few decades. He could only imagine what a few centuries would do to a person.
Perhaps this was just a little bit of him being petty over the fact Zorian had denied him the real target he wanted to take it out on.
-break-
One of Zorian's simulacrums sat next to a tree on a bench in one of Cyoria's more well trafficked parks. Although, with the effects of his overmind, his simulacrum sitting here was about as good as Zorian himelf sitting here.
He had a book he had checked out from the library open on his lap, and he was busy reading from it. He had actually long since read every single book in the school library, but he had a reason for re-reading this book. That reason, it was simply for the sake of appearances. He just needed a way to look natural as he was just sitting here in the park and doing nothing.
Right now, this Zorian simulacrum was here as a distraction. He was being watched. Just like every time he tried to contact Quatach-Ichl, the old lich immediately became cautious and launched an effort to look into him.
This investigation was not like most investigations though. This time, he had chosen a particularly attention getting method of contacting the leader of the pending invasion. He had also gone to extra efforts to baffle the investigators sent out to find him. He had made it plainly obvious to the people watching him that he was making ample use of the simulacrum spell, often times having several of his observed simulacrums meet in the same place, before every one of them turned and made eye contact with his observers.
Adding to this effect, they always travelled in highly public areas, and yet nobody but the investigators would notice the fact that there were multiple identical versions of the same teenage boy. This made it incredibly obvious that some form of mind magic was in play.
Zorian had made no secret of the fact that he had a very high degree of mastery over both mind and soul magic in the past few days. He could tell from the stray thoughts of the men watching him that he was driving them crazy, and scaring them quite a bit.
He was doing all of this for a purpose, trying to weave a very particular impression of himself as he showed his cards to the ancient lich. And, he could tell that today his efforts had finally payed off.
Today, his observer was on the far edge of the park, seated in the terrace overlooking the well kept hedges and trees of the park below. The restaurant that this terrace was attached to happened to be one of the finer dinning establishments in Cyoria. The man who was watching this Zorian simulacrum was an elegantly dressed and highly dignified elder gentleman.
This was the guise taken on by the old lich, Quatach-Ichl, when he was 'not in his battle form.'
Quite suddenly, a young man identical in every way to the one reading a book down in the park below approached the table and seated himself, coming in to join the old man as though he was meant to be there.
"Hmm... I had a feeling you might show up in almost that exact manner," The old man said as he swirled the wine in his glass and held it under his nose. "You have been acting in a very blatant manner in the last few days. This seemed to be very much the sort of thing you might do from teh rather cavalier pattern of behavior I have seen out of you in the short couple of days since I began looking into you."
"Cavalier, is it?" Zorian asked. "Most people in Eldemar would have likely chosen the word 'brazen.' It is good to see you have a somewhat more nuanced perspective on where that word should be used."
"Hah!" Quatach-Ichl barked out a scoffing laugh. "Indeed. Brazen would be if you were to actually start launching unprovoked attacks on my underlings. Although, the manner in which you had your message inviting me to this meeting almost qualifies. The 'special informants' who you sent the word through were so shaken up that they all refuse to work with me now due to the fact they perceive us as enemies and wish not to encounter you any longer."
"Oh yes, I do apologize for that," Zorian said. "You see, cephalic rats have this annoying habit of cutting off members from their swarm if you attempt to make mental contact with the core swarm by going through outer members. It makes them rather frustrating to use as messengers. The only way I could get them to stick around long enough to listen to me was by quietly infiltrating every member of the swarm at once, and then forcibly holding them together. It was not my intention to scare them in that way, but I suppose some creatures really cannot stand the idea of there being someone who can easily overcome their tried and true methods."
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"Indeed. I have had to deal with such individuals pretty much all my life, foolishly believing themselves superior and then loosing themselves the moment they are proven wrong," the old lich responded. "I am afraid you will find that you shall be running into many more quivering fools of that sort. Although, I have begun to suspect you are speaking from a rather long breadth of experience when you say those words yourself. Perhaps somewhat longer than your physical appearance may suggest you've had access to."
"Haha, yes, although I believe my method of an extended life is very different from anything you might be thinking," Zorian said.
"Honestly, based upon the small bit of information I have managed to research about you before this meeting... and it WAS a small amount, far smaller than what I would usually be comfortable with before meeting with someone of your obvious level of power... I do not even pretend to have an idea of where you came from. This is highly unusual for immortals such as us. You have simply come out of nowhere. It might be plausible if you were merely a highly talented youth, although also quite baffling. However, for an immortal, it should be impossible."
"There is always a sign during a person's rise to power," the old lich continued. "With lifetimes as long as you and I have, it is nearly impossible that one of us have not heard of every other immortal being out there. Every one in this world, anyway."
The elderly gentleman suddenly leveled his gaze on Zorian with something of a knowing glint.
"Quite perceptive," Zorian said. "You are begging the question though. How is it that you explain the rather normal performance of the Zorian Kazinski known to the world up until now?
"So you do atmit that the idea of your otherworldy origins is correct then?" The old lich said with a tinge of amusement. "There are many possible explanations for the way the world has perceived Zorian Kazinski before today. Although, three of them stand out as more likely than others. First is that you are not Zorian Kazinski, and are merely using this as a convenient disguise for today which you will later discard. Although, this explanation has its issues. Why would you wish to use the guise of an already existing person? One so unlikely to possess such abilities, at that?"
"However," he continued, "this has a rather clear explanation once you take it together with your actions over the past few days. It was simply to add to the image you were trying to create when you attempted to set up this meeting. In this case, perhaps you simply saw this school child in passing and decided he was a good face for you to use in this little charade."
Zorian nodded. This was not the first time he'd heard the theories Quatach-Ichl would come up with as to the nature of his identity. However, one thing he had learned about the old lich was that he liked to demonstrate his ability to perceive the world. It helped him to feel in control, and things would simply progress more smoothly if he allowed him to finish with his incorrect theories.
"I see," he said. "And the second theory?"
"Much like the first," Quatach-Ichl said, "you are possessing the body of Zorian Kazinski. This would be more permanent than the previous theory. As for the reasons of targeting this body, I suppose your reasons would be your own."
"Hmm... and the third theory?" Zorian prompted.
"That one would be a little more interesting, the lich said. "You incarnated yourself into this body from another world, and have been making use of your skills to blend into normal society up until now, perhaps making use of your more extravagant skills on one occasion or another over the years but expertly hiding the evidence. Considering the expertise you show with mind magic, this would really not be hard at all. You should be able to simply use it to cover over any errors there might be in your disguise or other occasional discrepancies."
"Yes, I see," Zorian said and gave the old lich a bit of a smile. "I'm sorry to tell you, but all three of those are wrong."
"Oh? Well then, do enlighten me as to the truth of the matter," the man said, still seeming to be in fairly good humor.
"Well, sparing the details somewhat, the truth involves some angelic intervention and a level of time dilation that makes the little bit human researchers have managed to achieve with their black rooms like like children struggling to walk and talk," Zorian said.
"Oh?" The entire demeanor of the old man changed as soon as he heard this. He gently put down his glass of wine and leaned forward, now staring Zorian directly in the eye. all of that previous care-free attitude was suddenly gone. "Well then, tell me this. Just how recent was it that you went through this... angelic intervention?" He asked.
It was rather significant that he focused on that part, rather than the part about the time dilation.
"I am afraid it is as recent as you are likely fearing," Zorian said.
"I see. So things are like that," Quatach-Ichl said and shook his head. "Well, I must say, for a human selected as the angel's champion I am quite glad to see you are a reasonable sort." He picked his glass of wine back up, putting on a relaxed air once again. "Well then. I know for certain you have looked into me quite a bit, likely having gotten a fair amount of your information by otherworldly means I would have trouble even comprehending. The manner in which you create your simulacrums alone is enough to tell me that the angels have given you more than just a few centuries worth of time to practice your skills in magic."
He was referring to the fact that Zorian's simulacrums were impossible to tell apart from the real Zorian. It was not just their minds that were being shared between the simulacrums. Each and every one of them also had a visible soul, for all intents and purposes looking exactly like a real flesh and blood being to soul-based senses. He had also improved his ability to bind them to the golem bodies, making it impossible to sense the artificial magical pathways under the very himan appearance they had.
If he wanted to, he could even install an artificial stomach into the golem body that would use alteration magic to convert food into usable objects which the simulacrum could then extract via teleportation magic.
The only way to tell the difference between a simulacrum and the real Zorian now days would be to launch a spell at one and see what happens. A golem-based simulacrum would be protected by the wards that were inscribed onto it, and anything short of artillary magic would be completely ineffective. The simulacrum would not even need to waste mana on defending itself. The real Zorian, meanwhile, would have to protect himself with a spell.
Actually, if he really wanted to hide the fact that one of his simulacrums was not the real thing, he could just as easily have them cast a defensive spell as well.
"So," the lich continued, "now I know where you stand, and you clearly have all the information you need on me. It is rather clear we are... let's say, at cross-purposes on our issues at the moment. But, from all I have seen of you, it is clear you have not come to me in violence. How about we get down to business then? What DID you ask me here for?"
"Well, it is quite simple," Zorian said. "I would like to find a solution that does not require me to kill you. Considering what I know about you, I think it should be rather easy to arrive at a deal on this subject."
Once again, the glass of wine was placed on the table.
The man became quite silent for several tension-laced seconds as he stared back at Zorian. Despite the mind-blank the old lich had been under since the beginning of the conversation, his thougth process was almost visible just from reading his face.
"I see," he finally said. "I suppose that if you are making such a statement, the threat of your ability to end my life is actually credible."
Rather than answer him with words, Zorian instead used the mental link his overmind had with all of the simulacrums in his collective mind to take action halfway across the world, way over on the island of Ulquaan Ibasa. There, in a secret and heavily warded chamber, the simulacrum merely twitched a finger and let out a small amount of mana, intentionally triggering a detection ward in the middle of the complex web. This particular ward was most of the way through the tangled web, indicating the simulacrum could rapidly take action against the artifact hidden beneath all this spell work if he was so inclined.
The signal from the detection ward was picked up immediately by the lich sitting in front of Zorian at the moment, and his face grew very grim.
Zorian shook his head. "I really am very sorry it had to come to this," he said. "Before I was thrown into the angel's plan with the time dilation, my view on liches and on Ulquaan Ibasa were rather similar to those of the rest of the people in Eldemar. Now, however... well, let's say power and a great deal of time cut off from those I have known all my life tends to greatly alter one's perspective. I honestly meant what I said. Killing you is the last thing I want to have happen. You are quite likely one of the very few people in this world who I could relate to now. I swear that I would never dream of committing such a severe violation against you under any other circumstances, but... well, I am simply unable to let you carry out your objectives on the primordial seal. It was either this or the complete annihilation of every last one of the men you brought along with you in order to conduct this invasion."
"Ha... haha... HAHAHAHAHA!" Quatach-Ichl suddenly burst out into uproarious laughter. He continued to laugh and laugh. Eventually, he even started slapping his knee and slumping over in his chair. Had Zorian not been through this scenario before, he might have found this behavior incredibly baffling.
"Wonderful! Wonderful, Zorian Kazinski! To think, the weapon the angels would create in order to stop the release of the primordial. The assassin they would train and give the location of my phylactery! The one weakness of a lich! That you would come to grow so symathetic toward me instead, with the only thing that places us at odds being my current objective! I do not believe I have ever once heard such a glorious joke! I simply can't stop laughing!
He continued to laugh. He had managed to get it down to mere chuckling as he shook his head and smiled, seemingly onconcerned about the fact that the man in front of him had a simulacrum posed to destroy his phylactery at any moment.
"Very well," he said. "Zorian Kazinski, you have just demonstrated something to me. You are a person worthy of negotiating with me on equal footing. This is a position I have not been in for a long time, but you... you have shown me that you have just as much if not more ability to kill me as I have to kill you. This means that we can truly negotiate. I do believe we can easily come to an agreement that should satisfy us both."
"Oh? Ans what would that be?" Zorian asked.
"It is quite simple. I will withdraw all of my men, and will even go to the extent of undermining my allies in this endeavor. All I ask is for one thing in return." He leveled his gaze across the table. "You, Zorian Kazinski."
"I see. So you wish for me to immigrate to Ulquaan Ibasa?" Zorian said. "I cannot say I haven't considered it. I do still have some attachments in Eldemar, but I have no love for the government."
"You can move your entire family as well! Any friends you like too. You are someone in the position to hold your own domain in my land. Of course it would be your right to bring along a few subjects. Anyone you wish. Any number you wish." The old lich gesticulated in a way that was rather at odds with his usual elegant image as he made his pitch. It always amused Zorian how suddenly enthusiastic Quatach-Ichl became when he discovered how positively disposed he was toward the man.
He had asked him once why it was he got so excited. It seemed it was the idea of finagling some angelic secrets from him that had him more interested than he migth otherwise be. This had prompted him to try seeing what the old lich would think if he was told all of Zorian's magical knowledge came from mere experimentation and that the angels had not given him any actual instruction.
This did seem to dishearten him a little, but he would maintain his offer exactly as is, reasoning that even with this being the case Zorian had clearly pushed the limits of magic well beyond typical human knowledge and had likely developed quite a few of his own secret techniques that were beyond imagination. In an odd twist, this seemed to only raise Quatach-Ichl's assessment of Zorian's value.
Even in the early days, Zorian had received these offers for immigration. It was only after a few centuries of accumulating skills though that his value was assessed as being high enough to warrant an end to the invasion in exchange for his immigration.
Zorian had to admit. After being so warmly treated by the old lich after all of these repetitions through the time loop, he really was starting to like the sounds of the idea more and more. If he ever made it out of this endless time loop, he might even find himself to have softened to the idea.
"You know what? I actually like that idea," Zorian said.
"Splendid! I don't suppose you have anywhere to be at the moment? Well, anywhere you couldn't leave to the activities of a simulacrum, anyway?" Quatach-Ichl asked.
"My simulacrums all share thoughts constantly with the main body," Zorian said. "In this way, my existence with my simulacrums is similar to something of a cross between that of a lich like you and a cephalic rat swarm. Meanwhile, I myself am still very much a flesh and blood human."
"Fascinating," the lich said, suddenly examining the Zorian in front of him as though he was a product instead of a person. "We really are going to have to discuss your method for accomplishing this. I would count myself very interested indeed. Well then, I suppose there really is nothing stopping it. You are perfectly welcome to come along and observe the withdraw. Meanwhile, we can work out the details of your immigration."