So far as Zorian was concerned, any and all attempts to interact with Panaxeth, or any other primordial for that matter, carried a large inherent danger. There were ways around it due to the greater time loop. Unlike the lesser, it seemed even the primordials were reset on the greater time loop. However, in all past loops, Zorian had operated under the policy that any greater loop in which he encounters Panaxeth is a dead loop.

"It seems I got careless," Zorian said. "I never imagined you might have the ability to pull us into the gate against our will in this manner."

The horrible miss-match of tongues and disembodied mouths undulated in a disturbing manner, and a distorted voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once came down upon him.

"You seem unsurprised. So, it seems I was correct." As the voice of Panaxeth still lingered in the space, several of the more grotesque looking mouths closed and winked out of existence. Meanwhile, the abomination of tongues changed, slowly morphing into a more flesh-like form that was somewhat less disturbing.

Zorian's brows knit in annoyance that this creature could still read his body language, even with all his mental enhancements. This creature was likely the foremost expert in reading the human mind by non-magical means, and being so easily read disturbed him more than any of the grotesque misshapen forms in front of him.

"You were correct?" Zorian commented. "Heh, somehow, I just knew it." There were some attempts he had made in the past to purposefully contact Panaxeth in a bid to see if the primordial knew anything about the greater time-loop. "In my past experiences with you, you have always denied knowing anything about my... situation," he said. "I have always suspected that was a lie."

There was a low rumbling throughout the space. Was that... some kind of laughter?

"Indeed. You are as trapped as I," Panaxeth said as more mouths closed and sealed like wounds in reality being repaired. "Much like you, I wish for nothing more than to be free of this prison. I cannot speak on behalf of the earlier iterations of myself, but perhaps those previous versions of me found some form of amusement in a human, a child of the gods, experiencing a similar torment to what I have. In my case, however, you seem to now be in a state I can more easily relate to."

The humanoid abomination of tongues began taking a form with far more human-like features. Meanwhile, the voice grew gradually less disturbing, taking on a more regular human-like sound, albeit still rather distorted.

"Hmm..." Zorian took a thoughtful pose, bringing his hand to his chin as he considered this situation. He knew Panaxeth to be manipulative and frighteningly intelligent in a manner that defied expectations to what one might expect from a creature that normally looks so grotesque. Much like the angels, the primordials had a knowledge of this world that went far beyond the scope of any human knowledge. This was the reason why he had first thought to go to Panaxeth in those earlier greater loops, and why it became so frustrating that the angels had begun to refuse interactions with him. Both the avenues to finding a solution to his predicament had been effectively cut off.

But now, suddenly Panaxeth was willing to talk. This was an entirely new development.

"So," Zorian said, "I'm curious as to why you brought me in here. I do believe you realize that any attempt at releasing you would be futile at this point. As you say, you are as stuck as I am. The only difference is that you are one layer deeper in the pit than I am. All releasing you would do is bring you up to my level for about the span of a single month, assuming your release does not cause the greater restart to reset as it does the lower.

"Hm-hmhmhmhmmmm..." The primordial laughed again, this time sounding far more human. "Perhaps, perhaps not," he said. "Zorian Kazinski. I have come to you with a proposition. I may not know the nature of this... greater time loop you are in, but I do know that you are quite right about the fact it renders any attempt at my release fruitless. As such, I have every bit as much reason to be motivated to solving this problem as you. Perhaps more, even.

Several more mouths closed. This time, interestingly, the more human-like ones. This left only the fanged mouths shaped like those of beasts. Zorian did have to admit, he really had found the disembodied human-like mouths to be the more disturbing of the two. Meanwhile, the humanoid form Panaxeth was taking how had completely human-like features, with the only thing off about it being the fact that it's "skin" still had a very tongue-like texture.

"I have had a great deal of time considering how to escape from my own confinement," Panaxeth continued. "If you can work with me, I am certain we will discover some form of solution to your current issue."

Panaxeth's humanoid form gained skin that was far more normal in terms of the skin that a human should possess now, with a face that was featureless but not at all displeasing. Meanwhile, it's form was unmistakably female, and the voice was now quite feminine as well.

Zorian had to consider this a little more. After all this time, this seemed almost too good to be true. Why was this happening now, of all times? There really was no single thing this time he'd done that was all that far outside of his normal routine. Teaching Zach and catching him up to speed was not something that was ever quite the same, he was always improving in his teaching technique and his magic knowledge. However, there was one thing that was quite different this time that he did not usually do.

Including Alanic in the time-loop was a rather new approach toward things, and one only thought up by Zach in his insistence that they talk to the angels. The last iteration of Zach, Zorian had just told him ahead of time the angels would kill him on the spot as they almost always had recently. This time, however, he'd become too tired to worry about bringing that part up and handn't told Zach anything in regards to how the angels would behave.

Zorian had a sneaking suspicion as to what this was all about now. His mental enhancements were working overtime now to hide any minor tells he might have that would indicate he'd figured out Panaxeth's likely intentions. It was a good thing he'd taken to including his subconscious action enhancement as a matter of course now. It really was only ever useful in confronting Panaxeth, something he did not do frequently if he could help it. He had no intention of having this encounter on this loop, and thus no reason to include it. However, right now, he was very glad he'd done so anyway.

"I see," Zorian said. "And exactly how do you propose we go about solving this problem?"

"We will need more information," Panaxeth said, no taking on a rather pleasing female form and voice. "I will have various... experiments that need to be done to discover the nature and bounds of this greater loop. However, they can only be done outside of my lesser time-loop This will mean exiting the loop, and then you will need to earn the attention and trust of a new version of me all over again. This will be a problem."

"Are you going to propose some means by which I can more easily gain your trust next time?" Zorian prompted.

"Indeed, I very well may have a solution," Panaxeth said, this time maintaining this female form. He was quite glad the primordial had not tried to start taking on the forms of people he knew personally, although that was probably because he'd seen the way Zorian had acted around the people he knew and realized already that it would upset him.

"I will need to study your soul," Panaxeth continued. "I have a way that will allow me to mark a person's soul, much the same as the mark used to control this time loop."

"I should tell you, all such marks will disappear with the greater time loop. I have experimented with it before," Zorian said.

"Then we will need to experiment with that as well," Panaxeth said. "You need simply allow me to look into your soul now. I will examine it to see if there is anything I can find that will make the mark carry over. If it does not, then you will have to convince the next iteration of me the hard way, and I will have to trust your memory to accurately report the methods I had used. Of course, I will be telling you everything I have done in detail."

Yes. It was just as Zorian had suspected. This was his goal from the beginning.

"Hmm... This is an interesting offer," Zorian said, pretending to think about it. "I do hope you understand though, while I do wish to escape, I find it hard to trust in this situation. After all, most of this effort has been all about fighting to stop your release thus far."

"And yet you seem to get along rather well with Quatach-Ichl," Panaxeth countered. "I have seen enough of human nature to know that it is the proximal threat that becomes the more real and immediate. Therefore, your animosity toward the leader of the effort to attack your city should be far higher than anything you hold toward me. And yet, you seem to have learned to become quite well disposed toward him. I am certain we can come to a similar understanding."

"Perhaps," Zorian said, considering his next words carefully. "Well, if there is one thing I have learned in all the many time loops I have been through, it is that I always have plenty of time. Albeit, it is somewhat more limited currently beings we have taken so long to attempt this escape. We do still have five more loops, though. How about you give me until the end of the fourth to make a decision on whether or not to take you up on this offer?"

"Quite the cautious one, aren't you?" The ringing and pleasant female voice of Panaxeth said in an almost seductive tone. "Very well, this is acceptable. Although, I do not think you will need all four of those time-loops. Perhaps you will be making contact with me again as soon as the end of the next loop?"

"It is not impossible, I suppose," Zorian said.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Hehehehe!" Panaxeth responded with a tinkling laughter. "Well, in that case, I will see you soon. Don't keep me waiting."

After that, he was back on the platform outside the gate, and a very concerned looking Alanic turned to him with a look of relief.

"Ah, you're back!" The battle priest said. "I got rather concerned there. You just spaced out for a while, along with all of your copies. They all just stopped working."

"Yeah," Zorian said, not really bothering with Alanic now. Whatever he said was not going to matter in a few moments anyway.

He made a bee-line to Zach, who had also been touching the gate at the same time his simulacrum was. His hand had just recoiled from the gate's surface, and he had a stunned look on his face from whatever he'd just experienced.

"Wh... what was that?!" Zach stammered.

"That was the primordial," Zorian told him. "He drew us into the gate when you and my simulacrum touched it. It seems like the technique I used to make my soul fully dwell in all of them created a weakness that Panaxeth exploited."

"So, that was..." Zach began, but then Zorian placed a hand on his shoulder and the Noveda boy's face suddenly went blank as he fell under the influence of Zorian's mind control.

"I'm sorry Zach. The circumstances have become a little unusual now," he said.

He had to end this greater loop now. This was a dead loop, and with Panaxeth watching, he could not explain the situation to Zach.

He placed several strong compulsions on Zach's mind, and then immediately set the boy to carry out his programming.

Zach, like a zombie, walked up to the gate and placed his hand on it. About a dozen seconds later, the world around them seemed to pause as colors warped and reality itself seemed to start dissolving piece by piece.

Zach, the controller, had left the time loop. This meant that the world was now coming undone.

-break-

Zorian's eyes abruptly shot open as sharp pain erupted from his stomach. His whole body convulsed, buckling against the object that fell on him, and suddenly he was wide awake, not a trace of drowsiness in his mind.

"Good morning, brother! Morning, morning, MORNING!!!"

Having mentally prepared himself for this ahead of time, Zorian managed to quickly give this phantom of his sister Kirielle a telepathic command, and she slumped unconscious across his chest.

He pushed her off of him and rose to his feet in a single fluid motion, and then proceeded to walk out of the door without bothering to get dressed or put on his glasses.

This was a fresh greater loop. Zach had left the loop, and thus he should retain his memories. However, in Zach leaving the loop, Zorian had experienced what could be counted as a death in the greater loop. And thus, at the exact moment Zach had left the lesser loop, the greater loop will have also ended.

He had a lot to do, and a lot to consider after that encounter with Panaxeth. But first, he had to re-establish his mental enhancements and his divine soul modifications, and also catch Zach up to speed on what all of this means.

For the first time in all these endless time loops, Zorian felt there was reason to be optimistic. Panaxeth would not have approached him in that way unless he was worried about something. That means that not only did he know a lot more about what was happening than he'd let on, it also meant they were actually on the right track in concerns to how to get out of this.

He would need a plan, though. A plan for how to go about this while averting the same kind of attention from Panaxeth. Or, failing that, how to be able to manage the onslaught of resistance Panaxeth was going to give them as they tried to sneak Zorian and Alanic out of the loop.

-break-

Zach awoke to a splitting pain in his head.

He felt like he had the worst hangover in history. This was strange, considering he really hadn't been drinking much at all. Not since him and Zorian started their final preparations for the... wait...

"Oh shit," Zach said. Under normal conditions, he might have sat bolt upright in bed and screamed it, but his entire body just hurt way too much to do anything that energetic right now, even if the situation really was incredibly bad.

The pieces were starting to click together in his head now. This felt exactly like when he'd first woken up on the first loop with new Zorian.

He examined his own soul using the soul awareness Zorian had taught him. Sure enough, he was in pretty bad shape.

He groaned and looked around. He was able to recognize where he was now. This was that bastard Tesen's secret house again.

Shit! He had to find out how long he'd been out for. He had no memory of how his soul had managed to get this messed ub, but that in and of itself was probably a bad sign. This is the back-fire of how close they cut it to the end. Just how many loops are left until time is up?

He groaned again as he took a closer look at his soul. Zorian had taught him how to properly use his mark, and he looked through it to find the part that told him how many loops were left. However, the answer he got back from it was 145.

Zach's mind went blank in confusion when he saw this. How had the number gone UP?! And by THAT much!

Something was wrong. No doubt. Something was very very wrong. The last thing he remembered was Zorian saying something about how Panaxeth had forcibly drawn them into the gate. That... sounded about right. He had been touching the gate, and then suddenly everything went black. He was just hovering in an empty space for a while. He didn't know what was going on. And then, he was out on the platform again and then...

He groaned and forced his body up out of the bed. He forced himself to his feet on wobbly legs. He was definitely going to have to get Zorian to teach him how to deal with soul damage better. But first, he needed to figure out if this counter on the mark is really accurate, and there's only one way to figure that out for sure.

-break-

Zorian was very busy, carefully constructing an incredibly specialized warding scheme. On his workbench lay a number of broken pieces of what were once divine artifacts of great power. Now, they were nothing more than ingredients to be assembled together into what ultimately amounted to just a privacy ward.

However, this privacy ward had a very special feature to it. In theory, this ward should be able to ward of the senses of even Panaxeth here within his own body. He doubted it would stand up to close scrutiny though. If the primordial decided to really espend the effort to figure out what was said while they were warded in this manner, he had no doubt that the ancient being would be able to crack open all their secrets. However, this should at least buy them a little obscurity from his senses. And, if they played their cards right, then he wouldn't be taking the effort to look into them in the first place.

He had felt Zach stirring awake a while ago. He cringed a bit internally at this. He'd hoped he might be able to finish this before he had to start answering questions.

He followed Zach's progress as he staggered down the hall in a state that one might mistake for a particularly bad hang-over if they didn't know better. Zach's feet shuffled across the carpeted hallway, and finally he turned into the same room he'd found Zorian in for the first two loops of the previous greater cycle. Only this time, Zorian was not seated at a table busy with some project. He was walking about the room, carefully assembling his wards.

"Hold on a minute," Zorian said. "I will answer all your questions later. For now, I need to finish getting this ward in place. It will all become clear when you hear what I have to say."

Zach made some kind of acknowledging sound that seemed rather miserable, and then slunk over to a large comfortable chair that Zorian had left unmolested in all of the modifications he'd made around the room in anticipation of Zach's needs.

The warding scheme he was making was rather elaborate, consisting of far more than just the ward stones. It also involved several large pieces of framework that had to be suspended from the ceiling and placed along the floors. Almost no spot in the room was unmarked, and Zorian had made absolutely no effort to make the thing look pretty or hide what it was. He just needed it to be functional.

"No potions?" Zach asked in reference to the lack of soul recovery potions as Zorian was still working.

"No time," Zorian responded simply. "I have the ingredients procured, but I've not been able to dedicate the effort toward mixing them yet."

Zach groaned, but didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he just closed his eyes and sat in a meditative state on the seat. Zorian had taught him a little bit about the meditations that could be done to speed soul recovery, considering he was going to have to deal with this at the beginning of each greater loop. And, right now, it seemed it was the only option available.

Zorian was grateful for this decision on Zach's part. He wasn't sure whether the boy had caught on to how serious he was in his efforts to set up this ward, or if this was simply motivated by him wanting to stop the pain he was feeling. Either way, it allowed him to keep working.

Ultimately, he didn't have all that much more to do. It was only around ten or so minutes later that Zorian got finished with the whole thing, and then took a seat opposite Zach with a sigh.

"Done?" Zach asked.

"Yeah," Zorian replied.

"So, you going to tell me what the hell this is all about?"

"Panaxeth found out what we were doing, and he said he wanted to help us break out of the greater loop," Zorian said. "Long story short, I didn't trust him, and I decided to end the loop on the spot after putting on an impression I was glad to work along side him. I'm sorry, but I couldn't afford to say out loud what was going on. We had a primordial actively watching us, after all."

"Ahh..." Zach grunted. "Well, yeah, I guess I could sort of understand that, but..."

"Before you ask," Zorian interrupted, "I just want to say I value our friendship enough that I do not plan to hide anything from you. So, I am just going to come out and say it. I mind-puppeted you in order to make you leave the greater time loop. That is the reason why you still have your memories of the previous greater loop. I did not look through your memories, I specifically avoided that. Once you are able to use magic again, I will freely allow you to take a look at my memories to verify that I did not take a look directly into your memories and what knowledge of the contract I have all came from other sources."

Zach gave him a poisonous look.

"Paranoid bastard," he cursed. "Well, I guess it's fine. It's you, after all. I'll just let you off with a good punch to the face later."

"Alright. Just be sure to confirm it's the real me before you do. Wouldn't want to break your hand on one of my simulacrum golems," Zorian said.

Zach seemed rather annoyed at that, but didn't comment. "So, what are we doing now?" He asked, moving things along instead.

"That's just the thing," Zorian said, and then got a wide smile. "There was something in the way Panaxeth approached me. I think he felt threatened."

Zach's head slowly lifted as the implications of what Zorian had just said started to sink in.

"Threatened? A freaking primordial?!" Zach asked.

"Yes," Zorian said with an even larger smile. "He definitely knows something about the greater time-loop that he's refusing to tell me. He still tried to play dumb with me, saying he didn't know anything about our situation. He tried to sell it as him just wanting to help us break out of it because it keeps him just as trapped as us, but... there was definitely more to it than that..."

"I didn't tell you about this before, but..." Zorian continued, "he said he wanted me to help him permanently mark my soul in some way. That's the big thing that keyed me off he was scared, and it also told me exactly what it was that got him acting this wall all of a sudden when he'd never approached me this way before."

"Wait..." Zach cut in. "You said you'd stopped talking to the angels before... does that mean!"

"Yes, exactly!" Zorian said. "He was threatened because he doesn't want me talking to the angels. I didn't say much about this before, but they started killing me before listening to me at one point. Now that I stop to think about it, every time they killed me, we had already taken out Quatach-Ichl in order to steal his crown so we could use it as a mana battery for the summoning ritual. This time, we would have had no need for that method.

"Because of the ambient mana gathering formulas!" Zach said, and then immediately groaned and held his head, having over-exerted himself in his enthusiasm. Despite the pain though, the boy had a huge grin on his face. "Heh, looks like it pays to listen to me after all, huh?" He said smugly.

"Yes, I have no trouble admitting it. I've always been aware of how valuable a fresh perspective on a persistent problem can be. This is exactly what I needed to get me out of the funk I had been in lately. Now, it looks like there is finally some hope," Zorian said.