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I’m crouched behind some bushes watching the kid. After Jonny had told him to go back, he walked a couple hundred feet and looped back around, he wasn’t going to leave the kid’s side until he figured out what was different. Since this morning he had felt strange; whole almost.

The kid casts a basic light spell to get more light, it was sloppy casting as he let a lot of magic leak, probably attracted something dangerous, and he accidentally casted it on one of his shoes before managing to cast it on his shirt, but it was still good effort. A while after that the kid pulls out the magical focus Jonny gave him. The kid examined it for a bit before dumping a bit of mana into it, the focus responds by releasing a magic missile, it slams into a tree and some bark flies. The kid yelps, shoves the focus back into his pocket, and starts running. The kid managed to make it back to the tree line on the path without much issue, there were some suspect noises nearby, but nothing happened so it should be fine.

Both of them continued for a while, nothing lighting up the path due to there being no celestial bodies visible tonight which hadn’t happened in a while, but it was pretty useful right now considering he was trying to follow someone undetected. The kid managed to make it completely out of the woods and past the trees into the open stretch of plains that heads towards the city. Timothy considers what he could do here, whether he should return or continue following. He decides to continue quietly following behind the kid, seems like he’s pretty clueless anyway.

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Salnys sighs, he’s been walking forever and is getting pretty tired. If he didn’t know any better, he’d just go to sleep out in the plains but it’s pretty dangerous out as is, he’s getting close to the city, and he can’t shake the feeling he’s being watched. Salnys checks his surroundings directly in front of him, he’s getting more uneasy but he’s getting closer to the city so he’s fine. Right as he eases a bit more a voice rings out from behind him, causing him to yelp and throw his arms in front of him into a defensive position. He also tries launching his leg behind himself in a kind of donkey kick.

“I could’ve stabbed you more than 100 times by now.” The disappointed voice said; he recognized it as Timothy’s. As he was talking, he easily sidestepped his kick, causing him to fall, “If you’re going to go out on your own, at least put some effort into your spatial awareness.” Timothy walks around Salnys who’s currently still frozen and sprawled out on the ground, “You didn’t even face me when you did notice me, your kicking form is horrible, and your defensive position sucks. Way too many openings.”

Salnys finally picks himself up and responds, “Well I was uhhh...” Salnys fumbles trying to think of a good response, “Caught off guard.”

Timothy looks over and down at him with a disappointed look on his face, “Be happy I don’t knock you back down for a poor excuse like that,” Timothy turns around and back out at the city, “We better get going, if we get there before daybreak, we probably won’t have to pay a fare to enter.”

Timothy begins walking at what looks like a leisurely pace, but Salnys has to jog to keep up. They make good progress, though Salnys’s legs are screaming at him after about an hour and a half of “walking”.

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“Could we slow down?” Salnys pleads

“No,” Timothy responds, “For that, I’m going to power walk.”

Timothy speeds up even more, Salnys whispers some obscenities under his breath and speeds up. They both still make good time, but Salnys feels like collapsing at this point. They have made it to the city at this point, they easily make it through the gates as both the guards are sleeping and the gates are kept open enough for a large man to walk through, though Timothy needs to duck to get through.

The town is large and based on most of the houses in this part of town, they’re of average social standing. The gate that they had just walked through was extremely large and made of metal and wood, the rest of the walls in the city were a little shorter and made of stone with guards patrolling around and on top of them. The larger houses and shops are made of stone, others are made with a clay-like material with woven roofs, and a few are made of mostly logs and planks. The few people on the streets who aren’t guards wear extremely basic clothing dyed purple or not dyed at all. Some of the candles in houses are still lit, but the most that can be heard from any of the houses is scribbling on parchment or snoring.

“Considering how late it is, would you like to sleep at my house?” Timothy asks, “I have a couch you can sleep on.”

Salnys considers for a couple of seconds, “Sure, why not?”

They both walk for a while until they find a pretty nice-looking made of stones. It’s two stories and has some windows with thatch flower baskets hanging under them; they’re filled with very pleasant-looking orange flowers.

Salnys tries to make some conversation, “Never took you as a flower gardener.”

Timothy chuckles at the comment and responds, “Oh, I’m not. My wife loves flowers though, She said these were Beatrine flowers or something like that; she’d kill me if I were to touch them.”

Salnys raises an eyebrow and nods. After talking, Timothy opens the door for Salnys and lets him in. He silently points to a couch and walks into his room and closes the door behind him. Salnys plopped himself down into it but hit his head on the wooden armrests and curled up in pain. He recovers, sprawls back out, stares at the ceiling, and relaxes. He’s finally getting a chance alone with his thoughts, and he has a lot to think about.

‘How is this whole loop even working?’ Salnys thinks to himself, ‘The ability for a single person to travel through time is next to impossible, and even if it was possible, I’d imagine anything of this caliber would take an obscene amount of mana.’ Salnys straightens out on the couch and sits up, ‘I mean, isn’t this effectively resurrecting me and anyone else who died every time it loops back? Wouldn’t that require some sort of divine intervention, or the lack thereof to do? Do I retain physical strength? What about magical potential, I mean--’

Salnys gets ready to get up and pace, but right as he does, a door to one of the rooms in the house opens, revealing a man a couple of years older than him. He has a lean frame and walks with a wide stride, he looks pretty similar to Timothy, so he’d guess that he’s one of his children. The man continues through the house, paying no mind to Salnys, and grabs a pile of food out of some cabinets. He heads back to the room he exited, but as he does, he notices Salnys. Salnys awkwardly waves at him, and the man just tiredly blinks and continues to his room, closing the door behind him.

‘That was weird,’ Salnys comments to himself, ‘Anyways, with this whole time loop thing, I’m feeling better about going back to the academy, though I will pay better attention to everything.’ Salnys lies back down on the couch and yawns, ‘Regardless, I’m feeling pretty tired. I guess I’ll have Timothy take me there in the morning if he’s available.’

Salnys gets into a comfortable position on the couch and is feeling pretty good about everything. Today wasn’t actually too horrible, he’s still alive and doesn’t feel the need to wander off anywhere. He drifts off content with what he’s found today; as long as he makes it to tomorrow, he’s fine with it.