Omar’s hands were burned he held the jade orb. His companions were scattered him. Omar turned his head, his focus split between the pain and trying to learn as much as he could about the room. The companions had been hit by the beams that shot from the orb. His companions didn’t seem to be faring as well as he had. Patches of their skin had been converted to jade, matching the orb. This was one of the better outcomes than many of the countless loops he could recall. A cooling sensation started to work up both his arms. They were still in pain, but at least it wasn’t heat. The room grew silent as his companions started to succumb. The jade would have hit the vocal chords at this point, thankfully. He noticed that he was yelling also. Being forcefully converted to solid nature mana crystals was never pleasant. He couldn’t help his cries of agony. It took longer for the process to happen to Omar. He shouldn’t have worn the gloves. The world gradually turned black. Omar found he was stuck in his own personal hell, again. His companions were probably experiencing something similar. The pain was ever present, but Omar had grown used to it and could compartmentalize it. He couldn’t even remember how often this had happened anymore.

Who came with him this time? Oscar the fisherman from the unnamed village a week north from the Oxhead. Amie the plains wizard from The Second Tower. Asmar from the remnants of the Ulid empire. Three names, and three locations he needed to visit. Were they going to recover the orb? He wouldn’t know until the end of the loop. This one was awful. He almost wished he was enslaved by elves again. He started to focus on remembering his companions for this loop. There might be others he could call on, but circumstances were never the same each time. Marta the blacksmith? She was strong. Alfred the drunk? He was good at keeping the group in good spirits. Maybe this loop would be better and he would progress. He knew it was wishful thinking. Omar spent an eternity planning his next move until he stopped thinking.

Omar’s head hurt. Did he get bludgeoned? He opened his eyes and looked at his bloody shirt. His body felt sluggish. He cast a small healing spell out of reflex. His mind started to clear. This was different. There was harsh laughter moving by, along with words an unknown tongue. Omar’s arms were restrained. He was chained to a post driven deep into the sand. As Omar’s faculties returned he worked the foreign words through his mind. Someone was speaking elvish. Omar’s muscles were stiff, but the spell he loosed in his body gradually returned mobility. He took a surreptitious glance around him. Three other humans were chained to posts. He was the example. Omar’s heart beat with excitement. The loop had ended! This was a root. It was close to the start of his ordeal. Omar couldn’t contain his grin.

His thought’s were interrupted by a hand grasping his hair and the back of his head slamming into the wooden post. Omar tried to blink away the double vision while the back of his head exploded in pain.

“Happy? Yes, Human?” The elf spoke with an odd accent.

Omar’s vision swam as tried to focus on the face. The elf grinned, showing off his mouth of sharp and pointed teeth. The spindly limbs were far stronger than they looked.

“Look,” the elf called and gestured to the other, “Yes smiles.”

The elves stood laughing at Omar and pulled back their lips to form a mocking smile on their faces. They laughed and exchanged a few words.

“Human happy,” the first elf said, while patting Omar’s cheek, ”You fine.”

The second elf knelt down and patted his other cheek.

“Yes fine, happy human.”

They both laughed and walked off talking to each other. Omar mostly recovered from having his head smacked into a post. The spell Amie had taught him had helped him more than she would ever know. He looked at the other captives. They were mostly in their own world. They probably had given up at this point. He seemed to have forgotten elvish this time around. His skills had probably been reset at some point. He could never be certain what he knew. There were always small changes.

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He tried to look at his situation objectively, taking stock. There was a fire pit, and five bedrolls. It was a small raiding team. There hadn’t been a boat on the beach this time. The others that had been chained to the posts were roughly Omar’s age. They were all as bloody as Omar. He would need to start healing them once he worked free. There would also be two captured women that would be joining either tonight or the next day. Omar wasn’t sure of the time-line as he had only run the loop a handful of times before stumbling on the vampire loop that would have started in a few years.

Omar made a mistake by grinning. If this were like his first time through Omar was a sacrifice. He couldn’t recall any of the other prisoner’s names. He could barely remember what any of them were good at. The prisoners had always died each time through, but it had been so long since Omar had seen them, he could probably change things with a heal. He tested the chain slowly, to avoid making noise. It was just as sturdy as he remembered. He could try dislocating a thumb, but didn’t want to risk it.

The day continued. The time under the sun would have had Omar’s skin red and peeling normally. The fact the healing spell was weak allowed it to continue it’s work longer and it’s mana draw was far more manageable than it would have been otherwise. The pair of elves had started preparing a boar to cook. They hadn’t paid any further attention to Omar and seemed to prefer each other’s company. Omar didn’t remember their names. After an hour to two the remaining elves arrived in the boat. The two women that he had expected were with them. They were both unconscious and bloody. One elf yelled at the two sitting elves. He must have been the raid leader. The sitting elves looked sheepish and scattered grabbing poles. The elves on the boat tossed the unconscious women unceremoniously onto the beach. The raid leader rubbed his forehead as he watched the two elves start to drive the poles into the sand.

“Oh, look at you!” the raid leader said.

He looked over at the working elves and barked some words at them. A reply came between the sounds of the poles being struck. The raid leader crouched in front of Omar.

“You’re doing far better than I’d have expected,” the leader said.

Omar didn’t reply and tried not to make eye contact. It was probably impossible to fake injury at this point. The leader shifted his position from a crouch to sitting on the sand cross-legged. Omar could feel the leader’s gaze boring into him. He grabbed Omar’s head and forced their eyes to meet.

“I have a feeling we met before,” the elf said as he let go of Omar.

Omar’s eyebrows raised and he could feel something shift inside as he felt shock. The elf nodded and tapped the side of his head. Omar had struck him with a rock. The third time the sequence played out, the elf was awake. It hadn’t stopped Omar from escaping, but the elf had certainly caught a good look.

“What do you want from me?” Omar asked.

“I just want to get home with my cargo,” The elf replied, “If I take you, I have a feeling things won’t go my way.”

Omar nodded slowly. He certainly didn’t care about the people on the beach, elf or human. This was an entirely new scenario. The elf before him seemed to be stuck in his own loop. Omar could only count others like him on one finger. Omar only shared one loop with the man. When the second loop happened, he become like every one else.

“Professional courtesy?” asked Omar.

The elf beamed at Omar. The sight of the sharp teeth caused Omar to shudder.

“I assure you, the feeling is mutual,” The elf said.

The elf cocked his head slightly towards the elves that were driving the poles into the sand.

“I’ve got to deal with these fools.”

The elf stood and brushed the sand off. After talking to his subordinates, the leader joined the other two at the fire pit and started to eat. Omar decided he would trust the elf, he didn’t have much of a choice either way.

The sun set. Omar hadn’t seen any change in the other prisoners. They were still unmoving. It was certainly getting harder to see. At some point Omar had fallen asleep. He jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He was able to suppress a shout of surprise but the chains still clinked together. Omar could make out the silhouette of the leader. The two planned for Omar’s escape. It turned out the leader had a good mana sense. They discussed Omar’s magic capabilities. The elf didn’t pry too deep and Omar answered in general terms. Omar had a sense that the elf had a similar experience, but neither wanted to broach the subject. A crude plan was set. Omar was still set to be killed in the morning, but they worked out a method to keep it from being permanent. The elf was an alchemist and had some herbs that would help sell the illusion. When Omar would wake, the elves would be gone and there would be a small cache of supplied that would be left behind. It wouldn’t be much, but it would see them both safely on their own paths.