Chapter Sixteen

Pop!

She ran out of time. Her back faced the entrance to the room. Moira straightened, the pain that had been wracking through her for the past hour was gone. She looked down at her shirt. The bandages and blood were gone, and her shirt looked the same as the moment she’d walked through the door.

“Temporal Loop.”

Now she understood. Each hour, the time loop would reset, and the reflection would appear for ten minutes. Then, she’d have the rest of the hour to figure out the room and not die from any injuries.

“Hello again,” her voice purred from behind.

The fight went just as well as it did the last time. Moira let the egging comments of the reflection get the best of her and ended up with several gashes along her arms. Although this time, she’d successfully dodged the slash to her stomach, earning her another level in the skill.

Moira sat on the ground in the middle of the room, her wounds bandaged.

Physical force against the wall had worked before. She’d been able to cut into the surface of the wall. But breaking through before the hour was out while injured was an issue.

The other option was still the same: Mana Blast. Which was just as likely to rebound on her and cause more damage than good.

A smirk spread across her face. What if she could solve two problems at once?

Time reset and Moira found herself back against the wall. The timer on the wall started counting down. She didn’t waste any time as she activated Mana Blast, aiming toward the wall right across from her. As soon as it left her hand, she leaped to the right.

The reflection appeared right behind where she’d been standing seconds ago and watched as the blast hit the wall and bounced back. The reflection’s eyes widened as the blast slammed into her, knocking her back against the wall with a sickening crack.

Moira crawled to her feet. The reflection lay motionless against the wall, her neck slanted at an impossible angle. Her limbs were a tangled mess of broken bones. As disturbing as it was to see her own body broken in front of her, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was over.

She turned back toward the wall to examine where the Mana Blast made impact. A dent the size of a basketball marked the wall. As she watched, the dent popped back into place, leaving the wall unmarred.

“Damn.”

She’d hoped that would’ve worked. That magic would have been the answer. But it hadn’t even left a permanent mark. She pressed her hand against the smooth wall. It hummed against her palm. It felt faster than before, more aggressive, like the cells of the wall were more active.

A sound rustled behind her. She turned as a loud crack echoed through the room.

“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”

A horrific cacophony of crunching followed as her bones popped back into place. The reflection pushed to her feet, a grin stretched across her face.

“You’re going to pay for that.”

Moira took out her sword, raising it in front of her, just like Cyrus had taught her. The reflection stalked toward her, circling her.

“I lied before, you know. You’re worse than nothing. You bring death and destruction wherever you go. You ruin lives.”

“No.”

“Yes. You caused the crash. It’s your fault. If you hadn’t been arguing with him, he would’ve seen that car merging. You’re the reason your father’s dead.”

“No.”

“And Duke. His blood is on your hands, too. You were careless, and he paid the price. You can’t do anything right, and now you’ve killed you’re only friend.”

Moira covered her ears. “Stop, please.”

The reflection laughed. “And you’re not even trying to get home. What do you think this is doing to your family? That you just disappeared? Died? How could you do that to them after your dad?”

Moira stumbled backward. The reflection’s voice multiplied, the comments piling on top of each other, becoming a dissonance of anger and pain pressing down on her. Every negative thought she’d ever had was vocalized. She couldn’t block it out. Moira slid to the floor, withering under the weight.

The reflection stared down at her, a smirk resting on her face. “I told you, you’d pay.” She took out her sword, aiming to slash Moira’s throat.

Pop!

Moira dragged her knees to her chin, hiding her face in her legs. It was too much. It was all too much.

Something wet dripped down her cheek. She’d been crying. Moira wiped her face with the backs of her hands.

The wall that she’d built in her heart started to crumble. Moira’s breathing sped up as she began to hyperventilate. Flashes of dark images flew through her mind—a dark cave with glowing moss, Duke dead on the ground, bleeding. A phone call, the sound of cracking glass and the smell of burned cinnamon. The sound of each memory filled her ears, growing louder with every second. She squeezed her eyes shut, covering her ears, trying to get them out.

Minutes passed. Each one felt like a day, as her mind threw images and sounds at her that made her want to fall apart again. She focused on breathing, letting the visions fade to the back of her mind. Not gone, but hidden in the deep recesses of her mind.

Each breath steadied her as she reinforced her wall. Slowly, the images faded completely, buried back behind a wall of stone.

Moira pushed to her feet as a numbness settled over her. Once again, she faced the wall. The day continued like that. Moira would try various ways to break through the wall before the time loop reset, and she had to face her reflection once again. Each time left her feeling more broken and defeated. She lost count of the hours as one day turned into two, then three. Still, she was no closer to finding a way out of the room.

Each time the room reset, it left her healed and refreshed. She never hungered or thirsted for water. It was truly like time was reset once an hour. While she never felt the need to sleep, her soul and mind felt the strain as the reflection disparaged her. Revealing her worst fears and greatest secrets.

After five days, she finally had a breakthrough.

She’d come to the conclusion two days ago, after trying and failing to break through using physical means that the way out had to either be through magic or defeating the reflection. And defeating the reflection wasn’t an option—so magic it was.

Moira sat cross-legged in the center of the room. She turned her focus to the ball of spinning light at her center. It glowed with a soft yellow light. Her mind calmed as she watched the center of her magic. The overwhelming sense of comfort settled on her. The smell of fresh-baked cookies and Christmas morning blanketed her senses.

She gently poked it with her mind. Her mana reared back, offended by her abrasive touch. The glowing light turned a harsh blinding white and the comfortable feeling fell away.

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Moira mentally pulled back from her mana pool. It almost felt like a living entity.

She observed her mana as it flowed freely, spinning back and forth in her center. Slowly, the harsh light changed back to a warm glow.

After a while, she noticed there was a pattern to how her mana moved. When she’d poked it before, she’d interrupted its pattern.

Maybe the key to using her mana was coaxing it out of its pattern instead of interrupting it.

Moira entered her center again, and as her mana pool spun around, she gently stroked it around and back toward her. This time, her mana flowed out away from her center. Moira lightly guided it down her arm and into her hand, coaxing it into a sphere instead of a blast. The mana sphere glowed lightly in her hand.

The room’s humming grew louder, as if praising her efforts before settling back into its normal soft purr.

Ding!

New Skill! ERROR. Skill not allowed. ERROR. System Over—ERROR. No Vetoes Remain. Decision upheld.

Moira frowned, sitting very still as she read the notification. She’d been right. Something had been helping her, but it’d been overruled.

A sense of dread nestled in her stomach. Was all her work for nothing? She was sure she’d figured it out. That she needed to learn to control her Mana to leave the room. She’d been over every other possible solution.

She frantically tried to form the ball of light a second time. Her mind slipping over the spinning tendrils.

“No.”

Her throat tightened as she tried again. And again, she failed.

Breathe.

Moira closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose, holding her breath for ten seconds before exhaling through her mouth.

She tried again. This time, she caught the tendril and guided it to her palm, forming it into a ball of light. She grinned.

It wasn’t a skill. The process hadn’t turned automatic like Mana Blast. It took time and focus, but she could still do it. And that’s all she needed.

She rose to her feet and approached the humming wall. She moved the ball of light between her fingers, coaxing it around, getting a feel for how it moved. When she had a firm grasp, she pushed it toward the wall. The glowing ball collided with the wall, bending it backwards half an inch and then merging with it for a moment.

Moira felt her hand being thrown back as the wall expunged the ball, like it’d been spit out.

Pop!

She’d run out of time again. Moira sighed and raised her sword as she turned to face the reflection.

It was another four days before she figured it out.

Moira pressed the arrow formed by her Mana against the wall. Trying to break it open for the tenth time that day. She’d spent the last several days figuring out how to form different shapes, hoping one of them would be enough to break through the wall. Nothing had worked so far.

She sighed as the arrow was spit out of the wall. Her Mana pool was low. That last shape had taken more than she’d expected. The arrow had needed more Mana condensed into it to maintain its strength in its elongated shape. She probably had one more try before she needed to wait for the time loop to reset.

Moira focused on her core. It still spun brightly inside her, with no indication of running out. She’d discovered over the last several days that some of it was blocked off. Like the system was limiting how much she could access based on her level.

She guided a tendril down to her palm, forming a square as thin as paper. Maybe the key was greater surface area, not less. Moira gently guided it toward the wall, leaning in to see the results. It vibrated softly against her palm. As it made contact with the wall, she could feel a discordant hum join her magic.

Like two songs with different tempos overlapping.

The square flew back from the wall. Another failure.

Moira blew a strand of hair from her face and settled back onto the floor. Cupping her face in her hands. She hadn’t felt that before. The difference in vibration. The thin layer of Mana had allowed her to feel the difference between the two.

Her magic was moving at a different speed than the wall. Could she change how fast it vibrated?

She formed a ball in her hand and examined it carefully, listening to it’s hum. Yes, it was definitely slower than the hum of the wall. She focused on it, urging the Mana to speed up, matching the wall’s vibration.

Moira stood up, still focusing on the ball, maintaining the new vibration as she pressed it against the wall. It phased through, disappearing to the other side.

She stepped back. It’d been that simple this whole time. Moira chuckled.

It took another two hours before she figured out how to encase herself in the thinnest layer of Mana. The next time the time loop reset, she’d be able to escape. She’d need her entire Mana pool to encase herself fully. She just had to face her reflection one last time.

Pop!

She turned. The perfect reflection of herself grinned back. It had grown stronger the last couple of days, as if it could sense that Moira’s escape grew near. But Moira had grown stronger, too. Her blade work less clumsy and more focused. She’d learned to tune out the creatures’ awful words, blocking out everything but their blades. Cyrus would’ve been proud.

Moira narrowed her eyes. This was it.

Her reflection sneered back at her as if it knew this would be their last battle.

Moira darted forward, on the offensive. She slashed upward, using her body’s momentum. The reflection’s sword met hers, clanging loudly against the matching short sword.

Over the last two weeks, Moira had learned that while the reflection matched her almost perfectly in appearance, its personality was much more volatile. It was cockier than her, believed her skills were better, and they were. But it moved more than it needed to. Spinning beautifully around with its sword. It took three steps where it could take one.

“You think you’re getting out of here?” It snarled.

“I know I am. I’ve got it all figured out.” Moira panted as she dodged another strike.

“Oh, really?”

She didn’t answer, tuning the reflection out.

“Even the time loop?” the reflection asked.

Moira stumbled, and the reflection drew a narrow line along her left arm.

“What do you mean?”

The reflection laughed. “Did you think you could just walk out of here? The moment you move through the wall, the time loop resets.”

“You’re lying.”

“Why would I lie?”

Another cut made it through Moira’s defenses, this time a cut along her right cheek.

“Oh, little creature of death and destruction. You’re never making it out of here. You’ll never beat me. Don’t you get it? You’re not the Hero, I am.”

Moira gritted her teeth. She needed to stay focused.

“Not going to ask why? Well, I’ll tell you, anyway. What did your little friend say? That’s right, ‘In time of great need, an Outworlder arrives.’ Well, he was partially right. Outworlders always seem to be here when the world is about to end. Then, when it doesn’t, they just disappear. Isn’t that funny? And aren’t you the perfect Outworlder? Death already follows you. Don’t you see? Outworlders don’t save Caelum, they try to destroy it.”

She stumbled back. “What.” Her thoughts raced. That couldn’t be true. “You’re wrong.”

“I’m the Hero in this story, and you’re the Villian.”

Another slash made contact. She was losing. The reflection always knew just where to strike.

Wait. The reflection knew where to strike. It was desperate. It knew she’d figured out how to escape and it was feeding on her very fears. The reflection was lying—about everything. The time loop, about Outworlders. It was trying to distract her.

Moira straightened, letting her mind settle. She’d already won. She just needed to be patient and wait it out.

Moira stopped listening to the creature’s ranting and focused on meeting her matching sword. Her sword clanged against the reflections. She kept her footwork simple, darting forward and back, nothing fancy.

Moira glanced at the clock. Ten seconds left.

The reflection was screaming now. Trying to worm it’s way into her conscious and break her. Moira focused on her footwork. She just needed to make it another ten seconds.

Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

The reflection disappeared.

Moira let her sword fall to her side. It was over. She just had one thing left to do.

#

Moira stood in front of the wall. Her hands outstretched as she created a paper-thin sphere of mana that was as tall as her. She carefully wrapped the mana around her entire body. Encasing herself in Mana. She stepped toward the wall, focusing on matching the vibration.

She approached and reached her hand up to it, and walked forward. The wall became incorporeal, and she passed straight through.

Congratulations! You have passed floor 3 of the Dungeon: Grow or Die.

Congratulations! You’ve reached level 15

You now have 5 attribute points available

Congratulations! You have completed the Dungeon: Grow or Die. Please wait to receive your rewards!