“That’s new,” Jace said, rereading the reward for the third time.

“It’s convenient,” Helen replied. “Will enters a mirror two loops ago and now we get this?”

“Causation doesn’t equal correlation,” Alex waved a finger.

“It’s the other way around, muffin boy.” The jock shoved him with his shoulder. “It’s one big fucking coincidence, though. What exactly did you see in there, Stoner?”

“I told you. Infinity.”

“You sure? Cause I have no idea how you fight in infinity. You can throw stuff from a distance, but what about the rest? Also, what happens when you’re out of things to throw?”

The question had crossed Will’s mind. Fighting against a monster, even a huge one, was a lot easier than fighting a while back. Assuming the waves remained at four, the reward suggested that there’d be thirty-six of them in total—a lot more than he could handle with throwing knives.

“I say we do it,” the boy said in a firm tone. “We’ve no idea what it is and since no one has seen this before, there’s no telling when we’ll have another chance. At worst, it’ll be a wasted loop.”

“What if it’s worse than a wasted loop?” Helen asked. “Danny was obsessed with new challenges and we know what happened. If we go inside, are you sure we’ll be able to come back out?”

“The mirror says we can. We go in, we see what it’s like and if it’s too much, we just go back out. I promise.”

Helen looked at him. Deep inside, Will knew that what he’d done was close to an act of betrayal, especially after their conversation in the previous loop. At the same time, he felt the urge to do this.

“I’ll go alone if I have to,” he said. “I just don’t think this is a reward we can afford to miss.”

“For real, bro!” the goofball agreed, placing his arm around Will’s shoulders. “It’ll be lit!”

“No way I’m letting you fuckers get all the rewards,” Jace grunted and walked up to them. “Sides, Helen is the only one important. If things mess up, we’ll still have the key.”

It was three to one. The three looked at the girl, waiting for her response. The wolf corpses had vanished by this point, leaving only debris and toppled desks scattered around. An invisible barrier seemed to have erected within the group, separating them on different sides of the room. The boys were willing and eager to face the challenge. Helen, despite having the greatest combat power, was reluctant to do so.

“I’ll join,” the girl said reluctantly. The fashion in which she did suggested that they’d owe her one.

Alex created a mirror copy and had it place its hand on the mirror. The solid surface rippled, allowing it to pass through without issue. The reward message, though, remained unchanged.

Will was next to enter. Taking the initiative, he gripped his poison dagger and stepped through. The plane of the mirror passed through him, similar to last time, taking him to an endless room.

“Hey, bro.” Alex’s mirror copy waved.

The room they were in contained nothing but a smooth, white floor and the mirror Will had come from. Looking up, there was something that resembled a cloudy sky, only there were no defined clouds, just a layer of pale whiteness from where the light came.

Bending down, Will tapped the floor with the tip of his knife.

“Tried that,” the mirror copy said. “It’s solid.”

A second later, Jace emerged from the mirror. Slightly confused, he looked around in an attempt to get his bearings. When he failed to do so, he focused on the people already there.

“This is infinity?” he asked.

“I guess.” Will straightened up. “It’s different from last time. There’s a floor.”

“That’s one good thing.”

What seemed to be the true Alex was next to arrive. The first thing he did was use a few fragments of glass to create several more copies. When that worked, he grabbed a handful of shards, ready to use them as traps.

“Lit,” he said. “No doors, no windows, just we and the wolves.”

That was a rather good point. Looking around, there was no means of starting the challenge. One possibility was that all four members of the group had to be present, but an indication would have been nice.

Once Helen walked in, everyone had their answer. The endless floor of the space instantly turned red.

WAVE 1

Messages in large block letters hovered midair in all directions.

“Where are they coming from?” Jace asked. That, too, was left to interpretation.

“Opposite from the mirror!” Alex shouted, as he and his copies surrounded it. “If it’s our exit, they’ll come from the other way.”

Will concentrated on the horizon. The floor of the floor made spotting anything a bit more difficult, but still there didn’t seem to be anything in the distance.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“They’re here,” Helen said, standing a few steps away. “There,” she pointed into the distance.

Looking closely, a cluster of dots was visible moving quickly in the direction of the group. Within seconds, the dots took on the form of black wolves.

“We’ve never seen those before,” Jace said, gripping a makeshift sword.

“Nah, it’s the colors, bro,” Alex said in a reassuring tone. “When you mix grey and red, it looks black.”

That was an outright lie, but everyone appreciated the thought. This wasn’t the time to have second thoughts, not when the challenge hadn’t even started.

“There seems to be just one pack of them,” Will said. “Alex, keep watching in case there are more.”

“Sure thing, bro.”

“I’ll try to take out a few of them, but it’s all you, Hel,” he turned to the girl. “Okay?” he added softly.

“I’ve been doing this for ages before you joined.” The girl raised her massive sword with one hand. “Just keep your promise this time.”

The last felt like a punch in the gut.

As the wolves got closer, everyone was able to get a better look at them. The creatures didn’t appear particularly different from the common types they’d faced so far. Other than their different color, they remained large as ponies with unusually large teeth. Claws hit the solid surface, letting out a series of clicks at each step—like a warning sound that got closer and closer.

Will took out a knife and concentrated on the wolf leading the small pack. One of the weak spots his rogue skill told him to aim for was the eye, and that’s precisely what the boy did.

The knife split the air, hitting its target. The wolf let out a loud yelp as it stumbled onto the crimson floor. Inertia kept it going forward, though far too slow for it to keep up with the rest of the wolves. The remaining three beasts scattered, with one directly jumping over the dead one’s corpse.

Drawing another knife, Will immediately targeted it as well. The blade hit the shoulder of the creature which, while wounding it, failed to kill it.

Pulse rushing, the boy threw two more knives to correct his mistake. This time, he hit the target spot on. Sadly, that still left two more wolves that had approached dangerously close.

“I got them.” Helen rushed forward.

Seeing her as a threat, the two creatures moved away from one another. Timing the moment, they leaped at the girl, jaws open, claws extended.

One wide slash and the blade sliced through both of them, sending them off flying to the side. The lifeless wolves kept on flying for three full seconds before they slammed onto the floor and never got up.

“Lit,” all Alexes said in unison.

The color of the floor changed to green.

“That was easy,” Will said. After everything new they’d faced, he imagined it to be a lot more challenging.

“It’s just the first wave,” Jace said, bringing him down to earth. “And you were shit. Four daggers for two wolves? Really pathetic.”

“I didn’t see you doing anything,” Will reacted.

“Stoner, if you’d joined the tea, you’d know that stamina is a resource. In your case, that goes double. Nine waves.” He held up both hands with the thumb of his left finger held against the palm. “You used four knives so far. How many more do you have? Thirty?”

That was a good point. Will glanced at the two corpses. They weren’t terribly far, but he definitely wasn’t going there to retrieve his weapons, not with more monsters on the way.

“If you can’t even get one wolf with one throw, you’ll be out by wave three. Then what do we do?”

“Get out?” Alex asked. He also agreed with the jock’s assessment, since two of his copies were dashing in the direction of the dead wolves.

“Get out is right.” Jace shook his head. “I knew I should have built a crossbow.”

“Bro!” The goofball looked at him. “I could have gotten you one if you’d just said. Arrows too!”

“Bolts,” Helen corrected.

Both Alex and Jace looked at her.

“Crossbows have bolts. And it doesn’t matter. Anything with ammo will only work the first few times, anyway.” She slammed her sword onto the floor. There was a dull thump, as if she had hit rotten wood. “I’ll do the fighting. You guys make sure those I miss don’t get me.”

WAVE 2

The floor turned red again.

Immediately, everyone focused on the horizon. The two mirror copies hurried to get Will’s knives, then ran back to the rest of the group. Barely a few seconds later, the next group of wolves became visible.

“Found them!” Jace shouted. “They’re—”

“I see them!” Alex interrupted. “Right in front of me.”

There was a moment of silence. Everyone looked at each other, then at the directions Jace and Alex were pointing.

“Fuck,” the jock swore. “There are two of them.”

“Wave two, two packs,” Will said. It made sense. Going by this logic, the final wave alone would contain thirty-six wolves. “Alex, make two copies to help Helen. We’ll take the other pack.”

Two groups spontaneously formed. Helen charged at one of the packs, with two copies of Alex keeping up. Meanwhile, Will concentrated on the other one.

One throw, one kill, he thought. What was more important, though, was to kill all four.

There was no indication that the new batch of wolves had learned from the previous ones’ mistakes. They continued running forward as a group, heading along a straight line towards Will.

Holding his breath, the boy concentrated, then set the first knife flying. As expected, it hit its target, causing the pack leader to drop to the floor. Keeping his focus, Will waited for a few seconds more, then threw several knives in rapid succession. His new approach was not to take the wolves one by one, but to target them simultaneously.

It was a good plan, but the lack of experience in the matter had its say. The first two knives dealt only marginal wounds to the beasts. It was only the third that was mortally hit.

Keeping his calm, the boy threw two more knives. Both struck the approaching wolf, killing it on the spot as it let out a disturbing gurgling sound.

The last was less than twenty feet away. Will felt the adrenaline rush through his body, causing his fingers to tremble.

Gritting his teeth, he drew another knife and threw it. The weapon utterly missed, barely grazing the beast. Instinct took over, forcing the boy to leap back. His instincts of self-preservation clashed with flight winning over fight.

Not this time! Will yelled on the inside, pushing against the mental block that had taken hold. His hand, although slower, moved, grabbing one more knife, which he threw at the still approaching wolf.

The weapon hit, but that no longer mattered. Three of Alex’s mirror copies had emerged nearby, each of them stabbing the wolf on the side.

Both Will and the wolf landed on the floor simultaneously. The only difference was that only Will kept breathing.

“Fire, bro.” The goofball, or possibly a copy, patted him on the shoulder. “You were lit.”

“Yeah…” Will managed to say, even if he wasn’t sure he agreed. This was way too close for comfort. If he’d been a little less decisive, the challenge, and the loop, would have ended here. Looking down, his hands were still shaking as his body attempted to deal with its current level of adrenaline.

“Was okay,” Jace commented in a rare case of support. “You do realize it’ll only get tougher from here on.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

This was the point at which an insult would usually follow. Instead, the jock just glanced at him, then back at the horizon.

“You haven’t noticed, have you, Stoner?” he asked. “The corpses are still there. If we survive a few more waves, you’ll have to fight on top of them. Either that or you’ll have no idea what’s approaching.”