“That’s a hidden boss?” Jace asked, standing over the large corpse. “Nasty fucker. Cool gear, though.”

“You’ve no idea.” Will reached into Spatra’s pocket.

Unfortunately, the only thing that he found there were mirror pieces. Either through luck or design, the mirror fragment had shattered during the fight. Knowing how much control eternity exerted on everything, it was likely that any items there were not meant to be taken, had a tendency to fade or break.

“Would have been nice,” Helen said from a step away. “If you had one, we’d be able to go faster.”

Will said nothing. Ten minutes ago, he was ready to tell her everything about Danny and the mirror fragment he’d gotten. That was before he’d seen how underpowered they were.

“Let’s see what we have,” she tapped the boss’ corpse on the forehead.

Same as with the elites, the body faded away. The ornate spear, on the other hand, remained.

“Finally,” Jace said. “Something that’s not shit.”

It was an honest statement. Yet, with the adrenaline loosening its grip, Will had a few questions.

“How did you get that gun?” he asked.

“Everyone has a secret, Stoner,” the jock replied. “Been working on it for a while. It’s easy to make if you know what you’re doing. Took me longer to find you. With all the crap in the locker rooms, I thought you’d be there.”

“What crap?” Will asked.

“Why there?” Helen asked at the same time.

Slightly confused by the merging of questions, Jace looked at each of them. His mind separated the words of each, processing what was asked.

“It has mirrors,” he told Helen. “Had.” He turned to Will. “Everything’s shattered now.”

“Shattered?”

“Sorry, bro. I was running low on ammo,” Alex said with a sheepish grin. “For real. I thought I’d stock up for the harpy’s office. Was going to wait for you. But then you shouted and…”

“It’s fine.” Will kept on looking at Jace. There was something that made him suspect there was more to it than the jock was telling him about. Such a weapon didn’t just emerge out of nowhere. He’d seen Jace meddle with a gauntlet for several loops, progressing in minuscule increments. The jump he had seen was just too much. “What do we have?”

“What don’t we have?” The jock shook his head. “It’s a unique weapon. Spatra’s Poison Spear. Poison, piercing, indestructible… anti-magic.” He looked up. “That's new. We have magic now?”

The crude and naïve fashion in which he asked the question wasn’t able to diminish the sensation of dread that swept through all of them. No one showed it, but it was a safe bet they were thinking the same thing.

Even since they had entered eternity, it was a given that everything that occurred wasn’t normal. They didn’t call it magic outright since it didn’t match the typical image one had. There hadn’t been mages casting fireballs, fire-breathing dragons, or enchanted creatures. The closest thing that came to magic were Alex’s abilities, but even they had a more scientific nature in a superhero type of way.

This had been the first instance in which magic had openly been mentioned, suggesting that all that had been experienced so far wasn’t.

“Did Danny say anything about magic?” Will asked.

A memory fragment flashed through his mind. He remembered noticing something similar while skimming the school counselor's notes. It had been over the top, like a crazy dream, which was the only reason it had stuck to his mind.

Danniel had mentioned something about going to see a person who juggled fire, but could never get burned by his own. There were a lot of ways to interpret this, most of them disturbing, but if it was a literal description of what the former rogue had seen, then it changed everything.

“He used the term supernatural,” Helen said.

“Nah, bro.” Alex shook his head. “But maybe it was because he was forced to say so. Think about it. Really sus that he wouldn’t mention it even once out of curiosity.”

It was impossible to be certain whether the goofball was being certain, but if this was a joke, no one was laughing.

Danny took a few steps away. As he did, he noticed the hilt of his dagger. The fight had caused a lot of devastation—the floor had been ripped apart, leaving massive sword trails criss-crossing through it. Among the debris were pieces of his weapon. It hadn’t vanished, as the short spears had, suggesting that even in its current state, it remained eternal.

“Jace, can you fix things?” Will bent down and picked up the pieces. There were three in total: the hilt and two pieces of blade.

“Fuck. You got that broken?” The jock shook his head.

“Can you fix it?”

“Don’t know. Haven’t reached the level of you guys.”

“Try.” Will extended his hand with the dagger pieces inside. “Take a few loops if you have to.”

“Okay, man. Whatever you say.”

“Let’s check the locker rooms,” Will said loudly, changing the subject. “Just in case. Then…” he paused for a few moments. “Then we’ll go through the corner shop.”

No hidden mirrors appeared in the locker rooms or Alex’s favorite building. Naturally, he took the opportunity to grab a few snacks while they were there. Will would have joined in if he didn’t feel the dull sensation of pain in his stomach.

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By all accounts, he should have been happy. The group was geared up, and they had defeated all but one elite in the school area. What was more, they had found a hidden boss that had dropped a unique weapon. Yet, the more he thought about it, Will wished they hadn’t.

“Jace should take the spear,” he said.

“That’s untypically nice of you, Stoner.” Even the jock sounded surprised. “Are you sure?”

“None of us can use it properly. Maybe you could think of some device to use it properly.”

“You okay, Stoner? Giving me loot, letting me take loops on my own. It’s almost as if you—”

“Bro,” Alex interrupted, knowing what Jace would say. “We can try the harpy’s office. For real. With all four of us and all this, we’ll win for sure.”

Will gave him a stern look.

“Really?” His frown deepened. “I’ve no dagger, we’re exhausted, and you have half a dozen mirror shards at most. The spear is too long to be used in the school, so it’ll be useless as well. A few more loops won’t hurt us.”

All eyes shifted towards Helen. While Will had been acknowledged as the leader of the group, she remained the keyholder, and the most powerful class. Four times out of five, she was the one doing the heavy fighting, with everyone else largely acting as support.

“Will’s right,” she said. “There’s no point in trying now. We got the items, we know how to level up. It’s not a bad idea to spend the next few loops resting.”

“That’s the plan, then,” Jace nodded. “I’ll see what I can do about this and your knife.”

Everyone stood there, waiting for something to happen. Reaching a point in which they had to wait for the loop to end on its own felt unnatural. Initially, there was a sense of anxiousness, like waiting for a bus that was arriving late. After a while, the sensation faded away, replaced by calm.

The group decided to go back onto the school roof and just look at the stars, chatting about things that didn’t matter. For a brief moment of time, there was no talk of skills and monsters, no delving into secrets, and, above all, no eternity.

“Bros, this is lit,” Alex said. “We should do this more often.”

“Muffin boy, just give it a rest,” Jace laughed. “The fuck will I want to go through all this again?”

More laughter followed.

Restarting eternity.

The sound cars of honking filled the air. Children were going to school as usual. In a matter of moments, Jess and Ely would pass by, calling him a weirdo. Maybe even Alex would appear eating a muffin. Will never got a chance to find out, rushing into school as if he were running away from something.

The first thing he did was enter the boys’ bathroom and get his class. Then the hard part came.

“You’re a bastard,” he hissed, staring at his own reflection. “Danny, I challenge you.”

CLASS DUPLICATION!

Only one rogue can be present.

Freezing eternity.

The reflection changed.

“I knew you’d be back,” Daniel said. “Fighting eternity isn’t as easy as you thought, is it?”

“Tell me about magic.”

“Magic?” Surprise flickered through Daniel’s face. It was subtle, but Will was able to see his eyes widen a fraction and the corners of his mouth point down. “What do you want to know about that?”

“I thought you knew everything.”

“I know enough, which is a lot more than you. And magic isn’t something you should mess with.”

“Well, it’s too late for that.” Will moved closer to the mirror. “We found an item that has magic protection. Tell me what’s magic?”

“You really came upon that?” There was more surprise than mockery in Daniel’s voice. “Lucky you. But—” he raised a finger in the air “—this time you’ll have to pay for it. No more freebies.”

“I can just walk out.”

“Then you’ll never unlock the final mirror or finish the tutorial. Remember, I’ve got more than knowledge to offer.”

Will didn’t reply.

“Why so stubborn? You don’t have a choice. Sooner or later, you’ll get crushed. So, you’ve got a few more items. Big deal. They’ll only make things more painful as they’re taken from you. Get me out of here and both of us will win.”

Last time the offer was made, Will had refused. It wasn’t just about the tutorial. The last thing he wanted was a version of Danny out there. By the sound of things, the former rogue hadn’t seen anything of what had happened in the gym. As far as he was concerned, Will’s conversation with Helen, the hidden boss, and the unique spear had never happened.

“If I get you out of here, what then?” he asked.

“Nothing much. I get to be in the fragment and you get answers to all your questions. Everything I’ve learned will become yours.”

“I know you’re lying. Once you’re out, you won’t tell me a thing.”

“Well, I’ll need a bit more incentive, but nothing you couldn’t handle. The choice is really simple: do you want to pass the tutorial or not?”

“And let you leech on me?”

“Leech? You think you’re funny, shithead? I’ll be in the fragment. The only way to even talk to me is to challenge me again, which you will do. Even with the mirror unlocked, you’ll have trouble down the road.”

“And you’re okay with just that?”

“Will, you’ve no idea what it’s like to be stuck in eternity. None of the loops you play about really stick. If you get me out of here, I’ll be part of the world again, even if for ten minutes per loop.” He cracked his fingers. “We both know you’ll make the deal. You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t in your best interest.”

As unpleasant as it was to admit, Danny was right. Will didn’t see any way forward for the group, which was why it had come to this. Even now, he was looking for the smallest pretext to walk off and leave the former classmate stuck in the bathroom mirror. Things would be a lot simpler and, above all, there was no risk of Helen ever finding out. Sadly, this wasn’t a deal he could avoid making.

“You’ll help us pass the tutorial,” he said. “And help out when I’m in trouble.”

“Lethal trouble—yes,” Daniel agreed. “Anything else, we’ll have to make further arrangements. Don’t worry, though. It’ll be nothing that you can’t handle.”

“I bet.” Will took the mirror fragment and pressed it against the mirror.

Eternity restored.

A message appeared. Behind it was nothing else than the bathroom’s reflection, with Will standing in front. As far as everyone—even eternity itself—was concerned, the former rogue never existed.

Will pulled back the mirror fragment and looked at both sides. There was no indication on it that anything was out of the ordinary. The boy could feel it, though—the unpleasant sticky feeling as if gum had stuck to the sole of his shoe. There was no getting rid of Daniel now. His only hope was that the deal he made was worth it.