Chapter 5

Julian's eyes abruptly shot open as sharp pain erupted from his stomach. The air in the room felt heavy, vibrating with the ghost of a red bolt and the smell of ozone, but the weight on his gut was physical and far more annoying. He looked down to see a mop of brown hair and a face full of mischief. "Chloe Hayes?" Julian gasped, clutching his midsection. "Um, yes?" Chloe replied, her weight shifting as she balanced on his abdomen. She tilted her head, her nine-year-old face a mask of faux innocence. "Who else would be waking you up on your big day?" Julian stared at her, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs. The last thing he remembered was the cold, suffocating grip of the lich's Spirit Weave, the sight of Ethan being slammed into a stone wall, and the world dissolving into a blur of silver and gray. Now, the sunlight was streaming through his window, hitting the familiar dust motes of his bedroom. "What day is it?" Julian asked, his voice cracking with dread. "Thursday," Chloe said, as if explaining something to a particularly dull toddler. "I meant the date, Chloe Hayes," Julian snapped, his brow furrowing into a deep scowl. Chloe rolled her eyes and gave his stomach another light bounce for good measure. "First of Chariot. You're going to the academy today. Don't tell me you forgot. Mom will actually kill you." Julian felt a chill that had nothing to do with the morning air. The First of Chariot. He had lived this day. He had lived the thirty days that followed it. He remembered the smell of the new cafeteria, the drone of Arthur Chen's voice, and the sound of the city screaming as the sky broke open. He grabbed Chloe by the waist and flipped her off the bed. She landed on the rug with a muffled "Oof," immediately scrambling to her feet to glare at him. Julian ignored her, sitting up and scanning every corner of the room. The stack of books on his desk was exactly where it had been a month ago. His academy uniform was pressed and hanging on the wardrobe. Nothing was out of place. No rubble. No blood. "Hey!" Chloe shouted, stomping her foot. "That was mean. Since you're being a jerk, you owe me. Can you show me some magic?" Julian looked at his hands. They were steady now, though his mind was a whirlwind. If this was a dream or a hallucination brought on by the lich's spell, would the mana respond? He reached into the air, tracing a familiar pattern in the Aethelian script he had practiced a thousand times. A soft glow flickered, then solidified into a floating orb of light. It cast a warm, steady radiance across the room, humming with a faint, comforting vibration. It was perfect. It was a first circle spell, executed with more ease than he remembered having at the start of the month. "That's amazing!" Chloe gushed, her anger forgotten as she tried to poke the sphere. "It's so much brighter than the one you showed me last time." "Mom wants to talk to you," she added, still mesmerized by the light. Julian waved a hand, dismissing the orb. The light vanished, leaving spots in his vision. "I indulged you, didn't I? Go tell her I'm getting ready." He stood up, ushering his sister toward the door. Chloe ducked under his arm, darting into his private bathroom instead. "Damn it, Chloe Hayes, why now?" Julian shouted at the closed bathroom door as the lock clicked. "Sucks to be you!" her muffled voice drifted back through the wood. Julian sighed and leaned his forehead against the doorframe. He walked back to his bed and sat down, locking the main bedroom door with a sharp flick of his wrist and a muttered word of power. He needed a moment. The lich had cast a spell—Spirit Weave—but the result hadn't been death. It had been this. A reset. A loop. He thought of Ethan. Ethan, who had suddenly become a top student. Ethan, who had known exactly what to do when the attack started. A sharp knock at the door broke his train of thought. "Julian? Open this door immediately." His mother's voice was crisp, layered with that particular tone of disapproval she reserved for his lack of punctuality. "A teacher from the academy has come to talk to you." Julian took a breath, smoothed his hair, and unlocked the door. He walked into the hallway to find his mother standing with her arms crossed, her eyes scanning him for any sign of disarray. Beside her stood a woman with sharp spectacles and a professional air. "I am Stella Vance," the woman said, stepping forward. Julian felt a bizarre sense of vertigo. He knew her. He knew she was here to talk about his certification as a first circle mage. He knew she was going to hand him a scroll. "Right," Julian said, nodding. "The certification." He watched himself perform the motions. He took the mana-sealed scroll from her, his fingers tracing the wax seal. He broke it, feeling the small puff of released energy, and let the parchment unfurl. He kept his face neutral, playing the part of the surprised student, though his mind was screaming. Should he tell her? Stella Vance was a representative of the Arcane Institute of Northwood. She was knowledgeable, highly ranked, and currently the only person of authority in front of him. But as he looked at her, he imagined the conversation. *'Hello, I've come from a future where the city is destroyed by a lich and I think I'm in a time loop.'* They would lock him in the sanitarium faster than he could cast a shield spell. Or worse, the Inquisition would take an interest in a student claiming to have broken the laws of time. Stella leaned in slightly, her eyes narrowing behind her lenses. "Are you alright, Mr. Hayes family? Your hands are shaking." Julian looked down. His fingers were trembling against the parchment. "I'm fine," he said shortly. "Just... excited for the new term." "Understandable," Stella said, though she didn't look entirely convinced. "Can I ask you a question?" Julian asked, looking up from the scroll. "Of course." "What do you think about time travel?" Stella blinked. A small, weary smile touched her lips. "Time travel? That's a bit of an advanced topic for a new first circle mage, isn't it?" "I was just curious," Julian said, trying to sound casual. "Time travel is impossible," Stella said, her voice turning firm. "Why?" Stella let out a soft sigh, the sound of a teacher who had answered this question for a hundred over-ambitious students. "The flow of mana is tied to the temporal currents of the world. Going against those currents is utterly impossible. There have been many throughout history—powerful mages, even archmages—who have tried to peer back or move through the stream. They ended as nothing more than cautionary tales. The paradoxes alone would tear a mage's soul apart before they even moved a second." She gave him a sharp look, her spectacles catching the light. "I sincerely hope you won't waste your talents on such a fool's quest, Mr. Hayes. Focus on your Protection Spells and your Numerology. The present has enough challenges." "I was just curious," Julian repeated, his voice sounding hollow to his own ears. Stella nodded, satisfied, and offered her farewells. Julian's mother saw her to the door, launching into a lecture about reputation as soon as the guest was out of earshot. Julian didn't listen. He retreated to his room and collapsed onto his bed. It was going to be a very long month. *** The train ride to the Arcane Institute of Northwood was usually a time for Julian to catch up on sleep, but today his eyes remained wide open. He sat in a private compartment, a notebook open on his lap. For once, the rhythmic clatter of the wheels didn't put him to sleep. He began to write. He wrote down everything. The date of the attack. The appearance of the lich. The names of the students who had shown sudden, inexplicable improvement—Willow, and especially Ethan Cooper. He thought back to the moment the red bolt had hit Ethan. Ethan hadn't looked surprised. He had looked... resigned. And the magic Ethan had used during the attack—that wasn't the magic of a struggling student. It was precise, powerful, and far beyond the curriculum of a third-year. The lich had cast the spell, but Julian began to suspect the lich wasn't the source of the loop. If the lich wanted them dead, they would be dead. No, this felt like a failsafe. A reset button. And Ethan was at the center of it. "I need to know what he knows," Julian whispered to the empty compartment. But he had to be careful. If Ethan was a traveler too, revealing himself could be dangerous. He needed to watch, to observe, and to stay ahead of the curve. The train slowed as it pulled into Oakhaven. A girl with a green turtleneck and a pile of books peered through the glass of his door. "Excuse me, is this seat free?" she asked politely. Julian recognized her. In the previous timeline, she had sat with him and talked incessantly about her cat for three hours. "Yeah, in fact, I was just leaving," Julian said, standing up and grabbing his bag before she could even step inside. He navigated the crowded corridor, finding a seat in the back of the train next to a snoring upperclassman. Foreknowledge had its perks. *** The transition back to academy life was jarring. Julian found himself standing in front of his new dormitory door, the wood polished and intact, a far cry from the splintered ruins he had last seen. *Bam!* The door rattled on its hinges. "Finally! What the hell took you so long!?" Julian opened the door to find Teagan standing there, her hands on her hips and her face pulled into a familiar scowl. "I was sleeping," Julian growled, stepping back to let her in. "Really?" Teagan asked, her eyes darting around his room. "Classes haven't even started and you're already slacking? Ragnar's going to have your head if you're late for the briefing." "Yes," Julian ground out. He felt a strange sense of relief seeing her—Teagan, the assistant who teased him relentlessly but had fought like a demon when the city fell. "Look," Julian said, before she could launch into her usual pitch about the sewer mission. "I know you want me for the investigation in the lower districts. I'll do it. Just... give me a day to settle in. I've got a lot on my mind." Teagan paused, her mouth hanging open slightly. She blinked, her bravado faltering for a split second. "I... I haven't even asked you yet. How did you know?" "You're predictable," Julian lied. "And I'm tired. Just go, Teagan." She huffed, pointing a finger at him. "Fine. Tomorrow. Don't think you're getting out of it." She marched out, and Julian finally had a moment of silence. He didn't go to the cafeteria. He didn't look for Leo or Olivia. Instead, he headed straight for the academy library. He spent hours in the restricted sections he now had access to as a first circle mage. He searched for "Temporal Loops," "Spirit Weave," and the phonetic sounds of the lich's Aethelian chant. He found nothing. Every book on time magic was either a theoretical dead end or a stern warning about the destruction of the soul. The lich's language was even more elusive. It was Aethelian, but a corrupted, ancient dialect that didn't match any of the standard textbooks. He slammed a leather-bound tome shut, the sound echoing through the quiet stacks. Research was getting him nowhere. The library was a repository of the past, but he was living in a future that hadn't happened yet. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. He couldn't find the answers in books. He had to find them in people. Ethan Cooper was the key. He would watch Ethan. He would track his every move. He would find out exactly what the last member of the Cooper family was hiding, and he would trick the truth out of him if he had to. Julian looked out the library window at the sprawling grounds of the Arcane Institute of Northwood. The sun was setting, casting long, golden shadows across the stone paths. It looked peaceful. It looked permanent. But Julian knew better. He was stuck in a loop, and he was the only one who knew the clock was ticking. ════════════════════════════════════════