QUEST COMPLETE: ARIEL’S FLOCK

Discover the truth of the Loopkeepers’ sacred oath.

‘I’ve met people like you before,’ Sham said to Ariel in the shadows of the church buildings.

‘Fighters?’ Ariel replied.

‘Con merchants,’ Sham clarified. At the sign of Ariel’s eyes growing damp, he sighed. ‘Sorry. That’s… that’s not fair. Not when the alternative is…’

Ariel flinched, scratched at a wound that wasn’t there. Had never been there. Not in the current timeline.

‘You almost had me believing it,’ Sham said. ‘After all these Loops, I was almost there. A loyal churchgoer. I almost believed in your sermons.’

‘You can still believe in them!’ Ariel contended. ‘Just not for the same reasons. I’m still right, aren’t I? The alternative is still the dungeons of the Tower. I’m still right.’

‘Who are you convincing? Me, or yourself?’

Ariel swallowed her reply.

They stood side by side, watching the gas lamps of the inner city fizzle out, one by one, as their owners headed off to bed. It was quiet, out here, in the Crater, away from all the hustle and bustle. Out here, you could almost forget about Haven. Could almost forget about the oppressive government and the scheming exiles. It almost felt like they were out of reach.

Almost.

‘Does he come for you?’ Sham asked, glancing to the woman at his side. ‘The PM. Does he come for you, when I mess with the Loop? When Kryl messes with the Loop?’

Ariel’s eyes remained fixed on the city, but welled up with water. With pain. She nodded. ‘Sometimes.’

‘He hurts you?’

‘Yes. And it’s made worse only by…’ Ariel trailed off, gulped back the rest of her sentence.

Sham posed the obvious question by turning to her.

‘It’s stupid,’ she said.

‘Go on.’

‘It’s… it’s made worse only by the knowledge that it’s Kryl—of all people—who’s doing this to me.’

Sham could see how Ariel had come to that twisted opinion, but… it wasn’t true. ‘No. It’s not him.’

‘It is! He knows about the church. About me. Knows all of what I just told you. He knows Enoch comes after me. He—’

‘I don’t wanna be mistaken for defending Kryl, but… you’ve got to realise this isn’t him, doing this. It’s not his fault. All blame lies squarely at the feet of Enoch fucking Chambers.’

Ariel continued to stare out at the city, couldn’t seem to bear to look at Sham, now. Not now that she’d made herself vulnerable to him. ‘If you’re going to do this…’

Sham remained quiet, allowing the church leader the space to form her thoughts.

‘If you’re going to do this… if you’re going to break the Loop, then do it. But succeed, this time.’

‘I will,’ Sham replied.

‘No,’ Ariel said, her tone abrupt. She turned to face him. Glared into his eyes. ‘No. Promise me.’

‘I…’ He couldn’t make this promise. He couldn’t. Could he?’

[HEART OF JANUS] THE PROMISE: SUCCESS

It’s not a case of “can you”, you have to. For her sake.

‘I promise,’ Sham said.

Ariel pressed her lips into a sad, sad smile. She stared out at the city for a few moments longer, then turned away. ‘See you on the other side,’ she said.

Sham didn’t watch her go, but felt himself alone in the world once more. With the space around him to breath. With the space around him to scheme. There was something there… an idea, a seed of one, only just now beginning to germinate. Scheming, lying—this was what he’d always been good at. This was where his skills lied. Now, he just needed to put them to good use.

There was no doorman at Riot’s building at this late hour; even occupants such as these didn’t drown in luxury quite that much. Sham pushed at the glass frame door at the front of the building, and found it locked. But there was no reason for subtlety, now, not this late in the Loop. He removed his jacket, wrapped it around his clenched fist, and then spoke to one of the four voices in his mind.

‘You ready for this?’ he asked.

‘Sure am, mate,’ Vigour replied.

FEAT OF STRENGTH (VIGOUR)

Listen to it, Sham! Listen to that beautiful fucking sound. Listen to those thousands of shards pit and pat as they fall to the ground. Like rainfall, almost, ain’t it?

Sham stepped through the fresh hole in the glass panel door, minding himself on the edges, and hurried out of sight before anyone could spot him. The last thing he needed, at this point, was the Citizen’s Police showing up and trying to escort him down to their holding cells.

He ambled over to the building’s electrical elevator, stepped inside, and wrenched on the lever—and just like that the elevator started lifting, creaking and groaning as it pushed its occupier to the penthouse. To Riot. To the woman he’d abandoned for all these Loops.

No wonder there was a knot in his stomach.

Riot opened the door near-instantly, and judging by the lanterns raging around the room, she hadn’t been sleeping. And if the light sources hadn’t been enough of a giveaway, those dark rings around her eyes might have been.

She looked at Sham like she’d just swallowed a particularly bitter lemon, then rolled her eyes, turned, and allowed him inside. Without speaking a word, she led him over to the settee, and gestured for him to sit.

Riot, notably, remained standing.

‘Hey,’ Sham ventured.

‘Why are you here?’ she asked.

‘I came to see you. Came to see how you were doing.’

‘How I am—’ she began to repeat, her eyebrows raised with incredulity. ‘You want to know what I’ve been doing, these past few Loops? While you’ve been twiddling your thumbs around your… around your…’ Riot gestured to the green robes that Sham was wearing.

‘Church?’

‘With your church? Do you know what I’ve been doing, Sham? Do you?’

Sham swallowed, waited for her to continue.

She glared him down, nostrils flaring.

‘What have you been doing?’ Sham finally relented.

‘I’ve been trying to stop this gods-damned Loop, Sham. Sometimes with Kryl, sometimes without. Failing. Again, and again, and again. And each time I fail, I die. Each time I fail, I lose a part of myself. I know you know what that’s like, Sham. I know you do. So why… the hells… have you left me to it?’

Sham opened his mouth to speak, but he was steamrolled by his host, who was rapidly losing her breath.

‘Why would you do that to me? I thought we had… thought we had a connection, us two. I thought we would look out for one another. I thought we wouldn’t leave each other to fates like this. So why, Sham? Why would—’

‘I killed someone, Riot,’ Sham finally interrupted.

Riot seemed to trip over her words. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Not right away, at least. ‘Who?’ she asked, once she’d had time to gather herself.

Sham locked eyes with her. Forced himself to look at the woman opposite as he spoke the answer. As he faced the answer. ‘Harcourt,’ he said.

Riot held her breath, her body tight, and then released it. ‘He doesn’t remember the Loop,’ she said.

‘That doesn’t change anything. I still did what I did. And you didn’t see… you didn’t see the damage I’d done.’

Riot considered Sham for a moment, her eyes bearing into his, glancing at his hands. She turned away.

‘Riot…’ Sham started.

‘Give me a moment,’ Riot said, and proceeded to silently fill a kettle and place it on the gas burner.

Sham watched, matching her volume, as she stared at the kettle. ‘You know they say a watched pot never—’

‘How bad was it?’ Riot said. ‘Tell me. How bad.’

‘Why? Why do you want to know?’

‘I need to know what you’re capable of.’

It was a fair answer. ‘It was bad. He was… near unrecognisable. But, Riot, you have to understand… I don’t remember any of this.’

‘Recollection?’

Sham shrugged. ‘In part, maybe. And Vigour, too. He’s always had this rage in him.’

‘He? Him?’ Riot repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Sham continued as though he hadn’t heard the question. ‘But it weren’t just them, Riot. I think it was… I think it was me. My mind. Breaking. I don’t say that to pass of the blame—that belongs on me, for sure—but because… I don’t know. I think it’s ruined me, all this. Ruined my ability to think straight, to… to fucking know myself. I… And… And I’m seeing it in you, too.’

Riot suddenly found her feet very interesting, her eyes fixed squarely on them, her head tilted down.

‘So, yes, I deserve whatever blame you want to place at my feet. Even if nobody remembers the damage, even if nobody was really hurt… I still did those things. I’m still to blame. But I just want you to know the reason why it happened. Want you to know that it’s cos my mind… ain’t doing so good. And because this madness could come for you, too, in time.’

There was still no reply from the woman sitting opposite him. She breathed slowly as she apparently considered Sham’s words, not daring to meet his gaze.

‘Tell me about the tram, Riot,’ Sham said, his voice gentle.

Riot turned away, the boiling kettle acting as a convenient distraction. ‘Tea?’ she said.

‘Sure, tea. Milk, no sugar. Then you can tell me about the tram.’ Sham caught the edge of Riot’s grimace as he brought the subject up again, watching as she took her sweet time making the tea. But he waited patiently, and soon even tea could not postpone the inevitable conversation any longer.

Cups in hand, host and guest stared at one another; the former hoping the latter would give up, the latter waiting for the former to speak the truth. It was Riot, eventually, who spoke.

‘It’s… as you say,’ she said. ‘The Loop wears on the mind. Makes you lost part of it, or seem to. Makes you do things that you wouldn’t otherwise do. It was a fleeting compulsion, Sham. I need you to know that.’

‘To step in front of the…?’

Riot nodded. ‘Yes. A one-off. A… a thought that flashed through my mind, that I was just careless enough to act upon. I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t known I would wake up again.’

‘That’s still killing your—’

‘And who are you to lecture me on killing?’ Riot suddenly snapped. Her mouth trembled, and suddenly her eye contact was broken for the surface of her tea. ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I didn’t mean that.’

‘It wouldn’t be unfair if you did. I’m not here to lecture you. I’m just here to…’

‘To what? Check up on me? Kryl has done that plenty, since you became otherwise occupied, don’t you worry yourself.’

‘Yes. To check up on you. Cos I care about you, too, though I hate to admit it.’

Riot glanced up across the cup held in her small, shaky hands.

‘And the church stuff? I told you, I’m sorry. I lost myself for a minute, there. And not to cast blame, but I only saw you come to check on me once.’

Sham’s host took a sip of tea from her cup before responding, placing it delicately back down upon its saucer. ‘Twice,’ she said. ‘But I do take your point.’

The damaged pair sat in silence, sipping at their tea—Riot minutely, silently, with her little finger held out, and Sham taking loud slurps. It was, and Sham hated to say it, damn good tea.

‘What’s next, then?’ Riot asked. ‘Have you given up? Or will you come with us, this time?’

‘Not this time.’

‘Sham…’

He held up a hand to ask for her patience. ‘Next time. Next time, I’m with you. But there’s some bits I reckon we need to set up, first. Earlier, in the Loop, like.’

Riot placed the cup and saucer down on a side table, the clink of porcelain echoing around the otherwise near-empty room.

Sham glanced up at the wall, its intricate web of timelines once again marked on it—and more detailed this time, too. ‘You think you can replicate that? On the first day?’

‘I… can,’ Riot said, unsure. ‘I need to hear you say it, Sham. I need to hear you say you’ll help us break the Loop. I need to hear you say you’ll help kill Julya.

It was Sham’s turn, now, to place the empty cup down on a table, which he did with far more clinking of porcelain and rattling of cup that Riot had achieved. ‘I need you to realise something,’ he said, staring into those deep green eyes opposite.

‘What?’ Riot replied, whispered, her voice more breath than word. ‘What is it, Sham?’

‘You’ve… I need you to realise, she’s like me. Julya. She’s grown up in the Harbours. She’s had life shit on her again and again and again from the moment she took her first breath. She’d had nothing to hope for, nothing to dream of. So this is what she wants to do? Get revenge? At any cost necessary? I can’t blame her for that. And her madness… I can’t blame her for that either.’

Riot licked her lips. Slowly. Her eyes gazed back at him, close. ‘Are you saying you won’t do it?’ she asked. ‘Are you saying you won’t kill her?’

‘I’m saying… I’m telling you this because it’s important you see her like I do. As a victim. So that when we do what has to be done, we mourn her loss.’

Riot gulped, nodded. ‘You’re still OK to do this,’ she said.

‘Only because it’s a choice, isn’t it?’

‘Between her and you?’

‘No,’ Sham replied. ‘Between her and you.’