Mark of Time

Counter: 2

Integrity: 97.13%

Tier: Undefined

Awareness flooded in all at once as Jennifer returned to herself. Her eyes shot open, as she jumped up from her seat, the contents of her desk spilling onto the ground. A delayed sense of surprise overcame her at the lack of pain, her heart not racing as she would’ve expected it to. The missing adrenaline in her blood and the disconnect between her state of mind and her body left her in a vague kind of daze.

A strange sense of relief filled her as she realised that she was back. The gamble had worked. It wasn’t a one time thing.

Jennifer slumped back onto her chair, feeling exhausted, yet not exhausted at all. Her body was perfectly fine, aside from the lack of muscle mass she'd put on with her training. The disconnect grew stronger as the sensation of her body exploding, replaying in her mind sent a throb in her gut. Yet there was no accompanying sensation of a burning mana circuit.

Jennifer froze as she realised what she was about to do. There was no Xar here. Her eyes turned towards her own Mark, the upper crescent and the lower one both contained their respective bonds. The presence in them was faint, but it wasn’t gone.

I need to find him.

A hollow emptiness filled Jennifer’s chest as she looked outside her window. Her month was gone. Twice now. She'd tried. She had told the guild, trained hard, and fought monsters. She'd done everything she could think of.

It wasn’t enough. None of it was enough. The demons still came. And we were just as unprepared. They knew our plans, and they knew how to invade the guild. The teleportation wards were overtaken as well. That Mark... I can’t go to the guild anymore. Not until I find out who that was.

Jennifer shuffled the books in front of her, taking out an empty sheet. She bent down to pick up her quill and put her hand in place to write. A few moments passed as she stared at the empty paper as words failed to come. What was she supposed to do? The forces involved were much grander than her reckoning. This was a full blown war and she was a girl from the southern side of Lienmont. Of no consequence, apart from the value of her Mark.

Jennifer stared at her desk, at the quill in her hand as the feeling of helplessness started to hound her. She could do nothing. Nothing at all. She could not fight off an army of demons, she could not stop the sand tribes from marching on the city and she certainly couldn't fight the Marks that led them. She'd even informed the guild, the Alliance had been made aware, preparations had been set. They'd done it right. And yet, somehow, the enemy had managed to not only teleport right into the city but had also taken a stab at the very foundation of the Alliance despite its magical superiority. Demons weren't supposed to know magic. They weren’t supposed to be so... methodical.

Jennifer tapped her feet, a strange sensation building in her gut. She was missing something. The Mark in the guild was a threat, yet there had to be something larger at play. Why would the sand tribes attack? What could possibly convince them to join forces with the reviled enemy of the Alliance? Every possibility she could think of didn’t seem to fit. The leader driving the tribes south should’ve sent them to the southern territories that came before Lienmont. Why Lienmont then?

The trial... Whatever the trial is. But is that it?

Her eyes drifted through the pile of books at her desk. She got up, searching through the assortment of enchanting and magical theory. A pile of dust blew into her face and Jennifer coughed as she pulled out a map of the continent. Idly she tried to map the route from the Ostiri desert to Lienmont.

Any invasion would have to enter alliance territory, passing through the lizardfolk swamps and the Dwarven Murk long before the human territories come in. How did they avoid all that? Teleportation? Even a Tier-8 Mass teleportation can't move armies, the space tear would rip them all apart.

Something was still missing. The invasion, and the suddenness of it all. Jennifer marked the desert areas off, pulling a straight line through to the central position that Lienmont held. There were no mountains or natural defences around the city itself. The wilderness outside was mostly tame due to the frequent travelers from Reinor and other nearby cities.

A trade city can't exactly be difficult to reach, or it won’t survive. The dungeon does pull a lot of people here every month.

Pushing her other books to the side, ignoring the one that hit the floor, Jennifer pulled out a book with trade charters and logs, noting the travel time from Lienmont to the southern deserts.

Four weeks by travelling cart, if weather conditions are right. The guild has to have known this when I informed them of the invasion. But somehow the demons still managed to slip in.

Her mind ran through the possibilities again, yet she found very little besides the obvious. I know there’s a hostile mark in the guild. It has to be the key. The creature could change forms and had an uncanny ability to mimic people. Then is it teleportation afterall? If so then why didn’t they just arrive in the middle of the city, take the high council as captives and make the guild surrender?

The demons also attacked without the sand tribes this time. I didn’t see any humans among the shadowy wraiths.

Jennifer looked up at the ceiling of her room, the frown on her face deepening. The questions only stacked higher and higher, the longer she thought about them.

The first month, why did Irwys rush into the dungeon? How had he known where the Mark was? Why'd he even come to master’s shop if he was a royal knight? The guild would’ve repaired his sword for him. Probably wouldn’t have cost him either.

She let the thoughts dissolve in frustration. She'd need to find Irwys again to get her answers, and she wouldn’t be as foolish as she'd been the previous time around.

I also need...a kill switch. That mark touched my soul, I felt it pull my Mark, trying to rip it out. The damage to the integrity probably comes from there. I can’t let this happen again. I need to be able to have a way to come back in case I’m bound.

Jennifer frowned, as she thought. She would have to take her own life if she wanted to come back again. Even when she knew she could, the fear was no less for it. The Integrity of her Mark had decreased with each loop, and all the more so in this one. She wasn’t infallible, and neither were her abilities.

I need to go into the dungeon once more. It’s where the Mark was and it’s where Xar is. I need to get stronger. I’m too weak. Far, far too weak. If I want to survive this invasion, then I need to learn much stronger magic.

The thought of recklessly charging into the guild came to mind. If she could accept that she'd come back after each death, then perhaps observing the invasion from a safe spot may be the best choice. Taking her family and leaving Lienmont was also a possibility. But they'd want to know why. And she'd need to bring Rumina. And Gavril. Not to mention their families. Starting all over in a completely new place would be extremely difficult. And what about all the other people she knew. How would she warn them?

Jennifer sighed, folding the paper as she put it away. For now, she needed to find a method to safely meet with Irwys and have a talk. Privately. She wouldn't be so foolish to show her cards all at once this time. The less she shared with anyone, the less the Marks would be aware of her movement.

Idly she lifted her hand, summoning a mana bolt. The glass sheen tinged the bolt white as it floated above her hand, like a blue transparent shard of light frozen in time. Jennifer felt the [Expanded Mana Pool] skill’s effects. Her mana pool now felt substantially larger than before.

Didn’t I gain this skill... as I was dying? Was it because of how I died?

Jennifer thought about that for a moment. She'd never heard of someone gaining a skill as they died. But perhaps that was because they died before they were able to tell anybody. She continued to conjure more mana bolts, her surprise growing extremely when she could simultaneously maintain seven mana bolts before she hit her limit.

That is slightly over double my previous limit!

Jennifer let the spell matrixes complete, aiming the bolt such that it harmlessly dissipated before hitting anything. The bolts launched off like a barrage of glass and light, vanishing moments before they touched her bedroom wall. The spells continued for five more volleys of mana-bolts before she felt the strain start to kick in. But she could tell she still had quite a bit left in her.

Jennifer stared at her hands with wide eyes, a strange excitement rising in her. The last time she'd tried to test her limit, thirty mana bolts would’ve been as far as she could’ve gone. Even with the month of training to account for, she still would’ve had difficulty reaching over forty.

Now I’m pretty sure I can shoot close to the later end of fifty before running dry.

Curiosity filled her as she started to cast the Glass Wind Blades spell. The Tier-2 spell drew in the mana around her, the high glass affinity residue from the mana bolts shifting around in a circle as the mana trailed off from her spell. Jennifer felt a strange satisfaction as she opened her hand, a shining blade of glass frozen in time above her hand. She knew that she'd blow up her room if she let it slip even a tiny bit. Yet the danger did nothing to kill her excitement.

I have a Tier-2 worthy mana base now. I need to find some new spells, perhaps even some divination magic suited for my glass affinity... maybe I can talk to Nathaniel.

A loud cracking sound made Jennifer jump as she hurriedly let the spell dissolve. The mirror in her room had a large crack running down it’s middle, the glass split perfectly in two.

A sharp knock at the door sounded out as her mother spoke from the outside. “Everything alright? I think I heard some noise? Also it’s dinner time, so come down.”

Jennifer felt her heart jump at the sound. “Yes, everything’s fine. I’ll be there in a minute,” she replied, sighing in relief as she heard mother walk back down.

That was close, and dad totally sensed the spell didn’t he? I’ll have to explain the mana output.

Jennifer quietly walked to her mirror, placing her hand on the glass. She let her glass affinity flow through it as small shards started to grow in the crack, and soon the mirror was back in one piece.

Jennifer sighed quietly, feeling a small tinge of pain as she imagined Xar excitedly pointing out how she would Grow/Evolve her Magic/Craft/Strength. Jennifer turned around walking out as she opened the door, trying to remember what all had happened this time of the month when a thought suddenly hit her.

What happened to Rumina?

❖❖❖

The night’s cool breeze brushed against her face as Jennifer clung for dear life onto the ledge outside her room’s much-too-high-above-the-street window. The dinner had gone peacefully, her brother insisting once more on a show of magic. But she'd refused him this time, trying to avoid giving her family any reason to suspect something was off. Jennifer had managed to deflect her dad’s enquiries about the magic but she had felt a sense of guilt at doing exactly what she'd promised not to do to them the last time around. Yet the image of the creature presenting itself as Rumina as it toyed with her had shut down any thought of sharing her secrets.

Another gust blowing through the alley snapped her out of her thoughts. The alley was darker than normal this late at night and the ropes running across it were like trap wires, set up to send her plunging to her death.

This was a bad idea. This was a really, really bad idea.

Jennifer kept a death grip on the window of her room as she crawled to the side, one step at a time. She'd tried to use the back door to the house through the kitchen, but her mother was working there. Which only left Jenn's own window as a possible escape route. The task had seemed simple enough, and Jennifer was never particularly afraid of heights, so out she'd went. But she was starting to reconsider her choices as she stood on a thin wooden ledge outside her home’s walls. Agile wind continued to thrum in her mind, and she was ready to launch off a strong gust to catch her fall the moment she needed it.

A strong sense of dizziness assaulted Jennifer as she looked down and she gulped, hurriedly looking back up to keep her balance. A few steps to the side, she found the foothold she'd been searching for. The wooden beam running horizontally to the walls groaned slightly as she put her weight on top of it. Jennifer carefully bent down, lowering herself from the ledge.

A rustle of feathers almost sent her falling as a bird flew off. Jennifer calmed her racing heart before she mustered her courage and let go. Wind whipped her clothes in the air as a gust shot up from the ground arresting her fall momentarily. Jennifer manifested a wide cylindrical glass column on the ground, making it as tall as she could. She managed to aim her fall with Agile Wind so her left foot could land on the small platform.

The glass cracked from her weight, having not been enchanted for strength and she jumped down from the small platform, shooting off into the streets before anyone could spot her sneaking out.

She quickly made her way to Rumina’s home, her friend living only a few streets over in the Southern area of the city.. Jennifer stopped outside the door, hesitation filling her as she lifted her hand to knock.

What do I even expect to see? She wouldn’t remember anything. And what if she didn’t come back in time like me. What if she’s gone for good? How will I face her family?

The door creaked open before she could knock as a small head of red hair peeked out from behind, sapphire eyes shining with curiosity.

“Jennifer?” the little girl asked curiously as she held onto the door, only peeking out from behind.

Jennifer cut off her surprise as she quickly returned a smile. “Hi Sophie. It’s been a while.”

“But you were here last week?” the little girl asked curiously and Jennifer laughed awkwardly.

“Oh right, yes I was. I forgot somehow, anyways, is...umm. Is your sister home?” Jennifer asked, trying to make her voice friendly for the shy girl, although she did a poor job of it.

“Ya, she’s home. I’ll call her,” Sophie said as she ran inside before Jennifer could stop her. Jennifer stood awkwardly outside, shuffling her feet as a strange feeling filled her chest.

“Jenn! I heard! Congrats on getting selected!” Rumina cheerfully said, as she walked out with a smile as she continued. “I totally thought you’d forgotten to tell me, but it seems I was wrong. Sorry for assuming you’d do that.”

Jennifer looked at Rumina, standing in front of her. A part of her was scared that all of this was just another dream, and that she was still stuck with the monster. Jennifer shook off the feeling as she walked up and hugged Rumina.

“Thank you,” she whispered as relief flooded her. I’m sorry for not being able to do anything last time Rumina.

“What’s wrong?” Rumina asked, a worried tone creeping in her voice.

Jennifer quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, as she let go of her friend, returning a cheerful smile of her own.

“Nothing, I’m just nervous. I got accepted Rumina! It’s just so... strange. I don’t know what to do.”

“Aww, you silly girl! It’s your big day! Be happy! This was your dream wasn’t it? Now you can show up those noble brats in the academy and get a high ranking position as the [Archmage of Awesome]. I’m sure it’ll help you with your Dad’s thing as well.”

“Yeah, yes, I should. Thanks Rumina,” Jennifer replied, trying to keep the image of her friend’s form distorting into a monster clear from her mind.

That wasn't her. It was never her.

“Wanna come in? Sophie’s been bugging me to learn some magic ever since you showed off to her last week.”

“Sure,” Jennifer breathed out, following her friend inside. She'd have to sneak back in without disturbing her parents but she'd deal with that later.

As Jenn followed Rumina inside, she took a deep breath.

I swear Rumina, I'll never let it happen again.