Chapter 46: (Lack of) Control

  “So it was you,” I said, the revelation sinking. “The other looper.”

  “Viktor, Viktor, Viktor…” Valdemar whispered, gliding toward me with slow, measured steps. “Who else did you think it could be?”

  My heart thundered like it was trying to break free from my chest.

  I was wrong. Skarn wasn’t working for the Primarch.

  He was working for Valdemar – who was the other looper all along.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I had a decent list of suspects. You weren’t at the top.”

  “Why not?”

  “Are you serious?” I scoffed. “We both know your attack on the Divine today is the catalyst for Erebus’ arrival. If you were the other looper…I figured that after realizing you’d doomed us all, you’d just – you know – not do that.”

  He tilted his head slightly. “Just goes to show how little you understand.”

  “What’s there to understand?” I pressed, shaking my head. “Is it Dolos? Did he scramble your brain? Made you lose all sense and logic? Is that how serving him works?”

  His voice cut in sharply yet calmly at the same time. “I serve no one.”

  Then he leaned in, his brass mask inches from my face. The glowing red visors bore into me as he pressed down on my restrained arms with both hands.

  “You forgot,” he murmured, “but I told you once already: I am the master of my fate.”

  A sense of Déjà vu washed over me. I remember this line.

  Valdemar drew back slightly, his tone shifting.

  “How did you let yourself get caught like this?” he asked, almost disappointed.

  My mind raced.

  Could I even summon a handgun with what little maneuverability my hands had?

  No – there wasn’t enough space. It’d materialize, hit the armset, then drop.

  Then, maybe…the Armor-Piercer? It’s small enough.

  No, no. I couldn’t waste Aetheris bullets on a man.

  And more than that – killing him wouldn’t solve anything. It wouldn’t stop the world from being devoured by Erebus.

  If he was smart – and he had to be – then Libra would continue even without him.

  Maybe that’s what he meant earlier…?

  To really stop Valdemar, you had to stop the entire machine he built.

  Suddenly – without a word – he turned away.

  And I was free.

  The restraints had been cut. But I hadn’t even seen the movement.

  Was he carrying hidden blades beneath his long sleeves?

  “What are you doing?” I asked, stunned.

  He didn’t look back.

  “What does it look like?” he said, still facing away. “I’m getting you out.” Then, over his shoulder, “unless, of course, you’d prefer to wait for Dalton Rose’s dogs to come and collect you?”

  “Dalton Rose?” I echoed. “I thought you were the one running this place.”

  He turned fully now, tilting his head again.

  “Would I have released you, then?” He paused. “You’re smarter than that, Viktor. Think before you speak.”

  Was I wrong again? Was Dalton Rose behind the Asylum after all?

  Anger flared as I unbuckled the restraint holding my chest.

  “I don’t need lectures from you,” I snapped. “You’re actively trying to destroy the world. Don’t you realize you’ll die too?”

  He chuckled – probably. It was hard to tell because of the voice modulator.

  “You’re still so far behind, it’s laughable,” he said, voice low, distorted. “Either way…go. Take this gift. Be silently thankful – and leave this place before you’re caught again.”

  “Leave?” I repeated. “I’m not leaving until I find – “

  “Thea.” He said it for me.

  My hand moved instantly. I summoned the handgun from the Inventory and the weapon materialized in my hand, already aimed at him.

  He didn’t even flinch.

  “So scary,” he said, his tone mocking.

  “Where is she?” I said, steadying the gun with my second hand.

  No headaches. The System didn’t see my actions as wrong.

  Good. I can keep going.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Why do you care?” Valdemar asked, maddeningly calm.

  I blinked. “What do you mean why? She’s my sister. You know that.”

  “And?” he said. Same tone. Same infuriating poise. “What obligations do you feel? You didn’t even know she existed before today.”

  “So?” I snapped. “That doesn’t mean I should – “

  “Viktor,” he cut in sharply, and for a moment, it felt like I shrank. “Did you forget why you really came here?”

  He took a step closer, heedless of the gun still aimed at him.

  “You didn’t come here for her. Not truly. You came here looking for me. Thea was just a station along the route. A lead. And now – “ He gestured to himself. “Here I am. Your destination. You don’t need Thea anymore.”

  His words hit harder than I expected because I suddenly realized he was…right.

  I was looking for her, and seeing the signal in my COG, I assumed it was hers. I followed it here and it turned out my hunch was correct. But…the end goal was always to find Valdemar.

  And now that I had…I didn’t need to save her anymore. At least not right now.

  I didn’t need all 123 loops. This could be the last. All I had to do was convince him to stop.

  Valdemar watched the realization flicker across my face.

  “That’s right…” he whispered. “Took you three seconds too long, but I’ll allow it.”

  “Shut up,” I muttered. “That doesn’t mean I won’t help Thea after this.”

  “Whatever you say,” he said, clearly unconvinced.

  “Stop it,” I said, quickly switching the subject to what mattered. “Call off your attack. Just tell me what you meant – those things I don’t understand yet. Help me get it, so we can stop the End. So we can save Solvane.”

  He stood motionless.

  “I already told you before,” he said at last. “I don’t want Solvane to be saved. And I’m not going to waste breath explaining it to someone who isn’t ready to understand. It would take too long. And we don’t have that time. The Enforcers will be upon us soon.”

  “I don’t care,” I said. “They’ll kill me – I’ll respawn. I’ll forget everything, but right now – at this moment – I deem the risk worth it if it means I can end this. So start talking, or I’ll shoot.”

  Valdemar leaned in. His brass mask pressed so close to the barrel of my gun that it almost touched it.

  “Your threat lacks any bite, Viktor,” he said smoothly. “You say you’ll respawn upon death. So will I. Go ahead. Pull the trigger.”

  Damn him.

  I was fuming inside. There was no getting through to him.

  He was too arrogant. Impossible to talk to. Impossible to threaten.

  What could I even do? I had him and I still couldn’t do a damn thing.

  Suddenly, he spoke. “You haven’t changed one bit.”

  What did he just say?

  That’s when he moved.

  With a practiced movement, he disarmed me and threw me to the floor. My back slammed into the ground.

  “Walking around COGless forced me to…get strong in different ways,” he said.

  Then, as if to add insult to injury, he dropped the gun right next to me. Like he didn’t care if I picked it up and tried again.

  “I was immortal long before this time loop, Viktor. You better remember it well,” he said, fixing his cloak.

  But my mind was elsewhere now.

  “W-Who are you?” I asked, breath shallow as I pushed myself up. “Do I know you?”

  His strange, muffled laugh followed.

  “You don’t know me,” he said, walking toward the door. “But I’ve known you since you were a child.”

  He reached for the handle.

  “Wait,” I called out. “Were you a friend of my mother? Is that how you know me? Was that why she helped you get into Skyhaven?”

  He froze. “Cecilia Baines…” he said before dropping into a long pause. “A remarkable woman she was.”

  “Remarkable, my ass…” I muttered. “Is that a yes?”

  But he ignored the question and took a step forward.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, pausing in the doorway. “I hold the Darknessbound Core. You should ask Chronos about it.”

  He stepped outside, turning left and disappearing around the corner.

  My mind spun.

  The Darknessbound Core? What was that supposed to mean?

  But more importantly – he knew me? Since I was a child?

  Faces flooded my mind: neighbors, grade-school teachers, Dad’s colleagues that knew Mother as well. Too many to count.

  I rushed after him. “Wait!”

  But as I burst into the hallway, I realized it was empty.

  He was gone.

  “Where the fuck did he disappear to…” I muttered, glancing both ways down the corridor.

  Then the reality of my situation overtook everything else, silencing my confusion for the moment.

  I needed to find my COG. Fast. And then…

  Then what?

  No, seriously, Viktor. Then what?

  I found Valdemar – well, more like he found me – and I couldn’t do a damn thing. He dismissed me like I was some na?ve child. And then he threw me on the floor like I was actually one.

  Checkpoint was gone for the run as well. The timer ran out while I was out.

  Damn it…

  And worse – he knew me. All along. Even before this day – before the time loop. My mother hadn’t just decided to help him one day. They surely knew each other from before. Even before she left for Skyhaven…

  Lost, I reached for my COG, just to touch my right forearm. Right. The COG was gone.

  Snap out of it already!

  I need to get it back, track the signal, find –

  Stop.

  Valdemar was right. I never actually cared about finding Thea.

  I should just leave before the Enforcers show up. Figure out what to do later.

  I looked around again, trying to figure out which floor I was on. But there were no signs. No staff, either – luckily.

  But with every step I took down the hallway, something inside me twisted tighter.

  Before I could even find the stairwell, I stopped.

  I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave her here after all.

  Yes – freeing her won’t change a damn thing. Eventually, I’ll die, and the loop will reset. She’ll be back here. We’ll be strangers again.

  But at the same time…she was here. Now. And I couldn’t just walk away.

  I needed to see her. For my own sake if nothing else.

  I heard screams again – coming from upstairs this time – and it only sealed the decision.

  Okay. Time to get my COG back.

  I jogged through the empty corridor, gun in hand, passing several treatment rooms. Some were wide open, others closed – each one seemingly identical to the one I’d just escaped from.

  Then something caught my eye.

  A flicker of purple – faint, but unmistakably familiar – glowed from one of the rooms behind me.

  I stopped, turned, and retraced my steps.

  Through the narrow window on the closed door, I spotted it – a COG.

  Not mine. It was gold-coated and far too polished to belong to anyone but a Skyhavener. A red hair ribbon was tied to it.

  Both the bracer and the ribbon were glowing purple.

  But the wildest part was…the COG was floating.

  It just hovered at knee-height, gliding slowly in a small circular motion, like it was pacing.

  I squinted through the glass, trying to see if there was someone inside – someone who was using an Aero crystal to make it move like that.

  But I saw no one. The angle was bad. The lighting even worse.

  The door, of course, was locked. A recognition terminal blinked red beside the handle.

  Enforcers were already on their way to bring me to Dalton Rose, right? What difference would one more offense make?

  I stepped back, raised the gun, aimed at the panel, and fired.

  It wasn’t enough. So I fired again, and again, and again. I unleashed the entire magazine until the terminal finally blew up.

  The panel caught fire, smoke pouring out, and the Aetheris crystal within clinked to the floor, dimming as it rolled.

  I kicked the door open.

  The floating COG now halted its movement. It still hovered, but now it was completely still.

  Something about the sudden change made me nervous.

  I stepped inside cautiously, scanning the room.

  There was no one.

  Then…how was it floating?

  I took one more step forward and that was when I heard it.

  A faint scrape of metal against tile coming right from in front of me.

  I narrowed my eyes, focusing harder on the COG, and slowly, my eyes began seeing something.

  Subtle bends in the light, a shimmer, just underneath the floating COG.

  And then it came into view, shedding of its cloak.

  A head appeared. Then four legs. A tail. And finally, a body made of iron, brass and small touches of titanium.

  It was sleek, colored black. The purple-glowing COG with the hair ribbon was wrapped around its body.

  Its hydraulic limbs shifted as if preparing to lunge. Its jaw clicked open slightly, revealing metallic fangs.

  On its side, the following sequence was engraved: ZK-0.

  Déjà vu hit me.