My body tensed.
I expected the machine to lunge at me – it definitely looked like it was about to. But it didn’t.
It just stood there, scanning me with its yellow visors. Then – to my complete shock – it sat down. Waiting. For what? I had no clue.
What in the world…?
Why didn’t it attack? And more importantly, how was it able to camouflage itself like that? I’d never seen anything even remotely close.
What kind of mana crystal could even do this?
As I stared, refusing to move a step closer, I noticed something odd. Its black plating had a faint yellowish hue.
Could it be…Lumen? Light bending instead of light production?
If that’s the principle behind it, then it’s pure genius. Even assuming what it is and seeing the end function, right now I wouldn't be able to replicate it if I tried tampering with a Lumen myself.
A design like this would sweep the current Expo – and every Expo for the next thirty years at least – regardless of what else they showcase.
Then my focus shifted to the two glowing purple objects mounted on its back.
Can I even approach? Or would this mutt just bite my hands off the second I reach for them?
I swallowed hard. I already fired a gun, revealing I’d escaped. Time was ticking.
I tried to circle it. But the damn thing stood up and rotated to keep facing me, moving together with me.
“Damn it,” I muttered. “Sit down already.”
Suddenly, it listened. The automaton sat, and this time, it stayed facing the same direction.
What…?
Why was it obeying me?
Voice commands were common enough in automatons, sure – but only if you had the controlling COG paired with it – at least as far as I heard.
But now – knowing what I knew about the Aetherprint – who’s to say that was actually how it worked?
It still didn’t explain why the thing obeyed me. But maybe there was something else at play here I was yet to fully grasp.
For now, I decided to leave it at that. Carefully, I reached for the COG and the ribbon.
[Temporal Trace: Time Plane Memory #5 - Available]
[Temporal Trace: Time Plane Memory #7 - Available]
Two Memory Fragments. One for each item.
Well…maybe coming here wasn’t a mistake after all.
I was about to touch the objects – but my hand froze mid-air.
If I accessed the memories now, I needed to be ready for what came next.
The Obsidian Crow.
The revelation that Valdemar was the other looper only deepened the mystery of the Obsidian Crow. Based on the things he said, he knew I was a looper too. So unless Valdemar was also the Crow, playing two characters at the same time, something else entirely was happening behind the scenes.
If Chronos was right, that fucker would appear soon after I watched the first Fragment and then proceed to wipe the floor with me.
Yeah, better wait.
Maybe even set up a trap first – I know he’s coming so I should use this to my advantage.
What kind of trap could catch an Obsidian Crow? No idea. But I’d think of something.
It's time I stopped running around like a headless chicken begging to get caught and actually took some control back.
Suddenly, an idea crossed my mind.
The cell.
I’ll watch the memories first thing in the next loop in the comfort of my cell.
I want to see the damn Crow fight an entire station filled with Enforcers to get me.
Goosebumps – born from excitement – prickled my skin.
For now, let’s store these things.
I grabbed the ribbon first, untying it from the COG.
[Would you like to watch the memory?]
[YES / NO]
No.
Store.
Then I unbuckled the COG from the automaton’s back.
[Would you like to watch the memory?]
[YES / NO]
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Again, no.
Store.
I gave a quick glance at the Inventory to see the new items.
- Red Ribbon
- Civic Omni-Gear: Thea Stanford, ID: 150890
It was…hers.
What happened to her? Where was she now? Was the signal I was tracking her or her COG?
I was tempted to watch the Memory Fragment, but I stopped myself.
First thing first: I needed to get my COG back.
I stepped back into the hallway – got about five steps – then stopped. I turned back and retraced my steps.
The automaton was still sitting exactly where I ordered it to.
I stared at it in silence, thoughts racing. Then said, “Follow me.”
It rose immediately, padding over on all fours.
I rubbed my forehead.
“Okay…I’ll figure this out later,” I muttered.
I turned to the machine to test something. “Cloak.”
Right before my eyes, it shimmered out of view – camouflaged once more.
It was still there – the invisibility cloak wasn’t perfect – but it was barely visible.
“Okay. Stay cloaked. Follow me,” I ordered, heading down the corridor.
I could hear it behind me – the soft clinks of its metal paws. Inaudible unless you were really trying to listen.
Eventually, I found a staircase. Oddly, it only led up, suggesting I was already on the first floor. And while it looked almost identical to the one I’d climbed with Skarn earlier, the hallway - and the entire floor - behind me clearly weren’t the same.
So either I’d been dragged into a completely different facility while drugged – unlikely – or there was more than one stairwell in this place.
I took the stairs up. On the fifth floor, I hit a locked door. Peering through the tiny window, I spotted what looked like the rooftop. So this was the top - fifth floor.
I turned back and retraced my steps past the treatment rooms, past the one I was held in, this time heading the opposite direction – and soon found the second staircase.
No one seemed to be coming for me yet, and I wondered if Valdemar drew the attention to himself or if the cavalry were taking their sweet time coming all the way up from Skyhaven,
Either way, down the stairs I went.
On the fourth floor, a pair of nurses came into view. Their eyes widened, and they shrank back in fear the moment they saw me.
Fearful the Déjà vu System might kill me for scaring innocents, I was quick to try and defuse the tension.
Hands raised, I spoke quietly. “I’m not going to hurt anyone. I’m looking for Dr. Skarn.”
“H-He’s…in his office. Ground floor,” One of them managed to say.
“Thank you.” I nodded and moved on, descending the rest of the way – still on alert in case the Enforcer Skarn mentioned earlier showed up. Heck, maybe he’d lied and there was more than one.
But for now, I reached the ground floor without issue.
Back in the office wing, I spotted Skarn’s office easily – first door on the right, just past the now-locked entrance.
As I walked toward it, my mind circled back to the question that was burning inside my mind: What was my plan now?
I’d thought that finding Valdemar would be enough. That once I somehow proved to him that his revolution was the very thing that caused the end of the world, he’d stop.
But I never seriously considered that he was the second looper. That he already knew everything…and just didn’t care.
So what now?
The obvious answer: stop Libra.
Genius, Viktor. But how do you plan to do that?
I sighed. That’s right…Easier said than done.
The Primarch – with all his power, influence, and a pool of unlimited funds – had tried for three years and failed.
And me? I had nothing but the Déjà vu System and myself.
The only lead I had now was…Valdemar himself.
He knew me. Since I was a child apparently – unless he was lying. Though the familiarity in his voice made it hard to believe – the way he casually called me by my name.
If I could figure out who he really was, I’d might have a shot at dismantling both him and his entire operation. Find a pressure point. Something that’d finally drag him off his high perch and force him to listen – for once.
And the only person alive who’d likely know every man that could’ve know me since childhood? My dad.
I nodded to myself. That was the next step.
Next stop: Orlinth’s Central-East District, Garrington street, building one-three-four, apartment twenty-three. Or in simpler terms: home.
But first – my COG.
I gripped the handle of Skarn’s office door and stepped inside without delay.
He was seated behind a desk, holding a porcelain cup in his brass hand. It shattered – his metallic fingers twitching again – as I entered.
“Damn it!” he snapped. Luckily for him, the scalding tea spilled on his prosthetic arm and not any flesh.
Meanwhile, I kept the door open an extra second to let my four-legged companion enter behind me.
“My COG,” I said, summoning a new handgun and aiming it at Skarn.
Suddenly, a headache spiked through my skull.
What? No way he’s innocent. He captured me and was about to hand me over to the Primarch.
Not about to risk death here, I decided to lower the gun just in case.
The pain ceased.
Damn it.
“And how in the world did you do that?” Skarn exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise - like he was a child witnessing magic for the first time. “What did – “
“My COG,” I repeated flatly, cutting him off. "I'm not going to wait for the goons you'd called for me."
He slipped into his eccentric persona, laughing as he licked the spilt tea off his brass fingers. “I bet the recording footage from that room is something golden.”
“Recording footage?”
He nodded. “Of course. There was an Eye Sentry in the corner. I guess you missed it.”
Did it matter? No.
“Whatever,” I muttered. “Give me my COG. I won’t ask a fourth time.”
He continued ignoring me, eyes still shining with fascination as he looked at the gun in my hand.
“Incredible! Simply incredible!” he gushed, obsessing over my Inventory trick.
Tired of him, I whispered, “watch my back,” to ZK-0, then circled around the desk toward the closet behind Skarn.
Skarn kept rambling as I rummaged through the boxes inside the closet. “I still can’t believe my eyes…to think that something like this was possible. I need to see it again. Can you – “
He reached his hand toward me – but froze as a low metallic growl echoed beside him.
ZK-0 decloaked, maw open, legs tensed. Ready to pounce.
Skarn yanked his arm back, but rather than frightened, he suddenly looked even more delighted.
“And you even got Zee out!”
“Zee?” I turned my head toward him.
“That’s his name. I thought you knew,” he said, brow furrowed. Then, he looked like he suddenly had an epiphany: “Oh, right – why would you? It’s not your family’s dog.”
“Family dog?” I echoed.
Skarn nodded eagerly. “Yeah. Stanford’s. Graham Stanford’s personal project. Built it to search for his daughter. I guess Zee recognizes you as family. Well, you are her master’s half-brother.”
Anger flared within me.
“And I assume it found her here – before you locked it up with her COG strapped to its back to make it walk in circles endlessly?”
Skarn laughed again – uncontrollably this time.
“Figures,” I muttered. “So…where is Thea now? A different asylum?”
Still laughing, he shrugged. “Believe it or not, Mr. Halegrim, I really don’t know. I was only told to maintain the illusion that she was still here. Those were my real orders.”
Figures. Dalton Rose must’ve been moving her around.
And thinking back to what Valdemar said, in hindsight…he too already knew she wasn’t here.
Fine. Whatever. I found what I was looking for.
My COG – unmistakable – was tucked inside a sealed box in the closet.
I strapped it to my right arm and activated it. The needles pierced my arm for identification. The screen lit up.
I double-checked the interface to make sure nothing was tampered with.
All good.
Then I switched to the red screen – the Aetherprint signal.
It came right in front of me.
So…one mystery was solved. SKO-03543 was the ZK-0’s Aetherprint sequence.
“Cloak. Then follow,” I ordered, glancing at the machine.
The automaton shimmered and vanished again, slipping into camouflage.
Skarn clapped enthusiastically. “Stanford’s a god damn genius, damn it!”
I turned to leave before Skarn could pull off something to stop me. Who knows if the System would allow me to defend myself if he tried attacking me? Maybe it was still rigged?
“Wait up, Mr. Halegrim,” Skarn called after me. “I can’t just let you go. Not before – “
“Tell the Primarch’s men that Valdemar was here,” I said, not even looking back. “I’m sure they’d prefer to learn that instead of finding silly me. And I’m sure your footage will give them something to chase.”
His grin only widened. It creeped me out – how easy he was letting me go. I half expected him to pull another number on me. More sleeping gas. Stab me in the back. Anything. But he didn’t.
“Very well,” he said. “Let me get the door for you.”
And he did.
I walked out of the Asylum, back into the streets of Orlinth, hoping I’d never set foot in that cursed place again.