Chapter 60: Risk Management

  I woke up on a grassy field – the right one this time.

  Chronos sat beside the glass table, deep in thought. His realm was empty, save for the two of us.

  Seeing him, I – obviously – immediately considered telling him everything about my meeting with Dolos.

  I stopped myself.

  No. If there was one thing that had become very clear during that conversation, it was that Dolos had some way of spying on Chronos.

  There were two moments that convinced me of it: First – when Dolos mimicked almost the exact words Chronos had said about his Solvane Blindness – and how he knew he hadn’t solved it yet. Second – when he said that if I told Chronos about our meeting, he’d know.

  Both were red flags. It meant Dolos had ears – or maybe even eyes – here.

  I needed to play it safe. For everyone’s sake.

  Leaving an enemy’s espionage channel active wasn’t always a mistake. Sometimes, it was the smarter play. Use it. Feed it. Twist it against them. I read it somewhere once.

  “Viktor,” Chronos said, smiling faintly as he noticed me. It was the kind of smile you gave someone when your mind was still buried elsewhere.

  I didn’t wait for an invitation. I stood up and joined him at the table.

  “Where are Pixelle and Balthor?”

  Chronos sighed deeply. “Looking for Goren.”

  “He’s still not back?”

  Chronos shook his head in silence.

  I tried to shift the topic. “How’s your blight situation?”

  He rolled up his sleeve. The blackened mark on his arm receded, leaving only faint traces. “The wildest thing happened,” he said. “It suddenly faded.”

  My eyes widened. “That’s…good, right?”

  “Not…necessarily,” Chronos stared at the fading wound, looking thoughtful. “It happened around the time we lost Goren. Meaning…it might mean he died.”

  “Oh.” I looked away, unsure what to say.

  “Yeah,” Chronos muttered, leaning back in the chair and setting his boots on the table. “He was with me for barely two thousand years and I already lost him…”

  “Maybe he’s not dead,” I offered, forcing some optimism into the conversation – me of all people, yeah?!

  “Maybe,” Chronos echoed, unconvinced. Then he looked over at me. “How are you doing? Any luck in Orlinth?”

  I rubbed the back of my head, Dolos’ words echoing. “So, I take it you still can’t see me?”

  Chronos sighed. “Not yet, no. My vision over Solvane improves with each loop, but…it’ll take time.”

  “How long?”

  “I wish I knew, Viktor.”

  Not exactly reassuring.

  I pivoted again before despair took over.

  “Listen, I’ve been thinking about my lost memories. Maybe we don’t need to wipe them all. Maybe you could just…trust me to act like the adult I am and use them carefully? I think I proved myself enough – “

  “No,” he said, sharper than usual.

  Dolos’ words came rushing back. But Chronos, to his credit, didn’t leave it there. He explained – like he always did – and it reminded me once again that his choices had weight behind them. He wasn’t malicious, lazy, or uncaring like Dolos tried to paint him. He just…wasn’t perfect.

  “I tried that once,” he said. “Gave a Champion her full memory. She was smart – sharp as you – and I truly believed her when she said she’d be careful. And even now - years later - I don’t think she was lying to me either. But…when the right emotional trigger hit, she lost all sense and logic and acted impulsively. It got her marked, and well…eventually we lost her world because of that.”

  I took a deep breath. I didn’t think I would lose myself to emotion like that – I was a cool-headed person all things considered – but it was good to know where he was coming from.

  “Her name was Kaya,” Chronos said. “She was a good person. I think about her often.”

  “Do you remember all of them?”

  "You should say us," he corrected, nodding. “And yes. Both dead and living.”

  “That’s nice,” I said simply. He was by far a better person than Dolos. You could just feel it - there was no tension. No hidden meanings.

  I looked off into the horizon of his realm. I knew our pep-talk was coming to an end soon, so I already began bracing myself for the next loop.

  “We’ll need to fix your COG once Pixelle’s back,” Chronos said suddenly.

  “Fix?”

  “I know Dolos is still in there.”

  A chill ran down my spine as I kept my poker face.

  “Why didn’t you say anything about ‘Outlast’?”

  I almost visibly sighed in relief. He wasn't onto me.

  “Yeah…” I said casually. “I just didn’t see Pixelle around, so…I kind of forgot about it…”

  Chronos closed his eyes and sighed.

  “Fair enough,” he said at last. Then he placed a hand on my shoulder. “You can do this, Viktor. With all the disadvantages, you’re already level 20. That’s more levels than loops so far. Just calling that ‘impressive’ would be underselling it.”

  Before I could even thank him for the praise, the world around me darkened and I was sent back.

  ***

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  [Loop Count: 19]

  [Déjà vu System: Level 20]

  [Civic Omni-Gear System: Level 23]

  I woke up on the metallic bench in my holding cell.

  I quickly realized that in addition to the new conversation with Chronos, I still remembered everything Dolos had said, too.

  Every word of that one-on-one was still in my mind.

  So…where the fuck was the gift he promised?

  I sat up slowly and opened the Inventory. It had many interesting items, but none of them screamed “It’s me! I'm the gift!”

  The only odd thing was the 2.7 kilograms of tungsten. The only way I could’ve acquired them was if I visited the Foundry in one of my previous runs. But that felt like the wrong conclusion...

  Still, I couldn’t rule out the gift was there. It’s not like I could remember the contents of my Inventory at the end of last loop…

  Regardless, the doubts were quick to appear: had I been too obvious? Too eager? Had Dolos seen through me? I couldn’t shake the feeling I did something wrong and he caught on.

  Trying to keep calm – for the off-chance he wasn’t lying and was able to watch Solvane clearly – I acted normally.

  I kept my face neutral and scrolled through the Inventory, going over the items…

  ***

  Four Memory Fragments? Check.

  My COG? Inside the Inventory.

  Three Aetherises followed by an…Aetherprint? What’s that?

  ZK-0? Is that the dog-shaped automaton that helped me against the Crow?

  An old picture of Mother directed me home.

  One of my cellmates noticed me materializing items from thin air. One thing led to another, and he helped me leave the cell quicker.

  ***

  It was just around eight in the morning when I left the station.

  Bless this Harvey Leighton. Never thought someone from Skyhaven would’ve helped me.

  Once safely outside, I turned toward an empty alley and hid behind two big trash bins.

  The tungsten in the Inventory was driving me nuts.

  I had to check something.

  I summoned the Dematerializer and slotted the extension into the Integration Port.

  [Dematerializer is Active]

  [Déjà vu System: Level 20]

  [Progress until next Level: 0%]

  [Metals needed for Level 21: Tungsten – 54.2g, Nickel – 57.2g, Tantalum – 49.5g]

  [You may proceed with the upgrade phase]

  [Required Metals are present in the Inventory]

  [Do you wish to level up?]

  [YES / NO]

  I knew it.

  If I’d had the tungsten in the last loop, I definitely would’ve used it. Even more suspicious than that was that I had the exact amount of tungsten needed for the upgrade.

  Tungsten’s base conversion rate was 2%. And 2% of 2.71 kilograms? Exactly. 54.2 grams.

  Coincidence? I think not.

  Which meant…Dolos bought my act.

  Now I had to keep playing.

  [You have gained 1 Skill Point]

  [Civic Omni-Gear System: You have 1 Upgrade Available]

  As expected, next level’s requirement demanded even more tungsten.

  [Metals needed for Level 22: Tungsten – 57g, Nickel – 60, Tantalum – 52g]

  That’s it for now, then.

  No more upgrades unless I descend to the Foundry – or unless Dolos throws in another definitely-no-string-attached gift.

  I invested the COG’s upgrade into Memory Slots.

  At level 1, it only saved loaded crystals for fifteen minutes – hardly enough.

  [Memory Slots lvl. 2: Previously loaded crystal is saved for 25 minutes unless burned through]

  An extra ten minutes? Good enough for now.

  Then I turned to the Déjà vu System.

  With Déjà vu blocked by a requirement, I allocated the point into Temporal Trace.

  [Skill Upgraded: Temporal Trace lvl.5]

  [You can now see Vestiges of Time]

  [Next Level: lvl.6: Number of maximal marks: 10]

  Vestiges of Time…? What’s that?

  Confused, curious, and everything in between, I sent the Dematerializer back into the Inventory and headed home.

  ***

  Got a Day Pass for the tram.

  Got home in about two hours

  ***

  I entered our cramped apartment and was surprised to see Dad wasn’t there.

  “He’s probably looking for me in the hospitals…” I muttered, rubbing my forehead as the realization set in.

  The nearest COMM-ANNEX was an hour away, and I considered walking there to send him a message – let him know I was okay and that we should meet back home. But something inside me said I should just wait for him to return. Meanwhile, I could go over Mother’s stuff on my own.

  I headed into the workshop Dad and I shared. Calling it a workshop was generous, considering its puny size, but it served its purpose.

  Dad’s gym equipment – two dumbbells with adjustable weight plates and a curl bar with built-in magnets instead of plates – sat in the corner.

  In the center stood two tables – one his, one mine.

  Mine was still cluttered with the tools and diagrams I’d last used when checking the Chrono Quill before sending it to the Divine for the Expo – yesterday.

  Dad’s table, older and more weathered, was covered in burn marks, scratches, and fractures. You’d think it had gone through war. But no – it had just survived me, back when I was a kid and he first taught me how to use the tools.

  I turned to the side of the room, toward the component’s cabinet. There, on the lowest shelf, hidden under a black blanket, was a box with things Mother had left behind.

  When she got her ticket to Skyhaven, she and Dad had divorced properly. She took most of her things. But…some things, she decided to leave. Seemingly for no real reason.

  When Dad told me about them for the first time, I convinced myself it was because she planned to return. I wanted to believe that was the case. But of course – it wasn’t. Looking back now, I felt like a fool for ever believing otherwise.

  I pulled out the medium-sized wooden box and set it on Dad’s work table.

  I hadn’t gone through her stuff in many, many years. Maybe now – older and hopefully wiser, after her death, after learning of her ties to Valdemar – I’d see some of it under a different light.

  I opened it and was greeted with a huge mess. But I didn’t remember it that way.

  Had Dad gone through it recently? And if so, why?

  I knew he still loved her. That’s why he never remarried. Never even tried dating again. But still – I’d never caught him once reminiscing. Never found him staring longingly at old photos. It was…weird.

  I wondered if he knew she remarried. If he knew she had another child...

  Still, I rummaged through the pile of old, rusted tools – socket wrenches, small hammers, c-clamps, screwdrivers and more. All of them looked unsalvageable. To even try restoring one, I’d have to soak it in white vinegar or phosphoric acid. And that was already too expensive of an investment for such an outdated junk.

  There were some notebooks there as well. But going through them quickly, I found nothing of interest.

  Then – at the bottom of the box, tucked beneath the clutter – something caught my eye. A faint purple glow.

  My heartbeat quickened at the possibility that I found another Memory Fragment.

  I pushed the junk aside and pulled it free. A brass medal, circular, engraved on its back side was a stylized B surrounded by a circle.

  Déjà vu clicked in immediately. I remembered this item.

  Mother’s old guild – Blackthorn. This was the prize she got when she placed first in their annual competition for newcomers – when she was eighteen.

  As I stared at it, the System reacted.

  [Temporal Trace: Vestige of Time #1 - Available]

  So not a Memory Fragment, but this…Vestige thing…?

  Let’s find out what it means.

  A second later, the world blurred, and I was yanked away into a memory.