Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

Andy started his magical training plans by tracking down Barron. He had a favor to ask the spirit.

“Hey Andy, I heard you were trying to find me?” Barron dived from the black void skies, sweeping past Andy and landing behind him.

“Yep, so I’m going to try something kind of dangerous, well, assuming Bill agrees, but I think he is on board. Any chance you can give me a safe platform out in the void unconnected to the main base and then help Bill and I get out there afterward?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. Go find Bill and get yourself ready. I should have your island set up in about an hour.”

“Thanks.” Andy walked back to his room. He had a few suitcases packed as well as a few crates of non-perishable food. He was going to show Cal what someone who studied could do. He intended to have his spirit’s realm open well before the end of this loop. He wasn’t waiting a whole extra loop for that.

He spotted Bill on his way out. “Hey Bill, perfect timing. Follow me. We are off to change some magical rules.” He yelled happily to the small capybara in a white coat.

“Good, good, I’ve got my chalk.” Bill fell in step behind Andy as they walked back to the Barron rendezvous spot.

“So you know your theories on the transfer of core energy into objects instead of spirit manifestation?” Andy asked as they walked.

“Yeah, did you want to try making a magical device instead of opening up a spirit realm?”

“No, so the D&D concept of familiars, do you want to try to become mine?”

“Wait, are you suggesting you channel the core energy into me?”

“Yes, so I think if we draw some channeling lines on the ground similar to what you use for Ralth’s portal stone creation, we can feed the energy into you. You’d become my magical familiar. I think this would also allow you to open your own pocket realm, a much more mobile one, as you’d be native to both realities.”

“That’s an idea. I like it. This probably also means we will both gain access to some magical element.”

“Yep, I was hoping you’d agree on that too. This will give us two shots at getting a force we need that interacts well with Barron for long-distance travel.”

“This is brilliant, Andy. I’m grateful you thought of me, but why? You spend a lot more time with Bug.”

“You’re the expert on magic here. I may have some good guesses, but this is your field. Bug is a great friend, but she can’t compare to the knowledge you bring to this. Giving you this kind of innate access to my core could push our understanding of magical cores years ahead. Just think how useful that will all be when it comes to squaring up with the Gryalth.”

“You’ve already sold me. So, I guess the big question is, where do we do this? We need a safe spot in case this all goes wrong.”

Barron landed in front of them as though in answer to the question.

“Perfect timing, Barron. Do you have our training and possibly exploding platform ready?” Andy asked.

“Sure do. Please stand on this disk, and the Barron transport service will get you to your destination.

“Thank you,” Andy said as both he and Bill hopped onto the metal circular disk. Barron floated them over and landed the disk far out into the void.

“Alright, this should work perfectly. Time to violate the rules of magic as we know them!” Andy declared.

“Uh, I think I’m going to get out of here. No offense, but I’ve seen Cal explode too many times, and I don’t need to see more of that.” Barron started to fly away.

“No problem, we get it!” Bill shouted after him

“Alright Bill, I’m going to start the process of communing with the energy inside of me. Normally, this takes years, but since we aren’t trying to manifest a being, I think I can do this within a few hours. Can you have the runic instructions ready in time?”

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be a problem. Just stay where you’re at so I get the directional flows properly drawn.”

Andy obeyed and plopped down on the ground. He knew from Cal and Ethel that they had searched inside themselves for years until the mana spirit finally answered. This was not what he wanted to do. Instead, Andy reached into himself, where he felt the new energy swirling and tried to compress it inside of himself. He forced it into a ball, pushing it smaller and smaller as he exerted his will over it. Each size decrease now took minutes to achieve. He could feel the sweat dripping. This was exerting him in a way he had never been before. He forced it even smaller.

Suddenly, he felt the energy inside the ball start to react. A force was building in his new core, and it needed to go somewhere. He opened his eyes and saw Bill standing at the other side of the platform, clearly waiting on him.

He opened his mouth, and a beam of light shot directly from him into the waiting capybara. The chalk symbols on the ground lit up all around the platform. The circle directly around Bill ignited.

“Holy shit. Bill, can you hear me?” Andy called to his friend.

Bill fell over in response to Andy’s question. He crashed face-first into the platform. The chalk lines and symbols were still flaring, and Andy didn’t want to risk breaking any, so he stayed where he was for now. He hoped he hadn’t just killed Bill.

“Ugh, I feel like I just woke up from a week-long bender with Albert and the boys,” Bill grunted half the words. He rolled onto his back as he spoke.

“Did it work?” Andy asked him.

“Yeah, yeah, it did. I’ve got my own magical core now, and I can feel it linked to yours. Can you sense mine?”

Andy reached into himself again, pushing at his core. There was something there. It resonated in a way that made him think of Bill. They had done it. Instead of a mana spirit manifestation, Bill was now his bonded familiar. This was amazing.

“We did it, Bill. I sense you, too.”

“Great, I’m going vomit now.” Bill pushed himself to the side of the platform and loudly emptied the contents of his stomach for the next several minutes. Once he finished, he laid back on the platform.

“Do you want to take a break or try opening a realm right now?” Andy was still concerned about the long-term effects.

“Better do it now. I feel like I need to get some of this energy out of me still, but the good news is the pain is lessening. I feel like a person again.” He clapped his hands in front of him, and a crack in space appeared between the two on the platform.

“Voila, one portal to our own pocket world. Ready to visit?”

“I am.” Andy hopped through with his supplies. Bill followed after him.