"And so he said to meet him on the third floor," Banks said casually leaning over the counter as he spoke to the receptionist at the inn. In his left hand was a beer of some type that he grabbed from the bar a few seconds earlier to slake his thirst. In his right hand was a meat skewer that he nibbled on.

  "And Mr.Trinorim didn't give you a spare key of sorts," the lady said, sounding half suspicious and half bored. Or more likely twenty percent suspicious and eighty bored. Like she didn't believe that he was a ne'er do well, the sort that should be kept outside, but had to make these perfunctory enquries.

  "I think he forgot," Banks lied. "If I could just go up and speak to him."

  "As long as you don't create a ruckus, you can go up to Mr. Trinorim's room," she said. "Just ask him to let you in. I don't want any banging on or breaking down the door. If you do then I'll have to get one of the lads to kick you out"

  "No problem, I will be a model visitor," Banks lied, placing down, the now finished mug of beer on a nearby table, with a silver coin. More than enough to settle his tab. With one last wave, he headed upstairs to the room of Trisk Trinorim. It was about two hours until the guards would arrive and explode and he would like to investigate the room and explode before then. Ambling to the top, he quickly found the door that the alleged terrorist and definite prick was camping behind and toggled the handle, which refused to budge. Finishing off the meat from his skewer he bit at the tip of the wooden stick before hardening it with his mana and inserting it into the lock. Yeah, he could do some basic lockpicking. Lockpicking was a valuable skill throughout history, especially if you liked breaking into places, and the locks that these inns purchased were always so shitty, even for this time period. The whole thing barely qualified as a challenge.

  He opened up the door and froze. In the middle of the room, a metal brazier sat burning the contrast even stranger by the otherwise sparseness of the room. The walls of the room were stripped bare, a slight change in color indicating that something was recently hung there, even more recently removed. A large bucket containing artefacts weapons and various other devices was held in the corner, hastily chucked in like one would do to laundry. The bed was made, a variety of cupboards that all hung open was empty and there was a pleasant smell caused by a pink hued candle that was burning merrily away. At the far end of the room a full length mirror stood and in front of the mirror stood a figure, casually tossing papers into the brazier after glancing through them.

  "Why can people just never clean up their own shit," the figure seemingly composed entirely of mirrored glass said, tossing in a file and watching as it burnt away. "I mean, I'm fine with people having a secret club house for all your planning needs, but get rid of it when you're done."

  "Right, so inconsiderate," Banks said glibly. This was undoubtedly the mirror magician he had encountered on the prior loop, although why would he... oh, no. Why didn't he think of that before.

  "You're wondering what's changed this loop," the mirror magician said. "And you're coming to the obvious conclusion that we also possess awareness of the time loop. It should be fairly obvious by now. What is the purpose of a time loop that nobody is aware of?" The mirror human displaying no sex, ethnicity or age snapped its fingers and the brazier shattered into shards of glass that faded away. "Which means we have been aware of you."

  "Fucking mind readers," Banks said, not quite believing his own words. Mirror magic for all it's powers, able to take on the form and powers of whatever it reflected did not work on beings with high levels of Strange Elements in their blood. The glass creature was likely unable to mirror him directly, although the same couldn't be said about any attacks that he launched, and that shattering ability that seemed to target the world directly was also an issue. Despite being prepared previously it had still shattered his mana drenched body, an absolute suppression whether by the strength of the mirror creature or simply the uniqueness of the magic he couldn't tell. He would lose a rematch with this creature. "Where did you learn mirror magic anyway? I thought it was a lost art." It had been lost nearly forty thousand years ago as well.

  'What can be lost, can be found again," the mirror creature said, dodging the question. It walked over to that box of random crap and threw it into the mirror, the glass surface rippled as it hit, but otherwise allowed the object to sink in. "Look, I don't want to clean this up at the start of every loop, and Trinorim is off doing his own thing half the time, but I absolutely will if I have to. Can we agree to just give this a rest, allow whatever is going to happen, happen."

  "And allow an explosion to destroy this bar, slaughter a bunch of guards," Banks said, probing his intentions.

  "Oh, no a few guards died," the mirror monster said pulling out a mop and bucket from the mirror and starting to scrub. "How terrible. Newsflash dipshit. A whole lot of guards are going to die in the next day. I can understand trying to avoid eggs when breaking chickens, but these eggs aren't even..." He paused as its words caught up to it. "Breaking chickens, what the hell am I saying?"

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  "Yeah, yeah, I get it," Banks said looking at the table, that had documentation hastily pulled off it and tossed into flames. "You're saying that I shouldn't try to stop this. That my attempt to save these people is ultimately meaningless." A thin smell of something on the desk caused him to lean down and take a sniff. It was clearly blood, or something blood derived, but for what purpose, he wasn't clear. Just as he was raising his head again, a cloth nearly slammed into his face.

  "Here," Mirror Monster said. "If you're going to loiter than you can clean." Banks shot him a look as if to say 'are you serious', but after no response he grudgingly picked up the cloth and started wiping away. "What I'm saying is this doesn't concern you. Countless cities have turned to dust in history and will in the future. The slight teething problems from a mid-sized city known for it's herb trade, lovely fishing and rich history should not concern you." That argument hit him in the heart and he was momentarily taken aback. It seemed to strip away the relationships that he had gained in just the few days, none of whom would remember him at that time. In this loop, the only "history" that was real, the only person who knew him was the Nevadie who was suicidal. The rest were all strangers. In the end this city would die, like the hundreds of others that he had been in, leaving his half-hearted attempts to save it feel like a cruel joke.

  "Nice day, we're having," he said after a while, making an attempt at conversation.

  "Would be if I didn't have to do this shit," the mirror creature stated.

  "Well talking might help the time go by," Banks started.

  "Let me cut you off there," mirror creature said. "If you want to discuss your favorite Maceronin food, I'm all ears. If you want to discuss what animals we could beat barehanded, I'm all ears. I could and have beaten a dragon barehanded by the way. If you're trying to interrogate me regarding any of the goings on in this city then we're going to have a problem. Understand."

  "I have beaten a dragon too," Banks mulled sourly. Back when he was a bit slimmer, a bit faster, and a lot younger. "But maybe if you just tell me what's going on I won't have to go look for any information," Banks argued.

  "You don't have to do shit," the mirror creature stated firmly. "And telling you would be like burning down your own house to prevent home invasions. I don't want you to do anything."

  "And just sitting all day at the library or a cafe won't ruin your plans?" Banks asked. "You're flooding zombies into the city. Do you really think I can stay uninvolved, even if I try?"

  "Yeah, I do," the mirror creature rebutted. "Why the hell am I cleaning all this. It's fine, it's fine." He placed a silver coin down on the table. "That should be enough to pay for the cleaning service right?"

  "I don't know the value of cleaning services," Banks admitted. "It should be, but better make it two to properly cover it." The mirror magician nodded at his words before placing down a second coin.

  "A bit of money and keeping your head down should be enough to enjoy the first few days, and if you're getting tired of the city just leave. There is literally nothing stopping you. Well nothing that you can't overcome."

  "I'm glad you trust in my abilities," he said, deciding whether to probe. Did this mirror magician know that he could teleport, even in this place cut off from the river. He hadn't done it since he was trapped inside the vat of blood, it was a generally unpleasant feeling and not something he wanted to when time was on his side.

  "Your mana level is over six hundred," the mirror monster stated coolly. "As long as you don't make any stupid decisions you should be fine and, hey, if you make a stupid decision, just pick another choice in the next loop, but if you keep messing with our work, going into places that you shouldn't mess around at, and keep digging then we're going to have a problem. And do you know how I'm going to solve that problem?"

  "How are you going to solve the problem?" Banks asked.

  "I'm going to appear at the start of every loop and murder you," the mirror magician said. "I already know you start in the eastern part of the city. If you force me to exert some effort I can track you down to your initial arrival point and murder you in the first ten seconds of the loop. Do you understand?"

  "I understand," Banks said, staring at the mirror creature, trying to glean any information from the featureless being of glass. A swift death gave him absolutely no time to prepare and he would be bouncing between loops quickly if that did happen. Even if he was trapped or restrained he may be able to escape eventually, but even a few minutes of thought would mean dozens of loops.

  "Good then, I will trust you," the mirror creature stated, heading back towards the mirror. "Don't let me find out you've been meddling anymore."

  "Is there anybody else I should avoid?" Banks asked. "I mean, just for the purposes of not falling into your plans."

  "Besides Trinorim and myself," the mirrored creature stated. "Isn't this attempt to transparent a try."

  "You don't have to answer," Banks stated. But his words indicated that there were at least two, with possibly more.

  "Fair," the mirror creature stated. "And I won't. Enjoy the sights of the city." With those last words he disappeared into the mirror, fading away. Banks sighed before he left the room, slipping out without discussing anything further with the innkeeper. Hopefully his face would fade from her short term memory before the guards arrived, raided and now didn't get blown up. Their fortune might lead to his own misfortune and he didn't fancy seeing his face on a wanted poster. For a brief period of time he contemplated sending his memories back and avoiding the whole conversation, although would the mirror creature know of their prior conversation or would it seek him out for a fresh one. it should be the latter right.

  "Fuck," he said, saying the word without coming to a conclusion on what emotions he should actually be feeling right now. The mirror magician's words didn't hurt, but they certainly felt targeted. His nascent motivation all but shriveled up, beyond the help of pills, or fancy pep talks. Once again, he just felt tired.