Lase

Jolan walked carefully through the folds of time staying only in future and past folds. He approached the cottage paying close attention to the surroundings. And he saw what he had seen each time before.

This time he decided to enter the cottage in the past.

The ground was soft and thick under his booted feet. As he stepped from the time fold he crouched his body low to it as if preparing for an awaiting ambush.

He remained low within the tree line and watched the cottage for a long time.

It was subtle but soon he noticed that the cottage seemed to breathe. It continued almost imperceptibly the logs of the wall expanding and contracting as if the house itself was breathing.

He stopped and observed for a moment. The motion threatening to hypnotize him. He shook his head to refocus his mind.

His eyes slowly narrowed.

He moved slowly to the cottage and he felt no sense of danger and his intuition told him to go all the way to the door without hesitation.

When he reached the door of the cottage his hand paused at the door knob and then he knocked instead.

He felt a bit idiotic as he waited on the doorstep of what he felt to be a home of a sleeping woman.

Just as he was about to go for the door knob again he heard footsteps. He had not heard them before because they were soft and shuffling and now that they were close enough he could hear them softly nearing the door.

He tensed, his hand once again poised just inches from the knob. And, with what seemed like no warning, the door slowly swung open and his mind buzzed.

Not because someone extremely powerful suddenly appeared, or magic was used on or near him. No. His mind buzzed because he was looking at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her hair was long, straight, and a shiny jet black with streaks of light blue jewel toned hair. Her eyes were the same light sapphire as her highlights. Her face was full and she had shallow dimples on both her cheeks even without smiling. Her nose was long and narrow and her lips were delicate and slightly full.

Her eyes were half closed as if she was half asleep but the smile on her face showed that she was more alert than he thought.

"It took you long enough to get here. Do you know how hard it is to create my own loop so that I am never here for longer than three weeks?"

Her eyes focused a bit and looked up at him.

"What took you so long?"

Jolan shrugged. "I was overly cautious and went to the present cottage first."

Her face rose and the most melodious sound he had ever heard left her mouth. It took him quite a long while to realize she was laughing. Then he froze from a sudden thought.

"You set an inner time loop within three weeks of getting here?"

Her laughter almost instantly ceased. And she looked at him with a smile.

She winked. "Do not worry. When we are off of this dreaded island I will teach you everything I know."

Jolan nodded. The beauty yawned and Jolan fixated on her slender neck just to force himself from looking.

"My name is Lase." [yawn] "Come in." [yawn] "We need to quickly talk about how to get out of here." [Yawn] "I can not do this without your help."

Every time she yawned Jolan became distracted again. First it was her neck, then her collarbone, and then the softness of her full chest, and then he again forced himself to focus but this time he wanted to hit himself.

Had he lost his friggin mind!?

He was here to find something special.

He entered the cottage, never turning his back to this woman.

"I am here to find whatever is here. What is the whirlpool protecting?"

He looked down at the cottage floor. "Did you find anything below this cottage?"

Lase fell into the only sofa in the room as if she were exhausted and yawned again.

"Of course I did. I am not as powerful a time mage as you. How else could I created a loop within this layered monstrosity?!

"There is a dense time sea vortex below. Like I said I am not as strong as you so I can not figure out where it begins or ends."

Jolan looked at her as he slowly sat down. His mind began to race.

A time sea vortex. A funneling, swirling end to a time sea. Time was a continuous thing but it also had the potential to loop as well. It was just most were unaware of natural time loops. This was because we only truly existed along one stream and we followed the flow of that particular stream without deviation.

Deviation to a different stream is what could cause mishaps or allow a novice to know that there are multiple time streams.

Even if your stream crossed another or looped back into itself you would never know. The flow of time usually had no purpose or true meaning. At times it was like water taking the path of least resistance and at times it was chaotic, taking paths incomprehensible.

But a time sea vortex was an emptying of the stream which meant it was a chaotic accumulation of numerous time streams. These were streams that did not flow in circular patterns or end in a collective consciousness.

It was the chaos of being. The power of existence.

Jolan looked to the cottage floor again. He had felt the power flowing beneath the cottage but he could not sense even a hint of power now that he was inside it. He almost immediately understood the issue.

The flow of the time sea vortex did not flow in one direction so it quieted itself. He could sense it outside of the cottage because of its innate nature and his innate attraction to such things but once directly atop it his senses denied its existence because of it being seemingly silent

He looked to Lase. She had somehow broached the vortex on her own and she claimed to be weaker than him.

He was quiet for a long while as his mind was lost in thought.

She looked at him. Her eyes still heavy with sleep.

"I entered the vortex through a time slip. I arrived here through this same slip so my magics were already fused within it and I could use it to access the vortex.

"I want to get out of this loop. Did you ever tell me your name? I have already been here, officially for two loops. I am now replaying my last loop over and over again. To say I am tired does not even come close to explaining things."

Jolan nodded.

"My name is Jolan. Do you have any ideas about how to break the loop? Can we physically access the vortex? And who is that crazy that you left in the present?"

Jolan began weaving a spell. He wanted to analyze this vortex.

"I only know that the whirlpool is not really fed by the vortex but it is connected to it. I think it can fully stop the loop but of course I am not sure of that."

She laughed. "I can not. I only allowed my magics to merely dip back into the slip stream and use the current to take them down into the vortex. I did not purposely leave anything. It is the result of a backlash from a previous try."

She yawned.

"It is why I can not get enough sleep. Something was stripped from my soul and that was left in my present while I exist in my past and my future."

"You remember both your past and future?"

Jolan did not look up from what he was doing as he asked his question and Lase answered with a yawn and her eyes closed.

"Of course I do?" [yawn] "You will too if you do not get us out of here in the next three weeks."

"Hmm. So we at the beginning of your loop. Your present self told me that you already knew me. Is that true?"

"Yes and no. I am a seer as well. I have dreamed of you since I started the three week loop."

This information made Jolan pause. He looked at her for a moment then went back to work on his spell weave.

He found himself wondering how she continued to become more and more beautiful.

His spell flowed down and entered the vortex. As it entered the vortex he allowed the spirit beings waiting for him and his mother to sense what he sensed.

The vortex flowed in four opposing directions as if they were flowing in the four cardinal directions and then back into themselves. The flow felt chaotic and ordered at the same time and even as his spell read the flows of the vortex his magic received a positive feedback.

His magic rippled, with enhanced power, along isolated time streams that swirled about him in intricate patterns. He allowed these powerful ripples to feed his magics and his knowledge.

"Your ability is developing quickly. I am a bit jealous."

Jolan smiled at his mother's words as he became more attentive.

"This vortex will be a boon for you. I think the key to dismantling the loop is understanding the purpose of its construction. The vortex is strong and chaotic but not dangerous. Maybe the whirlpool is to keep the vortex from others as if it is a treasure. The actual operation of the time loop or the whirlpool itself do not seem dependent on the vortex.

"What is this structure above the vortex? It is connected to both the whirlpool and the time loop."

Jolan looked at the vortex and the cottage as his mother spoke into his mind. He nodded. She was right. He saw distinct spell weave connections moving from the cottage to the whirlpool, down into the vortex and into three formations scattered across the island.

"It doesn't seem very dangerous there but allow the spirit beings to scout out the formations. I think you should fully understand this cottage.

"I think by understanding the two and how they relate to each other you can understand how the time loop is maintained.

"Once you crash the loop you can figure out how to protect your spoils."

Jolan felt the connection sever and then looked over to where Lase was half a sleep. She spoke as if she could feel his eyes on her.

"Did you figure anything out?"

"Maybe. What do you know about the formations on the island?"

She sat up so quickly Jolan jumped.

"You've found formations?! Where?"

"I'll take that to mean you know nothing about them."

Jolan nodded.

"We will start here with the cottage. Someone else will check the formations."

She actually clapped then rubbed her hands together.

"Fantastic! A powerful time mage and minions.

"where do we start."