Morning light spilled over the sleepy village of Veridia, golden and soft, brushing the rooftops with promise. Rafael woke before the suns had fully risen.
Not from nightmares (spoiler: those would come later, anyway) but from a tension coiled deep in his gut. He had fifteen years. Fifteen years to avert the end of everything.
Again.
If he had managed to prevent the apocalypse before it happened, maybe everything would have been a lot more easier. By the way, that was something he thought about on the beginning of every loop. Every frickin' single loop.
He was at loop 20 this time. He wished that this number would bring him some charm. Not for a comfortable journey, (That was idiotic to even think about something like that), but for tighter memory.
Disaster barked once and pawed at the door. The scrappy mutt hadn't changed. Rafael had named him that only after the beast had chewed through his first real sword's hilt.
Seeing him again, tail wagging like a manic metronome, made his chest ache in a way that was almost comforting. He knelt to scratch the dog's head.
"You ready, buddy?" he murmured. "Round two. Or... round zero?"
Disaster sneezed and promptly started chasing his own tail.
Rafael smiled and stood. He fed the dog and strapped on his old traveling boots—years from their first wear, but still uncomfortable as hell. He grabbed a satchel, a half-dull knife, and a fishing spear, and stepped out into the world like a man already behind schedule.
***
The marsh shimmered on the edge of the horizon, green mist clinging to its borders like breath on a mirror. Rafael approached carefully, instincts sharper than his equipment. The shimmer wasn't rift activity. Not yet. But it was the precursor.
He crouched, remembering the layout from his past life. The first instability always showed up here, triggered when local elemental mana (they called it Ley Energy, Leylines, or Leyflux in this loop) began to fluctuate with the tides.
If he could catch it early, maybe he could stop the chain of fractures that eventually swallowed half the coast.
A hand reached out of the reeds.
Rafael froze.
"Hey!"
It was a kid. Scrawny. Mud-caked. Choking on words and algae. Rafael moved on instinct, yanking the boy out and checking his pulse. Alive. Barely.
"What the hell were you doing in there?" Rafael asked.
"The shiny lights," the boy whispered. "They called me."
Yeah. That sounded about right. The rifts had always preyed on weak minds first. He didn't remember this incident—but then again, he hadn't been here for it the first time around.
Rafael sighed. "Go home. Stay away from here. Tell your parents. And don't follow the lights again."
He glanced at the reeds. No time to close the anomaly, not without tools. He'd need gear. A team. Magic. And he'd need to go back to school.
***
Returning to the academy was like entering a ghost's memory.
Rafael walked the old stone pathways with his head low. Fifteen years from now (in another loop), this had been the beginning of his training—a clueless village thug with a stubborn streak and a knack for not dying.
Now he was walking those same halls with a mind full of blood and regrets. Students passed him, laughing and joking. The same stone archways, the same carved banners of past heroes. None of them knew what was coming.
Professor Halvern nearly dropped his chalk.
"Rafael?"
"Hi," he said with a forced grin. "I'd like to re-enroll."
"You're twelve. You are too old to re-enroll in this academy."
"I'm very advanced by now."
The professor blinked. "You were expelled for punching the dimensional theory instructor in the—"
"Unrelated. I've grown."
"You're literally shorter."
"Physically, yes. Emotionally? Debatable."
Halvern stared at him a long moment before sighing. "You always were trouble."
"Still am. Just better at it now. Arguably."
***
Over the next few weeks, Rafael started rebuilding. He kept to himself during classes but took furious notes—mostly on things he could remember but needed fresh air.
He started mapping the world's upcoming catastrophies, rewriting everything in a notebook labeled "Totally Not A Madman's Apocalypse Diary."
He fixed old mistakes before they even happened (that's the plan). Stopped a reckless student from summoning a fire elemental in the girls' dormitory. Warned the alchemy club to double-check their stasis crystals. Avoided his old dorm entirely, choosing instead to sleep in the attic above the library.
He found the first name on his list one rainy morning by the training fields.
Lira.
She was younger, her expression softer, the world not yet having carved the steel behind her eyes. She was still amazing with a bow, weaponry, ley-work, and still hated teamwork. You know, a kind of genius you find at every story.
She nearly shot him the moment he waved.
"You're too close to the target zone," she warned.
"Hi, I'm Rafael."
"Leave."
"I think we're going to be friends."
She nocked another arrow. "Wrong."
He grinned. "We'll see."
He didn't push. Not yet. He just sat nearby and watched her train, content to wait. Lira didn't remember him yet, but he remembered every moment they'd fought side by side. How she'd died trying to save him.
This time around, he'd save her first.
***
One evening, as a thunderstorm rolled over the academy, Rafael sat hunched over a flickering candle, scribbling notes by the dozen. Maps. Schedules. The bard girl he missed since the loop 19. Potential allies. Enemies in disguise. Places to avoid. People to find. Each line a stitch in the patchwork of the future he meant to rewrite.
Disaster snored on the floor, paws twitching.
Rafael looked at the first page again:
[Step One: Stop the rifts.]
[Step Two: Regather the team.]
[Step Three: Try not to punch any more instructors.]
[Step Four: Save the world better this time.]
[Step Five: Figure out how to get Juno back.]
He tapped his pen against that last line. Juno Reyes. Smart. Beautiful. Amazing with instrument and lips. Loyal. Lovely. Gone.
A tear threatened at the corner of his eye. He wiped it away.
Outside his window, lightning lit the skies, and rain hammered the rooftops like war drums. Rafael watched it all, calm and certain.
This was only the beginning. Again.
But this time, he was ready to rebuild everything from the ashes.
***