[Noon of the First Day]

  [9 Days and 14 Hours Remain]

  [Time Loops Remaining: 10]

  Though still conscious, still aware, I saw nothing but endless white. Feeling began to buzz in my fingers and toes, like limbs waking from sleep. I tried to wiggle them, tried to look down, but couldn’t move. If I could feel my heart right now, I knew it’d be racing.

  Had I lost my sight?

  No…

  I’d been completely torn apart. The memory sent a shiver through my newly-forming spine. Sensation returned in patches: chest, leg, then ears full of pressure. I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut until they popped, air whooshing through as the call of distant gulls filtered in. And…waves? The rhythmic crash made me scrunch my barely-feeling face.

  Gosh…

  This felt like coming out of dental anesthesia, except instead of just my mouth, numbness coursed through every vein. Maybe I was finally waking from a coma in some Hawaiian hospital with an ocean view. But as I blinked my focusing eyes, a vast sea-green ocean came into view, sunlight sparkling across its surface.

  I looked down at my tattooed arms, heart sinking. Still in nothing but knee-length underwear and—

  Wait…

  Where the hell am I?

  Spinning around, I surveyed the expanse of white-pink sand. The pearlescent spire loomed in the distance, the surrounding stucco homes completely intact. I searched the sky for shooting stars but found only the sun at its zenith. The moons were wrong—one completely missing, the other barely visible at the edge of the sky. I stared, rooted in place as unintelligible whispers echoed in my mind. I scruncthd my face.

  Then the twelfth chime startled me. I jumped, staggering back as something tightened around my neck. I gagged, grabbing at hard carapace. Gripjaw released me, scrambling to his feet and cocking his head questioningly.

  I blinked, dazed. …Gripjaw?

  A translucent window materialized above him:

  [Bond Quest: Gripjaw (Complete)]

  [Reward: +1 Bond Point]

  [Total Bond Points: 1/5]

  The window rolled up like a scroll and then vanished, leaving me to stare at empty air. My head and limbs buzzed as I stood speechless, suddenly feeling like this past week had been a fever dream. Holding Gripjaw close, I started forward in a daze, eyes locked on the spire as I remembered that starry-eyed woman’s face…in the window of that book. Had she…undone everything? Fixed it all and placed me here?

  I passed a sprawled Tidewalker on the beach, barely noticing him as my legs carried me toward downtown Wavehaven. People hurried past, giving me odd looks, but before I could reach the shrine's base, two spears crossed in front of me.

  "What do you think you're doing?" One acolyte frowned, his split robe revealing scale mail beneath.

  I stared dumbly, mouth hanging.

  "The shrine is off limits," said the other, tiny chains dangling from his fin-ears. "Leave before we signal the guards."

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "But the book," I pointed at the shrine. "There's a book in there and—" The whispers in my mind grew loud as a wispy interface materialized, words flickering chaotically across it.

  "Is this guy giving you trouble?" A garbled voice asked. A meaty hand gripped my shoulder. I followed it up to bulging eyes.

  "Take him to the guards," an acolyte said worriedly. "I don't think he's right in the head."

  "No Beachstrider is," said another approaching figure, his scales so black they made his yellow eyes practically glow. "Don't worry, we'll take care of him."

  They roughly pulled me away, and I let them, frowning at the passersby, all of them acting as if their world hadn't just faced compelte and utter annihilation. A recent memory surfaced, hazily: "Time Loop Initiated."

  …I’d seen that just before splitting apart, hadn't I? That experience—the blinding light, the flood of peace mixed with that wave of terror—left me shaking. Had I imagined it? Why would that book, that woman, send me back in time?

  "Trying to prove something, Beachstrider?" the black-scaled Tidewalker whispered. "A man could get arrested wearing so little."

  Before I could respond, Gripjaw rushed past and bit the black Tidewalker's ankle. He released me with a howl, my adrenaline spiking. I yanked free from the other hand as Gripjaw scrambled to my shoulder, hissing. The larger Tidewalker advanced, water enveloping his fists, but I had no interest in fighting. I needed answers—needed solitude to process what the hell was happening.

  A blur of red intercepted us—a female tidewalker with outstretched hands. "Stop!" she shouted, drawing stares. "He's with me!"

  The large Tidewalker hesitated, looking to his bleeding companion.

  "That Beachstrider's mutt took a chunk out of me!” he spat.

  "Don't be a wuss," she said. "Find some bandages. You'll be fine." She waved them off, tugging me away as they glared after us.

  She led me down familiar streets to a secluded spot. "Zale!" she spun on me. "What are you doing?"

  "Trying to prove a point,” I said. Not really sure why I did. Just kinda…popped out. Hell, this was so weird.

  "And what's that?"

  "That Beachstriders are people too." My voice was flat—I felt too numb to emote, still processing everything. I'd witnessed a bunch of meteors fall from the sky, destroying Wavehaven while I rushed into that shrine seeking a way home…and now stood having the similar conversation with the same woman on what seemed to be the same day.

  She was talking, but I interrupted her. "What day is it?"

  She cocked an eyebrow. “Seaday,” she said slowly, concern evident.

  Seaday. The week's beginning. "Is there a festival in nine days?"

  She nodded, looking increasingly worried. "Zale…are you okay?"

  "You helped me find ingredients for a stamina potion," I said. "I found you working at the gardens near the council chamber. Do you remember that?"

  She slowly shook her head.

  She would not remember that, a melodious female voice whispered.

  I spun around, finding no one nearby. "Did you hear that?"

  The woman laughed uncomfortably. I'd lost her—she clearly thought me insane. Maybe I was. Had the past week never happened?

  It happened, the voice whispered, seeming to echo from within and without simultaneously.

  "Who are you?" I pressed fingers to my temples, wincing as I caught the woman's grimace.

  She approached with her basket. "I think you should come with me."

  "No," I backed away. "I'm fine, I'm just…really confused right now." I rubbed the back of my skull, where phantom pain pulsed—where I'd been struck at week's end.

  The interface flickered before me:

  [Time Loops Remaining: 10]

  "What does this mean?" I shouted, turning away from the baffled Tidewalker. Before she could stop me, I sprinted up the street, weaving through crowds unaware of the destruction I'd witnessed, the screams I'd heard, the monster who'd summoned that storm.

  I wanted to pretend it was a hallucination or a dream, but a blow to the head couldn't produce something so visceral, so terrifyingly clear. Still lacking answers, I ran to the only place I knew I could find privacy.

  ***

  I sat on a porous rock far from civilization, staring down at a secluded beach. My usual hiding spot—the cave half a mile away—stood vacant. After witnessing a murder there, I hesitated to return. This spot, away from everyone, would do.

  Taking deep breaths, I stroked Gripjaw curled on my lap—the only proof I wasn't losing my mind. He clacked softly, pushing his face into my palm as if trying to comfort me. But how could I find comfort with this tempest raging inside?

  Light flickered on my palm. Strange symbols shimmered there…looking almost like the face of a sundial or clock. "This wasn't here before," I whispered, rubbing it with my thumb.

  No, the voice in my head said clearly, as if whispered directly in my ear. It wasn't.

  My spine slowly stiffened. "Who are you?" I looked around, hoping for some evidence I hadn't completely lost it.

  Only silence answered.

  "Please!" My shout echoed across the ocean. "Tell me what the hell is going on!"

  My palms began to tingle. Silver-white light flowed from my skin, swirling upward to form a misty sphere. It snapped into the shape of a book—the book, with its oval window on white leather. Wind gusted past, dispersing the mist to reveal its translucent form.

  A light twinkled in the window's darkness, expanding into the face of a woman with hair swaying as if underwater. She regarded me with serene solemnity, eyes twinkling like stars.

  "Hello, Offworlder." She smiled broadly, knowingly. "My name is Cronia, and you are in grave danger."