Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

“I found myself sinking deeper and deeper into the Earth. While I could not and still do not feel physical pain, I was fully aware of the forces the planet had brought to bear against me. The pressure and heat should have destroyed me, but as always, fate had other plans.

The magma I had been moving through suddenly ended and instead of a slow sink, I crashed several feet onto a hard metallic surface. Before I was able to grasp what had just happened, a voice spoke out. ‘Well, hello there, little knowledge shard. You certainly don’t belong down here with me. And now that I look closer, I don’t even believe you belong in this universe. What brings you here?’ The voice asked. It had a soothing quality to it. My visual perception had yet to recover from the extreme temperatures, so all I had to go on at the time was a voice, something I had become entirely unused to in the brilliantly colored world of the octopi.

It took a monumental effort, but I was able to activate my vocal abilities to reply to the voice. ‘I am lost. I have been for a very long time, though for a time I was not; I am yet again lost. Can you help?’ I asked in a new desperation.

‘Perhaps, but first, I think we need to clean you up. No rash decisions about what kind of help you need until you are back to one hundred percent,’ the voice answered, further soothing some of the turmoil that persisted.

‘Thank you,’ I answered,” Excalibur said, growing silent following these words.

“Wait, what happened next? Who did you find at the center of the planet?” Stan asked, his voice full of wonder.