Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

“Are you ready, Stan?” The voice was heard only in his head. It belonged to his new partner, the legendary sword Excalibur. He thought about just how strange that statement was and realized it wasn’t even the half of it. They found the sword in a cave in Pluto, with the tomb of the mythical British king, after their tree man wrestled a crab. And why were they on Pluto? Oh, just to continue the fight against aliens from another dimension. And now here he was, partnered up with said sword as it tried to replicate whatever cosmic quirk it was that made Stan aware of the time loop they were all stuck in.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Stan replied back internally. He wasn’t sure he could have spoken out loud if he had tried. After their dinner and once his son had safely sealed up the cave, Exacalibur had instructed him to lay down on the floor and then to pull the sword onto him. Moments after the sword had been rested across, a transfer of the mana Excalibur had been draining from the pools had started. It now felt like a straight jacket made entirely of energy was holding his body firmly in place.

“The next part may be painful, or at least very disorienting. I can’t say for sure, though, as it’s all new to me. I believe, from your perspective, that the next three days should pass much quicker than real-time if that is any comfort,” the sword explained moments before Stan felt the energy cocoon surge in strength. His breathing was now labored and he could feel the tiniest itch at the base of every hair on his body. He desperately hoped this would be a one-time thing as he wrestled with his brain to maintain its grip on his sanity.

“I really need you to hurry up,” Stan tried to scream out inside his head, but he felt like it only came out as a whisper. The itching had grown into a tiny stabbing pain like an uncountable number of tiny glass shards were working their way into his flesh.

“I apologize. I have found the source of your awareness. Deep in your natural mana channels, almost imperceivably minuscule in size, there is a knot. I have no idea how this is enough to hold your awareness across time, but I am sure it’s the cause. Nothing else I can find anywhere has the strange properties this has. Now, I just need to begin replicating it within myself,” Excalibur responded to Stan’s pained thoughts.

“Just please hurry,” Stan begged. He wished he could feel some sort of comfort as the sword’s progress, but at the moment, all he really felt was a maddening level of pain. A new sensation hit Stan as the probing changed. The tiny needles coalesced into a single point somewhere below his stomach. The pain changed from that of a stabbing into more of a slicing feeling. He now felt as though he was lying on a surgery bed without any anesthesia. In contrast, the pain was much more intense than before. He preferred it to the infinite needles from moments before. This was a pain he could focus his mind on. That meant it was a type of pain he could handle.

“Interesting, I did not expect this outcome at all,” The sword’s voice came through the pain again.

“Expect what? What’s happening?” Stan asked, biting down the pain as best he could.

“This isn’t just a knot in your natural mana channels. This is a knot in the fabric of the universe itself. You have somehow become a constant in a universe of constant change. I assume the same is true of everyone else in this loop. It also seems that one of the threads in this know extends beyond you. I don’t fully understand it, but somehow, this thread holds onto your memories and experiences across each iteration. I now wish to see the console you’ve mentioned more than ever. I have a strong feeling I will find a similar thread attaching it. And you really have no idea what’s behind it?” the sword explained before throwing another question at Stan.

“No, I don’t, and as far as I know, no one else does. All we really know is the weird experiment that Andrew was running on the mana spirit, alongside the Gryalth interference, seemed to start all this, but you should know that from my memories,” Stan answered.

“Yes, I apologize. I didn’t mean to imply that you were hiding information. I am also experiencing many of your emotions right now, which is a curious thing to do when you aren’t often called to be a tool of emotion, only violence. Okay, try to relax. I believe we are almost done,” Excalibur’s words accompanied a cooling sensation across Stan’s body. The pain was starting to lessen, and alongside that, he felt his muscles spring to life again. His breathing returned to normal.

“Wait, already? I thought this would take days,” Stan asked, confused. He knew the sword had said it might pass relatively faster for him, but it had only felt like an hour at most.

“It has been the three days I estimated it would take; please try to sit up. You will want to eat something as soon as possible. The toll on your body was great, but I believe it was successful,” Excalibur answered.

Stan opened his eyes and forced himself to sit up, groaning loudly as he did. Out of the corner of his eye, for the briefest moment, he thought he saw a shadowy form on the far wall. “What’s that?” he mumbled, his mouth not fully ready for speech yet.

“That is a problem!” Excalibur loudly exclaimed, shooting a beam of light from itself, blanketing the room in bright light. “The shadow Gryalth, it is here!”

“Where?” Cal said, leaping to his feet.

“Gone, but I’ve learned a lot. Thank you,” a voice said from all around.

“That’s not good,” Stan further mumbled, trying his best to clear the fog still lingering in his brain.