《The Agartha Loop》Loop Two - Chapter One
Advertisement
Loop Two - Chapter One
Amber grabbed the edges of her father’s bed and just... held on. It was grounding. Her dad was breathing hard, still looking awful, as though he was on death’s door. Stil, she just stared.
“Your reaction is interesting,” the Seelie said.
“I’m trying to come to grips with things,” Amber said.
“It does take some magicals some time to become used to their new powers, especially if those powers have any sort of extra-sensory abilities.”
“Mine only allows me to have a sort of sense of what time it is,” Amber said. “Otherwise, they’re rather plain.”
The Seelie spun around once, like a cat trying to find a comfortable spot to rest. “You know so much already?”
“It’s been... a while?’ Amber said. “I... Okay, I need to come to grips with all of this. Can you give me a minute?”
“We can. We are beginning to suspect that this isn’t a standard magical awakening.”
Amber nodded. Okay. Okay. It’s... it’s nearly two weeks ago? Wait, was it less than that? We were on Wednesday. It’s... Saturday now? Have I only gone back five days? It feels like it was longer than that. Or maybe they were just busy days.
She leaned forwards, her breathing kept even.
Morgan... she won’t remember me. Jade and Cassy won’t know me at all. I’ve... I’ve just lost my only friends.
“You are becoming increasingly distressed.”
Amber blinked her eyes open, then blinked them again to clear away the sheen of tears clinging to her lashes. She looked down. The bar around her father’s bed was bent, crushed by her tightening fists.
She opened her hands, and splinters of cheap plastic scattered to the floor. “Right,” she said. “Sorry.”
“Do you wish to speak about it?” the Seelie asked.
“I... died. I think? My power can manipulate time. So now I’m back here.”
“The point at which you gained your magic, the farthest point which you could reach, assuming that time is somewhat linear,” the Seelie said. “That is a very powerful ability, to be able to escape death like that.”
“Yeah, but now I’ve lost everything.”
“You lost that which hasn’t happened yet?” the Seelie asked.
“Well, no, yes? Look, I don’t know, alright?”
The little creature stood and walked closer. “Will you be healing your father?”
Amber looked to her dad. “My magic’s weak,” she said. Her core felt drained, empty. In fact, she was starving, but that was easy to ignore for the moment. “I couldn’t help him if I wanted to. And I do. But...”
Advertisement
“We can assist, then,” the Seelie said.
“You can heal?” Amber asked. She didn’t know if she should feel indignant about that or not. Why didn’t they heal him the first time, then?
“We cannot. But there are magicals who can. We will merely ask for their assistance.”
“Oh,” Amber said. “I suppose you’ll want to know about the future, then?”
“No,” the Seelie said. “We, more than any, understand the harms, pitfalls, and dangers of prophecy.”
“Prophecy?”
The Seelie eyed her for a moment. “If you do not know, then it is best that you don’t learn. We have found that it leads mortals to think in ways that are harmful to themselves. Tell us only what you believe to be important, and little else.”
They don’t want to know about the explosions, about the attacks? “And what, do I just keep things to myself? Pretend that I can’t help people?”
“We want you to do no such thing. Help as much as you wish. Meddle in matters and interfere as best you can. In our experience, such things are accounted for, and in the end, what goes down in the true history is what was meant to happen.”
“Predetermination is a thing?” Amber asked.
“No.”
“Uh.”
“We consider time travel to be, in simple terms, somewhat complicated,” the Seelie said.
Amber blinked. “Was that sarcasm?”
“No,” the Seelie said. It turned its head towards the doorway just a moment before someone darkened the entrance. The young doctor that Amber had spoken to some time ago, along with what looked like two soldiers. “We have company.”
The Seelie bunched its legs up and jumped towards Amber who caught it out of the air, then, not knowing what to do with it, cradled it close like a cat. I still don’t trust this thing, but... but I don’t have much of a choice, do I?
“Miss, uh, Green,” the doctor said. He sounded like someone approaching a rabid dog.
Amber ignored him. “When’s the next group of students moving to the Academy?” she asked the Seelie.
“Interesting. You wish to return to Agartha?”
“Without landing in a forest and having to deal with Seventh Hour Men, yes.”
“Miss Green?” the doctor asked again. Less certain now.
Amber sighed and moved towards the door. “I might need a few things,” she said. “Can you keep my dad under observation, please? It’s important.”
“Um, sure?” the doctor replied.
No one blocked her path as she left the room, Seelie still held to her chest like some sort of plushie. “Okay. You can get a healer here, right?”
Advertisement
“We can ask. For a new magical, it is likely that it will be done.”
Amber nodded as she stepped out of the hospital, then moved to the side and leaned her back against the wall. She was in a spot with little lighting, enough that to anyone looking she was just some girl loitering around, or at least, she hoped that’s how it looked. “Can I be on the same team?” she asked.
“Certainly. Though we will need to know who was on your team first.”
“Cassy Bleriot, Jade Singer, and Morgan Armstrong. Do you know them?”
“We know all magicals,” the Seelie said. “We have told some about your presence here already. They are on their way to assist you.”
“Right,” Amber said.
She brought her head back and let it thump onto the rough bricks of the wall. Returning to Agartha, returning to her classes. It all sounded very nice. But then... what? Her dad would be cared for. She could just... stay on Earth, refuse to use her magic.
That would mean abandoning her friends, leaving a whole lot of innocents to die. And, perhaps a little selfishly, it would mean letting the pink-haired girl get away with sending her back here.
“Are you well?”
Amber realized she was squeezing the Seelie, perhaps a bit harder than it deserved. “Yeah,” she said. “Just a lot to think about.”
“The consequences of travelling backwards can be complex, or so we’ve come to understand,” the Seelie said. “We are not well equipped for the moral and emotional consequences, but otherwise, we can certainly help.”
“Would Norumbega’s administration help? If I told them about an attack?”
“Hypothetically, yes. If we vouch for you, then perhaps moreso. We have yet to decide whether you’re being truthful or not.”
“What?” Amber asked.
The Seelie twisted in her grip and looked up to her. “You imply that you’ve traveled from the future to the present. That is possible, but unlikely. Your behaviour makes it somewhat more likely. That is all we can verify for now.”
“Oh.” I guess that makes some sense. “I’ll have to earn your trust, huh?” she asked. “What about next time? If there is one.”
“Perhaps we will share things with you that would earn our trust faster,” the Seelie said.
“What sort of things?”
“We hardly trust you enough to say so soon.”
Amber gave the little creature a flat look that left it entirely unfazed. She let herself fall down to the bottom of the wall and hugged the Seelie closer. It didn’t seem to mind her handling it, and it was both soft and warm.
Amber tried to focus on something constructive, but her mind kept leaping back to the sight of long-nailed fingers digging into the side of her face, and everything there going dark.
She felt an hour crawl by, then another. The camp grew darker as more lights were flicked off and night fell properly.
“Miss Green?”
Amber jumped and looked up to see a man in an all-black suit standing before her. He had sunglasses on, despite the hour. “Um, yes?”
“We’re here to transport you to a waiting facility. If you would come with us?” he asked. It wasn’t insistent, just a polite request.
Amber climbed to her feet. “You know these people?” she asked the Seelie.
“Not these in particular, but they seem to be some agents sent to gather you and your things.”
I guess I’ll go with them. “Can I have a minute? I want to go see my dad before we leave.”
The man nodded. “Of course. Take all the time you need.”
“I’m good at that, yeah,” she said before moving past him and back into the hospital. Her dad was still looking rough, but... better. There was a new IV line in his arm, and a few machines beeping away that hadn’t been there.
A bit of guilt tugged at her gut, the idea that maybe those things had been saving others, but she squashed that soon enough. A magical healer was coming. Maybe they’d help the others.
“Hey, Dad,” she said.
Her father didn’t move, but she held onto his flaccid hand nonetheless.
“I’m going to be heading out, just for a little bit. And then I’ll be back,” she promised.
The Seelie watched from the edge of the doorway, impassive and observant as always.
She didn’t stay for long, even if that also had guilt eating away at her. I need to act, to do something. Waiting... isn’t enough.
She walked out of the room and met the same black-suited man in the corridor. A woman in a similar uniform was at the end of the hall, speaking to the doctor in hushed tones.
“Do you need anything from the camp, Miss Green?” the man asked.
“No, I don’t,” Amber said. “Where are we going, exactly?”
“A hotel, in New York. It’s about an hour’s drive away from here. We can arrange for a small stipend to buy clothes once we arrive, if that’s preferable.”
“That would be, yeah,” Amber said.
I just want to go. Go out there and start practicing, start figuring out just what the hell is going on, and then I want to find out who’s trying to mess with the Academy so that I can knock their lights out.
***
Advertisement
Nowhere to Run
Nina is a young priestess that just started her journeys in the Highlands, in a faraway land. But everything falls apart when greater forces are scheming and unknown men are suddenly after her. She will have no choice but to resort to her wits, make unexpected allies, and navigate her way through unforgiving lands in order to survive. Will she be up to the task? Greetings, reader! First of all, thank you for taking an interest and read my story. This is a story I've been working through all my life. But since I'm a first-time writer, I wanted to start with something small. This is just a small part of something much greater that hopefully one day I'll be able to translate into words as well. I will try to make it interesting as possible but please bear with me. Please understand that English is not my native language, I worked really hard to write in English the best I could. So please if you find any typos and grammar errors let me know. I'll try to upload new chapters as soon as I can. Although I had originally planned to deliver a chapter a MONTH, I think the real estimate would be a chapter EVERY 3 MONTHS since I also have to earn the daily bread. Cover picture made by me. The background picture is from Google but I modified it enough from the original. The story is also available on Wattpad, Inkitt, Scribblehub, and Webnovel.
8 215That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Dwarf While Trapped in a Dungeon Full of Spiders
Thousands of years ago, mankind would honor their dead and their journey to the afterlife through the process of mummification. The elaborate tombs and burial rituals marked our transition from hunter-gatherers to civilizations and empires. However, it's been over 500 years since we've sent tributes to the underworld, and now the underworld, or whatever lies beyond, has decided to send something back. Authors Note- This story is inspired by DnD, Dark Souls, Guild Wars 1, and my love of eldritch horror and dark creepy dungeons. Also completed doesn't mean end of the line. There is more Mike Sammons in the future, promise.
8 80☆ {It's Alright} ☆ [MCYT ONESHOTS] ☆
uhhhhhh yeah im not good at desc, check the first three chaps it goes over my rules and shit
8 194The First Realm
Frank Richland sometimes dreams of being a character in one of the video games he plays or the fantasy stories he reads, but he never expected to be come the leader of his own country and the master of a realm. Frank is not given a choice by the mysterious system that kidnaps him during a relaxing walk upon one of the many paths around Austin. The system warns him that other Realm Masters will try to conquer his realm which will kill him. The only path to survival is to build a strong empire, to become a powerful psion, and to grow as quickly as he can.
8 190Instant Practice
Mygans are able to control the elements,cut boulders,retrieve hidden informationand do anything that can be imagined.It is up to mankind to explore and master their abilities.but Saiph, if paid enough of a price, could instantly practice and perfectly master Mygans.-----Hello everyone, I'm posting this also in Scribblehub: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/138115/instant-practice/ this series takes a lot of inspiration from reverend insanity and the way of the devil.if you are interested in contributing/brainstorming for the story, you can join the discord link in the submissions.also, right now (Nov 2020) I have signed up for the NaNoWriMo challenge, which is to write 50k words this month.I'll be trying my best.
8 222The Royal Ice Princess
Zoe is denied of her destiny. A destiny which is her birthright. A birthright denied by her own family.Living with a man who is as hard as nails, you tend to pick up a few things. Zoe learned a long time ago that showing emotions just proves that you are weak, so she turned into a heartless bitch or at least for the world. She was a rock, a confidante and idol to her friends and loved ones.But one day, everything changed with the arrival of a new student in school. He came like a storm, bringing back memories, opening old wounds just to find the mystery that Zoe is, because even in all the mess, there is a secret that Zoe is hiding.But will it be too late for Zoe before her secret destroys everything?Love. Relationship. Friendship. Loyalty. Drama. Mystery. And a little bit of royalty and palace politics thrown into this mix.Follow Zoe in her journey, where she has to face her past, let people in her heart, forgive those who hurt her and most of all learn to love before its too late.......... ***I suck at description but please give this story a chance. Its not something you might have read before.
8 143