Hugo was pacing back and forth in his room. It had been weeks since the earthquake and he still didn’t have any news from the sentinels. A week after the earthquake Dean Artjom had let him know that the impact to the city was minimal. Most buildings were fine, and there were minimal casualties from the ones that fell. The fair had saved many lives, including his mother’s. Apparently there was talk of instituting a building code, one with minimum standards of build quality.

That wasn’t the news he had wanted to hear though. This close to the heartbeat, he wanted the sentinels to say they had found and stopped the saboteurs. Alexandru had said that the explosion would need to be large, so the sentinels should have been able to find a large device attached to their shimmer vein. As far as Hugo knew, they hadn’t found anything yet.

A knock on the door distracted him from his fruitless worrying. Hugo cautiously answered the door, wondering who it could be. A man in a courier uniform said, “Hugo Fieraru?”

“Yes, that’s me,” Hugo said, confused.

“Sign here,” the courier said. Once done, he handed a package over and said, “This is for you.”

The package was large, about two feet tall, and thin. Hugo shut his door and immediately tore open the package. It was a vest of some kind. A note was tucked inside. Hugo read the note.

Dear Hugo,

Please accept the enclosed vest as a thank you for all that you have done for our family. Passing along that rumor may not have seemed like a big deal to you, but it was pivotal to our family’s fortunes. Please pass on our thanks to your source of rumors as well.

The vest is the culmination of my great experiment and acts as a uniquely wonderful armor. In addition to being stab and slash proof, it has impact resisting runes woven into the inner lining. Push your mana into them to activate the runes. The true genius is that it is mana and shimmer resistant. You should be able to survive a direct blast of either type.

My father was reluctant to send you this vest, since our debut onto the market hasn't yet arrived. I am the creator though, so I can distribute my products as I see fit. I only ask that you not talk about it until after you have heard about us selling our wonderful armors a few months after the new year.

Thank you again,

Lenna Koppel

Hugo inspected the vest again. It was fascinating. It looked like an intricately woven vest, but it was much heavier than expected. He slipped it on. It was very comfortable, the lining must have been pure spidersilk. The outer layer was a mix between spider silk, resin, and a metal Hugo didn’t recognize. Three elements, that meant that she was at least rank sixteen. Either that or she was working with someone else. Someone had to weave in those runes after all. Each element was tightly woven into complex overlapping strands. He had never seen that pattern before. The vest flexed with his movement, but was stiffer than canvas.

It was clear to see why she thought her armor was wonderful. It was light and comfortable. He had seen her testing it out, and he knew her claims weren’t exaggerated. It would work against any type of damage. This armor would take the market by storm.

There were other excellent options out there that could do most of what this one did. Impact runes were on all higher end armors, and he was sure there were other light and comfortable options. The real game changer came from the fact that it was shimmer resistant. A mage could get shot with a shimmer caster and still keep going.

This would upset the balance of power between the sentinels and shimmer corps on the wheel. Not just in Reval, but in the other seven cities as well. Without their main weapon, shimmer corps were nearly useless in the fight against lawbreaking soulmarked. The shimmer blocking armor would start out in the hands of the nobles, but it would eventually get stolen and used by criminal elements.

If shimmer corps couldn’t contain the criminal elements in the city, the sentinels would finally have the justification to swoop in and take over all law enforcement. Mundanes would have no voice in government and lose what little power they had. This is the start of a major upheaval.

He decided to tell Dean Artjom about it the next time he saw him. Lenna deserved to earn some money from her hard work and risk, but this was too big. He had to tell someone. The dean seemed biased towards the sentinels, but he was the only one on the city council Hugo had access to. Someone needed to know about the storm that was coming.

...

“Hugo, my boy, you worry too much,” Colonel Sebastian said. “I have sent my sentinels up and down the mountain, combing every inch of our shimmer vein. There is nothing there. Our vigilance must have scared them away.”

Hugo nodded along. He wasn’t sure that the sentinel leader was correct, but there was no point in disagreeing with him. It was too late to do anything else at this point. It was New Year’s eve and the heartbeat was coming in an hour.

The sun had just set and they were with a large group of sentinels partying at sentinel command. The party was a posh affair, five stories above the ground. Soon these sentinels would be pulling long shifts as mana starved monsters started attacking the city. But tonight it was time to celebrate a new year.

Mia stepped in and said, “Listen to him, Hugo. They have light mage sentinels with perception over fifty. If they say there isn’t a bomb, there isn’t one. Deva’s attack must have relied on our inattention. Now that the colonel is on the case, they don’t have a chance.”

“Fine, fine. I guess I just wanted to know for sure. It would be easier to relax if we had someone in custody. Don’t worry about me. I will go enjoy the party,” Hugo said. He wandered over to the buffet table and filled up. He got himself a bit of the leivasupp, kohuke, and kama. He had a full plate, but when he saw the honey crispels, he had to throw one on top of everything.

He wandered around the party for a bit, trying to find a spot to sit and eat. He wanted to go back to the dorms, but that wasn’t an option. The academy was closed for the holidays. Everyone involved insisted he be here where it was safe. This whole party was socially uncomfortable for Hugo. He knew almost no one here, it was packed with high ranked sentinels he had never spoken with. As soon as he thought that, he was interrupted by someone he knew.

“Hugo! Good to see you,” Dean Artjom said, “Come talk with me out here.”

He looked out to where the dean leaned up against the balcony banister. Five stories above the ground. “No thank you, sir. I think I am fine here.”

“Nonsense, come, come,” the dean said and waved him over.

Hugo grit his teeth and walked over. He stood an armlength away from the edge, as close as he could make himself go.

“Bad news, that vest. I don’t know why you wore it here tonight. You are perfectly safe here. It just reminds me of the headache it is causing me.” the dean said.

Hugo had discussed it with him a few days ago. To his surprise, the dean didn’t side with the sentinels. He recognized the importance of checks and balances and was pulling in favors to make sure Lenna’s family didn’t sell any.

“Yes, well. If everyone insists that I need to be here for my own safety, I might as well act like my safety is important,” Hugo said. He was also wearing his bracers even though he was protected by the strongest force in the city.

“I know you wanted to party with your friends, but trust me, there is no better view in the city,” Dean Artjom said and swept his arms across the city. He motioned Hugo closer.

Hugo didn’t move any closer, but he looked over the landscape and had to admit the dean was right. It was beautiful up here. The land was flat enough and they were high enough that they could see their sister cities from here. Tallinn in particular was a beautiful sparkling city despite the fact it was more than thirty miles away. Hints of the shimmer veins leading to some of the other cities were visible too. This close to the heartbeat, they were glowing brighter than normal.

The dean pointed to various parts of the landscape, the sea off to the west, the mountain chain to the south, the names of each of the cities visible from here. Hugo followed along until he said Deva was visible.

“What are you talking about? That isn’t Deva, it’s just the atmospheric glow around the horizon. Even the shimmer vein isn’t visible from here, it’s just too far away,” Hugo said.

Dean Artjom glanced back to Hugo and said, “Perhaps you can’t see it, but I can. Benefits of having a high perception. I think our plan has you putting more points into it with the next few rank ups. We should talk again next year.”

“Do you think I will still be invited up here even after we save the city? I kind of assumed they would forget about me. Maybe give me a metal or something. From what Mia said about her experience, I will stop being able to travel back in time soon. She didn’t loop back again when the city exploded after all.”

“I don’t believe that either of you will cease to be interesting once you are unable to travel back in time. I am sure I will continue to invite you here even after the fate of the city no longer hangs in the balance.”

Hugo nodded noncommittally. He would be happy either way. He looked off into the distance, trying to tell if the dean was correct and if you really could see Deva from here. Maybe he was just messing with him, it really was too far. The heartbeat was coming soon and they would soon see if they were successful in stopping the city’s destruction.

Walking away from the balcony, he joined the crowd’s countdown to the heartbeat. Everyone looked at the wave of light travel through the veins and up the mountain. There was a general cheer and toasts to the new year. Hugo toasted with Mia and Dean Artjom, taking a small drink for now. Once he saw that the veins didn’t explode within the next half hour, he would take a larger drink.

A crash resounded behind him. Hugo looked back, expecting to see an embarrassed waiter. Instead he saw a large group of people pushing into the banquet hall. They each had a red sash on one shoulder and carried a shimmer caster. Hedge mages.

As one, they fired into the crowd, downing surprised sentinels. Some of them stabbed the incapacitated mages and the rest continued shooting into the crowd. They were trying to murder the whole sentinel organization.

Hugo flickered a pair of shields in front of him and dove to the side, behind a snack table. A few other barrier mages had the same idea. Large blue shields appeared in front of the attacking hedge mages. Even before they finished forming, the barriers were shattered by incoming shimmer shots.

Tight beams of light pierced into a few of the attacker’s eyes, but cut out when that light mage was hit. A runic sentinel started glowing as he activated his robes and ran at the attackers. He took out two more hedge mages before he collapsed on the floor. There were just too many casters firing at once to avoid them all. Dozens of mana darts shot forward from the sentinels as they retreated behind columns and out to the balconies. None of the darts hit, they were dissipated by the incoming shots.

Popping up from behind the table, Hugo saw a few more magical attacks get decimated by the combined shots of the hedge mage mob. There were just too many of them. He knew that the sentinels had contingency plans in case the shimmer corps turned, but they must not have access to them here.

Hugo fired one of his bolts from his bracers at the closest attacker. A hedge mage saw the attack and intercepted the bolt with a ring of shimmer. Since the bolt was entirely non-magical, it continued on unimpeded. That hedge mage fell to the ground with a bolt in his throat.

Encouraged, Hugo brought up his other hand and shot down another hedge mage. They were making progress. About half of the people that had burst into the room were lifeless on the floor now. Looking around, Hugo saw that the same was true for the sentinels. Half of them were down with more falling as he watched.

His two shots spent, Hugo ducked back behind the table. He frantically thought about what he could do to continue attacking. He hated creating the bombs, but he needed to pull out all the stops. In one motion, he created a dust of mithril and titanium and quickly covered it with a sphere of barrier magic. Without leaving his cover, he threw the bomb over the table.

A shimmer shot found the ball, but that only dissipated the barrier. As soon as the metal dust hit the air, it exploded. Hugo heard the screams of pain and nodded to himself. This was a weapon he could fight back with.

In his panic, he had forgotten a key detail about the shimmer casters. They could go through anything. A shot went right through the table and destroyed the two shields he had put in front of himself.

Other sentinels hiding behind columns and behind walls discovered the same fact. Sentinel after sentinel fell to the continued assault. A second shot flew through the table Hugo was hiding behind, hitting him square in the chest.

He braced himself for the pain, but none came. Lenna’s vest had protected him from the shimmer. The vest glowed slightly and was warm to the touch, but Hugo was unharmed. He got up from his terrible hiding spot and ran away from the hedge mages. Farthest away from them was the balconies. He ducked to the side of the balcony, out of sight of the main room. The sounds of fighting and screaming filled the room. Tables crashed to the ground and loud squelches resounded.

He glanced to the side, to see Dean Artjom still up and fighting. He was continuously throwing up shields to protect himself from the incoming shots. Each shield was perfectly sized to dissipate a shimmer shot. The dean created one after another and sliced up the walls to throw jagged rocks at the attackers. It seemed like he was doing well, but Hugo knew that his mana was limited now. And it wouldn’t recover because the heartbeat had just come by.

“Hugo, you need to jump,’ Dean Artjom whispered. He threw up a thick blue shield that covered the entryway and stepped out to yell. He was trying to distract the attackers.

The dean’s shield was broken immediately by five shimmer shots. He had created backup shields, and those fell too. The final shot made the dean collapse.

Before the dean even hit the floor, another shot came for Hugo. Lenna’s vest protected him once more, but it got even hotter. A section near his shoulder sparked and started smoking. He didn’t know if it would protect him from a third shot. The dean was right, he needed to jump.

His fear of heights almost stopped him from escaping certain death. He powered through the fear and leapt off the balcony. He created a series of steps down and around the tower and quickly stepped down them. He was dismissing one step and creating the next as he ran. He made it down one story before he felt the sudden urge to hide.

Thinking quickly, he ducked underneath another balcony. He made a larger platform and tucked himself in tight. He knew that the building was compromised, he couldn’t go back inside. He could hear the fighting continue on the floor above and shouts of “Find Him!”.

After psyching himself up, Hugo looked down to the ground. There were people crowded around the base of the tower. He couldn’t tell from this distance, but they didn’t look like sentinels or shimmer corps. He closed his eyes and tried not to vomit from fear. How could there be so many of them? Hedge mages were supposed to be a small movement, but there were dozens of them attacking the tower now, each of them armed. What was he going to do?

Slowly he opened his eyes and looked towards the mountain. He was just going to have to try again. The dean was right. Hugo needed to go back in time and give them a warning about everything much sooner.

He took the vest off. If it protected against a shimmer caster, it would probably stop him from being sent back in time too. He looked towards the mountain.

He was just in time to see a flash of light on the horizon. It quickly raced up towards the mountain top. Once it reached the top, the shimmer vein explosion started. To Hugo’s horror, it wasn’t just the vein leading towards Reval. All of the veins Hugo could see were going off in bright flashes. Every city on the wheel was in danger.

The explosions raced down the mountain, seeming to speed up as it got closer. In moments it reached Reval and Hugo could see the city center bow out and explode. The plume of shimmer took a moment to reach him where he hid near the eastern wall. He had time to see the shockwave and half of the city fly his way.

Then the shimmer enveloped him and his soul was taken away. For the first time, he was expecting this, and paid attention. His essence was wrapped up in something and sucked up towards shimmer mountain. He followed the path of the shimmer vein, speeding faster and faster. Instead of following it up the mountain, he plunged deep inside.

Glimpses of enormous machinery flashed by him as he shot skyward. Just as he was about to burst out of the top of the mountain, he stopped.

...

“Ug, that hurts,” Hugo said. The pain from traveling back in time seemed to be getting worse. He put his hands to his head. He felt clumsy, he mashed his fingers into his head instead of gently rubbing his temples. This wasn’t Cristian’s body anymore. Had he gone back to his own body?

Opening his eyes, Hugo brought his hands up to his face.

Wait.

His hands were in front of his face and on his temples. He had four hands. He was a nox.

Shit.