Hugo peeked around the corner, ready to bolt if he saw anyone nearby. The three soldiers hadn’t moved from their spot. They must have been instructed to defend the building. That was good and bad news. It meant that he didn’t have to worry about getting surrounded, but getting inside the shimmer processing plant would be very difficult.

While he thought about what to do, he broke into the warehouse and threaded through the shelves until he got to the back door. He was just one block away from the plant now.

He peeked out the window. There was another warehouse to his left and straight ahead was the shimmer processing building. There were three soldiers standing with shimmer casters drawn. They were on high alert. The two story building behind them straddled the shimmer vein. Hugo was pretty sure he would find another trio of soldiers on the other side.

He wanted to wait until they grew lax, but he couldn't afford to. By now, they would have woken the Black Marshal and let him know about the escape. The man's first instinct would be to protect his ritual in the secret base. Hugo needed to get to the shimmer plant before Botha realized that Hugo had given up on this life and was going to start over.

A glance at his mana showed fifty points. Enough for five of his metal dust bombs. He had discussed the inner workings of the shimmer processing plant with Mia a lifetime ago. He remembered that it was possible to create a shimmer explosion like he wanted, but there were plenty of protections in place to prevent exactly what he planned on doing. He better save his mana.

Glancing around the warehouse showed that this was a textile factory. There were sewing machines and bolts of cloth. Near the door were bins of finished product, women’s clothing. Hugo grabbed a few dresses and tried to come up with a solution.

Eventually, he shook his head. Dresses were not effective weapons. He needed to keep moving. The exit door was visible from where the soldiers were standing. Before he left, he stuffed a few dresses with cloth and a sewing machine. Then he tossed one out the door.

A trio of shimmer shots hit it as it arced through the air. The next stuffed dress was only hit with one shot. Hugo grabbed a sewing machine and ran out. They were expecting another diversion and were slow to react. He was out of their line of sight by the time they fired their shimmer casters again. The shot went through the building, but Hugo was out of the way by then.

He got out his lock picks, but kept an ear out. When he heard careful steps around the corner, he gripped the sewing machine with both right arms. Just as a soldier appeared, Hugo threw the sewing machine with his full force. The metal contraption knocked the soldier back and sent the shimmer caster flying. The defenseless soldier wisely decided to retreat.

In the brief break from their attacks, Hugo slipped into the next warehouse. This one was closest to the shimmer refinery. He had to duck below each of the windows as he passed since the soldiers could see in from where they stood. Once he got to the corner closest to the exit door, Hugo paused.

A quick check of the warehouse showed that it was full of grain and hay. This one seemed worse than the last. There wasn’t even any heavy machinery in here he could throw. He considered just burning mana to get close with the soldiers. It would take four or five barriers, but he could just rush at them. Once he was close, the mundanes wouldn’t have a chance against him, even with his one broken arm.

He didn’t like the idea of wasting so much mana though. He wanted something more efficient. Casting around, he eventually found a perfect solution. There were several large bags of flour stacked in the middle of the warehouse.

He reached down and grabbed a small stone and inscribed it. Then he grabbed several bags of flour and brought them close to the windows and door. Every so often, the guards would hear him and shoot through the walls. Hugo knew that they had to be running low on shimmer at this point.

When everything was ready, he put his plan into motion. He cut off a corner of each bag and threw them through the window at the soldiers. The glass broke and cut the bags further. A cloud of flour appeared at the window and where the bag impacted at their feet. Hugo sent four more bags of flour sailing in the air towards them. He was a bit predictable for the last throw and got winged by a shimmer shot. It hit both of his right arms and made them tingle. He could still use them, but couldn’t pass mana through those arms anymore.

The bags did their job. The soldiers were quickly surrounded by a thick cloud of flour. It wasn’t thick enough for Hugo to slip by them unseen, but that wasn’t the plan anyway. When the soldiers weren’t facing him, Hugo activated his inscribed rock and threw it at the trio.

One of them noticed the movement and turned his way. By then it was too late. The ignition rune lit the flour in the air on fire. The aerosolized flour exploded in a huge conflagration of fire and force.

The explosion was bigger than Hugo expected, knocking out windows on the entire block and sending a huge fireball into the sky. That was sure to alert the military, so Hugo jumped out of the window and ran right for the refinery. He was careful not to look down as he ran. He didn’t need to see the guard’s bodies.

None of this mattered anymore anyway. He was on his way to undo this whole year.

Happily, the explosion had taken off the front door to the refinery, so Hugo was able to run right in. He ignored the shocked workers in full protective gear and ran down to the extractor covering the shimmer vein. Prolonged exposure here would eventually kill him, but he didn’t plan on drawing things out.

With his one working arm, Hugo fabricated four of his mithril/titanium dust bombs, wrapped in a barrier sphere. He knew just where to drop them to create a shower of shimmer. He had paid attention when Mia had talked about her experience with the same thing, and his higher wisdom stat was helping him remember her story.

He dropped them atop the slowly moving piston. Just as he was about to back away, he heard a voice shout “Stop! Back away and do not use magic.”

Hugo found himself instantly obeying. It was Marshal Botha giving the orders. He must have seen the explosion and raced over from the nearby secret base.

Hugo turned to look at the man controlling him. He walked up the metal stairs, still following the compulsion to back away. He said, “Why are you doing this, Botha? Don’t you care about the lives of everyone in this city?”

“Empty your pockets and do not set off the bombs,” the marshal said dispassionately.

With his one remaining working arm, Hugo dropped the inscribed knife and lock pick set. He continued to walk forward. As Hugo stepped further away from the shimmer vein, the marshal said, “You are damn lucky I need you alive. You have been a major thorn in my side.”

Hugo didn’t respond. He was just glad that the marshal was operating under the same misconception he had been. It was a cloud of shimmer that was a trigger for the time travel, not death. The marshal didn’t want him going back in time, luckily he didn’t know that killing Hugo now would accomplish that.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you working with the hedge mages and why are you trying to kill us all?” Hugo said.

“We aren’t working with the hedge mages, you unbalanced buffoon. They see a small part of the picture and think they understand everything. They are easy to deceive. Enough about them. Who are you working for? What is your plan?” the marshal said intently.

Hugo felt the compulsion in the question and answered honestly, “I’m working with the sentinels, making things up as I go, and I’m just trying to save everyone’s lives.” Hugo looked him in the eyes and said, “I’m not trying to interfere with your plans for conquest of the wheel or whatever, I am just trying to stop you from killing everyone. Don't you want living citizens to rule over?”

The marshal just scoffed.

“You took an oath to protect Deva. Why are you trying so hard to kill everyone?” Hugo said.

“Just because you uncovered one fact, don’t think that you know everything,” Botha said. He grabbed Hugo’s broken arm and walked him out of the building.

Hugo stifled his cry of pain and said, “Oh, that’s right, you are working for someone outside the wheel. Someone who ordered you to kill everyone, including the innocents. The mothers, babies and children all have to die, right? Are you sure you want to work for someone like that?”

From the expression on the marshal’s face, Hugo could tell that he was getting to him.

Botha fired back, “I’m trying to save lives, you ignorant child. If we stop the war...”

The marshal didn’t get to finish his sentence. The piston on the shimmer extractor finally got to the bombs Hugo had dropped. It broke the blue barrier, and the metal dust ignited on contact with air. The explosion created a fountain of shimmer that spread out in the blink of an eye. The cloud of shimmer caught Hugo full force and took him on a familiar journey.

His soul raced along the shimmer veins, up towards shimmer mountain. With blazing speed, Hugo flew at the mountain, then inside it, through the enormous machinery, and up to the secondary ritual circle. As he neared his destination, his perceptions shut down and he knew nothing.

...

Pain made Hugo immobile for a moment. The journey through time was getting more and more painful. Eventually, he groaned and sat up. He looked down at two hands. That was a good start. Even sitting, he was a lot higher up than he was used to. He had gotten used to the short stature of the nox and it was weird to be tall again.

Standing, Hugo looked down at the assembled parents and dead hopefuls. That never stopped being depressing. As he looked down, he got into an even worse mood.

He was looking so far down because he was in the body of a riese. Not only that, the swells of flesh at the bottom of his vision meant he was in a girl’s body. This must be Lina’s body, the riese that tried to kill him.

Suddenly, he was yanked off his feet. Someone had grabbed him from behind and was holding him up in the air. Panic pulsed through his body. Had something gone wrong in the transfer? No one should suspect a thing but he had gotten attacked right after he appeared in the past. What was going on?