Adam's mind raced with the implications of the announcement he'd just received.

Emelia is here!? In my world!?

"Where is she!?"

[Visitors to other Players' dimensions always arrive at the centre of the island.]

Adam got up from his seat and ran to the exit. Bel looked up as he left, but he told her to stay put.

After he went outside, he pulled the spell-tome into his hand and summoned the barrier. Then he used it to push himself through the streets towards the middle of Interim Island.

The sun was setting in the sky and the town was dyed in its orange-pink hues.

Why would she come here??

If she wanted to kill me, she would have used the Challenge Stone.

Or maybe she really just wanted to try the octopus salad?

Adam shook his head. That was the least likely answer.

He skated across the cobblestones on his shoes, casting dust and dirt behind him like a trail of smoke.

Adam hadn't expected to encounter anyone with the Visiting Stone, but given Emelia's motivations he understood why she possessed it.

She couldn't have come here to…?

No, that makes no sense. We don't even know each other…

Willow popped into his head unbidden. He barely knew her, but despite that he'd been obsessing about being her friend in this loop. He wasn't even sure why. Was it really just friendship he sought?

Maybe it's in the nature of time-loopers to be clingy?

I suppose it's not too weird to feel a connection to someone that drastically shaped your life in some way.

If not for Willow's advice, I would never have killed Shitbox. If I hadn't killed it, then I would never have gained the power to loop.

Maybe Emelia has similar conflicted feelings about me. Or well, past me.

Still, it's weird to be on the receiving end of this sort of thing. Really puts my own actions into perspective…

Not too surprised that Willow would think I'm a stalker, especially not if she has experience with that sort of thing.

Adam sighed and slowed down the barrier. He skidded a few metres before coming to a complete stop.

The Eye floated up next to him.

"Is she still in the centre of the island?" Adam asked.

[No. She is currently standing outside the Player House.]

"Can you highlight her for me somehow?"

[Understood.]

A white pillar of light rose up into the sky to the east.

He brought the barrier behind his back again and pushed himself towards it.

When he was only a street away, he slowed down and walked the last bit. At the same time he folded the barrier into a narrow cone spear.

I don't think she's come to hurt me, but it would be foolish not to be prepared for anything. I'm fairly sure I'm not immortal on this island, even if coming here heals my wounds.

Adam's heart was pounding in his chest so loudly that he could feel its beat in his head. He came around the side of a dumpy building and the Player House came into view. Like every time before, it stood within the round patch of grass and was surrounded by the brown wooden fence. There was the apple tree and three small critters beneath it: a goblin, a slime, and an imp.

Leaning on the wooden fence was a woman. She wore a red oversized fuzzy sweater and under it was a black sports bra. She had loose blue jeans on and Adam noticed several Relics as well. There were the unmistakable Slothling Spring Boots from Stage Three on her feet, and on her right hand was the Duellist's Glove. Hanging from her belt was a blue goblin ear, which had to be the damage-boosting Blue Trophy from Stage Two. Next to it was the Fetish of Sloth. On her right hip hung a flanged iron mace and next to it was a rosary from the Priest Weapon Type. The Brawler gauntlets hung from her left hip.

Despite all her Relics and weapons, she didn't actually look too intimidating. She was also a fair bit shorter than Adam had expected, maybe 165 centimetres or so compared to his 186. It hadn't really been noticeable when they sat opposite each other in the Tavern.

In the darkening town, her purple spiralling eyes seemed quite sinister as they bored into him.

A brief undecipherable expression crossed her face for a split-second, before she clenched her jaw and pushed off from the fence. She eyed the barrier that floated next to Adam.

She brought all her Relics just in case I tried to harm her, he realised.

But it was clear that she hadn't come here to fight, so he dismissed the barrier and unequipped the spell-tome.

"Hello Adam," Emelia finally said.

Adam swallowed down his apprehensions and approached.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"You invited me over, didn't you?" she replied, a small grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Right. So why are you at my house and not the Tavern?" he replied, playing along with the joke that this was all about the octopus salad.

"Follow me, I've got something to show you," Emelia said. She walked around the fence and disappeared behind the house.

Adam ran to catch up, but she was quite a lot faster than him, probably because of her stats.

"What are you planning on showing me?" he asked, apprehension creeping back into his voice.

She was moving towards the eastern edge of the island. The house was placed pretty close to the precipice, but there were still about ten metres to where the land actually stopped. Adam hadn't even thought to check behind the house and there wasn't actually anything there except for a patch of grass with some trees.

"Is there another cave down below?" he asked.

Emelia paused in front of the trees and looked back at him.

"Why won't you answer me?"

"Dig here," she said, ignoring his question.

Adam looked down and saw that there was a patch of upturned dirt and grass in front of the trees. It looked as though something had been buried here just recently.

He brought out the spell-tome and summoned a barrier. Then he shaped it into a shovel and used it to dig up the loose earth.

Emelia just watched as he cleared away the dirt for the next three minutes. Then there came a loud clink as his glass-like barrier struck something. He moved the shovel out of the way and looked down into the hole.

"What the hell is that?" he asked, before getting down on his knees so he could reach in and grab it.

As he lifted it up out of the hole and set it on the grass next to him, he realised it was a bronze brazier. It had a rounded shallow bowl and four clawed legs, as though sculpted after the talons of an eagle. The image of flames were engraved into the outer edge and on the inside was strange hieroglyphic text that he couldn't read.

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< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< First Light's Brazier (Common) — At the beginning there was a single spark of creation. From it burst the first light and with it came the life of the universe. Without a spark there can be no life. Without a kindling flame there can be no fire >

"Is this why you came here?" Adam asked her. "To show me this?"

"This is the main reason, yes. It's my way of showing you that I do trust you, no matter what you might think."

"Am I supposed to light a fire inside it?"

"Not you," she replied. "Someone else is meant to activate it."

"What do you mean?" he asked as he got to his feet.

She walked over to where Adam had set the brazier down on the grass. Then she held her right palm upwards and a tiny white flame appeared floating above her Duellist's Glove. She carefully lowered the flame down into the bowl.

< < Secret Relic Activated > >

Emelia stepped back and grabbed Adam's wrist, pulling him several metres away from the brazier.

Her touch was surprisingly warm even through the sleeve of his shirt and the glove she wore.

The ground around the bronze brazier rumbled ominously.

"What's happening?"

"Just watch," she told him. She didn't let go of his arm and remained by his side, but Adam hardly noticed as he stared at the Relic.

The ground under the brazier bulged upwards as though something was clawing its way up from below. Then a whole entire building just appeared from one moment to the next, growing up into the air for several metres and pushing the brazier along for the ride.

When it was done, a small white lighthouse rose from the edge of the island behind the Player House. The nearby trees had been shifted out of the way and were spared destruction. At the top of the tower a small glass chamber surrounded the flaming brazier.

Adam pulled himself out of Emelia's grip and approached the building. There was a doorway that only barely allowed him to enter, his hair running along the top of the frame as he walked through. Inside was a hollow tube with a simple wooden ladder. He climbed it up to the top where he emerged into the small glass chamber. He reached out to feel the heat of the small white flame inside the bronze brazier.

< < Secret Relic > >

< First Light's Brazier (Uncommon) — Grows for 4 Stages >

It's just like the Glass Acorn, he realised.

There was nothing else to see here, so he climbed back down the ladder and returned to where Emelia awaited him outside.

"What happens when it's done growing?" he asked. "And where did you get that flame from?"

"When four Stages have passed, your flame will reach maturity and spawn a Kindling Flame. You can give it to another Player, if you have a Visiting Stone, and perform the same trick I just did. But I want you to give your first Kindling Flame to me."

"So, this is all just something to make you stronger?" he asked.

"This will also benefit you," she said. "When the flame has matured, it will give you a boon in team-based Stages. I don't know what exactly it will be, since the effect changes based on the Player. Mine is a passive health recovery of 75% of missing health lost from the first attack any of my team members and I suffer in a Stage. If you give me your Kindling Flame, it will go up to 100%. If I can get one more after that, then my Brazier will evolve to Epic rarity and gain a second effect."

"That sounds really strong."

"It is," she replied. "Arturo is the one who gave me his Kindling Flame originally. His Brazier was Legendary rarity and gave three very strong boosts."

"I'm surprised the Trials would have something like this. I thought for sure everything was designed to make us kill each other."

"That's not exactly wrong," Emelia said. "But just like there's the Deep Place for worshippers of Nwetrou, so too is there this lighthouse for worshippers of the First Light."

"The First Light is a God too?" he asked, surprised.

She nodded. "Once you find this Brazier, he shows up as an option to worship in Stage Five. Although you have to claim the altar without killing any other Players for him to appear. He seems very pacifist in nature, but I think that's because he's the God of Life."

Adam frowned. "So the Forbidden Altar forces us to worship a God? Is that what you meant when you mentioned human mimics?"

"It was, but I'll explain it after Stage Four," she said, brushing him off like always.

He sighed, but knew to drop it for now. "Who gave Arturo his Kindling Flame?" Adam asked.

"I don't know," Emelia replied. "I'm not actually sure how it starts. There's gotta be someone who receives the Kindling Flame first though, but perhaps it's tied to worshipping the First Light."

"There's something I actually wanted to ask you," Adam said. "But do you mind if we go back to the Tavern, it's getting dark and I'm hungry."

"Would you like me to return to my own dimension?" she asked, her take-charge attitude suddenly replaced with insecurity.

"You're already here so you might as well come with me."

"Okay," she replied.

They started walking along the edge of the island as the last embers of sunlight steadily vanished from the sky.

"What did you want to ask me?" Emelia asked.

"It's about Shitbox," he started. The Eye floated along beside them, but like in the past it seemed to ignore anything said that wasn't directed at it. He still felt the need to be cautious with his words though.

Emelia blinked at the name, then she laughed. "Even though you're not the Adam I knew, you still gave it the same name."

Adam grinned. "I'm nothing if not predictable," he replied. Then his tone became serious again. "When you've unlocked the Special Denizens, have the tesseract ever made any weird noises?"

Emelia eyed the floating cube.

"I know what you mean, and yes, it has. It's caused by inconsistencies. Arturo warned me not to strain it too much, since he believes it has some sort of failsafe to eliminate Players it believes are violating the All-Seeing System's rules."

Adam frowned. "So I should avoid unlocking Special Denizens unless I can get all achievements in one go?"

"I don't think those are a big issue," she replied. "It seems to be focused more on how Players act at the start of the Trials. I don't know why, but I believe it is a test. Those too careless will be caught and eliminated, proving themselves unworthy of the Divine Relic."

The way the System explained it to me, it seemed more like there'd be consequences for carelessly looping back in time repeatedly. But perhaps that's unique to just me. After all, when Emelia loops, she isn't leaving a hole behind. Although she is resetting the timeline, which I doubt is a simple thing to do. It would kind of make sense that there'd be some sort of filter to get rid of time-loopers that cannot utilise their power well.

If someone decides to go full-on murder mode, they could probably fuck up the Trials a lot, and it kind of seems to me that the goal of the All-Seeing System is for the game to run forever. At least if it was speaking the truth about its objective being to harvest our suffering. I wonder if Mórrígan was on the verge of triggering a response from the Eye. It seems like if you kill enough Players with the Abyssal Tooth, then eventually the Trials should grind to a halt.

I wonder what happens if there is nobody left to take the Self-devouring Eye and keep the time-loops going.

Adam pushed the thoughts from his mind. It really didn't matter. The important part was just to avoid triggering whatever 'failsafe' the System had installed.

He looked at Emelia who was walking next to him. She was staring at the sunset-stained clouds with a small smile on her face.

It only just now struck him what he was even doing.

Wait. Why did I invite her to dinner with me…?

They entered the Tavern and Adam returned to his place where his fries, beer, and octopus salad remained untouched. Fortunately Finnian hadn't noticed him leave, but he was also still busy devouring his own tower of food. Belamouranthe was fast asleep next to an empty casserole and the tavernkeeper had already put a blanket over her. Grease covered her face and hands, but she looked happy as she slept.

Emelia ruffled the Elphin girl's hair and then sat down next to where Adam placed his barrier chair.

Charlie came over to them and asked, "What would your guest like to eat?"

"I'll have the same octopus dish as him," Emelia answered. "I would also like a lemonade and moules-frites. For dessert I would like a canelé and mille-feuille."

Adam grinned. "Quite the appetite."

"You're not the only one who's hungry," Emelia replied.

"Would you like anything else, Adam?" Charlie asked.

"I suppose once I'm finished with this, I'd like a vanilla milkshake and some homemade chocolate chip cookies. I bet yours taste delicious."

Charlie laughed in that bubbly way of hers, before heading for the kitchen.

"Is it okay for you to be here?" Adam asked. "Aren't you busy helping people?"

"I can talk to them from here," she told him.

She paused, her spiralling eyes fixated on his.

"What is it?" he asked.

Emelia looked away. "Nothing. I'll tell you later."

[Another Player is trying to communicate with you. Do you wish to talk to them?]

It was clear she could hear the Eye's announcement as well, since she turned to look at it.

"Who is it?" she asked before Adam had the chance.

[Player Gladwyn.]

When Emelia realised that she'd answered in his place, she apologised.

"No problem," he replied.

"Do you want to talk to him?" she asked.

He nodded. "Put him through."

[Understood.]

Gladwyn appeared opposite them and a second later Beck arrived as well.

Adam finally had the chance to try out the food he'd ordered earlier. When he picked up one of the fries, it was somehow still hot as though it'd just been made. He crunched down on it and then used his fork to try out the octopus salad.

Beck stared at him. "You look so blissful," he said.

"It's delicious," Adam replied, looking up at him. Beck and Gladwyn both had coloured lights above them from his previous query.

Looks like the bet to find the winner of Stage Three might be close this time, he realised.

"What are you eating?" Gladwyn asked.

"Octopus."

Beck switched his gaze to Emelia. "Were you two already talking? Were we interrupting?"

"Not like you to be considerate," Gladwyn commented, nudging his friend, although his arm passed right through him.

"You weren't," Adam said, washing down his mouthful with the Weissbier.

Beck turned away to talk to someone, presumably Charlie. Seeing other people eating had no doubt made him hungry.

At the same moment Emelia reached over and stole one of Adam's fries.

"Hey!" he said. "You just ordered your own, don't steal mine."

"You can just order more," she told him.

Gladwyn gasped slightly and the two of them froze, slowly turning to look at his surprised face.

"Don't worry, I won't tell him," Gladwyn quickly said, doing a 'my lips are sealed' gesture across his mouth.

"Tell me what?" Beck asked after he finished ordering.

"Nothing," Gladwyn said. "Still," he continued, looking at Adam and Emelia, "didn't it take a long time to get?"

He had immediately guessed that they were using the Visiting Stone.

Emelia nodded. "It did," she confirmed.

"What did?" Beck asked.

"Nothing," Adam said.

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why are you keeping secrets from me?"

Emelia laughed and Adam couldn't help but join in as well.

Beck looked to his friend. "I think they've gone crazy."

Adam laughed even harder.

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