After a small shower to think about what had happened during the last loop, I went straight into Guerda's house. I felt like I needed to speak with her before Amity arrived and asked about me to her. I imagined cartomancy was something more akin to making explosive carts you tossed to your enemies, but now I knew it was an actual thing.

When I arrived at her house, I found the door open, and at the same weird feeling in the temporal energy told me she was doing a reading. A quick glance upwards told me Amity hadn't arrived yet, as the dark clouds still hung in the sky.

I looked around and, not seeing anyone in this part of the city walking through the streets, I walked straight into her house. I was guessing that she could read the future just as well as she could read the past.

As if confirming my guess, I found her seated at the table where Amity and I partake in the reading during the last loop. She had her eyes closed in concentration, placing cards on the table, but the slight tremble of her hands told me she knew I was there and, as if confirming my thoughts, she started speaking.

"I knew you would come," she said, her eyes still closed.

I took the opportunity to observe her in more detail. She had black jet hair that ran down to just above the seat of the chair, with two locks of hair that fell over her shoulders and down to the front, there was a slight hint of green flowing through it. Although I knew Amity was older than her, she looked older than Amity, with more mature features. She opened her eyes, and I saw green eyes that turned blue. At the same time, I felt the temporal energy around us settle.

"I've spent the last few weeks preparing for you and your friend's arrival," she said, taking the cards she had put onto the table back into their respective decks and shuffling them. "I wasn't sure I wouldn't die of a heart attack before today, even though I knew you both would visit me."

I didn't say a word. I was just observing her practiced movements and speech that was clearly rehearsed over and over, still, the tremble of her hands betrayed any display of self-control. I wasn't sure if she knew who I was, but I would assume that she knew.

"Do you know how many?" She asked me as her hand stopped over the last remaining card, tapping on it as she waited for my answer.

"No," I said. There was only one thing she could be asking me about, and I was going to answer honestly. "I've lost count after fifty. If I were to guess, I would say eighty-seven?"

She flipped the card and pushed it towards the only chair on the opposite side of her, the last loop there was two. I walked up to the chair and sat down. Only then did I look over at the card she had refused to reshuffle.

The card was a simple white background with black lines stretched around it. In the middle of the card, though, was the number 174. I stared at the number as it felt like it punched me in the face.

"That many?" I asked with a sigh. "No wonder it felt like months…"

The amount of time I've spent living the same two days was truly astounding. Basic math placed me at over a year already. How much longer would I spend trapped repeating the same days until I could recover enough to continue? Would I even recognize myself in the mirror once I left?

She slowly took the card back into the deck and shuffled it, arranging the five decks of cards across the table in a line.

"I won't lie and say that I'm not scared," she said. I looked at her, and my gaze made her flinch momentarily before regaining the courage to return my stare. "But if I can't stand being near you, I won't be able to face her."

"So you know," I said, diverting my gaze to look at the cards again. I could barely feel the smallest of whisps of temporal energy in them.

"Yes," she nodded. "If you allow me a question. How many times have we met now?"

"This is the second time," I answered back. "The first time I came here with Amity, in the last loop."

She closed her eyes for a moment, then she nodded slowly and opened her eyes.

"Cartomancy isn't easy," she started. "Beyond needing to have the affinity for time high enough, which is already very rare, you need to have a mind strong enough to gaze upon the time stream and not lose your sanity."

She picked one of the decks, with the floral background, and placed a few of them on the table. The first card was of someone being stabbed in the back, the second one was of a shore, the third was of a city, and the fourth was of someone fighting a pack of wolves. I was trying to understand the meaning behind the cards when Guerda continued her explanation.

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"And even then, if you don't have a strong enough connection and the ability for it, you won't know which card must be drawn. One does not simply pick up a card from the deck, you must know which card and how many to draw and from what deck it must be drawn from, and then be able to connect them and give meaning."

"So, these ones you've just drawn," I asked, pointing towards the cards on the table.

"Random cards. They don't tell us anything about the future, past, or present," she explained to me. "But enough of this explanation. You are here, and I know I must read your cards."

The moment she said it, I knew this was a fixed point in time. I wasn't sure how it worked yet, but I knew that she would have to read my cards. At the same time, I could feel how there was a second fixed point beneath the first. Trying to understand it, all I could get from it was that it was somehow linked to the loops and would only become truly fixed if I did something that I didn't know during the loops.

As I was lost in thought, I felt the temporal energy around us becoming weirder, and when I looked at Guerda, I saw she had her eyes closed, tiny bits of green could be seen flowing through her hair.

She picked the floral deck and shuffled it, drawing two cards and placing it on the table face down, then she moved to the nebula deck and drew another card, placing it on the table and turning the other two.

The first card was the snake eating its own tail, the second one was of someone surrounded by thug looking people, and the third and final card was of a coliseum.

"The one who repeats will find themselves fighting for a shadow organization," she said before moving to place two more cards on the table.

The first card was of someone bleeding on the ground, and the second card was of a weird symbol I couldn't understand.

"A debilitating issue will fade as they continue to level up."

… is that- Before I could finish that thought, she drew more cards. These depicted a person against a wolf, someone bound by chains, and a broken chain.

"They will learn to use their will against a strong opponent."

I had no idea what that meant. She then moved to pull another card but stopped right before doing it. She furrowed her brow and tried to pick another deck, but she couldn't decide on which one.

Eventually, she sighed and opened her eyes, the temporal energy around us settling as she finished her reading. She grabbed the cards and started reorganizing them on their respective decks.

"I am sorry, but this is the most I could make out. Time seems to bend around you, and I could only see glimpses into the true meaning of the cards." She said.

"Thanks," I told her. "It at least it gave me somewhere I can start, as it seems I can't be kidnapped, yet."

She looked at me confused, but I brushed it off with a wave of my hand.

"I imagine you're going to prepare for her to arrive?" I asked as I got up from the chair.

"Yes," she answered without looking at me. "She is almost done dispersing the storm at this time. I still have a couple of hours to prepare myself, but I must thank you as well. It's not every day I can read the cards of a dragon, even if they are disguised as a cat therian."

I stared at her for a moment more, but decided to let it go. It's not like I can erase her memory of me, nor is it information she learned during the loops I can erase by resetting. She probably knew about me weeks in advance.

I left her house with a shake of my head, and once outside, I looked to the sky. The once dark clouds were now being dispersed by strong gushes of wind that blew them away from the city. From my current position, I couldn't see Amity's shape, but I knew she was there.

I knew that if I wanted to do anything, it should be before Amity appeared, as everyone in the city would shift its focus towards her, and I wouldn't be able to abuse the mind mage following me up and down. I couldn't feel, but I would guess they noticed the sky and went running towards the boss.

Unfortunately for me, I would need the mind mage to drag me to wherever they were dragging me before. If I understood the cards correctly, I would need to fight the underworld of this city to get rid of my soul burn, as I needed to level up.

I looked at my hands. They were small and had tiny claws that couldn't even compare to my true form, but still, would I have what it takes to take a life?

The memory of the bandits near Flamecrest flashed through my mind, the memory of how I broke someone's neck with just my mouth.

"No, that was different," I comforted myself. "They were assassins and deserved that destiny."

Yes, that was another story completely. Sure, there would be assassins mixed in the people I would fight, but the majority would be your typical thug who used intimidation tactics against others.

The image of the lion person, the boss, came to my mind. Yes, the source of all of this was that person. They didn't need any kind of mercy as they wouldn't have shown the same to anyone else.

Another memory came to my mind, the memory of the first time they caught me, when I was just getting used to walking again after the worst of the soul burn had passed.

My heart ached, but I had done my mind. I would use the loops and destroy the underworld running in the dark side of this city as long as I needed to level up.

I had convinced myself that their lives weren't in real danger, as the next loop would just erase their deaths. It was something with no downsides.

I looked up at the sky once more, feeling the warmth coming from the sun as it heated my fur. I looked at the mansion in the middle of the city, where Amity would be arriving in a few minutes, and reached out to the temporal strand around me with [Time Manipulation], and the world rewound around me.

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