Harvie opened his eyes.
Pain. Again.
The smell of blood was heavy. His chest ached. His body twitched like it remembered dying.
He coughed, rolling onto his side. The world spun around him. He wasn't sure where he was—until he saw the cracked dungeon wall and Edna's scorched boot nearby.
He had died.
Again.
But this time, something was wrong.
His hands trembled. Not from fear, but from confusion. The reset had happened… but it didn't feel clean. It was like waking from a dream that hadn't fully ended.
He stood up slowly, brushing the dust off his jacket. Edna and the others were moving around the dungeon, preparing for the fight again.
They were saying things… odd things.
"Didn't we already fight this monster?" one squad member asked.
"No. That's just deja vu," another replied.
But Harvie knew. Something was wrong.
Edna turned toward him. Her eyes were wide, tired. "You... died, didn't you?"
He froze.
"What?"
She shook her head quickly, like trying to forget. "Never mind. I just had a dream. You were bleeding. You said something about time. It felt… real. Too real."
Harvie's heart stopped.
She remembered.
Not fully. But enough.
A system message blinked in his mind.
> [WARNING: UNLAMENTED USAGE EXCEEDED STABILITY RANGE. ANOMALY BREACHED.]
> [TIME LOOP INTEGRITY: 76%]
He bit his lip hard, until blood filled his mouth. No. Not now. Not here.
He forced a smile for Edna. "It was just a bad dream. Let's finish this dungeon."
---
That night, after the raid, Harvie sat alone in his room at the Rivenfold barracks. He stared at his hands.
They were shaking again.
Not from battle. From fear.
His rewinds had always worked before. Clean. Precise. A second chance with no cracks.
But now?
Some teammates remembered bits. Edna saw flashes. His own body remembered pain that hadn't happened in this timeline.
The system was cracking.
> [REWIND DATA: CORRUPTED.]
> [YOU HAVE ENTERED A FRACTURED LOOP. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.]
He stood up and paced the room. "What's causing this?"
A soft knock at the door.
Edna.
She entered, holding two mugs of warm tea. "You didn't eat dinner. Thought you might need something."
Harvie took the tea and nodded. "Thanks."
Edna sat beside him on the bed. Her eyes looked distant.
"I saw you die," she whispered.
Harvie turned to her slowly.
"In my dream. You jumped in front of me. A blade pierced your back. You smiled at me and said, 'One more time.'"
He said nothing.
Edna laughed softly, but it didn't sound happy. "I'm scared, Harvie. I think I'm going crazy."
He wanted to lie. To say it was just a dream.
But he couldn't.
Instead, he placed his hand over hers.
"You're not crazy."
Edna blinked. "Then what is this?"
Harvie looked down.
"I think… something is wrong with time. And maybe… with me."
Silence.
Then Edna squeezed his hand.
"We'll face it together."
He nodded. But inside, he felt the weight growing heavier.
He had always thought he could control the timeline.
But now, time was pushing back.
And the cracks had begun.
---
The next morning, a new mission appeared on his system log.
> [QUEST UPDATED: FIND THE SOURCE OF THE FRACTURE. LOCATION: SHATTERGLASS LABYRINTH.]
Harvie stared at it for a long time.
He knew.
Everything was about to change.
And the next death… might be the last one that rewinds.