Counting to Infinity

Chapter 29

Raine didn't like kids. Hell, even teenagers were pushing it.

So he was a bit baffled to find himself babysitting an angsty teen a hundred metres below the sea.

"Listen. If you don't get me back to where I'm supposed to be, the daily reset is gonna roll over for most of my games. I have no idea what kind of idiot fucks up this badly, but the very least you could do is fix your mistake."

In hindsight, 'babysitting' wasn't exactly what he'd call it. 'Being bullied' was more accurate. Though, he should've expected it when the first thing she did was call him a 'schizo'.

"Yes, yes," Raine sighed. "I'll find a way to get you back wherever you need to be. If you'd just be patient-"

"We've both been sitting here for a good half hour. Do you want to keep 'being patient' while we slowly starve here?"

Raine wanted to pull his hair out in frustration. "Nobody said anything about starving. Calm down."

"Oh, I'm as calm as one of the million fucking rocks on the ground," Rui crossed her — Nikolay's? — arms. "I might even turn into one before you find an answer."

They'd been playing this game of back-and-forth for far too long, and each clipped exchange left Raine feeling further from his goal.

"Please, could you at least act civil?" Raine said, trying his hardest to keep an even tone. "It won't help either of us if we're at each other's throats."

Rui huffed. "Whatever. I'm sleeping. Wake me up when you find an answer."

Before Raine could ask how anybody could sleep on the cold, hard floor of the ruins, she gathered the blue threads of Nikolay's magic into a vague bed-shaped mass. Rui flopped onto the concentrated magic and covered herself with the blanket.

He enviously stared at the cozy-looking bed. "You can use his magic?"

"'His'? Do you mean the person's body that I'm in? It's mine, you idiot. How else could I use it?" Rui replied, her voice muffled by the pillow.

It was hers? Suddenly, everything clicked into place for Raine.

This was the Temple of Time, so it made sense that it would pull time-related tricks. On top of this, Rui had the exact same magic as Nikolay, which implied that she was a past reincarnation of Nikolay's.

"What, you remembered that you left the stove on at home or something?" Rui groaned. "Stop making that face and just let me sleep, goddamnit."

Raine crossed his arms. "What face? I just figured out something important, so don't sleep just yet."

"If you take too long, I'm going back to sleep."

Like he wanted to spend another second in her presence, anyway. It reminded him of his early interactions with Nikolay, only infinitely more annoying now that he knew how much better Nikolay could be.

"You're one of the reincarnations of a sorcerer. The body you're in — that's his current reincarnation. We're in an ancient temple right now, and it must've reverted him back to one of his previous reincarnations."

"Pfft. Nice try. Been reading too many light novels lately or something? I'm not a 'previous' reincarnation. That implies that I've been replaced. Which I definitely haven't, because I still have my own body and consciousness."

Why couldn't she just take his word for it? It wasn't like he wanted to tell a sixteen-year-old kid that she was already dead.

"This is known as the Temple of Time. It reverted time for the owner of this body — I'm guessing it's memory-wise, considering that a past reincarnation is here. So, the body you remember no longer exists. Unfortunately."