The elevator doors opened, releasing a cloud of steam and the smell of hot oil.
Floor 6: The Clockwork Jungle was a mechanical marvel. The trees were made of brass pipes, their leaves were thin sheets of copper that clinked in the wind, and the ground was a mesh of interlocking gears. High above, a massive, artificial sun ticked like a metronome.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
[SYSTEM ALERT: FLOOR 6 ENTERED]
[FRAGMENT RADAR: ACTIVE]
[WARNING: TEMPORAL ANOMALY DETECTED.]
"It's beautiful," Rhea whispered, reaching out to touch a flower made of spinning springs. "It sounds like a music box."
"Don't touch it!" Aryan shouted.
Too late. Rhea's finger brushed the flower. A spring snapped shut.
CLACK.
Suddenly, the jungle woke up. The ground gears spun violently. From the canopy dropped a monstrosity—a Tiger made of jagged rusted iron and ticking clocks.
[ENEMY: THE TICK-TOCK BEAST (LVL 60)]
The Beast roared—a sound of grinding metal. It lunged at Rhea.
"Rhea!" Aryan drew Excaliburn.
But he was too slow. The Beast swiped. Rhea vanished in a spray of pixels.
Then the Beast turned on Sarah. Slash.
Then the First Son. Crunch.
"No!" Aryan screamed, charging forward.
The Beast whipped its tail. It decapitated Aryan before he could even activate [The Red Pen].
[YOU HAVE DIED.]
[GAME OVER.]
...
...
[LOADING CHECKPOINT...]
Loop 2: The Confusion
DING.
The elevator doors opened, releasing a cloud of steam and the smell of hot oil.
"It's beautiful," Rhea whispered, reaching out to touch a flower made of spinning springs. "It sounds like a music box."
Aryan gasped, stumbling out of the elevator. He clutched his chest. The phantom pain of the tail-whip was still there.
"Rhea, stop!" Aryan grabbed her hand, pulling it back.
"Aryan?" Rhea looked confused. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Aryan looked around. Everyone was alive. The First Son was polishing his shield. Barnaby was bubbling happily.
"I... I died," Aryan whispered. "We all died."
"You're hallucinating, darling," Barnaby said. "Perhaps the soufflé fumes haven't worn off."
"No," a voice whispered beside him. "He's not hallucinating."
Aryan turned. Mira was standing there, her face pale, her hand trembling on her dagger.
"I saw it too," Mira said softly. "The Tiger. The gears. The blood."
[SYSTEM ALERT: PASSIVE SKILL "ANCHOR" ACTIVATED.]
[SYSTEM ALERT: FRAGMENT #1 "PERSPECTIVE" ACTIVATED.]
[NOTE: ONLY THE ARCHITECT AND THE ANCHOR RETAIN MEMORY OF THE LOOP.]
"We're in a Time Loop," Aryan realized. He looked at the giant sun-clock in the sky. It was counting down. [09:59]. "Every 10 minutes, or when we die, it resets."
ROAR.
The Tick-Tock Beast dropped from the trees again, even though Rhea hadn't touched the flower. It was a scripted event.
"Dodge left!" Aryan screamed.
They didn't react fast enough.
The Beast lunged.
Sarah died.
Barnaby's bowl shattered.
Aryan tried to fight, but Excaliburn jammed in the sheath.
[YOU HAVE DIED.]
[LOADING CHECKPOINT...]
Loop 15: The Frustration
DING.
"It's beauti—"
"Don't touch the flower!" Aryan snapped, storming out of the elevator. "First Son, shield up! 45 degrees to the left! NOW!"
The First Son raised his shield instantly.
CLANG.
The Tick-Tock Beast slammed into the shield, denting the ironwood.
"It works!" Sarah cheered.
"Not for long," Aryan gritted his teeth. "Barnaby, bubble barrier!"
"I can't just perform on comma—"
SPLAT.
A gear fell from the sky and crushed the fishbowl.
[YOU HAVE DIED.]
Loop 47: The Grind
Aryan sat in the elevator, cleaning his fingernails.
"Okay," he muttered to himself. "At 00:05, the Tiger drops. At 00:10, the floor gears rotate clockwise. At 00:15, Barnaby says something stupid and gets eaten by a mechanical bird."
"What are you muttering about?" Sarah asked.
"Just memorizing the choreography," Aryan said. He looked at Mira. She looked exhausted. Dying forty-seven times takes a toll on the soul, even if the body resets.
"One more time?" Mira asked weakly.
"No," Aryan stood up. His eyes burned with the cold, calculated fire of a Speedrunner. "This time, we clear it."
He didn't just have a plan. He had the Script.
Loop 48: The Perfect Run
DING.
The doors opened. Aryan didn't hesitate. He walked out with the swagger of a man who owns the place.
"Rhea, C-Major chord, three seconds... NOW!" Aryan commanded.
Rhea didn't question him. She strummed her lute.
STRUM.
The sound wave hit the canopy just as the Tick-Tock Beast jumped. The vibration threw the beast off balance. It missed the First Son and crashed into a pile of gears.
"First Son, Shield Bash! Downward strike!" Aryan ordered, not even looking.
CRUNCH.
The Giant smashed the Beast's head before it could stand up.
"Keep moving!" Aryan shouted, walking briskly through the deadly jungle. "Sarah, duck!"
Sarah ducked. A saw-blade whizzed past her ear, missing by an inch.
"How did you know?!" Sarah shrieked.
"Stove! Fireball at the 2 o'clock position! 30 meters!"
The Stove didn't ask why. It spat a fireball.
BOOM.
It hit a Clockwork Sniper hidden in the trees that no one had even seen.
Aryan was conducting a symphony of violence. He wasn't reacting; he was acting.
"Barnaby!" Aryan shouted. "Three bubbles! Now!"
"Why three?"
"DO IT!"
Barnaby blew three bubbles.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
The bubbles floated up and blocked the sensors of a Laser Turret hidden in a flower. The lasers refracted and blew up the turret.
"Show off," Barnaby muttered.
They reached the center of the jungle in record time: [04:00].
Standing there was the source of the loop.
It wasn't a monster. It was a massive, golden Grandfather Clock embedded in a tree. The hands were spinning backward.
[BOSS: THE CHRONO-KEEPER]
[HP: INFINITE (TIME IMMUNITY)]
The Clock transformed. It grew metal arms and legs. It stood up, towering over them.
"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT TIME," the Clock boomed. "I WILL REWIND YOU UNTIL YOU ROT."
The Clock raised its hand to snap its fingers—a move that would trigger a forced reset.
"I can't defeat time," Aryan said, stepping forward. He raised his hand. His mahogany finger glowed with the [Red Pen]. "But I can edit the duration."
Aryan didn't attack the Boss's HP. He attacked the Boss's Description.
The System text hovered over the Boss:
[ABILITY: REWINDS TIME EVERY 10 MINUTES.]
Aryan slashed his finger through the number 10.
He replaced it with ∞.
[ABILITY MODIFIED: REWINDS TIME EVERY ∞ MINUTES.]
The Clock froze. It tried to snap its fingers, but the System denied the request. The loop condition could never be met.
"Now!" Aryan shouted. "He's not immortal anymore! He's just a clock! Break him!"
"With pleasure!" The First Son charged, creating an earthquake.
Mira [Shadow Stepped] behind the Clock and stabbed its gears with her twin daggers.
Rhea sang a high-note that shattered the clock face glass.
And Barnaby... well, Barnaby blew a bubble that distracted the Clock for exactly one second.
Aryan drew Excaliburn.
"I'm brave! I'm brave!" the sword chanted nervously.
"Cut the pendulum!" Aryan commanded.
He swung.
SHING.
The Mythic Blade sliced through the brass pendulum swinging inside the Clock's chest.
GONG.
The sound was mournful and deep. The Chrono-Keeper shuddered. Its gears ground to a halt. The golden light in its eyes faded.
[BOSS DEFEATED.]
[TIME LOOP BROKEN.]
[FRAGMENT COLLECTED: 2/5]
The Aftermath
The jungle went silent. The ticking stopped.
Aryan fell to his knees, gasping. The mental load of memorizing 48 loops crashed down on him.
Mira walked over to him. She didn't say anything. She just sat beside him and leaned her head on his shoulder. She was the only one who knew how many times they had died to get here.
"You led us perfectly," Sarah said, adjusting her glasses, looking at Aryan with newfound awe. "It was like you could see the future."
"Something like that," Aryan smiled weakly.
He opened his inventory. The second Architect's Fragment floated there.
[ITEM: THE HOURGLASS OF PATIENCE]
Passive Skill: You can pause time for 5 seconds once per day.
"Useful," Aryan muttered.
"We leveled up," Rhea cheered. "I learned a new song! [Ballad of the Berserker]!"
"And I," the Stove clanged, "Have learned how to make a Clockwork Pizza. It's crunchy, but timely."
Aryan stood up. He looked at the elevator to Floor 7.
"Two Fragments down," Aryan said. "Three to go."
"I hope the next floor doesn't have math," Barnaby sighed. "Or tigers. Or clocks."
The elevator doors opened.
A cold wind blew out. It smelled of... nothing.
[SYSTEM: FLOOR 7 - THE VOID OF FORGOTTEN NPCS.]
Aryan's smile faded.
"Forgotten NPCs?" he whispered. "That sounds... sad."