The Loop (?/FFF) *COMPLETE*

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Post by CerberusKing »

The bondage is getting tighter and I'm into it. Also, RIP mans nuts.
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They wound up getting all the information they needed from a single phone call. Bryan was obviously confused by three strangers calling out of the blue to ask about Gavin’s secret cabin, but Miranda masterfully spun her own little story together to win him over.

“Bryan, we know about Gavin and his magical practices. He was a follower of the Great Ozolas just like us. We’ve been searching for him ever since his disappearance, and we have a strong lead, but we need to know where his old hunting cabin is. We… have magic powers that allow us to learn secrets just by being in contact with things.”

Heather and Nadine both shot Miranda a look as she said that. It was becoming apparent that she was just making stuff up, and even Bryan couldn’t help but show some rare skepticism.

“How exactly can you--"

It was Heather who interjected. “Gavin is a sweet boy who used the cabin so that he wouldn’t accidentally hurt anyone, he had dreams about Iveta Ozola and was going to go visit her when he crashed his car. Also, he cried because blind people can’t see puppies and that’s really sad.”

It was a long shot, but it worked. Their apparent knowledge of Gavin's closely-kept secrets was enough to win over Bryan’s trust, and he readily handed over some GPS coordinates to the girls. He said that it’d be useless to try and give them directions since the cabin was pretty far off the beaten path. It had been abandoned ages ago when the woods surrounding it had been turned into a national park and a campsite had been built nearby. Incidentally, it was the very same campsite that the girls had originally met Brian at.

“Of course,” Nadine exclaimed. “That’s gotta be why Gassy was so harsh with us on that day!”

Heather and Miranda both stared at her quizzically until she elaborated. “Remember when he taped us to those trees until we couldn’t move a muscle; How he tickled us relentlessly even though you two surrendered peacefully? Well, that was because we were close to the shack and he wanted to make extra sure that we couldn’t get out!”

That… made sense. “Holy crap,” Heather whispered to herself. She may have walked right by the place without realizing.

“Well, what are we waiting for,” Miranda asked. “Let’s pull back the curtain and see who’s behind!”

“Hell yeah,” Nadine yelled.

Heather was quick to join in their excitement. They were closing in. The end was in sight!

Heather drove them to the campsite. That appeared to be as close as they could get before having to go on foot. Along the way, they formulated a plan: stick together and head for the coordinates. If they ran into trouble, they would run for the shack and never look back. It was simple, but it would work. It needed to work.

They hiked single-file in a line of three with Nadine at the front, Heather in the middle, and Miranda in the rear. All three of them were dead silent during their walk through the woods. They may have been excited, but they still couldn’t afford to let their guard down. The only sound Heather made was the occasional stifled whimper. Their commitment to not wearing socks was causing her soles some grief as they tramped through the rough terrain. She found some solace with the fact that her poor feet likely wouldn’t have any blisters the next morning.

Heather checked her phone again. They still had some distance to cover, but they were closing in. It was then that the sound of a snapping twig caused Heather to snap her head up like a meerkat. Had that sound come from Miranda or Nadine? It sounded a bit far off…

Heather darted her eyes back and forth. “Guys, I--"

Movement! Heather only caught it in the farthest corner of her peripheral vision, but something definitely moved. She gasped and threw her gaze to the left. She looked just in time to see a tall silhouette duck behind some trees.

“Run!”

Heather broke out into a sprint. She heard her cousin curse under her breath as she also dashed into full speed ahead. This was the second time in a week that Heather had found herself scrambling through the woods, and it was just as unpleasant as it had been the first time. She kept her hands up like a boxer to try and keep the branches out of her face, but it didn’t stop them from catching in her red hair.

Heather never saw Gassy catching up to them. She only saw his hand lash out from behind a tree and grab a fistful of the back of Nadine’s shirt. The Muslim damsel yelped in surprise as she was yanked backwards, and Heather screamed in shock. The time loop could go on for a millennium and she would never get used to Gassy’s surprise attacks.

Nadine had been stopped dead in her tracks, but Heather and Miranda carried on. They had all agreed to turn back for nothing. Nadine would keep Gassy busy for as long as she could while the others stuck to the plan and made a break for the shack. Heather hated having to leave her friend behind like that, but there was nothing they could do to help her.

‘Don’t look back,’ Heather thought. ‘Don’t look back!’

The only thing Heather would slow down for every now and again was her phone. She had to make sure that she was still going in the right direction. Other than that, she was firing on all cylinders, and her lungs were burning like hot coals when she heard a loud thud behind her. She turned her gaze behind her and saw that Miranda had tripped on a root and fallen to the dirt.

“Keep going,” Miranda cried as she scrambled back to her feet.

Heather didn’t need to be told twice, and he propelled herself forward. She propelled herself until she’d used up the last of her adrenaline rush, and then she tapped into her reservoir of desperate willpower.

‘I’m going the right way. Gotta keep running! Keep running!

She screamed that mantra over and over inside her head until suddenly there were no more bushes scratching at her shins and no more branches ripping at her hair. Heather had launched out of the tree line and into a large clearing, a clearing that was so perfectly flat and circular that it couldn’t have possibly come about by natural means.

And at its centre was a shack.

“Oh my God,” Heather panted. “We made it! We made it, Miranda!”

No one answered. Heather turned around, and discovered that there was no ‘we’.

“Miranda?”

Heather’s heart sank as she realized that she was alone. She couldn’t have gotten that far ahead of Miranda after her stumble. When had she been caught? How had Heather never noticed? After three unreserved seconds of terror, the last girl standing gave her head a stiff shake, forced herself to turn, and ran to the cabin. Alone or not, she had a mission to fulfil.

There was no doubt in Heather’s mind that this was the place. Gavin must have cleared the forest around the cabin to give himself lots of open space for practice. Bryan had made it sound like the cabin was long abandoned, but Gavin must have done a good job at maintaining the place. Sure, the old lead paint was cracking and peeling away all over, but the structure itself seemed to be standing strong.

It wasn’t a very big cabin though. Maybe ten feet by twelve feet at best with a gable roof covered in dented tin. It was impossible to guess how many heavy downpours and windy nights that little building had endured, but the windows hadn’t survived. They had been boarded over by what looked like really old plywood, and Heather had no way of peering inside.

No way except the front door.

Heather’s heart seemed to pound harder and harder the closer she got to that creepy wooden shack. She had no idea why she was so scared. After all, she’d been dealing with the stuff of nightmares for a while now. But then again, she had no idea what would be on the other side of that door.

Heather took a deep breath. “This is why I’m here. There’s nowhere to go but forward…”

She wrapped her fingers on the door’s old, rusty handle, and the latch creaked open. There was no lock or anything. All she had to do was step inside.

“Let’s meet the man behind the curtain…”
Last edited by TomYi 2 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Nainur »

what-a-suspense! Superb job! Do make a netflix-series of it! :D :D :D
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Post by Caesar73 »

Intense and dramatic and a devious cliffhanger at the end :)
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Post by GreyLord »

Heather is made of sterner stuff than I have been giving her credit for. Go girl!
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Post by Syko Sith »

Intense chapter. Probably why the cliffhanger is so frustrating :lol:
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Post by Syko Sith »

Intense chapter. Probably why the cliffhanger is so frustrating :lol:
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Post by Syko Sith »

Oops pressed the button too many times. Apologies
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Post by Red86 »

We get a little closer to some more clues and....insert cliffhanger 🤣. You get me everytime but that just keeps us coming back for more!!
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Post by Nainur »

Red86 wrote: 2 years ago We get a little closer to some more clues and....insert cliffhanger 🤣. You get me everytime but that just keeps us coming back for more!!
One might think he's doing this on purpose! :D :D :D
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Post by Red86 »

Nainur wrote: 2 years ago
Red86 wrote: 2 years ago We get a little closer to some more clues and....insert cliffhanger 🤣. You get me everytime but that just keeps us coming back for more!!
One might think he's doing this on purpose! :D :D :D
One would think that wouldn't they 🤣🤣. Tom always knows when to end a chapter. Atleast he doesn't leave us on these cliffhangers for long 😁. Unlike those writers of tv shows that'll leave you hanging for months after a season ends 🤣
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Post by TomYi »

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[mention]bondagefreak[/mention] [mention]Caesar73[/mention] [mention]CerberusKing[/mention] [mention]chelseykittyc@t[/mention] [mention]GreyLord[/mention] [mention]Nainur[/mention] [mention]NotSeen[/mention] [mention]Ogg[/mention] [mention]Red86[/mention] [mention]roguehorseman[/mention] [mention]Rtj65[/mention] [mention]slackywacky[/mention] [mention]starinski[/mention] [mention]Syko Sith[/mention]

Thanks for your patience. It's been a busy week for me (and next week will likely be worse) but we're finally here! The truth is about to reveal itself, and the final chapter of this saga is up next!

Also, It looks like The Loop has surpassed 15,000 views, which is wonderful!

Enjoy the big reveal, and be sure to leave a comment!

Heather had no idea what she expected to find within the walls of that lonely wooden shack. She’d seen so much unbelievable crap since this whole thing had started that it was difficult to keep track of. Time loops, soothsayers, unstoppable zombie kidnappers, between all of that insanity, Heather wouldn’t be surprised if she found Voldemort on the other side of the door.

But she was still surprised.

It was a palace in there! Literally a palace! Heather froze in her tracks, forgetting all about her fear and determination as everything between her ears was replaced with astonishment. She was standing in a grand foyer, a vast and open entrance hall with polished marble floors, twin staircases curving up to a second storey, and gold accents lining the edges of every ornament, moulding, and furniture piece in the room. Intricate patterns glistened off of the burgundy wallpaper, and dark oak doors flanked Heather on all sides. It was like Versailles!

“Th-this shouldn’t be real,” Heather gasped inaudibly. “This can’t be real!”

She stepped in further and placed her dainty hand on the stairs’ ornate railing. She half expected for her hand to glide right through it as though it were made of gas, but her fingers felt real solid matter. It was incredible! Heather was immediately reminded of that scene from Harry Potter where the Weasleys all bunked in a puny tent that was actually the size of a cottage on the inside, but this was on a whole other level! Bryan had never mentioned anything like this before. Was this Gavin’s doing, or…

Heather snapped out of her perplexity. That last question had kicked her back on track and reminded her that there was no time to gawk, no matter how incredible this place was. She looked around the foyer. Apart from the exit, there were six doors lining the walls of the ground floor, and a wide double door at the top of the stairs.

Heather ascended up the steps. 'In big mansions, the guy in charge always bunks upstairs, right?’

When Heather opened up the double doors upstairs, she was greeted with an even larger room, and with even more doors. The place was a maze! The room’s center was remarkably underfurnished, which got Heather wondering just how many bad guys she was dealing with. If there were just two conspirators, then they wouldn’t need such a large mansion, but if there were actually a lot of conspirators, then they could use a few more couches.

Such thoughts could wait though. She had to keep moving. Surely the truth was behind one of those doors. Might as well pick one and go.

As Heather lightly stepped around the perimeter of this sprawling floor, she listened for sounds of life. Maybe the hidden puppetmaster would give away his position and shorten her search? She didn’t hear any noises for a very long time, but when she did, she just about jumped up off the floor.

A door was being opened. The door that she had come through.

Her instincts all screamed ‘HIDE’, and she ducked behind the nearest door like a rabbit bolting down its hole. There was no light in this new room, but Heather didn’t dare search for a light switch. She barely even allowed herself to breathe, lest she give her position away. She may have been quiet as a mouse, but she wasn’t quiet enough. This newcomer seemed to have a sixth sense about where she was, and Heather quickly found out why.

The door tore open beside her, and a gloved hand grabbed hold of Heather’s arm. She’d been through this enough times to know precisely who that hand belonged to.

Gassy.

“NO! NOOO--MMmnph!”

She was pulled out of the dark room and a big rubber ball was lodged between her teeth. Heather fought like never before to try and break free. She’d come too far to fail now! Sadly, Gassy had other plans.

The ball gag was strapped snugly around her head, and Heather was thrown to the floor. She grunted and yelped into that humiliating gag as rope was coiled around her elbows, then her wrists, and then her knees and ankles. Gassy moved with incredible speed, almost as though he was scrambling. He pulled Heather’s ankles back, causing her to groan in despair. The elbow bondage was bad enough, but did she really have to spend the night in another crummy hogt--

“McGUINESS!”

Gassy stopped dead in his tracks, leaving his captive’s hogtie only half-finished. Heather’s gagged face shot up off the floor, and she stared with gigantic eyes at the source of that yell.

A darkly dressed man was standing in one of the doorways. He was dressed in what looked like a tailored black suit, along with a shirt and pants that were just as black. His only item of clothing that wasn’t pitch black was a green glass medallion that hung from his neck. His hair, by contrast, was almost as white as snow. At least, the hair that was left. The had the hairline of Mr Burns from The Simpsons, as well as his nose. What stood out was the long beard that hung from his chin and down his chest like a neck tie. His face was adorned with spots and wrinkles, and he looked much older than his straight posture would indicate.

“Tell me that isn’t one of them,” He shouted in this furious, somewhat nasal voice marked by a sharp Baltic accent. “Tell me that you didn’t actually allow them to get this far before… wait, what the hell are you even doing?!”

He stormed closer to them, and Heather began to catch the scent of Bengay. “I ordered you to neutralize them! You call this neutralized?! Honestly, good help should not be this hard to find!”

This old man was creating a whirlwind of questions in Heather’s brain. Did he not intend for them to get tied up? He looked down at Heather with these piercing, raptor-like eyes before saying, “Still, I suppose she’s no longer a threat. Finish whatever it is you were doing and get her out of here so I can begin the next phase.”

“Mmph!” Heather felt her window of opportunity closing as Gassy tied off the knot that would hold her wrists and ankles together. She was in the same room as Gassy’s boss, but she couldn’t ask him a single question! The young student writhed and protested for all she was worth. She knew that Gassy would never let her go, but she needed to speak with this guy.

“Grmnph mn nnm! Hhmmm!”

Heather had no idea where her strength came from. Maybe it was adrenaline, maybe the gag was in looser than she thought, or maybe that was just how she was when she was backed up into a corner; but for whatever reason, when Heather pushed with her tongue against the ball gag, it moved.

“Mm, mmn.”

Little grunts left her lips as she strained against her gag ‘s leather strap. It was moving, but she needed it to go farther. If she could just get it past her teeth…

’Yes!’ The ball slid out of Heather’s mouth and she frantically shook her head around like a salt shaker until her gag hung around her neck like a necklace. “Wait,” she cried. “I just wanna talk! Who are yo--MMN!”

Gassy was quick to cut her off, forcing the ball back into her mouth. She could feel its straps digging tightly into the corners of her mouth, and she knew that that was it. That trick wouldn’t work again.

The old man spun around with one of his bushy eyebrows raised up to his scalp. “Wait, did she just ask who I was? Was that a joke? McGuiness, put that thing away! Let our guest talk.”

Heather was relieved, but her joy was overshadowed by everything else going on. She was still strictly hogtied and in the company of scary villains, but at least she could get some answers. The ball made a small pop as Gassy pulled it from between Heather’s lips, and her jaw sang with relief.

“It wasn’t a joke,” Heather said. She looked up at the old man and continued. “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know why any of this is happening!”

The old man actually looked more offended than anything else. “You’re lying. My sister prophesized that you and your friends would be the ones to stop my greatest achievement. Hell, you even infiltrated my lair! How do you not know who I am?!”

Sister? Prophesized? Heather’s mind may have been flustered, but she was still able to put the pieces together. “You’re Iveta’s brother, aren’t you? You’re Valdis Ozola!”

He didn’t look satisfied with that at all. “Oh, I am so much more than ‘Iveta’s brother’. I am the first ever master of the arcane!” He gestured to their extravagant surroundings and cried, “I’m the first human to not only channel magic, but control it!”

Heather was frightened by his outburst, but she still had more questions. “But why would you do this? Why are you after us?”

Valdis looked puzzled. “Is it not you who was after me? Do you really know nothing, child?”

Heather shook her head.

“My sister told you nothing of my plans?”

Heather shook her head again. “No. I just want to know why this guy is attacking us!”

“Who, McGuiness?” Valdis scoffed. “He’s a precaution. I am at the cusp of a magical breakthrough that will change everything, but my dear sister insisted on getting in the way. She warned me that you and your two cohorts would defeat me, so I took it upon myself to make sure that wouldn’t happen.

“To play it safe, I decided to deal with you three from a safe distance, and so I… conscripted the help of our aspirant acolyte, Gavin McGuiness. I pulled him from death’s door, endowed him with power beyond that of any man, and set him loose on you.”

“But what’s with the gas mask?”

Valdis shrugged. “Beats me. I think it’s just because he’s ugly. The young fool was in a car crash, and it left him in pretty bad shape." He shot Gassy a disapproving glare and said "With that in mind, you would think that he'd be more grateful for my employment. I tell you, it was the smartest move ever not to restore his voice.”

Heather laid there on the floor, shaking her head and trying to make sense of what she was hearing. “But this doesn’t add up. I never wanted to stop you. I don’t even know what you’re trying to do!”

Valdis’ lipped stretched into a chilling smile. “Well then, let me spell it out for you. Have you ever wondered if time travel was possible?”

Heather’s heart jumped into her throat. She stammered, not knowing how to answer that. Luckily, Valdis continued without her.

“Well I certainly have. As you can see, I’ve mastered the magic of space and matter, but time, time is the ultimate frontier! I labored for decades over the secret to travelling into the past, and two months from now, I cracked the code!”

He knelt down in front of Heather. The excitement on his face was almost manic, and he looked as though he couldn’t stop monologuing even if he wanted to. Heather wanted to get away from his creepy face, but the ropes held her firmly in place.

“It’s not a matter of moving time around yourself. It’s a matter of projecting your memories backwards! I’ve already managed to project my memories from next August back to my present self, and using that knowledge, I will send myself back to a time when I was even younger than you! I will have my youth back as well as a lifetime of knowledge and experience!"

“You shouldn't have to tie me up in order to do that,” Heather said, pulling at her ropes. “I’ve never hurt you before, and I’m not about to now! There’s no sense in hurting me or my friends.”

“Hmf.” Valdis achingly rose to his feet. “Of course, you haven’t hurt me before. You apparently had no idea who I was until today. Besides, I don’t think you understand. Nothing matters anymore. Your suffering is irrelevant. Once I go back, history will be forever changed. Anything that happens to you now will all be undone soon.”

“That’s so cold,” Heather gasped. “You can’t just dismiss everything like that. What if it doesn’t work?”

“McGuiness, put the gag back in.”

“Wai--mn.” Heather’s words were cut off as the ball once again filled her oral cavity.

“You sound just like my sister. No confidence in my abilities, only fear and opposition. If she had just trusted me, then I never would have had to…” A look of sorrow crossed the old man’s face and he swallowed hard. “Well, as I said, it doesn’t matter what I did to her. I’ll save her yet, and then I’ll save countless others. Now that you’re out of the way, the next phase can finally begin!

“No more holding back! I’m through with living in Iveta’s shadow, carrying on with the guise of a lowly carnival magician. I’m going to use my gift as it was meant to be used, and pave the way for a bright new future!”

He stepped into the centre of the sprawling room and turned to face Heather and Gassy. He glanced down at the bound and gagged redhead, and shot her a gentle smile. “For what it’s worth, I do hope that you will exist happily in my new timeline.”

Heather had never seen anyone perform real magic before. She wasn’t sure if there needed to be a ritual or an incantation or anything, but Valdis’ efforts weren’t so theatrical. Still, they were fascinating to watch. The old Latvian mage closed his eyes and spread his arms apart. He raised his face upwards, and his feet slowly lifted off of the floor. Heather had seen magicians levitate before, but there was definitely more to it with Valdis. He said nothing, remaining perfectly still, but Heather could feel something shifting in the room.

After a few seconds, she realized that it wasn’t just her feelings. Gassy stood over her, still as a statue, and she could see his loose clothing start to flap around as though it was caught in a draft.

Things only got stranger from there.

The lights began to flicker and the floor started to rumble, really rumble too. It was like an earthquake, and it was rough enough to rock the hogtied girl onto her side. Valdis’ lips parted and he beamed from ear to ear as his silent feat progressed towards its climax. Heather didn’t share his excitement in the slightest. In fact, she felt… tired.

Yes, and not just tired, but a very familiar kind of tired. One that she had succumbed to repeatedly in recent days. The trance! It enveloped her like a cocoon, draining her energy and forcing her to go under. As Valdis Ozola cackled triumphantly, Heather wondered if…



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CRAASHH
Last edited by TomYi 2 years ago, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by GreyLord »

It is difficult to be a commanding presence when hogtied. But Heather is doing as well as she can. You paved the way for this development nicely. Still, it caught me by surprise. Well done, indeed.
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Post by slackywacky »

Very good update, thank you, worth the wait. Now let's see what crashed...
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment.
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Post by Nainur »

Top job!
Thrilling stuff!

(would make a thrilling RP, but the idea is out of the box, now... :D )
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Post by Caesar73 »

Let´s do the time warp gain :) Fantastic Idea and a very plausible solution for what happens. I´m very curious how the story will unfold further :)
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Post by Red86 »

Very interesting developments!!

Shame we're down to the last chapter now. But I guess all good things do come to an end. Looking forward to the conclusion of this tail 😀
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Post by Syko Sith »

I WAS RIGHT!! I suspected something like this. You waited exactly long enough. Now the ladies need to figure out what to do with this info. :D
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Post by CerberusKing »

Now things are reaching their peak.
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Post by TomYi »

“Hrrmph. Grrmph!”

Miranda shuffled her shoulders up and down, pulling at the ropes that bound her wrists together. Gassy had tied her up very hastily that night, only bothering to bind her wrists and ankles. Sadly, that jerk was really efficient when he wanted to be. Miranda’s ankles weren’t coming loose anytime soon, and he’d bound her arms around the base of a tree trunk. She wasn’t going anywhere so long as her hands were tied, and those ropes weren’t budging in the slightest.

Miranda groaned with frustration into the simple tape gag plastered over her stuffed mouth. She’d given Heather as much time as she could, but it was looking like that was all she could do for now. Those ropes would keep her seated at the base of that tree all night, and Nadine was most likely in a similar position. It was all up to her little cousin now.

Miranda leaned her head back into the tree’s rough bark. She could feel the fatigue beginning to overpower her. ‘At least I won’t have any bug bites when I wake up, she thought. ‘At least…’



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CRAASHH

“NADINE!”

Miranda rubbed her eyes and lifted herself off the couch with a tired grunt.

“MIRANDA!”

It was Heather’s voice that shot through the house, and she sounded frantic. The urgency in her piercing cry passed on to Miranda and filled her with fear. What was the matter? What had Heather seen?

Heather shot into the living room. She hadn’t changed out of her pajamas, and her eyes looked as though they could burst out of their sockets at any moment. She locked eyes with Miranda, breathing heavily.

“It’s Valdis Ozola, Iveta’s brother, he’s the one behind everything!”

Those ten words had been blurted out in less than half as many seconds, and Miranda barely caught any of it.

“Wh-Wha--.”

Heather cut her off. She apparently had a lot more to say, and she couldn’t get it out fast enough. “Valdis Ozola is trying send himself back through time, but it won’t work!”

Nadine entered the room and curiously joined in the conversation. “What do you mean it won’t work? Why not?”

“Remember what Bryan said about magic,” Heather asked? “No one knows how it works, and therefore no one knows how to control it. Well, Valdis has gotten good enough that he thinks he can he can use magic to turn back time, but his magic isn’t working the way he thinks it is. He’s not sending himself back in time. He’s sending us!”

“What,” Miranda asked again? “How could you possibly know that?”

“I saw him try,” Heather exclaimed. “He said that he was going to bring about a new timeline, but all his spell did was put me to sleep. I woke up in my bedroom.

“Don’t you see? That’s what’s causing the time loop! That’s what’s been putting us to sleep every night! Everytime we get tied up, he unknowingly tries and fails to time travel, but he just sets us back to this morning!”

That was… a lot to take in. Miranda was already put off by her cousin’s blatant ‘Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc’ fallacy, but she still had more questions to ask before she could address that. “That doesn’t explain Gassy or why he ties us up.”

“That’s the craziest part,” Heather began. “Apparently, Iveta tried to stop Valdis, and warned him that we would stop him if he went ahead with his plan.”

Miranda and Nadine both responded in unison. “Us?!”

“Yeah, I don’t know why, but us! I guess Valdis took that threat seriously because he says that he ‘conscripted’ Gavin McGuiness to ‘neutralize’ us. Gavin really is Gassy, but I think that he’s being controlled by Valdis. I think that poor boy is supposed to… to kill us, but he doesn’t want to, so he gets around his master’s commands by tying us up instead!”

This whole thing sounded insane from start to finish. Miranda wished more than anything that she could have been there with her cousin to see what she saw. There had to be another explanation, but Nadine didn’t seem to want to look for it. She just smiled and said, “So all we have to do is take him down and the loop is over!”

“Exactly!” Heather spoke with vigor and confidence that Miranda hadn’t seen in a very long time. She looked like a kid about to depart to the ice cream store, except she was a university student talking about defeating a scheming mage. It definitely wasn’t what Miranda had expected to wake up to. “All we’ve gotta do is kick that guy’s butt, and it’s all over!”

Miranda still had something inside her that desperately wanted to rationalize what she was hearing, wanted to search for a more reasonable explanation than ‘magic did it’ and avoid jumping to conclusions; but there was something else there too that countered her other half. At first, she thought that it might be her desire to protect her little cousin, not just physically, but with emotional support as well. It was possible, but Miranda knew that there was more to it than that.

She and her redheaded cousin and been as close as siblings since the day they’d met. Heather had liked the way Miranda could talk down the bullies, and Miranda had always been endeared by her cousin's sweetness. Heather was always like one of those cutesy girls from her animes, but now she had a fire in her eye that was quite the opposite of cutesy. It still felt nice to see her like that but for a different reason, and after a moment, Miranda realized that it was pride.

She smiled, but her smile didn’t last long. A loud diesel engine revved up outside and reminded Miranda that she had forgotten something.

“Oh crap! Michael!”

Without a word, Miranda shot past her friends and ran outside with her phone in her hand. She quickly slid open her camera app and managed to snap a clear picture of Michael’s truck with its grill pressed into Miranda’s bumper, and a drunken Michael behind the wheel.

The picture even included his license plate, which was a useful bonus since Miranda had kind of forgotten it over the course of her extensive adventure. Now that she thought about it, she had actually forgotten all of Michael’s information. She shot her hand up and waved at him. He wasn't about to get away that easily.

“Wait!”


—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————


A short time later, Nadine and Heather exited the house, apparently too impatient to wait for Miranda. They walked up to Miranda just as Michael was pulling out of the driveway.

“Come on, Miranda,” Nadine said. “We need to… Wait, why isn’t that guy writhing on the asphalt? Did you just let him go?”

Miranda smiled and waved her phone around, showing the others Michael’s information displayed on its screen. “Not quite. I got his info first. The insurance guys are gonna want this later.”

“You didn’t kick him or anything,” Heather asked quizzically?

“Nope,” Miranda replied. “That might hurt my case against him in the future.”

‘In the future,’ it felt really good to say that. Miranda stepped over to her friends and put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Now, like Heather said, let’s go kick that Eurotrash’s butt!”
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Nainur
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Post by Nainur »

wwwwwoooooohhhoooohhh! "In the future" - truly! Let's go, ladies!

Superb, energetic, mesmerizing...
starinski
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Post by starinski »

Did they keep their promise of not wearing socks? ;)
GreyLord
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Post by GreyLord »

I do hope that knowing about the mage leads to their salvation. To me, at least, the path still doesn't look too clear. Is there more for them to discover or is it just time for them to go and kick ass?
ImageA List of my stories:
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Tale of an Archer Completed
The Bandit Scout on Newhome updated 05/30/23
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Syko Sith
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Post by Syko Sith »

Nice way to have Heather reveal the truth in a believable way. Last chapter huh? Seems u changed your mind. :D
Let's go ladies! I'm rooting for ya (no really) :lol:
Hogtied and loving it
Red86
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Post by Red86 »

So much for "the final chapter of this Saga is up next" 🤣. Im guessing you've just split the last chapter into 2 parts. But hey, I'm not complaining, this has been a very interesting tale!! Looking forward to seeing how this continues to unravel 😀
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