Atzi shoved open the door to the One Eye Open.

  Across the inn stood Hemm, sweeping. She looked up, just another normal day for her.

  Atzi just stood there, staring at her.

  "Hey Atzi, can I get you something? Just doing some cleaning," Hemm said.

  Atzi ran around the counter and threw her arms around Hemm for a hug.

  "Ah!" Hemm gave a startled yelp. Both her arms were still at her side, one holding her broom. "Um, what's this for?"

  Atzi mumbled into her shoulder, "...just had a bad night."

  "Oh no!" Hemm hugged her back. "What happened?"

  "A lot." Atzi pulled back a bit, staring directly into Hemm's eye, just inches away. "Just glad you're alright..." Her voice trailed with her fading worry.

  Hemm gave an awkward laugh. A light blush spread across her face. "Of course I'm alright!"

  Atzi realized that explaining was going to be awkward. Not that she even could. She let go of the hug. "I need to sleep."

  "Well then, go to sleep," Hemm said, separating.

  "Can I get a meal when I wake up?" Atzi asked.

  "Of course."

  "Thanks. You're... really too nice, Hemm." Atzi headed upstairs, to try and sleep off her current roil of emotions.

  As she lay there in bed, she thought, I know how to stop the undead now. I could replicate exactly what I did. If I wanted to. But would that actually bring me any closer to figuring stuff out, when there's that giant monster in the way? I could try to do things differently. The dangerous part with that is Malus. Unless I out her in front of the godscouncil, there's no way she won't just kill me the second she finds out what I am.

  She tossed and turned with those thoughts weighing on her mind. It almost felt like she didn't sleep at all, just repeating the same thoughts over and over in a half-waking state.

  ===

  There was a knock at her door. "Lunch is ready!"

  "Mm? Oh, cool..." Atzi got out of bed and threw her clothes on. I probably need a bath too... but right now I just want to eat.

  When she got downstairs, she found Hemm had prepared a big salad with bugs.

  Atzi dug in right away.

  Midway through, Hemm asked, "So, how is it?"

  "Oh, it's great." Atzi licked one of her claws. "Your food always is."

  Hemm smiled. "Such a sweet talker. You're too nice, too."

  Atzi tittered. "You don't really get any time to enjoy the festival, do you?"

  Hemm shook her head. "I need to be here. Even if I didn't have guests, what if those guys from before come back and try to start problems?"

  Atzi suddenly remembered a rough looking guy, from before the loops. He wasn't one of the three she'd fought, but he had been in the building before it burned down, too. The others were probably his buddies.

  Is it possible they weren't just here for me...? Atzi mulled it over as she spoke, "Yeah, that's true. Just a shame, I guess, there's a load of parties going on."

  Hemm continued, "If Marco was more trained up, I'd leave him here to go out, but..."

  "Just started, I get you. Maybe if you had more help?"

  "There's plenty of people who need work, but I don't know how many would have the skills I need and would want to work with a cyclops. Most of them are from Novae, after all. They can't all be accepting like Marco. And unless I got more customers, I couldn't pay them."

  Atzi groaned. "It's not your fault, and it's not like Cthargictha even did it anyway."

  "Huh?" Hemm looked confused.

  "Uh... well, you know, it's nowhere near, right? And then after the attack, they didn't do anything. So what would be the point in it? If they did that, then invaded, sure, but Sostra's the one invading them..."

  "Who do you think did it?" Hemm asked.

  "Maybe there's something about it they don't wanna share," Atzi said. She clinked her claws against the counter. "Like... a god was there in secret, or something."

  Hemm gave another confused look.

  "... Just something I overheard. Never mind. Actually, that's probably a bad idea to gossip about anyway, I gotta stop doing that."

  "If I said anything like that I'd probably be burned alive," Hemm noted. "So good choice."

  Atzi grimaced at 'burning alive'. If only you knew...

  "Have plans for the day?" Hemm changed the topic.

  Atzi hummed. "I'm gonna look up an old friend that's here for the festival, and see about doing a little favour for them."

  "Alright, have fun. Try to come back before having another bad night!"

  "Oh, I will."

  -

  Atzi didn't bother catching the Serpent's procession. She figured if things didn't work out, she could get the Serpent to listen to her later anyway. For the time being, she wanted to take care of some other things, maybe try things differently.

  First, she wanted to steal the book again. So she went over the fence, found a sewer entrance not too far from V's house, and took it back.

  Arm a mess from reaching into the sewer water, she went back to the inn to hide the book and take a bath.

  "What happened, Atzi?" Hemm asked when she returned. She looked at the sludge covering Atzi's arm, and suddenly plucked her own nose shut.

  "My friend dropped something in the sewers, had to help her get it out. Speaking of which, I need a bath! Sorry about this."

  Hemm coughed. "Alright. I'll bring up some extra water."

  "Thanks."

  -

  Unlike in a previous loop, Hemm shyly but politely looked away from Atzi as she dumped in the extra hot water for her. "Let me know if you need anything else."

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  Huh. That's different. I wonder if… "Nope, I'm good for now." If what Marco said before is the case. What the hells do I even do? Maybe I should ask her.

  Before she could, Hemm left.

  Atzi splashed in the water, alone. She decided to focus on the things she knew she could do. Like figure out the rest of the pre-heist passwords. It was something she still wanted to see if she couldn't crack. If she could get that much money… everything would be a lot easier.

  -

  Atzi stood outside the third guard house, the same one she'd failed to get the passwords from before. It was morning, when she knew they'd be asleep from the schedule they kept.

  She cracked open the door with her tools. With her memory of the lock, it was trivial.

  All she had to do was sneak upstairs and rummage around, this time without waking up the bank guard.

  Getting multiple tries at this stuff isn't too bad.

  She crept up, then slipped through the door, careful not to let it slam this time. The Branek bank guard, fully armored, slept on the bed, just like the last time she'd been there. Atzi tiptoed around and cautiously opened one drawer after another, looking for anything like a note.

  She found two of them, again pairing keywords with their meaning.

  Atzi took a mental note of the gibberish. It probably all means something when you have all the pieces...

  She took the time to make sure everything was back where she found it, even though she was only a few feet away from a sleeping guard. She wanted to do the job this loop if possible, so didn't want it fucked up by them getting suspicious..

  Plus I'll look super cool if I tell them I already have the passwords!

  Atzi snuck back out. She was tired, ready to go to sleep, and started her way back to the inn.

  That was when she saw Scabiel walking through the street.

  Atiz's eyes widened. That's the fake one for sure. She doesn't arrive until the evening!

  She considered going to sleep anyway, but she was too curious. Atzi wandered up to her. "Hey, you wanna play a game?"

  Scabiel looked down at her, annoyance in her six eyes. "I don't have time. Bother someone else." She continued walking.

  Atzi laughed. "Cmon. Gimme two guesses to guess who you are. It'll be fun. Kurgi can wait."

  Scabiel stopped.

  Atzi grinned.

  Scabiel turned back around to her, crossing her arms. "Well, then you must already know who I am."

  "Yep." Atzi's grin got wider, showing off all her sharp teeth. "You're the prophet of the Shapeshifter, disguised as Scabiel. Right?"

  'Scabiel' glowered at her, eyes going from annoyance to hatred. She stomped forward before pulling Atzi into an alleyway. "You. Who are you?"

  Atzi stretched and yawned. "I'm kinda tired, so I wanna get a nap before tonight. Why are you messing with Kurgi and Scabiel anyway?"

  Scabiel's face formed into a sneer. "Oh? You actually care about those two? Hilarious."

  "They're good fun. What's your problem with 'em?"

  The Scabiel before her morphed, like liquid sloshing. Her mandibles and skin melted equally into an indistinct slurry of colors, before forming into cords. The cords wove together, quickly shifting into a different body.

  Atzi stood across from herself.

  "Woah." Atzi blinked. Then she pointed a clawed finger at her doppelganger. "H-hey, I don't slouch that much."

  "You do."

  Atzi's voice got scratchier. "I don't sound like that!"

  "You do."

  "And my tail's not that fat!"

  The other her merely stared back.

  "A-anyway, stop being me, it's weird!"

  Then she shifted again. When it was over, the prophet of the Shapeshifter stood before her, looking exactly as he did at the Godscouncil. Yellow, predatory eyes beneath furs adorned with the wooden carving of a tiger.

  Atzi asked, "So, since you do stuff like this, you know how to be discreet, yeah?"

  "Ah-ah." The prophet tutted a finger, voice low. "We're going to play this game properly. Answer for an answer. And I get to ask my question first."

  "Fiiine," Atzi whined. Weirdo.

  He drifted further back into the alley, forcing Atzi to follow. Then he rested his hand on a sword at his hip. "How did you know who I was?" he asked.

  "Because this evening Scabiel is very, very nasty to Kurgi, which is strange since the real Scabiel slept in and missed the parade and doesn't make it there until night."

  The prophet gave a confused hum. "You're, what, a seer?"

  "Scabiel figured that only two people were good enough to pull this off, and the Shapeshifter themself wouldn't do that to her- hey, that's a second question."

  "Bah. Fine. Ask your question."

  "Why are you messing with them?"

  He lifted his head. "Because Scabiel belongs to the tribe. Not off romancing the Serpent's brood."

  Atzi smirked. "Ahh, forbidden love?"

  "You make it sound poetic. It isn't. It's a waste of her time, and a waste of what we've put into her, to train her."

  Atzi tapped a clawed foot. "Didn't realise you guys got so protective of your mages. Alright, what's your question?"

  He was silent as he thought. Then he asked, "How are you going to compensate me?"

  "For... what?"

  "For messing with my plan. For attempting to aid the theft of the Shapeshifter's tools."

  "Aid the theft? What theft?"

  "Of Scabiel."

  "She's not exactly getting stolen..."

  "I'm being poetic, you idiot."

  "Guh." Atzi waved her arms. "Okay, okay, can we drop the games thing? I don't even have anything to ask. I just wanted your attention, something a lot more important. I'm gonna compensate you by saving the whole empire from destruction. We've got five days until that happens, by the way."

  He stared blankly at her.

  "That's not even the crazy part. Here's the crazy part. I'm the prophet of the Saintess. Check me. Prophets can sense one another."

  He squinted. "I'd be able to sense if you are a prophet, but you expect me to believe you're the prophet of the Saintess?" He turned around to leave.

  "Wait!" Atzi stepped closer to him. "I can describe what she looks like, but only Malus would be able to confirm, and she'll kill me the moment she finds out."

  He glanced back, sneering. "How convenient for you."

  "You think being burned alive is convenient? The Saintess died in Novae. Malus freaked out and tried to bring her back. Sort of worked, sort of didn't. Somehow, I got picked as her new prophet."

  He made a mocking voice, "And she saw through my disguise, and told you?"

  "Oh no. It's much, much better than that. I can't die." Atzi grinned like an idiot. "Not permanently. I come back to the moment of Malus' ritual, every single time. I knew about Scabiel cause she told me this. I knew what you were gonna do cause I heard them talk about it. You were Scabiel's guess, I'd have never known that." She continued rambling, "Anyway, that ritual to bring back the Saintess? In five days time it's going to go nuts. Sostra breaks. Everyone dead. Day before that there are a bunch of undead, look out for that. That's my proof."

  He turned fully back towards her, looking her up and down. "I have a better way I could test this."

  Atzi groaned. "Don't say you're gonna kill me. I just went through these last few days."

  She swore she could hear laughter in his voice. "You make it sound so boring. I almost believe you."

  "I-I'm serious! Okay l-look, I don't know how many times I can do that, alright? It's... I don't actually know why, yet. Sure isn't the Saintess doing it. So don't waste it! I just want to not be stuck as the prophet of the Saintess, because I'm not actually given any power, just told what to do. A-and if I show up to the godscouncil, I will be. That's the only time I can explain this to everyone, 'cause if I don't, Malus just kills me."

  She felt his eyes scanning her.

  "You just have to tell everyone that there's a gate to the underworld, Malus knows where it is, and if the gods all work together they can seal it. That's it. Make up whatever bullshit excuse about how you found out. You can take all the credit and be a big hero."

  He clicked his tongue. "If you're at all wrong, I'm coming back to kill you. You won't even know I'm there. You'll just be dead."

  "Sure. Uh, but you might not wanna share the stuff about the Saintess with everyone. 'Cause Malus will definitely freak out and your only other proof is, well... me. And I don't wanna get dragged into it this time, alright? Oh, yeah, the Star wins the election. Or, he did last time, but that was when everyone knew about the Saintess so... maybe not this time, I dunno."

  The prophet's eyes narrowed further.

  "H-hey don't look at me like that, I voted for the Serpent. Kinda owed her for getting me into the godscouncil."

  He took a steady step forward. "You know so much and so little at the same time. It's fascinating."

  "I only know whatever I stumbled into, alright?" Atzi raised her arms. "You want this done better next time, enlighten me about stuff."

  "If I could leap through time, I would steal every secret, hoard them like treasure. Of course, I can transform. You… cannot."

  "Lucky you."

  "But, fine, let me pretend this is real. Humor you for a second." He bowed slightly. "If I was in your spot, and without my power, I would simply assassinate every inconvenience to me, to make sure those that remain cannot stop me from doing what needs to be done."

  Atzi gulped. "E-easy for you to say. I've never killed anyone."

  "Pathetic." He walked past her. He didn't even bother to check if she was a prophet. "Goodbye, stupid lizard. Enjoy your last days of life."

  "Jackass..." Atzi mumbled as he left.

  Blugh. Well, worth a shot. I'm going to bed.