Against the Clock

Chapter 1 | Anomaly

I wake up to Time knocking on my door.

"Sabre, get up! It's 8 AM." He says. "I made food!"

"Alright. I'm up." I say back. 

I slide out from my blankets and walk over to my desk, where I had left my bag. I know it's a little weird to have it on all the time, but it has something important in it... and I don't want to risk misplacing it.

After Origin put me back in this world when I restarted the Loop, everything's been going pretty good the past few months. Time and I stayed in the village where the Unnamed used to be, I'm back to being a neutral party during the Leaders' meetings, and I generally just get to chill in my free time. No crazy people wanting to take over the world or eldritch beings trying to destroy it. Other than the Professor using me as a test subject every other day, my life here is pretty normal now. I'm happy to be able to just live.

As I slip my bag over my shoulder, I notice that I feel a little off today. I don't know how to explain it, but something just feels... weird. I brush it off as something the fault of the Professor's experiments again, and open my door to head downstairs.

"Morning, Sabre." Time says as he sets a plate on the table for me, opposite of his.

"Mornin', Time!" I say, sliding into my chair.

Time sits in his chair as well. "How'd you sleep?"

"Eh, okay. Had another nightmare."

"Ugh, you too? Same here, friend."

Time and I have had nightmares of what happened during the whole First Curse thing after I was sent through the timeline portal. They used to be pretty harrowing at first, but they've gotten more mild as the days went on.

"What was yours about?" I ask Time, taking a bite into the bacon he made. I am so glad I taught him how to make it, he's better than I am.

"Meteor." Time answers. "This time it hit the village instead of the Yellow Kingdom. You?"

"Dang." I say. "Mine was about when we tricked the First Curse into the elevator. Got to you before you could freeze him." I take a sip from of water from my glass.

"Heh, probably mad he got nicknamed 'Stink man of Stink-town, Stinkania'. Time smirks.

I choke on my water while cracking up, and Time giggles.

"You good?" He asks, still laughing.

"Even today, I can't believe you called him that." I say, trying to wipe the water off my face.

"Honestly, I can't either," Time says, handing me a napkin. "But it was pretty hilarious."

"Yeah, yeah it was." I say. I take the napkin and get the water off my face, and wipe up the small puddle on the table.

We finish our food and clean up, still cracking jokes. Walking out to the porch, I take in the morning sights of the village. People are walking around with friends, tending to gardens, talking at trading booths in the village center, and a variety of other activities. Time leans against the front doorframe, also looking at the village scenery.

"There aren't any meetings or anything, so we have a free day." He says. "What do you want to do?"

"I dunno, I just want to relax today." I answer. "I'm kinda still tired from yesterday."

"Oh yeah, yesterday was a mess." Time says.

Yesterday I was getting chased by the Assistant when the Professor had brought me in for experiments again. Apparently some water from a pipe dripped into his wiring or something, and he short-circuited. The chase lasted 5 hours or so, before Time came in and froze the deranged robot. At least I got to go home early after that.