Chapter 012
Soul Web
Zorian stomped into his room, closing the door behind him with way more force than necessary. He should have known he wouldn't find out anything about soul bonds that he hadn't already known, but it was still annoying to come back empty-handed after spending an entire day in the library.
The books all repeated the same warnings he received back in his first year: soul bonds were a dangerous and poorly understood branch of magic, capable of causing some pretty horrifying side-effects if used recklessly. Every once in a while, some ill-informed couple decide that soul-bonding themselves together would be the most romantic thing ever, only for everything to end up in tears and lawsuits a few months later when complications surface. The main issue was that one of the participants usually started to mentally and spiritually dominate the other, making them more like themselves in mind and soul, not to mention disturbingly obedient and deferential. This was a good thing when binding animals as familiars, since it was almost always the animal that got dominated by the human, and animals actually tended to benefit from such domination by developing higher intelligence and better control over their magical abilities (if they had any). Sentient beings usually had issues with someone magically subverting their entire personality and worldview, however. At least until the soul bond finished, turning them into a servile clone, that is.
Zorian ran a trembling hand through his hair and started to clean his glasses with the hem of his shirt to calm himself down. He really, really hoped he was wrong and that there was no soul bond between him and Zach. Zach had 6 times larger mana reserves than Zorian's theoretical maximum, was naturally more outgoing and confident, and - thanks to being in the time loop far longer than Zorian - was probably decades older than him too. No points for guessing who'd be the dominant one between the two of them!
The worst thing about it was that he couldn't even go to someone for help. He was pretty sure the soul bond, or whatever it was, was responsible for him looping around along with Zach. If he asked someone for help, they'd insist on severing the bond (an understandable sentiment and something he'd eagerly agree to in normal circumstances), which would cause him to lose everything he had gained inside the time loop, memories included, once Zach started over at the end of the month.
Yeah, he was totally screwed.
He took a couple of deep breaths and put his glasses back on. Maybe he was looking at things too fatalistically. Considering the sheer size of disparity between him and Zach, he should have experienced some pretty massive personality shifts by now, and he didn't notice anything of the sort. He certainly wasn't feeling submissive towards anyone, least of all Zach. Obviously things weren't as bad as they seemed. He could very well be overreacting and overlooking some other, perfectly reasonable explanation for the unscheduled restart...
Someone was knocking. Who could possibly-
Oh. Right. Taiven.
He sighed heavily. Just what he needed right now. The knocking turned into banging, prompting him to finally open the door.
"Hi, Roach!"
"Hi, Taiven," Zorian said in a slightly suffering tone. "How nice of you to visit me. Do you want to come in?"
Taiven promptly did what she always did once he let her inside - she jumped on his bed and made herself comfortable. Zorian shrugged and went after her. Best to get it over with quickly.
"Didn't you graduate?" he asked. "You said you were going to go into exploration after you graduate, what happened to that?"
She gave him a sour look. "It's not that simple. No expedition is going to take a complete beginner like me with them. I need an established explorer to take me as an apprentice. I'm working on it."
