Sunlight hit his eyes like a physical blow.

  kai gasped, a sharp, ragged intake of breath that burned his lungs. His hands flew to his neck, fingers scrabbling frantically against warm skin and the rough wool of his scarf.

  He expected wetness. He expected the severing of bone and the cessation of existence.

  Instead, he felt his pulse. It was hammering against his fingertips, a hummingbird trapped in a cage. Thump-thump-thump.

  "Easy there, boy."

  kai flinched violently, stumbling back and nearly tripping over his own boots. He looked around wildly.

  He was standing at the hitching post. Daisy, his chestnut mare, was looking at him with mild concern, chewing on a bit of hay that stuck out from the side of her mouth. The massive iron gates of the Exterminator Guild stood open before him. The merchants were still shouting about spices; the cart wheels were still clattering over the cobblestones.

  Everything was exactly as it had been ten seconds ago.

  kai stood frozen, his chest heaving. The phantom sensation of a blade sliding through his neck was so vivid, so real, that he could still feel the icy bite of the steel.

  A daydream, he thought, his mind racing to find a logical foothold. It was just a daydream. A hallucination. Nerves.

  He let out a shaky laugh that sounded more like a cough. Of course. He was eighteen years old. He had just traveled three days from Oakhaven to the capital. He was exhausted, dehydrated, and terrified of the exam. His mind was just playing tricks on him. Projecting his fear of failure into a literal death.

  "Pull it together, Klarc," he whispered to himself, rubbing his face with trembling hands. "You're a Gold-Rank in the making. Stop shaking."

  He took a deep breath, forcing the air down into his diaphragm the way Old Man Miller had taught him. He straightened his jacket. He adjusted his white beanie, pulling it down over his ears to block out the noise of the city.

  He was fine. He was alive.

  kai turned back to the grand double doors. He took a step forward, determined to march in there and prove his worth.

  The doors opened.

  kai stopped. A cold spike of déjà vu drove itself into his stomach.

  A man walked out. Leather duster. Wide-brimmed hat. The look of a man who found the concept of existence tedious.

  It was him. The cowboy from the hallucination.

  kai felt his legs lock up. No, he thought. This isn't possible. I just imagined this.

  "Excuse me," kai said. The words tumbled out of his mouth automatically, a script he didn't remember memorizing.

  The cowboy, Yon, stopped. He looked up. His dark eyes swept over kai, indifferent at first, just as before.

  And then, the recognition hit.

  It happened in slow motion this time. kai saw the widening of the eyes. He saw the pupils dilate, swallowing the iris. He saw the sheer, unadulterated panic that contorted Yon’s face. It wasn't the look of a murderer; it was the look of a man spotting a live grenade at his feet.

  "You are..." Yon whispered.

  kai opened his mouth to scream. He wanted to say 'Wait!' He wanted to ask 'Why?'

  He didn't get the chance.

  Yon’s hand blurred. The dagger appeared from the folds of the duster like a magic trick. There was no hesitation, no moral quandary. Just a desperate, terrifying efficiency.

  Schlick.

  The sound was wet and soft, like cutting into a ripe melon.

  kai didn't feel the pain this time, either. He only felt the sudden loss of gravity. His vision spun violently—sky, cobblestone, sky, boot.

  The last thing he saw was the grey stone of the pavement rushing up to meet his eye.

  Darkness swallowed him whole.

  Sunlight.

  kai screamed.

  It was a short, strangled yelp that drew the attention of a passing merchant pushing a cart full of turnips. The man gave kai a weird look, muttered something about "country bumpkins," and kept walking.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  kai didn't notice. He was hyperventilating. He clawed at his neck again, his fingernails digging into his skin until it stung.

  Intact. Whole. Alive.

  He scrambled backward, away from the hitching post, his back hitting the rough brick of a nearby building. He slid down the wall, clutching his chest.

  "I died," he wheezed, his eyes wide and staring at nothing. "I died. I definitely died."

  Daisy whinnied softly, nudging his shoulder with her velvet nose. The horse didn't understand why her master was currently having a breakdown in the dirt.

  kai looked at his hands. They were shaking so hard they were blurry. He looked at his right palm. The bandage was there, wrapped tightly around the 'M' cut he had inflicted on himself to stop the thieves.

  The pain in his hand was real. The smell of the city—roasted meat and horse manure—was real.

  He was back. He was back at the exact moment he had tied up the horse.

  Time, kai thought, his mind reeling. I'm... I'm going back in time.

  He had read about chronomancy in the dusty books back in Oakhaven, but that was the stuff of legends. Only God-tier mages or Demons of the highest order could manipulate time. kai was just a boy with a beanie and a sword-hand technique.

  Why was this happening? And who was that man?

  Yon. He remembered the name from the fear that had radiated off the killer.

  Why did he look so scared? kai had never met him. He had never been to Velmara. He was just an optimistic kid who wanted to kill giant bugs. Why would a seasoned Exterminator look at him and see a monster?

  Click.

  The sound of a heavy latch lifting.

  kai’s head snapped toward the Guild doors.

  He knew that sound. He knew what was coming. In five seconds, the doors would open. In six seconds, Yon would step out. In ten seconds, kai would be headless on the pavement.

  "No," kai hissed.

  Survival instinct, sharp and primal, overrode the confusion. He didn't have time to figure out the metaphysics of time travel. He just had to not die.

  He couldn't stand there. If he stood there, he was dead.

  kai scrambled to his feet. He looked left, then right.

  To the right of the massive entrance stood a large, decorative oak tree planted in a stone raised bed. It was thick-trunked and leafy, meant to provide shade for the guards.

  kai didn't run. Running attracted attention. Instead, he moved with the frantic, scurrying energy of a frightened squirrel. He dove behind the oak tree, pressing his back against the rough bark, squeezing himself into the small gap between the trunk and the Guild’s stone wall.

  He held his breath. He squeezed his eyes shut.

  Creak.

  The double doors opened.

  kai pressed his hand over his mouth to stifle the sound of his own breathing. He listened.

  He heard heavy boots step onto the stone stairs.

  Step. Step. Step.

  The footsteps stopped.

  kai’s heart hammered against his ribs so hard he was sure the man could hear it. Had he been seen? Was Yon staring at the tree right now, dagger in hand?

  "Hmph," a voice grunted. It was low, gravelly, and sounded incredibly irritated.

  Then, the footsteps resumed. They didn't come toward the tree. They went down the stairs, turning left, away from kai, moving deeper into the city streets.

  kai waited. He counted to ten. Then twenty. Then fifty.

  Only when the sound of the boots had completely faded into the ambient noise of the capital did he dare to peek around the bark.

  The space in front of the doors was empty. Yon was gone.

  kai slumped against the tree, his legs turning to jelly. "He didn't see me," he whispered. "I'm alive."

  He stayed there for a long minute, letting the adrenaline drain out of his system, leaving him feeling hollow and shaky. But beneath the fear, a spark of his natural optimism tried to ignite.

  He had survived. He had beaten the loop.

  "Okay," kai said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Okay. Just... go inside. Take the exam. Avoid the cowboy. Simple."

  He stood up, brushing dirt from his canvas jacket. He checked his beanie to make sure it was straight. He took a moment to pat Daisy, drawing comfort from the animal’s warmth.

  "Be good, girl," he murmured. "I'll be back soon. Hopefully with a head."

  With a trembling breath, kai walked up the stairs. He bypassed the spot where his blood had pooled in the previous loops, stepping carefully as if the ghosts of his past selves were still lying there.

  He pushed the doors open.

  The interior of the Exterminator Guild was designed to intimidate.

  The main hall was a cavernous space of black marble and vaulted ceilings. Banners of defeated Demon clans hung from the rafters—torn chitin, shattered horns, and faded flags. The air was cool and smelled of old paper and polished steel.

  Dozens of people milled about. Some were heavily armored veterans returning from hunts; others were nervous applicants like kai, clutching paperwork and looking small in the grand space.

  kai walked toward the reception desk at the far end of the hall. It was a massive slab of dark wood, manned by a woman with spectacles and a severe bun who looked like she could kill a Demon with a scathing performance review.

  "Next," she called out, not looking up from her ledger.

  kai stepped up to the desk. He felt safe here. There were guards by the door. There were dozens of witnesses. This was the heart of the Guild. Surely, a madman wouldn't attack him here.

  "Name?" the receptionist asked, dipping a quill into an inkpot.

  "kai Klarc," he said. His voice cracked slightly, but he cleared his throat and tried again. "kai Klarc. From Oakhaven."

  "Age?"

  "Eighteen. Today."

  The woman finally looked up. Her eyes lingered on his white beanie for a moment, then dropped to his bandaged hand. She didn't comment.

  "Papers?"

  kai fumbled in his pocket, retrieving the crumpled letter of recommendation from Old Man Miller and his birth certificate. He placed them on the desk. His hands were still shaking, the paper rattling against the wood.

  The receptionist scanned the documents. She stamped them with a heavy thud that made kai jump.

  "You're late, Mr. Klarc," she said, handing him a wooden token with the number 402 carved into it. "The written portion of the exam begins in ten minutes in Hall B. Down the corridor, second door on the left. If you fail the written test, you don't get to the combat trial. Understood?"

  "Yes, ma'am," kai said. "Thank you."

  He took the token. He felt a wave of relief so potent it nearly brought him to his knees. He was in. He had made it. The nightmare outside was over. He just had to focus on the exam. He just had to become an Exterminator.

  He turned to leave.

  The air in the room changed.

  It wasn't a sound. It wasn't a smell. It was a pressure. The temperature seemed to drop five degrees in an instant. The chatter in the hall didn't stop, but it seemed to become muffled, distant, as if kai had suddenly been submerged underwater.

  A shadow fell over him.

  Someone was standing directly behind him. Close. Too close.

  "I need to check something," a voice said.

  kai froze. Every hair on the back of his neck stood up. The wooden token in his hand felt suddenly heavy as lead.

  He knew that voice. It was the voice that had haunted his last two deaths.

  The receptionist looked up, blinking in confusion behind her spectacles. She adjusted them, peering over kai’s shoulder at the newcomer.

  "Mr. Moretti?" she asked, sounding perplexed. "You just left not five minutes ago. You completed your report on the Level 5 spider. Is there an issue with the bounty?"

  "No issue," the voice replied. It was deeper now. There was no boredom in it. No apathy. It was a low, vibrating growl of suppressed violence. "I just... want to check some things. I think I missed a detail."

  "I see," the receptionist said, reaching for a ledger, clearly unsure how to handle the erratic behavior of a high-ranking Exterminator. "Well, if you need to access the archives—"

  "Not the archives," the voice cut her off. "The applicants."

  kai felt his heart hammer against his ribs like a trapped bird.

  Slowly, agonizingly, kai turned around.

  Yon Moretti was standing there. He was less than two feet away.

  He wasn't wearing the hat anymore; it hung down his back by a cord. His hair was messy and dark, plastered to his forehead with sweat. But it was his eyes that froze kai’s blood.

  In the first loop, Yon had looked bored. In the second, he had looked terrified.

  Now, he looked furious. But it wasn't a hot, screaming rage. It was a cold, calculating intensity. His pupils were pinned, focused entirely on kai’s face, dissecting him. He looked like a man who had tried to kill a spider, only to find it sitting on his pillow a moment later.

  Yon didn't draw his weapon this time. He didn't strike. He simply leaned down, invading kai's personal space until their faces were inches apart. The smell of ozone and dried monster blood clung to his coat.

  "You," Yon whispered.

  It wasn't a question. It was an accusation.

  The safety of the Guild hall evaporated. The guards, the receptionist, the other applicants—they all faded into the background. It was just kai and the predator.

  Yon’s eyes narrowed, searching kai’s face for something—a flicker of recognition, a flinch, a sign.

  "How many times have I killed you already?"

  The question hung in the air, heavy and impossible.

  kai’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. His throat was as dry as the desert. He tried to swallow, but there was nothing to swallow. He just stared back, clutching his wooden token like a shield, his mind fracturing under the weight of the question.

  He knows?

  kai blinked, his expression crumbling from fear into pure, bewildered chaos. He looked at the receptionist, then back at Yon, his lips trembling as he tried to form a coherent thought.

  "W-what?" kai squeaked.