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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/LiseEclaire on 2026-02-20 00:52:51+00:00.

Every now and again it was nice to feel like a celebrity. All it had taken was for Will to approach the radio tower for one of Oza’s personal assistants to rush out and greet him. Security guards moved out of the way, elevators were reserved exclusively for him. Even catering was brought in. Will couldn’t help but wonder whether the clairvoyant had already told Oza how their meeting would end. Soon, he’d get a chance to find out.

“Took you a while,” the woman said from her desk. There wasn’t even a modicum of concern in her voice. “Everything went well?”

Will reached into the mirror fragment on his neck and took out the crystal cube. A reddish-orange flame was burning inside.

It was tempting to make a sarcastic remark. Will really wanted to probe the woman’s real relation with the clairvoyant. At the same time, Alex had warned him not to. Even within eternity, Oza was as petty as they came.

“It was okay,” Will said in a calm fashion. It helped a lot that he had activated the paladin class.

The woman looked at him, then reached out to collect the cube.

“How many times did it take you?” she asked, mesmerized by the prize.

Will remained silent.

“Of course, that’s your business. And now for what I promised.”

“I’d like to make a change,” Will said.

This was a topic that the clairvoyant must have kept to herself, for signs of surprise flickered over Oza’s face.

“Go on,” she said in a cold tone.

“I don’t want you to heal my wolf. Instead, I’ll settle for information.” He paused just long enough to check whether she’d react. “I want to know about the tamer.”

“The tamer?” The woman smirked. “That’s a big ask.”

“It was difficult to capture a firefox.” Will held his ground. “If it wasn’t, you’d have asked someone else to do it.”

Oza leaned back in her chair.

“Let’s assume you’re right,” she began. “Getting on the tamer’s radar is bad for business.”

“You’re not the only person with information. You’re just better than all my alternatives.”

“Oh?” It was impossible to tell whether the woman was intrigued or hurt that Will suggested that she had competition. “You’re starting to fit into eternity rather nicely. Maybe in a few more thousand loops you’ll actually be able to hold a negotiation.”

“I’m not in a prediction loop,” Will quickly said, seeing that things had taken a bad turn.

“Do you think I’d let you in if you were?” Oza let out a measured sigh. “When I said that the clairvoyant was a good friend of mine, I wasn’t boasting. If anyone tries to disrupt business, she’ll let me know. All of my clients will.”

That much Will knew already. The cleric wasn’t valuable merely because of the healing services she offered. Through luck or dedication, she had established herself as eternity’s exchange broker—similar to a merchant, but a lot more versatile. Participants that were out for each other’s blood could communicate through her. Information came and went, beneficial for some, perilous for others. The one thing that everyone could expect was that it would be accurate. If someone were to abuse the system, the level of trust would collapse in less than a loop, and then no one would get what they wanted.

“I’ll accept your addendum, but don’t forget.” She pointed at Will’s face. “You’re the one who asked for it.”

“You think the tamer will come after me?”

“Hardly. Just because I asked you for one small favor doesn’t make you significant. Most of the interest is focused on the new mage. With the reward phase close, everyone wants to get a piece of him. You’ll regret asking about the tamer because there just isn’t much to say.”

Huh? Was that why Alex had advised Will against making the request? If so, he could just have told him directly.

“But he’s one of the—” Will began.

“The big three?” Oza interrupted. “Yes, that’s what everyone says. A, it’s not true. And B, just because someone is strong, doesn’t mean there’s much to tell. The archer is strong. Does that make her a mystery?”

Will felt a shiver. Was she talking about Lucia or Gabriel?

“So, there’s nothing special about him?”

“That’s not what I said.” Oza frowned. “He’s a lot older than me, that much is true. However, he isn’t part of the first group. I’ve had a few dealings with him, but I’ve never seen him. The man prefers to send letters through his creatures. No phone, no email, no fragment messages.” The woman snorted. “I’m surprised he didn’t send a page with a trumpet to announce the letters’ arrival.”

Control of animals… It was only once Will thought about it a bit more that he saw how terrifying such a class was. It wasn’t just mirror wolves, there wasn’t anything that could take place without the tamer knowing. He might as well have placed cameras throughout the entire city, observing every important event relating to eternity or not.

“He hasn’t participated in reward phases for quite a while,” Oza continued. “Rumor is that he has an ongoing rivalry with the necromancer.”

“Rumor?” Will asked.

“I always treat unconfirmed information as rumor,” the woman replied. “There’s trust and there’s business. This is business.”

“What about the bard?”

“What about him?” The woman’s eyelids trembled slightly.

“Does the tamer have an ongoing rivalry with him?”

“Not that I’m aware, but it’s likely. Participants always have beef with their age peers. If there was something serious, it happened way before my time.” She paused. “According to another rumor, the tamer is said to carry his class mirror with him. You’ve probably heard similar stories about several other participants. However, he’s the only case I can almost say that it’s true.”

Finally, a juicy tidbit of information. It simultaneously made things easier and a lot more difficult. From this point on, Will knew exactly where the class mirror was. The impossible part was coming into contact with it.

“And that’s pretty much it.” Oza turned towards the window. “Not a lot. I hope it was worth it for you.”

“In a fight between the tamer and the summoner, who’ll have control of the creatures?” Will asked.

“Into riddles, are you? Who does a schoolboy listen to: his parents or his teachers?

“Are you telling me that it depends on the animal?” Or maybe the relation between the animal and the participant? In the one instance that Will and the tamer had crossed paths, the boy was pretty sure that he’d lose control over his wolf. Had that changed now that he had risked his life to save it?

“Enjoy the rest of eternity, William Stone,” the woman indicated that the conversation was over. “And please let me know if you come across something that you think is worth trading.”

Will’s immediate reaction was to take a quick step back, fearing involvement on the lancer’s part. Thankfully, no spears shattered the glass this time.  

Taking his cue, the boy quickly left the room. The exchange had been, for lack of better terms, agreeable. It couldn’t be said that Will had gotten a lot, especially considering what he had given up. At the same time, if it wasn’t for Oza he wouldn’t have obtained the paladin and summoner classes. Now, all his debts were paid. He didn’t owe the cleric or Spencer a damned thing. All that was left was to focus on training, preparation, and getting high-value rewards from hidden challenges.

A new routine started, which was in many ways similar to the old. Will’s days were once again split between class, helping Alex, and completing challenges. If anything, the entire mall experience had made it clear that he wasn’t ready to challenge other experienced yet. Also, as Alex had pointed out, there would be a lot more opportunities to claim class mirrors during the contest and reward phases. The “trick” was to stay alive for long enough.

There was only one major difference that separated Will’s past from his present—a new activity brought forward thanks to the unexpected skills that the summoner class provided. As the name suggested, the majority of skills involved calling forth supernatural beasts. Yet, one skill in particular, at level one at that, changed everything. It was called Summoner’s Understanding and all it did was to allow a summoner to understand and communicate with summoned entities. The unexpected side effect was that any creature befriended through a challenge was also considered a summon of sorts; thus, the same rules applied.

“Why don’t you call me when fighting with the others?” a rebellious voice came from a nearby shadow on the ground. “I’m perfectly healthy!”

“I know,” Will said, underlining a mention of cars in the school counselor’s notes. Currently, that was Alex’s latest obsession: track every instance of vehicles Danny had shared. “I’m just keeping you as my trump card.”

“Us, you mean,” a beam of light corrected. “While I agree with the principle, I agree with the mutt that you could treat us a bit better.”

The shadow growled.

Growing up, Will had read stories about wolves and foxes hating each other. It couldn’t be said to be as bad as the relation between cats and dogs, but he would be lying if he didn’t say that there was a constant tension between the two. Both of them considered him their friend and helped out in every aspect possible, even more since he had healed Shadow. It was only each other they still couldn’t get along with.

“I promise to spend the rest of the loop with you once I finish with this,” the boy said.

“Not a bad start, but that’s not the point,” Light said. “I, and arguably he as well, are predators. We live for the fight. Only letting u...

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