Lidia held her stomach and groaned as she watched the same two guards walk towards her again. She started feverishly sweating and slapping her face.

"I’m dreaming. No. That felt way too real. Is it a mind attack?"

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The same golden guards turned around the corner at the end of the hallway. She was back to standing up looking forward. After seeing what had happened again, Lidia finally understood what was happening to her.

"It’s a time loop. Wait... does that mean I’m stuck in a time loop within a place away from time? How the hell does that even work? Would that mean I am technically not bound by time right now?"

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Lidia stared blankly down the hall as two guards rounded the corner once more.

"This is going to get annoying really fast."

As the guards approached her, Lidia couldn’t help but flinch when they got close enough. The memory of their golden weapons biting deep into her intestines was still fresh in her mind. Not only that, but her head was also completely pierced. Even though the pain was hardly present before she was brought back, it was an experience like no other. The only way she could describe the feeling is the worst headache she’s ever had multiplied by a thousand.

There was something else she was slightly concerned about as well.

"Why am I speaking all of my thoughts out loud? Is that some sort of unspoken rule about this weird loop? On the bright side, the guards only seem to attack me if I get close enough to them or get in their way."

As she said this, the golden guards stopped in their tracks and looked back at her.

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Lidia was brought back to the beginning once more.

"I’m already tired of this! This is pissing me off! There has to be a reason this is happening. I don’t think this is someone’s Zalo. That must mean there’s a break in the enchantment somewhere."

A dark thought surfaced in Lidia’s head after thinking to herself.

"Wait... if there’s an enchantment here that needs fixed, how the hell am I supposed to fix it? Not only that, but I also have to be able to fix it before-"

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"Damn it!"

The golden guards turned the corner once more. Lidia looked at them angrily as they approached.

She squeezed past them and searched the walls for any signs of a break. However, the more she searched, the more confused she became.

"How the hell am I supposed to know what a break in time looks like?"

Thirty more loops had passed before she finished searching the first small room in the hall. She couldn’t find a single indication of any sort of enchantment being broken. Even though it was happening slowly, Lidia was losing her mind with every passing loop. Having to do to the same arduous task over and over was too much, even for someone like her. Each search became more frantic than the last. There were entire areas she skipped over in hopes she would find the break sooner.

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Lidia was back at the start of her hallway. She started repeatedly punching the wall with her fists in anger.

"This can’t be happening! What if I never get out of here?! What will happen?! I’ll break out of here myself!"

No matter how many powerful hits landed against the pristine walls, her blows would do little to no damage. It was as if some magical barrier was protecting it from any exterior interference. Lidia heavily panted while staring at the wall blankly. Eventually, she fell on the ground and hugged her knees, holding back sobs. The situation she had been put it seem utterly hopeless.

A faint picture of her daughter, Iris, flashed through her head as she sank deeper into despair.

A newfound strength filled her being and she stood back up. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Like hell I’ll be done in by something so dumb!"

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Lidia slapped herself in the face hard enough to leave a large bruise on her cheek.

"Remember this pain, Lidia. Remember it each time you start slipping."

Lidia dashed down the hall and ran for the second room in the hallway. This room was a large bathroom with clear floors, small lit lanterns, and a small bucket of water. She started with the floors and slowly worked her way up.

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"Nothing on the floors"

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"I didn’t see anything weird by the stalls."

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Multiple loops passed, each one proving to be more taxing than the last on Lidia’s mental state. However, each time she felt herself starting to slip, she would give herself a large slap in the face to keep herself going. After what felt like an eternity, Lidia had finally cleared there second room. Upon completing it, a small fire of hope lit in her heart.

"There’s only one more room left. It should be in there. It has to be."

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Lidia started back at the beginning of her hallway. She smirked and threw a fist into her palm.

"I’m coming, Slimo. I’ll get myself out of this mess in no time. That queen better not have laid a single finger on your gorgeous face while I was gone, or I’ll kill her then you."

Lidia started eagerly running towards the final door towards the end of the hallway. However, as she tried to sneak past the guards like usual, something different seemed to happen.

One of the guards purposefully walked in front of her to block her path. Lidia stopped in her tracks and tried to create a small bit of space between them.

"What the hell? They don’t normally do that. Did I run too fast down the hallway?"

A small bit of fear wrapped itself around Lidia’s heart as the guards got closer.

As Lidia tried to run away and make more space between them, the guards ran after her. It didn’t take long before she was impaled through her right eye, going limp on the golden halberd as another guard sliced her torso in half.

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