Scene 1: The Day Begins (Again... and Again...)
The morning began like any other.
Jeremiah opened his eyes and groaned at the sun slicing through the blinds. He blinked, rolled over—and immediately fell off his bed.
"Ow."
He stood up, rubbed his shoulder, and muttered, "Same dream again…"
Down the hallway, chaos reigned in the Guild kitchen. Katherine was trying to toast bread with her electric Meta powers (again), Jax was running from Lyra's malfunctioning floating camera drone (again), and Leo had somehow made the blender explode (again).
"Why does it smell like fried socks in here?" asked Cecelia, fanning the smoke with a cutting board.
"I was experimenting!" Leo protested, covered in smoothie. "Banana, lightning, protein powder—"
A loud BOOM interrupted them as Haruto's training katana impaled the refrigerator door.
Jeremiah blinked. "Okay. This feels... familiar."
Exactly at that moment, a distant alarm blared from the war room. Mr. Vex's voice (yes, Vex, who was supposed to be dead) crackled over the intercom:
> "All units report. We're detecting interdimensional instability in Sector 4. This might be the big one—move!"
Jeremiah dropped his plate. "Wait... Vex is alive?"
Katherine narrowed her eyes. "Didn't he—?"
They all exchanged confused glances.
Then everything went white.
Scene 2: The Reset
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Jeremiah sat up in bed again. His eyes went wide. "No. No no no—"
Crash.
He fell off the bed. Again.
The exact same events unfolded—the toast, the exploding blender, Haruto's sword, and Mr. Vex's voice.
This time, Jax screamed: "WE'RE IN A TIME LOOP!"
Haruto froze mid-swing. "A what?"
"A time loop!" Jax said, dramatically slamming a book on the table. "It's a classic sci-fi trope! We're reliving the same day over and over again."
Lyra blinked. "But why?"
Tousin adjusted his glasses. "Maybe someone tampered with space-time."
"Or maybe we offended some mystical spaghetti god," Leo offered, slurping a glowing noodle.
Jeremiah sighed. "Okay, focus. We need to figure out what's causing this… before I go insane."
---
Cue MANY loops later, the team had tried:
Escaping the building: They reset at the door.
Punching each other awake: Just resulted in bruises.
Hiding in the fridge: Don't ask.
Slapping Vex: Highly satisfying, but ineffective.
Letting Leo be team leader: Instant regret.
Katherine paced, arms folded. "We need a different approach. Something we haven't done."
Jax perked up. "We cook Vex breakfast. Maybe the loop ends if he eats eggs."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "Sure. Let's all grovel before Vex and feed him omelets."
---
Scene 3: The Breakthrough Attempt
Attempt #34. They now had a whiteboard titled "Stupid Things We've Tried." It was full.
This time, the team decided to tell Vex everything—about the loops, the death, the events leading to his replacement, everything.
Vex stared blankly. "You people need therapy."
"You died," Jeremiah said.
"Impossible," Vex replied, sipping tea. "I'm too important."
Cecelia raised an eyebrow. "We buried you. We cried."
"Sounds dramatic."
Haruto, exhausted, flopped on the couch. "Maybe this is punishment."
"For what?" Katherine asked.
"For that one time I—never mind."
Leo grinned. "Maybe the universe just wants us to bond."
"Oh yeah?" Tousin asked. "Then why does it keep forcing us to repeat the moment Leo electrocutes the microwave?"
"It's my journey," Leo said solemnly.
Jax suddenly stood. "Wait. What if we're not supposed to stop the loop… but learn something inside it?"
"Learn what?" Jeremiah asked, already dreading the answer.
"Like, teamwork. Empathy. Not setting the Guild's toaster on fire," Jax said.
Jeremiah facepalmed. "That was literally you on Loop 17."
---
Cue training montage, but this time:
They worked together to prep the kitchen.
Jeremiah taught Katherine better focus for her powers.
Cecelia calmed Leo's chaotic energy.
Haruto led mindfulness exercises—everyone fell asleep, but still.
That loop ended with no alarm. No Vex message. No reset.
The clock ticked past 9:03 a.m. They held their breath.
"We did it?" Lyra whispered.
The blender exploded anyway.
Time reset.
---
Scene 4: Breaking the Loop
Jeremiah stared into the mirror. "There has to be more."
This time, they confronted the mysterious shimmering crack in the training hall wall—something they'd ignored every loop.
Haruto reached for it. "Maybe this is the source."
Jeremiah touched the crack. A shock ran through him—memories of all loops flashing. Every failure. Every moment of laughter. Every egg.
"We've been looping for them," he whispered. "To stop whatever is trying to break through."
The crack pulsed, and a whisper echoed through the room:
> "Prove your unity…"
Just then, the lights flickered. A Nexus-Born wraith emerged from the rift.
"Not this again!" Jax shouted.
This time, they fought in perfect sync—Katherine shielding Lyra, Jeremiah freezing weak spots, Tousin closing spatial tears, Cecelia blasting with wind and fire.
The wraith let out a screech—and vanished. The crack sealed shut.
They blinked.
The clock ticked to 10:00 a.m.
No alarm.
No reset.
The kitchen remained peaceful.
"I think…" Katherine smiled, "we're finally free."
Everyone slumped onto the couch. Leo opened his mouth—
"Don't say it," said everyone.
"I was just gonna ask if we can loop back to breakfast," he grinned.
Groans all around.