The first loop hit before they had taken ten steps.
Suddenly there were two parties on the stone floor of the amphitheater: the real one, and a version three breaths ahead that had already begun to spread out. The ahead-Kael was laughing at something the ahead-Cal had said. The ahead-Lira had already raised the lens. Then the loop snapped back and the ahead-party vanished, leaving only the after-image of their positions.
“Do not follow the early versions,” Ysara called. “They are bait.”
The second loop came as sound only—their own voices arguing about direction, layered over the present, trying to pull decisions backward. Tallen clapped his hands over his ears and began reciting the College binding phrases in a steady, single-tone chant that gave the rest of them a rhythm to hold.
Phys
