The bells of the local church filled the spring air with joyous sound. The faintest hint of chill and dew still hung on the mid-morning breeze as I marched the recessional with the rest of my graduating class. Some newly graduated mages opted to remain in town for the day to celebrate, but plenty were like myself; eager to get out into the world and put into practice the magic we had spent years honing in the academy.

I passed under the familiar city gates of Irseld, my home away from home these past five years. Ever since I had left my family's farmstead at the age of twelve to study magic, the immaculate stone arches had represented to me peace, strength, and benevolent authority. The city seemed so large when I had first arrived, but just like so many of my classmates, knowledge in the arcane arts had changed my perspective on the world and I longed to see the true depth and breadth of this land.

I waved a friendly goodbye to the city guards as I passed through the massive gates, all my possessions neatly stored inside my magic bag. As I strolled down the hill out of the city, I chuckled to myself, giddy with the thought of what adventures may lie ahead.

"I wonder if I will find a genie," I snickered to myself. "Lost in some remote desert cave. Yes, Anon! Master of the genie!"

My fantasy was cut short by a shaking in the nearby bushes. I saw only the most fleeting shadow, before a figure rushed towards me. Leveling my staff at the blur, I quickly pulled away, seeing a young girl—no older than eight—running towards me with a dire look in her youthful face.

"Come with me if you want to live!" she said in a rehearsed tone.

I took a step back, unsure how to handle the situation when a bright blue flash nearby pulled my attention away from her. A deafening peal of thunder soon came after, shaking the girl and myself as the noise resounded through the valley.

Not waiting for my response, the girl grabbed my hand and began pulling me with surprising strength back towards the city.

"That was her blinking into this timeline," the girl said as she pulled me back through the gates. "We have to get you out of sight before she finds you!"

"Wait, who are you?" I sputtered, but the girl ignored my cries.

Pulling me through the post-graduation crowd, the girl jerked my hand left then right. Before I knew it, we were sitting at a table in the corner of Bessy's, a small inn at the edge of the town. After giving a suspicious look around, the girl turned to face me.

"I owe you an explanation," the girl said.

"Yeah, that's an understatement," I scoffed, nursing my wrist.

"I apologize for the… abrupt nature of our meeting," she said. "But this was the best I could do."

"Who the hell are you, anyway?" I asked.

The girl gave me a wry smile before quietly speaking.

"I'm you," she said. "From the future."

"Bullshit," I said, glowering at the child before me.

"It's true," she said, lifting up her shirt. "Look, it's the same birthmark you have."

I sat in stunned silence as she pulled her shirt up, revealing an all-too-familiar sight. A birthmark in the shape of a dragon over her heart; exceedingly rare and a sign of great magical potential. The only reason a poor farm-boy like me was even able to attend a magical university in the first place. She pulled her shirt back down and waved her fingers. In a flash, two frosty flagons of ale appeared on the table between us.

"You're going to need that," she said, taking her flagon and pounding down the golden draught in a single, prolonged gulp.

I picked up my flagon and sniffed the strange brew. I could smell the stringent musk of alcohol from the glass and tentatively took a sip.

"For the sake of avoiding confusion," she continued. "You can call me Annabelle, or Annie for short. I'm you, from several years in the future. The tale I'm going to tell you may sound far-fetched, but I assure you it's the truth. The assassin sent after you is unlikely to come here, so we should be safe for now."

"Assassin?!" I coughed, nearly choking on my beer.

"Yes," Annie said flatly. "That blue flash when we met was her arriving. It seems Syrilla won't let me have my way so easily."

I nervously continued drinking the ale as Annie went on.

"I guess I should begin at the beginning," Annie said. "My name is Anon, or it was just a few years ago. After seeking my fortune in lands far and wide, I met up with a woman who seemed… interested in me. But it was all a lie. She took advantage of me and cursed me. Binding me in this form, she used me and many others to collect and coalesce our magical energy in order to empower herself, eventually dominating the world under her grand, evil empire. That woman is Syrilla, a powerful witch in her own right who must be stopped. Though I am a powerful mage, with my energy being siphoned, it took me many months to save enough energy to cast the temporal travel spell to come here. I realized that saving the world in my own doomed future would be impossible, so I've come to the past, to help you do what I could not; defeat Syrilla and save the world from her evil!"

I sipped my beer silently as Annie pressed on.

"I've divined a way to do it too," Annie chuckled. "The artifacts known as the four Elemental Keystones. I'm sure you've heard of them."

"They're just a fairy tale," I muttered. "Professor Enden says they don't exist."

"They do!" Annie retorted. "And I know where they are. If you collect those, you will have what you need to defeat Syrilla. But there's a catch."

I raised my eyebrow as the girl, cheeks now red from alcohol and exertion, carried on. Annie looked down and to the side, biting her lip before confessing.

"You have to remain a virgin until Syrilla is defeated," Annie said in a defeated tone.

"How do you know—" I began before realizing the obvious.

"Syrilla promised me we would have… relations. That's how she got me to let my guard down. I only agreed because even after so many adventures, I was still—"

"Wait, you fell for that? I fell for that?!" I exclaimed as Annie shot me a dirty look.

"Look, she's really fucking hot, okay? After being out of the university for ten years, I was willing to take any chance I could get."

"I'm still going to be a virgin at twenty-seven?!"

"That's not important," Annie said, waving her hand. "And if we follow my plan, we can defeat Syrilla before she becomes unstoppable. Then I can break the curse that's been cast on me and save my own timeline. But I haven't gotten to the important part; the virginity assassin. Syrilla sent her own agent to the past to stop my plan. She's a clever one and has found an easy way to undo what I'm trying to change in the past. Because Syrilla gained access to my magic by promising to take my virginity, that means that you keeping your virginity intact is what's keeping me here. It's called a stable time-loop."

I nodded, remembering Professor Balura's lectures on time travel theory.

"If you lose your virginity, then you and I stop being tied together through the time stream," Annie said. "It would mean my mission is a failure, but that's not all. It would cause a calamity, destroying this timeline and everyone within it."

"This entire timeline will collapse if I have sex?" I reeled, struggling to accept what Annie was saying.

"Indeed," she continued. "And that's where the virginity assassin comes in. She can't be reasoned with, she can't be bargained with. She doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or pain, nor fear. And she absolutely will not stop, ever, until you cum. She has one purpose, to hunt your dick in the present, and prevent the future. I will do my best to protect you from her, but we must be careful in our movements from now on, do you understand?"

"I think so," I said, finishing my ale.

With another wave of her fingers, Annie refilled our flagons.

"You and I are embroiled in some kind of temporal loop. In order to save both our timelines, we need to collect the four Elemental Keystones to defeat Syrilla in this timeline before she starts turning wizards into little girls to siphon their power. But Syrilla knows that you're trying to change the past so she sent a virginity assassin back in time to have sex with me which would break the stable time-loop connecting us, and doom both timelines; yours to Syrilla's rule and mine to oblivion. That about cover it?"

"Precisely. I knew you'd pick it up fast," Annie said before taking a long swig of her ale. "So we'll lay low here for a day before traveling to the western deserts of Iss, where the first artifact is hidden; the Keystone of Fire."

"Why don't we leave now?" I asked.

"First," Annie said. "Because the virginity assassin is nearby. She knows where you're supposed to be around this time. Although she'll realize I got to you first eventually, we should take this opportunity to stay out of sight."

I nodded slowly.

"Second," Annie said finishing her ale. "I've just traveled through time; a tremendous effort which will take me some time to recover from. And finally, because I weigh eighty pounds and just drank two tall glasses of 6% ale. I ain't doing shit until tomorrow."

With that Annie staggered towards the inn-keeper, throwing a fistful of coins at the man and beckoned me to follow. Walking to the room at the end of the hall, we found two, small, musty beds. Annie fell into one, seemingly asleep before her head touched the pillow. I lay awake on the other bed, the events of the day and Annie's light snoring keeping me up far too late.

The next morning, I awoke without ever having realized I fell asleep. As the morning light filtered into my eyes, I rolled over to find Annie organizing her things on a mat laid out upon the floor.

"You're awake," she said with a smile. "Good. It's about time to set out to the Issian deserts; far in the west. It will take us several weeks to arrive if we travel by carriage.

With a snap of her fingers, the various magical trinkets Annie had laid out flew through the air and back into her magic pouch. I groggily threw my legs over the side of the bed, slowly pulling myself upright.

"Right," I said. "Let's get the Keystone of Fire."

"I've arranged a carriage to take us most