Author's Notes: What are the loops?

An unknown catastrophe damaged Yggdrasil, the computer system and world-tree that supports the multiverse. While the gods - system administrators - attempt to fix the problem, many universes are set to have infinite time loops to keep them stabilized. As time progresses, more universes begin to loop. Sometimes, loops fuse universes together; sometimes, loops are variants rather than the canonical setting.

Within a universe, the loop always begins with a single looper, the Anchor, who always remembers past loops. Over time, others will begin to loop, though less consistently.

The Log Horizon loops follow the continuity of the MLP Loops by Saphroneth, which in turn were based on Innortal's loops. Log Horizon loops contributed by an author other than myself are credited next to the loop number.

1.1

Shirogane Kei of Japan, or Shiroe of Theldesia, tried to calm his racing mind as he systematically analyzed his surroundings. His body felt strangely weak and ill-fitting, a sensation that he only remembered having once before.

This situation could only be called the opposite of that one. Instead of finding himself in the world of Elder Tales, he found himself back in his apartment, sitting at his computer desk. His body, healthy enough for a non-athletic human, possessed none of the easy strength of a high-level Adventurer.

The website on the screen in front of him proclaimed, "Countdown to the release of Homesteading the Noosphere, the latest expansion of the hit MMORPG Elder Tales! Celebrating 20 years of adventure!"

The countdown showed hours remaining. It should have been zero. No, it should have been in the negatives.

Shiroe - he thought of himself by that name more than Rei, these days - knew of the time flow differences between Theldesia and Earth quite well. By Earth's reckoning, a Theldesian day lasted two hours; Earth observed 12 Theldesian days pass for every one of its own. As a gamer, Shiroe had regarded it as simply part of the game mechanics of Elder Tales.

In any case, Shiroe had spent enough time in Theldesia that he should not have returned to Earth on the same day and certainly not before he had left. Was it a hallucination, he wondered, or time travel, or was this just a dream?

A chat window popped up. Naotsugu asked if Shiroe would be online tonight for the update. As far as Shiroe could recall, Naotsugu had asked the same the first time. Chances were that, whatever was happening, Naotsugu was not included in the effects.

Shiroe pinched himself once, and then twice more for confirmation. "Ouch," he said as he shook out his hand. This almost certainly was not a dream.

Naotsugu was waiting for a reply. Shiroe pushed his glasses up. "I will be there," he typed on the keyboard with steady hands. They did not betray how loudly his heart beat in his ears.

The transportation had occurred just as the expansion occurred at midnight, as expected. One moment Shiroe had been watching the update's progress bar as it installed itself on the MMO's servers, the next he stood in the streets of Akiba in his Theldesian body - taller, more slender, and Half-Alv despite his rather human appearance.

Shiroe, turning his head to take in the strangely reassuring post-apocalyptic ruins of the city, took note that all of the other Elder Tales players displayed signs of shock at the transition. They panicked, shouted, and wanted to know where they were. The reality was slow to sink in.

Having truly time traveled sounded more and more likely as time progressed. He did not particularly want to believe he had traveled through time, invalidating all his work, decreasing or removing his ties with others. He was not a naturally social person, and the need to reforge what he had before intimidated him. Nevertheless, he refused to give up.

Shiroe called up his status screen with a thought. The menu panel hovered in front of him, invisible to any bystanders. As long as someone had the proper amount of focus, manipulating the 'screen' did not require any movements.

Before he proceeded to the friends list, unexpected differences made him freeze and narrow his eyes. New tabs and text, some of which was unreadable, cluttered the menu screen.

He frantically but methodically paged through the tabs in an attempt to find the source of the alterations. The information on the character statistics tab made him flinch in surprise.

'Subclass: Looper (Anchor), Lv. 1'? That was nothing like the level 90 Scribe that Shiroe should have been. He had never even heard of the Looper subclass.

He took himself to the subclass menu. The information there was too much. Some of the abilities listed displayed glitched text formed from random symbols, but many were quite readable. His breath froze in his lungs.

'Live through repeated loops', 'retain memories from previous loops', 'access gains from previous loops'; Shiroe grasped what those could mean immediately. They made other abilities, like the 'access all subclass skill paths', barely catch his notice.

At the end of the list, and it was lengthy, he saw a special note. 'Permanent character status: Anchor. Upon loop reset, immediately placed in another loop.'

Gibberish made further explanations of the status unreadable. A quick check of the character info tab showed that whatever the status was, it did not give his stats a visible buff or debuff.

'No matter,' he thought as he forced himself to resume breathing; he did not want to faint in the street.

The abilities he could read were clear enough. If the world around Shiroe was as real as he thought it was, he had indeed time-traveled. Furthermore, the wording of his abilities list implied that it could happen again. He needed to find out why, if he could, and if anyone else had experienced what he had.

However, Shiroe knew what he would do with this second chance: what he had before, but better.

He switched over to the friends list and scrolled down. Naotsugu, Touya, Minori… Akatsuki. His friends needed him. The menu changes could wait.

1.2.a

As Shiroe found himself in his computer chair once again, he could only sigh. Uncontrolled time-traveling proved to be quite tedious.

He leaned back into his chair and swiveled it around once. Part of him wanted to give up. Maybe, for once, he would not log into Elder Tales and would spend the loop relaxing on Earth. There were all sorts of things he could afford to try out thanks to the time loops. Vacationing somewhere tropical and learning how to scuba dive sounded enticing.

No, Shiroe finally decided, he would give Theldesia another try. He was afraid that he would have plenty of time for vacations later.

Once the transition occurred, Shiroe immediately brought up the status screen like usual. Thanks to the Looper subclass options, he could activate useful and mastered abilities from past loops right away.

He blinked. The menu had changed once again.

Portions that had been glitched and obscured by errors and nonsense text had been cleared up. Moreover, a new tab had been added - a help menu?

Without hesitation, Shiroe opened it. A title page and a table of contents unfolded in the air in front of him.

'All About Looping

By Saraswati and Iris

Editor: Seshat'

Shiroe was pretty certain that all of those names belonged to goddesses of different pantheons. Giving himself a mental shake and refocusing on the task at hand, he skimmed through the chapter list.

'Chapter 1: Is Your Life Too Repetitive? Looping and You

Chapter 2: Help, My Part Has Changed! Loop Variants

Chapter 3: You Are Not Alone - World Tree for Dummies

Chapter 4: Luggage for Loopers! Making a Subspace Pocket

Chapter 5: Tenuous Grasp on Sanity? Useful Tips and Tricks

Chapter 6: All the 'Do Not's - How to Avoid Breaking the Universe

Conclusion: By Sun Wukong'

Fighting a sudden headache, Shiroe rubbed his temples. He had a sinking feeling that he would need that vacation the next time around.

Saraswati checked that the updated patch had installed successfully. Two of her hands typed rapidly on her keyboard while a third manipulated the wireless mouse.

She thought to herself, 'Menu update, check. Text translation, done. Functionality, improved. Safety limits, active.' Everything had gone as planned.

Shortly after the loop's activation, which had started smoothly enough, an emergency in another loop had called her away and temporarily left the loop under the sole supervision of Iris, a reliable aide who specialized in transitions.

Realizing that the loop's coding wasn't up to par to dealing with the Earth-Theldesian transfer, Iris had immediately coded a patch that did the job. Unfortunately, her inexperience with managing loops had prevented her from noticing quite how enthusiastically Theldesia had incorporated the coding. Even Saraswati had needed a few loops to realize that the Anchor had an unusual amount of flexibility with applying changes to his Theldesian baseline.

Saraswati liked Iris too much to blame her for the patch's unexpected side effects; every loop had its quirks. Instead, Saraswati had seized the opportunity provided and incorporated a help file into a thoroughly debugged version of the patch. It would ensure that she did not have to worry about the Anchor or any Loopers getting 'the talk' later.

Her fourth hand brought a cup of chai tea to her lips as she watched Shiroe's actions on another monitor. Good, he had found the file as quickly as expected.

The unexpected chapter titles and presence of a conclusion registered in her mind.

Saraswati spit her tea across the keyboard. "That damn monkey!" she growled as she slammed her teacup down on her desk, only its inherent unbreakability preventing it from shattering.

'When did that immature cretin of a trickster god get his paws on my file?!'

1.2.b (Detective Ethan Redfield)

"Chapter 6: All the 'Do Not's - How to Avoid Breaking the Universe," Shiroe muttered to himself, but loud enough that Naotsugu could hear him.

Naotsugu watched Shiroe with a discerning eye. Ever since the Apacalypse had happened, Shiroe had been...slightly different from how he expected. Sure, he was the intelligent man with glasses and nasty, beady eyes just as he imagined, but there was something about him, like he knew more about what was going on in this world than he should.

For example, he only ate one of the menu made sandwiches, and only one bite, then switched to eating fruits and vegetables almost immediately, the only things with taste. He seemed surprised that Nyanta was the player that saved Serara, but it was only an act he could tell. The most damning one though was he didn't contact Maria to get Serara's location when they arrived in Susukino. No, all he did was stare at his status screen, his eyes rolling from side to side and then down, like words were flitting across his screen at a high speed as he walked purposely towards Nyanta's house.

Even now, Shiroe was reading. The enchanter reached in front of him and tapped his menu screen, meaning he opened something new. The guardian was about to ask what he was reading when Shiroe blinked and tilted his head, mouth started opening. A single syllable word came out in confusion, "Eh?"

As Shiroe continued reading whatever, his eyes grew wider and wider, mouth drooping lower and lower until he finally shot up from his seat on the log and shouted, "EH!?"

Everyone looked to Shiroe, Akatsuki speaking first, "Everything alright, Milord?"

Shiroe looked around, blinked a couple times and rubbed the back of his head, "Uh, yeah," and then returned to his seat.

(Shiroe POV)

Shiroe sighed and opened his status menu again continuing where he left off just before getting on his griffon. Chapter 6 was not a particularly long chapter as it described a few simple actions that would cause his loop to collapse. It advised against such an option since he would be forced into a safe mode server...or worse the Eiken loop.

In Elder Tales, killing yourself wasn't an option to escape anyway, though the idea that some loopers tried to kill themselves once to escape these loops was mildly disturbing. Briefly, he contemplated if he would have so many loops that escape by suicide would seem a good option, then disregarded it. If the description of Eiken were true, he wouldn't want to end up there for any length of time. Furthermore, if his loop made him miserable, it was his duty to change the world and make it a better place.

It was at the end of the chapter that he came across an attachment, which was simply titled, 'Ways Loopers Have Collapsed Their Own Loops.'

It was an encyclopedia to itself on what other loopers have done to either end the loops, entertain themselves or make their loops easier to handle. Shiroe decided to read the table of contents and then come back to it later, as the initial help guide would be more helpful in these early loops. He figured this Encyclopedia would make good reading later on in the loops. His eyes scanned the table of contents...and then widened, "Eh?"

Chapter 1: Experiments

a. Experiments with the Sun

b. Experiments with High Explosives

c. Experiments with Gene Splicing

And that's where he stopped reading for a second. Interest peaked, Shiroe tapped on experiments with the sun and slid to a random page, and started reading about an attempt by a looper to change the color of the sun to blue, "EH!?"

1.3

Shiroe - no, Kei while on Earth, he reminded himself firmly - laid back contentedly against the rock lining the hot springs of which he was the sole occupant.

A little vacation really was just what he needed.

1.4

In a world where the United States server updated with the expansion before the Japan one, Kei had logged into his secondary account, Roe2.

Awakened at the moment of the Catastrophe, Shiroe stared down at his slightly more feminine hands and then performed a quick check. He did not equal Maryelle in that regard, thank g-

Thanks for nothing! Now Shiroe could understand Akatsuki's feelings in the baseline. He needed to get that potion out of his inventory.

He froze in horror. "Shit." The potion would be in the Shiroe account's bag of holding. Roe2, his Half-Alv Summoner female account, held much fewer rarities. Worse, his subspace pocket currently did not hold any spares.

The manual had warned about situations like this. He twitched, firmly deciding on his priority for the next loop, not that it helped now.

Shiroe tried to keep himself from thinking about what he knew about switching genders in Theldesia. Given enough time, he would stop feeling uncomfortable in his female body. His voice would change to match, even.

Desperately wishing for a distraction, he surveyed the area around him. It had a much lower density of Adventurers than Akiba. The zone around the town had a deserved reputation for its difficulty, making it more akin to Susukino.

On the plus side, being a Summoner with an Undine contract gave him sufficient access to fresh water. That was quite important here. Secret military bases generally lacked comfortable surroundings.

This desert town, Area 51, would not be an exception.

Shiroe remained oblivious to the horrified looks of some of his teammates; they had not known to mentally prepare themselves for the sight of a cute woman summoning scores of undead Skeletons and Phantoms.

Checking the parameters of his newest spell occupied Shiroe's full attention. Raid battles occasionally granted Phantasmal-class items or other class-specific benefits. Defeating the mutant alien boss had granted him a new contract: 'Servant Summon: UFO'.

He pushed his glasses up. That sounded like a fantastic way to travel.

1.5

When Shiroe had Awakened in Theldesia, it was moments after the Catastrophe. He searched for a quiet area in which to pick through his abilities and get in touch with his friends.

Keeping an eye on his surroundings, he paused at the sight of a building to his right. He couldn't remember any guilds in Akiba having a mansion that looked quite like that before. It looked a little like a refurbished school building, if the school had been built by a billionaire who liked pink.

Under a plum tree in the building's front yard stood a single person, a Ceremonial Tribe Summoner if Shiroe was any judge. The Adventurer was either a slightly androgynous girl or a slightly feminine boy; Shiroe honestly could not tell which. The person caught sight of him. "Excuse me!" they called, "I think I'm lost. Can you tell me where I am?"

"We're in Elder Tales, aren't we?" Shiroe replied gently as he approached the cast iron fence around the property. "Theldesia, you know? Everyone is lost right now."

The Summoner's brow furrowed cutely. (Shiroe sincerely hoped that she was, in fact, a girl; the other possibility was that looping into his Roe2 character had left its mark.) "What's Elder Tales, and where is Theldesia?"

That took Shiroe aback. He adjusted his glasses. "Are you a looper?" he asked. He got a blank look. "What's your opinion on time travel?" he tried again. "Done it frequently?

The Summoner stiffened, eyes wide. "How…? I don't even know you!"

Then, a blonde-haired teen burst out of the mansion. "Haruhiiii," the Bard wailed, latching onto the Summoner shamelessly, "we traveled into a weird place this time and I can't find Kyouya! What are we going to dooooo?"

The Summoner facepalmed. "Dang it, Tamaki," she sighed as the Bard dissolved into theatrical sobbing. Then she pulled him up and quieted him down by kissing his cheek and putting a hand over his mouth. "Calm down," she said firmly before looking to Shiroe.

"Explain what is going on, please."

Shiroe smiled crookedly. "It's complicated. Luckily, we have a manual."

Later, long after Shirou had gone to help out a friend, Haruhi looked through her abilities list while Tamaki sprawled across the floor, sleeping.

The room they were in looked like something out of a harem from an Arabian fairytale, filled with lush pillows, beautiful Persian rugs, and colorful silken gauze, but Haruhi had long become inured to lavish decorations. She had spent far too many loops in a high school club run by ridiculously rich boys that specialized in appealing to the wallets of equally rich girls.

According to the loop memories, which she had not thought to check until Shiroe reminded her, the 'Ouran Hosts' guild did something similar in Elder Tales. The guild was crewed with people of both genders from the Ouran Academy loops, and Tamaki was the leader. Both he and Kyouya, whom Haruhi suspected of being in the process of taking over another city, were Awake this loop.

Haruhi blushed at reading the description of one of her home loop abilities. She murmured faintly, "That's really an attribute?"

She flopped back on the cushion behind her. "Of all the things… I mean, really? 'Harem Magnet'?"

1.6 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

Shiroe blinked as he awoke, standing in what appeared to be a passenger car on a train. His usual equipment was replaced with a set of long black robes and what appeared to be a school outfit. He gazed into space for several seconds, attempting to mentally call up his status screen, when the door sliding open ended his concentration. Before him stood an 11 year old boy with brown hair, old glasses and a black scar on his forehead. Shiroe raised his hand in greeting. The boy gave him a raised eyebrow, "Are you a looper?"

Shiroe blinked, "Uh, yeah."

The boy sighed, "Damn...did you cause it?"

Shiroe raised his glasses as a gleam crossed them, "I'm not sure what you mean. Last I remember, I was storing a manuscript in my subspace pocket shortly before the loop was set to end. And then I was here, standing here alone."

The boy crossed his arms and sighed, "Then it probably wasn't you. We better find the one responsible. I'm Harry by the way, Harry Potter."

Shiroe offered his hand to shake, "My name's Kei Shirogane, but most people call me Shiroe. What did you mean earlier by 'did you cause it?'"

Harry took it and the two walked down the train, "Right, new to the Hogwarts loops. Usually when another looper ends up here, someone destroyed their own universe. Yggdrasil doesn't like when that happens, and their loop unravels. Because most admins don't want to send their loopers to Eiken, they send them here if possible."

The two passed by Fred and George Weasley, who were discussing new ideas for their future joke shop. Harry continued after they left the twin's car, "So, how many loops have you done?"

Shiroe tapped his chin. "A few hundred. Yourself?"

Harry shrugged, "Lost track eons ago. I'm one of the original seven loopers, along with Ranma, Naruto, Ichigo, Shinji, Usagi, and Lina."

The two continued talking until they came to the final car, where a navy haired girl with pink and purple highlights had her face buried in her hands, while another girl with silver hair looked at the two boys with mild interest. Harry seemed to recognize them, "Hey Twilight. I assume it was Trixie?"

Twilight nodded. Harry rubbed his forehead and exited, intent on looking to see if other loopers were present and who had been replaced, hopefully not Anko. Trixie followed after him, deciding it was better to give Twilight some room. Twilight removed her hands and looked up, only now noticing the enchanter looper, "Ah, I'm sorry, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm from the Equestria loops."

Shiroe gave a small grin, "Shiroe from the Elder Tale Loops. I run a guild called Log Horizon."

He paused for a second as his eyes lit up, "Say, do you know a girl by the name Pinkie?"

Twilight's gloomy attitude faded immediately, excitement taking over, "You know her? She hasn't been awake for the last dozen or so loops! How is she?"

Shiroe took a step back, "Uh, yeah. She replaced Kanami, one of our Tea Party members, and spent much of the loops randomly using the Fairy Rings to travel all over the world to start a worldwide party...at least before she ended up in Japan and restarted the Debauchery Tea Party."

The boy shook his head and chuckled to himself. Noticing Twilight's hesitant expression, Shiroe answered the unasked question, "It's just a name, a hangout where 27 adventurers hung out and completed high level raids on various dungeons and other quests."

He sat down next to her, "Tell me about Equestria. Pinkie's explanation was so long winded I didn't catch any of it in the end...besides that you were ponies."

The two continued chatting for quite awhile as the train moved ever closer to Hogwarts.

1.7

"Wow, you're really a time-looping time-traveler from Earth, Kay-kun?" Kanami asked cheerfully as she walked backwards in front of him, the wind tugging playfully at her black, braided hair.

This loop, Shiroe had replaced the high-level Lander - or 'Ancient' - character called Elias Hackblade, the 'true hero' in the mythos of Elder Tales. Now a Blademancer by class and named Kay Whiteblade, he found himself traveling overland from England to Japan in the company of Kanami, a level 90 Monk.

Kanami had organized and lead the Debauchery Tea Party. Shiroe had been part of it, long before the Catastrophe, in his baseline. With her cheerful personality and childlike curiosity, she had only ever cared about making Elder Tales fun. Shiroe cared for her deeply enough that he had trouble categorizing it beyond 'respect'. The Debauchery Tea Party had dissolved after Kanami had moved to another country in real life.

He shook off his melancholy and nodded in response to Kanami's question. "That's right," he agreed. Shiroe had Awakened in the middle of Kanami saving Kay from an immensely strong monster. Kay would have died without Kanami's intervention.

Kanami excelled at interventions, Shiroe thought.

The monster lacked the power to withstand a Looper, of course. Able to circumvent the Ancient limitation, Shiroe had promptly dispatching the monster with a cross-class attack combination. Enchanter spells, Kannagi barriers, and Assassin attacks had combined wonderfully with Kay's Fairy Arts.

Explaining afterwards had come naturally. He knew their companionship would last for only this loop; nevertheless, it eased something inside him to be open with her. He had guessed she would take it in stride, and she had, quite easily.

Twirling around once, Kanami laughed with pure delight. "Wow, you must have seen so much!" she exclaimed with a sincere eagerness. "Do you do explore much? What sort of things have you seen?"

Shiroe thought back to past loops. "There was an amusing incident one time when I was a Kannagi and training my Alchemist abilities. I happened to need rare ingredients," he began the story.

As he spoke, they continued walking together towards Ville Fleurie - Paris, France. Shiroe could only wonder what type of adventure would find Kanami next. He looked forward to every second of it.

1.8

Shiroe adjusted his glasses as he stared at the contents on the floor of his office. Placing one hand on a stack of papers and dragonhide leather, both from his subspace pocket, he used a Scribe skill: Publisher. When he lifted his hand away, there were thirteen high-quality hardcover books left behind.

He traced his fingers over the front cover of the book on the top of the stack. The title proclaimed, 'The Fairy Rings of Theldesia, Volume 1: Yamato Region.' No author was listed.

Opening the book, he checked to make sure that it had been created properly from the pages that he had printed back on Earth. For every entry, one page displayed a map chart of Theldesia taken straight from an Elder Tales screencap. On the next page, information about the location was listed. Each of the next twelve pages showed four moon phases and listed the destination for every hour of the day. The destination names were paired with the appropriate volume and page number for reference.

In short, he had crafted an encyclopedia-sized Ring travel guide.

Everything appeared to have gone well. Satisfied, Shiroe withdrew more stacks of paper and leather and many sets of ink bottles from his pocket. Applying another Scribe skill, Copy, left him with with enough copies of the original set to fill a large bookcase. He smiled as he stuffed them all into his subspace pocket.

Traveling with Kanami had galvanized Shiroe. Traveling across continents, it was impossible to not appreciate the vastness of Theldesia. Distances being half what they would have been on Earth meant that the world itself had a mere quarter of the surface area of Earth, but that meant nothing when so much of the world was a mob-peppered wilderness and lacked modern forms of transportation.

Travel distances had always limited his actions. Early on in the Theldesia timeline, his most reliable transportation was his gryphon mount. Its average speed never surpassed 40 kilometers per hour, and high-level mobs prevented it from bypassing certain areas.

The Fairy Rings circumvented many of those issues. However, hard-to-find or hard-to-reach locations, potentially dangerous destinations, and constantly shifting destinations meant that remembering what went where and when an extraordinarily difficult task.

Now Shiroe had mitigated that issue. Moreover, as the books appeared to be proper Elder Tales item, no one would suspect something strange if he pulled out a book to reference it.

Shiroe stretched languidly. The entire world of Theldesia was finally open to him. It was truly a shame that his attempts to magic up fixes to the dormant inter-city transport gates had all ended rather… catastrophically.

Really, how was he to have expected that the failed spell's backlash would result in the all of the city's clothing being forcibly unequipped? That was one loop he was glad Akatsuki couldn't remember.

Notes:
1.1: And many a looper new to the LH loop will jealously exclaim, "It has a menu!"
1.2.a: "And a ****ing manual?"
1.2.b: Looper lesson #3: With great power comes great explosions.
1.3: Log out; opt out.
1.4: It's great to have minions.
1.5: Ouran High School Host Club: Where looping might make the canon timeline make sense.
1.6: Slytherin or Ravenclaw? Or Hufflepuff?
1.7: This is not a ship. (If Kanami had one, she'd be Luffy.)
1.8: It was still a better result than another try which ended in random body-swapping.