Alex jerks awake with a scream. He'll doesn't keep screaming for long but definitely for a few seconds he frantically looks around the room. He notices the quest dialog but he isn't quite in a place to read it or work out the implications yet.

Well, that actually makes Ser Peckingsworth shut up! For about five seconds, anyway. Then the neighbor's rooster resumes crowing.

He's in his bedroom. Was it all a nightmare? It would be a shockingly detailed on of it was but... no the quest dialog. "Quests." He commands.

Active Quests
None

Completed Quests
About the Town
Party Like There's No Tomorrow

Failed Quests
The First Time's Always the Hardest

So the system is real. The whole sequence of events on the festival day was probably real too. What's even happening?

Failing the quest probably confirms that he died, but if he died, how exactly is he back home. He reopens the quest to see if rereading it will tell him more or jog his memory.

The First Time's Always the Hardest (Failed)
Trouble is coming to Eriksmont. Will you meet it when it does?
Objective: Survive for a year and a day. 
Success: +5 Might XP. Unlock status: New Game Plus. ???
Failure: An important lesson. Unlock status: New Game Plus. Return to start point.
Bonus Objective 1 (Failed): Jennifer is still alive after a year and a day. ???
Bonus Objective 2 (Failed): At least a thousand of the people of Eriksmont are still alive after a year and a day.

"Info New Game Plus."

New Game Plus 1: This status marks you as one who persists and perseveres through the ebb and flow of this world and its stories. You have returned to the beginning 1 time(s). 

Well that's his somewhat wild suspicion confirmed. The good news is that Jen is alive again. The bad news is that unless he figures something out she'll die again tonoght and he will too.

He should go talk to her about this.

Before that though... he picks up a small notebook and tries something.

"Store."

The notebook vanishes in a wisp of black smoke. It can be seen in his Inventory if he checks.

He does check just to confirm the name of the item for the retrieval command. The he goes to talk to Jen.

He's already had this conversation once and he doesn't want to have it all over again. Still there's things he needs to explain. He tells her about the strange blue boxes and demonstrates retrieving and storing his notebook. He also recounts what he can remember of the box describing his choice and how he's on the path to being a named. And then he explains how he died and returned.

It's a lot for Jen to take in, she almost interrupts several times but she knows that look, more from the mirror than from Alex but she knows it. He needs to get it all out.

Once he finally does, she takes a moment to contemplate it all. "Do you have any idea how many chances you get? Surely, not even the gods could loop time forever."

"I hadn't thought that far. I don't think there's any way for me to know though. I would expect it's a high number, but then I expected that the quest saying I had to survive for a year and a day meant that I probably wouldn't die today.

"I don't really know what to expect. I think if I had survived for that year and a day, I would still be back here but there isn't any way to be sure except surviving that long."

"That's unfortunate. Knowing what the limit is seems important, but if you don't have a way to find out I think that you need to try to succeed every time, rather than just treating things as an opportunity to learn."

"I'm not really sure I know how to do that yet. Unless I learn a lot more about magic really fast, I don't think I can stop that woman. So either I need help from someone else, or we need to flee. Or both. I don't think just fleeing will work, if I'm truly on the path to being a named the narrative won't just let me run but it might be enough to survive for more than a day."

Jen nods slowly. "Such a heavy burden you've accepted. I can't say I like the idea of running again and this time with no planned destination but perhaps it's our only choice. Then again... if you were to only have two chances I would agree with you with respect to it not making very much sense. Perhaps this is your safest chance to try to do something."

"I think, if I'm going to try something my best chance is Lilian. The imperial mage I mentioned. She most likely died with everyone else but maybe if she was forewarned she could do something or get that other imperial mage, Aeschivus, to help somehow."

"It's as good a plan as any I suppose. Do you have any way to convince her you're telling the truth?"

"Not something I would want to rely on but my ability to store objects is incredible magic and I picked up on enough anecdotes that I at least won't seem to be a loon. She might see me as dangerous or threatening instead but she should at least take me seriously."

"Well then, I guess you somewhere to start. I'll leave for Isvos after this assembly of the town. I expect my absence would be quite notable otherwise."

"I guess I do. And good luck. If all goes well I'll meet you there in a few days." Alex doesn't bother with chores this second go around instead he dresses up nicely again and heads to the tavern where he found Lilian the first time.

On his way out, Alex nearly runs into a greying man in travel-stained robes in the very act of knocking on the door. 

"Hello. Can I help you?" Does he recognize this man at all?

The face isn't familiar, though maybe the robes sort of remind him of someone he saw talking to dockworkers in the tavern? Alex never got a good look at that person's face. 

"I thought I heard screaming, is everything okay?" asks the man, lowering his knocking-hand to his side.

"I had a nightmare. At the end, someone stabbed me through the throat. It was... upsetting. I'm still a bit shaken to be honest but trying to move on. It's the festival today afterall."