Saul said the options out loud. Brand whistled and Zorea’s eyes widened.

Body Sigil: Application options:

Apply Sigil: Saul Kramitz

Apply Sigil: Brand of Harkin’s Holdfast

Apply Sigil: Zorea the Healer

“I think you’re right!” Brand said. “That sounds like a way to connect the three of us together, and your whole magic system is based on Sigils. I guess it makes sense that this Sigil might allow us to share powers in some way. Let’s do it!”

“Are you sure about this?” Saul asked. “Don’t forget, we don’t really know exactly what these are going to do. There’s no guarantee that this will work the way we think it will. It may do something entirely different. In fact, it may have some kind of bad effect that we cannot predict.”

“I don’t think so,” Zorea said firmly. “I think there is more to this than meets the eye, as is true for so much of the events so far. Don’t forget that the warlock who we took this Sigil from was clutching onto it for dear life, but it was not applied to his body. Why not? Who was he, and why did he have it?

“If this was some kind of trick, some kind of malign spell that had been set up to cause harm to any who picked it up, I don’t think it would have been found the way it was. It has transported us here to the Workshop, and your System has been able to easily interact with it in a useful way. If it were an evil trick, I don’t think it would have worked in that way. Do you see what I mean?”

“Yes,” Saul said thoughtfully, “and to be completely honest I think you are probably correct. I am simply wary of using anything that comes from the warlocks without thoroughly considering it first. But I agree that it seems this probably comes from some other source, and that we can use it safely. What do you think, Brand?”

“I think we should go for it,” Brand said. “It feels right, if you know what I mean. It feels like it will be okay for us to use, Saul. I think we should go ahead and do it.”

Saul smiled at the two young people who had made themselves his disciples.

“I think you are right,” he said.

“Very well, we will do it.”

He turned his attention back to the list of options.

Body Sigil: Application options:

Apply Sigil: Saul Kramitz

Apply Sigil: Brand of Harkin’s Holdfast

Apply Sigil: Zorea the Healer

“Ready?” he asked.

They both nodded, gazing at him expectantly.

“Very well,” he said.

Saul selected the top option, Apply Sigil: Saul Kramitz.

The air around Saul crackled to life, blazing with raw power as the body sigil was applied.

The sigil melted through the air toward Saul’s chest, accompanied by a blazing white light and a crackling sound like flame.

“Stay back!” Saul cried to his friends as they both made to move toward him. “The effect will pass in a moment. I don’t want you to get caught up in the magic storm. Stay back for the moment, you will have your chance shortly.”

They both did as he said, stepping away from him as the powerful magic of the Body Sigil swept over his body and absorbed into his very soul.

There was a moment of trepidation for Saul. After all, last time anything like this had happened, he had suffered indescribably excruciating pain at the hands of Sarkur the trickster god, when the System had been initially applied to him.

He braced for pain. But no pain struck him.

Instead, a distinctly pleasant sensation spread through him. His whole body suffused with warmth, and power ran through him from the top of his head down to his hands.

He felt an immense surge of satisfaction as the Sigil deepened into him, and he felt his System responding positively to its presence.

There was, as he had felt before, a deep whirring sensation as if gears and powerful machinery churned deep down within his soul.

He smiled with satisfaction.

“The spell has worked, friends,” he said. “I have successfully applied the Body Sigil. Now it’s your turn.”

As Brand and Zorea stepped forward, Saul became aware of a powerful tugging sensation in his chest. He looked down and saw two lines of something dark, almost like the wraiths of shadow that sometimes wound their way around the bodies of warlocks.

These two lines of darkness connected him from the center of his chest to the two schedules that now lay dark and gleaming on the top of the marvelous crystal Anvil.

The sense of connection that he now felt was undeniable, though it was not entirely new. He had felt something like this before, but never in such a positive way. It took him a moment to put his finger on the memory, then he realized what it was.

Back in the early moments of his new timeline—and also later, when he had felt the presence of the control magic strongly coming from Grimdir. It had felt like long lines of shadow connecting the controller to the ones being controlled.

He wondered for a moment if the application of this Body Sigil magic would give him some kind of control over his two friends. That would, of course, be very unwelcome to all of them. But on reflection Saul suspected that while Body Sigil Magic might be exploited to control others, that was unlikely to be its default form or the only way to use it.

Either way, Saul had no intention of abusing the power that the Body Sigil might give him. This was an exercise in collaboration, not an exercise in control.

“Do it,” Brand said, stepping forward.

“Very well,” Saul said, and selected the option.

Immediately, the same crackling white light flowed through Brand. It shone out from the crystal Anvil, Lighting up the room and consuming the small Body Sigil that lay there.

Saul watched in amazement as the line of dark now flowed between himself and Brand, connecting them from chest to chest.

The bright light flooded the room momentarily. Again, Saul was aware of the sensation of powerful machinery working away somewhere that he could not see.

“Wow!” Brand said a little shakily after the light show had passed and the magic was finished. “I feel… different. I feel like there are new options, things which I can do. I feel like… I can’t describe it. It feels good!”

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“Never mind that!” Zorea said, uncharacteristically impatient. “My turn!”

She moved forward.

Brand, grinning at her enthusiasm, made way.

Within moments, Saul applied the Sigil to her as well, and her head lolled back, and her eyes rolled at the satisfaction of the sensation flooded her.

“By the gods,” she groaned. “That’s something else. I’ve never felt anything like that before!”

Brand was staring at her in wonder, as she stood with her head thrown back and her long dark hair hanging down, illuminated by the magical glow of the spell.

“Close your mouth,” Saul said very quietly to Brand.

The young man realized that he had been staring. His jaw snapped shut and his cheeks reddened. Saul resisted the urge to grin.

“What’s that?” Zorea asked as she came out of her magical trance as the magic ended.

“Nothing,” Saul said, seeing the spark of grateful relief in Brand’s eyes as he looked at Saul.

It was clear the young man was rapidly falling for the plucky young healer, but for some reason——probably embarrassment or the fear of rejection——he did not want his feelings to be known.

Well, Saul wouldn’t snitch on his apprentice. They had more important things to worry about besides.

“How do you feel?” Saul asked Zorea.

“Woah, I don’t know,” she said, more than a little breathlessly. “It’s like Brand said, it feels good, very satisfying, and like there are new things I can do, but it’s very hard to put into words.”

“For my part,” Saul told them both, “I can now both feel and see a magical connection running between me and both of you. That’s a new development for me. Let me have a look into my System options and see if there is anything new that I can do.”

Moments later, Saul was gazing at an entirely new set of options.

Squads available: 1 of 1

Squad options: Level 1

Select: Name Squad

Select: Apply School of Fire to Squad

Select: Add Inventory to Squad Members

Saul took a breath to explain the options he was seeing, but Zorea spoke before he could.

“I can see them!” she said in amazement. “I can see the options as well!”

“And I,” Brand added, smiling.

“You can see what I’m seeing?”

The words are kind of laid out across the left-hand side of my vision,” Zorea said. “It’s odd, but I can tell that they are not my options, but yours. I don’t quite know how I can tell exactly. It’s like knowing where my hand is with my eyes closed, like being aware of a part of my body as compared to someone else’s. I can see it, but I know it’s not mine. I can’t feel the options.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Saul said.

“It’s the same for me,” Brand confirmed. “I can see them, but I can’t feel them. I know that they are not options that I can choose or interact with, but I can see them, and I can watch you working with them.”

“Well, what shall we pick, then?” Saul asked.

“Inventory!” Brand said, at the same time as Zorea said, “School of Fire!”

Saul chuckled. “Let’s do the inventory first.”

He selected the option Add Inventory to Squad Members.

Brand and Zorea cried out in amazement.

“I can see options of my own now,” Brand said.

In the same moment, Saul experienced the odd sensation that they had both described. He saw their options, but he knew instinctively that they were not his, and that he could not interact with them.

Brand of Harkin’s Holdfast:

Inventory: Level 1

Potions: 0 of 3

Weapons: 1 of 1

Outfits: 0 of 2

Zorea the Healer:

Inventory: Level 1

Potions: 0 of 3

Weapons: 1 of 1

Outfits: 0 of 2

“Can you see each other’s options?” Saul said. “I can see both of yours.”

They both shook their heads. They could only see their own.

Saul explored his own options and found that he, too, had an inventory. In addition, he was able to add things to their inventories as well.

Saul Kramitz

Personal Inventory: Level 3

Potions: 6 of 10

Weapons: 2 of 4

Outfits: 0 of 4

Squad Inventories:

Select: Add potions

Select: Add weapons

Select: Add gear

“You have a lot more options than we do,” Brand said, sounding impressed.

“I’m much higher level than you are,” Saul said distractedly, looking through the options. “So, it seems that I can add things to your inventories. Crucially, it seems that I can add potions to you both.”

Then he looked at them. “We’re at risk of forgetting the most important thing,” he said briskly. “Our physical bodies, as far as we know, are still present on the battlefield. We must return as soon as we can. There is only one more thing that we need to do here.”

“What is that?” Zorea asked.

For answer, Saul reached back into his options and selected Apply School of Fire to Squad. He wondered if at higher levels he might have more options available.

As soon as he selected the option, fire raced along the shadowy lines of connection which joined him to his two friends. Flames ran across both of their bodies with a shimmering red and yellow light.

A moment later, Brand and Zorea were amazed to find that they both had what they had wanted for so long.

“A spell of my own!” Zorea said. “It’s called Healing Flame.”

“And mine is called Firebrand,” Brand said, grinning.

“Appropriately named,” Saul said.

The two young people tried to cast their spells, but they immediately were given a message.

Warning: Workshop active. Spellcasting unavailable.

“Ah, that’s good,” Saul said. “I didn’t know that, but I guess it makes sense. We’re inside my soul when we’re in here, I think. At least we are certainly inside the physical manifestation of the System itself, and that System is very closely integrated with my soul. I don’t like the idea of people being able to cast magical spells here.”

“You’re right!” Brand said with a laugh. “It doesn’t sound too healthy to be having spells cast inside the System.”

“Can we get back to the battlefield now?” Zorea asked.

Saul examined his options and found to his satisfaction that the option to Deactivate Workshop was no longer dull and unresponsive.

“Yes,” he said. “We can go back. Are you both ready? This might be a bit of an unpleasant transition.”

They both nodded grimly.

When Saul selected the option, he was presented with new options, rather than with the immediate lurching, unpleasant sensation that he had become used to.

To his surprise, instead of vanishing from the Workshop, he was offered choices.

Options: Squad Transit: Fire Squad

Select: View available locations

Saul selected to view locations. A map of the battlefield around Harkin’s Holdfast appeared before his eyes. It was very neat and clear and did not get in the way of his vision of the space around him, much like the silver letters of the System options themselves.

Brand and Zorea leaned in to peek at it from behind him.

“Three options,” Zorea said. “That’s where we were when we transited here, then there’s one actually inside the village, and another which looks like it’s where the battle line currently stands.”

She was right. Three glowing red spots on the map highlighted different locations they could travel to. There were also clumps of darker shadow, which moved around on the map.

It took them a moment to work it out, then Saul snapped his fingers.

“It’s the soldiers and fighters that are on the battlefield,” he said. “We’re actually able to view this in real time!”

“This Body Sigil magic is a big step forward for your magic as well, isn’t it, Saul?” Brand asked.

“Yes,” Saul replied. “And there’s something else here that’s important.”

“What’s that?” Zorea asked.

“Well, I don’t think our bodies are on the battlefield,” he said. “If that were the case, then I don’t think that we would be able to transit back to a new location on the map.”

“Hard to know for sure, though,” Brand put in.

“I think so,” Saul said. “And whatever the truth of it is, we may be needed there. Come on, let’s travel back and land where we came from.”

He selected the red spot on the map and was delighted to find that the transition was nowhere near as unpleasant as he had gotten used to.

Both the horrible lurching sensation and the unpleasant slamming back into the body that had always characterized the return to the physical world after a session in the Workshop were absent.

This time, the transit was smooth and easy. Saul found himself standing near where they had taken the Body Magic Sigil from the warlock.

And there was someone nearby.

“Sergeant Merrick!” Saul cried in delight.

“By the gods!” Merrick shouted. “Where did you three spring from? What is this magic?”

“What do you mean?” Saul asked. “What did you see?”

Merrick gave him an odd look and then shrugged. “A moment ago, there was nothing there. Then I saw three columns of silver light about the height of three people appearing where you three are now standing. They shimmered there for a moment, lighting up the wreckage of this camp, and then their brightness dimmed and you three appeared in their place.”

Saul glanced at his friends, who nodded. So, it was as they had thought. Their transit to the Workshop had actually transported their physical bodies out of this world and into the magical plane of existence on which the Workshop operated.

That was a big improvement. If Saul could visit his Workshop without compromising his physical safety, he could do so from many more places and with much more flexibility.

Perhaps, he thought, I might even be able to activate my Workshop to escape from danger?

But even as he had the thought, he felt it was likely not so. The System had safeguards built in to stop him from exploiting it to make things too easy on himself.

It has to be a challenge, doesn’t it, Sarkur?

In his old life as commander of the armies of the empire, a thought like that, directed toward a god, might have elicited a noticeable response.

Not this time. Now, there was just silence. That suited Saul just fine.

“How goes the battle, Sergeant Merrick?” Saul asked.

“The battle?” Merrick repeated. “The battle is over. We have won. The reinforcements came in the nick of time, and the warlocks and thralls were unable to resist. None survived. But there’s something else.” Satisfaction glinted in his eyes.

“What’s that?” Saul asked.

“You remember how Jerryl and the others were unconscious without any clear wound to explain their condition?”

“Of course,” Saul said. “What about them?”

“About twenty minutes ago, they all woke up.”