“Hey Fio”, Catori spoke into my head.

I was sitting in the living room with Alex and Circe working on their vis perception once again.

“What’s up?”, I asked while keeping my shadows moving.

“I got to Serrington. And I talked to Nymph.”

“Oh, you did? Could you use [Telepathy] or did you need her to do it?”

“She did. I’m in the grove right now.”

“Greetings, old friend”, the familiar voice of the mantis spoke.

“Nymph!”

Laughter answered me.

“How are you doing?”, I asked.

“Just fine. The city is peaceful and I can spend my team tending to my grove.”

“That’s great. Have you been going out?”

“Yes. Brilda and Arctus are pleasant company. They have officially become Protectors. As have Sandraj and Banélin’s children. It has become much more lively. I wanted to thank you for pulling me out of my hole.”

“You’re welcome”, I laughed, “Has Catori already caught you up on everything?”

“The important stuff, at least. Like that the world is going to end in 25 years.”

“Did you know anything about that?”

“No. I was unaware. I have sent for the local head of library to ask a few questions. And I have sent letters to the other guardians.”

“You’ve had some time, huh?”

“I’m sorry?”, Catori said.

Her voice was distant and did not sound particularly apologetic. I laughed.

“That was no accusation, Catori. Sorry about that. I trust you to contact me if you have to. I also plan to visit, anyway.”

“It’s okay”, my other self said with a hint of cheer.

“Is that so?”, Nymph said, “That makes me happy. What are your current plans, if I may ask?”

“I’m going to work out some details with the people we know. That goblin village with the hungry node I told you about would be a great place to run some experiments so the goal is to get a team from the Church to set up camp around there. Of course, supplies would have to be worked out with the dwarves. There’s also a plan to improve diplomatic relations and work together. I want to talk to some people and figure out if that’s possible.

“After that, I’m going to explore the Deep Green. We want to find silverwood trees or saplings. I’m also going to look for other civilizations and sapient beasts. Like Selene, for example. And I’m going to try to contact Stormbringer. I want to use [Distant Dreaming] to get close without risking myself so if we can figure out how to use our Skills with other bodies that would be great.”

Alex groaned with frustration as she poked her temple for the fourth time today, just barely missing my shadow orb.

“A little slower, Fio?”, she said.

I obliged but I would slowly increase the pace again once she landed a hit. That was the best way to learn, after all.

“Seems busy”, Nymph said, “But I suppose that is a good use of your Skill-set. Do you mind if I keep Catori here for a while longer? I have a few more questions about this… situation.”

“It’s more us keeping that starling body there. Both of us can use it, you know? We’re looking for a more fitting body for Catori, anyway.”

“I’ll stay for a bit”, my other self said. This time, she sounded genuinely happy.

“How long have you been in that body?”, I asked.

“… since I reached Serrington yesterday. Mostly. I go back when I sleep.”

“I did it!”, Circe suddenly shouted.

I saw her finger impaling the one orb that was slowly circling her head. She had her eyes open and was grinning widely.

“Nice job!”, I said.

Then I sent an image of my sight through the telepathic link.

“Ooh! Nice!”, Catori smiled.

I felt confusion coming from Nymph.

“Now try again”, I said out loud, “After three hits I’m going to increase the speed.

“Only after three?”

“We need to make sure it was no fluke”, I smirked

“… alright! Let’s do this!”

She had to put in much more work than Alex without any Skill to base her perception on. I did not expect to finish her training anytime soon.

“Right”, I said to Nymph, “Alex wants to take Circe along to the Dwarven Hills. Do you think that’ll be a problem?”

“If she gets a vouch there will be no issue. Is that the girl?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Yup. She is from a village near the nest where I hatched. I met her there and eventually my whole family ended up moving in.”

“Did you not say they were non-sapient?”

“They found a node. It took some time to teach them how to speak but I managed. Oh, you don’t know about the arcane speaker either, right?”

“What is that?”

“Catori, can you make one with that body? Or show Nymph how to do it?”

“Sure”, she said, “It’s an artefact that lets you talk out loud by injecting vis. Pretty useful.”

“That is interesting”, Nymph said, “But I do have a Skill that lets me do that. Still, it might be useful for Arctus and Brilda. What do you need for it?”

I tuned out their conversation as Catori got into the details but kept the connection up in case they wanted to talk more. It was almost like being in voice chat with my online friends. At least the few we had in our previous life. I had to force the memory aside before it overwhelmed me. I had real friends here. People that cared about me and wanted to spend time with me.

Caw.

And Mex. But we could become friends once he reached sapience.

The raven was getting used to me and had even tried to steal some of my food this morning. I had shocked him a little when I dropped a ‘fresh’ kill from my storage. Once he started to taste the food, though, he quickly warmed up to me. There was still some unwarranted haughtiness but I felt we could get along one day.

I had to accelerate the last two orbs that Alex hit. She was not surrounded by three whirling shadows. I had to put them on rings so they would not lose contact with my darkness. And yet…

“Plop!”, the living fortress said, “Aaand… plop!”

It was getting difficult to keep up with my multitasking.

“And one more… Plop!”

She froze with her finger still in the air. Slowly, a smile spread on her face. She opened her eyes and raised a fist.

“I! Did! It! Wooo!”

Laughing, she fell onto her back. Her hands clapped a few times before flopping to the ground.

“Congratulations”, I said, “Did you get an alteration or only a level-up?”

“Alteration. It’s called [Fortress Watch] now. And it increases all my senses as a base Skill. Sensing essence and vis is the second Breakpoint and the third… can notice aura, flux, and warp. It’s really cool!”

“Oh, wow. That sounds great. So, how bad is our warp, really?”

“It’s… yeah. We’re fucked. Luckily, it looped around to being okay. That’s how bad it is.”

“Really? I thought there was just some kind of… limit?… you had to cross after which it would be fine.”

“No, it looped. It’s like a ring, of sorts. The closer you are to the opposite side of where you started, the worse it is. Circe is like… a sixth of the way there. The whole ring, that is. We’re about a sixth from the end.”

“So we would have to get her two-thirds around in one go without breaking her mind? That seems crazy.”

“Yup. You’d need to have some insane exposure like us during our revivals.”

“Can’t you just put me in that place?”, the girl in question asked, “That would be fine, right?”

“I can keep you there for thirty minutes or forever. The former is not enough to become as badly warped as we are.”

She frowned.

“By the way”, I said, “What happens if you loop all the way on that ‘ring’ of yours, Alex?”

“It’s not really a ring. It’s the best metaphor I can find. Maybe you can see it as some kind of… snake? We start at the tip of the tail and get closer to the brain with every discovery but it’s laying in a circle. And the mind spiders and eldritch guardians and all the other effects of warp are like… the digestive tract? If you don’t go through fast enough, you’ll be made into nutrition and feed the newcomers.”

I blinked.

“That is a weird way to say that.”

Alex shrugged.

“I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s just a sense I have now. There’s barely anything physical to it.”

“What about Mex?”, Circe asked.

“He’s at the tip of the tail. Maybe a tiny bit away from it? I’d guess that’s the vis enrichment.”

“As a raven, he might be smart enough to understand some things normal humans have no clue about”, I said.

Caw.

“Yes, yes!”, Circe grinned.

She took her hand and slowly ran it down his scalp. The raven pushed his head into her fingers.

“What about aura?”, I asked, “Is our soul theory sound?”

“It appears so. There’s nothing anywhere besides where we are. And it’s stronger in you and me. Likely because we have Cores.”

“I would assume an Affinity is even more apparent.”

“Yes. I can sense a lot of aura in the direction of the Cathedral. Those must be the Clerics.” The people in between are… well, I don’t know if there are any. Other than Hera, that is. Huh, I wonder how that works.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t see Hera’s aura or essence or anything. I simple know where she is. And…”

Her eyes glazed over for a minute.

“No fucking way…”

“What?”

“Another Skill altered itself. This one is from my Class. It let me focus on the task at hand while temporarily ignoring emotions. Now… it lets me see every ‘part’ of my fortress. Holy shit… of course. Hera is my [Fortress Maid]. The system considers her to be a part of me.”

She went quiet for a few minutes. I exchanged a look with Circe before shrugging. We went back to training the human girl’s vis perception. She had managed to get a second orb but missed the third one. Eventually, Alex turned to us again.

“I can use all of Hera’s senses and give her mine. And we have permanent [Telepathy].”

Circe tilted her head.

“I’m so fucking envious”, Catori sent suddenly.

“You’ve been listening in?”

“Yup.”

“Nice! I didn’t know you can do that.”

“We need to get me a real body.”

“We do. Do you want me to ask Jane to find us a criminal? Or maybe I can ask Martha?”

“No. I… want to be human, yes. But I don’t want to be a criminal.”

“You wouldn’t be, but yeah… I get it.”

Alex grinned at me.

“Pretty much like that”, she said.

I hooted in indignation.

“Okay, not really. But a little.”

“What?”, Circe asked, “Like what? Are you using [Telepathy]? Let me join!”

I laughed and Alex joined in.

“No, Circe, we aren’t”, I said, “Let me tell you about us.”

I had already told her about Catori’s existence but it was time to give her the full story.