“The advent of the One Step style came out of the convergence of two skills. One is the ability to deliver increased damage on a jump or fall. The other is being able to make a running long jump from standing still.” I watched them think that over. “What it evolves into is being able to make a full-strength charging attack... with one step. Combined with a One Strike, this is a supremely lethal attack... and only a Spear-user can pull it off.”

Verd looked excited. “What about archery?” she asked, puffing out her well-developing chest. “I’m the best archer of us three!”

“I could see that... but Hags aren’t wired for archery. If you think about it, it’s a convenience for you. A serious Archer solves everything with a bow. For us, archery is something we use until we can pull out a real weapon and beat the shit out of them up close and personal.”

She nodded slowly after a moment. “But don’t give up on it, right?”

“You saw my Archery Levels. I’m perfectly willing to kill at range. I just prefer it up close. Soothes my ego.” They giggled again.

“Amber, if I have shellycoats right, you see melee combat as a bother, and ranged combat as a distraction. You have performance and a drive to be in the spotlight in your veins. And until you get good enough to terrify the stupid with a look, it makes you a walking target for rape.” She blinked. “You won’t ever marry. You aren’t a take-home-to-mom girl. Men aren’t going to look at you for your brains. You’re going to be a sex object, and lusted after. It’s going to be hard to find a man who loves you for you, and not for the fact you’re just so drop dead sexy.”

Her smile was kind of odd, on the brittle side. “I think I found one...” she whispered, looking around the tent suddenly.

I had to lift an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Hee hee!” Veis pushed her, and Amber giggled. “She’s talking about my brother Errant!”

Errant?

“Pure Sword Errant?” I asked faintly. Obviously I hadn’t asked enough questions in Marktell of Grym and Feist.

“You DO know him!” Verd exclaimed for all of them.

“Sword Grandmasters have a habit of that,” I nodded. “You’re falling for a Heavenbound? I can’t say you’ve got bad taste, but he’s marriage material for someone, Amber.”

“Oh, I know...” She rolled her eyes in disappointment. “He’s almost ridiculously nice. Has no eye gravity at all, and those silver eyes just look right through you, and...”

All three of them sighed together. Veis had her nose in the air proudly. He was HER brother, after all!

“Well, then stake your claim on a Void Brother,” I said, and all three of them promptly choked.

It took a moment for Amber to recover herself, her scarlet-orange eyes wide as berries. “What? V-Void Brothers?”

“Among Void Brothers, strong Null Forsaken have another name. We are The Silent and The Stone.”

They repeated those words together, anticipating what they meant.

“Within a strong Null, Voids cannot feel the Breath of the Land.” I looked back and forth between them. “They aren’t being pulled this way and that. The call to act isn’t there. All is quiet and peaceful. We are like that cool, peaceful pond they can float in under the sun, and let everything go...

“So, yes, Void Brothers. If you have a STRONG Null. Wimpy non-Sevens need not apply, and it won’t get really quiet unless you’re a Ten with a Null of 40+.”

They all swallowed; Verd and Amber looked at one another, while Veis had the expression of someone who really wanted to know more about all this sex stuff on a hands-on basis.

“Anyhoos, back to Amber. Amber, you use long and short, and performance-style combat. Rose and Thorn is perfect for you, but Grandmastery is probably going to be elusive. You’re going to have to focus on being a Master Fencer in all aspects, which is a road that deals more with your Sneak Attack damage being boosted to the moon than pure Mastery of the rapier. Distracting, dancing, dazzling... every moment of combat fighting you should be like that, and you should take full advantage of it.”

She seemed to find that idea quite satisfactory, and nodded agreement. I turned my eyes to the smallest of us.

“Veis, you’re doing a synthesis of Fire and Shadow styles, which is a very Hynnish assassin dual-wielding thing, and not bad for you. But the fact is that you’re smarter than you let on to others, and you’re very quick. These are your best traits. You’re going to be faster than people think, and smarter. You can analyze and find weak points and then hit them. You need to add Wind to your style, and Rising and Racing Winds is best for you. You might end up with the best lightfoot of all of us. Your size is something you have to make up for, but when attacking from surprise... you should be as dangerous as any of us, and definitely the sneakiest.”

She beamed again. “I can do it!” she agreed confidently.

“Wait! What’s this about smarter than us?” Amber protested.

I turned a lazy eye on her. “You did see that 16 Int versus your 13’s, right?” She and Verd pursed their lips with a look at the smallest of them. “Uh-huh. I bet little Miss Precocious here was Casting spells before she was two.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“I was!” Veis piped up proudly, making practiced motions with her hands... that of course did absolutely nothing now.

“Well... so was I,” Amber protested, her brow furrowing.

I waved my hand and rolled my eyes. “Sorcerers. Things happened around you, and it took you how long to realize you could control them? Age four? Five?” She pouted at me. “Regardless, the first thing you’re going to be doing is going out and fighting out there on the battlefield every single day. Multiple times, if you can.”

“Really?” Verd looked a bit uncertain. “I heard it can get very dangerous out there...”

“You’re already tougher than ninety percent of the enemy, and fast enough to run away from the other ten percent. You’re going to be mostly immune to their magic, and if you fight together, you can stop one of their champions cold.

“You need Karma, and you need combat experience against a variety of foes and monsters. It is the best way.”

“Will you be there?” Veis asked quickly.

“In spirit. Literally.” I pulled a box out of my Masspack, set it to the side, and opened it up. “I am going to Mark you. I will literally be a thought away, and I will be Singing for you.

“I cannot fight with you. I fight at an entirely different level than you do, as you will see eventually. There won’t be anything for you to fight if I fight with you, and you need the Karma. I don’t want to call you little sisters forever...”

They puffed up despite themselves. “We can do it!” Amber declared, and the other two nodded with her. They all wanted to be the Big Sister, too...

“Good. You have Vajras, so you can get six Marks. It’s cheating, but you’ll get the rest when you reach a Diamond Vajra.” Their eyes glittered at my words. “Then, we have to get you Null Weapons. You don’t have Slaughter or Arsenal on your Weapons, do you?”

“Uh, no?” Verd admitted. “Hazé enchanted our Weapons, and we’ve been growing them. We’ve got Baneskulls...”

“Forsaken don’t need Baneskulls. We have Slaughter,” I told them with a sniff, getting them all on my side. “Weapons made by Powered inherit their bias and rigidity. There’s no such problem with Null-forged Weapons. Do you know how to smith?” All three of them shook their heads. “I’m aware you have ancillary skills you probably prefer to use, but we need your downtime here to be productive. The Intellect Mark will grant you the skills of a Smith, so you can help at the forges, or you can find another place to be productive. I want you to get good at metal and/or woodworking for a simple reason... if you lose your Weapon, you can then make another for yourself.”

They all agreed with that line of reasoning.

“And before I begin, let me introduce you to my Sword, Tremble.” Tremble floated out from her scabbard behind my back, and their eyes rose.

“Hello! And I know you’re going to ask, so these are my Stats.” The holo projected from the star sapphire in her guard, and they all leaned forwards to read... and read... and read...

“I am going to forge a new Sword for her soon. Just waiting for the metal to arrive,” I told them calmly, as they gaped at my Sword. “She’s going to be very impressive when I do.”

They all swallowed, staring at that list of Stats for Tremble. She was going to be impressive then... but she wasn’t now?...

--------------

They gawked at The Map. They stared at all the doors in Markspace, once they stepped past their own. They gaped at me. They dove into their own chatroom and started chatting with one another with blizzard speed, and actually started running out of topics to talk about fairly soon. /tellepathy is damn fast, after all.

And I was Right There. There was no doubt whatsoever that I was the Big Sister. Advance Schema and a path to uberness were all conversational points, and they didn’t need to be with me to do that.

------

Inscribing the Mark on Hazé was quick and easy. She picked Intellect, not a surprise. Choosing Blacksmithing for the Skill raised my eyebrow, but it was just one more thing you needed to make Constructs and other magic items, so not that huge a surprise.

We didn’t need to speak in person. Once it was up, we could converse /tellepathically through the Mark, and be about our other business. And if outsiders thought we weren’t conspiring together, well, too bad for them.

She was a little intimidated at my mental presence. After all, she was a Wizardess, Sorceress, and Priestess. The Mental Arena was supposed to be all her. Finding out how ripped I was in the mental arena was a rude shock.

Benefits of being Forsaken and having more Levels.

-You really are from Terra? Can I ask what the last date you remember is?- was the first thing she /asked.

-As I recall, Hazé the Star Mage died a few years before the Fall,- I /replied calmly. -I’m sorry, I don’t remember an exact date, although it was at least three years. I died during the Fall, and a lot of precise details are extremely fuzzy. The circumstances of my reincarnation probably have something to do with it.-

-At least three years... the Fall?- she /asked sharply.

-The Archmage warned the whole world that the Apocalypse was coming and the world was going to end. Everyone laughed. He was right.

-A Thing from Outside Creation pulled Earth out of our home universe and tried to eat it. Somehow, the Archmage stopped it, but I’m not precise on the details. I died during the transition.

-So did Briggs.-

She sucked in a breath even as she was about to begin some Potion prep work. -Commander Briggs is here?- she /asked faintly.

-Yes. He should be coming in from a fight soon. They’re almost done slaughtering some ex-human Warped.-

Hazé took a deep breath. -I know one more person for certain, and one maybe.-

-The girls mentioned Pure Sword Errant. Veis’ brother, aye? How’s that for coincidence...-

-Do you remember someone called Memphistopheles?-

Despite myself, I scoffed. -Now isn’t that a gamer’s name. Are you sure?-

-He ran into the girls and Brother Shadowknife. Eldritch Theurge, Madpact with the Mazakeem.-

-Huh. That quest-jumping asshole made it here?- I shook my head.

-He’s an adult. Fully grown.- she /informed me.

-Wha... Well, shit. He was actually physically BROUGHT here?- The implications were impressive. -Did you try to see if Terra was in Aruan purview after he arrived?-

-No. It may have arrived here afterwards, you think?-

-Temporal anomalies are to be expected when moving between worlds. If he was brought here, there’s definitely a connection now...-

I could feel her mind working. -Errant should be in here. I should go get him and have you put a Mark on him.-

-He’ll only get the one, but yes. Heavenbound are invaluable just on the face of it. Did he get here before you?-

-Yes, and I’m pretty sure almost exactly relative to the times we both died.-

-So it’s a shunt, not relative temporal velocity. That’s good, I suppose...-

-But Terra is in danger?-

-Pretty sure about it. Also pretty sure that they’ll be able to handle it.-

-Oh?-

-Magic was coming in. Who do you think is going to be the best at wielding the magic in that new universe?-

-Power of Ten gamers...- she /murmured in understanding. The Archmage had planned everything. Even for the people like us who didn’t make it...

-Go get Errant. And we should probably be looking out for Mem-can’t-think-of-a-real-name guy. He probably has some details for us...-

-I’ll let Errant know and get him immediately.-