Otter wanted to just colpse and maybe sleep for a day straight. She had that tired feeling in her bones. The kind you got after really good sex, or a good PVP match in VR. Which was kind of what she’d done, except she wasn’t actually in a game, and her life had been on the line.

  She forced herself to her feet, stretching out what she could, even if her body protested. Last thing she needed was to discover how real cramping felt in this world. Wait. Cramping.

  “Rua,” Otter called, “do penoa menstruate?”

  Rua had apparently gone in the opposite direction of Otter, having colpsed on top of the dead tree that was Ashborne, Sunny curled on top of her, which looked funny, since Sunny was taller than her now. Kind of like a dog that still thought they were a puppy and could fit where they used to sleep.

  “What’s ‘menstruate?’”

  “You know, where women bleed once a month to…” she trailed off as Rua gave an increasingly more confused expression. “Sunny, you have both our memories, you know what I’m talking about, right?”

  “They don’t have periods here,” Sunny called back, her eyes closed as she nestled into Rua. “Biology’s different.”

  “Oh my merciful Kamohoali’i, those are the single most beautiful words I have ever heard.”

  Who cared if this world was a death game? Why would any woman ever want to go back to the real world in the wake of that? Never mind the widespread acceptance of polyamory, or that according to Rua, people weren’t weird about sex. This pce was the tits.

  All they had to do was get rid of Holt. And maybe the Dreamers. Otter hadn’t made her mind up about them yet.

  Otter waved her hatchet at Rua. “Am I ever gd you made me chop wood when we first met. Turns out, useful skillset.”

  “All part of my master pn.”

  Otter skipped her way back to Ashborne’s corpse,singing to herself, “Loot, loot, gonna get me some loot, loot, loot, Ashborne better have tasty fruit.”

  Rua looked down at her. “That is the second time I have heard you singing that tune.”

  “It’s my loot song.”

  “It’s terrible.”

  “It is, but it’s fun.”

  “Throw one of your threads, I’ll pull you up, and we can get to that.”

  “Out of Will. No can do.”

  “I can handle it, mama,” Sunny said.

  The little redheaded bundle of joy spped her hand against Ashborne’s trunk, and handholds began to take shape, one after the other. As soon as they were done, Otter began her climb upwards.

  “So, you know how to work your Pact now?” Otter asked.

  “We need to talk about that,” Rua said, and her tone sounded wary.

  She knew that tone, if not necessarily well from Rua. She sat down, prepared to listen and give it her full attention. “What’s up?”

  “She’s a Fleshcrafter,” she said, as if that expined everything. After a moment’s pause, she added, “It’s the most dangerous Pact I know.”

  “Why? What does she do?”

  Rua sucked in a breath and gave Sunny a weird look. Otter wasn’t sure what it meant. Sunny gnced away, as if ashamed.

  “I only know of four Fleshcrafters that have ever lived. None on the Isnds, thank the Dreamer. They always go bad. Always.”

  “Four people isn’t exactly a big data set.”

  “No. It isn’t, but… They control flesh. Any flesh. Alive, dead, their own, that of others, sentient beings, animals. They’re terrifying. They can heal from any injury, they don’t die of old age. They can change shape, make monsters from the dead, forcibly transform anyone’s body however they want… I hear… I hear the st one to live was born in the Criobani Empire. And that it took a small army to bring her down. I’d always assumed they’d killed her, but…”

  “But they put her in a suit of armor,” Otter said, putting it together. “Why waste what you can use.”

  “It’d have to be one of their first. Which was over two hundred years ago.”

  Sunny shrank in on herself, and even though she was adult-shaped now, Otter could easily still see the child she’d been.

  “I think it’s why I turned young,” Sunny said. “Kind of a… renewal process. Automatic. I take so much damage, and I just… discard what I don’t need, and start again.”

  “And then rapidly regrow,” Rua said. “Using her Will to supplement it.”

  “I don’t wanna be bad,” Sunny said. “But I know the histories. From mama.”

  “Then you don’t have to be bad,” Otter said. “It’s that easy.”

  “It isn’t that easy,” Rua said, but she held a hand over Sunny’s shoulders protectively.

  “It is. Power’s just choices. It gives you more options. It doesn’t make you good or bad. It just gives you the chance to make different decisions. Sure, some people think power gives them an excuse to not make good decisions, but fuck ‘em. We’re not those kinds of people, right? We’ve got each other. We can keep an eye on one another.”

  “She’s not just a Fleshcrafter, though,” Rua said. “Her Pact evolved. She’s whatever the next step after a Fleshcrafter is.”

  “A Lifecrafter,” Sunny said numbly.

  “And if that means what I think it means, and from what we’ve seen, it means she can affect anything living, or maybe anything that was once alive. That’s… big.”

  “Eh,” Otter said, waving her hand. “Just means she has more options. If you’re so worried… Sunny, do you pn on becoming a murderous monster?”

  “No.”

  “There. Did she lie?”

  Rua narrowed her eyes. “No, but that might change tomorrow.”

  “Then ask her tomorrow. If it’s so scary, just ask her not to use her abilities. She won’t, if you do it.”

  Sunny turned to Rua, a pleading look in her eyes. As if Otter had just stumbled on a solution.

  “Fine. Sunny, no using your abilities unless either me or Otter give the clear. Do you promise?”

  She nodded her head furiously, her copper ringlets bouncing in her exuberance. “I promise. I won’t use my abilities unless you or Otter tell me I can.”

  Rua leaned forward and flicked Sunny across the nose. “Lie.”

  Sunny held her nose, a horrified expression on her face. “But… I don’t want to use my powers. Not if I’m… that. If I might become like them.”

  “Rephrase it,” Otter said. “She probably thought of a scenario where she’d use them without asking us, is all.”

  “When did you get so wise?” Rua asked.

  “Hah, good one. I’m not wise. Just optimistic. Look around you.” She gestured to the dead Cuttings, and the corpse of Ashborne. “We’re alive. All this, and we’re alive. I genuinely think tomorrow will be okay. I mean, sure, there’s still the shadow of Holt looming over us, but fuck him, he’s not ruining my mood. And we haven’t even gotten to the loot yet!”

  “I wish I–”

  Otter wanted to be the supportive girlfriend and listen to Rua’s concerns, but she couldn’t be contained. She jumped into the cavity of Ashborne’s chest.

  His heart, if it could be called that, was much like that of the Cuttings, but much rger. Maybe it functioned simir to a human’s, and the green stuff that leaked from it was the equivalent of his blood, or maybe it was just symbolic, somewhere for his soul crystal to be contained. In the grand scheme, it didn’t really matter. She hacked into it with gusto, her hatchet liberating three small gems from it in a matter of minutes.

  She frowned at that. They all glittered with inner light, but they felt…. weird. Not like the other soul crystals she’d encountered at all. There was a heaviness to them, a sense of immensity, even though they were smaller than any others she’d come across.

  And why three? Was it because three people had killed Ashborne, working in tandem? That felt right, but why hadn’t anything else done that before now? Was it because of how powerful Ashborne was? Or because he was a Mythwalker?

  She climbed out, and handed the crystals over to Rua.

  “Three,” Rua said, breathless. “And… there’s a lot in these.”

  “Cool. Which one’s mine?”

  Rua focused for a moment, and her eyebrows raised. “They’re unattuned. Anyone can use them, I think.”

  “So, one each?”

  “One each.”

  “I don’t want one,” Sunny said. “I’m… already scary.”

  “Too bad,” Otter said. “Rules of loot. Divided evenly.”

  Rua looked about to say something, but then nodded. “I trust you, Sunny.”

  “But… I made a deal with the woman in the armour. The person I used to be. She wants to… join with me again. I don’t think we can trust her.”

  “What’s this?” Otter asked.

  Rua went over the presence that still lingered in the Vexurian, separated from Sunny’s mind, pulling out the shard of metal from her belt pouch, a glyph glowing brightly on it.

  “I don’t think we can trust her either,” Rua said.

  “Then we don’t. Fuck her,” Otter said. “That seems to be my advice for the day. Fuck anyone who’s trying to fuck us.”

  "She might be able to transte those notes your ally found in Holt's pce. They're in Criobani. Which Sunny doesn't read, because she doesn't have those memories."

  “And I made a promise,” Sunny said.

  “So?" Otter said. "Those only count when it’s with someone you trust. If you think she’s dealing in bad faith, or if she’s going to do something bad with your body–”

  “It’s her body, too.”

  “No, it was her body. She got her chance. And she fucked it up. It’s why she ended up in the armor. And we can always find another transtor. Or maybe Pandemona can. Or anyone in the Criobani area. So we don't need her for squat. As a matter of fact…”

  Otter leaned over, grabbing the shard of metal from Rua’s hand, and without pausing to think about it, threw it as hard as she could into the swamp. For a moment, she thought she heard someone shouting something like ‘Feck!’ She didn’t bother to see where it nded. If the mud didn’t cim it, than some body of water would.

  “You… you just…” Sunny said, staring off into the distance.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “But… I promised.”

  “Yeah, and then I broke it. If it makes you feel any better, you can go looking for it, but I’ll just throw it away again. Maybe into the ocean next time. Now eat your supper, it’s getting cold.”

  As if to demonstrate, Otter picked one out of the soul crystals from Rua’s hand, flicked off the green gunk as best she could, and then downed it. It felt different than the others. Warmer. Hot, even, when it hit her gut. She felt something brush against her mind, very gently. Like a presence, trying to glean info about her. And then it was gone.

  No screen popped up asking her how she wanted to select her stats. But something in her brain went off like a firework. All of a sudden, it was like she could feel something inside of her expanding.

  She zoned out for a second. It was like getting really high, all at once. A sense that her consciousness was growing, her mind elevating beyond what it once was.

  And then all at once, she felt normal again.

  “Trippy,” she said.

  “What’d you get?” Rua asked.

  “I… don’t know. Let me check.”

  Otter pulled up her menu, and flipped over to her stats. And then sputtered.

  Strength: 16 (17)

  Agility: 11 (12)

  Tenacity: 14 (15)

  Allure: 10 (11)

  Will: 65 (70.5)

  Fortune: 11 (13)

  Awareness: 10 (11)

  She had to do some quick math in her health, since she’d gotten a 10% boost wo Will previously as a reward for forming her Pact, but even so. Had she really gained fifty points in Will? In one go?

  It solved a lot of problems. While neat, she hadn’t really been able to capitalize on her Thread of Sanctuary ability due to its prohibitive cost. She’d finally be able to consistently make protective garments for herself. Hell, for Rua and Sunny, too.

  “I think I just got fifty points in Will,” Otter said numbly.

  Rua didn’t even question it. She just picked out one of the crystals out herself and swallowed it. She got the same faraway look for a second, and then made the telltale hand gestures of flipping through her menu.

  “Fifty in Strength.” She sounded just as stunned as Otter felt.

  The two of them turned to Sunny, and Rua held her hand out.

  “No,” she said, and got that fussy look on her face that a child would get after telling them to eat their vegetables.

  “Sunny,” Rua said menacingly.

  “You eat it.”

  “This is more soul power than most people see in their lives. You’re going to eat it, and you’re going to like it.”

  “No!” She cmped one hand over her own mouth, and filed with the other and both feet when they both descended on her.

  “We trust you,” Otter said, trying to pry her hand away from her mouth without hurting her. She look a kick to the side as she tried, but it wasn’t hard, no actual weight or menace put into it.

  “Then trust me to have my own opinion!”

  “She has a point,” Rua said, backing off.

  “Fine!” Otter said, letting go. “I think you’re being ridiculous, but fine. But we’re holding onto it for you. Neither of us are going to use it. It’s yours.”

  Rua’s eyes flickered to it, torn, but she said, “It’s yours, to do with as you want.”

  “I want to give it to you.”

  “To do with as you want, other than giving it away to one of us.”

  Sunny got a pouty look on her face, which looked absolutely ridiculous now that she was basically an adult. She looked like she was about to throw a tantrum.

  “We also have these,” Otter said, fishing out a series of crystals from her pocket. They were from the Cuttings that had been killed when Sunny had been taken by the Vexurian, and Rua by the Cuttings. “But I don’t know whose are whose. In my defense, I got the shit bludgeoned out of me at the time.”

  Rua went through them, closing her eyes as she touched each one, before splitting them up. One was given to Otter, two to Sunny, and two to Rua.

  These ones Sunny did not object overtly to, although she looked ready to fuss until Otter shot her a gre. Otter’s crystal gave her one more point in Strength, which she felt she badly needed.

  After that, they made camp in the shadow of Ashborne’s fallen trunk. They picked over the remains of bodies that had been kept at his roots, but found nothing beyond a sense of disgust for desecrating the dead even further. They had no tools to dig a proper grave, so they resolved to burn the skeletal pieces come the morning.

  For now, they needed rest before heading towards what was to come next.

  End of Arc One

  DorenWinslowe