When they were only a night’s travel away from Taos, Kyra sent a message to the guild, detailing what happened at the spire, omitting some of the more concerning details about Gene.

  “I am requesting an immediate audience with the guild mistress. We have much to discuss,” said Kyra as the last of her words floated into the air.

  Gene watched her with great interest, much to the restrained horror of Kyra.

  “Is that a sending spell?” asked Gene, his question making Kyra jump in surprise.

  “Y-yes that’s it precisely,” she replied before taking labored steps to sit by the fire.

  Gene sipped from a mug, drinking what passed for coffee in this world. Eonis was next to him, cooking what Gene approximated as bacon and eggs. His eyes passed from Kyra to Gene and before he could ask the clearly exhausted woman another question, Eonis asked his own.

  “How far does it work? The, what did you call it? walk and talker?”

  Gene snorted into his cup and coughed, “Walkie talkie, but no. That’s not what it is. My character profile says Mental Communication 1. Right now, I have a range of 100 feet.”

  Eonis whistled before saying, “That’s a good distance but how do you do it if you can’t see us?”

  “He has a Thought Sense at 6 ranks!” replied Winnie in her excitement at the discussion, prompting Gene to give a strained smile.

  “Yeah…I’m not sure how to describe it but I can feel all of you around me.”

  Gene stood and moved away from the fire before closing his eyes. He spun in place to the surprise of everyone before surprising them even more and pointing precisely at each of them. Winnie and Kyrie gave a bemused applause to which Gene bowed in their direction still with his eyes closed.

  “I can sense the minds of everyone around me. It feels like when you’re in a crowded restaurant, lots of side conversations that I have to ignore to focus on what you’re saying. I can distinguish the animals from the people too but further out, it’s a little harder to parse.”

  Winnie cackled like a madwoman before asking, “Isn’t this absolutely absurd?”

  Kyrie shook his head and snorted. He stood and asked, “Do you want to test those limits? Try to find me!”

  He ran off to the shock of everyone there, disappearing into the forest around them. Gene laughed once he regained his composure. He closed his eyes and put his hands to his temples. With the speed of thought, he zeroed in on Kyrie and projected his thoughts.

  “Found you!”

  Kyrie let out a laugh upon hearing Gene’s voice in his head. Before he could open his eyes, Gene sensed the others all standing and racing into the forest in opposite directions.

  “At least put out the fire!” shouted Gene.

  He walked over to watch the crackling flame, gave them each a few seconds and then struck out.

  “Found you! Found you Found you!” He projected his thoughts to each of them in rapid succession.

  Each time they let out a delighted laugh. Even Kyra in her fatigue seemed to enjoy the display. They rejoined Gene at the fire and sat down for breakfast, laughing as they played mind games while they ate.

  When they finished breakfast, they returned to the fun exercises, practicing until they got used to the mental connections. Gene couldn’t yet bridge other minds but he found himself getting faster at relaying the information like an operator. Their play was interrupted when Gene sensed several foreign presences approaching with killing intent.

  “Something–some things are coming. Animals I think? A pack of 10 are surrounding us. They’re about 80 feet away,” thought Gene.

  At the notice, the others began to don their armor and draw their weaponry.

  “We’re in Lyger territory,” said Eonis. “They’re clever cats, pack animals. Probably planning an ambush.”

  Kyrie smirked, drew his sword, and said, “Let’s set up an ambush of our own.”

  The Lyger pack grew near, crouching low to blend in with the foliage. The six legged felines crept near silently, each leg moving independently to take careful steps towards their quarry.

  Flesh! The word repeated in each of their heads. Feast! The pack leader salivated. It warbled in frequencies only they could hear, signaling to two of them to take their places. Only inches away from their quarry, they all crouched in unison before pouncing through the trees and onto nothing.

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  Blam! A sudden bolt of psionic energy ripped from the treetops above, crashing into the mind of the leader and flattening its thoughts in an instant. It collapsed to the shock of its pack and two figures descended from the trees, brandishing swords.

  To the confusion of the pack, Gene and the adventurers cleaved into them. With the need for a distraction done, Kyra dropped her Beacon of Observance and switched to firing holy rays at the off-guard Lygers. Winnie fired off a series of water bolts at a clustered group of Lygers before unfurling a scroll. The water soaking the Lygers froze instantly and the creatures shattered. Kyrie and Eonis cut through the Lyger pack in a brutal dance of carnage, leaving one creature to flee for safety.

  It didn’t get far. Gene set his mind on the running creature and fired off another Psy Blast, crushing the creature’s mind and ending the slaughter. They regrouped at the fire, cheering for the ease of combat.

  “Level check!” Kyrie called out as he sheathed his sword. “13!”

  12, 16, and 14 were shouted out by Kyra, Winnie, and Eonis respectively.

  They all turned to Gene and he sadly said, “8…I didn’t get anything from that except practice. Seems like I won’t get anything unless I complete objectives the system deems heroic.”

  Winnie sighs. “Disappointing. I guess we’ll just have to get creative with your Power Stunts when we need the extra power. Have you thought more about spending your remaining points or about the depths of these psychic abilities? Hopefully in better ways than language acquisition.”

  Gene groaned from Winnie’s scolding over what she felt was a waste of points when he didn’t know how many he could theoretically gain. Kyra tensed up.

  “Perhaps it might be best if he focuses on the powers he currently has and dwells on growth when he’s more comfortable with his system,” said Kyra. Her tone came off slightly panicked for just a second before she regained control of herself.

  Kyrie noticed it right away. He eyed her, noting the tension in her posture. She stood in the same practiced position she used when she was putting on airs to make it seem as if she were detached from humanly affairs. From a young age, she had this distinct aura about her. Though twins, there was a distinct difference to their animus. Kyra had inherited the blood of a distant Ascendant relative, and when it awoke, it came with a whole host of mannerisms that guided her class selection. She had suddenly become two distinct people.

  There was the Kyra the world saw, all soft glances and delicate speech. Then there was the one Kyrie knew in their private moments. The little girl who would scale a wall and skin her knees falling from it with a smile on her face. The young girl who bested him 8 times out of 10 when sparring with the warhammer she long ago replaced with a staff of healing. The woman who would call him on his bullshit before drinking him under the table. He wanted that foul mouth, hard drinking brute that hid within the cloister of her heart to emerge.

  “Ky,” whispered Kyrie softly. Kyra glanced in his direction for only a second before snapping back to look at Gene.

  Oblivious, Gene nodded at her remark, considering her words.

  “You’re right, Kyra. I’m starting to get tired of fainting. It’s not a good look for a true hero.”

  Gene struck a pose with his hands on his hips, looking to the sky, but it failed to resonate with the group.

  “Riiiiight,” said Eonis before looking to the others in concern. “Anyway…We’re a day away from Taos and I think we should work on his story.”

  He thumbed at Gene and Winnie picked up from there to say, “I’ll handle the gate entry. Wouldn’t be the first time I had to falsify a status ritual.”

  She winked and held up a finger to silence him playfully before pulling a book out of thin and shuffling through the pages. “We can pass you off as a Mindweaver as long as they don’t ask you to cast any spells for verification. I’ll need to fake the level as well. It’ll take some work but I can manage it. I think the only problem is going to be your strange attire. You can’t seem to equip any of our weapons or accessories and no matter what glamour spell I use, I can’t seem to affect it. It’s as if their composition is unstable.”

  Gene looked down quizzically at his plain white button up shirt and black slacks. His tie was still tied loosely around his wrist for lack of a better storage location. Every time he tried to remove it, he’d hear a message in his mind: ‘Costume integrity compromised. Resting to base values in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1’ before the tie appeared back at wherever it was last.

  He closed his eyes for a moment before laughing to himself and saying, “Unstable Molecules.”

  With a thought, he stepped into The Margins and pulled up his character profile. He looked at the image of himself before giving a mental click to the little icon of a shirt next to it. The screen shuffled for a moment and the Hero System Spoke.

  Hero System Message: Costume Designer initiated. Please visualize the attire you wish to wear to reconfigure design.

  He spent longer than he expected, shuffling through every video game and tabletop rpg he’d ever played to find the perfect one that wasn’t too outlandish like a Final Fantasy character but not as basic as a RuneScape character. He landed in the sweet spot of a Dragon Age companion, crafting a black leather tunic, pants, and boots. Silver embroidery traced mirrored lighting patterns down the sides of his clothes and a silver circlet wrapped around his head, connecting at his birthmark. He beamed as he looked at his new appearance before confirming the selection and stepping out of the margins.

  “Graces guide me!” Exclaimed Eonis as Kyra gasped, prompting Winnie to look up from her book and squeal in disbelief and amusement.

  “Well? How do I look?” Asked Gene as he stood up and gave a spin to show off his new outfit.

  “Another perk of this Hero System, I presume? Fascinating,” said Winnie as she leaned in to expect the outfit.

  “Some would say Fantastic,” chuckled Gene to everyone’s confusion. He took a second to think, staring into the fire before saying, “In one of my comic books, there was a famous…. Artificer who leads his family of 4 with strange powers on Fantastic voyages. Because of how strange their powers were, he had to create magical garments that could withstand their powers. The garments quickly became all the rage for all the heroes in that world and I guess that includes me.”

  Gene grinned wide, relishing the chance to share his nerdy knowledge before he heard Kyrie say, “Fantastic indeed.”

  His eyes shot up from the fire to see Kyrie grinning and his face flushed with excitement. He smiled back nervously before sitting back down and clearing his throat.