Arn didn’t understand. Not really. She wanted to treat him special, couldn’t she do that later? Apparently not. Apparently, a woman could be so happy someone wasn’t dead, that you had to do exactly what she flipping said, exactly when she told you to do it. Women.

Well, none of that mattered now. He was finally here, where he needed to be. “So you see, I’m hoping that the mana potion will push me over the cost of the summoning,” Arn explained. Silver Tongue shook his head, “no, no, mana burn is no joke, it can kill. You have no idea how much mana this familiar will cost. It could be twenty, it could be fifty. You try to get to fifty without any mana of your own, you’ll fry your brain. You want to rely on the Gods to regenerate that just so?”

“I have mana!” Arn explained, “I have Mana Manipulation, Force Mana and Fire Mana unlocked. Ten in intelligence. So I must have at least ten mana right? And I have an idea to get more!” “Yes?” Silver Tongue asked. “Well . . . if I have a friend kill me, when I come back to life, all my stats increase by ten for ten seconds! So I’d have twenty intelligence! If I pop a mana potion right as I come back…”

Silver Tongue laughed heartily, although not unkindly. “Oh my, I haven’t seen such excitement since my granddaughter heard her birthday gift barking from the other room! Wait just a moment . . . try not to explode!” Silver Tongue disappeared into the back of his shop for what felt like an eternity, returning with a tiny gem in his hand. “Is your mana full now?” he asked, placing the tiny gem in Arn’s hand. Arn nodded. “Good. Well, for starters lets see how much mana you have. Try and fill the gem.”

Arn concentrated. Extracting a bit of mana was easy now, but trying to get it in the gem was like trying to thread a needle at first; some mana went into the gem and some splashed around the sides. Arn adjusted, pushing a small steady stream of mana into the gem as it gradually lit up. After a minute, he felt empty. Silver Tongue plucked the gem back from Arn and held it up to his eye. “Well” he started, “looks like about eleven mana here, but you wasted one or two I think, so we’ll say twelve or thirteen. You can get to twenty for a spell by filling the gem and practicing using mana from the gem. It will be tricky for you, and if the familiar takes more than twenty mana we will have to consider other options, but give it a week or so, and we’ll know if twenty will do the trick.”

“A week!” Arn exclaimed. “I don’t think I can wait a week! What if I try with a larger crystal right after resurrecting with the ten extra intelligence?” Silver Tongue rolled his eyes. “That is madness for certain. But, just perhaps, it might be crazy enough to actually work. And I suppose it is fitting to summon a phoenix right after being resurrected. You can have your friend Sar burn you to death. If there are Gods, perhaps they will appreciate such a mad thing. If not, at least it will make for a story; make my drinking buddies laugh for certain. So there is that. But practice with the crystal first, you might need the extra mana.”

Arn bounced with excitement, delighted to have a plan. “I’ll do it! How much for the crystal, I have some other things to sell, I’ll have to visit Hera and the enchanter, um forget his name, and I have a few things for you, I. . .” Silver Tongue laughed at Arn’s rambling, and put his arm on Arn’s shoulders. “Ah, I almost forgot! We are business partners you and I. The gem is free, a small thing. Practice with it today, and tonight at sunset, in front of the store, we will put on a show! If you manage to summon a phoenix, that is something my customers will remember forever! If not, I will sell ale! Now, show me what you’ve brought me."

* * *

Later that afternoon, the group sat in The Jungle’s Heart for what should have been a celebratory lunch. Keana, however, was red in the face, clearly upset. None of the group really understood why – hadn’t Arn done similar things in the past? Was she somehow forgetting Arn’s history in light of his horrible death that almost-was?

Keana waved her hands, voice loud and shrill. “You don’t understand! There are people that will hunt you because you’re a legendary classer! I thought, well it’s a big world, he’ll never find you, but you insist on shouting it from the rooftops! Summoning a bloody phoenix in the town square! EVERYONE will talk about it. It will spread from Reach like wildfire.” Keana sputtered to a brief stop, before continuing quietly, “might as well sign your own death warrant.”

Earlier frustration with Keana aside, Arn realized this was different and tried hard to listen – and immediately spotted her slip. “Who is ‘he’ Keana?”

Keana just stared at nothing. “Its obvious you’ve told a whole pack of lies,” Pepper said. “And also obvious you care bout Arn. So woman up bitch, look him in the eye. Time for some truth.”

Keana looked at Arn, wringing her hands, and began. “My ex-boyfriend. He was so different, before . . . before we came here. Normal. Where . . . where we are from, people, well the kind of people I thought we were, are reserved. Studious. Scholarly. I guess some aren’t like that, underneath. He told me we could be different here. I didn’t think he meant . . . he is a monster. He and his friends will kill you Arn. We have to leave Reach, and you can’t tell anyone else you’re a legendary classer. Not ever.”

As Keana paused, the group looked to Arn, but he didn’t know what to say. A group hunting legendary classers? Absurd. Surely? “Keana,” Arn said “who is he and why in the Hells would he do that?” Pausing, Arn had another thought and grew angry. “And are your flipping telling me that you’ve been with me this whole time because some freak asked you to keep track of me? Are you telling me that?”

Keana made an aborted and strangled laugh. “No, not that” she answer. “I left him as soon as he told me what he was doing. I didn’t know. I found you by accident. I thought it was an accident. That it didn’t matter. I’m not so sure now, the . . . call it a God, maybe had something to do with it. It doesn’t matter. I should have told you sooner, but I thought the whole thing was too crazy, that he would never find you. I was wrong. You have to believe me!” Keana paused, looked at Arn sadly and continued, “you won’t, will you? I’ll have to show you. So be it. We need to go to your room, all of us. And you’ll see.”

Exchanging looks, the group followed Keana to Arn’s room. Inside, she stepped to the center and looked at Arn. “I’m sorry I lied to you. The truth . . . we’ll you’ll see. I’ll be gone at least two days. When I come back I’ll tell you everything. Things you can’t even imagine.”

Arn tried to make sense of what the heck was happening, asking “you’re not making any sense Keana. Slow down, and. . .”

“That’s not my name,” she said, interrupting. “Keana was my grandmother. My name is Jennifer. He said to pick something different, be someone new.” Keana paused again, continuing, “it doesn’t matter. If you see anyone with the tattoo I have on my ankle, but on their hands, run.” Keana raised her hand to Arn’s cheek before continuing. “I didn’t want it on my hand. Isn’t that stupid? As if that matters.” Keana took a step away from Arn and said “watch my stuff, and don’t do anything stupid. Two days.” With that, Keana drew one of her knives and plunged it into her chest with both hands.

Arn gasped and took a step towards Keana, pulling back as glowing cracks appeared everywhere on her face and bare arms. The cracks widened, spilling more light into the room. It was as though pieces of a mask were floating on something underneath. Suddenly the pieces seemed to contract, the cracks fading, only to suddenly explode outwards. Keana’s clothing fell to the floor, and a thousand glowing butterflies of light slowly scattered through the air and slowly faded into nothingness as the group stared, slack-jawed.

After a long moment of stunned silence, Pepper deadpanned, “well . . . that happened.”

* * *

In the wee hours of the night, Arn sat alone in his room. He had gone through shock, disbelief, anger and grief that Keana wasn’t who or even, apparently, what he believed, and still didn’t understand any of it. None of the group did, but all agreed that they had little choice but to wait. In time, Arn calmed down. Whatever else, it was clear that Keana – Arn refused to think of her as Jennifer – wished them, or at least Arn, well. Arn reckoned that was something.

Eventually Arn returned to what he knew; training. After obtaining another skill-up in force mana practicing with the crystal, Arn sat in thought with his crystal, dagger and a mana potion before him. I’m not stupid. Keana was afraid of my summoning the phoenix for a reason. But the Gods gave me this class and this skill – surely I’m meant to use it, not fear it. A strong familiar could be the difference between living and dying. And I can always dismiss it if it can’t be hidden somehow.

Resolved, Arn drank the mana potion in one gulp, placed the crystal on the table in front of him, and stabbed himself in the heart, much as Keana did to herself mere hours before. As he resurrected with a gasp, he reached for the crystal, pulling on the mana within and activated Summon Phoenix. Nothing happened.

As Arn struggled with his raging disappointment, a tiny squeak sounded from his left shoulder and Arn felt a light presence in his mind, like the touch of a feather. Arn turned and saw a fist-sized, ordinary-looking red bird.

Phoenix Chick (level one) familiar summoned! Would you like to name your familiar now? (Yes/No)

Arn laughed hysterically, amusement overcoming his disappointment. As he regained control, he heard another squeak and felt something different – indignant hunger. Digging in his pack for a bit of jerky, he selected “yes” and named his familiar. Well, at least no one will suspect that a tiny bird named Squeaker is a phoenix!

As Arn fed Squeaker, and thought over his delusions of grandeur, he realized that he had done exactly what Elder Dannis strenuously warned him not too. He had started to think he was destined to be a Titan; had forgotten what his class was, and wasn’t. Well now he remembered. Arn opened the stats menu and started to put eight points in constitution before pausing. No, that isn’t right either. I’m more than just hard to kill. With Kicking and Screaming, strength makes me legitimately dangerous, and my class already gives me lots of constitution. Resolved, Arn put two points in constitution and six in strength.