Meg continued to stare at me, obviously expecting me to elaborate. I wanted to elaborate, really I did. I just didn’t know if it was safe. Or how to do it without her being convinced I was a raving lunatic. Did they get Isekai-ed people here all the time? Or ever? Did she even understand the concept of ‘other worlds?’ I was willing to bet she hadn’t read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, and if it wasn’t something so common your average (well, gorgeous, but I mean socially average) bar girl would know, I didn’t know if she’d even understand the whole thing.

“Let me think a second,” I said, stalling for time. “Like I said. It’s complicated. I have to figure out where to start.”

“All right, Master Chris. May I sit down?” I nodded and waved at a chair. I was still sitting up in the bed and didn’t feel like getting up just yet. She gingerly sat down in the chair facing the bed and waited patiently.

How far into this Leveling System thing is she tied? I wondered. If she can see prompts, maybe I can use it to convince her what I’m saying is real. And that she shouldn’t tell ANYBODY about it. Let’s see here… ‘Character Sheet.’

Name: Chris Erikson

Class: Song Mage

Level: 3

Health: 110

Breath: 140

Stamina: 100

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 12

Dexterity: 14

Constitution: 10

Charisma: 12

Resonance: C#

Element: Shadow / Thought

Stat Points: 1

Known Manifestations:

Call Shadows, Slow Thought

Known Harmony Manifestations:

Create Dream Water (C#/D)

Special Skills:

Omniglot, Leader of the Band

Band Members:

Meg Brightman (D)

Okay, cool, I thought. Now, since this is a party kind of thing, it seems like I’m the party leader, so maybe I can see more about her. ‘Meg Brightman Character Sheet.’

Meg Brightman is not a Primary Singer in the Band. Only Primary Singers have Character Sheet access. You currently have no Primary Singer at the “D” position. Promote her to Primary Singer?

Okay, this is a new thing. ‘Help Primary Singer.’

Primary Singer: A member of the Band who can initiate Harmonization with any other member of the Band without the assistance of the Leader of the Band. There can only be one Primary Singer for each of the twelve note positions. Primary Singers will become Song Mages, allowing additional Harmonizations when the Band is not complete.

“Holy Shit,” I said out loud. Meg jumped.

“What, Master Chris? Are you all right?” She looked scared again, but she was speaking very quietly. Maybe she was afraid she’d get caught in my room. I doubted that would have any negative consequences for me but I didn’t know if they’d be mad at her, so I was trying to keep quiet as well. But that was a Hell of a thing to spring on me, with as big a deal as being a Song Mage seemed to be around here.

“I’m fine, Meg. I have a question for you.” Several, actually, but I don’t know how to even start. “Where do Song Mages come from?”

She just looked at me blankly. “I don’t understand, Master Chris.”

“How does somebody become a Song Mage?” I explained.

“Song Mages are born Song Mages,” she said. That tone was back. I ignored it. “Just like everyone is born with their gift. It’s just how things are, how the Powers made the world.”

‘Powers.’ Wait, we’ll table that. “So either you’re born a Song Mage or you aren’t?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, looking more and more confused. “Why are you asking me this? You’re a Song Mage. Don’t you know these things?”

“You’d be surprised what I do and don’t know,” I said ruefully. “But here’s the point. If you could be a Song Mage, would you want to be one?”

Her eyes grew huge.

“I… Master Chris, why are you teasing me? I’m just a girl with a weak gift of Water. I could never be a Song Mage!” She was having a hard time keeping her voice down.

“But if you could,” I said, “Would you? Let’s just say a genie came along and offered you a wish, would you wish to be one?”

“What’s a genie?” she said, looking even more perplexed. I sighed.

“Never mind. Would you be one if you had the choice? Is there any reason you wouldn’t want to be one?” Keep on track.

“Well, of course I would,” she said. “It’s like being born a noble or an heiress! I’d never have to worry about being hungry or poor again! And if anyone tried to hurt me…” She shivered. I wanted to get up and hug her but I didn’t know if that was a great idea. “…Like tonight, I could do what you did and make them sorry!” This idea firmed up her face a little bit.

I see the hand of Plot Magic at work here, I thought to myself. Don’t fight the story. Even if there’s not really a story. Yes, I read too much. And there was a chance this could backfire catastrophically. But I was on an alien world, all alone. I’d have to trust someone sooner or later. And she and her family owed me. This was as safe as it was going to get.

“Meg, I have to ask you something, and I need an honest answer from you. Whatever you say, I will not hurt you or your family. If you say no, then you say no, and it’s still fine. But I need you to be honest. Okay?”

She just stared at me, her mouth open slightly, and nodded.

“Here it is: Do you trust me, Meg?” I said it as sincerely as I could.

Meg didn’t say anything for several seconds, just shaking her head. Her lips were moving, but she wasn’t saying anything. Just when I was afraid I’d broken her, she spoke.

“I do, Master Chris. You fought those men to save me. You didn’t do anything to me when I was asleep and helpless. You helped me with the words. You’ve done nothing but kindness to me and my family.” Her face firmed and she nodded slowly. “I trust you, Master Chris. I do.”

“Thank you, Meg,” I said with relief. If she’d said no I honestly wasn’t sure what I’d have done. “Here’s why I asked you that. If you want, I can make you a Song Mage.”

She gasped, her mouth opening as if to scream. Before she could say anything, I went on.

“I can, but there’s a price. You’d have to stay with me. Go where I go. Because you can only be a Song Mage if you’re in the Band, and I’m the Leader of the Band. If you leave, you stop being a Song Mage. Nothing bad happens, but that’s the deal. With me or not. What do you say?” I tried to look as honest as I could.

“Master Chris, are you joking with me?” She sounded more frightened than anything else. “Please don’t mock me, I’m just a poor tavern girl. You don’t have to trick me to get what you want.” She blushed.

Crap. She thinks I’m trying to get in her pants with lies. I should have seen this coming. I thought for a second. I mean, I wasn’t opposed to getting in Meg’s pants, but that wasn’t what I was trying to do.

“Meg, I’m not trying to trick you. I’m completely serious. And if you say yes, I’ll prove it to you and you don’t have to do anything but agree that you’ll stay with me if I’m telling the truth.” I probably did sound a little desperate, because I wanted this to work.

Huge blue eyes, bright even in the dim candlelight, fixed on me for a long, long moment. She pursed her lips and looked down, then back up at me.

“If you can, Master Chris… that would be like something out of a story. Yes, if you can… I’ll stay with you forever.” She looked like she wanted to believe, but just couldn’t. To be fair, it seemed like this was a pretty big stretch from everything she knew.

“All right Meg. Sit there and take a deep breath.” I had no idea what was going to happen, but I knew the Leveling System, in some sense, wanted me to do this, or it wouldn’t even have the option. “I’m going to say some words that won’t make a lot of sense, but listen, because I think you may need to know them if this works.”

She just nodded, taking a deep breath and gripping the sides of her chair.

“Character Sheet.” It appeared before my eyes as always.

Name: Chris Erikson

Class: Song Mage

Level: 3

Health: 110

Breath: 140

Stamina: 100

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 12

Dexterity: 14

Constitution: 10

Charisma: 12

Resonance: C#

Element: Shadow / Thought

Stat Points: 1

Known Manifestations:

Call Shadows, Slow Thought

Known Harmony Manifestations:

Create Dream Water (C#/D)

Special Skills:

Omniglot, Leader of the Band

Band Members:

Meg Brightman (D)

“Meg Brightman Character Sheet.”

Meg Brightman is not a Primary Singer in the Band. Only Primary Singers have Character Sheet access. You currently have no Primary Singer at the “D” position. Promote her to Primary Singer?

“Promote Meg Brightman to Primary Singer,” I said firmly.

Meg Brightman has been promoted to Primary Singer at the “D” position. Meg Brightman is now a Song Mage. Meg Brightman can now access her Character Sheet. The Leader of the Band can now access Meg Brightman’s Character Sheet.

I looked at Meg expectantly. She looked back at me with a ‘What?’ expression.

“Do you feel any different?” I asked expectantly.

“No, Master Chris,” she said hesitantly. “Should I?”

Hmm. That was less impressive than I hoped, but at least she didn’t have a seizure or anything. Before I freak her out with more ‘words in the air,’ let’s prove I did it.

“Meg, how do children find out they’re Song Mages?” I asked.

“As soon as they’re old enough to talk, their parents have them try to sing all the gifts, and if they can sing more than one, they’re a Song Mage,” she replied. She was using the tone again. I’d have to get used to that.

“That makes sense,” I said. “So you can sing the gift of Water, but you can’t sing anything above or below it?”

“Of course not, Master Chris,” she said. She was starting to look doubtful.

I thought about the arrangement of the notes of the scale. My hopefully-perfect-pitch had told me her Resonance was “D,” which was the next note above my own Resonance of C#. If I understood how the range of Song Mages worked, she should be able to do the same one I did. And I should be able to do hers, I realized with a start. Later.

“Okay, watch and listen,” I said. I held up my hand and sang my Resonance, adding Breath. A shadow started to curl around my hand. I didn’t grow it any larger than my hand, but in the dim candlelight, my hand was nearly invisible. It was a little creepy seeing my arm just… end. For a second I just made the shadow curl around like a snake made of night. It was pretty cool.

Meg watched, breathless.

“Master Chris, that’s amazing,” she said with awe. “I’ve never seen anyone control their gift like that.”

“Thanks,” I said, letting the note and the shadow fade. “Now you try.”

She looked at me like I’d told her to flap her arms and fly to the Moon.

“I’m serious. Listen to me, and match me. Then think about a shadow in your hand.” I held up the same hand as before and sang my Resonance, though I didn’t put any Breath in it.

“If you say so, Master Chris,” she said dubiously. I didn’t mean her to think it was some kind of Song Mage order, but if that’s what it took to get her to try, I didn’t correct her. She held up her own hand, and began to sing. I heard her start with her own resonance and then try to go lower. It was interesting: she didn’t move ‘between’ the notes so much as her D got a little more… aggressive. Then it sort of ‘popped’ down to my C#. She blinked. I nodded and smiled.

Then I felt her put Breath into the note, and a miracle happened.

The faintest hint of Shadow formed around her hand, wafting like smoke from the candle. Her mouth formed a perfect “O” of surprise and she almost lost the note, then I saw her fingers clench and she sang a little louder. The shadow solidified, rippling in the air above her skin as if it were the Water she already knew how to make. She sang for a few more seconds, then stopped and looked at me. Her jaw worked soundlessly.

“Told you,” I said. And yes, there was smug. “Nobody ever listens to me.”