“What do you mean it’s not there?” I demanded. “The Don’t Mind Me skill. It’s right underneath Healthy Magic.”

“No, it’s not,” Justin said. He looked at Petra. “You were right.”

“Take another look,” Petra said. “And maybe the inheritance spirit will decide to be honest with you. Did it really never cross your mind that if Samantha can alter your vision with a combat shadow, it could also alter what you see on your Status Window?”

I opened my Status Window, and glanced at it. The “Don’t Mind Me” skill had vanished, replaced with a single line, inside my Status Window. “I’m sorry.”

I sat back down at the table, cradling my head in my hands. “Fuck.”

I really thought I was over this. I really thought I was past all the mind-control. I was sick and tired of it.

“Believe it or not,” Petra said. “This is actually not that bad.”

“What?” I asked. “I’m still being mind-controlled. I was just mind controlled a few seconds ago, because Samantha didn’t want me to show Justin or you my Status Window.”

“Don’t you see what this means, though? If Samantha had complete control, you could have just walked away instead of showing the Status Window. Either way, you wouldn’t feel as betrayed as you do right now. She is willing to compromise. Maybe mind-controlling you costs something. What’s your mana pool at? No, never mind, she could just fudge the numbers.”

Petra was rambling, and I could barely keep track of everything she was saying.

Why, Samantha? Is it that hard to just tell the truth?

Shut the fuck up! I’m so tired of that tone. ‘I’m so sorry, Jarek.’ How many times have you said it? If you ever actually meant it, even once, then you should have followed through with your apology by doing better!

“Are you talking to Samantha now?” Petra asked, with some sympathy in her eyes.

I nodded my head, acutely aware of the tears streaming down my face.

“How about I ask her some questions? And then you can tell me what she says. Honestly, whatever questions you’re asking her could be planted by Samantha anyway.”

I nodded my head.

“How, if at all, are you affecting my brother right now?”

“She says she isn’t doing anything,” I said.

“What are you trying to achieve through Jarek?”

“She says the Atropos Schema values power. She was once a B-rank existence, and anything less is would be a humiliation for her inheritor.”

It was a lie, I knew. Samantha was an A.I., not a spiritual inheritance.

Why was I so opposed to telling Petra and Jarek the truth about Samantha?

Samantha said, immediately.

That seemed…rather dark.

“Samantha is an A.I.” I said, quickly, feeling a sinking guilt in my gut as I said it, and a somewhat overstated sense of doom.

“She’s not an inheritance spirit,” I added. “She didn’t want me to tell you both this, because she says A.I. and higher technology is quickly eradicated in the Atropos Schema. So don’t tell anyone else. I gained Samantha even before I picked the difficulty of the tutorial, and Samantha wanted me to pick Hell, but I picked Hard at the last moment. The faction that created Samantha has a plan that Samantha hasn’t told me, that goes against the Atropos Schema’s wishes.”

“This is good,” Petra said, sounding suddenly like a psychologist. “How did you feel, the moment you told me that?”

“Guilty. Scared for my life,” I said.

“So Jarek, you will need to be on the lookout for emotions that don’t make sense. Samantha can obviously affect your emotions, but maybe she can’t control you completely—or, at least, she is unwilling to.

Petra took a breath. “I have another question for Samantha. Presumably, you anticipated that the truth would come out eventually. What long-term mutually agreeable solutions do you have in mind?”

“She says she can just stay out of things, except for the combat shadow. And we can grow to trust each other again.”

“And meanwhile, she will fuck with your brain,” Petra said. “Not going to happen. Here’s my solution. If Jarek’s runed mental defenses are E-rank, then you guys should help me get a D-rank mind reading skill. That way, I can regularly check that nobody has messed with his mind.”

I opened my mouth. Then I closed it again. “I can do that,” I said. I reached into my inventory and passed one of class books that I had gained from the Imperial Scouts.

Telepath (D-rank class): Teaches Telepathy, Mind Reading. +4 Mental Power/Level.

Petra, for the first time today, looked genuinely surprised, and then incredulous. “You’ve been holding onto this the whole time, and you never thought that maybe this could help solve your trust issues with Samantha?”

I swallowed, the implications not lost to me. “I guess not.”

Petra quickly changed classes, and soon enough, I had the distinctively uncomfortable feeling of her rooting through my brain.

“I want you to tell me your whole story, again,” Petra said. “Don’t leave anything out, this time.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but then thought better of it. If this was what it would take, then so be it.

“I woke up standing in a white room…”

“Alright, Jarek,” Petra said, rubbing her eyes blearily. “We’re going to have to do this regularly. Samantha, if you ever try to upgrade the Concealment Rune Pattern, there, then you better have plans to upgrade my telepathy first.

“Let’s set one thing straight. Jarek probably wouldn’t have even survived the first week without you, Samantha, so thank you for keeping him alive. Fuck you for messing with his mind. Here’s the deal. From now on, for every time I think that you’re messing with his mind, without his permission, and my permission, then I’m going to tell one more person that there is an A.I. in my brother’s head. If things get too extreme, then I’ll contact Dawnbreaker and ask for an intervention. I don’t think any of us want that.

“Samantha, you’re probably planning my death already. So, here’s my challenge. Jarek, if I ever die, then I want you to promise me that you will tell the world that you have an A.I. in your head that’s fighting against the Atropos Schema. Promise me, Jarek.”

“I promise,” I said, immediately.

“I’m in your head, Jarek. You have to fucking mean it. Commit to it.”

“I promise,” I said again.

“Good. Now that that’s settled, let’s talk about this pain tolerance thing. Jarek, you should let Samantha limit your pain. You’ve always been a wimp, and at this point, if you can cheat your way out of it, then do it.”

“Alright,” I said, meekly.

“Jarek, you did a good job earlier setting boundaries for Samantha, so let’s just re-emphasize those. I’m not at all surprised that you want to be a hero—if you didn’t, then I’d be worried Samantha had her claws even deeper in your brain. Just don’t be an idiot hero. That’s my rule for you, Jarek.

“Samantha, in case you were unaware, being a hero means helping other people. Stealing the Yanir flowers. Not heroic. Jarek doesn’t like that, and if something like that happens again, then one more person is going to know our little secret.

“Honestly, Jarek, I don’t get why you’re so hung up about River’s death, and so blasé at this point about the Yanir tree thing. At least with River, you guys had a common goal, and you achieved it. And do you really think you all could have reliably killed the shade using a different method?

“Samantha, if you’re going to anything like that again, you’ll need to clear it in advance with Jarek, and then you better hope I’m satisfied with your rationale.

“Alright. So, point #1, Jarek gets to be a hero. Point #2, Jarek seemed caught up about how you lied a lot, but really, your biggest issue is that you’ve been withholding the truth selectively. You’re keeping a lot of secrets. Now is the time to come clean. What other important secrets are you hiding, Samantha?”

I felt a pressure on my brain as Petra dug through my mind, looking for Samantha.

The pressure built in to a headache, and then it felt like someone was drilling through my skull.

“Ow, fuck!” I said.

Immediately, the pain faded.

Samantha said, with none of the usual kindness in her tone.

“S-“ I started, stuttering slightly. I was flinching from just remembering that pain, even worse than the feeling of a Void Bolt traveling through my stomach.

“S-Samantha says if you do that again, I’ll go catatonic in pain.”

Petra just smiled at that. “Oh, really?” Then I felt the pressure build again, into pain.

I fell to the floor, writhing in agony, and yelling. The pain was a thousand times worse than anything I had ever experienced.

At first it had just been my head, but it quickly expanded to every nerve, the feeling of every nerve set on fire.

I poured mana into anything, everything, hoping the pain would go away. Strength, Agility, Physical Defense, Mental Defense, but nothing helped.

My vision blurred, and I felt my body moving.

“Jarek, stop! Jarek!” Justin voice rose over my yells, and suddenly, my vision cleared.

I was standing over Petra, who had been tossed to the ground, and I was holding a knife to her throat, eerily close to where Jamison had held his knife.

Justin was trying to pull me off of Petra, and Petra was glaring at me with a defiant grin, almost thrusting her neck against my knife.

The pain was gone, but every inch of my body was trembling from just remembering it, and I collapsed to the ground, opposite Petra.

“What the fuck was that?” Justin asked, pushing me further away from Petra. His blade was drawn and pointing towards me.

Petra was breathing deeply opposite me. “Excelsian. Remember that. That’s Samantha’s faction. Samantha, I think we have some new stakes, here. Every time you mess with Jarek’s mind, from now on, I will dig a little deeper into your mind and pry out more of your secrets. I’m sure you have access to all of Jarek’s childhood memories. Ask yourself if you think I care about causing my brother a little pain.”

Petra’s lip was bleeding slightly, a light dribble of blood that trailed down her chin.

“And Samantha—you just messed with Jarek’s brain. Twice. Jarek, don’t forget. In case you missed it, she almost killed me. And of course, when I first was mind-reading you, you never complained about the pain. When I tried to look through Samantha’s memories, she added the pain to make me stop. She’ll probably say something like “sealed memories” or “incompatible data transfer” that causes the pain. If you buy that, then you’re more of an idiot than I thought you were. Samantha did that to you.

“So Samantha, it looks like we will be telling two people about Excelsian and Jarek’s little A.I. What do you think, Justin? We can start easy. You tell Feng, and I’ll talk with Uman. I think we’ll get along well.”

Petra left the room, and I just lay on the ground, cradling my head.

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