Somehow, the word skeletons seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Margaret sank to her rear and buried her face in her hands.

“This is crazy. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I’m no fighter, I can’t lead these people. I’ve never even been hunting or fishing. How am I supposed to do this?” she mumbled to herself.

Pia’s voice rang in her head, gentle but firm. ‘Done with the pity-party?’

Margaret took a breath and whispered her half of the conversation as quietly as she could. “Pia, I can’t do this. Not only will I die, but so will these three for following me.”

‘Don’t worry about it, I’m honestly impressed with how long you lasted before your first meltdown, yay! Since you kept it together this long, you may only have another two or three before you adjust. Most people take at least five.’

“Are you serious?”

‘Oh yeah, meltdowns are par for the course. This one was nothing. Barely a blip. You’re a pretty tough lady, lady.’ Pia soothed. Well, as much as a bodiless AI speaking straight into your brain could.

“What do I do, Pia?”

‘You get up. You let Honor plan this thing since that guy sounds like he’s really with it. You support them in the fight. You get stronger. You get more allies and soldiers. Then you do it again. And again. And again. That’s the job.’

Margaret started to get up, then paused. “Pia... I don’t... Why should I trust you? That seems like a bad idea. You’re... pushing me to fight. I mean, you came from the... people who did this to me!”

‘Yeah, you’re a little late on that one. I had hoped you were going to be one of the ones that never had that thought.’

“You mean I’m right!” Margaret shouted, jumping to her feet. The three kobolds gave her a shocked look before Honor explained that she was talking to her ‘spirit’.

Pia sighed, which Margaret didn’t see as necessary since she didn’t breathe. ‘No, but trust is easily lost and difficult to earn. If a conscript distrusts their Interface Assistant from the very beginning, it’s a really bad omen. This was included in the ‘adjustment and bonding’ protocol in my install packet. The Pantheon prepared us for the most common early risks of failure. Number one is a psychotic break, but number two is distrust with the Interface Assistant.’

“So, did they also tell you how to get me to trust you?”

‘Well, I can tell you that I am part of you, so if you die then I do too. I can tell you that about sixty-seven point two percent of me came from you, so I’m more you than Pantheon. I can also tell you that your chances of survival without me drop to about four point three percent. All of that is true, but you could choose to believe that I’m making it all up if you already distrust me.

‘But the real kicker is this: If you choose to go back to Earth when this is all said and done, I get uninstalled.’

“Is that like... like killing you? You die?”

‘I would cease to exist, so, yes. However, if you chose to stay here, I would get to stay with you to the natural end of your life.’

“So, you die if I die, and you die if I succeed? Unless you can convince me to give up my old life and stay here?”

‘Bingo. So, not only is it important to me to help you survive, but it’s also incredibly important for me to stay on your good side. Your best side.’

Margaret stared at the canopy of the trees above her before clenching her eyes and hands shut. She held the pose for an almost uncomfortable amount of time before relaxing. “Why are you telling me this, Pia? Wouldn’t it be easier to... lie?”

‘I’m sixty-seven point two percent you, remember? Are you dishonest when things are difficult?’

“Hmph. My life would be infinitely easier if I was.”

Raising her voice just a bit, Margaret changed the subject. “Honor, lay it out for me. What’s the plan?”

“Well, Margaret, we know that the agents of the heavens have special abilities. Would you honor us by sharing what you can do to aid us in the fight?”

“Um, yeah. I can use...” Margaret waved her hand as she tried to remember the skill she’d learned. Pia, looking for any brownie points she could earn, opened a window with the skill description for her. “I can use Arcane Bolt. Looks like I can shoot ten of them.”

The eyes of all three kobolds opened as wide as they could.

Naps spoke up first. “Without a staff or wand or another artifact?”

“Ten shots...” Truth breathed.

Their disbelief perked Margaret up a bit. “Yeah, is that good?”

“We’ve heard the legends,” Honor answered. “Using magic without a heavenly artifact is impossible for most beings. The chief has a staff, but he is at the limit of skeletons that he can raise, so he is only able to use the staff to control them at this point.”

That made Margaret feel much better, knowing that there wouldn’t be any ‘death bolts’ or something blasting at her during the fight. “How many skeletons does he have?” she asked.

“Four,” Honor replied. “Knowing your power, here is the plan- if you approve, of course. Naps and I are close-range fighters, we will attempt to hold back his skeletons. Truth is an excellent shot, but arrows do next to nothing to skeletons. They must have their bones destroyed to be stopped, usually by crushing weapons, though Naps’ swords can work. Therefore, Truth will attempt to kill the chief at range, which will de-animate the skeletons.”

“And me?” Margaret asked.

“Your Arcane Bolts will be very effective on the skeletons. Help us with the strongest, if you will, then assist Truth in taking down the chief, if you’re able.”

“Okay,” Margaret nodded. “How many HP’s does this guy have, any idea?”

The kobolds just looked at her in confusion while Pia answered. ‘I know this all looks very role-playing game-ish, but there are no health points here. Any attack that sufficiently damages the brain, heart, or other vital organs will cause death, just like on your world.’

“But my skills have damage numbers by them,” Margaret whispered back.

‘Right, that’s the easiest way for you to compare skills. One point of fire damage will singe hair, while a high enough number will just disintegrate most bodies. Basically, target vital spots. And remember, damage can accumulate, so you’ll be more effective if you hit the same region five times than if you hit five totally different spots.’

“Sorry,” Margaret announced. “My, um, spirit, cleared up my confusion for me. I guess I’m ready when you guys are.”

Honor nodded. “Then let us attack.”

The kobold village was nothing like Margaret expected. It sat at the base of a steep bluff of gray stones that was riddled with little ledges, nooks, and clumps of grasses and trailing vines. The kobolds cleared no trees from their village, so a dense canopy kept the entire village in sun-dappled shade. The building themselves were modest structures made from stacked stone with tile roofs. One building was larger than the rest, built right into the face of the stone bluff.

The ‘totem’ Honor had warned about stood straight out from the entry to the larger building. It was... difficult for Margaret to process. The material it was made from defied identification, and she had worked with a lot of materials in during design and construction. It wasn’t adorned with skulls or bones as she expected, but that didn’t make it feel any less wrong. The most bizarre part was the multicolored motes of energy that were slowly drawn to it, swirling up the base until vanishing into a point at the top of the totem.

Perhaps the oddest part of the whole scene was the distinct lack of any kobolds except for the chief standing just in front of the totem. If the chief used skeletons, this had to be him, anyway. He wore a black cloak complete with the animal skulls on his shoulders and various bones adorning the plethora of jewelry he wore that she had expected to see on the totem.

“Stereotypes ahoy,” Margaret muttered.

“Did you say something, Ms. Margaret?” Truth asked.

“Where are the rest of the villagers? I don’t see anybody but ‘generic bad guy in black number seventeen’ over there.” Margaret gestured around the village with one hand while pointing at the chief with the other.

Taking his cue, the chief raised his head and addressed the party. “Honor. Truth. Naps. I’m truly... disappointed. Clinging to the old gods. Where were the gods when the plague visited us? Truth, you lost your mother, if I’m not mistaken. You were only a child...

“Naps, did you never realize that your unfortunate name was not really your fault? Your mother had just lost her father, your grandfather, to the floods from the worst storm the village had ever seen. Where were the gods then?

“And Honor. Honor... Your sister, taken as a slave by those foul raiders. Do you even know if she still lives? Perhaps if she does she would rather die than endure... How can you of all people stand up for the old gods? Those that abandoned us! Well... after I’ve dealt with you, the village can begin anew.”

Margaret’s voice took on an even more worried tone. “Honor, where are the other villagers?”

The chief seemed to notice Margaret for the first time. “Then there’s you. The gods only respond when their rule is threatened, and they send you?! Surely their time is done! The rest of the village couldn’t see it either, they only paid token homage to our new gods. You three weren’t exactly stealthy in your rush to aid this heaven’s cursed trash. I had no way to know who else in the village was tainted, so I had no choice but to start fresh.”

Naps began to look around the village more frantically while Truth shouted curses at the chief, but Margaret made another troubling observation.

“Guys, didn’t you say that the chief had skeleton, uh, minions?”

Three reptilian heads snapped her way and Honor spoke for them all. “Crap.”

The skeletons appeared out of nowhere, or, at least, they seemed to. One leaped from an overhead branch, one stepped from around a nearby stone building, one crawled out of the dirt at their feet, and nobody saw where the fourth came from because their eyes were stuck on the skeletal fingers clawing up through the dirt.

The skeletons were not all the same. One looked roughly human if only a little sleeker. Another towered over Margaret by several heads. That one had more bulk and a pair of tusks rising from its lower jaw. There was a large wolf skeleton which threw Margaret for a loop since she fully expected human skeletons for some reason. That was just her mental image when she thought of ‘skeleton’. The last was human-shaped but much smaller, though it still had the proportions of an adult.

Honor and Naps tried to stick to the plan and draw the skeletons’ attention, but the bones all worked together with perfect harmony. Each of them targeted one of Margaret’s party members, and Margaret found herself towered over by the big skeleton with the tusks.

Reacting with pure, raw panic, Margaret stumbled backward until she found herself on her back, trying to scoot away. Remembering her skill, she started blindly waving her hands and shouting “Arcane Bolt! Arcane Bolt!” To her great surprise, each time she shouted, a blueish-purple projectile blasted from her palm in whatever direction she was pointing at the time.

Most of her bolts flew wide, missing the large target completely, but two of them impacted the skeleton near the head. Miraculously, they damaged the neck enough to decapitate the skeleton, which sent the rest of the bones to the ground.

Gasping for breath, Margaret checked her mana, finding it ninety points down. She only had enough juice for one more shot, so she checked the battlefield quickly. Honor and Naps both held their skeletons at bay, somewhat, but Truth was in trouble. The female kobold was being harassed by the wolf skeleton that kept feinting in to try to nip at her legs.

Margaret took aim, fired and... missed. Missed her target, anyway. She’d aimed for the wolf’s head but it lunged forward at Truth at that moment, causing Margaret’s bolt to hit its spine just above the hipbone. The blast did just enough damage to split the skeleton in two. While both halves thrashed around, it was no longer able to move, which gave Truth a moment to breathe.

She didn’t waste it. Truth drew an arrow, sighted, and loosed it at the chief. Wide-eyed, her target tried to dodge, but his heavy robe, staff, and other accouterment weren’t really designed for agility. The arrow buried itself in his shoulder.

Apparently, the chief needed to focus on controlling his skeletons, because they lost their smooth, cohesive movements and started swaying and stumbling around. Naps and Honor both slipped around their skeletons and headed for the chief, but Truth was faster. Her second arrow was dead on and hit the chief inches from the first one, right in the center of his chest.

The moment stretched to an eon, and then the chief collapsed, his skeletons mirroring the motion.