Eli watched as the warrior dropped to one knee, the metal armor clicking against the cobblestone.

"I found you, master," she said, her voice clearly feminine. Eli watched as she removed the bloody helm, dropping it with a crash to the street. The woman was dark-skinned, with the purest white hair, and round features that... she gripped his shoulders and with overwhelming strength pulled him closer. Her tongue darted out furiously as she licked his face all over. He tightened his lips together against her assault, her tongue carelessly probing over them. When he brought his hands up to shield himself, she dropped her arms from his shoulders and embraced him, squeezing tightly.

Eli stood paralyzed, his muddled mind failing to comprehend what was going on. Before he could recover, he felt entrails squish between him and her plate armor, felt the blood seep through his shirt, down his pants. The stink of dead and dying things crashed over him like a wave.

"I.." he stammered weakly, his stomach roiling. Panicked, he pushed himself out of her embrace and staggered away before bending over to vomit onto the street in front of the Guild Headquarters. When no vomit came he spit out the saliva that had coated this mouth. He heard laughs coming from the guild behind him as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve; his mouth coming away streaked with blood from his soiled shirt.

"Sorry Eli," Avi stood, her hands covering her face, "I need to learn how to manage these impulses." She turned, her body facing the pile of corpses.

"Eli?" Wait... that accent... Eli focused on the woman.

Avi

Soldier - level 5

"Avi?" He asked. Eli turned and scowled at the onlookers that were watching them from the Adventurer's guild. He turned to look at the square and the shops beyond, finding the town square much emptier. A piercing squawk echoed through the square as a vulture swooped down and bit into one of the animal carcasses, greedily stripping muscle from bone.

"Why are you dragging dead animals through the street?" Muddle-headed from mana exhaustion, shocked by too many sudden changes, he was at a loss.

"Yes." She looked back over her shoulder, having regained her composure. "I can see why that seems odd." She unsheathed her sword and approached the carnage, deftly swinging at the vulture. With a mocking cry, the scavenger took flight, retreating unscathed.

"I ran out of inventory space and did not want to leave the weapons behind. I tried just binding the weapons with entrails but they cut through and I lost too many. The corpses act as a binding agent to keep the weapons secure." Avi explained. It was all perfectly logical.

"It's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen." Looking at the grotesque sculpture of steel and flesh, he felt his stomach sour further. "There's no amount of weapons worth this." He gestured to the pile before quickly covering his mouth and nose as he felt the urge to vomit. Why did they have to add this level of realism?

"What's the meaning of this, this? Explain." an imperious voice demanded. Eli turned to see a bulky man wearing metal armor and a blue tabard, standing next to another of the same uniform. His face was red. The man he stood with was looking on at the display of carnage with an expression that matched how Eli felt.

Avi glanced at the two men and the crowd of observers gawking at them from across the street. She bent and held her hand over the pile of carcasses. When the loot menu came up she reviewed it, and seeing nothing of note, selected the option to discard all. The corpse dispersed into leaf-shaped lights and blew away on the breeze. The weapons that were stuck through it clattered to the ground. She moved onto the next carcass.

"I have been keeping track of your actual body. Right now you are in a very populated part of the city," she said, completely ignoring the guards. Another group of weapons collapsed on the street. Eli noted that when the corpses dissipated, the blood and entrails that belong to them did so as well.

"So sorry," Eli apologized to the guards who had gone pale watching the grotesque display, "We'll have this cleaned up shortly." He walked over and started picking the weapons up and creating a pile. When he found one that looked interesting, he would inspect it.

Sparc Shank

[M]

Dagger

Physical Damage: 7-12

Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%

1-2 silver

Most didn't have power stones, but more than a few did. There were even a few wands.

Westwood Wand

[S]

Physical Damage: 6-12

10% increased spell damage

Requires: 14 Spirit

"Right, very good." The bulky guard yelled out. Eli reached up to scratch his neck as he watched them rush off around the corner. The crowds around the square swelled with a murmur of whispering and the sound of shuffling as more looked on with curious stares.

He bent to pull some more weapons out, lowering his voice. "I don't want to think about it... my other body. It's..." he shuddered, "disturbing." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and watched her loot the corpse of a wolf, a bow appearing in her hand before the corpse disappeared. She was almost done with the corpses. Most of the gore in the street and on her gone.

"Why are you a woman?" Eli lowered his voice and shot her a glance. She was tall, powerfully built, and moved with confidence.

"Why? Did I do it wrong?" She held up her shield and looked at her reflection. Her near-white hair contrasted against her dark skin, her features full.

"No, it's not that. I've just thought of you as a male my entire life... it'll take getting used to." He returned to sorting the weapons. He started counting the weapons. He watched her return the shield to her back and then loot the corpses again.

"I tried using your nueroprint to login but I could not without logging you out. So I used Legend's. I came in as a dog. Thankfully, I could create a new avatar, and I found I preferred the female ones." She looked over.

Eli nodded. AV was his ... her own person. She could choose whatever she liked. "How strong are you that you could pull all this?" he asked when he saw the sizable pile.

"Body 87, it is my primary stat." She replied, looting the last corpse. When she was done, she was clean, as though never covered with blood. Eli looked down at his shirt. The blood was gone, the smell, the wetness, as though it never happened. Some things are completely realistic and other things are entirely game like.

Eli opened his character screen to look at his stats.

Legend

Artificer 1

Body: 20

Mind: 20

Spirit: 25

"Legend?" a woman's voice came from the direction of the Guild Headquarters. Eli looked up and recognized Leandra. He stood and brushed the dust from his pants. Beyond Leandra, heading this way, was Andras.

"I just wanted to say... thank you," she bowed. "Thanks to your recommendation, we were all made full members today. I know Andras wouldn't say it, but this was a big deal to him, if he.."

"Whoa, what's all this?" Andras' eyes went wide as he looked at the pile of weapons. As the gore was cleaned up, people started filling out of the guild and the street started getting crowded again.

"Friends?" Avi stepped in front of Eli, looking over Leandra and Andras.

"Yeah, guys this is Avi, she's my..." Eli trailed off, not sure how to explain.

"Bonded. And you are?" Avi replied, noticing Eli's hesitation. She looked over at the warrior eye-to-eye, then looked down at Leandra.

"This is Leandra and Andras. I met them applying to the guild," Eli explained. He turned and looked down at the vast pile. "And this is the loot she got from her grind to level five. Do you know a good place where we could sell these?"

"Loot? You stole all this?" Leandra asked. Her lips formed a frown, and she tilted her head to the side.

"Loot: items distributed upon completion of an objective or the killing of an enemy, usually using some pseudo-random selection from a look-up table that pre-defines rewards appropriate for the challenge," Avi replied.

"I don't get it... You got all that from killing... what bandits or something?" Andras scratched his head.

"Animals, mostly small ones," Avi replied. Eli watched as Adras opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again.

"You got a great sword by killing small animals?" Andras said, his volume rising.

"Several."

"Several small animals?"

"Several great swords."

"I can't tell if you're joking or not." he stammered.

"I am not."

"Well then, where did small animals keep a great sword?"

"It's a Windborn thing," Eli piped in, seeing Andras' face growing red. Of course, looting isn't a mechanic available to non-players.

"She's a Windborn too?" Leandra asked, her eyes looking up at the formidable woman.

Diamedes, standing at the fringe of the crowd, stepped out and inquired: "You have a Windborn bond slave?" Windborn were forces of nature. Indomitable. They could rise to heights greater than the gods; to have one as a slave. There were no myths suggesting such was even possible. Who is this boy called Legend?

"Of course not," Eli responded. He considered how best to describe his relationship with Avi.

"My relationship with Legend is complex and nuanced and not a topic for your idle discussion," Avi stated flatly. "Who are you anyway?"

"Oh, how the cast grows," Delle said, arriving last. Eli watched her sashay in on cue. "Enter the beautiful and mysterious Windborn that serves Legend, his strong and fiercest defender." Delle's voice oozed theatrical timing.

"Hello Dear," she gushed, "This man, who so rudely inquired into the delicate nature of your relationship, is Diamedes. You'll have to forgive him." Delle leaned towards Avi, her hand coming to rest on her forearm. "He's an only child, you know how difficult they can be." Her fan appeared as if by magic. "I'm Delle, the dramatist of our group."

"Our group?" Avi turned, tilting her head as she looked towards Eli.

"Well, of course," Delle looked at everyone, "you can't possibly mean to carry all those weapons yourself. And I just happen to know the best purveyor of goods in Westshire. You'll not fetch a better price anywhere south of Skywind."

Eli watched in amazement as the woman inserted herself into the scene. She is really something. He bent to pick up weapons. When his arms were full he stood and said, "After you then."

****

Delle brought them to a dusty out-of-the-way emporium filled with bric-à-brac, doodads, tchotchke, and trinkets. From the moment they entered, Eli's eyes raced from place to place around stacks of items piled so high that the store felt like a maze. He darted from a carved ivory giraffe to a savage-looking blowgun and before he knew it, he was running from display to display, with his arms full of weapons, inspecting everything he could see.

On top of an old rain-damaged book:

Daddy Figurine

carved of maple wood

painted by a mourning widow

And stuffed under the corner of a map

Chachoonka's Hat [S]

repels water

she hated wet hair

As Eli walked around and looked at everything, he could tell which items had power stones or at least a setting for one. One item, a large wooden chest, had three settings for power stones. He'd never seen an item with multiple settings. You're more likely to find junk here but there are treasures too, all mixed as if the owner is testing his customers.

He looked at a small metal purse, pale with summer flowers painted on it. It sat under a glass display and was being used to hold decorative glass vials.

Primroses' Clutch [M]

a dainty handbag for the small woman

that can't decide what to get rid of

He looked at it again; a storage power stone? Maybe we should buy a few things while we're here. Eli watched Andras nearly knock over a suit of armor as he tried to maneuver his large frame through the narrow aisle.

"Welcome to Goldsmine, oh, quite a few of you," the proprietor peeked over the counter, her hair tied up, giving her an extra half-hand of height. Eli stepped around a stack of poles and ladders into a clearing in front of the counter where the woman stood. She came up to just under his height. She's a small folk; finally, someone I don't have to look up to.

"Greeting Sundri," Delle said as she made her way through the labyrinth to the counter. "My friends are looking to sell some weapons acquired using secret Windborn techniques." The last she leaned in and whispered. "I told them you would treat them fairly. Did I mention they are Windborn?" She emphasized the word, then placed the one weapon she was carrying down with such effort that, to Eli, it looked like it actually was hard work.

"Windborn, right. I wasn't born yesterday, Delle. Don't be involving me in one of your fanciful productions, thank ye very much," Sundri huffed, and looked over the group.

Andras set an armful of weapons down, then picked one up to look at it before casually swinging it at Eli's head. Before he could complete the swing Avi parried, her sword sliding through Andras' as though it wasn't there. Unable to parry, she swung deftly pivoted, swinging for his neck. The two paused mid-swing, Andras with his sword harmlessly impaled in Eli's head, Avi with hers harmlessly in Andras' neck. So we can't hurt them either, Eli thought.

Andras gulped and watched as Avi slowly, bit by bit, pulled her blade from his neck. When she was done and re-sheathed her blade, he finally moved to slowly put the blade down on the counter.

Sundri watched the entire event, mouth open; only closing it after Andras set the blade down. She snatched it up, looked it over, twisting it this way and that. She looked over at Andras, her eyes taking him in.

"Never seen a Windborne, begging your pardon, your grace, but do you mind if I try?" She held the sword out.

Eli rolled his eyes. "Sure go ahead."

She swung the sword towards Andras, attempting a slice through him, as Avi had. The warrior's eyes went wide when he realized she was swinging towards him. He dodged but ran into Avi, who barely moved despite him being a head taller. Still, he managed, coming away with only a scratch along his face.

"Not me," he said, the scratch welling with blood. "Them, those two are Windborn. Great winds..."

When Sundri realized what she'd almost done she went pale. "Well, how was I supposed to know that? Blasted breezes."

"Our brave gladiator, nearly done in by his own character flaws, how tragic an end," Delle swooned, her fan materializing for effect.

"How was it my fault?" Andras moved to the back, away from the Windborn.

Avi emptied her inventory out, another stack of weapons piling up. The others added theirs; the counter creaking under the accumulated wealth.

"Right, now that's all settled," Eli smiled. "How about we do some business?"