"So, what do you think would happen if earth had magic?" Celestine asked.

     "Like from the beginning or suddenly appearing one day?" Kat questioned.

     "Let's go with suddenly appeared."

     "I think it would be chaos. People are greedy and dangerous. I mean, look at what happened when the US collapsed. Those confederacy bastards almost immediately began to conquer their neighboring states. Thankfully, president Sanchez had foreseen the collapse and reinforced the army."

     "I think things would have worked out," Myrra added. 

     "I'm not so sure," Andarial asked.

     "What makes you say that?" Kat inquired. 

     "Well, the confederacy is already imprisoning people who don't fit their 'religious ideals' and I wouldn't put it past them to begin witch hunts if magic returned."

     "Plus imagine if there were fantasy races, they already enslave people there," Celestine added.

     After their brief exploration of hypotheticals, Celestine and Kat talked about their time in the beta. They had completed most of the content available at the time. Myrra knew all this already and welcomed the opportunity to sort his thoughts. 

     “Well take care you two,” Kat said as they arrived at the union headquarters. 

     Miss Myrra, this is Hanna, your body needs to use the restroom.

     Thank you, Hanna, he replied to her. “Kat, I have to get off for a bit, I have to use the restroom.”

     “Sure thing, probably wait though ‘till we can turn in the quest and go back to the room.”

     “Right.” 

     “I’ll hop off too.”

     They turned in the quest and went back to their room. He climbed into bed and snuggled next to his sister, who already logged off. He closed his eyes and opened them again, staring at his ceiling. Getting up from his bed, he remembered that he had logged in wearing his skirt. He quickly changed into his pajamas. And went to the bathroom, and after finishing he went to the kitchen. Kat was already there eating a bowl of cereal.

     “Yo Sis,” she said jokingly

     “Only in-game,” he said with a frown.

     “Are you ok, Sam? Did what Andrea say bother you?”

     “Kinda.”

     “Wanna talk about it?”

     “Not really… it was just a dumb joke. It was nice to see her. I hope she can come to visit soon.” 

     “My useless sister. Come here and give me a hug,” she said.

     “You mean brother?”

     Kat sighed and looked at her sibling. “Listen, I raised you. I was there for everything. Do you really think I wouldn’t notice? The way your eyes light up when you're mistaken for a girl. How you try so hard to act as feminine as possible. You’re clearly a girl, even if you try and deny it to yourself. You can say it's because you want to confuse people, or are fluid in your gender. But your clothes, mannerisms, and interests are undeniably female.”

     “I’m not… that’s not… I can’t….”

     Kat stood up and put her empty bowl in the sink, then grabbed Sam. She took Sam to the couch and wrapped her arms around her flustered sibling. “I think you may have misunderstood me. I'm not telling you to separate yourself from Myrra because she is a girl. I told you to because you were forming an unhealthy attachment to a video game character.”

     “I like being Myrra though…”

     “I'm not talking about her, I'm talking about Moria. I know that she is the mother of Myrra, but that's just a game.”

     Sam nodded, she knew her sister was telling her the truth. And yet something deep down rebelled against Kat’s words. Her mind screamed that her sister was wrong. But she didn't want to worry her anymore.

     “Now repeat after me. Moria isn’t my mother, it's just a game.”

     “Moria isn't my mother, it’s just a game.”

     “Again.” 

     “Moria isn’t my mother, it's just a game.”

     “Again.” 

     Kat had her sister repeat it a few more times before she was satisfied. She cuddled her sister for a little bit longer, then spoke. “Do you feel like playing still?” Sam nodded silently. “Ok, then go log back in, I’ll meet you back in the room.”

     Sam hugged her sister and then went back to her room. Kat stood there for a moment before sighing. Despite her words, she knew her sister hadn’t changed her mind. Her sister's stubborn attachment to Moria would be hard to break. She shivered as a chill ran down her spine. With another sigh, she cleaned up the mess from her snack and went back to her room.

     When she closed her eyes, she was greeted by the familiar splash screen and main menu. She selected her character Katherine the Red from her list, she had another character, but it was more geared towards PvP, and she’d rather not use it too much. There was one more splash screen, then she saw her sister already sitting at the table.

     “Hi sissy,” Sam said, there was her mostly normal little sister.

     “Let's do some more quests. Then maybe we can start working our way toward a dungeon.”

 

*****

 

     “Are you sure about this quest?” Myrra asked, her legs dangling off the back of the wagon.

     “Why? Because you can't just punch it complete?” Kat teased.

     “No because it's going to take a while, and I'm already bored,” she complained.

     “Escort quests are part of the life of a wanderer too, they pay well and are a good way to get to another place,” she explained, pulling the small girl closer.

     “I know, but I wanted to have fun with you. This escort will take until you have to go back to work.”

     “That’s the reason I chose it. We’ll spend awhile there.”

     “Where are we going anyway?”

     “We’re heading to Eurizeth, also known as the center of trade in the continent,” she answered, running her hands through Myrra’s hair.

     “Where’s that?”

     “It's in the nation of Lorenn,” she explained, using some ribbons she bought to put her sister's hair up. “There. Super adorable,” she exclaimed, satisfied.

     “Really?” Myrra asked, looking doe eyed at her sister. Her hair set in twin tails.

     “Yes, very,” she smiled, taking a screenshot of her sister.

     “I have to agree,” added a woman who was sitting in the wagon with them.  “Thanks for accepting our quest.”

     “Of course,” Myrra beamed and giggled.

     “And here you were complaining of boredom,” Kat teased, tickling her sister's side.

     “That was in the past,” she giggled.

     “Yea, like five minutes.”

     “You both are fairly close,” the woman commented. “Oh, where are my manners, my name is Elowen.”

      “I'm Katherine, and this is my sister, Myrra.”

     “You are sisters? That's a bit unusual,” she asked, a look of confusion on her face.

     “That's because we’re both wanderers,” Kat explained.

     “Oh, I see,” she nodded. “That makes complete sense.”

     “We got company,” shouted the driver, bringing the wagon to a stop.

     Kat and Myrra hopped off the wagon. Myrra’s appearing in her hand with a burst of rose petals. Kat unsheathed her sword, watching her sister brandish her staff.

     “Did your staff always do that?”

     “No, I use a small bit of magic to make the rose petals. I thought it looked cool,” she pouted.

     “It does,” she smiled. “Definitely suits you well.”

     The two of them walked around to the front of the wagon. Kat looking around for the reason they stopped. 

     “Ah, miss, time to earn your keep it seems,” the man motioned to a large pack of beasts. 

     They were some kind of cat monster, but stood taller than Myrra. True to her title, none of the beasts paid her any attention. The pack stared at Kat snarling and menacing, the people. The biggest one stepped forward, presumably the leader of the pack.

     “Why human here?” It asked in a snarling voice.

     “We’re just passing through, your majesty,” Kat replied. “We seek no conflict with you.”

     “Humans come, like own all. Displeased we are,” it growled.

     “I apologize, as recompense I would like to present an offering,” she answered respectfully. Reaching into her inventory skill, she removed a side of smoked beef. The meat still smoked tantalizingly. “I offer some human cuisine, expertly prepared and cooked beef.”

     “Meat smell good, how know fox won't kill? Fox tricky. Like head hurt.”

     “I promise I won’t hurt you, I just wish to pass through. I swear on my life,” she announced. Taking a small piece of the meat, she chewed and swallowed it. Showing that she hadn’t poisoned it. With that, she hurled it over, the side of beef landing a few feet in front of them.

     “Very well. We take. You pass. Go,” it snarled, two of the animals grabbing the cow and hauling it to their leader. Most of them backed away. The leader turned as if it had nothing to fear and walked away. Quickly disappearing into the tall grass of the plains, dragging the side of beef behind it.

     “I'm glad we managed to avoid a fight,” Kat smiled, dropping all pretenses. 

     “Me too,” Myrra agreed. “Though we could have taken them.”

     “There’s no doubt about that,” she replied, helping her sister back into the wagon.

     “That was impressive,” Elowen said the moment they were both seated. With a small lurch and a crack of the reigns, the wagon began to move again.

     “Thanks,” she replied before turning back to her sister. “If they were simple monsters, I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill them.”

     “They aren't?” Myrra asked.

     “No. In fact, they are known as magical beasts. Many of them are just as intelligent as any humanoid.”

     “That's so awesome,” Myrra beamed.

     “Yea, when we arrive in Eurizeth, I’ll have to report this to the Union.”

 

*****

 

     “She’s really adorable, you know,” Elowen remarked softly, looking at the small girl using Kats lap as a pillow as she slumbered peacefully.

     “She’s my whole world,” Kat replied gently, staring at her sister with a huge smile.

     “That a story you're willing to share?” 

     “We lost our parents when she was younger. I had to fight to keep her. Where we're from, our government has certain ideas about child protection. They wanted to take her away from me. But thankfully, I found someone who was able to convince them to not.”

     "That's good, looking at the two of you, I can tell that would have been the worst outcome.”

     “We’re all we have,” she replied with a slight frown.

     “No other family, then?”

     “No, our grandparents had died and both of our parents were only children. We have no living family.” 

     Elowen wrapped one of her arms around Kat, giving her a comforting hug. “That must be hard.”

     “It's not easy. But so long as I have her it's all worth it in the end. I’d go through hell itself to protect her.” I won’t let anyone take her from me. Be it man or god. She vowed to herself, smiling when her sister mumbled in her sleep.

 

*****

 

     The adults are talking to sissy about something. Sam watched as Kat slumped to the floor. Tears streaming from her eyes as she cried. Standing up from the coloring book on the floor, Sam went to comfort her. She pulled Sam into a hug, subbing uncontrollably as the two men in the doorway stared awkwardly.

     “Sam, Mommy and Daddy won't be coming back…” she sniffled, stopping crying enough to get the words out. 

     “How come?” Sam asked innocently, not understanding what was happening, only knowing that Kat needed hugs.

     “They got hurt really bad, and they won't be able to come home.”

     “They are gonna get better?” 

     “No, they won’t get better.” 

     “Is sissy leaving?”

     “No, Sam,” she sobbed, hugging tighter. “I'm never going to leave.”

     “If sissy stays, that it’s ok,” Sam beamed.

     “I hope you never lose this innocence,” Kat bawled, the tears flowing unrestricted down her face.

     Sam, not understanding the meaning of Kat’s words, simple patted her on the head and said, “Sissy feel better, bad feelings go away.” Like their mother did when they were sad. Sam was held by Kat for so long that sleep overtook the small child.