Tanya walked home in a daze. Neither she nor Ishita seemed inclined to speak. They walked past the large queue of people, noticing that despite the amount of time they'd spent with Sebastian, the queue they had joined all those hours ago had come and gone. Tanya supposed he must have a lot of people working under him. She wondered how many of these devout Sebastian fans had even met the man.

The smashed-up office blocks of Shoreditch made way to the winding streets of Whitechapel. The two of them took down a pack of hellhounds on the way, Tanya with a knife she had on her belt and Ishita with some life drawing Ability that Tanya hadn't seen her use before. Tanya noticed that for the first time in a fight, her heart rate didn't increase at all. That may have given her joy at some point; maybe she would have reflected on her personal growth. At this moment, she was numb to it.

Blackness crept into the edges of her vision. Phantom Brand would make her feel safer, but she wasn't going to risk summoning tattoos. Not with Vitality so low.

Through the edge of her neighbourhood wards, Tanya put away her knife. Her hands hung by her side.

They stopped in the middle of the street between their two blocks, turning to look at each other but neither seeming to know what to say.

Tanya thought that fixing this pact would fix something between them. She wasn't sure if that was still the case. She was too tired to feel sad.

"It's gone," Ishita eventually uttered.

Tanya nodded. "I missed you." It sounded hollow.

Ishita nodded too.

They hugged. Ishita's body was even frailer and bonier than Tanya remembered.

Then they parted, Tanya walking back to the shop and Ishita to her flat.

Tanya slept, the kind where you wake up drenched in sweat and toss and turn, but the nightmares fade the second you open your eyes.

A fresh glass of water and a bowl of beans and bread were on her bedside table each time she awoke. She ate it even though it was cold. The bread was new; it looked homemade. Tanya wondered if Mrs Eceer had met someone with a grower Class. She didn't even consider going downstairs to ask. She just lay down again, into another restless sleep.

Days passed that way, her time awake no more real than daydreaming. She woke up in a flurry of gasps, gripping her sheets less often, and slowly her Vitality crept back into the positives until the world felt a little less dreamlike.

The time all blurred together. It reminded her of the fever that hadn't broken for days when she was a child. Her mum—the 'medicine is just the corporation's way of making money' lady—was about to take her to the emergency room. She hadn't even done that when she'd fallen off a ladder painting a mural.

Tanya was thinking about her family as she awoke. Somehow in the haze, she'd fallen into believing this alternate reality. It was still the apocalypse, but she was with her mum and brother in Scotland. Fever dreams were weird like that.

She stretched and stood, smelling Mrs Eceer's perfume and her own sweat. Picking up the tray of beans and bread, she smiled, made a note to thank the older woman later, then wolfed it down. If only beans always tasted this good. The bread, however, was a genuine delicacy. Tanya hadn't had any bread, nevermind homemade, in longer than she could remember.

Halfway through her bowl, Tanya noticed Notifications in the corner of her vision. She wasn't sure if she'd missed them with the distraction of a growling stomach, or if her Interface had only just served them to her. With the flick of her gaze, she brought them central, still eating beans at a rate of knots.

• • •

Alert!

Through your efforts, you have increased the following Attributes:

Dexterity +2

Vitality +2

Will +3

• • •

Achievement: Bound No More

What was once a chain is now a choice. Freed from the curse that tied your wills, you move as one—not because you must, but because you choose to.

Achievement Boon: Whilst allies, your powers have a 25% Synergy Bonus whilst directly helping the other.

• • •

Level Up!

You have leveled up The Magic Touch to Level 6

The Magic Touch has received a Minor Ability Boon.

The Magic Touch

Level 9

Your tattoos are more than art—they are execution. By shaping intent at the point of creation, you ensure your tattoos manifest exactly as imagined. Now, each design remains malleable under your hand. Alterations preserve all stored magic and refinement.

Tattoo information, including for alterations, is available within the Design Overlay.

• • •

Tanya's first thought was of Ishita. Seeing the synergy brought it all back: the fear, the hopelessness, watching Ishita die. But it was different now; under the light of a new day, she felt a tinge of triumph. Not only was the Pact changed, but the Achievement suggested that the experience of ending it had brought them together. She hoped Ishita felt the same way.

She opened her Pacts, grinning and then laughing at the words.

• • •

Number N/A

Ishita Priya Sharma

Pledges anything 10056 wants interpreted through the constant intent of 10056 for autonomy, comprehension of own beliefs, and ability to disagree for the betterment of both parties.

Automatic Interface retrieval when activated.

• • •

It really was gone.

Her second thought was for Amy. It felt like so long ago now, the exhausting walk back, Amy having to be ready to summon the cage to trap her rogue tiger at any moment.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Wait.

She reread the changes to The Magic Touch. She'd mostly glossed over them in favour of the Pact, but holy shit, this was huge.

Tanya was now capable of editing tattoos the way she had for Sebastian as part of her core abilities.

She had to find Amy.

Tanya ran down the stairs to the shop, 3 at a time.

"Is elephant on stairs? They are nice stairs! Take long time to cut to size. Pah!"

Tanya grinned. "Hey, Olena."

"The sleepy girl awakens!"

It only made Tanya smile harder. In Olena's accent girl sounded like 'gorl' and she loved it.

"My Vitality's in the positives again." Tanya stretched, suddenly aware of how stiff her joints were. Within a few seconds, all traces of aching from being bedbound had been flexed away.

"Very good to hear!"

"Have you seen Amy?" Tanya asked.

"She out on one of those level patrols."

"Level patrols?"

"Mrs Eceer start them with the Estate," Olena said. "Getting average level higher to prepare for Bosses. She be back in ehhh, few hour. Before sundown."

Tanya had almost forgotten about the impending Bosses. The memory of seeing the impending portals on Adam's map filled her mind. It must have been at least a week ago now. "Any updates on when they'll be here—the bosses?"

"Still few weeks, probably, but not sure 'til first one arrives. Just get ready as quick as we can."

Tanya nodded, then looked around. It was the same as she remembered, aside from some dishes lining the coffee table, a new armchair on one side and—

"Wait, there's a doorway there now."

Tanya pointed towards the far wall beyond the table and chairs and beside the Aga. It was more of an arch than a full door, similar to the entrance Olena had knocked through to the back of the shop, where Tanya's tattoo chair and equipment resided.

"OH YES!" Olena yelled, jumping in the air. "You were asleep for the shop level up!"

Tanya's mouth dropped open. She walked closer to the arch. She could see into the Vietnamese bakery now, although it wasn't a bakery anymore. The kitchen remained, but with no counter around it. Instead, the centre of the room had a long table made of bits and pieces from the wreckage, puzzled together. It reminded Tanya of a showroom table. She could imagine it being covered in designer bags. The room was still quite hodgepodge, so perhaps more handcrafted bags.

"You made an archway through?" Tanya asked.

"Oh no, it do that itself," Olena replied cheerily.

She pulled up the parlour's Interface.

A feeling of progress rushed through her body as she became more aware of the shop around her. She hadn't seen these level-ups with the rest of hers, so she supposed she had to be inside the parlour itself to see them.

• • •

Construct 1

Name: The Wyrm and Needle

Owner: Tanya Angelo

Type: Business

Level: 2

Defences

Front Door

80/120

Primary threshold. Reinforced with one layer of battlements and one layer of thick metal.

Back Door

80/80

Utility entrance. Metal weaknesses at hinges. Generally unassuming.

Underfloor

220/220

Foundations. Fused with concrete and surrounded by earth.

Roof Access

130/130

Thick metal plates layered to prevent weak points.

Walls

100/100

Well laid and thick brick layers. Windows susceptible to damage; will reduce Defence stat at increased rate.

Rooms

Main Area

A cosy room for chatting, eating, and talking about designs.

Back Room

An area for tattooing and home of the Construct Core

Expansion 1

???

Quests to Level 3

Shopkeeping

Serve 30 happy customers

5/30

Reputation Management

Earn the trust or investment of a notable client or local figure. Their satisfaction will strengthen The Wyrm and Needle's standing in the community.

OR

Community Outreach

Contribute your craft to aid the district. Donate goods or services to those in need.

OR

Signature Design

Create a craft that becomes uniquely associated with The Wyrm and Needle. Recognition spreads your name beyond local borders.

• • •

Tanya was reeling. "Wait. It made the archway?"

"It expand protection from this shop to next door also."

"What?" Tanya stormed through the archway, somewhat expecting it to lead somewhere else entirely or be some illusion. It was the cafe with the same strange central table. Olena was right, the front door had metal battlements already fitted in the same wonky, handmade look.

"Wow, that's fuckin' insane," Tanya said, feeling as though her eyebrows were going to shoot off the top of her head.

"Very annoying," Olena said, shaking her hand at the new expansion to the shop.

"Annoying?"

"UGH! I finish roof. It go 'bring monster core.' I think 'wow maybe it do incredible thing.'" She huffed. "This work I could do in few hours. Monster core could have given electricity or made new shop but NOOOO it must instead make extra room that look like sweatshop."

Tanya snorted. Then she looked around, still in awe. "You know what this means, though, Olena. If it can use these cores to in some way make or, I dunno, shape matter? That means over time it could level to be able to make stuff that we don't have the resources for."

"Oh." Olena wagged her finger. "You right. That good. That very good. We will need more monster core."

"No point gettin' ahead of ourselves. We need 30 customers and some sorta weird benefactor or tattoo trend or charity drive first." She read them through again, acutely aware of how ludicrous it was for an alien sphere giving quests that fell like they fell out of a 'how to grow your business' Buzzfeed article.

Olena stroked an invisible beard. "Hmmm, I wonder if I could get 30 tattoo and it count…"

Mrs Eceer peeked around the door. "Have you seen Ishita?" Her cheeks were flushed, and she had a giddy grin that threw Tanya off. "Oh! Tanya, you're awake. How are you?"

"I not see," Olena said.

"I'm alright. Is Ishita?"

Mrs Eceer giggled.

What the fuck is going on?

"She will be far better soon, I'm sure of that!" Mrs Eceer said, a glint in her eye.

"Can we know? Can we know?" Olena badgered.

Mrs Eceer was already off, power walking in that way Tanya had only seen old people do. "If you help me find her," Mrs Eceer called over her shoulder.

Tanya and Olena jumped at the chance, one on each side.

"Can we have clue?" Olena asked.

"Should I bring a camera?" Tanya joked.

"No and… no?" Mrs Eceer stopped for a moment. "Actually, multitask. Ishita hasn't told me about what happened with Sebastian beyond it working, and I wasn't going to press the poor girl." She started again at the same pace, walking towards the edge of the wards to the east, where Mrs Eceer usually sat on her lawn chair to check the wards.

"Oh, uh, right," Tanya said, trying to gather her thoughts. "Fuck, there was so much."

"The quick version, please."

"Sebastian was one of the people who took memories from me and Adder. There are people whose Class can predict others' likely Classes, and, uh, Shoreditch has become a hypocritical communist nightmare?"

Olena tutted, shaking her head. "Shoreditch always gave me heebie jeebie. Those tech bros half way to cult even before apocalypse."

Mrs Eceer paused again, and Tanya could almost see the cogs turning. She pursed her lips, then sighed. "The medium version, please."

Tanya gave a rundown of what happened as they looked for Ishita at Mrs Eceer's seat by the wards, then walked to the house of one of Ishita's friends that was nearby. Apparently, she was another single mother, but Mrs Eceer didn't say much more, too busy quick-firing questions about Sebastian's knowledge of the system that Tanya could rarely answer.

Ishita wasn't there either, so they headed towards Olena and Boris's garage.

"I never thought I'd say this," Mrs Eceer said as they walked past The Wyrm and Needle, "But I miss mobile phones."

"You're only just thinking that now?" Tanya said.

"Getting off phone to see world is much easier when signal down and world want to kill you."

Tanya snorted. "Looks like all it takes to cure Gen Z is a real-life video game."

"Not a video game," Mrs Eceer insisted.

"If I had a monster core for every time you've reminded me this isn't a video game…" Tanya joked.

"She there!" Olena yelled, pointing down the street.

Ishita was walking towards the tattoo parlour from the other side.

The three of them ran to her, mobbing her from all sides.

Ishita held her hands up. "What in the—"

Her expression was priceless.

"MRS ECEER HAS NEWS," Olena yelled over Tanya and Mrs Eceer's more polite greetings.

They all turned to Mrs Eceer.

She coughed, the smile returning despite her attempt at a dramatic reveal.

"I met another Martyr," Mrs Eceer said.

Ishita gasped. "Oh my goodness, who are they? Tell me everything."

"His name is Sven. He was a builder before. During the early days of the apocalypse, there was a magical attack on a train, and he got hit protecting some schoolchildren."

"He a hero like you!" Olena said, shaking Ishita's shoulders.

"Oh, wow. I mean, I knew it wasn't a very rare Class but… Can I meet him? How local is he? And what level?"

Tanya studied Mrs Eceer's face. She looked almost… annoyed? Impatient.

"Ishita," Tanya said, carefully, "I don't think that's Mrs Eceer's news."

"The data is marvellous, but no, it wasn't my news."

"Go on," Ishita said, still beaming from the initial explanation.

"The effects you have suffered from using your resurrection Ability," Mrs Eceer started.

Ishita's smile faltered at the mention, her hand reaching for her face.

Mrs Eceer welled up, her smile only growing. "He told me how we can fix it."

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