Slowly, I turned toward the voice that had called out to me. My new sister, Theresa, sat atop a crate beside our home, her stillness and the angle at which she perched had caused me to overlook her presence entirely.

  Glancing down at my bare hands and mismatched shoes, I felt a surge of panic. This would look strange to anyone else. Dang it! I’m a terrible liar! I had been trying to avoid contact with my family, but how long would it take for them to notice I had changed? My mind raced with questions. Wait—how do I know I’m a bad liar? I couldn’t consciously remember anything! Yet somehow, I just knew that if I tried to deceive them, it would lead to inevitable failure.

  Seeing my prolonged silence, Theresa chimed in, “Dad doesn’t let us touch his tools. He’ll be mad if he finds out you touched one of his axes.”

  “Would you believe that your nightmares are actually visions of the future?” I replied, my voice steadier than I felt.

  She shot me a disbelieving look, but I pressed on. “It’s one of several powers in our bloodline. I know because I’ve seen the future too, or experienced it in some way. Search your feelings; you’ll know it to be true.”

  “Tha… That’s not true! That’s impossible!” Theresa stuttered, her nervousness palpable.

  Looking her square in the eyes, I adopted a serious expression—too intense for an ordinary child. “If you want the truth, ask our mother if it’s true that she was the Hero Scarlet Robe!”

  Theresa’s jaw dropped at the revelation that one of her favorite story heroines might be her own mother. “You can tell her you overheard it in town outside the tavern while playing with me. But if you tell her it was me and that I took the ax into the woods, there will be consequences for you too.”

  “Nuh-uh! Mom and Dad will think you’ve lost your mind!” Theresa retorted, her eyes wide with disbelief.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Then I’ll tell them the reason I went crazy is that I hit my head this morning, and it’s your fault,” I threatened, feeling a sickening twist in my gut at the manipulation.

  It felt wrong to twist a child’s thoughts like this, but it was a lesser evil in the grand scheme. The game had always portrayed her blindness and struggles as the worst fate, but I knew better. In the Twinblade quest, the hero freed two women said to be the night’s entertainment for Twinblade. It was heavily implied he would take advantage of them against their will. I doubted such a man would overlook the body of a beautiful, helpless blind girl, treating her as a mere possession. He may have saved her life, but he was also one of the causes that hardened her heart in that timeline.

  Gripping my father’s smallest ax, I headed into the woods, unconcerned about the confusion my absence would cause. I needed experience now, and I would deal with my parents later. Convincing them of the truth would be easier if I possessed powers. I spent the rest of the day, until well after sundown, hunting beetles and the occasional wasp, gathering might experience. Without knowledge of how to draw experience to me, I had to pick it up or step on it. Eventually, I accumulated enough that it felt like I could do something with it—a strong sensation of knowing washed over me.

  As I returned the ax to its place, I overheard my parents arguing about how the truth of my mother’s identity had been revealed. Their voices were hushed, enough to avoid alarming the neighbors, but I could see Theresa curled up in the fetal position, crying behind our house.

  “Mother was upset, wasn’t she?” I asked, concern washing over me. I hadn’t meant to hurt her. “She’s not mad at you, sis. There’s a very bad man who wants to hurt us, and he only gets what he wants if he destroys our whole family and Oakvale along with us.”

  She looked up at me with tear-streaked cheeks, her red eyes full of confusion. “Why?”

  “Because he’s a monster, and we’re the only ones who can stop him. This isn’t just my opinion; it’s what destiny is telling us,” I assured her.

  Wiping away her tears, Theresa stood up, her face brightening with determination. “Then I want to be strong too!”

  “You don’t know what you’re asking for. In the other timeline, you developed your powers without training,” I cautioned. A sudden revelation struck me: she had never received proper training, yet she had grown so powerful. If allowed to develop her abilities early and join the Heroes Guild with me, my sister could become an extraordinary force.

  “Alright,” I interrupted before Theresa could object. “But we’re going to need to kill a lot of bugs in the next few days.”

  Dangit! I'm a bad liar! I was trying to avoid contact with these people as much as possible. How long will it take observing me day to day before my family realizes I've changed, my mind raced. Wait how do I know I'm a bad liar? I can't consciously remember anything! Yet somehow I simply knew if I lied it would inevitably lead to failure.