Rushing back to the loom, they both excitedly looked down at the crystal ball. Reaching out, they bumped into each other.

  “Oops, sorry!” They both said, reflexively pulling back.

  “Oh, umm. Why don’t you go first?” Harvey said, embarrassed.

  “Are you sure?” Hannah asked, but before he could reply, she stepped up and placed her hands on the orb. “Thanks, Harvey!”

  Light once again radiated out from the orb, and he was happy to see an elated smile on her face. Getting your first taste of magic after all the monsters was exhilarating, and he couldn’t blame her for wanting to go first.

  Backing away to give her some space, he waited and watched as her wicked grin softened. Nothing appeared for a long time, concern on her face. Images of her fights so far began appearing in the air between her and the loom, along with memories of working on the farm and spending time with her family. Each came and went as she struggled to find a combination she was happy with.

  Eventually, she settled on a combo that surprised him. He saw her shaking violently, trying to knock a second arrow after missing a Bloodrunn, only able to send a half-drawn shot that barely sank into its shoulder before turning to run away. He saw their group fighting the horde of living dead in the city, where her fear of accidentally hitting Julian made her miss more and more shots as the zombies swarmed him.

  He couldn’t understand why she was choosing memories where she missed until he realized each miss was followed by a deep breath and Hannah waiting patiently for the perfect shot.

  Black, Brown, and Blue thread began weaving the image of a bow pulled taut, an arrow waiting to be released. The hand holding the string back had thin strands of blue stretching from the fingers, down the arrow, and gathering at the arrowhead.

  The weapon looked simple, but everywhere the colored strands touched glowed brighter than the rest. Without a sound, the pattern lifted itself from the loom and floated toward Hannah, penetrating the sleeve covering her right bicep. She yelped in pain as light poured out of her arm, and swore as she stumbled away from the loom.

  “Wow, that hurt way worse than Julian made it seem!” Hannah griped as she placed her hand over the spot before rolling up her sleeve, exposing the new tattoo. She shared the screen so they could read together.

  “What do you think?” Hannah asked nervously.

  “It’s strong. Won’t be much difference at the start of a fight, but who knows how strong each arrow can get by the end? Just have to test it.” Harvey replied, giving an encouraging smile.

  “Yeah. You’re right.” Hannah said, smiling again. “Now, hurry up and make yours. I want to see what you get!”

  Harvey laughed and moved to the podium. Anticipation mixed with a tinge of apprehension as he wondered what type of skill he'd create. He wanted something impactful. A quick and overwhelming force that would help him win fights in one decisive move.

  The orb felt silky smooth as he placed his hands on it, a soothing warmth like holding your hands by a campfire met his palms as it lit up. The forest wasn’t uncomfortably cold, but he was definitely grateful the starting equipment came with long clothes. The rainbow light surrounded him in a similar heat, and he was surprised to see his vision completely cut off by the swirling haze, leaving only his body and the loom in plain sight.

  All around him, visions of his life began playing on repeat, memories flashing in and out of existence. He saw the zombie staring up at him before Julian saved him. Max running towards him, arms outstretched and reaching for a hug as he walked in the door of his parents’ home. The carrionwing burying its beak into his stomach, tearing at his insides until he blasted it away. His stain floated up from his chest and tried to join the mix, but he willed it away. His skill would have nothing to do with what got him here in the first place.

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  As his life flashed before his eyes, he could feel an unfathomable presence waiting patiently in the loom. Instead of a simple machine, it felt like the hand of god waiting to rewrite the world. Unbridled power resided in it, but the only emotions it conveyed to Harvey’s subconscious mind were patience and disinterest.

  With a thought, Harvey plucked the memory of his brother out of the sea around him and moved it to the empty tunnel between himself and the loom. The color and emotion of the memory washed away, now looking like a lifeless black and white movie. He took some of the other happiest moments of his life and did the same, each transforming from vibrant color to black and white as they met in front of him.

  Frustration gnawed at him as the combination glowed darker than a matchstick. Did the tapestry not value these experiences at all? Was happiness not part of the equation? He didn’t have a plan for his skill creation beforehand, but seeing these memories made him wonder if he could counteract the debilitating fear of his stain with unbridled joy made real by his skill.

  Harvey did notice that some of his happy memories shone brighter than the rest. They were the ones he’d fought for. His college graduation, long summers at coding bootcamps, and the countless late nights building Aurelia. Grouping them brightened the glow, but it was still nowhere near Julian’s or even Hannah’s skill. With a sigh, he let them drift back to the rainbow haze and turned to find something stronger.

  He’d grown a lot today and tried combinations of his latest wins. His innovative strategy of firing bolts into Hannah’s arrows, driving them deep in the zombies’ flesh like exploding nails. Standing his ground as hungry Bloodrunn charged towards the fallen tree. A respectable glow indicated the Loom thought he had at least one viable combination. The skill would be worse than the others, but maybe this was the best he could do at the moment.

  Just as he prepared to give his mental assent, he thought to check if a different combination of his early failures was better, just in case. He pulled the existing set and placed them to the side, keeping track of his winning combination, and then began to test other memories.

  First, he grabbed the vision of the carrionwing owl clawing its talons into his forearms. He watched Julian slash at it, sending it to the ground, where Harvey landed a killing blow. Next, he added the Carrionwing Hawk tearing into his gut with its sharp beak before being knocked away by another blast from his wand. Finally, he added the bloodrunn leaping towards him, where he placed his shoulder in its way to protect his neck. Harvey was surprised to see each memory glow brighter and brighter as they combined.

  These weren’t his proudest moments, but they were the best reflection of how he survived. In each, he had exchanged a lethal injury for a minor one and bought himself the opportunity to fight back.

  He tried adding his role in the fight with the zombie horde, but the new combination noticeably dimmed. It simply didn’t match the rest.

  It wasn’t what he’d envisioned for himself, but the loom seemed to believe it was his best opportunity at the moment. He gave his assent, and the three memories floated into the loom where black, blue, and white thread began weaving into shape. The vicious jaws of an angry beast surrounded an arm covered in a thin network of interwoven blue threads. Where long white fangs met the blue barrier, geysers of power erupted to protect the vulnerable flesh underneath.

  The pattern floated off the machine towards Harvey’s left arm, coming to rest on the outside of his forearm a few inches up from his wrist. An electric sizzle accompanied it as the sigil burned into his skin with the help of radiant light shining out of his body. His weave writhed and twisted as the inky lines moved to incorporate the skill into their system, and it almost felt like his veins shuffled under the surface to make way. The consciousness behind the loom faded away, and his sight returned to normal as the rainbow haze retracted into the crystal ball.

  Harvey winced in pain before pulling back the sleeves of his robe.

  “Took you a while to decide. Not what you expected?” Hannah asked.

  “I was just enjoying the replay of some happy moments back home.” Harvey laughed. “Turns out, happy thoughts don't kill monsters, so it took me a minute to narrow things down.”

  “Whoever that little boy in the visions was, sure is adorable.” Hannah gushed. “Hurry up already, I want to see your skill!”

  “What if I don’t want to show you?” Harvey teased.

  “That is so not fair, we showed you ours and we need to understand each other's powers if we are going to fight toge…” Hannah began complaining

  “Alright! Alright, I was just making a bad joke!” Harvey laughed, dodging Hannah when she went to punch his arm. “Here!”

  “This is great. Hopefully, this will help me avoid getting flayed like a fish every time something wants to take a bite out of me.” Harvey commented, noting the strange sense of humor in the description.

  “I wonder why endurance matters to a magic shield?” Hannah asked.

  “I thought the same thing when I read your skill. I think using essence is hard on our bodies. Even after I drank the essence potion earlier, shooting more bolts was exhausting. I’m guessing that’s why I get Endurance from my class just like you.” Harvey explained.

  “We really need to figure out how all this stuff works.” She replied.

  “One step at a time. For now, let’s go test these out.” Harvey grinned.