Three boys have a fondness for MMORPG’s and for Fantasy books, by authors like Katherine Kurtz, Robert Jordan and Fred Saberhagen. Life was good and then MAGIC HAPPENED on a Magical Day.

Gallagher Rising

by

Paula Dillon

Three boys Micheá¡l (Michael) Gallagher sat with his two friends Risteard (Richard) Brodie and Séamus (James) McIntyre in his grandmother’s house, where he and his mother, Gillian, also lived. They were congregated in Blair Morgan’s library. Blair was Michael’s grandmother. The boys went through her Science/Fantasy, swords and sorcery type books. Gillian loved that particular genre very much. She liked Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni novels in particular.

The boys were fascinated by magic. When they played their MMORPG’s online, the three of them always selected characters that had magical powers, to fight the forces of evil, restore the balance of nature, or heal the wounded. The thought of wielding magic powers was seductive to them. They often fantasized about having powers themselves and talked about what they would do if they had the power.

Michael and his buds had just finished another online session. They had kicked butt on their last team quest. Three fifths of the group being in the same room with their kick ass laptops on one hot assed WiFi didn’t hurt one bit. The boys were quite impressed with their local connection speeds at Blair’s home. Her connection was off the scales. They never suffered from lag or rubber banding.

The other two team mates, the Warrior tank and the ranger talked with them on Vent. Ventrilo was the next best thing to being there. Michael always played the enchantress who had the powerful nukes and buffs, especially buff that helped manage mana. For some reason he liked to play female characters, the more stunningly beautiful the better. James liked playing small balding priests who healed and buffed. He probably got his characters appearance from Krillin in Dragon Ball. Richard was their multi-purpose druid who could tank, heal, nuke and buff. His played both male and female characters, that had a woodsy, but deadly appearance. His male characters had faces only a mother could love. His female characters were so beautiful everyone would love to know them.

When Michael, Richard and James were together their play is almost intuitive. They seemed to know or anticipate what was needed when, to make their team successful in their adventure. They could take three level one characters and max out their levels in less than a month. By the end of the month they had plenty of gold, Uber stats, and the best armor sets.

Boys being boys and on their own, they began exploring the library like they would a room in their adventure, searching for treasure or hidden loot. The only exception was Grandma Blair’s desk, she seemed to know, if anybody touched her desk or sat in her chair even, divining the fact, it seemed and knowing just who the culprit was. The boys found that more than a little creepy, but since she let them read any of the books in her library, they didn’t want to anger her. The boys truly believed that Grandma Blair could make a Navy Seal cringe in fear.

They went about their search in a systematic manner. They divided the area in quadrants. There were over three thousand books on shelves along the walls in five tiers of shelving. They moved books flipped through some of the newer books, they weren’t quite brave enough to flip through the ten volume, leather bound, first edition, Victor Hugo “Les Misérables” in French of course, dated 1862. Unbeknownst to the boys, the way they were working caused a secret door to open and a jeweled earring to fall out of a secret compartment. As they put the books back the door closed pushing the earring out of the way.

“Hey Michael, look at this,” James said, as he moved some less valuable books.

“Hey man, that is awesome.” Michael said.

Michael and the boys sat down to look at the earring. It had three stones a yellow/gold stone, a green stone and a purple stone, held together by a gold wire. The earring was meant for a pierced ear, “That purple stone is an Amethyst, The green stone I believe is an emerald and the yellow stone; I am not too sure about.”

“My mom has a topaz ring that color,” Richard said.

“I thought topaz was blue,” James said.

“Nah, they can come in a lot of colors, they are all probably cut glass, but let’s look em up on the NET,” Michael said.

They got on one of their laptops and checked it out. Richard was right, it could be Topaz, but then again Michael could be right. They weren’t experts and the stones could still be cut glass.

“That could be a pirates earring, since there is only one,” Richard said.

“Hey that could be like that earring in that book… Deryni Rising,” James said.

Michael had to think for a few seconds, he had read the book many years ago, “Hmmm… You mean the earring that Duncan McLain and Alaric Morgan used on to awaken Prince Kelson’s Deryni powers.”

“Yeah that one,” James said.

“Let’s just put it back and forget about it.”

The boys did put it back, but boys being boys, none of them would forget about it.

>>>>><<<<<

A couple of weeks later the boys were again together. They were in on a large raid. Michael, Richard and James were with the main tank of the raid, Ramos Kingslayer, with another healer on board. They had one responsibility, keep Kingslayer alive. James and Richard were setup heavily on heals and buffs, while Michael had mana management and buffs up A second fighter heavy team was assigned to keep the four casters safe. Other healers would heal Kingslayer with low agro spam heals, in fact they would be responsible to the first healing to reduce agro on Michael’s team. Michael’s team was actually out of AOE (Area of Effect. An AOE hits a larger area like an air burst mortar round. Many people can be hit with one spell) spell range till they were needed. James, Richard and the other healer would move in and kick in with heavy heals when Kingslayer firmly had the agro. That is when everyone else would start dumping nukes on the boss mob.

Everything went as planned. The raid killed off the lesser mobs and low level bosses as they followed the path to the Big boss mob. This is not to say that getting there is a cake walk. There were several Epic battles just to get to the Demon Boss. The early battles threaten to overwhelm the raid in sheer numbers of lesser deadly mobs, but the raid leader gave good directions and these lesser mobs were dispatched.

When the raid finally reached and cleared the ante chamber, they took time to rebuff, change their setups where needed and prepare for the final battle. The raid leader sent groups to circle around the boss mob just out of agro distance. The Demon Boss had a very large circle of agro. Luckily the chamber was very large. One group got a little too close and within seconds that team was toast. The team did what they were supposed to do, DIE IN PLACE and not draw the boss back to the rest of the raid. The Demon Boss wins every time in a cluster f***. Everybody else backed off as far as they safely could. When the boss reset and sat back down on his dais, rezzes, heals and buffs were made to get everybody ready for the fight.

They tried it again and finally got everyone in position. Kingslayer was fully buffed and cloaked in invisibility to let him get ten percent closer before he was detected. The boss mob reacted to him and Kingslayer charged to get in melee range. He was hit for some serious damage and healing at about the same time. Kingslayer did everything he knew to make the boss mad at only him and it worked. With only Kingslayer hitting the demon boss, damage was slow, but certain. Michael’s team moved in to keep Kingslayer alive. When the boss was down had taken about thirty percent damage, the raid leader called for the all-out attack. Nukers nuked, rangers fired arrows, shot their guns and sent their pets into the fray, while the grunts moved into melee range. The boss demon started hitting them with AOE spells when he was halfway down and large portions of the Raid died, just to be rezzed, healed and buffed back into the battle. When the demon was down to ten percent everyone went into a frenzy of attacks, they had to kill him before the respawns came. Still they had a few addons, but they were quickly dispatched. One final push dispatched the Demon Boss. Small groups set up to catch the respawns as the bulk of the casters took time to refresh their depleted mana. They had six minutes to get their looting done and begin their retreat.

The boys could have claimed their share of the major loot, but they passed on it. There were many players that needed a serious upgrade to their stuff. That was one thing the raid leader like about them. They were in it for everybody, not just for themselves.

It took a few minutes to arrange for a ride for everybody on the raid. It would take longer to fight their way out, than it did to get in. Dying was expensive in the game. Armor and weapon repair was expensive. Gamers call that the cost of dying. Every game has its own cost of dying.

Michael, Richard and James were mentally spent after the raid. You can say it is just a game and that they weren’t really in a fight and weren’t really dying, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have an effect on the player. Blood pressure elevates, adrenalin is spiked, breathing can become ragged and mentally everybody is stressed.

They popped into the kitchen to recharge their batteries on the few precious junk foods, Gillian, his Mom allowed in the kitchen. Michael had a specified number of goodies. Sharing them took away from his allotment, but he was a gracious host.

“Hey our moms are going to be busy on Halloween after we get through raiding let’s role play the Deryni power ritual,” James said.

“None of us had pierced ears, you ditz,” Richard said. “My mom would kill me.”

“My mom would too, but it might be fun anyway,” Michael added. “We’ll have to think on it.”

“We have a week to gather stuff,” James said. “If we do it, let’s make it our own ceremony. I think we can come up with something.”

“Sounds good,” Michael said. Not knowing if they were really going to do this or not.

>>>>><<<<<

The boys caught an early Raid on Halloween; they were finished by seven forty that evening. The raid had been rough. Only the survival of two healers kept the raid from being a total wipe. Michael’s team went early as one of the lesser warriors booked it right through Michael and his friends after the MT went down. That mistake caused a cascade and one last massive AOE attack brought almost everyone down. A Priest on his first max level raid and a well-seasoned Druid managed to pull back far enough to not be noticed till the big boss settled down. They then began the long process of rezzing healers, fighter types and finger wigglers. The gun shy warrior was banished, just for the rest of the raid. Noobs are allowed a few mistakes. They reset the raid teams and finally crushed the Boss Mob.

The boys chilled out for a time and talked about what they intended to do tonight.

>>>>><<<<<

The reason the boys spent a lot of time together was that their Moms also spent a lot of time together. What the fourteen and fifteen year old boys didn’t know was that their Moms were into real magic. Some people would call them witches, but they did not see themselves witches in the classical sense, they saw themselves as a group of Sorceresses, formed like a coven of “Sisters”. The power fell only to the women, to all of their daughters and the daughters of their sons, if they were properly mated. It was much like a recessive genetic trait tied to the X Chromosome, but the Sisters weren’t sure of that kind of connection. Their power was neither good nor evil, it was just power. The wielders character is what made one either. The “Sisters’ ” character was good, there were others who weren’t.

Blair Morgan, Michael’s grandmother, was a Sister and a magical archeologist, as was her Grandmother. Magical archeology was a trait that seemed to skip a generation in their family. Blair sought out items of lore long lost and forgotten magic. She would bring home items, she wasn’t sure about or that she needed to look deeper in. She would lock the items in her magical vaults and research them to determine if they were or weren’t magic and if they were what was the magic they held. She and many of the Sisters didn’t like to think about some of the items they found falling into evil hands or unknowing hands. Not all items required a person of magic to use or misuse them.

Tonight, Halloween, they were all together, they had a divination to do, and some Sisters had a sense of foreboding that was worrisome. They also had a ritual of sealing to do; every year without fail they would renew the bonds on an old enemy. They didn’t need to do it every year, but this way on this very special night, they were reassured that the bounds would not fail on their watch.

>>>>><<<<<

The boys were hip, when it came to stories about magic and power. They had gathered together a pile of things, the boys had a bag of perfectly square dice, (sixteen black and sixteen white dice) to use as Deryni Ward cubes, a really wicked looking winged dagger to use as an anthame, a small silver cup of wine and lastly the earring.

They moved into the backyard, where there was this really cool mosaic on the concrete patio. As the moon began to rise high into the sky, they began to do their thing. Michael started stacking the dice eight dice in two layers alternating colors, in each corner, starting in the south. When he had four cubes done, he then took a breath and said. “unum, duobus, tribus, quattuor,” he said touching each lower cube in order. He then touched the top cubes in order saying, “Primary, secundarii, Tertiariis, quaternary,” before heading to the next corner, repeating himself.

James then did a little spiel, “I, Séamus McIntyre call upon the angel Michael to be a witness and protect us,” in the east. “I call upon the angel Raphael in the south to be a witness and protect us,” in the south. In the west he said, “I call upon the angel Gabriel to be a witness and protect us,” and in the north, “I call upon the angel Uriel to be a witness and protect us.”

*****

Underground a sentience awoke. It had awoken when magic had been used around it many times, but the source never made a request. The magic here now was much weaker and much different. but it still felt it. It listened and looked into the minds behind the magic.

*****

Elsewhere three mothers and a grandmother knew something was happening. The mothers no longer felt their sons’ presence and the grandmother could no longer touch the mosaic in her back yard. She used the mosaic as a focus to teleport to.

All four women were tied into the spell they were working on. They couldn’t leave without breaking the spell and that could be worse than not renewing it for the next year. Illandra, their diviner could sense no ill intent, so they continued their work.

*****

Risteard then took the cup and sprinkled some powdered rosemary, nutmeg, cinnamon, thyme and clove into the cup. He stuck Michael’s finger with the knife drawing a drop of blood into the cup and he placed the earring into the wine. He cleaned Michael’s ear with the solution in the cup. He carefully used the knife to pierce Michael’s ear. It stung a bit Risteard poked just a small hole in the ear.

“I Risteard Brodie call upon the ancestors to grant Micheá¡l Gallagher Deryni Powers by right of birth.”

“I Séamus McIntyre call upon the ancestors to grant Micheá¡l Gallagher Deryni Powers by right of birth.”

“I Micheá¡l Gallagher ask the ancestors grant me, Micheá¡l Gallagher Deryni Powers by right of birth. So mote it be.”

“So mote it be,” James and Richard said.

*****

A lot of things began to happen with the sentient being; it analyzed each boys’ memory and their bodies down to the atomic level. It found the spark of magic in each of them. It also played back memories they had. It rejoiced when he found they were battle tested. The sentience also saw the problem they only had one copy of what they needed to wield their own power. It also found power in the earring. The sentience took away what it found that blocked their power and it traded copies with each boy to give them a source from the one of the other boys. It took an X gene from James to give to Michael, an X gene from Michael to give to Richard and an X gene from Richard to give James. The sentience then gave each boy a part of its power and presence. It then awakened the power of the earring.

The earring came from another magic, used long ago in ancient Peru. It had a different flavor and construct, and given time the sentience could understand it and used its power. It was strong and the sentience hoped that it would be strong enough.

The sentience also analyzed what the boys knew about Deryni Powers. It read the minds of all three boys and constructed a fairly detailed account from the three of them. It worked out a solution and caused the magic to be.

*****

Just as Richard and James finished their declaration, there was a loud clap of thunder within the ward and all three boys fell unconscious.

******

The women finished their spell and did another divination before leaving the place where they were at. Illandra again felt no foreboding. Blair tried to teleport everyone to her house but was blocked. They were able to transport to Nansaidh’s home and then make their way to Blair’s home, but that took time. Blair lived many miles from Nansaidh’s home.

>>>>><<<<<

Blair rushed into her backyard and saw three forms lying on the patio. She tried to approach them, but couldn’t, “Dammit, how could they cast wards, our men have no powers.”

Gillian and Blair called out to the boys, but they didn’t stir. Eirica, the sisters ward mistress tried everything she knew to help them get to the children, but she failed.

“They are still alive. If they weren’t their wards would fall I think. I have never felt the power that binds them. The children will need to bring them down themselves, I fear.”

“Let’s set watch then and wait a bit,” Blair said, observing the forms. “Look at them, they have changed.”

“I see Mom, they seem smaller, more fragile. Oh my they are becoming feminine.”

“I see it,” Blair said. “And look there is that earring I collected in Peru. I think Micheá¡l is wearing it. How the hell did they get past one of my magical locks?”

Blair was furious, but not at the boys. There would be hell for them to pay when she got her hands on them, but she was madder at herself. What had she done wrong?

It was daybreak when the girls started to stir. There was no doubt, their boys were now girls, no, make that women. They looked like eighteen to twenty year old women now. James was the first conscious.

“Séamus is that you?” Nansaidh asked.

“Yes Mom,” Séamus said in a soft alto.

“Good, are the others alright?”

James was shocked at his appearance and voice, but something inside him spoke to the truth. His hands went to his head and found skin instead of hair. He had never played a female priest before, but she had to look like some he had seen in the game. From what she could see without a mirror, she looked like a wet dream. She then looked at her two friends. She put her hand on what had to be Richard’s chest. Richard looked just like one of his favorite female druids. James’ hand glowed as she touched the girl.

“Richard is okay, he should be awake in minutes,” James said. She then checked on Michael, her hand glowed as before, “Michael is okay too, but is a little weaker. He should be awake in ten or fifteen minutes. What happened, Mom?”

James took a few seconds to look at her friends. Richard looked like an overly buxom, red headed, female druid, sexy but deadly. He looked like his female druid Davina Rochette. Michael was a dead ringer for “Chantrelle”, his Enchantress in full glamour mode. Her breasts were big, but she wasn’t as buxom as Richard. On a scale of one to ten, James was a strong ten, Richard was a twelve, and Michael was an impossible fifteen. Richard was a red head, but Michael was a fiery red head whose hair seemed to give off its own light.

“We were hoping you would tell us. Can you bring down your wards?”

James instantly knew how to do this. “I can dismiss the Angels, but Michael set the ward cubes. He will have to bring them down.”

“Don’t dismiss them yet. They might be of some necessity till you are all okay. What Angels did you call upon?”

“Michael in the east, Raphael in the south, Gabriel in the west and Uriel in the north.”

“Where did you get the ritual of warding from?”

“Grandma Blair’s Deryni books. Richard, Michael and I got this harebrained idea after we found an earring.”

“I’ll say it was harebrained, but I want to know how?” Gillian said.

“I don’t know,” James said.

“We will talk about this later. James, see to Richard. He is beginning to stir,” Blair said.

James helped Richard now that he was conscious. James had recovered some and poured some mana into Richard. Richard was speechless over his own change. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but soon understanding began to flood into his mind.

As Michael began to stir, James and Richard began to pump her up. She stopped them though and reached out with a hand to touch a ley line. She pumped up rapidly and then pumped her slowly recovering friends all the way up. It takes a long time for high level casters to revive without mana potions or other items to recharge and they had nothing except for the power of the ley line. Michael looked at herself and her friends. Their male clothes had buttons popped and seams ripped, where their bodies had changed from male to female. With a wave of her hand they were game clothed, and their hair and makeup done immaculately. James was in the softs silks of a monk, a miter of office, mace, relics and bags. Her bald head was concealed by a white silk coif and her face clear and simple. Richard was in the leather and linen, daggers, bags and staff. His long red hair was contained by a braided leather band and she had mystic symbols on her face in makeup. How to describe Michael. She was a mass of gauze, silks, ribbons and lace on a gown worthy of a coronation. On her head was a jeweled tiara with a large diamond hanging on her forehead, matching jeweled cuffs on her wrists, jeweled necklace around her neck, rings, a silver willow wand and her bags. She inadvertently substantially increased her wow factor.

“Okay, Michael and James, take your wards down,” Blair told them.

James thanked and dismissed the Angels, and Michael reversed his previous action with the dice. He was shocked though when he disassembled the cubes, the dice they had used were just black and white plastic. Now though they were different, the white dice were silvery metallic, possibly silver or platinum and the black were heavy unknown material, possibly basalt. She popped them into a black velvet bag and placed them in a bag held by her belt.

“Not a bit ostentatious, Michael,” Gillian said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Sorry mother. I don’t have much experience with girly stuff, except in the game. This is what we look like when we play our online characters.”

All three boys, now girls, were enveloped in hugs by their mothers and other ladies. Michael and his friends took some time to explain what they did before they passed out. They were strangely un-bothered by the change.

Blair was amazed by their cavalier attitude over the change and asked, “Doesn’t it bother you in the least, that you are all now girls?”

“I think ‘IT’ is helping us get over the change. ‘IT’ has a purpose for us.”

“What is ‘IT’?”

“I don’t know. ‘IT’ was the power that changed us. I can see power in all of you now. You all have magic don’t you? ‘IT’ is a form of magic too. There is something buried beneath the mosaic that was the source of part of the power that changed us.”

“Yes we are sorceresses. For whatever reason, the females in our families have magical abilities,” Blair said.

Michael closed his eyes and thought, “Do you have to marry in family so to speak?”

“Yes our daughters and sons are attracted to each other. That is why we move so much to other regions when we have sons. We have researchers who track our genetic lines, to prevent too much inbreeding,” Blair said. “We have just over eleven thousand sisters, from just fewer than eight hundred female lines and around seventy thousand males from almost five hundred male lines. We find new males at times but we rarely find females we don’t know about.”

“So your powers are a recessive genetic trait tied to the X chromosome.”

“We believe so, but we haven’t proved the point. I sense that you have our power but there is something more.”

“My auras are different from yours grandmother. James and Richard’s auras are different from you and mine are different from different from James and Richard,” Michael stopped deep in thought. “Since we are men of your line, we each already had one X chromosome. A recessive genetic trait needs two copies of the gene, I think the entity saw this and traded X chromosomes between us. You might want to check that. That gave us your magic. I think that the entity then gave us a part of its magic. I think it thought we were magical warriors, because of our gaming. I also think a part of my magic came from the earring. I believe it is an old magic.”

“How did you get that earring? I had it under magic locks in the library.”

“I don’t know. We were being a little silly and did a search for trap doors and secret compartments, searching for treasure in your library. When we were searching we found it behind some novels.”

“‘Les Misérables’ was the trigger but it still takes a word of power to open the compartment. It was locked, I still feel my locks. They have never been broken; I should have known when the compartment opened.”

“Maybe it is like Coinspinner.”

“Fred Saberhagen, could it be that the earring was seeking a new owner. Michael I am a Magical Archeologist, like my grandmother, I seek items like that earring. I found that earring in Peru, at a temple site. I sensed something, but it didn’t seem strong. I set it aside for further research.”

“Anyway, I think whatever is beneath that mosaic, the earring and our own magical heritage together triggered the change.”

“I need to check with my grandmother,” Blair said.

“What about James and Richard?” Nansaidh asked.

“In Katherine Kurtz’s book, Morgan and McLain were helping Kelson gain Deryni powers. Morgan and McLain were Deryni. We all had one copy of your X gene I think so we all had the spark. I think it needed us to have its power. Something is coming isn’t it?”

“Our diviners have been sensing something, but we can’t tell when or where. Many of our groups control magical beings we don’t have the power to kill. Every year on All Saints eve, or Halloween if you will, we renew the seals on them.”

“Sort of like the seals in the ‘Wheel of Time’?”

“Exactly, we don’t have to do it every year, but if we have the power we do it in case we don’t have the power the next year. The seals last various amounts of time depending on what they are binding. Tonight we were binding something really bad. It’s early. We are all about to drop and you boy… girls I mean, look like warmed over death. Sleep is a debt we all have to balance, let get some rest. Nansaidh and Rosaline you and your girls should stay here too.”

“Can you change back into boys?” Rosaline asked.

“I could probably make us look like boys, but your magic requires us to be girls and the entity need us to have magic. I don’t think it would feel right, anyway.”

“Can you take that earring off Michael?” Rosaline asked.

Michael tried to take the earring off and even with his Mom’s assistance, it couldn’t be removed. It seemed to be magically bound.

“We will have to find you some new clothes,” Gillian said. “You can’t sleep in those things.”

Michael looked at James and Richard; having been a boy he had a fascination with lingerie catalogues. He thought about something racy, but decided on something a little more conservative. He waved a hand and they were all dressed in something girly. He was surprised though when Richard still had two daggers in a thigh sheaths and James still had a coif on, “Will these clothes be better?”

“Dang, you could save a bundle on buying clothes.”

“I think not, these clothes aren’t real, they are illusions. We wouldn’t need a huge wardrobe, but we will still need some clothes. I fear we would be naked or in the clothes we had on earlier, if I died or was knocked unconscious.”

“I am not giving you permission to die. I will kill you if you die. Don’t even joke about such things. This is not a game, Michael, when you die; there is no resurrection or whatever.” Gillian said. “But I see where loss of clothes could be a problem if you were not in control.”

“Whatever. We need some real rest,” Blair said.

>>>>><<<<<

Michael, James and Richard seemed to sleep all day. It was nearly four in the afternoon before they got up. James did his thing and refreshed them, it was strange going from a little smelly to smelling good in ten seconds, but it was rather nice. They still didn’t have any clothes, so Michael provided what he usually saw other girls wear, but the magic shifted a bit for each girl.

James was without the coif for the first time. She was bald, but damn was she sexy. She wore a cream colored white embroidered tunic, a matching sleeveless embroidered overtunic, corded belt, slacks, a silver Ankh on a long silver chain, two sliver cuffs bracelets and tan Kung Fu style slippers. She wore very subtle makeup; to an unpracticed eye she wore none, except for a neutral lip color.

Richard was dressed in a pair of tight faded blue jeans, a long sleeved forest green silk blouse, long brown braided leather belt, leather vest, laced leather bracers and calf high, flat soled, fur trimmed boots, was still extremely voluptuous, but she still had a pair of knives in her boot tops. She said that she liked having them, so Michael managed to conceal them for her. She also wore a braided leather head band with a silver druid’s knot to help control her voluminous waist length auburn hair, two moonstone pierced earrings and a long bone bead necklace with an enameled gold acorn. Her makeup was bolder but in earth tones, even her lip color was a reddish brown.

Michael was the high school beauty queen image. She wore a flowing skirted, mid-thigh, pastel blue, fitted from the waist to the bust chiffon dress, which had long transparent sleeves, puffed up at the shoulders. The neck came down to a V between her ample bosom. Her legs glistened from honey-colored hosiery and her feet were perched pastel blue, skyscraper, high heel pumps. She was covered in gemstone jewelry, a mix of rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds on a tiara, earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets and a silver jeweled belt, from which the black bag hung. Michael’s makeup was subtle and bold. She was a neutral skin tone. The magic emphasized her eyes with eyeliner and mascara, but her eye shadow was subtle, light rose blush and true red lip color with a diamond glaze. She was one sexy vixen and way over the top.

They headed to the stairs and were surprised. The homestead seemed twice as large and there were many more women and even some girls their age, or rather the age they would have been before the magic and older. Michael, James and Richard looked seventeen or eighteen rather than their fourteen, fifteen years of age. They were finally seen as they had descended about half way down the stairs, everybody stopped what they were doing turned and stared at the girls.

“Oh my, still quite ostentatious, Michael.” Gillian said.

“I’m sorry, mom. I tried to cast more natural clothing and this is what I came up with.”

“How can you walk in those heels?” One of the teens asked.

“I hardly feel like I am touching the ground,” Michael said, as he jumped the last three steps of the stairs and gently landed on the floor.

Twenty five hearts nearly stopped between the time Michael jumped and landed. The skirt acted according to the laws of physic and floated up to her waist, showing off her sheer to the waist pantyhose and lace pastel blue thong.

“Don’t do that again, Michael. It’s not lady-like and you could break your neck. Not to mention take years off of our lives,” Gillian said. “You three need to eat and then we need to seriously talk.”

They sat down for a quick meal and then it was to the library. The library before might have had room for eight comfortably. Now it was as big as a meeting hall and all twenty nine were comfortably ensconced.

The boys were brought forward and each of them made to tell their story, from first till last. Even after repeating themselves countless times there was no deviation from the facts they presented. Several women tested them. All three had powers common to the assembled women. James and Richard showed more powers and Michael showed the most. The women then debated back and forth as if the three boys, now women weren’t there. Even the teens asked questions of their elders about the new girls.

“They aren’t old enough to teach. We don’t begin to teach our daughters till they are sixteen,” one woman said.

“Look at them, they’ve aged four years. Even their wisdom teeth have come in,” Blair said. “And our diviner’s have said that they are necessary.”

“What about their wild magic, can they control it?” Another asked.

“We should drain them of power.”

“They likely could drain us of power,” Blair said. “They have magic we can’t see or touch.”

“They need to learn to control what they have,” a woman who looked a lot like Blair, though a few years older. “We all know the portends. They have echoed our concerns, though they were never a part of our divinations. Their stories fit too well, what we know and feel. Lastly they are family, would you drain your own daughters? We have no choice, but to train them, not only about magic but on how to be women. That is where our teenage daughters come in.”

Enough was said about ‘if’ and things shifted to ‘how’. The first things they needed were new girl names as the prospects of their ever being males again looked to be nil for the time being. The three mothers consulted with their moms and after a few minutes they were given new names.

James or Séamus as he was correctly named became Seasaidh (Shay-see) McIntyre. Which was fitting for the priest like girl, Seasaidh means ‘God is Gracious’. Richard or Risteard became Rhiannon (rye-ann-nun) Brodie. Michael or Micheil became McKayla (mick-kay-la) Gallagher.

The older form of Blair approached them. She spoke a few words in Celtic, which the new girls recognized now. She stood in front of James and asked her name, “I am Seasaidh, but you may call me Jesse.” She stood in front of Richard, what is your name? “I am Rhiannon, but you may call me Riana.” She then stood in front of Michael, what is your name? “I am McKayla, but you may call me Mickey.”

She then said, “So mote it be,” and was echoed by the Sister’s.

“Mickey, I am your great-great Grandmother Sine (Shee-nuh) Gallagher. Welcome to the Sister’s,” Sine said as she hugged her grandchild.

Mickey knew it had to be the magic. Even by conservative estimates the woman had to be ninety, but she looked a few years over forty, “May I call you grandma? you don’t look a day over forty.”

“Yes, you may. I understand that these clothes could vanish. Is that right?”

“Yes ma’am, they are an illusion. Just a glamour.”

Sine looked at the women and then to the new girls, “Well that must be reconciled. Mothers measure your daughters for new clothes. Michael drop your glamours and illusions.”

The three girls stood in the tatters of their old clothes. The seams had ripped and the fabric had ruptures as they couldn’t fit the changes the girls had undergone. The girls were taller now and significantly larger in the bust and hips, but smaller at their waist. Even without the glamor they were gorgeous. The new girls were mobbed by the women who removed the tatters. Measuring tapes appeared out of thin air and the mother measured their daughters, while the sisters watched

Jesse was five foot seven inches tall; her measurements were 34C-26-38, and an estimated shoe size of an eight. Riana was five foot ten inches tall; her measurements were 38DD-28-40 and an estimated shoe size of a ten. Mickey was five foot nine inches tall; her measurements were 32D-25-36 with an estimated shoe size of an eight.

Some of the Sisters had the power to produce some basic clothes in the girls’ sizes, that weren’t illusions. As the girls put the clothes on, Mickey’s magic kicked in. Mickey worked very hard to tone things down her glamour, but it was Riana who supplied the key. Her magic allowed her to blend in, in a forest. She cast a camouflage spell that toned them down to near normal. Still what had started out as a dress on Jesse was in a blue silk Chinese tunic and pants set with matching slippers, Riana was in chocolate leather vest, pants, boots and a headband, Mickey was in a stylish green silk dress suitable for work and heels. At least they weren’t over the top now.

The mothers with two or three teens each then went out shopping. What started out as exciting for the teens soon became bewildering. Whatever the girls got for their new girl became more like what they were wearing. The colors and styles changed a bit, but in the fitting room Jessie wore tunics with pants, Riana wore pants, blouses and boots and Mickey wore different dresses and heels. So the disappointed mothers kept it simple and let the magic do its work. They each came out with ten days of clothes from the skin out. Makeup was one area they could work on, the girls found. So the mothers bought them complete makeup kits. Jesse found she could also wear wigs, although she didn’t like them.

When they got home, the teens began critiquing the girls’ performances. They thought guys were bad about nit picking; guys have nothing on a teenage girl when it comes to picking nits. The older women let the young girls have their time for a while. Mickey especially felt under the gun. She was without doubt a girly girl. She had much more to learn about being a girly girl. Riana and Jesse could play the tomboy card, but not Mickey. If she was going to wear the clothes of a girly girl, she had to walk the walk.

>>>>><<<<<

Everyone settled in for the night. Mickey, Jesse and Riana still stayed together. The Sisters worked some magic, and Michael, James and Richard, the boys, no longer lived in this area, they moved east, west and north to different parts of the country and Mickey, Jesse and Riana became real as the Sisters gave them a history and legend.

The routine for the next several weeks consisted of girl training and basic magic training. The boys gaming heritage made the girls fast studies on magic training. The girl training slowly began to sink in. As Mickey began getting more comfortable and more used to being a girl and a sorcerous, she gained more control over her glamour. She and her friends found that they could dress more normally, although they were most comfortable in clothes that fit their roles.

Jesse found that she was a healer in two magics and that she had a bit of divination. Riana had her druidic magic, an ability to null other people’s magic and to drain magic, a skill many Sisters shared. Mickey was the wild card. She was a powerful enchantress, she had nukes like no other sister and could manage and she power like no Sister could. She could null, drain and bind. These skills were just the tip of the iceberg she became.

One night, they sat down with their mothers, Blair, Sine, Kenzie McIntyre (Nansaidh’s mother) and Heather Brodie (Rosaline’s sister). They talked about what the Sisters did.

Sine stood and faced the new girls, “Our major duty is to stand in the breach. There are things that go bump in the night. We stand against these things. Here, we are the guardians that watched over the demon Jocquin. He is the strongest of the hundred. The Sisters stand against these hundred.”

Mickey was deep in thought, then asked, “How do you do your thing against these demons?”

“We drain them and then bind. Every year that we can, we renew the bindings on them.”

“I know that you can make fire, call storms and freeze things. Have you used these abilities on them? Can physical damage hurt them?”

“No we haven’t tried these things to the best of my knowledge. We do as we have been trained to do. We teach our daughters from age sixteen these critical skills.”

“How did the battle that bound Jocquin to this site go?”

“Jocquin came into our area full of hate a hundred thirty seven years ago. We met him with four hundred Sisters. We rushed him as a group and overwhelmed him after a protracted battle.”

“Losses?”

“We lost a hundred and eighteen Sisters,”

Mickey paled at the thought of such losses, “Oh my, that was a Pyrrhic Victory,”

“Very much so,” Sine said. “We were on the verge of total collapse before reinforcements arrived.”

“Shit, a total wipe?”

“Watch you language young lady, but yes.”

“Do you have two to three hours or so? I want to show you something?”

“I guess. If you feel it is pertinent. You three have already brought so much to the Sisterhood.”

“It could be crucial; I don’t want to lose any of you. Jesse and Riana, let’s get our laptops. Meet us in the living room, please.”

The three girls logged into the same game as their favorite characters. Mickey patched her video into the big screen TV and then made a few discreet calls to friends and formed a party. He explained to his team that he was training a new guy and wanted to show how, and how not to fight a boss mob.

One guy said he needed something from one mob and they agreed to take him down.

“Let’s show the noobs what they look like first,” Mickey said.

The team attacked the boss mob in a jumbled, chaotic fight, with everyone doing their own thing. It was a short fight and a wipe. They rezzed, healed and buffed up and Mickey began to bark orders and giving direction. The Mob they were fighting was usually considered a two team mob, but they were going to try him with just one very good team. They sent the tank in and supported him from a distance. When the tank had done significant damage, they went all out on him. It was a long fight, they came close to losing it twice, but they held things together and brought the boss down.

“Ya’ll up for a short raid?” Mickey typed

“Sure bro.”

Mickey sent a one word text to Kingslayer, “Raid?”

Ten seconds later Mickey received a reply. “You name it, I’ll tank it.”

Raids can take hours to fill, but when some super players call raid, they can fill a raid out in minutes. People drop what they are doing to get in on an epic raid with a super player. Kingslayer, a super player called for another super player to be a raid leader. With two super players the raid filled out with the cream of the crop. The Raid leader looked at the roster and set the teams. Mickey, Jesse and Riana were teamed with Kingslayer and another healer.

Mickey started recording on a DVD when the raid got under way. For the next three hours Mickey explained what they were doing as they did it. The women were surprised at the degree of coordination that was shown. During the final battle, Kingslayer got a bad hit and went down, but another tank, Bruhahaha filled in his place. The battle went on and just before the boss mob went dow,n Kingslayer was assisting Bruhahaha. Mickey actually supplied the killing nuke and turned that 30 foot tall boss mob into a seven foot tall heap. There was an Epic drop that Mickey actually needed and she was happy when she saw that she won it.

“We need to chill, but I want ya’ll to think about the mechanics, about how we did what we did. Not the spells and abilities we used.”

>>>>><<<<<

The Sisters actually had a big conclave to discuss some of the things Mickey had brought up. Many were hesitant at first, but not just of few of the younger Sisters were gamers too. Mickey, Jesse and Riana gave them a presentation on the way they battle online and their philosophy of battle. The elders separated themselves for a four day discussion.

Mickey met one of the historians, Edina Knowles, and got to look at her records. She was younger at twenty-two than many of the sisters and had actually converted much of the old records to digital media. Mickey was amazed to see so many soldiers, martial artists and such amongst the male lines.

“Why aren’t the men being utilized? It seems like there are not just a few of them who could be used.”

“For the most part our men are clueless. They father our children, but are kept out of the loop. Women live seven to eight times longer than our men. We generally leave them after twenty-five or thirty years. It would be too much to explain things.”

“There are some men in on this? Would it be possible to talk to some of them?”

“That would have to be approved.”

Mickey continued to scan names on the men’s list, when she ran across a familiar name. Eric MacAskill, was an unusual name, “It couldn’t be,” Mickey said to herself. She noted Eric’s mother/father and grandparents. Eric MacAskill’s mother was Dolina MacAskill. Eric was twenty two, he had four Martial arts listed, including Kendo, Wushu, Gracie Jujitsu and Escrima. Whoa, this is one bad dude, Mickey thought.

“Can I speak with Dolina MacAskill?”

“Sure you can talk with any Sister. Let me contact her.”

Mickey began to formulate an idea in her head and didn’t hear Edina till the woman shook her shoulder.

“Dolina will be here in five minutes,”

“She is here?”

“No she is porting in.”

Mickey went in full glamour mode for the first time in a while, as she thought about what she would say, she hadn’t really anticipated talking to the woman so soon.

A pretty woman who appeared to be in her late twenties came in the room. She smiled when she saw Mickey. “Hello I am Dolina MacAskill. Are you McKayla Gallagher.”

“Yes I am, please call me Mickey. You have a son named Eric right.”

“Yes I do,” Dolina said smiling brightly. “Would she be a good match Edina?”

Edina buried her head in her records for a few minutes and Mickey was confused. ‘Match’ Mickey thought.

“Ah yes she would, she would be an excellent mate for Eric, but you would need to consult with Sine. There is an asterisk by McKayla’s name.”

Dolina nearly jumped for joy, “Let me go talk to her,” she said as she whisked her way out of the room.

“What just happened, Edina?” Mickey asked.

“She is going to ask for a mating with you?” Edina said. She then blanched as she realized that Mickey didn’t understand. “Oh my, I made a mistake. Most girls when they ask to see the records are interested in a mate. Then I contact the mothers of the sons. She is going to ask Sine about a marriage.”

It was Mickey’s turn to blanch a bit. She knew she was a girl now, and that girls did things like that, but…

The room was suddenly filled with women. There was Dolina, Sine, Blair, Gillian, Nansaidh, Rosaline, Kenzie, Heather, Jesse, Riana and many other women that Mickey didn’t know yet.

“Did you broach a match, Mickey?” Sine asked with more than a little surprise in her voice.

“I am sorry, that is my fault,” Edina said. “I was so use to opening records for girls that were seeking mates that I didn’t think before I contacted Dolina.”

Sine almost broke out laughing and many of those there were giggling. “Still it is a good time to talk with the three of you about this.” Sine said, looking at Mickey, Jesse and Riana. “You three have brought some new skills that would help the sisterhood greatly. We would be much worse off without them. From what we have determined, you three could pass on the skills to your children. When Dolina came to me, Nansaidh scryed and saw that Eric would be a good match for you. We just couldn’t believe it. So we came here to ask you if you were certain. Why did you want to talk to Dolina?”

“Well I was going through the records to try to understand the Sisters better and I got an idea. Tell me, why don’t your men fight against your enemies?”

“Men don’t have our powers, and we outlive them by several hundred years. We just don’t tell them. When it comes time, we wipe their memories and give them a happy life and move on. It would be hard to tell them.”

“I think you are missing a huge resource in your fight. A high percentage of your men are warriors and fighters. From what I have seen, they are very good at it. Think about that. I also know Dolina’s son. I think. Dolina, is Eric a gamer on top of being a very capable martial artist?”

“Yes he is.”

“He has a character named Kingslayer. I know him.”

“I’m not sure.”

The women looked from Mickey to Dolina.

“Call him and tell him you met Chantrelle Fairslayer,” Mickey said.

Dolina looked to Sine, who just nodded.

Everyone could hear Eric’s exhilaration when his Mom told him she had met Mickey Gallagher, aka Chantrelle. When she explained that Mickey was really a girl about his age, he was really happy. He said that he just had to meet her.

“I will see if I can convince her to come home with me. Love you Eric.”

“Please do what you can. I love playing with her. She is great. Love you Mom.”

“Now would someone explain to me what is going on?” Dolina asked.

Blair, Sine and Gillian told Dolina about their girls and how they happened to be in this situation. Mickey, Jesse and Riana took their turns in weaving the tale.

“Your group knows the portends as well as our group.” Sine said. “Mickey and her friends have brought many new ideas to the Sisters; we can’t afford another battle like we had with Jocquin, as Mickey has already pointed out to us. I have seen a lot of wisdom in her words, we can’t do things the way we did in the past.”

Dolina then looked to Mickey, “Well, would you like to meet my Eric?”

Gillian thought about warning Mickey, but hesitated. It seems that among sisters, that when excellent matches are made, they tend to move with incredible momentum. The potential attraction between them could be incredible. Gillian blushed as remembered when she and Aedan fell in lust together in their teens. Yes they fell in a lust that grew into a tremendous love. He had passed ten years ago when he was sixty-two. She wanted to warn Mickey, but the need was great. She looked to Sine and Blair and just nodded.

“Stay with us tonight, Dolina, and tomorrow we will meet with Eric.”

“Can we go to?” An excited Jesse asked for her and Riana.

Rosaline and Nansaidh looked at each other and nodded too. These two women wouldn’t take another match from Dolina’s group, but they too would soon be seeking matches. They wouldn’t force a match, but they wouldn’t have too. All they had to do was just had to find a good to excellent match and make the introductions. Sooner or later nature would take its course, generally sooner.

>>>>><<<<<

They next day, the women met up at the Mosaic.

“Grandmother Sine, you have got to tell me what is buried beneath this mosaic. I still feel the presence of the entity that helped change me.”

“It is a silver Javelin. We were unsure of it, so we magically buried it.”

“Is it needed to make the mosaic work?”

“No our magic makes the mosaic work. All the mosaic is, is just a focus, so we know where we are going to.” Sine said.

“You girls go on,” Rosaline said, she wanted to make sure Mickey’s introduction went well, first. “Nansaidh and I will follow in a couple of minutes.”

Edina, Sine, Blair, Gillian, Dolina and Mickey linked hands and they were gone.

After they arrived, Gillian said, “Memorize this mosaic Mickey, so you may traverse here on your own.”

Mickey looked at the mosaic and it started to dance around in her mind and then crystalized into a link.

The women met some more women and talked a bit. Sine turned to Blair and said, “Ya’ll go on. I need to talk to some Sisters here.”

They packed into a car and Dolina drove them to her home. She had called Eric and told him that they were coming. She smiled as she noticed that Mickey was so pretty. They would make some great babies.

Mickey for her part was still in full glamour mode. She hadn’t been thinking about how she looked. Ten minutes later, they were at Dolina’s home. Inside Mickey a tension was building, she was so happy with the thought of meeting a super player in RL (Real Life).

Eric was almost coming out of his skin, to him; Mickey was one of the top super players. She would be the first super player he had actually met. Eric was waiting in the foyer of his home when his Mom drove up. He had spent an hour getting dressed up nicely. He wanted to make a good impression on Mickey. It was all he could do to not run out the door.

Dolina opened the door to find Mickey there. She gave her son a big hug. “Hello Eric, I see you dressed up nicely. Eric, this is Blair and Gillian Gallagher, Edina Knowles and lastly the person you have been waiting for, McKayla Gillian.

Mickey gave him a smile that could melt Adamantine. Eric rushed to pick her up in a hug, “Oh wow, you are so beautiful,” he said as he swung her around. “It is so good to meet you at last. You are one of my idols online.” They both felt something incredible as they hugged. Eric then greeted the other women.

Eric stood about six feet and was a mass of muscles bound in a wonderful looking body, Mickey thought. He had red hair, but not as red as hers, brilliant green eyes, a wonderful smile and some really cute freckles.

“Corrinthrall and Davina will be here shortly,” Mickey said.

“Wow. They are great too, but when you guys are together, you're awesome.”

Eric took Mickey’s hand and led her to the living room.

“I guess we will be moving to your area now,” Dolina said.

“Sine is working out the details now.” Gillian said. “We can expect a marriage in two months.”

“I am so happy; you have such a lovely daughter.”

Another car arrived and the rest of the women arrived. Jesse and Riana rushed over to them. “I’ll show the girls in,” Edina said. “You ladies have a lot to talk about.”

Eric hugged Jesse and Riana as they came in, but they hadn’t clicked with Eric as Mickey had. The kids sat around and talked about gaming. It was easy to see that Eric was acting possessive over Mickey. Jesse and Riana seemed to forget things and were giggling at seeing the two carrying on together.

“Who is that new kid, Bruhahaha? He did good.” Mickey asked.

“He is some guy named Alec Callaghan; I met him on another game. He’s a Michigan State football player, he says. He is good, but he is still learning.”

“Let’s look him up,” Jesse said.

Eric got on the Internet and looked up the Michigan State football team. They indeed had a player named Alec Callaghan. Edina was amazed to see that the kids had found another of the Sisters male linage, he had the look and the name was in the records.

“Oh, he is cute,” Riana said.

Mickey made a mental note to check him out.

“Do you go to college?” Mickey asked.

“Yeah I go to New Mexico State, but I hope to make a change this fall.”

“If you came to my neck of the woods, you could go to TX A&M.”

Dolina came into the room jumping for joy, “Eric guess what? I just got a great job offer. I will be working for Blair Gallagher. It will mean more pay, better hours and a nicer home.”

Mickey thought that that was awfully convenient, but her heart leapt at the thought.

“Oh the wiz Bangbangboy was asking about ya’ll. You three had disappeared for a couple of months.”

“Real life got in the way of gaming.” Mickey said.

Bangbang was another of those almost super gamers. It takes a lot of play time with good people teaching you to get to be that good. Mickey wondered how the original super players got to be that good.

In a matter of weeks Riana was paired off with Alec. Rosaline found a match for Jesse the old fashion way. She found Alasdair Hampson. Alec and Alasdair were both excellent matches, and even though the girls were now in the know, it made no difference, the urges they had were just too strong.

The three of them were pregnant within four months. Mickey found Bangbangboy, Fergus McLaughlain, to be a strange person. He also was of the male linage, but he was unhappy with his strong strapping body. He desperately wanted to be a woman.

Mickey warded herself on the mosaic, using her ward cubes. She then sat on down in the lotus position and tried to communicate with the entity.

“Hey there,” she thought. It was kinda corny, yes but she didn’t know what to call ‘IT’. She felt rather than heard the reply. “Yes,”

“There is another male, who wants to be made whole. Can you help him/her?”

“As long as they have what you had, and another.”

“Can you take from me and share?”

“It has to be like before.”

“I see. Are you the javelin?”

“No I am much deeper, but the javelin has power. You can use too.”

“Can you help me bring it up without disturbing the mosaic?”

“Yes.” The ground shook a bit and the javelin came up mostly above the ground.

Mickey took down her wards and walked over to the javelin. She pulled it out of the ground and hefted it. The javelin hummed in her hand. It was magical, but didn’t feel right to her. She wouldn’t use it. There was a boulder the size of a VW Beetle nearby. It was cheesy, she thought but she plunged the javelin into the boulder. The javelin sank a foot into the stone and released a wave of power that woke the household.

Sine came running out followed by Blair and some others.

Sine was shocked to see the javelin she had buried a hundred years ago. “The javelin, how did you get it?”

“The entity dug it up for me. I stuck it in that stone. We can use it.”

Sine walked over and tried to pull it out, but couldn’t. “How can we use it stuck in the stone?”

“Whoever can pull it out can use it.”

“Oh no, not a T. H. White reference,”

“Yes, but it is true. Pulling the javelin out won’t make anyone king, but it will identify who can use it.”

>>>>><<<<<

Alec saw the javelin in the rock when he was over with Riana. He chuckled at he walked over to it. On top of being a football player, he threw the discus, hammer and javelin. He chuckled and went over to it and pulled it out. He hadn’t been in on the secret, but after he pulled the javelin out, he stood there in full Spartan armor and shield, the Sisters talked over Mickey’s idea about using the men in their linage.

Sine, Blair and a dozen other magical archeologists dug through the things they had found. They used Mickey, Jesse and Riana to identify more items that could be useful.

Mickey poured through the linage records, she found Fergus and saw a strange notation by his name, “What does this symbol mean Edina?”

“That symbol carries the connotation of being faerie, not a good match. They are gay or something along those lines.”

“There seem to be ten or twenty marked that way.”

“Eighteen to be exact. They are good kids from what I hear, but they just aren’t interested in girls.”

“Let me see… Gavin Murray and also Sean McLean are also designated that way. Can you take me to see them?”

Mickey and Edina visited the two boys and Mickey felt the same kind of thing she felt with Fergus. She talked with the mothers and then the boys. They were shocked that a girl neither of them had seen before, yet seemed knew their deepest secrets, that they were gamers and that they weren’t happy as males.

It took a lot of convincing to get permission to approach the three boys with her proposal. She met with all three at the same time. She felt good as she entered the room where they were sitting.

“I know you don’t know each other, but I know more about you than you do about yourselves. You are all three alike. You are transsexuals that haven’t come to grips with it enough to do something about it. Am I right?”

She smiled warmly as none of the boys denied the fact. “What would you say if I told you that you could wake up tomorrow and be what you should have been from the start?”

“I would say you were crazy,” Fergus stated. “But I am game. What could you do?”

“I need all three of you to agree that this is what you want.”

“Okay,” Gavin and Sean said, as they agreed with Fergus. “But what can you do about it?”

>>>>><<<<<

Mickey was joined by Jesse and Riana. The boys Fergus, Gavin and Sean thought these girls were crazy, but what the hey, it was only time. Even though they weren’t into girls, they found these three girls captivating.

Mickey set her ward cubes and Jesse called upon the angels to witness and watch over them. The Sisters watched from inside the house as the ceremony went on.

Mickey then began, “These three brothers are forlorn and seek redemption from their woes, oh spirits. Open their eyes and let them taste life anew, give them the power to do good and live well. Fergus McLaughlin is it your desire to be made whole?”

“Yes it is.”

“Gavin Murray is it your desire to be made whole?”

“Yes it is,”

“Sean McLean is it your desire to be made whole?”

“Yes it is,”

Jesse moved to stand before them, “I ask the spirits to make these brothers whole.” Riana stood before them and spoke as Jesse had spoken and then Mickey repeated those same words.

“As it has been spoken, so mote it be.” Jesse said. “So mote it be,” replied Mickey and Riana. As the echo of their words died out, there was a clap of power. The three boys fell to the ground and began slowly change. The girls kept the wards up and sat by their new sisters. The mothers and other Sisters sat around the outside of the wards, keeping watch. After four hours Jesse and Riana began to minister power to the new girls.

Three lovely girls came too and were greeted by Mickey and her sisters and then by their Mothers and the Sisters. They were named Fergie, Sauna and Gavenia. They found that Sauna and Gavenia could channel energy like crazy, and Fergie had an awesome nuke, that left her all but drained.

Mickey sent word out to be on the lookout for males in the linage, who might rather live as women. Fifteen were found and converted. Many of them were excellent channelers.

Eighteen out of over a hundred groups of Sisters began to change how they prepared and trained their Sisters. Gaming was a bigger part for the young Sisters. Mickey, Jesse and Riana along with many male gamers taught them gamer strategies. Ninety men were brought into the secret and began training for battle, giving each of the eighteen groups five capable men. Many of the men were avid gamers and incorporated their tactics into their training.

Mickey and her sisters also got a taste on Halloween of how the Sisters renewed the bounds on Jocquin. Mickey had made some suggestions on how the binding might be made better and stronger, but they didn’t want to experiment with doing it on Jocquin. He was the mightiest of the demons. The binding did go smoother and faster though as the new Sisters on their own began to pump the Sisters doing the binding

Mickey did though run through a simulation of how they would battle Jocquin if he did escape his bindings. Eric would tank Jocquin with sword and shield, Alec would be secondary tank and would handle addons. The healers would only heal or shield Eric at first. Mickey would start nuking Jocquin after agro was established. The Sisters would hold back till Sine gave the word. They would begin draining after Mickey’s second nuke or if the demon’s attention was drawn to Mickey. Jesse and Riana would heal and shield Eric. Fergie would nuke from the opposite side. She had a really wicked first strike. It would nearly drain her, but there would be new Sisters there to pump her up. The Sisters’ healers would be throwing heals Eric’s way too. The Sisters would then begin chain draining. Mickey came up with this strategy. A chain of six Sisters would link, only the first Sister would be draining and be in range of retribution, the others would be channeling mana to her through first the chain. This strategy got the same power through but put fewer sisters at risk. The third Sister was a new Sister. Like Mickey, they could take mana from the environment and could channel ley lines like crazy.

Mickey had twins, a boy and a girl. The girl Erica was going to be strong like Jesse and Riana. The boy, Micah, surprised the Sisters. A check showed that not only would he be a good father, but he would have the power not of the Sisters, but like the power granted to the new Sisters.

Jesse had a son named Iain, who was like Micah, and Riana had a girl named Evanna who showed much promise. Edina was going crazy over who she would select as a mate for Iain and Michah. The other new girls were doing their part at getting mates and getting pregnant, months after their change.

Three years after Mickey’s and her sisters changes, the portends started coming to fact. A long forgotten minor Demon broke his bounds. He had escaped and bided his time. He managed to find two other minor demons and release them. They managed to disrupt the Sisters binding Shardquin, a major demon and affect his release. Shardquin was not one of those watched over by groups with new Sisters. The Sisters fought valiantly and rebound two minor demons, but the third was able to overcome the weakened Sisters and release Shardquin.

Shardquin killed the third demon and drank his power before heading to release his brother Fellquin. Word of this didn’t get out till the epic battle over Fellquin. Shardquin attacked the bindings, and not the Sisters first. The Sisters fought bravely, three Sisters were dispatched to send a warning out, two made it to safety and then went off separately to spread the word. One sister went directly to Jocquin’s cell. There were sixty four Sisters’ at Jocquin’s cell; they had just finished the bindings when they received word. Shardquin or Fellquin would not be able to break those alone, but together they might be able to.

Sine reacted, she divided the group in two. Fergie and Alec were in one group and Eric and Mickey were in another. Each group started issuing their own orders. A temporal rip formed and Shardquin and Fellquin stepped forth.

They were coming in together, which was bad. The two demons would be harder to defeat if they fought together. Two sisters charged in from opposite direction and blasted the demons and then ran. The demons separated and charged after the woman that hit them. The sisters were goners, they weren’t nearly shielded as well as they needed to be, but the two women got them separated enough to have two battles.

A heavily shielded and buffed Eric charged Fellquin with sword and shield, while Alec equally shielded and buffed attacked Shardquin and the battle was on. Never had so few Sisters stood up to two major demons, but the new strategies and magic seemed to be working. Other sisters started showing up and Sine divided them as she felt they were needed. Many of the new arrivals were of the eighteen groups that were retraining and fell right in with the plan. Fergie let loose with her nuke and within three minutes Shardquin was down. Fifteen sisters began the process of binding while the rest ran to the attack on Fellquin. Alec had just gotten to Fellquin when Eric went down; he seamlessly began to press his attacks. Mickey’s heart was filled with grief, but she continued her assaults with nukes. Riana became an angry eighteen foot she-bear and charged in. Jesse and Mickey rushed to get her shielded and buffed.

More Sisters arrived and pressed in attack. It was enough. Fellquin weakened and tried to fall back, but the envelope had already closed in around him. Fergie applied the coup de grá¢ce and knocked him down powerless. The Sisters started the binding process, but were stopped. Mickey came up barking orders. Five new Sisters began pumping her. She called for Alec to plunge his javelin into Fellquin and get the hell out of the way. Everyone backed off as Mickey started pumping power into the javelin like it was a lightning rod. This went on for a couple of minutes and she shot the power of a nuke into the javelin. What had been left of Fellquin shattered and the combined Sisters could no longer detect him. Alec was surprised to find that his javelin still existed. The Sisters had done something they had never done before. They had obliterated a Major Demon.

They repeated the process on Shardquin, with the same results. Then they took the toll. There were two hundred twelve sisters there as Fellquin fell. They had lost three new Sisters, four men and twenty five Sisters. Eric was gone, Alec comforted Riana. Gillian led a distraught Mickey away. A sad Jesse ministered to a prostrate Mickey and pronounced her pregnant with twins again.

Sine and the elders began to assess the battle, never had two hundred sisters bound two major demons. Fewer than a hundred had initially engaged them. There were a hundred and six when Shardquin fell and two hundred twenty when Fellquin went down. Previously it took over three hundred to stop either of them with major losses, far more than they had lost today. On top of that, Shardquin and Fellquin no longer existed.

There were many changes after the battles in the way the Sisters were trained. There were some that didn’t accept the new ways, but most did. The number of new Sisters grew to over two hundred, under Jesse, Riana and Mickey. Almost a thousand men joined the ranks. Alec became their task master.

It was only after the birth of her second set of twins, that Mickey could smile again. Dolina and Gillian were the prettiest little things; Mickey couldn’t frown when holding her babies. She started living again. She was ok with the other Sisters taking her ideas, expanding on them and running with them. A big part of her had died that dreadful day. She liked finding the new Sisters and working with them.

She found a new mate, Gordon O’Connell and two more sets of twins, two boys and a mixed set. When Gordon passed at seventy-two, she started hunting artifacts with Blair. She had become something of a Legend, but she just wanted to fade into the background.

The End