If someone told me yesterday, no, mere few hours ago – that later this day I would die, and that two divine beings would fight over my soul… and that I would choose the bizarre, strange deity to follow instead of continuing the path of faith I was raised in, I would call him a madman.

Yet, here I was standing in front of a god, who with his weird eyes and hair looked more like a jester than a divine being. A jester, with whom I made a pact with. A pact, which details I didn’t know.

I shook his hand as I was overwhelmed with anger, frustration, and helplessness. Deep, at the bottom of my heart, I knew that he did that on purpose. That he struck when my mind was shaken and Mortis unprepared. Yet, even though I managed to calm down, I didn’t regret anything, as flames of sadness and desire of vengeance kept on burning within my guts I knew, that if I was given a second chance, I would most likely pick the same.

- “So… how do we do it? Do I have to pray to you? Do I pay a tithe tax to your temples?”

I asked trying to taste the waters.

- “I have no temples. To me, the holy ground is the place on which my believers put their feet. You don’t have to pray, yet nothing stops you from doing so. You worship me with actions. The more you achieve with your second chance, the stronger I would get. Any more questions?”

He spoke so calmly as if he was discussing the most earthly matters with his best friends at a bar, with a beer in hand. He had little to none pressure of the divine and because of that, it was hard to treat him as such.

- “Why did you help me? What is your goal? What do you want from me?”

- “That’s a looot of questions, and even though I have time, I doubt that you have it as well, so allow me to make my response as short as possible. Why did I help you? Because you met my criteria – or, speaking in yet more simple way, I found you interesting, worthy of my help. What is my goal? I can’t tell too much because, you know, restrictions of the game. Let me just tell you that I have a bit different approach to this whole divine matter…”

He wanted to take another gulp from his traveling flask, yet he noticed it was empty. In the next second, he just snapped his fingers, and much to my surprise I noticed, that this single gesture re-filled his bottle.

Well, that was one way to use your godly powers.

- “…. Your current goddesses want you to serve them. Even if their intentions are pure and want to lead you into prosperity, they want to be the one showing directions. They bless you. They send down their heroes. They are giving to you sacred items and sending down rains during droughts. But, they are doing it for a prince. You need to obey. I don’t want it. I want to help you reach your true potential. I want to guide you, but not to rule over you. This is why I am picky when it comes to my followers. This is why some of my deals might be considered tricky, or even evil. I am not granting wishes. I am not handing gold and power to everyone that begs for it, only when you are willing to do so with your own, bloody hands – I will aid you…”

- “But also for a price.” I noticed

- “Obviously! I am not doing charity here! You need to be aware of the price that you will pay, otherwise… you become spoiled. Comfort brings weakness to the spirit. You need to either give something back or do something for me… which leads us to your last question.”

- “What do you want from me?” I asked that one more time.

And then he smiled, but not in a friendly way. For a second, I could have sworn that his face became somewhat like the head of a wolf. His lips “elongated”, reaching almost his very ears as he showed me all of his teeth (few rows of needle-like viper fangs) in a smile full of domination and delight. Like a predator that has his prey cornered.

- “I just love your type – the one that signs the deal without asking for all the details. But fret not. Every once in a while I will just ask you to do me a small favor. For example, you will chase after those who are refusing to meet their end of bargain or… no, I will keep the last part to myself. More fun this way.”

- “Why? If the bargains are not met, can’t you just hunt them down on your own?”

- “Not everyone is as foolish… pardon me, as trusting, like yourself. Sometimes, our agreements are far more detailed leaving me with very few possibilities of executing my rights. For example, do you know a story about Faust and Mephisto?”

- “No.”

- “Of course you don’t, it’s not the story from this world. A devil Mephisto made a contract with a mortal named Faust. Faust was given almost god-like power to fix his world, make it better. Their battle was supposed to last till either Faust would manage to make the world a paradise, or till he would give up, saying the specific phrase - his life was prolonged as well, so he couldn't die. So, as long as the other side is still actively trying to do what they promised I can't do anything - until some specific conditions wouldn’t be met, my hands are tied. And thus, some people are abusing their new chance for evil, evil deeds.”

- “Wouldn’t that make you evil as well?”

- “Me? I am just giving them what they want! And whenever they don’t truly know what they want, or how they are using their new opportunities - I have nothing to do with them! You can only blame human’s rotten nature for that. Do you accuse blacksmith of a crime that was committed with a blade he forged, yet was used by someone else?”

- “If you give a dagger to a person who suffers, you are sure to know that he will use it to ends someone’s life! Either his own or the one who he finds responsible for his misery!...”

- “And then I will sit in the first row and enjoy the spectacle.” He disturbed me quickly “… you are young. You haven’t seen what I have seen. Also, you are free to do what you want. If you need to know, our deal was very… specific. You are free to act on your own. You are free to ignore all of my demands and you will not be punished for it. You are free to judge reality with your own measurements and then act according to your will.” That caught me off guard.

- “Why would you make a deal favoring the other side?”

- “Because I know that when the time would come, you would do as I would say. Just as I knew that you would make this deal with me. Because you can’t stand injustice. Because you have just learned that might and power in hands of corrupted brings nothing but ruin. Because you will want to forge a new, better world, for your love to live in. Because even though you, for now, don’t fully agree with my methods, we still share the same goal… And because each time you would fulfill my quest I would reward you…” he made a small pause “… any more questions? Or can I explain to you your new form?”

The cacophony of vocalized feelings was storming within my mind. On the one hand, I felt used. Played like a fool. That even though he named other goddesses evil, he could be no better at all. On the other hand, not even once he actually threatened me, instead, he tried his best to make me understand his somewhat wicked way of thinking. And yet other voices were screaming, telling me to rush to the village, to check on Liz; or to chase after the last hunter – the one who pierced my liver, or after Michael Diederik – the culprit behind all of this.

- “Please… continue.” I responded with a surprisingly weak voice.

- “Perfectly!” he clapped his hands “… First thing first, there is something we call I will give you access shortly, but, what you need to know is that it’s fairly similar to the appraising stones with are located in every bigger city, do you know how they work, right?”

- “Yes. After putting your hands on it, they are summarizing all the data about you and visualize them as text, hovering in the air. Adventurers, army, mages, and city guards are using them for identification purposes, as well as to measure one’s power.”

- “Indeed. These stones are System interfaces, with their help everyone can have limited access to the System! But, mine is far more detailed! It will give you access to so many more features! The first thing you need to know, is that you can check the race of every being and object that you encounter. Now, try saying ! Ah, don’t be surprised, you should no longer be marked as a human!”

I was full of skepticism, yet I did as he told me, whispering the word under my nose. Much to my surprise, a blue box appeared in front of me.

- “Now, say what is written in aloud!”

- “Name, Asterouse; Race Walking, Corpse, the Undead…”

- “Yes, yes, the Wendigo is… SAY WHAT?!” At first, he was standing with such a relaxed expression, that when he jumped on me I thought he had some ill intentions and I raised my hands protecting my face, yet all he did was grabbing me by the shoulder and shaking vigorously demanding answers.

- “You told me to read it out to you!”

- “You should be a Wendigo! You should start out slowly, barely getting used to new sensations! Because, you feel them, right? New sensations? Your senses getting sharper! You skin getting all tingly!”

- “Q-quite the opposite. It’s getting heavy and dull as if instead of the body I was wearing some suffocating costume…”

- “HOW!? My affinities are those of nature and fire! How could you become a corpse? Of the lowest quality atop of tha…" he became quiet for a moment, just to curse loudly "...Mortis. That fucking whore.”

I remained silent, not being able to fully understand the situation that I currently found myself in, but guessing by his expression, that couldn’t be anything good.

- “Aster… I think that things just got slightly more complicated.”

- “So, turning me into walking corpse wasn’t part of your plan?”

- “No. Even more, I marked you as my champion… I wanted to turn you into a creature resembling a human as much as possible. Wendigo is one of them. A predator. Wolf in sheep clothing. After you would achieve your vengeance, who knows, maybe you would be able to live a happy life, somewhere far away…”

He really wanted to release me once we would be done? As far as I know, gods never really let you just walk away with the powers they gave you, even if you completed the quest you were given. Hero Rhonak was a perfect example. After a great war, he wanted to leave the army, to travel the world far and wide, but, the Lady of Light made him forever protect the passage leading to the Land of the Damnned.

- “But now, I will have to change my plans… do you have a needle and thread? I thought that the wound on your stomach is going to heal itself, but apparently you will have to shut it manually, that is unless you want to show your intestine to everyone around.”

He started walking in circles before finally stopping and facing me.

- “I need to go now, to prepare a thing or two. Someone else turned the wheel of fate, and as its keeper, I don’t like it at all. Try getting comfortable with your new form. Abuse the System. If something would prove to be a bit too difficult, try on that element. I will be back in an hour or two…”

- “Wait! What do you mean…” I tried stopping him, even stretching my hand toward him, yet his body shattered into a flock of birds that flew different directions.

Great.

Here I was, in the middle of the forest, in front of Rockpaw’s den, not knowing what to do from now on. Getting back to the village was out of the question – if they would see me in my current condition, with skin already turning paler and paler and with an opened wound from which this weird, purple substance was oozing out, I would be killed on the spot before I would even be able to open my mouth.

Think Aster. Think. What is going to happen now? What will your enemy do?

Ha! That’s more than obvious. First, they would return to the village and tell everyone that I was killed by a bear. Then, later, they would come here with someone from the village to check it – to show them what was left from my body. In the end, they wanted to

… no.no.no. Not necessarily. They will be waiting for these three hunters to come first, if they wouldn’t return, they would become suspicious… Would they think that they deserted off their duty? I doubt it, they had no reason too. Also, they were still waiting to share money from selling my ring between them. If they were paid upfront, that would be far more likely to happen…

FUCK! This whole “planning” is not as easy as I thought it would be!

I tried calming my still blazing rage with the teaching of hunters.

- “You see, Aster…” they told me long ago “…the best trait of a good hunter is patience. Predators might have claws, or fangs, or stinger with venom, but they are all useless if you don’t know when to strike. So, if you have a spot, in which you know that your target would appear, take a good ambush spot and wait. Remember this, being haste-full makes your moves chaotic, and in chaos, mistakes are bound to happen. Stay low and prepare. Be like a spider.”

Spider, huh?

Let’s face it. I barely managed to kill three hunters, which I caught off guard, and one of which gave up from the start. Michael will be protected by his personal guards, not to mention that I heard that he is quite a skilled duelist as well. They were armored while all I had were few daggers, bows and arrows. Definitely not enough to execute my vengeance.

First thing first. Zariel told me to “get familiar” with my new life.

- “Status…” I said again, re-summoning a blue panel which hovered in thin air.

It indeed was quite informative, and as Ol’ Margret used to say – you can’t have too much information…

… well, she said actually said wisdom, but I truly believe that in this particular situation, she would agree with me.

Name: Asteruse Race: Walking Corpse [Lower Undead] [Self-aware Variant] Level: 1 [75%] Attributes: STR: 30

VIT: 27

END:∞

RFX: 5

DEX: 5

INT: 14

WIS: 9

SPI: 3 [Walking Corpse]

Lowest rank undead, usually reanimated by a novice necromancer. Because of the damaged neural system, they can fully abuse the power of their muscles without fear of permanently damaging their body. Usually mindless, controlled by most primitive desires, they chase after every living being to feast on its vital essence.

Even though they posses little threat to skilled fighter due to their low mobility, they can form into hordes and overwhelm with a sheer number.

Racial Traits:

- Enchanted Physical Attributes [STR, VIT]

- Lowered Agility [DEX, RFX]

- Endless Endurance [END] - this creature is restless and possess limitless stamina

- Lowered damage from [Earth], [Dark], [Chaos], [Piercing] sources

- Increased damaged from [Fire], [Holy], sources

Undead

A creature which refused to cross the mist of the netherworlds; was born as such, or was forcefully dragged through the veil of reality.

Undeads usually hate all the livings, craving for the life they were deprived in form of flesh, blood, emotions, or essence. Existing in many forms and shapes they usually dwell in dark caves, dungeons, and crypts, hiding from the sun.

Undeads have been classified into three major houses: Skeleton-kin, Walking Corpse-kin, and Ghost-kin; each of them having bit different strengths and weaknesses.

Racial Traits:

- Vitality [VIT] - has been modified and serves other purposes.

- Essence Hungry - lower rank undead in order to preserve their existence in certain environments [like under the [Sun]] will have to feed on the life itself. By consuming [The Living] they gain a huge boost in their Level development; being unable to feast in [Harsh Enviroment] will keep on decreasing their VIT.

- Nocturnal - all [Undead]s gain attributes boost in the dark areas.

Titles:

[Blessed with the name] - the one who holds the ancient name is favored by Gods. This person is sure to have a great future. Title status - [Corrupted]

[Prodigy] - the tempo of gathering EXP is increased by 25%; Tempo of [leveling up] skills of [Begginer Rank] increased by 100%; Tempo of [leveling up] skills [Aprentice Rank] increased by 75%; Tempo of [leveling up] skills of [Regular Rank] increased by 50%; Tempo of [leveling up] skills of [Expert Rank] increased by 25%; After achieving [Master Rank] an [???] would occur.

[Hardworking] - "Even talent has its limits, only with backbreaking training you are truly assured to reach a new high" - Tempo of [leveling up] skills increased by 25%

[Kind-hearted] - ???

[Champion of the Beast] - ???

Skills: [Sword Usage - Apprentice level 3]

[Bow Usage - Apprentice level 1]

[Nature Magic - Novice - level 1] - Change of race. Affinity reduced. Skill blocked

[Mana Sense - Low - Passive]

[Life Sense - Low - Passive]

Fire source? Holy source? Does it refer to magic? No, not only magic, if I would walk through the fireplace my chances of turning into a walking torch would probably increase as well.

The red marked text also can't be an omen of anything good, especially the one with Vitality... If I understand correctly, as long as I stay in the Sunlight, I will need to kill and feast... I just hope that for now, rabbits would be enough. All over the forest, our hunters set up the traps, and as the forest was full of animals, most of them were usually full of prey.

I exhaled loudly.

Levels. They were used to measure the power of soldiers and mages. The higher one meant that someone was faster, stronger, or smarter. If I want to get that bastard Michael, I will need to get stronger. In the end, what are the chances of level 1 corpse winning against the group of skilled warriors?

Exactly.

But first, we need to erase the traces of what happened here... maybe, I could rearrange scenery? Make it look as if there was yet another monster here that killed hunters? Hah! The game of lies and deceptions can be play by many, Michael.

Soon, I will come for you... soon.