As I cut off the mental connection, I felt that something had changed. A small meter appeared in my field of view and filled up slightly with a bright yellowish-white color.

“Hey Auto, what’s this little bar?”

“That is your Holy Power.“

“Oooh, cool! What can I do with it?”

“At your current level of power, you may grant knowledge through your Tether and you may perform a ‘lesser miracle’ once every 8.16 days. As you increase in power, you will eventually be able to expend it to perform ‘greater miracles’. Certain individuals who devote themselves to your ideals can become Monks, Clerics or Paladins who gain their powers from you. If you, yourself, gain enough power, that is to say, if you gain enough followers then you will eventually even be able to manifest yourself into the world for short periods of time… though this is a very draining endeavor, so you will not be able to do it often.”

“So basically, I can talk to people through my Tether, I can occasionally affect the world directly, I can make monsters into classes that are normally restricted to non-monsters and later I can become a big badass avatar that wrecks faces?”

“Affirmative.”

“Awesome!”

“Additionally, Overseer’s can grant special abilities or bonuses to their followers called ‘perks’.”

“How do I do that?”

“When you reach one hundred followers, you will unlock your first perk. You may unlock additional perks at increasingly higher numbers of followers.”

“I want it! I want all of it!”

The powers Auto was describing sounded pretty sweet! I can already imagine myself as a giant, flaming behemoth walking through armies and swinging a big sword!

“Where do I start…” I mumbled to myself. As cool that all sounded, I only had one follower and...

“Shoot, I forgot to ask for her name!”

“My recommendation is that you have your Tether register you at the nearest Temple.”

“Huh? Register me?”

“If an Overseer desires to build a group of followers, they must register their religion in a Temple. People who join your religion won’t officially count as followers unless they declare it in a Temple.”

“Huh, that’s a dumb rule. Where’s the nearest Temple?”

“In Cairel, a human city.”

“Uhhh… I don’t know the norms of this world. Is it okay for a vampire to go to a human city?”

“If it were the city of any other race, it would be more than acceptable. However, in this world, humans, in particular, are not accepting of other species. Overseers will hesitate to choose monsters as their Tether because monsters will not be allowed to enter into human Temples.”

“Well damn, that does sound like typical humans. Ah well.”

“You seem rather unconcerned about this.”

“We’ll deal with it when we get there. All we can do at this point is wait and see what happens, right?”

“Affirmative.”

I sighed. Seems like there’s a long road ahead of us. But this world already seems like a dream. Earth was a mess when I left it, what with all the reformers and terrorists attacking. It’s nice to stop fighting and killing, even if it’s just for a few days. But still… Cassie, Dexter...

As I thought of those I left behind, I felt a phantom pang in my chest where my heart should be. I looked down at my incorporeal body, still holding a vaguely human shape. I tried to move an arm, but I couldn’t. The body was a lie… probably conjured by my mind. I’m not human… not anymore.

I shook my head to clear my mind of those thoughts.

“Alright! Let’s go check on our little friend, shall we?”

***

Raymond had been walking down the mountain path for a long time. Longer than she’d been aware on the mountain before leaving anyways, so although it had only been less than half an hour, the time was really starting to drag for her. The walls in the distance didn’t even seem to be getting that much closer.

“Bah! Why am I so far away from anything?! There’s nothing out here…”

The mountains were indeed almost bare of life. The occasional patch of snow dotted the rocky slopes but there was very little green and even less movement to be seen. She crested another hill and looked down at the winding path ahead of her. The new slope had a few trees, but other than that the endless path looked the same.

“Where’s that voice in my head. I’d rather talk to it than feel like I’m talking to myself.” she grumbled.

“You called?”

Raymond flinched, missing her step and almost slipping off the path.

“Wha~!” she exclaimed as she pinwheeled her arms, trying to regain balance.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to surprise you.”

“Who are you?!” Raymond shouted, somewhat annoyed as she started walking down the path again.

“That is a good question. I can’t actually remember the name I used before… something seems to be interfering with my memories just a little bit. For now, I am simply an Overseer.”

“A what?”

“Ah… one sec. Hey Auto! I thought everybody in this world would know about Overseers… ah.. ahhh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense.”

Raymond shook her head slightly. Was the voice in her head talking to another person? Already?

“So… ah… what’s your name?”

“Raymond. Evelyn Raymond.”

“You go by your last name?”

“It just feels right. My guess is that the previous me went by her first name. I’m not her, I’m me. For now, I’ll use the second name.”

“Sure, sure. You do you. Anyways, Raymond, I have a job for you.”

“Yeah?”

“You see that human city in the distance? That one with the big walls?”

“Yup.”

“I need you to go there, get into the Temple somehow and register me as a new Overseer.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re my Tether. Our powers are linked and the stronger I get, the more I’ll be able to help you.”

Raymond shrugged. “I’m headed that way already, so I can probably stop by the Temple. Do I get anything out of it?”

“Uhh… how about knowledge?”

“About what?”

“About you from before the ritual.”

Raymond skid to a stop, a look of shock crossing her face.

“You know about that?”

“I know someone who knows about that. If I get more power, I can grant knowledge in the form of a lesser miracle.”

“Alright. I’ll do it. I’ll register you at the Temple.”

“Sweet! You’re the best! Also, be careful. Apparently, humans don’t like vampires…”

“I’m not a vampire.”

“What?”

“I’m a True Vampire. I’m not sure why, but something inside of me twists at the idea of being compared to a mere ‘vampire’.”

“True Vampire… alright then, whatever you say.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah… one last thing.”

“Oh?”

“There’s something really, really big flying straight at you.”

“What?!” Raymond shouted. She looked up, seeing the dark shape moving through the sky.

“What is that?!”

“Ah... sor.. forgot… give knowledge… power…”

The voice cut off.

Raymond checked her surroundings again. Anxiously, she shifted her bag and tapped the side of her head.

“Hey…” she whispered nervously, “Where did you go?”

But there was no response.

Raymond increased her pace, practically running down the path. The shadows seemed to shift as the dark shape followed her. She glanced back fearfully at the shape, unable to make out details against the moonlight. She willed herself to move even faster and then she was flying down the hill. The wind pressed against her face, blowing her hair back and causing her eyes to sting but she pressed on.

A heavy force slammed into her from behind, throwing her tumbling down the hill. She rolled to a stop, several cuts on her hands and knuckles. She lay still for a moment, groaning. She slowly rose to her feet as the shadow turned in the sky, preparing to come in for a second strike. As it approached, she got a good look and a small window appeared:

Lesser Roc - Level 15

Raymond looked around, reaching for anything she could use to defend herself. She reached into the bag she’d taken from the bow user. Her hands grabbed onto something sleek and she pulled it out. It was a rope.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” she shouted.

The Lesser Roc dived and Raymond grabbed the rope with two hands, pulling it tight. It stretched and extended, glowing slightly, one end wrapping around her right wrist. As the Roc approached, the other end of the rope leaped out of her left hand and latched onto the Roc’s wing, cutting its dive short as it slammed into the ground. The Roc, silent up until this point, emitted an angry screech. It slashed out with it a claw, the strike bouncing off of the rope. Raymond backed away from the thrashing creature, turning to run away. She pulled at the rope on her wrist but it refused to budge.

As she stared at it, another small blue window appeared.

Magic Rope - 3 charges, Binds on Use

Effect: Binds target for up to forty seconds.

Well, that was just perfect. She was stuck to a bird fourteen levels higher than her. She turned back to face the bird once more, a tinge of fear running through her chest. The bird, as if sensing her gaze, stopped struggling and looked at her. She met it’s glowing, intelligent red eyes and shivered, feeling an almost oppressive aura from the scary creature. It started shuffling towards her.

Raymond stumbled backward, almost tripping on the rocky ground as she tried to get away. With a furious shriek, the Roc jumped, the rope simultaneously releasing as it exceeded it’s forty second time limit. Raymond screamed as she felt the claws latch into her shoulder and neck, a heavy pain causing her to black out for a moment while her body went limp.

Her mind refocused several seconds later. She panicked as she saw the ground rapidly moving away. She felt a numb pressure in her neck, but the pain was gone… along with all feeling and sensation below her neck.

Raymond tried to scream again, choking as her lungs failed to respond properly and her mouth filled with blood. It didn’t matter though because, as the Roc carried her away into the night, there was nobody to hear her. Nobody except the voice in her head… and he didn’t answer.

A tear ran down her cheek, mixing with the drool of blood spilling out of her mouth. In the darkest hour of the night, pain abandoned her to numbness and fear was her only companion. Raymond cried as her vision faded, yearning for the darkness to free her.

And then she was gone.