Mornings. The best or worst time of day, depending on who you talk to and when you talk to them. A fresh sun rising over the distant rim of the world bringing it’s warm rays to fill the chilly air and reflect off the fresh morning dew. Mornings are the beginning. They are preparatory for the day and a ‘good’ morning all too often means a ‘good’ day will follow - thus the common salutation ‘good morning’ is expressive of one’s hope and desires that another will have a ‘good’ day.

So what does a ‘bad’ morning mean? Reason says it would simply be the opposite of a ‘good’ morning, but such a simple phrase just doesn’t seem to capture the inconvenience of the situation Raymond found herself in when she woke up.

In fact, Raymond felt like she was experiencing the true definition of a ‘bad’ morning. She awoke to a rough, scratchy something pressing against her nose. The rest of her body felt a little dull and stiff, but functional. Memories of the previous night came flooding back and she sat up, reaching for the injury that would surely be on her neck.

Her searching hands met with smooth, soft skin, as if there had never been anything there in the first place.

However, as she looked around at her surroundings she knew that it couldn’t have been a dream. She was lying in a huge nest surrounded by large eggs and even larger, resting birds. Next to the small mountain of eggs half as tall as she was, Raymond saw the Lesser Roc. It was still asleep. She observed it for a moment, her eyes lingering on the sharp claws. She shuddered, pushing the painful memory out of her mind. Now was not the time to reflect. She needed to act.

Ever so slowly, so as not to wake the birds, she pushed herself to her feet, wobbling slightly. She reasoned that the strange pressure and control difficulties were likely due to the injury she’d received, but she remembered having lost all control and sensation so she was grateful to be able to move at all, though she wasn’t sure why she had recovered so quickly.

As she balanced carefully on the matted nest, she shuffled forward while keeping her eye on the big Lesser Roc. Suddenly, as if sensing the motion, it’s red eyes shot open and glared at Raymond. She froze, unsure of what to do as the Roc shrieked angrily. It quickly rose to its feet, carefully avoiding the large mound of eggs.

Raymond heard smaller, more shrill cries and noted that the young rocs had awoken at the cry of their mother. She turned, looking for a way to escape. She ran over to the edge of the nest and looked out. She had only a moment to process the view, but it was disheartening, to say the least. She was very high up in a tree.

The view was beautiful, but she didn’t have time to appreciate it because a claw latched onto her back and dragged her back into the nest. She found herself pinned as the Lesser Roc looked down at her with a strange look in its eyes. She had only to think for half a moment before her mind supplied the necessary information.

The big bird was hungry.

It opened its beak and Raymond noticed for the first time that it’s edges were serrated. Lining the inside of the beak were small, sharp protrusions that looked similar to teeth. It’s long, barbed tongue snaked out of its mouth briefly as the bird leaned towards Raymond’s left arm.

Raymond felt a tinge of fear, but her emotions were so overwhelmed that they just couldn’t catch up in time.

Which was just as well, because terror could do nothing to help her in this situation.

She shuddered as the bird of prey latched onto her arm and bit, whimpering as pain filled her. She tried to pull away, but she was stuck. The Roc whipped it’s neck and her arm was gone, blood spilling into the nest as the bird chomped away on it’s breakfast.

Raymond, for her part, had gone into shock. Her face was white, her eyes wide and her mouth open in a soundless scream. Ever so slowly, her brain processed that it was missing input and then the sharp agony rolled through her body.

She screamed. It was a blood curdling scream that pierced the ears of the Roc and it grimaced in discomfort as it softened the food in it’s mouth. It stomped down on Raymond, trying to make the sound stop but she only cried louder. In a moment of inspiration, the bird reached down and slashed the girl’s neck with a deft swipe of it’s claws, causing the sound to abruptly end and be replaced by a soft gurgling sound.

Raymond felt herself losing consciousness again. Through her fading vision, she saw the Lesser Roc lean over and regurgitate the remains of her arm into the mouths of it’s waiting children.

Being the first morning Raymond had ever experienced, she didn’t have a solid grasp on what a ‘good’ morning should be. However, it wasn’t a very difficult conjecture to say that this was a ‘bad’ morning.

Raymond felt something sharp cut into her leg and then the darkness took her once again.

***

I had seen many horrible things in my past life. Earth was war torn when I had died, covered in rebels and terrorists fighting for their ‘unification’. In my short, twenty years I had seen armies fall and nations disintegrate. I had seen humans at their worst - uncaring, violent, cruel. Sure, there had been the odd good person in the mix but they were wholly too rare and incapable of fighting back the death, starvation, oppression and despair that had filled the world.

My experiences walking through battlefields and starving cities had prepared me to see unpleasant things… but the sight before me was still unsettling. Raymond... my Tether… my cute little vampire girl was being eaten alive by a mother bird. The bird frequently paused in it’s tearing at her body to regurgitate the food into the beaks of its babies.

I wanted to look away but we were connected on a spiritual level and I could feel the faintest sense of pain and loneliness from Raymond. I knew that there was no way I could ever leave her in a situation like this.

I’d been feeling pretty bad that I hadn’t noticed the bird earlier. Various ‘what if’ scenarios ran through my mind but I dismissed them almost as quickly as they showed up. I was a soldier - I had learned a long time ago that dwelling on ‘what ifs’ is only a downward spiral towards depression.

Unfortunately, my current state doesn’t allow me to do more than watch. Just before Raymond had awoken, I regained enough Holy Power to be able to reopen communications but she had been quickly subdued before we had the chance to speak again.

“Hey Auto,” I started, “Her spine was severed yesterday, right? How was she able to recover so completely?” I knew that recovering from such an injury in general, yet alone in just a few hours would be considered nothing short of a miracle on Earth.

“It is very intriguing. I lacked the necessary data myself so I used my access code to view her status. Your Tether has some very unique traits.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“The trait that aids her recovery is Immortal Body, though it seems to be a modified version. Basically, her health points cannot be reduced to zero and any injury she sustains will recover with her health regeneration. The data indicates she may even regrow lost limbs.”

Wow. That was actually a pretty incredible trait. Basically, I made the best choice in the long run for my Tether… because nobody can kill her!

That being said, not being able to die would be more of a curse than a mercy in her current situation. With death, she would have already escaped the torment.

The bird finished consuming her final limb and moved on to dissecting her torso. My connection to her was still very in place, so I knew that what Auto had said was likely correct. Even this won’t kill Raymond, though I wonder what she’ll regrow out of if it eats her entirely.

As it stood though, there was nothing I could do but wait and try to think of a way out of the current situation. The frustrating part was that even if I did think of a way out, I couldn’t grant her the information for another eight days or so… that would count as a lesser miracle and I simply didn’t have enough power to do more than one every week.

Even so, I continued to think. I thought for the suffering girl in front of me. As I thought, I waited patiently for that moment when she would awake once more so I could tell her she isn’t alone.

And so I watched.

***

Raymond didn’t know how long it had been since she passed out, but she awoke much the same as the previous time. However, this time she didn’t jump to her feet. Though the traumatic memories flowed through her mind, she willed them back as she remained wherever she was, listening.

*ring, ring* *ring, ring*

She almost jumped in shock at the sudden noise in her head, but she barely stopped herself. She felt a sense of relief that the voice hadn’t abandoned her. She would rather be insane then alone at this point.

“That may come soon, but I assure you that you are not insane yet.”

“You can hear my thoughts?”

“Indeed I can, little Raymond, but only when I focus on them.”

“So you know what’s been going on?” Raymond asked. She felt the slightest tinge of anger mixed with her fear and despair. She shivered slightly and then froze, hoping the bird wouldn’t have noticed such a minuscule movement.

“I do. I’ve been watching over you the entire time, waiting for the chance to speak with you again.”

“Why did you leave me?”

“I made a mistake. Advice is free but knowledge grants power and therefore costs power. When I told you the Roc was coming, it was knowledge that you didn’t have so it consumed my power and left me incapable of maintaining the mental connection. The only exception is that I can seemingly tell you about my own abilities and such freely because you are my Tether. Right now, with no power, I can give you suggestions and encouragement but I can’t give you much else.”

Raymond listened as the Overseer spoke, a warm feeling replacing the empty despair. She still felt afraid, but she wasn’t alone anymore. Somehow, she felt that it made all the difference in the world knowing that someone cared about her. There were still two things she needed to figure out though.

“How am I still alive?”

“Check your traits.”

Traits? That’s right! She had just gotten new traits yesterday… Immortal Body, Immortal Soul and Immortal Mind. She willed their blue windows to appear.

Immortal Body

You are now immune to damage and pain.

You are now immune to fatal damage. Pain sense has been restored to normal. Injuries received will regenerate at a rate equal to health regeneration.

Immortal Mind

You are now immune to mind control, mind-affecting curses or diseases and other similar mind-affecting ailments or illusions.

Immortal Soul

You are now immune to instant death magic and harmful effects that target the soul.

Though Raymond still had no idea what Evelyn had been trying to accomplish, at that moment she felt gratitude towards her mysterious predecessor. Whatever that ritual was, it was the reason she still lived. Presumably, assuming she could escape her current predicament, the other two traits would also be very helpful in the future.

“Huh.” she thought.

“I’ve been thinking for the last few days while waiting for you to wake up.”

Wait, days as in plural?

“I can’t tell you a plan because I don’t have enough power to grant that knowledge, but I think I’ve found a loophole.”

“Oh?”

“Remember three things: magic rope, mother’s instinct, long falls.”

Raymond thought for a moment, her mind supplying the necessary information for the second two items. Though she had no memories, her body had experienced various things over 7602 years and it knew what some things meant intuitively. Some things are not remembered, they are felt… such as long falls.

And then Raymond understood the plan and she smiled. She felt a deep sense of satisfaction from the other side of the mental connection and her smile grew wider.

Raymond inched her eyes open a smidgen… just enough to get a grasp on her surroundings. She was lying in a large pile of brownish white sludge on the edge of the nest. It smelled terrible but she had other things to worry about. She could see the mother bird resting, surrounded by the smaller birds. The eggs sat in a small mound next to and slightly behind her in the center of the nest.

A quick glance confirmed that the rope was still attached to her wrist somehow, though the rest of her dark outfit had not survived the brutal treatment. She felt a gust of wind against her exposed body and shivered in discomfort. She hadn’t really expected her Immortal Body trait to regenerate her clothes… she would just have to find more before she ran into anybody.

She reached out with her right arm, pointing it towards the mound of eggs. With a thought, the rope extended and wrapped around an egg. She thrust her arm to the side and the egg flew off the stack, knocking a few others over. One of them hit the ground and cracked, a thick semi-clear yellowish liquid running out.

A screech of fury signified that the Roc had awoken. Raymond felt the nest shake slightly as the Roc moved towards her. She smiled as she pointed at the rope. The Roc’s eyes followed it to the egg magically hanging over the edge. It glanced back at her frantically and Raymond was once again amazed at how intelligent the bird seemed.

But she kept counting in her head.

“29, 30, 31…”

The bird swung at her arm, breaking her wrist but not quite cutting through.

Raymond grimaced, but she had experienced worse pain in her short life and pushed through.

“38, 39…”

“ “40!” she shouted. The rope released and the egg dropped over the edge. The Roc leaped and Raymond aimed her arm. She willed the final charge to latch onto the Roc’s wing as it passed over the rim of the nest. The rope wrapped around the wing, latching onto and compressing it. The bird shrieked angrily as it fell.

Raymond smiled triumphantly, raising her uninjured arm in victory.

And then she was flying through the air. She passed over the edge of the nest and fell. As brilliant as the plan had been, she forgot one crucial detail. If she was attached to the bird, she would fall too.

And fall she did.