After the events of soldiers’ camp our date kind of picked up where it left off. Leyara took us to see glowing flowers that floated on the surface of a pond and I say us because Dog and Duskra came with us. I wasn’t sure how they just tagged along, but it’s a cute kid and my dog. How am I supposed to tell them to bug off? I would say I’m not a monster but…

“Master, these flowers smell delicious but they don’t taste good at all.”

“Yeah, these flowers taste gross.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as both of them had glowing mouths from eating the flowers. I looked at Leyara who was also rolling with laughter and my eyes asked the obvious question for Duskra’s sake. Luckily, Leyara answered right away.

“They are not poisonous luckily but that glow isn’t going to go away for some time.”

“You mean they are stuck as walking glow sticks?”

“Glow stick?”

“Yeah like, plastic tube that glows once broken?”

“Plastic?”

“Never mind.”

I shook my head as a conflicted look came on Leyara’s face in the twilight of the flowers. She quickly replaced it with her usual award-winning smile, but I saw it. My transmigration wasn't something I spoke of, but it wasn't really because I didn't want to share it, I just didn't think it was something worth sharing. My boring job, my boring world, my boring life was all just well, boring.

I looked over at Ron and Duskra running along the edge of the lake. This new world and life were too incredible to even compare to my old world. It was like a world full of colors and sounds and sensations and my past life was just a series of drab colors that crawled past my window. I realized though that it was most likely what caused her momentarily lapse in happiness, but she was incredible and didn’t say a word about it.

“Now we get to go see the squirrels.”

“Squirrels? Like furry rodents?”

“Don’t let them hear you say that or there isn’t anything I can do for you.”

We took a palanquin across the city until we came upon a dense section of trees and bridges suspended tightly together. There were a series of nets forming tubes that were approximately ten feet by ten feet. That seems strange.

“What’s going on with the netting?”

“You’ll see. Ron, can you please carry Duskra to the top of that tree?”

Leyara smiled and pointed to a tall tree that was lit up with tons of lanterns at the top. Ron didn’t waste any time and grabbed Duskra by the collar of her shirt and tossed her on his back where she immediately hung onto his collar as he began scaling the tree. His claws flexing to look like fingers as he nimbly went up the tree.

“Do you mind Vampir?”

I scooped her in my arms, princess style, and leaped to the top of the tree in one bound. My eyes took just a second to adjust to the new light and my surprise there at the top was a stadium of sorts with many seats built into branches and people were filling those seats and cheering like wild as they watched the purpose of the netting.

Enormous squirrels the size of station wagons were running through the net tunnels at incredible speeds. Each squirrel had a different color blanket and rider on its back as it flew through the netting. This is a racetrack! The squirrels ran at incredible speeds and were even talking to their riders and talking smack to other squirrels and racers in a strange alternating chittering and talking manner.

“Are we going to be riding them?”

"Not these, I will be riding my own and I prepared something for you. I know you don't need a mount, but it is a gift from me and we can use it tonight—"

“LeeLee nck nck nck!”

A massive squirrel cut her off as it dove on top of her and started rubbing its snout against Leyara’s face. It was a very high-pitched voice that was intermittent with the chittering of the squirrels, but overall, it added to its incredible cuteness. The squirrel had soft, gray fur all over its body and had pink bows tied into its tail and one enormous pink bow on its head nestled between its ears.

“Is this your nck nck boy toy LeeLee? Nck nck he smells awful. You know he’s dead right nck nck nck?”

“Hehe of course I know. His status gives him incredible benefits and enormous stamina…”

“NCK NCK LEE NCK LEE YOU DIRTY LITTLE KITTEN! NAHANAHANAHA”

The two of them were good friends and it was hard not to have their fun and laughter infectious as the squirrel's laugh was both infectious and ridiculous due to the chittering nature of her speech.

“Vampir, this is Sheena, my good friend I have known since childhood.”

“Pleasure’s yours nck nck.”

I bowed in reverence to the snarky and majestic animal. I materialized a hair clip from my old life that I had seen on a little girl but with a touch of darkness. The clip had a cute kitten made of pink with black features and a goth dress on. What could I say? I had developed a taste for darkness at some point.

“I am honored to meet you. Here is a gift as a thank you for taking care of Leyara for so long. She is dear to me.”

Sheena's eyes locked onto the hair clip and she stared at it with enraptured eyes. She rubbed her hands together in a very squirrel-like manner as she didn't take her eyes off of the barrette. She seemed to be conflicted about it.

“I couldn’t take something of obviously nck nck superior craftsmanship sir. It would nck nck nck nck be nck nck too—”

I didn't let her continue as she was struggling and was developing some kind of nervous tick trying to reject the gift. I materialized by her tail and clipped it onto the very tip of her tail. It looked like it belonged there.

“LEE NCK LEE NCK NCK! ITS SO CUUUUTTTTTTEEEEEE NCK NCK NCK NCK NCK!!!”

Sheena curled around both Leyara and me and began rubbing her snout on us in exciting turns as she chittered happily. She seemed to raise her voice in excitement almost to the point of being shrill when she was excited but it added to her overall cuteness.

“Let’s go over to the dreys for your gift Vampir.”

“Lead the way.”

I had an idea, but I didn’t want to assume anything. I watched Leyara swing her leg up onto the seat on top of Sheena and tried to take notes, but it was clear that she had done that same motion a million times. I followed her over to what would essentially be stables, but we went all the way down to the end of the dreys. Unlike the other habitations that seemed well kempt and tidy, the one at the furthest end looked haggard and had the stench of death around it.

Sheena stopped some distance away from the opening and started shaking her head. Leyara dismounted and walked over and grabbed my arm. She led me to the opening and peered in.

“This one is all yours. He is a bit of a hassle, but I think the two of you should get along just fine. If you can imprint then you can team up with him.”

“Imprint?”

“You’ll see.”

I walked into the dark opening and was greeted with a pair of red glowing eyes. They rose in the darkness and towered above me as they narrowed in anger.

“Who dares nuk nuk enter my abode? Another unfortunate fool, thinking they can cripple my pride?”

“Nope, just Vampir.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Vampir Darkness

Date of Birth: Reign 23rd in the year 3015

Title: Leyara’s Boyfriend

Race: Vampire

Hair: Black

Eyes: Red

Current value: 239.9 million Gold Coins, Approx. 149 trillion Gold Coins worth of Invisibility Potion, Resurrection Token

Magic Pocket: Pretty much one of everything (verified), Undead King’s Crown and Sword

Powers: Mesmer, Animal Transmutation, Super Strength, Mach 3 Speed, Immunity, Regeneration

Magic: Source (Custom) Magic, Folioran Magic, High Magic

Weaknesses: Holy Water, The Sun, Leyara’s Smile, Excited Squirrels

Strengths: Sword Fighting, All Magic (Except Holy), Making Barrettes for Squirrels