While Ray cleaned herself up, I waited outside the bathroom. I spent the time reflecting on the conversation between her and the High Priestess.

Both Eileen and the High Templar were practically oozing Holy Power from their entire beings. I didn’t know what Overseer they followed but whoever it was had given them an absurd amount of power. Each of them individually had more Holy Power than the rest of the people in the temple combined.

The general contents of the conversation weren’t very surprising for me since I already met two of the other Overseers and most of the contents were just expounding upon what I already knew.

What really caught my attention, though, was the computer monitor in the corner of the room. It was an old-fashioned monitor, the ones that were bulky and took up half the desk. The keyboard had symbols on it that I didn’t recognize. I couldn’t say for sure since I didn’t speak every language on Earth, but I would suspect that the letters did not originate from my home planet.

At one point, I reached out and touched the monitor. As I did so, a jolt ran through my spirit form. Everything around me seemed to slow down. Ray and Eileen’s words became disjointed as if they were stuttering in slow motion.

“Auto, what’s going on?”

“You gained access to a terminal, so the Overseer System is now being downloaded. You are currently experiencing lag due to the huge amount of data being transferred.”

Lag?! Was that a joke? Gods could experience lag? What were we, computers?

“The transfer is almost complete.”

A minute later, my vision went dark, and my mind erupted, the pressure building like it was going to explode. Various shapes danced across my vision in the darkness, but I was in too much pain to pay attention to them.

And then the pain stopped. My vision gradually refocused and I mentally blinked a few times, reorienting myself. I still floated next to Ray and Eileen. I could hear them clearly again, but I tuned it out because something else caught my attention.

I had a video game UI! There was a chat box in the bottom left-hand corner and a series of boxes in the bottom right. Mentally focusing on them caused the name of each box to appear in my mind.

“Perks, Divine Mandates, Tenets, Prayer Log, Calculator”

I would need to experiment with this. They all seemed like useful things for gods. Especially that last one… it would really suck if someone died because a god made a mistake in their mental math.

I focused on the chatbox, curious about who I could talk to. Five options appeared:

Dallin

Jocelyn

Loki

Mumblegrumble

???

So, the other four Overseers and some mysterious unknown entity. Great. I started to move away when I heard a ding. I glanced back at the box and saw a little red circle next to Dallin’s name. I focused on his name and a separate chat box appeared.

When I saw his screen name, I sighed. Of course, he did.

[xXxDallinTheDestroyerxXx] has entered the chat room.

[Unknown] has entered the chat room.

---

[xXxDallinTheDestroyerxXx] Heyyyyyyy! It’s the new guy! I’m Dallin!

[Unknown] Hey

[xXxDallinTheDestroyerxXx] We were having a bit of trouble communicating last time, so I wanted to introduce myself as soon as you got access to the system. The name’s Dallin. I’m in charge of strength, truth, and ambition, in that order. Did you pick a domain yet?

[Unknown] Uh, not yet. I’m just getting around to contacting my Tether.

[xXxDallinTheDestroyerxXx] Sweet! Take care and try to learn the ropes as fast as you can! It’ll be so much easier to farm souls here with another guy helping to share the load. Catch ya next time!

[Unknown] For sure. Laterz

---

[xXxDallinTheDestroyerxXx] has left the chat room.

Okay then. Moving on. I returned my attention to my new UI, opening and closing windows to explore.

It felt like the first time logging into a new video game. It had been several years since I last experienced it… that slightly overwhelmed sensation when viewing all the buttons that you aren’t familiar with yet, the awe at the intricate details of the system, and the giddiness that comes with learning a new feature.

I laughed giddily like a child opening presents on Christmas as I opened another window and began scanning its contents.

While I was still fiddling with the new UI, the door to the bathroom opened and Ray came out dressed in a well-fitted soft pink t-shirt and dark grey sweatpants. Her hair was still dripping slightly but it looked much better now that it was clean, even if it was still a little tangled.

I followed her, listening as Kelsey guided Ray through the temple. Once Ray was alone, it would be time to introduce myself.

***

Ray followed behind Kelsey as they moved down a set of stairs into the lower floors of the temple. They entered a hallway that contained several rooms with nameplates on them. According to Kelsey, they were the rooms of those who lived in this temple.

Kelsey led Ray to a room near the end of the hallway on the left.

“I am told that you may use this room for the duration of your stay here.”

“Thank you,” Ray replied. “I appreciate you helping me out.”

Ray was surprised to realize that she meant it. Kelsey was literally the first living person that she met in this world and the young priestess had been pretty kind. Not only did she not try to capture or kill her, but she also answered her questions, supplied clothes, and guided her around the temple.

What a nice person.

“Don’t worry about it. You should get some sleep, the tests start early, and you don’t want to be late,” Kelsey replied as she turned to walk away.

Ray smiled while waving at Kelsey’s retreating form and then turned the knob to walk into her new room.

The room was decent-sized. It had a bed, large enough for one person that took up a third of the space. There was a dresser next to the bed and a curtained window that let her look outside at the town below.

Ray walked over to the bed and lifted the blanket, marveling at the softness of the material.

Then a voice resounded inside of her head.

“Hey there!”

She tossed the blanket away and shrieked. She didn’t know where the voice was coming from and so, unable to decide which way to go, she jumped straight up. There was a loud thud as she hit her head on the ceiling.

She plopped to the floor, holding her head with a dazed expression.

“Well, that’s one way to overreact.”

Ray looked around before remembering that she had experienced having a voice in her head once before already. It was also not too long ago, so it was easy to remember.

She closed her eyes and focused. Then she found it.

“Is that you, Mr. Animal-Obsessed Dark Void?”

“Animal-obsessed…? Huh?!”

“Who are you?” Ray asked, ignoring the sharp pain that resounded through her skull when the voice got loud.

“I am a new god. I’ve been watching you and I have decided that I want you to be my prophet!”

Ray pursed her lips. Prophet?

“Alright Mr. Animal-Obsessed ‘New God’, why are you in my head and what do you want from me?”

The voice sighed.

“Of the two descriptors, that’s the one you kept…? Anyways, I don’t need anything special yet. I just want to work together with you… like partners. I think that we can help each other out.”

“What can you do for me?”

She would swear that she felt the owner of the voice smirk. She briefly considered that she really had lost her mind.

“Currently, I can give you advice. I have even less information about this world than you do, but I know a bit about reading people and dealing with them.”

“Oh? Could you give me an example?”

“Well, for one, you should be more careful regarding Eileen and Max. Nothing is ever free when it comes to dealing with people. You already agreed to accept her help, so you should follow through with it for now. You do need allies and people that you can trust, but be cautious moving forward. If something seems too good to be true, then that means that you don’t have enough information to make an informed decision.”

Ray pondered his advice for a moment. She couldn’t find any faults with his logic. However, Eileen had been upfront about not telling her everything and she had decided to accept that.

“I recognize that you already accepted it, and I took that into consideration already. I’m just urging you to be more careful in the future. When you meet these instructors and when you start learning from them, do your best to figure out why they are helping you. Without that information, you have little to no control over your fate.”

Ray nodded slowly. His advice made perfect sense. Then she realized what had just happened.

“Wait, did you just read my mind?”

“I’m a disembodied voice speaking directly to your mind. Did you really think the communication was only one-way?”

Ray wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On one hand, he didn’t hear anything important, but she didn’t really like that he could just read her thoughts.

“You mentioned that you want me to be your prophet. What, exactly, does that mean?"

“It means that I want you to be my representative and my voice.”

“Sounds awfully one-sided. What do I get out of it?

“The future potential is limitless, but currently I can only give you advice and act as your confidant. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t already done anything for you.

“Already done?” What was the voice talking about?

“You wondered earlier why you were able to respawn, right? When I chose you as my prophet, you were integrated into the Overseer System. In other words, by associating with me you gained the ability to respawn. As my religion grows, I’ll be able to grant you and my other followers more and more power. Additionally, you’ll have a god behind you. I don’t plan on being stingy with miracles.”

Huh. Even if she assumed the voice was telling the truth, she was hesitant to accept his words at face value.

“What’s the catch?”

“Smart. The catch is that it will be a lot of work. I need you to start and lead a new religion that worships me.”

Well, that didn’t sound like a job that she wanted to do. She just became aware yesterday and already some random void in her mind was asking her not only to worship it but to get others to worship it as well. That sounded like more than enough to be considered ‘insane’.

“I’m not asking you to do anything major yet. I’ll support you from behind the scenes and do my best to keep you hidden from the other Overseers for now. You need to get stronger and make some friends. We can talk about the religion thing later.”

Ray slowly nodded. The things he was asking her to do now generally aligned with what she was doing already. She would start her new training in the morning, and she hoped to become friends with Kelsey and maybe some others. Shelving the issue for later, she climbed into the bed.

“Since we aren’t going public with this yet, keep it a secret from everyone. That includes Eileen, Max, and Kelsey. We don’t know enough about these people yet and if the other churches get involved before I have enough power, we’re finished.”

Being forcefully drawn into a massive religious conflict between gods… what a positive way to end a day.

“Okay, I won’t tell anybody for now. I need to sleep though; I have a test in the morning.”

“Good night,” the voice whispered softly in her head.

“G’night…” Ray muttered as she drifted off to sleep.

***

Leximea of the Bloodclaw tribe flinched awake as she heard the rattling of keys. A moment later, the cruel laughter of humans tormented her ears. Following the sound, she found humans approaching her cage. The footsteps stopped just outside the barred door and she began to tremble, huddling against the bars as far away from them as she could go.

The guard opening the cage was different from the one who had thrust her in here the previous day when they arrived in this horrible town. Despite it being morning, she detected the faint smell of alcohol on his breath.

The cage rattled as he unlocked it and slammed the door open.

“Get out here, ya filthy animal!” he roared.

Leximea shook her head. There was nowhere for her to run but she did not want to go with that man.

“Your new owner is here to pick ya up. Get moving or I’ll make you.”

Leximea flinched. Obediently, she began to crawl forward. When she was within reach, he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her out of the cage, slamming the door shut and locking it again. She learned a long time ago not to cry out when slavers did this. They enjoyed hearing her scream and she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

On the one hand, Leximea was glad to be leaving this forsaken pit. She knew she was lucky to be out after only one night. Others could spend weeks or even months here while they slowly starved to death.

On the other hand, there were only two types of people who would buy a catkin slave: collectors and adventurers. She did not want to associate with either type of person. It was adventurers that had destroyed her village. It was adventurers that had captured her, and it was adventurers who had raped and brutally tortured her parents right before her eyes.

But with collectors, she would either be killed, stuffed, and put on display or turned into a toy for their personal satisfaction. She would rather serve people that she hated than suffer either of those fates.

The slaver released her, and she fell to the ground, landing agilely on her hands and feet. She moved to step forward, hoping to avoid further injury by being proactive. Unfortunately, the guard seemed to be in a foul mood because he landed a kick on her behind, thrusting her forward face-first into the ground.

“Get a move on!” he thundered.

Leximea shoved down her anger, retracting her claws as she meekly pushed herself back up to her feet and started shuffling forward.

The room they were in was full of cages containing various races of ‘monsters’. There were others from beastkin races like Leximea, such as wolfkin, foxkin, and some others. Most of the inhabitants, however, were orcs and trolls. The humans did win a war against the United Federation recently, after all. This town, Cairel, was close to the border so it wasn’t surprising that some of the spoils of war found their way here as slaves.

Leximea of the Bloodclaw tribe fiddled with the collar that was now fixed around her left wrist as she stepped out into the sunlight. She looked up at the clear blue sky. She felt small and insignificant beneath the endless expanse towering over her.

The guard grabbed her chain and pulled, forcing her to move toward her new master. She searched the overwhelming expanse above, praying silently that someone out there would help her. The humans were the only ones who had gods that answered prayers.

Still, she prayed fervently in hopes that someone or something out there was listening and that maybe… just maybe, they might be kind enough to answer.