[You want us to eat it?] She asked with a serious tone, before pausing slight to think. [……Hmm, but we are not a ghoul, there wouldn't be any benefits to taking such an action.]

The words I was going to say clogged up in my throat, as images of us biting down on Thomas's corpse and eating him appeared in my head. I felt disgusted by the image, but even more disgusted that she might do it.

[What the-…...the hell is wrong with you! I was just saying that we needed to bury him,] I exclaimed.

She chuckled at my reaction before replying.

[Then why did you not state that from the beginning? You and your human habits, circling around the point as if it were plagued by a horde of demons.]

I see, so she was just messing with me.

You have a terrible sense of humor; you know that? I thought but never dared to say it out loud.

She shook her head as she took off the shoulder bag and let it ‘plop’ to the ground. She then started undressing.

We were going back to our birthday suit again?

I wanted to ask what she was doing suddenly getting naked again, till I remembered the wolf form. We were probably going to ruin our clothes if we transformed with them.

[Wait you’re actually going to do it?] I asked, but she ignored me, too focused on taking off the waitress uniform we were wearing.

I was expecting that I was going to have to nag her a couple of times and hold her in place for a few hours for her to listen. But it seemed I was wrong.

We stood in the crater naked, after we were done undressing.

Our body burnt up, swirling with heat as I felt our body change. Our bones shifted and grew, our skin loosened and stretched, as it grew fur. We transformed back into the giant white wolf that was the size of a house.

I didn’t think I could ever get used to this. The change in viewpoint and posture was crazy.

I stood surprised at how smaller everything around me was, of how my anatomy changed and I didn’t feel the slightest thing wrong. It was like being a four-legged creature was something normal to me, like I had always been a wolf.

Mia dug a decent-sized hole using our black curved claws. She took no more than a few seconds for what a normal animal would have taken hours.

She then turned and walked over to Thomas’s body, but before she picked it up, she spoke.

[Lest you misconstrue my actions, I have no regard for the fate of the corpse. I merely know this is the quickest way we can depart from this godforsaken place.]

She picked the body up with our jaws and went to drop it in the hole.

So she knew that I wasn’t going to allow us to leave if she didn’t do what I asked? Well, I guessed that made a lot more sense than she suddenly changed and started to have morals.

She buried the knight guy in even faster than when she made the hole, as she used our powerful legs to move the dirt.

We changed back, and after wearing our clothes and picking up our stuff, we left the ghost town.

***

The wind whistled in our ears as we ran along the rim of the dirt road. We were not running directly on the road for reasons that Mia wouldn’t tell me. I guessed it was easier to hide and run from an enemy if we were next to the forest.

But still, it would have been easier to trust her if I knew where we were going.

Deducing the fact that we were a vampire, I guessed that we were going to somewhere that had people—probably a town or a city.

I was curious about how people lived in this world. I mean if the was magic here then the way that the world developed might be extremely different from Earth. The magic rocks proved that this world was developed through magic and not technology, or at least it was going to, going off of the fact that they still looked to be in the Middle Ages. And judging by how a single person could make sections of an entire town disappear, I thought of how warfare would be.

Yep, total destruction, I was surprised that the people of this world hadn't wiped themselves out yet.

As I imagined people flying and shooting laser beams at each other, another tang of pain could be felt in my heart. I slowly lost all my excitement as I fell farther and farther into depression.

Another world huh? I thought as the severity of my situation had completely sat in. I moulded over my thoughts.

It wasn’t what it was served up to be. Where was my story of defeating the demon lord and my harem goddamn it!? The beautiful lady in the space dress lied to me! Well, actually she didn't lie to me, but still!

I exaggeratedly complained in my mind, trying to make my whole situation a joke, but that slight pain in my heart didn't disappear. It was like a knife was jammed into my heart.

It would have been easier if I could sleep, but judging from how I couldn't feel an ounce of tiredness since I got here. I doubted that I would be sleeping any time soon, lest it was permanently.

An image of my mom and a friend of mine from school, whom I promised to meet up with, flashed in my mind.

I had started feeling like this since Thomas died, probably a trigger that made me realize that all of this was not a dream. That my reincarnation was not a game, but real life, as real as it was back on earth. And as real as the fact that I was ‘never’ going to see anyone from Earth again.

It hadn’t been that long but I already missed my old life. I missed my home, the loud cities and the comfort of knowing you’re always safe in your home. I missed my TV, my phone, my bed.

My mom and dad often worked a lot, and I rarely got to see them, but I still loved them. My uncles, my sister, my grandmother, and my idiotic friends.

It looked like I wasn’t going to make it for the dinner party and the study/ date with Isabel.

I breathed in, well what was the equivalent of it in my mind. I blanked out my thoughts as I tried to not think of anything, as I tried to focus only on my feelings—to experience them including the hurt.

I needed to accept and not look away from my emotions. I needed to embrace them so that I could be able to move on.

Yes, I had died and I was never going to see anyone I grew up around. Yes, people especially my mom who was probably going to be the first to find my body in my apartment, were going to be devastated. But I needed to remind myself that there was nothing I could do. I shouldn't be fixated on things that made me feel like this.

I went over every thought about my past life, that was bugging me and embraced the emotions that came with it. I kept reminding myself that there was nothing I could do and that I should move on. After several minutes of willingly depressing myself and convincing myself why I shouldn’t be depressed. The pain in my heart lessened and I felt much better.

Mia growled with our physical body causing me to focus my attention on her.

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[What’s up?] I asked.

[What was that!?] She yelled, to which I almost gave out a yelp of fright.

Why did she have to be so loud and dramatic all the time?

[W-What do you mean?]

[Don’t act dumb--] She cut herself off, seeming to try and calm herself down. [Do not play the fool. You did that with full intent, knowing I can perceive your emotions. Was that your way of declaring a fight!?] She hissed.

[Calm down, calm down.]

I tried soothing the tiger as I thought of what to say.

[I’m not picking a fight. I was just…... trying to get over a few things. I’m sure you could have sensed the sudden spurs of regret and sadness spring up every now and then? I was trying to fix that.]

[By afflicting us emotionally?]

She sounded as though she didn’t believe me.

[I mean… you kinda have to confront your feeling for them to go away right?]

She calmed down as she seemed to relax.

[Could you not have let time deal with your plight? Or more preferably, eradicating such emotions entirely.]

[Ahh, if the was a way to instantly feel better, I definitely would have done it.] I said jokingly.

[Then why did you not do it? Are you not a servant of a god? Why do you cling to your former human way? Could you not remove such a way of thinking? For in my view, it would be better especially when your mistress is the chaos god.]

She seemed to really dislike those types of emotions. I wonder if it was because she was a vampire?

And Utn—Hmm…. I was going to have to make a nickname for her, but she wasn't that bad. I mean sure she did almost kill me when we first met, but that was an accident, and she did apologize. She was even so kind as to make me, a kid who barely had any skills, her apostle. I was sure she could have found someone better if she wanted.

I paused.

Actually, why did she choose me? I was sure making someone into a half-god wasn't cheap. Why did she choose a kid who would have died on the first day of his reincarnation?

I thought about it for a few seconds before I abruptly gave up. I was sure that she had her reasons besides being nice.

With a nod to myself, I then focused back on Mia to give her my thoughts on removing my emotions thing.

[I'm good on that. I like my emotions, even if they bring me pain once in a while.] I gave her my honest answer without putting much thought into it.

[…..]

She grumbled as she seemed to lose interest by focusing back on the road we were running.

We were moving fast, not as fast as a car on a freeway, but still fast. Our boots ‘crackled on the dried grass as our long green skirt fluttered behind us.

We were running without stopping for straight up ten minutes now and I didn't feel an ounce of tiredness. I guessed that vampires had ridiculous amounts of stamina.

And speaking of skirt, I supposed I was a girl now. I had been so stressed these last few hours that I never got the chance to acknowledge that I literally changed gender. I had hoped that this day would never come but here we were, I snickered.

From something I’ve read I heard that the body affected the mind, so was I going to start thinking like a girl if I stayed in this form long enough? And was I going to start sexually viewing other guys too?

I shook my head.

Yeahhhhh, nope!

I hoped not. If worst came to worst and Mia was going to force us to have sex or kiss a guy. I was going to turn us back into a guy, traumatizing the moron that would dare try to touch us!

A few minutes went by and I couldn’t help but feel bored.

I needed something I could do to pass the time, but there wasn't much considering my position. Talking to Mia again was a no-go, even I was starting to get bored by it. I didn't think she would appreciate my distractions while she was busy moving through difficult terrain.

As I dully waited a thought popped up in my head, telling me this was the perfect opportunity to teach myself magic. And I couldn't be any happier with my brain for reminding me. I was given the opportunity to experience what most people could only dream of and I dared to think I was bored!

Magic was actually a thing and I could actually get to use it, I could have superpowers. What had come over me that I didn't immediately realize that, I didn't know.

At this moment my heart would have been beating in excitement if it could.

I needed to get to work straight away!

I focused on my thoughts as I organized every piece of information I had on magic.

From that guy in armor and Mia using magic I understood that the use of magic was straightforward, but Mia had confirmed my thoughts when she told me magic used mana as its fuel source.

My first step was obvious. I had to know how this mana thing works and then learn to control it. Though saying it sounded simple in truth this was probably the hardest part since I didn't know where to start. What was mana actually, and where was it located? How was I going to control it? Those were the questions I needed to answer.

The first goal was set, but I still couldn’t help but wonder what my magic would look like.

I mean what did chaos magic even do? water magic, fire magic, and things like that were simple to understand, but did chaos—

A sudden stop happened as I felt our body feel a quick but powerful deceleration. The event knocked me out of my thoughts and I focused my mind to see what was happening.

[What’s going on!?] I asked in a panic, but Mia only scoffed.

[You can calm yourself it is simply a river,] She said as she pulled our feet out of the dirt ground.

Our feet had gotten buried in the ground by how aggressively Mia had stopped.

The boots were torn and practically almost destroyed.

[A river?]

I focused on what she was looking at. A small stream of water that was no less than a few inches wide was in front of us. It was so small that I was absolutely sure I could cross it in one step.

[Ehh …… Is there something in the water?] I asked not too sure why she was so startled.

Seeming to sense my dubiousness through our link, she huffed.

[It appears that without my presence, your demise was an imminent consequence for you, was it not?]

She stepped back, backing up from the rill.

[Listen carefully, vampires cannot cross flowing water no matter how insignificant the stream might be. A weakness that the knights and vampire hunters often take advantage of because of how effective it is.]

[A weakness huh, like the sun?]

[Indeed.]

Uh, I got it, so that weakness that vampires could not cross flowing water was true. But what did it do? what would happen if we tried to cross? Would we just instant-die or will we hit a wall or something?

[What does it do? what will happen if we try to cross? Will we hit a wall or something?] I asked and she stopped backing up as she smiled.

She dashed forward as she sprinted.

[Wait, what are you doing!?] I said in a panic, but she was already jumping over the water.

We easily crossed the water flow, but halfway through our bodies went limp and I felt a sense of loss come over me.

We crashed into the ground head-first and rolled a few times before we stopped. When we did our head was staring up into the dark sky, as we laid in an awkward position.

I was sure that our neck was broken judging by the weird feeling, that we often got when we were injured. We stayed motionless for quite a while and I couldn't help but get worried.

[Umm] I said after a few seconds as a response to the lack of movement that was happening. [Aren’t you gonna move? Or is it finally my turn to run through the forest?] I joked.

She scoffed at me.

[By all means, do make an attempt. It would be a delightful spectacle to behold.]

[Why?]

[A consequence of crossing flowing water. All our abilities are suspended for a duration of time. And lo and behold, it is our prerogative as a vampire to animate a lifeless corpse and heal our injuries.]

That explained why our neck wasn’t healing and why I felt weak but….

[So we can’t move?]

[Yes, that’s what losing the ability to animate a corpse means.]

[Hmmm…. You sure?] I asked again, but this seemed to dry out the patience she had.

I supposed she didn’t like to repeat herself.

[What are you……have you forsaken your ability to comprehend!?]

[No wait….. look.] I said, waving our right hand in front of our face.

[….] She froze up, well, the equivalent of freezing up in our mind.

And for the first time since I met Mia she was truly shocked.

With control of the body, I stood up while holding my head in place. It was still broken which meant it would fall limply if I didn’t hold it. I wanted to maintain my normal view.

Once I was on my feet, I used my free hand to remove the strands of hair that covered my view to the back of my head.

Though I found girls with long more attractive than the ones without, that didn’t mean I wanted long hair myself, this stuff was irritating.

I looked at my hand which had lost its masculine form and was more feminine, but with claws. I then looked at the moving water behind us with a smirk.

[So let me ask again are you sure we can’t move?] I said emphasizing my words.

For some reason, I felt like gloating to her about this.

She didn’t answer, as surprise was still evident in her.

Our neck healed and that feeling of loss and weakness went away.

I guessed that our powers had returned, almost a full minute of being helpless, no wonder people who hunted vampires liked to exploit this weakness.

Focusing back on the water, I wondered what would happen if a normal vampire walked over it without noticing. Would they fall over the water paralyzed unable to move? And whenever they gained the ability to move they'd immediately lose it because they were over the water? Would they be stuck like that till the sun came up and cooked them alive?

I remembered the burning heat that was as strong or stronger than the light Thomas was throwing around.

Yeah, that would be a horrible way to die.

And I wondered what other weakness we had.

As I continued to think I realised I was still in control, and Mia hadn’t pushed me out like always.

[Aren’t you going to take control?] I asked ready to go back inside and continue lazing around.

I knew for some people that having to share a body with someone and losing control every now and then would be a nightmare, especially if you were sharing with someone as controlling as Mia. But for a person who was as lazy as I am, this was a blessing.

I didn't have to do anything and things would get done on their own. I didn't have to fight to survive a world that was clearly trying to kill me, I had Mia for that. A 'first personal' movie that only had the downside that it was so real that you felt pain as well.

[The water.] She said, showing no sign of taking control back.

[Yeah? What about it?]

[You truly…. You truly could move after crossing flowing water? That’s….an interesting fact, yes, very interesting. How long did it take for you to regain your ability to move?]

[Ehh…]

I didn't think I lost control at first, sure, I felt weak and that something was wrong, but not paralyzed.

[Not that long since it never went away.]

[I see…] She paused to think before she spoke again. [How about we conduct an experiment? So we can be certain if we can truly move overflowing water without any difficulty.]

[Experiment?]

[Let us cross again, we shall determine your limits this way. But just to be prudent, gain some momentum before you cross, so that in the event you could not move, we would still be safe.]

[Ehh… aren’t you going to take control?]

Why were we doing this? Weren’t we supposed to be going somewhere? And didn’t we have a time limit, like you know, the sun?

[If I were to do that, then it would be futile. We need to ascertain if you truly are immune to the weakness of flowing water.]

[….]

Fine, I guess. I thought as I turned to face the stream of water, but stumbled and nearly fell on my butt.

It looked like I personally, wasn’t used to the strength that this body outputted.

I straightened, using my arms to balance myself.

Okay, I can do this.

I slowly stepped back, opening up the distance so that I could clear the water. I was fine so long as I didn't use too much force, and I was careful.

[…..]

I felt Mia’s disapproving eyes on me, well, the equivalent that she could give from inside our mind. I could almost hear her asking ‘Are you so incompetent that you couldn’t walk on your own?’

When I was far enough to gain some sort of momentum from my run, I was stopped from taking off by Mia with a somewhat cold voice.

[I believe it would be best if you learn how to walk before you start running.]

And so for the next thirty minutes or so, I was taught to move around with a very angry person as a mentor.

***

[Hmm I suppose that is…. somewhat acceptable.] She said resignedly.

I guessed that it was possible for a vampire to get tired after all. I thought this referring to Mia who went from being a good teacher and talking to me normally to being annoyed and frustrated to back being a decent mentor.

The most interesting thing in this interaction was that I wasn't even a bad student. I had gotten a hang of moving around and adjusting the power I used pretty early on. But I guessed it was because I wasn't as talented as her to move around and fight a trained soldier right after birth.

We went back to the water flow to perform what I now call ‘the jump'. Never in my life have I found jumping over a paddle of water so intimidating.

Was my ability to move while Mia was paralyzed just dumb luck? Was I gonna mess this up? Were we going to get stuck? Get killed by the sun?

Probably not.

I walked to the water and as I did I heard a confused voice come from Mia.

[Why are you not running? You need momentum to pass safely!]

Her voice started out calmly and went to a shrill as I approached the water.

[You! Are you mad---]

Her voice got cut off only with a feeling of weakness and loss as I stepped over the flowing water. I easily crossed it, turned around, and crossed it again.

[Was that enough for your experiment?] I asked, but I could see that I had drained the life out of her.

Then that fear quickly turned into anger.