--Eira POV--
We are now somewhere on the 2nd floor of the hospital. After we finished off those few soldiers, we gathered the Senator and Aponi and slowly moved two more floors down. I made my vampires remove enough bulletproof vests for them and Aponi, so they could start wearing some. Their original ones were left at Congressman Miles’s house.
Eventually, we managed to find two rooms that seem to be used for storing extra material for the camp. They were locked, but Sam managed to pick it as apparently Aponi taught him how. I was just going to break it, but I guess picking it is less conspicuous.
After that, I sent Terry, Sam, and Jimmy to continually get the soldiers to search for us in other locations. Breaking something, firing bullets, and whatever else was necessary to draw their attention. This also woke up a lot of people in the camp, and they started checking on the commotion. Ultimately, things just got too crowded and too confusing, and the soldiers were called back to fight the Crawlers supposedly because they were acting strangely last night.
It took a while, but I was also able to get in contact with Annie, who told me what happened in the morgue, and I was relieved to know Eden escaped, although without her sword. As of now, excluding the people with rings, I am unsure of everyone else's location.
‘Maybe, I should have given Eden a ring as well. I didn’t want to waste one since it wasn’t really necessary for her to have one, and I only have so many, but maybe that was a mistake.’
I did check the throne for her location, and it just told me she was somewhere in “Central Anchorage,” which is only slightly helpful. Interestingly, it also told me Bryan was in “Central Anchorage,” I’m surprised it still tracks his location despite him being a heretic. Additionally, I was surprised to see my follower list had grown to a little over a hundred. Although, almost all of them excluding around five were ‘skeptical believer’. The other five were just ‘believer’ and speaking, of which all the Vampires are also at the ‘believer’ stage now. Anyway, the skeptical believers probably just need more services with Eden; hopefully, we get that chance in the near future.
Glancing over, I can see Aponi is still unconscious but she should wake up soon. The Senator, on the other hand, is still completely out of it, which leads me to wonder how potent that blue serum was. Outside the window of the room, the sun is peeking out over the horizon.
‘Finally, the days are getting shorter and shorter. Anyway, it's time for us to hide out somewhere else. We can’t go back to the morgue, obviously.’
Standing up and turning to the others, I speak, “Come on. We’re going to find somewhere to hide in the camp for a while.”
Removing some clothes from my ring, Jimmy, Sam, and Terry take a set. Pointing to the old Senator, I look at Sam, “You’re going to change the old man’s outfit. I’ll change Aponi’s.”
Sam glances at the Senator and back at me, “...Can we trade?”
“Only if you can do it without a head, then sure,” I answer.
“N-No, I don’t think I would be able to do that.” Sam stutters.
So tossing Sam another set of clothes, I pick up Aponi and enter the closet next door. My face burns hot the whole time, but again seeing Aponi so beat up, I quickly suppress any sentiments. On Aponi, I put a pair of winter jeans, a black short-sleeve shirt, and a winter jacket; all things I took from Congressman Mile’s house a long time ago. Unfortunately, nothing there would fit me, but I’ve gotten used to dresses by now anyway.
‘Well, I should change too.’
Turning away from Aponi, I take out a full-skirt purple dress, a pair of white stockings, a new purple hoodie, and new underwear. The purple dress runs past my knees and has a big black bow around the waist and little white dots lining the hem.
‘Wish I had something somewhat less conspicuous, but I’m running out of dresses.’
Stripping my clothing away, I store it in the ring for later disposal. I remove my panties and bend over to place a new pair on.
“...Eira, what are you doing?”
My eyes go wide, and I slowly turn my head behind to find Aponi sitting up and staring at me. At the realization of our situation, her eyes also grow large. My pale white skin turns red in an instant, and Aponi looks at me pitifully before turning her head away.
“E-Eira, could you, uh, maybe put your underwear on and stand up. I’ve been in the military for a while, so it’s not the first time I’ve seen another girl nude, but it is the first time they’ve been this close to me in a position like that.”
Suppressing my desire to drop a dozen blood bombs right now to end it all, I pull my panties up, put on my bra, and slip on the dress in record timing and turn to Aponi.
“...If you ever tell anyone what you saw, this world will burn.”
“Eira, there’s no need to be so dramatic. By the way, how long ago did you get that big tattoo on your back?” Aponi asks. “W-wait, did you change my clothes?”
I ignore Aponi’s second question, “Tattoo? Oh, and yeah, I did, so now we’re even, I guess. What’s the tattoo look like?”
“I-I…” Aponi sighs, “Yeah, it looks like two huge bloody wings were tattooed onto your back. Though, they only look around half-finished, so that’s why I was curious.”
‘...Status.’
Name: Eira Callista
Gender: Female
Race: Vampire {Infant True God}
Level: 5 (0/100)
Health: 300/350
Mana: 81/200 {0/100 Max Shielding}
Strength: 20
Endurance: 22
Agility: 24
Intellect: 20
Constitution: 35
Talents: Paranormal
Skills: Intermediate Blood Magic; Novice Scythe; Novice Shadow Magic
Titles: Goddess of Blood (Infant); Human Hunter (Lesser)
Essence: 327
‘My Title and race designation changed? When?’
[Host, the Title 'Heir of Blood' changed to 'Goddess of Blood (Infant)' while the host was in the tutorial. It likely occurred when the Host was burning in the lava.]
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‘Oh.’ thinking back, my body begins to sweat. ‘Well, let’s not dwell on that for long. By the way, calling you system won’t do anymore, so I’m going to call you Eggs from now on.’
[This system does not recognize nor approve the name… Eggs.]
‘What about Ego? If not then I’m going with Eggs’
[Ego? Did the Host purposely use a terrible name to make the alternative sound better than it is?]
‘Of course, I didn’t, but it looks like Ego will work just fine. Now
[...]
{Title Name: Infant Goddess of Blood
Details: Having managed to solidify your position as the Goddess’s heir by bringing in over 100 believers of any level, the one who holds this Title is recognized as an infant True God. Although still pseudo in a way, due to lack of power and only possessing a physical body, the bearer technically holds the requirements of at least 100 followers and a god space. However, it will be a long time before this infant learns to walk. Note: This Title allows access to ‘Callista’s Bloody Wings’, but the possessor of the Title is currently too weak to manifest them in a physical form and additionally has not completed the ‘Unhealable Wound’ ritual.}
‘This is unexpected. I’ve never heard of an Infant True God, but it’s also unheard of for someone who isn’t a True God to have access to a god space. I also didn’t know about the 100 follower thing; maybe because it’s such a low number? I thought I was a Pseudo True God because of my power, not because of followers. So am I slipping through on a technicality? And the tattoo on my back is the wings, but my stats are too low? Which ones, all of them or just one specifically? I remember the ritual though; mostly how painful it seemed to be.’
[The Host was only able to inherit and access the god space because of this system.]
‘Ah, so it’s because of Ego. I assumed it was something in Callista’s spell… Has something like this ever happened before, Ego?’
[...]
‘Ego? Answer me, please. I know you understand that I am speaking to you.’
[No, usually a god or goddess would use the ‘Divinity’s Last Rites’ which collapses the old god space and allows them to be reborn in a mostly intact way. It could be thought of as a form of rebirth or reincarnation, a second chance. Callista was different however, she gave rise to a new individual. It is better to say you are the child of Callista and the human ‘Robert’ rather than Callista reborn.]
‘I don’t know the command ‘Divinity’s Last Rites’, but if it exists why would she not have used it instead?’
[This system… this Ego does not know.]
I smirk at Ego, acknowledging its new name, ‘I should level when I get the chance, but for now, I’m getting distracted.’
“Aponi, no need to thank me for saving your life, just like I said, forget what happened here. Also, if you can walk, we need to get going before they find us again. I’ll be in the next room with the others.”
Aponi blinks, “You saved my life?”
I pretend to have not heard that and instead leave to find Sam, Terry, and Jimmy in the next room with frowns. The Senator seems to be there with fresh new clothing, so I’m confused by their expressions.
Looking at the three questionably, Terry just says, “Don’t ask.”
“Whatever, I don’t have the mental strength to care right now,” I respond.
Outside I can hear the people who have been asleep in the other rooms begin to stir and walk around. The halls become crowded, and everyone acts as if everything is normal. It’s a very odd atmosphere given the situation and recent events, to be honest.
A moment later, Aponi walks in, and I begin to speak to everyone, “We are going to split up and cut through the hospital. Each of us will sneak out alone. Then each of us is going to find and stay with a different person. Their names are…”
I give them each a name, and tell them I don’t actually know where they are specifically, they’ll just have to ask around. It’s morning now, so they should have all day.
“Sam, hang on to the Senator for a while longer, if he wakes up contact me.”
“Do I have to? He’s got the old man smell and…” Terry punches Sam’s shoulder, “...Whatever I’ll take him.” Sam says.
“If whatever you guys are hiding comes back to bite us, there’ll be hell to pay, I promise…”
“No, it's nothing like that,” Jimmy says.
“Better not be, I’ve got enough to worry about. Anyway, if anyone runs into trouble, just contact everyone else through the ring, and we’ll come to you. While you are out in the camp, if you find Eden, Audrey, the Staff Captain, or the Tremble streamers, contact and send them to me. If you find anyone else that was in the morgue with us, contact me and don’t go near them. Aponi, you stay with me in case your wounds haven’t healed completely.”
Aponi nods, and everyone pulls up their hoods. Since Aponi is with me, I decide not to use my top hat, not because I don’t trust Aponi; it is just that having some hidden cards is never a bad idea. With the people gathered and waking for breakfast it is surprisingly easy to exit through a back door without being caught. The only thing that we have to keep an eye out for is anyone checking heat signatures.
Once outside, Aponi and I stop for a while to make sure no one contacts us before we both start asking around for our people.
‘The one I am looking for is the old lady Hillary. I remember her saying she was near the food carts.’
This is one of the few times I’ve come out to the camp, and it really reminds me of a mix between a prison and a post-apocalyptic movie. Most people are walking around with their breakfast, which seems to be nothing more than a biscuit and baked beans suggesting food may be pretty limited. I listen in on the conversations being had all around me to see if while I search I can also gain information.
“Hey, Bill, how’d you sleep?”
“Ah, I slept okay, I guess. As good as I can in a freezing cold tent.”
“Yeah, same here, but did you hear what the people that slept in the hospital said?”
“No, what happened?”
“Apparently, there was some crazy stuff going on in there. Lots of gunshots and screaming. They think that a Crawler may have gotten into the building. No ones really sure, though.”
“In the building!? What is the army doing!?”
“Yeah, I don’t know, man. Oh, and speaking of the Crawlers, I heard they just suddenly stopped attacking last night all at once.”
“What?”
“Yeah, as if in sync, they all just stopped. Even if they were being shot, they all just stopped at once. Then a few seconds later, all of them turned around and just left.”
“I-I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.”
“Yeah, me either. Anyway, I heard your family is going to be allowed to leave today, so… screw you.”
The two laugh and walk off together.
‘The Crawlers just left? Yeah, that’s not a good sign. I still haven’t figured out what the Tar Demon did to them, but right about now, they were supposed to start dying from mana poisoning. That was the whole reason I decided to use them.’
Shaking my thoughts away as yet another thing to be concerned about, I continue to look around. Finally, I find who I’m looking for. Slipping into a porta-potty, I tap the flower on my head, and it changes back into the top hat. Injecting some mana, I leave, and quickly spot the old lady I’m looking for.
I walk up to her, “Hey, Granny, it’s me!” I shout as cute as I can manage.
Hillary or Granny looks surprised, “Granny? Uh, hello, sweetie, do I know you?”
“Yes, Granny, remember you said you liked my blond hair and told me to come to visit you sometime.”
“I? Oh, now I see it! Gosh, I don’t know what’s wrong with my old mind.”
“That’s right, Granny! Uhm, Granny, can I tell you something?”
“Sure, dear, you can tell me anything… although I prefer you to call me Hillary and not Granny.”
“Okay, Granny, but it's a secret, so come closer.”
Granny looks defeated and lowers herself bringing her ear close.
“The Goddess of Blood wishes for us to stay together for a while.” Granny shoots up, and I smile innocently, “That’s right, Granny. I’m a believer too.”