I dodged back again, just in time for Basha to come rushing in, punching the Archdrake in the face. The Archdrake was flung away. "Ancestors forgive me the violence I commit." He said.

The Lacertian Racial Talent of Feral Might, seeing it in action was terrifying, especially since Basha wasn't necessarily the kind of person I expected to train their body like Nash did. The Archdrake struck him, and Basha tanked the blow with little effort. He roared and began to beat the Archdrake heavily. I spotted the back of my phone nearby and picked it up and slapped it into place so I didn't have to worry about the battery falling out of my phone.

I recalled a small tidbit I'd found out by accident, and I realized I didn't need my tongue to use my phone. I gathered saliva in my mouth and put my little finger in my mouth, saturating the finger with spit. I then used it to more easily navigate my phone. I tapped the home button and accessed my camera. I scrolled through pictures until I found the one I was looking for. At that moment, Basha was flung backwards, the Archdrake none the worse for wear.

"Borrowed strength is not enough." He said as he strode toward me. He raised his taloned hand, and I showed him the picture of my Mom.

"The power of a mother's love compels you!" I shouted, and to my eternal relief, he actually recoiled. "It is not merely one's faith in a deity that binds you." I said. "Any symbol that inspires great faith is enough. The unconditional love of a mother is greater than any God or Demon."

I pushed the Archdrake further and further back, until I had him cornered.

"I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that for as long as my mother loves me, that I will always have a home to return to, even if I should be trapped on this goddamn world for years. So die, monster, you do not belong in this world!"

Though pinned, he smirked.

"Then it would be a simple matter of killing you, Human." He said. "Faith is finite, you must be getting tired." I was beginning to feel exhausted, I could feel the energy of my body being spent. "The moment you are unable to bind me, I will kill you, and I will ensure I find your mother, and I will ensure that she has your head. I will drag your rotting corpse before her, and I will relish in her screams."

My exhausted arm fell, and he grabbed me by the throat. "And once I have finished feeding from her despair, I will violate her, nightly, until she dies of exhaustion and pain."

I felt pain as an icy cold tendril penetrated my mind. I saw an image of my mother smiling, and then I saw him grabbing her, and pinning her to the ground, and I saw red.

I swatted his hand aside, much to his surprise, and I tackled him while he was off balance. I knocked him to the floor and I punched his face. I punched again and again, and I felt liberated as I finally was able to punch something for once, something that actually deserved it. I screamed in rage as I grabbed his head and smashed it into the floor again and again. The tile beneath broke and I grabbed it and I plunged it into his chest again and again and again. He slowly began to crumble to dust as he looked at me in horror.

"No Human should move that fast." He said before he crumbled to nothing.

I felt pain all over my body and I collapsed. The world darkened before it faded to black...

I opened my eyes and found myself naked in a bright room. I tried to cover my head with a blanket, but there was no blanket. I blinked several times, and then I saw the Priest I'd met in the Focus Crystal room. He was smiling, beaming, as if he'd gotten the best news in the world. Or laid.

"An echo is easily heard, but difficult to recall, but an echo can be heard, if there is noise to create it." He said. "It seems I was unable to adequately warn you, Elian Furtael is- well, was- nothing if not thorough."

I sat up and covered my naked crotch as best I could, I was suddenly dressed in the clothing of an Initiate and I uncovered myself.

"Where am I?" I asked.

The Priest smirked before he suddenly exploded. Where he had stood now stood a large dragon with glittering platinum scales, his eyes as blue as the sky. "My Domain." Bahamut's voice boomed. "I am pleased with your results, unconventional though they are."

I blinked. "I'm sorry?" I asked.

He chuckled. "I tend to not be so overt in my dealings with Mortals, yet you, disbelieving, clutching desperately, chose instead of reverent platitudes to simply, well, speak to me in prayer, I had to know whether or not you could be the one to challenge the one who infiltrated my faithful." He shimmered brightly, and I had to cover my eyes.

"And so, I visited you under mortal guise." I lowered my arm and saw him in the form of the Priest. "And when I deemed you had some degree of wavering faith, I spoke to you in a dream, and yet, even that was countered by Elian's machinations. Faith Vampires are a grave nuisance, they feed from the faithful, artificially enhance their faith so they have more to give for feeding. It was my fault the situation grew so out of hand, as I had taken pity on a newly made Vampire."

"And you couldn't deal with the situation on your own." I remarked.

Bahamut nodded. "Pride was his downfall, he believed himself so in control, he indulged in needless cruelty and boasting. He gave you every opening to destroy him, and you did." He looked out the window, and I looked as well. I could see dragons and dragon-like men on a vast, fertile land. "Had I attempted to face him myself, he would have been in a position to usurp my position."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"So, I was a pawn to you?" I asked.

"Yes." He said. "You were a convenience, I wish I could say I chose you as my champion, but you would not have been able to defeat Elian. You were simply an outside context solution to an outside context problem. But, that does not mean I will not reward you for your effort, your service, and your faith, fledgling as it was."

"Can you remove the curse that prevents me from speaking my name?" I asked.

"Were I capable, I would." He said. "But alas, your resistance to magic, even the divine, makes even that troublesome. I would likely need to keep you here longer than you can live to remove it, and at that point, what would be the point?"

"Can't you use your holy power to circumvent it?" I asked.

"You Humans have a knack for refusing fate, to reject a set destiny. I cannot. But, I can offer you much. I can grant you a proxy by which you could cast divine magic, a means to circumvent your own natural inability to use magic; or I could grant you protection within my Temples."

"Could you just remove the vestments I'm wearing?" I asked. "I put them on under false pretenses and if I can't remove them on my own, then I'd be stuck wearing them for the rest of my life."

"I can grant you this." He said. "But it is not a boon, so much a rectifying of an injustice."

"Then a future favor." I said. "If I ever find myself in great need, I could pray and ask that you do something for me that I cannot do myself, as long as it doesn't clash with your morals."

"I can do this." He said.

I stood up and held my hand out, he shook it. When I let go, I looked around. "I, uh, kinda expected I'd wake up after that." I said.

"You are completely unconscious." He said. "And you will remain here until you regain consciousness. Consider it part of your reward, to stand in my Domain as a guest."

I noted the walls were silver and very reflective. I looked at my reflection and admired how I actually looked good in the vestments. The more I stared, the less I actually wanted to remove them.

"Be mindful." He said. "The more you accept a curse, the more it will affect you." He moved my head to look at him. "This is a curse forged by a Vampire who wants you to be trapped, what you feel is little more than his lingering influence."

I nodded, and my clothing changed to the casual clothing Lissana had given me. The lingering feeling caused by the vestments faded.

"You are lucky." Bahamut stated. "To always have some place to return to, no matter what."

"Yeah." I said. "I am..."

I awoke in a large room. I blinked twice before looking around. The room was unfamiliar, but was adorned with the holy sigil of Bahamut. I was still dressed in the vestments of an Initiate, which made sense considering their cursed nature.

I held my hand to my head and grunted, I didn't remember much from the point after I killed the Archdrake, nor could I recall any dreams I had while unconscious. I sat up, ignoring the pain I felt, and took a moment to take a deep breath. Slowly inward, to the point of pain, before I let it go. The pain wasn't excruciating, rather, it was strangely muted.

I reached up and grabbed the cowl and tried to pull it off, I was surprised when it came off with little issue. I thoughtlessly slipped it back on and stood up. I walked over to a large window that was open, a fresh summer breeze blowing in gently. I noted a mirror and looked at it. I touched my chest and realized that, even though the circumstances behind me wearing them was likely a result of the Archdrake's machinations, I enjoyed wearing them. The more I stared, the more I felt like it would be a good idea to stay. I yanked the cowl off again, and the steadily intensifying feeling faded.

I undressed and wrapped myself up in one of the blankets on the bed. I stared out the window and gathered my thoughts. I heard the only door into the room open and I looked to see Cier enter the room with Basha behind him. My eyes locked with Basha's momentarily before he looked away.

"I heard you were able to kill a Faith Vampire." Cier remarked. "You seemed so fervent, so willing, yet when it came down to it, you alone were the one capable of holding it off, with faith in the love of a mother at that." He smiled.

"I almost didn't realize." I said. "Any longer and..." I looked back out the window. "I don't really know how, but I know that the only reason why he was able to get to the position he was in was because Bahamut took pity on him."

"You are certain?" Cier asked.

"It's the only thing that would make sense." I replied. "He took advantage of a God's kindness, manipulated people, and twisted doctrine to consolidate power and to make controlling everyone easier." I looked at Basha. "'May his faith be deepened.' It was nothing more than taking a fledgling spark and amplifying it to the point where even the less faithful are capable of feeling religious fervor. A means to make anyone prime fodder for his meals."

"I did nothing." Basha said. "It is my failing that-"

"Shut up." I said, he looked at me, startled. "You are as much a victim of his power as I am, if anything, you're lucky you brought me when you did, and you're lucky that I'm resistant to magic. He took advantage of artificially expanded faith, used his power to pacify anyone and everyone, and misjudged me because you were respectful enough to keep my talent a secret. If you had told him, if he'd had any inkling of what to expect, he'd still be alive, and we would be none the wiser. Hell, he'd probably have taken advantage of me and made me agree to never attack him."

"It did not feel morally right to betray your trust like that." He said. "I wanted you to stay. By Bahamut, I am a fool..." He hung his head in shame. "I do not deserve to be Archdrake, I do not deserve-"

I stepped forward and shouted, "Shut up!" He looked at me again. "'It's all my fault'. 'If I had done something different, things would be better', 'If I just did what I was told, we wouldn't be in this mess'. These are excuses, self-blame as a result of manipulative assholes like him controlling people and making them feel guilty when there was nothing they really could have done."

"I am not blameless." He said.

"Who the hell is?" I asked. "I lied to your face and you decided to forgive me instead of condemn me. Does that mean anything? Does it really mean anything when you think about it? We make mistakes, we do stupid shit, but that doesn't mean we're evil, it doesn't mean we're incapable of fixing our mistakes." As I said this, Cier approached with a bundle of clothes and held it out at me wordlessly. I took it and pulled on a pair of pants. As I did this, I continued. "You will be the next Archdrake, not because of any fancy bloodline or false faith, but because you are a genuinely kind-hearted individual who, when faced with the unknown, sought to understand it before passing judgment. You recognized that I knew something you did not, and you allowed me to teach you, and you recognized the merit of what I taught. If anyone can fix the damage done, if anyone can be of strong enough faith to recognize what is right and wrong with the teachings of your faith, it's you."

He didn't respond, he merely looked away.

"Basha, I went by the name of Bahrot while I was here, I respected you enough to use that name, because I understood that you are genuine. This isn't a popularity contest, and you know this. You worked as hard as you could under less than ideal conditions and you did it because you are that good of a person." I finished putting on the rest of the clothes and approached him. "Think, if there was anything you wanted to do as Archdrake, anything you thought was vital, what would you do?"

"I would... I would have it so the masses may own a copy of Bahamut's holy text." He said. "So they may learn if they are willing, rather than have the words spoken at them." He looked at me. "I have seen false Priests twist His holy words for their own benefit, and I believe this is a reasonable way to ensure that the masses can at least recognize when such are liars."

"That's an excellent idea." I said. "I guarantee you, the Vampire would have made the masses remain ignorant, even reliant on the Temple. He was already beginning the process to consolidate power, taking in the children of the nobility. I have no doubt, given time, he would have killed all but those in the Priesthood, and eventually make it so he was the one in charge."

"Why are you so adamant that I am not at fault?" He asked.

"Because I know better." I said. "I don't need to be a Priest to see that."

"I will meditate on your words." He said.

"Would you be willing to have one more meditate with you?" I asked.

"You are staying?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No. I'm not the priestly type, but I can't leave yet, there's a lot of Initiates with cursed vestments that may be resistant to change, or may even be forced to want to remain. The least I can do is help get that mess figured out."

He nodded. "Then I will welcome your help." He said...