"Bahrot, you seem to have a guest." I heard. I looked at the Priest who entered the room.

"A guest?" I asked.

The Priest nodded. "He has something that belongs to you, a magic device that shows a picture of your mother, he said."

"Did he identify himself?" I asked.

"He said his name is Cier."

I got up and followed the Priest to the Temple entrance. Cier stood at the doors with all of the calm grace that one would expect from him.

"I didn't expect you here." I said.

"I have business for my Lady." He said. "She asked that I bring this to you, as it would not be right to hold it when it holds no value to us." He handed me my smartphone, I understood when I saw the picture of my mother that this was a formality so that I could have it. "I would also be lying if I said there was no other purpose to my being here. Are you being treated well?"

"Yes." I said. "It's calm here, and the Priests are kind."

"I am glad to hear." He said. "Of course, you are always welcome to return. My Lady does miss the conversations you had with her at dinnertime."

He likely didn't know about the fear and doubts I'd had regarding Lissana hosting me at her home.

"I am glad to hear that." I said. There was little I could say that wouldn't immediately have him leave, whether by ending the conversation, and thus him having little reason to be here, or by making his being here pointless. "I will pray for her continued health, would you, as her head of staff, wish to join me in this prayer?"

He nodded. "To pray in a Temple is to be closer to a God." He said.

I looked at the Priests. "Is right here fine, or would we be in the way?"

The Priest closest to me said, "You may bring him to a prayer room, if you feel you are in the way of cleaning duties."

I nodded, and gesturing to Cier, I led him to a prayer room. "These rooms as magically muffled." I said after I shut the door behind us, "Prayer can be a private drawn out affair, and in cases where someone needs to have a painful curse removed, their screams will not disturb others." I looked at him. "You look like you have a lot to say."

"As do you." He replied. "You seem heavily conflicted, as though you are at war with yourself."

"I am, in a way." I admitted. "Before I came here, I never really prayed, and yet, I find myself doing it more often than not. And the more I look around, the more I find that I might not want to leave." I glanced away. "And there was a point where I felt like Lady Lissana had used this as a pretext to get rid of me, and I was strangely okay with that after a while."

"You were cornered into a situation where this was the only reasonable response." Cier said. "And my Lady is sorry that she could not give you an out. Her position is delicate, how she is seen by her peers and the commonfolk often bind what decisions she can make."

"A slave to public relations." I remarked.

"That is a colorful way to put it, and not inaccurate." He remarked. "My being here is primarily to ensure you are treated well."

"Basha knows about my resistance to magic." I said. "But I am not being forced to stay, and he has decided to keep it somewhat secret, though I doubt I could keep it secret for long. He seems to genuinely care, and I respect him for that."

Cier nodded. "I am glad." He said. "I want you to know that my Lady, nor anyone else, will force you to follow a strict path. If you were to decide your place is here, she will understand, and she will pray that you are happy."

I relaxed.

"Shall we pray, then?" I asked.

He nodded and we knelt.

"Bahamut, Cleansing Flame, we ask that Lady Lissana continue to have good health, and that her faith be strengthened." I spoke.

"Unsala." He finished. "An interesting prayer." He added to me. "I will be in the city for some time, if you wish to return, I will be staying at the Silver Fox Inn, the innkeeper will know to expect you." I led him out of the room, and after he made the gesture associated with religious respect toward Priests, he left.

I returned to what I had been doing, which had been meditating on the nature of Bahamut. I passed by Richt, who was dressed differently. "What are you wearing?" I asked.

"These are the vestments of the Initiate." He said. "I spoke with the Archdrake, and he agreed that I did have a duty beyond the Temple, but that I did not necessarily need to give up my claim to serve the Temple." He smiled. "So I will continue my spiritual training, until I am a Priest."

The Initiate's vestments weren't much different from an Acolyte's. It seemed more form-fitting, similar to the cursed gloves I'd once worn, and with further accents to the cloth.

"Is it much different?" I asked.

"Yes." He said. "The vestments have a curse on them to prevent removal, I was told the proper way to advance to the rank of Deacon is to be able to remove the curse by yourself."

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I nodded. It was a direct application of the 'Healer, heal thyself' adage, and it was a more permanent sign of staying with the Temple.

"I can't wait until I have my own." I blurted. It shocked me, I'd basically stated I was staying. And yet, the moment I'd said it, I realized that was what I wanted.

"Then I am glad and will greet you as brother on the third day." He said.

My mind was still reeling from the realization, and I could not stop thinking about what I'd said well past dinner.

"Something is on your mind." Basha said after our session.

"I spoke with Initiate Richt." I said. "I told him I couldn't wait until I was wearing the same vestments as he was."

"You wish to stay with the Temple?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said. "There is one problem, though."

"What is it?" He asked.

"If I put a cursed item on myself, I can easily take it off. But, it someone else puts it on me, it will affect me just as it would anyone else." I looked at him. "Would you be willing to put the vestments on me, so that I would ensure I am doing it correctly?"

He nodded. "I will do so." He said.

I was happy, and when I dreamed, I dreamed of wearing the Initiate's vestments proudly.

The third day was spent in anticipation for my rising to the rank of Initiate. Basha spent the day with me, teaching me more of the basics of the faith, and what to expect. "You will be training in the art of channeling Bahamut's divine will, acting as a conduit for healing magic. As your Contract will be over, you will be allowed to leave the Temple so that you can do good deeds in the name of Bahamut, and you will be allowed to attempt to create minor miracles such as cleansing dirty water and healing minor wounds."

He taught me the rudiments, which was essentially praying while channeling divine power. I could channel energy with no issue, but finding the divine spark within myself was difficult.

"You will learn in time." He said.

Attempting to find the Divine spark was an all-day affair, and he told me not to be discouraged, as many had trouble as well.

"It is time." He said as I felt the Contract break. "Now is your last chance to leave, if you so desire."

"I am ready." I said.

I stripped naked, and he dressed me in the vestments of the Initiate. I gave the cowl of the vestments an experimental tug just to make sure it actually worked, which it did. As I did this, Basha presented me with a pendant.

"This is the holy sigil of Bahamut." He said. "It is your first defense against Fel beings. So long as you are of strong faith, Fiends, Undead, and other Fel beings will recoil at the sight of it." I took it reverently and put it around my neck.

"I pray that I will one day be able to fend off any Fel being, and that I may never need to." I said.

He nodded and led me through the Temple to a large room I'd never been in before, yet felt strangely familiar. There were two other Acolytes with me, both already wearing the vestments of the Initiate. The Archdrake was already waiting for us.

"This is the last one?" He asked.

"Yes, Archdrake." Basha said.

"Good, then I can begin the ceremony." He first walked up to Basha and took his hands in his own, Basha smiled. He then walked to an Acolyte and did the same, then the next, then he stood in front of me. I held my hands out and he grasped them firmly. I smiled at the warmth of his presence, I was ready to devote myself to the Temple, I was ready to leave Earth behind, because I was finally home. There was nothing that I cared for, my father was an abusive asshole, my elder brother was a useless addict, my younger brother was an arrogant prick...

"Thus placated." The Archdrake muttered as he approached the first Acolyte. Light surrounded the Acolyte before flowing into the Archdrake.

My former home had been a mess, and it would only worsen with my being gone. This place was clean, immaculate, I finally had a family that actually cared to not make a mess.

The Archdrake approached the second one, and the same happened. The Acolyte seemed to sing.

There was nobody I truly loved, not my father, not my brothers, not my-

'I love you, Ryan...'

I furrowed my brow, my smile faltered. Whose voice was this in my mind? How did it know my... my... What was that word?

'I would never let any of you kids go without a home...'

He was screaming. It wasn't a song, and he was screaming. The light that the Archdrake was absorbing, it was painful to have it be siphoned off. The Archdrake then approached me, his eyes a pale gold, his mouth in a self-satisfied smirk that widened into a fanged grin.

'My name is Ryan.' I realized. 'And the Archdrake is some sort of vampire.' He reached for me, his fingernails as long as talons. I saw past the glamour, I saw past the mirage of a youthful Aelfan, but of an ancient man who was slowly becoming less old.

I stepped away, much to his surprise, and I held out the holy sigil of Bahamut.

"So." He said. "You are resistant to magic." His satisfied smirk had fallen, I now stared into the eyes of an unamused predator. "And yet, you are so naïve to think that artificially inflated faith is enough to harm a Faith Vampire, especially one who is immune to the power of Bahamut."

I felt the strong faith that I'd felt growing ever since I'd left Lissana's home dissipate, like coming down from a persistent high, there was no yawning void except for what had always been there.

"Such fragile faith, so easily shattered by a simple truth." He said. "I think I will enjoy toying with you."

He approached me and lifted me up by my neck before throwing me against the wall. I let out a loud grunt as pain rocked my body. It had happened so fast, I was surprised I wasn't dead. I hit the ground, my smartphone fell out of my pocket and clattered against the floor, the back fell off, the battery slid out of reach, but the phone itself remained undamaged.

"I do not often have the pleasure to boast, though I twist the minds of mortals to my whim, unnecessary exposition tends to stick around as nightmares. It becomes annoying to remove memories, but knowing one is cognizant enough to feel terror..." He chuckled. "Broken faith is so much sweeter to taste."

He walked over to the battery and kicked it into my face. The impact stung, but the battery was not damaged.

"I am a Faith Vampire, mortal, and I have been feeding on the faith of the followers of Bahamut for generations." He mockingly posed as if in prayer. "To the masses, I am simply the fervently faithful Archdrake."

I picked up the battery and the phone. My mind was clear now that it wasn't clogged with prayers. I slipped the battery in silently and held the button down to turn it on. If I could play a loud, jarring song, I could potentially have the others snap out of their trances. Since I typically kept the volume completely down on my phone, it made no noise as it booted up.

"I infiltrated this Temple, seeking consistent nourishment." He smiled and opened his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling. "I twisted the doctrine of the faithful to suit my needs, slowly, carefully, until they became so ineffective, not even the most faithful could stand against me."

I tried to swipe at my phone's screen with my thumb, but the material for the vestments prevented my doing anything. I stuck my tongue out and used it to navigate to the music app. I carefully navigated to the most loud and obnoxious song I could find on my phone, one that was only on it because I had to desensitize myself to it as a result of Alex betting me twenty bucks I couldn't listen to it on loop for two hours.

"I am strong." He said. "Powerful enough that not even the Dragon God could scourge me from this world."

I turned the volume up to max and braced myself.

"I will enjoy tearing you-"

A loud death metal screech emanated from my phone, the Archdrake reeled back, he covered his ears and bared his fangs in what I could only guess to be a stereotypical hiss. Basha and the Acolytes seemed to snap out of their trance, and I quickly turned the song off.

"The Archdrake is a Faith Vampire!" I shouted.

The Archdrake narrowed his eyes. "You've only increased the amount of effort I will need to spend. Do you know how hard it is to make such a plentiful source of food available?"

Judging from Basha's expression, this revelation was as shocking as it was terrifying, he actually seemed to be shaking where he stood. The Acolytes passed out.

Time froze and I could see the Archdrake getting ready to swipe at me with his talons. I dodged to the right, just narrowly dodging what was clearly an effort to tear my throat out. He looked shocked, and I tapped the play button on my phone again with my tongue. He covered his ears and glared at me with hatred.

Time froze again, and instead of wasting time to react to an attack, I tried to consider my strategy. Based on his bragging, it was clear that invoking the wrath of Bahamut wasn't going to do shit, apparently because his food source granted him immunity to that sort of faith. But, did that mean other kinds of faith would work just as well?

I dodged back, avoiding a relatively sluggish swipe at my head. It seemed loud sounds like death metal music hurt his ears. Time froze again. If other kinds of faith worked, then someone with sufficient faith in a different deity would work.

'So long as you are of strong faith, Fiends, Undead, and other Fel beings will recoil at the sight of it.' I had no other holy sigils on me, and there were not likely to be any in a Faith Vampire controlled Temple. Making the sign of the Cross would be useless since I wasn't a Christian...

'There's only one thing I have faith in...'

I suddenly had an idea...