I sleep like the dead.

Sleep, like eating and other crucial things in my life, weren't necessary when I was Bahamut's prisoner. The hay in the loft isn't as good as my bed back home, but it's better than nothing. I roll over on my back as I'm waking up, then I feel something moving beside me. I pull away, then remember I fell asleep next to Melanie.

"Hello, master," she says, stretching her arms and rolling over.

"Not anymore," I mutter. "Only for the night, remember? The sun's almost up."

"I won't tell if you don't," she purrs, moving closer and running a hand down my side.

"That wasn't part of the agreement," I say, catching her hand and pushing it away. "I was owed a hot meal and a night with you. I got it. I have to be on my way."

"Really?" she pouts, looking up at me. "You're not like most men I've met. You seemed to care about how it felt for me as much as how it felt for you and it was incredible. I don't always enjoy it. Sometimes it hurts."

"You shouldn't have to do it unless you want to," I mutter, then shake my head.

"What do you mean?" she asks. "I'm a slave."

"How did you become a slave?" I tilt my head curiously.

"I-I was born a slave," she replies, her face indicating she's confused by my question.

"Your mother was a slave?" I raise a brow.

"Yes, my mother and grandmother were both slaves," she answers. "My great-grandmother was born a heathen, but heathens were enslaved after the Eternal War ended. I don't know why I'm telling you this. I'm sure you know more about it than I do. I just know what I've overheard."

"Of course," I bluff, nodding like this is something I'm familiar with. "I bet your great-grandmother believed in prophecies, huh?"

"Prophecies? I don't know," Melanie says. "Why?"

"Doesn't matter," I mutter, handing Melanie her robe and motioning to my cloak. "It's time for me to go."

"I'll help you put it on." Melanie hops up without being asked and drops her robe. I turn and allow her to put my cloak on, then keep my back turned until she's wearing her robe.

"Thank you for spending the night with me, Melanie," I say, giving her a nod.

"You really are an unusual man," she giggles. "Nobody has ever thanked me before. What is your name, anyway?"

"Hank," I say, feeling a twinge of guilt that I never even introduced myself to her. "Hank Nelson. Remember that name. You'll hear it again, one day."

"An unusual name for an unusual man," she says, her face brightening with a smile. "I won't forget you… or your name."

I sigh and climb down the stairs. I'm piecing things together. The so-called heathens must have been the ones who prayed to the gods. They were—the ones I was supposed to save. I wasn't here to do that, so King Malakai won the Eternal War, and enslaved the heathens. If he was completing a ritual to seal this world off from the gods, then the people who prayed to those gods would surely have been his enemy.

But why did it matter what they believed in once the ritual was complete?

It's still mostly dark, but the sun is coming up. The farmer isn't up yet. There's no reason for me to wait around to say goodbye. If I had to plow a field all day to get a hot meal and a place to sleep, I'm sure there won't be any breakfast hospitality unless I'm ready to work again. I can't waste time here, no matter how tempting it is to climb back up in that loft and let my moral compass spin out of control for a few minutes with Melanie.

"You awake?" I ask once I'm a ways down the road.

"I've been awake as long as you have," Bahamut replies, then his voice mimics Melanie's. "You're an unusual man, Hank Nelson. I'll never forget you. The god inside you fucked me so good my life will never be the same!"

"Have you always been an asshole?" I sigh.

"No, I used to be quite timid. I was a shy boy. A good student, though," Bahamut rumbles into my ear.

"What changed?" I mutter, looking up at the sky for a moment and watching a strange three-headed bird fly by.

"I got old," Bahamut chuckles. "And grumpy."

"I guess I can understand that." I nod. "I'm not as happy as I used to be, either."

"Look! Up ahead!" Bahamut says. "That's a wild pig. It doesn't belong to anyone. All you have to do is kill it, and I can teach you how to function without sleep."

I narrow my eyes, and spot the pig. "How did you see that before I did?"

"I can see through your eyes," Bahamut says. "That doesn't mean I have to look at the same thing you're looking at."

"Yeah, alright. Well, how do I kill it?" I size up the beast.

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"It's a pig, not a boar. It doesn't even have tusks," Bahamut chuckles. "Just walk up to it and snap it's neck or something."

This is it. The point of no return. If I do this, and let Bahamut teach me something, then I'm accessing his power. The stronger I am, the stronger he is. There is no doubt in my mind Bahamut intends to somehow permanently take control of me. That's the only endgame that makes sense. But he won't do that when the only thing I can do is stay awake all night.

"Here goes nothing," I mutter, advancing on the wild pig.

The pig bolts as soon as I get close. I break into a sprint and try to keep up, but it ducks into the underbrush. I stomp through the dense foliage, tearing my cloak in the process, and gashing my legs on thorns and broken branches. The pig maneuvers through the underbrush a lot easier than I do and disappears out of sight while I struggle.

"Yeah, I don't think that's going to work," I sigh.

"See, it would have been a lot easier if you killed one of the goats," Bahamut rasps. "They were already corralled."

"I'll find something else," I say angrily, pulling my cloak free from some thorns and stomping back to the road. "What about bugs? Could I gather a bunch of them up and kill them? Would that work?"

"Yes, but it would take a lot of them," Bahamut answers. "It would probably take you a few days to find enough, unless you run into one of the bigger mutated creations, but I doubt you'd survive that, especially if they're aggressive."

"The farmer said there are no monsters this far north," I say, looking around as I start down the road. I've seen things I would call monsters, like the rat-bat-spider, and the three headed bird. I'm guessing the things the people of Elenos consider monsters are a lot scarier.

"Makes sense," Bahamut replies. "The gods conducted most of their experiments on the southern continents, where fewer people would be harmed. I'm sure plenty of the experiments have spread beyond that, though, so we'll both keep our eyes peeled to be safe."

"You mean we'll both keep my eyes peeled," I mutter.

"Exactly," Bahamut chuckles. "Oh look! A dodo bird. That should be easy for you to kill. They can't fly or run very fast."

I pause and look around until I see the dodo bird he mentioned in the grass near the road. The creature is peacefully chirping, walking along the ground and eating some berries. I feel a twinge of guilt when I consider slaughtering it, because it looks rather innocent—and honestly, somewhat adorable.

"Dodo birds are extinct where I came from," I say, carefully walking towards the dodo bird in hopes of not scaring it.

"Really?" Bahamut seems surprised. "They don't really have any predators. Their meat is poisonous if it isn't boiled in sage and venomwart."

"I don't think they were poisonous on my world, but humans kill everything," I sigh. "Like I'm about to do."

The dodo bird continues to chirp while it eats, barely acknowledging my presence, and it doesn't try to flee when I get closer. I try to be swift and merciful. I grab the dodo bird by the neck, swing it, and let go when I hear a crack. The creature lands in the grass and spasms for a few seconds before it stops moving.

"That wasn't enough," Bahamut growls. "You'll need at least one more."

"And you know this how?" I ask.

"Because you didn't level up," Bahamut chuckles. "Trust me, you'll know when that happens."

"I'm going to level up?" My eyebrows raise. "Like a video game?"

"Similar, yes," Bahamut confirms. "Just like I did long ago when I first became an ascended being."

"Am I an ascended being?" I question, looking down at the poor creature I murdered—for no reason, apparently.

"Not exactly, Hank," Bahamut answers. "But you have the unshaped power of an ascended being inside you, so the process is the same. You just get to skip a lot of steps."

"Not the one where I have to kill a dodo bird," I mutter, nudging the bird's lifeless corpse. "Nothing I can do with this? Can't even eat it?"

"Not unless you like puking your guts out, followed by an organ or two," Bahamut chuckles. "If you live that long."

"Well, if there's one dodo bird here, there's probably more," I say, looking around. "You see anything?"

"Smoke on the horizon," Bahamut rasps. "Probably another farm or maybe a camp."

"If I don't find something to eat, I'm going to be plowing another field," I grunt, looking down at the berries the dodo bird was eating. "I wonder if these are safe."

"I wouldn't risk it," Bahamut says. "For all we know the dodo bird was minutes from falling over dead from eating them when you broke it's neck."

"I really need to find a town," I say. "Or somewhere to make some money so I can rent a room and afford a hot meal every night."

"Problems for later," Bahamut rasps. "Let's focus on leveling up."

Bahamut really wants me to level up. That worries me a little. I hope he that isn't what he's waiting for so he can take control of me again. I wouldn't put it past him, but it seems like he would want me to have a decent amount of power first.

"What do you get out of this, exactly?" I question, venturing deeper into the grass and looking around. "You cheated death, but now what? You're just going to live inside me forever?"

"I'd like to, but if you don't level up, you'll die of old age," Bahamut chuckles. "I won't survive that, but your soul will, and it'll be claimed by one of the gods."

"Which means more suffering," I sigh.

"Indeed," Bahamut confirms. "I see another dodo bird. Ahead, by those two trees."

"Got it," I mutter, heading in that direction.

I close in on the creature, but once I do, I notice it isn't alone. There is a line of baby dodo birds following the bigger one.

"Ah, damn, it's a mom," I groan. "I can't kill her. Fuck, I guess I have to."

"The babies won't give you much of a reward, but you might as well kill them anyway. Everything adds up," Bahamut says. "The babies won't survive after you kill their mom, so there's no reason to leave them behind."

I look around, hoping to see something else I can kill, but the dodo bird family seems to be alone. The one I killed was probably the dad—they don't know he isn't coming home. I sigh deeply and walk closer, listening to the gentle chirping for a moment before reaching down.

"I'm sorry!" I say, snatching the mother bird up and breaking her neck with a quick swing. The babies panic and start running in every direction.

"Stomp them!" Bahamut urges. "You're so close! One or two of them should do it!"

I mutter my apologies as I chase down one of the babies and grind it beneath my heel. The sickening crunch doesn't make me happy, but I shake it off, and kill another one.

"I-I feel something," I say, stopping in my tracks.

"Yes, you'll feel it growing for a moment," Bahamut replies. "Once that feeling passes, trace the mark on your arm."

The feeling is similar to a buzz, like I used to get when I only drank a couple beers every night. It's peaceful and gentle, but intensifies as it sweeps through me. Then the feeling passes, and I look down at my arm. I place a finger at the top and trace the outline. As soon as my finger reaches the top again, the mark glows and my vision gets distorted.

"What's happening!?" I ask, trying to blink my eyes back into focus.

"You'll see. Just wait," Bahamut answers. "You're in no danger. I'm keeping an eye out."

The distortion in my vision changes and suddenly I'm looking at some kind of interface. Words blink in front of me.

Name: Henry "Hank Nelson" Price

You have leveled up!

You have 1 Power Point and 1 Perk Point to spend.

Choose carefully, because your choices cannot be changed once they are finalized.