Reaching towards the coat rack, I lifted a solid black cloak from its hook. Draping it over me, I walked over to the front door where I opened it and slipped onto the dark streets.

The moon and stars shone brightly over the desolate town. With the moon at its peak, many of the residents had already drifted off to sleep. The lack of people caused an overwhelming silence, except for the occasional who from an owl.

As I ambled along the smooth dirt road that ran all throughout the town, I glanced towards the overly bright moon.

“A full moon…” I mumbled before retracting my gaze.

Walking, I soon arrived at the edge of the settlement where I was met with a line of trees. Due to the protection of the local church and the sheer isolation of the village, most didn’t feel the need to erect walls of any sort. Therefore, the dense forest that surrounded it was open to any who wanted to venture into it.

Slowly, I entered the dark forest. The canopy covered the sky, making it even darker and more eerie. Even so, I was able to effortlessly dodge tree branches and bushes. I could see everything clearly as if it was mid-day.

Following a familiar path, it didn’t take long until I stumbled across a black iron gate. Just beyond it lay a silent graveyard void of even the birds that chirped and squawked.

Creeeeeak. I pushed open the unlocked gate.

Strolling in, I peered around. As one would expect, many different graves of various individuals were scattered about. Some had freshly placed flowers while those whose graves were older had withering fauna, seemingly abandoned. In the corner of the cemetery was an old decrepit building that used to belong to the gravekeeper.

The gravekeeper was an elderly man who was rather kind. However, since his death, no one has stepped up to become the next one. I thought about it, but it wasn’t worth the extra background checks and suspicion of the church.

Going from grave to grave, I rattled off some of the names and epitaphs of the deceased. As I read, one caught my eye.

“A beloved father, husband, and outstanding warrior,” it read.

Caw. Caw. Caw.

The call of a raven distracted me, causing a deep and annoyed sigh to be let out. Turning my head, I faced the direction of the cawing. Sitting idly on the iron gate was an average crow, nearly perfectly blending into the pitch black metal.

The cawing of the crow continued, soon shifting into longer more coherent syllables.

“Ah… About to desecrate another grave, I assume?” It remarked, eyeing me very intently.

“No, I no longer have to. I’ve discovered another method,” I replied, reaching into the confines of my cloak.

“A working method, I hope.”

Pausing, I shift my whole body towards the crow. “Why must you constantly antagonize me?”

The crow squawked, which I assumed was meant to be a laugh, but instead sounded like it was near death.

“Do you also suffer from memory loss? You were the one who placed my soul in this godforsaken body and restricted my movement to this secluded graveyard. The only thing I have to do is antagonize you.” Its avian body shifted slightly, revealing its irritation at the question.

I shrugged slightly. “That is now an issue you have to deal with.”

“No,” it began, flapping its wings and perching itself on the grave I stood over. “This is an issue we have to deal with. I do not want to be stuck in this body until it dies.”

Rubbing my face, I matched eyes with the bird. “Listen, I do not have the means to give you a human body.”

“You lie straight through your teeth. I know you have the ability to.”

I smirked under my hood, which is hidden enough to where the crow didn’t notice. “Fine, maybe I do. However, the process would be incredibly tedious and would take me nearly a decade. I’d have to construct a body from scratch along with the brain. It would be hell.”

“And you can’t just place my soul in my old body or another one of these carcasses?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“No… Your consciousness would conflict with the body’s brain. You would go mad.”

“...” The bird remained speechless for a few blissful seconds.

“Well,” its head drifted to the side. “Could you at least fix the issues I have with my brain now?”

“Not directly.”

The bird’s head began staring towards the ground. I could only assume that it was in deep thought.

“However, I can offer advice,” I said.

The crow once again met me eye to eye.

“Advice?” It repeated.

“Yes, the issues you are having are similar to what I mentioned before with the alternate body. Your consciousness is conflicting with the brain of the crow’s. That crow was meant to be a puppet, I must’ve miscalculated when performing the ritual. You were never meant to have the ability to be autonomous.”

“I figured as much.” Its anger and aggression had long subsided and was replaced with that of longing.

“The side effects that you have to face—the blacking out, the skull splitting headaches, the memory loss—aren’t curable. They can only be managed.”

The crow wasn’t surprised that I perfectly explained the issues wrong with it. As if it had already known that I knew.

“How so?”

“Oh, I’m not going to tell you.” Realizing I had become sidetracked, I reached back into my cloak and pulled out a small palm sized book.

The bird sat there, dumbfounded.

“You did this to me!” It finally erupted.

“You’re lucky I gave you a body to begin with.”

The small book that I took out was bound in a black void-like cover. On its surface was that of two long fangs with dried blood dotting them.

Without even needing to look at the avian, I already knew that it was contemplating on its next words.

“If… If you give me that piece of advice, I promise to aid you in whatever you need,” it said in a defeated tone.

I weighed the words for a moment. It wasn’t a bad idea to have a willing creature be on my side. Not to mention, not many people expect a common crow to be problematic.

“Hmm, deal.”

“Thank you! I promise to repay you!”

Anybody knew that those words weren’t of relief. It was of pure defeat. It knew that the circumstances were unfair and it could only entice me with something to get the answer.

“It’s simple really,” I mumbled as I flipped through the pages lined with unique and impossible to decipher symbols forming larger and easier to understand symbols. “All you have to do is act as a crow.”

“Act as a crow?” It clearly didn’t understand.

“Yes. Your consciousness is conflicting with the mind of the crow because its consciousness is still there, only hidden deeper within. If you act like one then it would be easier to combine the two and make one whole consciousness that doesn’t conflict with one another. It won’t solve the issue since you weren’t originally a crow, but it should help. As I am sure you have noticed, your consciousness tonight will be uninterrupted due to the full moon enhancing your soul, so use this time to figure out how to act like a proper bird.” After the explanation, I stopped on a particular page of the palm sized book.

This page had similar undecipherable symbols, but the larger symbol that they formed was that of a brain.

Reaching back inside my cloak, I took out a regular ink bottle. Holding the bottle near the grave, I could feel the uncomfortable feeling of my pupils splitting into two.

Behind me, a figure that couldn’t be seen by normal humans formed. The figure was that of a young man whose eyes boasted a unique coldness to them. Floating, its ghostly, blue, and ethereal body didn’t move an inch.

I turned my attention back to the page with the symbols forming a brain. Just as I did, the ethereal figure slightly opened its mouth. The words it then spoke weren't able to be heard, even by me. The only way I knew that the ghost was speaking was due to the effects of the words.

Rising from the grave was a similar ethereal and ghostly blue, except it didn’t have a specific form. It flowed like undisturbed water into the ink bottle that I held. At the same time, a voice spoke inside my head.

“Where am I? Where is my wife? My kids! Where are they?” The voice of a man exclaimed.

“Do not worry, they are perfectly fine. Now tell me, how did you die?” I said with a soothing tone.

“Died… I… Died? It…” The voice hesitated and struggled to get the right words out.

“Focus on the memories of your death. Relay them to me.”

“I… was fighting.”

A wide smirk grew across my face. “Go on.”

“I fought with the group of mercenaries. To protect my wife and children. My… Wife…. Where is she? Where is my wife!”

With the essence nearly finished filling the bottle, I responded to the spirit in the most soothing voice I could muster.

“Your wife and children are just fine. You no longer have to worry.”

After that sentence, the voice halted immediately as its essence had completely filled the bottle.

“I cannot believe it actually worked,” the crow whispered to himself low enough to where it thought I couldn’t hear it.

My head turned to the bird where I saw it pecking at its feathers on a nearby gravestone, trying to act as a real bird the best it could.

“Same. I finally have more inspiration for my next novel,” I responded.

Step. Step. Step.

Turning my head further, I saw a man covered in thick layers of shadows dragging a sword behind him.

“Now comes the difficult part,” I mumbled, turning my body to fully face the man.