“Phew,” I let out as I phased back into my normal state. Physical manifestations drained a lot of Holy Power… no wonder they weren't too common in most of the religious stories of my old world.

I waved my hand, willing the other four continuous miracles to end. The conjured light faded from the sky, the stat buffing aura disappeared along with the healing zone around the camp. Finally, the oppressive force I was using to apply pressure to Edwin disappeared.

I would have to keep an eye on that guy but I felt that I had given him a suitable punishment for his actions. When he starts proclaiming my message, the Overseer he aligned with will probably smite him.

Whether or not I will help him at that time depends on how fervently he shows his repentance. Work hard, Edwin.

I moved my presence back to the Temple, remembering that I had one last thing that I needed to do there. Eileen remained in her seat at the KAT, waiting and ready to type in another name if needed. Kelsey sat nearby on the couch, her fists clenched as she waited to hear the results.

She was… frustrated. She wanted to be able to do something to help out but she was powerless in this situation.

I could understand her feelings because was how I had felt until this battle. Even now, after that battle, my Holy Power meter had dwindled significantly. With 95 followers though, I should have a steady supply of prayers and faith. That should allow me to be more active in a supporting role.

“Raymond, tell Mort that I have my answer for Kelsey. I want her to build the Church of Legion within the city in whatever way she feels is best.”

I heard a grunt in response and smiled. This was the highest stakes game of telephone I ever played. It was probably annoying for Raymond to not fully understand what she was doing at first but such is the nature of working with gods. Revealing too much might make it so that we are unable to do anything.

After a brief pause, Mort repeated my words. Kelsey, upon hearing her name, immediately tensed. As she heard my order for her, she nodded stiffly. A small flame lit in her eyes and, despite her nervous demeanor, I felt determination rolling from her. She didn’t yet know how she was going to accomplish it… but she had a goal in front of her.

I had a feeling that Cairel would be in good hands.

I returned to my normal position, floating above and behind Raymond. I would make sure to check up on Kelsey from time to time but right now the majority of my followers were either dead or in this camp.

With an actual following, maybe it's time that I released my Tenets?

I pulled open the rough draft that I was working on.

Originally, I had thought to just mimic the 10 Commandments from back on Earth, but that didn’t feel right. I’m not trying to duplicate another religion here. This one is going to be unique and a reflection of my own will and morals. That being said, I already used the ‘Thou shalt’ style with my first commandment about slavery so I’ll keep to that for consistency. I also want to use a modified version of one of the ten to prevent future problems.

Thou shalt have no other Overseers before Legion.

Thou shalt not buy, sell or own slaves or participate in slavery in any of its forms.

Thou shalt oppose persecution by any acceptable means.

Thou shalt be active in the pursuit of good causes.

Thou shalt protect and honor thy fellow followers.

These five would make a decent starting point. I felt like they conveyed my intentions fairly decently. I am going to be a god that saves people by any acceptable means.

‘Acceptable’ is a bit ambiguous but it was left that way intentionally. I had no idea what the future would hold and I didn’t want to put my followers under weird constraints that might, at some point, force them to choose between me and victory.

I also had a vague idea of some other commandments I might push through in the future, but I still needed to bounce those around and run them through some rigorous ‘what if’ scenarios first.

I turned the list, showing it to Auto.

“What do you think of these five for starters?” I asked, curious about his opinion. Auto had a good grasp of logic. He should be able to tell if there are any obvious problems.

“That is beyond my jurisdiction. I will withhold my opinion on the matter,” Auto replied dully.

Well dang. That’s annoying but not surprising.

Last but not least, I open up a little box in the corner of my Tenets tab.

Domain.

As I had been pondering on this recently, several ideas had crossed my mind. Freedom, Equality, Justice… these are all things that I would want to focus on to some extent but I personally felt that all of these things were problematic when focused on to an extreme degree.

Absolute freedom is just another way of saying ‘anarchy’.

Absolute equality is a perfect and universal mediocrity.

Absolute justice is to condemn all, for none are perfect.

Fortunately, I found the answer I was looking for in my spontaneous mini-speech. I knew what I wanted to represent.

I inserted a few letters and hit enter.

‘Monsters’. The vagueness of the term would leave me room to judge for myself and make my own decisions while the identification of a specific group would give me something to focus on.

Additionally, I could still address the other three topics I thought of in a more reduced capacity. Maybe I could consider them something like sub-domains?

In my view, there were three kinds of monsters in this world and my goal was to gain enough power and influence such that all three would fall under my jurisdiction and judgment.

That day was still a long way off.

***

After Raymond finished relaying Legion’s message through Mort, she returned her attention to Edwin. The warrior had fallen back shortly after Legion’s miracles ceased and he was still lying prone on the ground, staring up at the cloudy, grey-blue winter sky.

She watched him warily for over a minute, unsure of how to act. Just a few minutes ago they had been fighting to the death and now…

Now, she had no idea how she was supposed to feel about him.

Was he an ally? Definitely not.

A friend? As if. There was no way that she could put him in the same category as Lexi.

And yet, she didn’t think she could call him an enemy still either. Just one look made it obvious that he had no more will to fight.

Edwin chuckled, breaking the awkward silence.

“Young miss, go and tend to the Illusionist. Our fight is over.”

“Illusionist?” Raymond asked, turning to look towards Shaman. The old goblin lay on the ground where she had collapsed, a short distance from the bodies of Urg and the Rogue.

“Samantha coats her blades with poison. It might already be too late,” Edwin warned.

Raymond left the warrior, running towards Shaman’s prone form. The old goblin was barely breathing, foam running from the corners of her mouth as the light in her eyes flickered.

“Why didn’t she get healed?” Raymond wondered aloud. Rather than wait for an answer, she reached into her bag and pulled out a red potion. She kneeled beside the old goblin, uncorked the bottle and lifted the rim to Shaman’s lips.

“D..don’t.” Shaman whispered.

Raymond paused, “Why…?”

“Health potions… cannot… cure… poison. Do not… prolong… the pain…”

Shaman’s body convulsed as she started to cough. When the coughing fit subsided, she looked up at Raymond. Her eyes were filled with a mix of sadness and contentment.

Raymond looked around desperately, hoping against hope that someone had a way to save Shaman. Og, Trog, and Jug stood nearby, watching. As they met her inquiring gaze, they shook their heads sadly.

She returned her attention to the old goblin. Shaman smiled kindly, reaching up with her hand, searching. Raymond immediately seized it with both of her hands, holding it tightly between them.

Shaman reached into her bag with her free hand and withdrew a small candle.

“It is… inconvenient… to do this without illusions.” Shaman wheezed. She looked at Og and the goblin assassin walked over, immediately understanding her intent. He quickly lit the wick of the candle in Shaman’s hand.

Shaman pushed the candle towards Raymond.

“The flame is now yours to carry. For 350 years, I carried this burden but I… I could not save our race. My time has come… but your time… is just beginning.”

Raymond accepted the candle, holding it tightly against her chest as the wax began to melt, a small tendril oozing down the side. She ignored the pain as it burned her skin, her entire focus on the dying goblin leader.

“Shaman, if you swear to Legion now then you can respawn.” Raymond urged, a hint of desperation entering her voice.

“No, young one. I… will not be shackled… to this world. My soul… shall be… free…”

As she breathed out the last word, she closed her eyes. She almost looked as if she were asleep.

And then she was still.

Raymond leaned back, craning her neck to look at the sky. There was a strange tightness in her chest and her eyes stung the slightest bit. She hadn’t known Shaman all that well but she was still one of the first people Raymond had met.

She looked down at the burning candle, boiling wax running over her hand.

“The flame is mine to carry…? What...?”

“It’s an ancient tradition.” Og supplied, his voice shaking. “She passed on the mantle to you.”

She pushed herself to her feet. Lexi came up behind her, hugging the True Vampire to hide her own tears. Raymond looked around, taking in the dozens upon dozens of goblin corpses scattered throughout the camp. She met the eyes of each of the silent goblins surrounding her. Many had tears streaming down their faces but their eyes had no hint of despair. Rather, she saw a cold fury.

Og’s hands were shaking and he clenched his teeth.

In that moment, Raymond understood the goblin’s plight. Almost a third of their numbers died in just this one assault and many of those who died wouldn’t come back. Shaman, Urg, Frog, and Nag wouldn’t come back yet every one of the adventurers who died today would respawn.

What had the fight even accomplished then?

They spent their lives hiding in the woods, praying to a creator that disappeared over a thousand years ago, begging her for a salvation that never came.

Until now. Raymond had been surprised by Legion’s declaration of his intent to be the god of monsters. As she looked around the goblin camp once more, she saw not only what was destroyed, but the lives that were saved because she was able to offer them a new path.

Raymond tapped Lexi’s arm, gently removing herself from the catgirl’s embrace.

“Until now, I did not understand,” she started hoarsely. She was met with more than a few questioning glances and she cleared her throat to continue.

“I did not understand what it meant to be a ‘monster’. I thought I knew when adventurers tried to capture and sell me. I thought I knew when I saw other ‘monsters’ in chains.”

“What does it mean to be a ‘monster’?”

“Is this what it means?” Raymond gestured to the destruction surrounding them; the wrecked houses and walls, the many dead goblins, the scorch marks, and blood staining the dirt.

“That must we be hunted by semi-immortal zombies for our entire lives?”

Many of the goblins growled back, their combined anger creating an almost palpable aura.

Raymond shook her head. “I cannot accept that. We have our own god now. No longer will we be seen as inferior creatures, fit only to be playthings or a source of income.”

“They call us ‘monsters’?” she grinned ferociously, baring her fangs.

“I embrace the name that they have given us. We will redefine the word by teaching the humans that those they call ‘monsters’ can and will be the source of their nightmares.

She paused and she heard a few grunts of approval.

“If they persecute us, we will return it tenfold,”

Several goblins cried out in agreement and she raised her voice to shout over them.

“And if they murder us we will return it a hundred times over!”

The goblins screamed their agreement and Og smiled faintly. Lexi bared her canines, her eyes full of anticipation.

Raymond met their shouts with a final shout of her own.

“We. Are. ‘Monsters’”

She raised the candle up high as the camp filled with the cheers of the surviving. Several of them raised their weapons into the sky while screaming at the top of their lungs. Raymond turned to Og, smiling tiredly.

“Not bad,” Og complimented.

Raymond shrugged, storing the candle in her inventory. “Let’s get this place cleaned up and then get out of here.”

“By your command,” Og replied.

Raymond sighed. “We have to gather and bury the dead and then search for a new place to set up camp. Oh, and we have to figure out what to do with Edwin… Also, we’re going to have to figure out how to rescue the goblins who respawn in the Temple…

Og cut her off, “Let’s focus on the problem in front of us and take it one step at a time.”

Raymond smiled, nodding at the suggestion. Og moved away, gathering groups of goblins to begin moving the bodies. She made a mental note to talk to him about any goblins that might have been over level 28. She needed to raise her True Vampire Racial Pathway, after all. Drinking the blood of the adventurers should give her a few points there but she needed a lot more bodies before her next level.

*ring, ring* *ring, ring*

Raymond answered the call, curious.

“Good job down there. My little True Vampire is starting to become a leader.”

Raymond frowned indignantly. “You keep calling me ‘your True Vampire’. I don’t remember belonging to anybody but myself. Besides, I just said what I was feeling.”

“As did I. You could have mentioned me more in that speech though…” Legion replied, ignoring her complaint.

Raymond shook her head, “Don’t get ahead of yourself, buddy. We won that fight, you just finished it.”

“Touche. Anyways, now that we have more followers, we need to talk about the next step.”

“The next step?” Raymond muttered aloud, shaking off her annoyance. Lexi gave her a confused look but Raymond waved it off.

“Get Og’s group and Lexi registered and we’ll see what we can do about the yeti. After that, I’m going to release my first five commandments. Next time you have a few free hours, let's go over the first chapter of my Holy Scriptures together.”

Raymond grinned, “Sounds like a plan.”

The mental connection cut off and she motioned for Lexi to follow her. They walked together through the destruction. It felt as if many things had ended but, as with any ending, this was just a new beginning.