I can handle being called weak. After all, insults only do the damage you let them.

Although frail is a little irksome, after being lightly tapped on the shoulder and having my collarbone snap, I can't really deny anything.

Being called decrepit...alright, I admit it. That's a little hurtful. It's not my fault I'm dead! And I'm not even that old! Late 3s' at the most. I forgot the exact count long ago, and when my birthday is, but...that's unimportant. One thing about my race, (Other than it's existince being something other than vampire) is the starter, the beginning, the first thing people will always see when they care to look.

Lesser.

By nature, I hate this word describing me. I'm not 'lesser' than anyone, or anything. Even if I'm weak, cunning can always make up for the fact. However, being forced to have the shame of carting this description around is the ultimate humiliation.

When I find the bastard who decided to stick his fat, stupid, soon-to-be-a-trophy nose into my business just to screw with me.

Well, I say that, but I still have a small, secret fear...

...That maybe no one tried to screw me over, and simply assigned the word as it was most appropriate.

NO! I will not accept that! The world must be out to get me, it simply cannot be a coincidence or chance that I ended up with that word describing me, as in, me.

So, for now, I will proceed while assuming the entire world is out to get me. Because firstly I'm not a vampire, and secondly because of that stupid word. Still, the world's a scary place...

Running as fast as possible, a terrifying beast is chasing me. "Ahhhhh! Please save me, Jed!"

To one side, the kind man who I met as I stepped out of the comforting graveyard into this horrible, bright, insane world, shakes his head and sighs tiredly. He approaches me at a walk and steps on the tail of the horrifying, terrible beast that tormented me for the last five minutes, clawing my skin like butter, and mercilessly hunting me down.

I tremble a little, as the rat Jed is holding almost gets loose.

"Eep!" I try my best to shrink into a small, tiny space, so that the rat won't find me.

Jed has disbelief written over every inch of his body. "You....are more than a little pathetic. It makes me less motivated just looking at you..."

I huff, draw to my full height, (5'6'') and try to stare down my nose at him. He, being over six-foot, laughed as I fell over from bending too far backwards. I rub my head and take a closer look at the demonic beast of a rat that drove me to this sorry state.

A thin, worm-like tail, four short, thin legs, white fur, tiny teeth, a pink nose, and black dots for eyes. Admittedly...it's pretty adorable. So cute...I find myself reaching out for it, only to get bitten. I yelp and back away, and Jed looks at me uncertainly. "Are you okay? How's your HP bar looking?"

I squint at him. "My what-zit bar?"

He waves his hand at the sky unhelpfully. "You know, that long, thin, bright and dark red bar that shows up when you get hit? The one that, if emptied, makes you die?"

Realization hits. "Oh! That thing! I thought I was going insane and seeing things, or that this monster had some sort of poison...well, it's ninety-percent dark red, so that's pretty good, right?"

He takes a bottle out of his pouch and wordlessly hands it over, daring me to not drink it. I gulp it down, and the pretty light-red fills up the bar completely. Huh. Jed either just saved me from a near-death experience, or he just poisoned me.

Huh. Am I going to die now?

Well, if I am, then at least I'll take something worth taking. I poke Jed and say, "Hey, got any bread? Or meat? Anything?"

He gives me something then seems to hesitate. "If you're a zombie, you can't digest anything other than human flesh. And you don't actually have to eat..."

I break the bread into small pieces, and offer one to the monster. It eyes me up and down, then carefully takes the bread and eats it. I then attempt to touch it, aaaaaand~

"FUCK! It bit me!" I yell while recoiling. Jed starts laughing again.

However, the monster then holds out a paw, and I shake it with a finger. I pick it up, and place it on my shoulder. I doubt the monster actually liked biting me-I do have 'decrepit' as a part of my race, after all. As we walk, I continue feeding the monster pieces of bread. Jed starts the conversation back up.

"So, why the sudden truce? You were an inch away from killing each other. Well, it would kill you and then you'd squish it. Do you talk mouse?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't speak mouse. Besides, this is obviously a tough, mutant rat, probably infected with something that makes it a hundred times stronger. Definitely. So, I decided that having such a beast as a friend would be advantages in my quest to destroy the world."

He laughed at that, then slowly trailed off. "...destroy the world? That was a joke, right? Right?"

I shrugged. "Or whoever made it. Either one would be fine. When I find the person or thing that labeled me as "lesser" I'll..."

Jed took a couple steps away, and left me to my dark mutterings. I started whispering my plans to Quibbles, as I'd decided the monster should be called. I find the fact that such a horrible monster has such a cute name hilarious, though I somehow manage to contain my mirth.

Eventually, we reach a large, well-built building. Signs and stalls surround it, and after stepping through the drape covering the doorway, I see an endless pathway of shops filled with all sorts of people. I notice my jaw has become slack, and close it. I may not be ashamed of my dental formation, but I may have some hundred-year-old lettuce stuck in my teeth.

Jed pats my shoulder and says, "Feel free to wander. I've got some work to do, and although meeting a zombie who doesn't want to eat me, and only wants to topple god is interesting, it's hardly profitable. Meet back here at dusk, I'll find a place for you to stay."

He begins to walk away, and I call out to him one last time. "Hey! Jed! I forgot to say this, but thank you!"

He smiles and looks over his shoulder, then disappears into the crowd.

Hah~

I'm lonely...and bored...and Quibbles is starting to respond to me, which is even more terrifying than almost dying.

I hold up the adorable monster in my palm, while resting my head in the other, and unveil my woes.

"Oh Quibbles...how did it come to this? I'm pretty sure my life was pretty ballin', and it is a shame I died this young, though I'm not complaining about the absence of Alzheimer's."

In a high-pitched, squeaky voice, Quibbles responds. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you were pretty awesome. Besides, aren't you decrepit? Why do you look like a teen, then?"

I shrug. My youthful appearence is a mystery to me. I have smooth, milky-white skin, and supple joints. After looking at a gravestone to see my reflection, I'd noticed I resembled a mid-teen, or even younger. Being short compared to everyone else didn't help either.

"So why decrepit? It doesn't make sense. Hey, open up your status again."

I bring up the blue window again, and go back to the race panel. A burst of shame from seeing the 'lesser' quickly passes, and I try pushing on decrepit with my finger. It pulls up a much larger version of the word, complete with pronunciation and the (adjective) next to it, along with a description of the word and the effects. Basically, someone who's elderly or ill. However, there is some abnormal phrases here...

"Because this monster -Lesser Weak, Frail, Decrepit zombie- is of an old age, the dark energy has begun to mutate within the individual. [+1 strength,+1 agility, +1 intelligence,+1 constitution, exudes an aura of lassitude}

Oh! Cool!

I quickly check out the 'lesser' as well.

[Lesser]

Decreases all base stats by 50%

Well that isn't too bad. I check out weak, as well.

[weak]

Decrease all base stats by 50%, all physical ability decreased by 90%

Wait...fifty...plus fifty...equals...

...

So, in other words, I have my base ability nullified, and then get +1 strength, agility, intelligence, and constitution. So...I have four points? Really? I wonder if I can check how many Quibbles has?

I was too depressed to check what frail does, and simply close the status window. I look at Quibbles again. "Hey, Quibbles, if you added all of your stat points together, what number would you get?"

Quibbles looks thoughtful, then says...

"I'm not very good at math, but since all creatures, regardless of their species, start off with ten in each of their base stats, and I have some extra, I have around...two hundred in all?"

I'm...just a little...unhappy...especially since people are looking at me weird when I talk to Quibbles, as if he can't talk back!

"Ha! Hahaha! HAHAHAHA! I'M NOT CRAZY! HAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Um...dude...I think you're crazy. I mean, who talks to a mouse? Weirdo..."

Three hours later, I've managed to get three round pieces of copper with my wonderful acting skills. Jed walks up to me, though I don't notice at first and keep muttering..."...Not crazy...not crazy...not crazy...stupid rat...not crazy..."

He taps my shoulder, and I look over at him. He looks really happy, but is trying to hide it in pity. He waves at me, and I follow. "Come on. I booked you a room, Pardon me, but I'll be staying on the other side of town Mr. Not Crazy."

He leads me to a seedy inn, but it looks dirt cheap, so I can appreciate Jeds' frugality. I remember something, and pull out the copper disks. "Hey Jed, some nice lady gave me these disks of copper. Do you know what they are?"

He laughs and pats me on the back, and I think he only cracked a rib. "Those are coins. Not as small tin, but almost the lowest denomination."

I take a close look at the disks. I hold it up to the light. "This? You call this money?"

I pull out my wallet-which was buried with me, as I am quite clever at hiding things-and pull out the lowest denomination of coin. A silver penning, barely worth keeping in my wallet. Still, money is money.

Jed gulped. "Uh...how many of those do you have?"

I shrugged. "If I converted all the gold into this, it would be...around 350000? it's unusual to count by silver, most of the time we go by gold, which would be 350. Of course, carrying that much metal would be heavy, so most of it is either white, black, or crystal.I usually keep more on me, but during the end people carrying too much money found they were missing some vital organs."

Huh. I think I just remembered something.

Jed is paler than me. Which is to say, pale as a ghost. I pat him on the shoulder. "You okay, buddy? Anyway, if you're using copper as money, they must have finally found a way to enchant it with useful magic. Anyway, I can't expect to use this, so..."

I hand him the wallet, and give him a push. "Let's see, how about making it a round 300000? You can take the extra as exchange, and obviously as thanks for taking care of me so far. If you have trouble converting such a small sum, I can maybe just trade with you?"

He nods, then seems to go in and out of a daze. "Hey Mr. Zombie, am I dreaming...?"

I try to pinch him, but he doesn't seem to feel it, so I hold Quibbles up to Jeds' cheek and give Quibbles' tail a tug. Some swearing and running ensues, I almost die again, and then I eventually get settled in the inn.

During the night, I discover I have no need for sleep. When the sun starts to rise, I drape my cloak over my shoulders once more, pick up Quibbles and place him on my shoulder, then head down the stairs and out the door.

I'm hoping to leave before Jed comes back. I like him, but he knows too many embarrassing things...plus, I want him to keep the money. I own nothing, and having that kinda cash on hand is dangerous. I bluffed, saying it was a small amount, but even back in my day 350 was quite the sum. I stroke Quibbles whiskers, then look out at the horizon.

I enjoy the moment, then begin walking.

"Come, Quibbles. We have a world to destroy."