My eyes fluttered open and locked onto the concrete ceiling of my office. My body hurt in places that I didn’t even know existed. I really need to work out more. I groaned as I rolled over to my side, only to have a minor heart attack, when I saw Alessia sitting in my chair, looking over my notebook.

“Alessia, what are you doing?” I asked as I sat up and tried to calm my pounding heart.

She tore her gaze from my notebook and glanced at me. Her eyes focused on me, and all I saw for a moment were two orbs of brilliant gold with sapphire flecks. Her skin was slightly more opaque than before, and her hair had more substance. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I stared at her, entranced for a short time before I cleared my throat and averted my gaze.

She caught me totally off guard there; I didn’t expect to see her so alive, nor just chilling in my chair. She closed my notebook and placed it on the table. She mouthed something towards me, yet no words came out. I stared at her lips for a moment as I tried to decipher her words, but I wasn’t all that great at reading lips. “I’m sorry, Alessia. I don’t understand what you are trying to say to me.”

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, and pulled my hair back into a bun. Alessia reached out towards my bag and reached inside, and pulled out a pen. It slightly irked me that she felt she had the right to go through my stuff, though I would say nothing outwardly about it. At least until I knew what she was up to.

She flipped open the notebook to a blank page and jotted something down while I stood up and stretched out a bit before walking over, curious about what she was writing. Once I made it over to the desk, I pulled the notebook away from her and quickly read what she wrote.

Empress, it appears that you cannot hear my words. I apologize for my inability to communicate with you properly. Please forgive me.

I shook my head at her and let out a small chuckle. “It’s alright; I don’t mind. I’m just glad that I can finally talk to you.”

She quickly jotted out more stuff while I took a second to look myself over. My clothes were dirty, and I’m pretty sure that I smelled, and that was a thought that didn’t sit too well with me. I think that had to do with kitchen work, though. I detested being covered with food or anything else of the sort. However, the thought sent a pang of sadness through my chest. I didn’t realize how much I missed it. I just don’t know what food was edible here in the area, and I wasn’t gonna take the risk of using anything here, anyway. Not with zombies that roamed around. That’s a quick way to get sick.

I stretched out, and my nose curled when I confirmed the ugly truth. I stank. Maybe it was time I jumped back into the lake and got clean and created a new set of clothing. Hopefully, a set will last longer, so I can store these for later. I just didn’t know what I wanted, and I had to be careful cause I may splurge with essence that I don’t have.

I glanced back over to the notepad once I heard the scribbling stop and skimmed it over.

Anyway, it has come to my knowledge that you have been training with the lieutenant, and I find that information somewhat troublesome. He is a bloodthirsty skeleton, and I worry about your wellbeing.

I nodded my head and pulled a chair over to my desk to sit down. “I don’t think you have too much to worry about. They all know what’s at stake if I get hurt. Besides, I’m just trying to get skills set up for when the domain opens up. Trying to find my path and all that.”

I rested my elbows on the table and interlaced my fingers as I watched her face. A flicker of a pout appeared on her face before it vanished, and she grabbed the pen once more and scribbled.

You didn’t think to come to me first?

“It’s not that I didn’t think about coming to you first. You were just busy training, and I wanted to learn some close-range combat skills, and he seemed like the best bet. I didn’t realize that it meant that much to you.” I stared at her for a few moments, thinking over her words. I definitely think she is the most expressive out of the bunch by far. It’s kind of amusing how seriously she takes her job, though.

As your chosen, I insist you come to me with such endeavors, for I am more than happy to assist you in any way that I can.

“Oh, it sounds like you just want me for yourself there, Alessia.” I shot back with a chuckle. Her eyes, however, betrayed nothing.

What I desire is for me to know. So, please, just tell me ahead of time, so I may accompany you. You are my charge, after all.

“Yeah yeah yeah, don’t worry. I wasn’t planning on going back to Aaron for a little while, anyway. My body hurt from all the training yesterday. So how are the recruits for the honor guard doing?” I asked as I meandered back to the bed, far too exhausted for anything else.

She grabbed the notebook, pulled a chair over to us, sat down, and started writing again as I lay in bed. I think this was the first time that I actually got to be lazy for once since I got here, and I have to say, it feels lovely.

They are all subpar, and I am slowly weeding out the weak. Only the best shall serve you, Lady Asteria.

“Ah, that’s good. Do what you must with them.” A yawn escaped from my lips, and I opened up my menu to start creating some stuff. Namely, a blanket so I could lay here all warm and cozy. “Anyway, now that we are talking, what do you remember of the past? Before you became an undead?” I glanced at her sideways as I tried to gauge her reaction.

She stared off into space for a moment, and a look of sadness crossed her face as she wrote.

I am afraid I can’t recall anything clearly—only small tidbits, and from what I gathered from your book here. The only thing I know for sure is that I am duty-bound to protect you at all costs and that I am yours and yours alone.

Damn, a part of me felt bad. I mean, I sat here and created an alternative reality for her. The question is, should I tell her or leave it as is? “Is there anything else?”

Her face scrunched up slightly as she thought it over before the pen touched the paper once more and filled the room with the constant scribble of writing. As she did, I created a large fluffy blanket to wrap myself up and relax for a little while. Now all that was left was clothing, but I guess that could wait till I got up.

Well, lately, the haze has gotten thinner, and more knowledge has come to me. For example, as I was training the honor guard, I had a flashback of marching with the 12th legion to the stronghold along with a platoon of honor guard trainees though I can’t seem to recall the reasoning for it.

How odd, it seems that trait I unlocked seems to be paying dividends by slowly adding to memories, but of things that never actually happened or of thoughts that may have passed throughout the day. Maybe I could get away with not telling her the truth. But was I willing to lie to her about everything? Was it a choice I was willing to live with? “I see. Thank you for that, Alessia. You’ve answered a few questions I had on my mind about everything.”

I lay there quietly for a few moments as I struggled with myself. I felt guilty for changing her memories, but honestly, how would she know? On the other hand, she has my notebook, so maybe she already knows about it. “Alessia, would you be mad at me if I told you that what you remember was a lie?”

The silence was deafening as I waited. Each second that ticked by took longer than the last until I heard the pen hit the paper. The thought of her hating me filled my heart with terror as I waited. Soon enough, however, the writing came to a close, and I dreaded rolling over to see it. I swallowed a deep breath and quickly threw myself over to see what she wrote on the paper.

I suppose I should be angry with you. However, I am also thankful. Undead like me are just husks. Just mere shadows of what we were in life. While the potential is there to detest you, I can’t bring myself to do it. I have a purpose and a drive, and because of that, the haze that surrounds me is slowly lifting, and everything is becoming clear once again.

The breath I held clenched in my chest, quickly evacuated, and the anxiety that was coiled around my heart was replaced with relief. “I’m sorry for doing it. I would have felt bad keeping that from you.”

We all had a feeling it happened, mostly the named ones. But we embraced it. No longer are we nameless undead who wander aimlessly. We are the undead of Asteria now, and we will go wherever the path may take us.

I teared up slightly at the words and nodded my head. “Thank you, Alessia. I will do my best to guide you no matter what it takes.” I pulled the blanket up a little higher and snuggled into the warmth.

I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock and saw that a few hours had passed. Maybe I should really cut back on sleeping, it may be a problem in the future, but I just loved it far too much to give it up. I glanced around the room and saw that Alessia was sitting at my chair with her feet propped on the desk. She was running a finger across the blade of her pole-axe and staring at it thoughtfully.

“Good evening! Sorry that I fell asleep again.” I felt bad just leaving her all alone again, but at least I felt significantly better than last time. In fact, I felt like I was ready to go again with training. So see, sleeping isn’t so bad.

She shifted the poleaxe and reached for the notebook she had on the desk. While she did that, I suppose I should get up and get some clothes made for myself. Maybe some armor, too, while I was at it. I stretched and enjoyed how loose and limber I felt.

She extended the notebook out to me after a time, and I gave it a quick look over.

I have no quarrels with it. I’m content to sit here looking after you, ensuring your safety. Are you out to do more training later?

“Yeah, right after I get some clothing made. I want to learn Shunpo from Aaron and pick up some hand-to-hand combat skills. After that, I want to learn how to use a sword and then work on my soul skills for a bit.” I yawned again as I opened up my menu and gave her back my notebook. I would probably create a book for her to use so she wouldn’t take up my precious paper.

Now, what kind of clothing did I want? I want something that I can wear to train with, and then something to have as dress wear for when the time came. Something that would denote my status as Empress. Alessia sat beside me as I thought about the various things I could make. I wanted something stretchy for starters to train in. I wanted to be comfortable and look decent at the same time, though I don’t think that mattered too much since the undead surrounded me.

I felt the notebook brush my hand, and I took it and skimmed it over as I planned out my clothing.

I will attend your training to ensure that the lieutenant does not get overzealous and harm you. As for swordsmanship, I can teach you that. My class gives me innate passives for all melee weapons.

I handed the paper back to her and designed a pair of elastic pants and a crop top with a training bra. It was gonna cost me, but I needed it. “That would be amazing. I’ve never held a sword before, though.” As I spoke, I worked out a few kinks with the clothing and settled on making everything slate grey. Unfortunately, I was far too lazy at the moment to make sure that everything was matching color-wise.

The clothing quickly formed around me, and I saved the template as Calixta’s Exercise Wear. I had a feeling that I was going to go through a lot of these. Hopefully, it was worth the cost. I ran my hands over the fabric, enjoying the soft feel and mentally giggling at the fact that I could make designer clothes here, and there would be no one here to stop me.

I adjusted my hair and glanced at Alessia, and spun around. “What do you think?”

She stared at me for a moment, and the corner of her eye twitched ever so slightly.

I strongly disagree with how revealing that outfit is. What if someone were to see?

I shrugged at her and created a pair of socks to go with my shoes. “So? All that is around here is undead, not much in the man department if that is what you are worried about.” I quickly pulled on my shoes and sat back on my cot. Alessia looked slightly in distress as she jotted something out.

Empress, I refuse to let anyone gaze at you in such a lavacious manner or even lay a hand on you.

I read her words and chuckled, “Relax, you don’t need to be so high-strung; it’s not like I’m going to do anything. I’m far too busy with you guys, anyway. Ready to go?”

Her jaw clenched for a moment, and she nodded her head and set the notebook down, and we teleported out towards the stronghold. All the while, I was curious about how she was so emotional as a spirit and why she was slowly growing more solid as time passed.