You feverishly comprehend what happened...

Your armor and your weapons are gone... Obviously, your captors have safely hidden all your belongings, as well as the belongings of your unlucky companions...

You are now wearing only a cloth loincloth...

You are now standing in the middle of the silent space of a dilapidated crypt, which is located in the underground part of these ruins of an ancient fortress...

You are standing on a cold stone floor, but this cold does not give you any unpleasant sensations at all... Behind you is the cage in which you were recently held as a powerless prisoner. Or more precisely: you were in this cage as livestock, which your captors-monsters eat...

Now in this cage lie two desiccated corpses of innocent commoner hunters. Also in the crypt room are the desiccated lifeless bodies of your mercenary companions... But there is a slight difference between these corpses: the corpses of commoner hunters appeared as a result of your own actions...

Suddenly a thunderous non-human voice rings out in your head: “I swear to staunchly protect the achievements of civilization and law and order! I swear to selflessly serve the public good! I swear to mercilessly crush savages and monsters! I swear to be faithful and vigilant! I swear to inexorably resist the temptations of lies and stop vices!”

You feel pain in your head... it seems like a sophisticated ****... This voice speaks the words of your oath... The paladin oath that you took two years ago...

Your vision becomes slightly cloudy... The voice in your head continues to mercilessly pronounce the words of your oath... Again... And again...

It seems to you that silvery whirlwinds of some strange substance are moving before your eyes... The pain in your head does not allow you to think clearly...

However, you try to concentrate...

Suddenly, awareness flares up in your mind like the flame of a fire...

You remember that the goddess Fardenna is not usually depicted in an anthropomorphic form on the bas-reliefs of temples or monasteries. She is often depicted as a huge silvery whirlwind that shoots out lightning...

The voice in your head continues this sadistic ****... The words of the oath sound louder and louder... The pain becomes unbearable... It seems to you that your eyes will soon burst and flow out of their sockets...

Thoughts arise in your mind about the reasons for the tragic events that occurred...

Your consent to the offer of mercenaries...

You disregarded the established order of command and you did not seek permission from the superior knights-paladins of the Order of Implacable Justice... You ignored the hierarchy...

You subconsciously thought about the benefits... You participated in the execution of the task of these mercenaries because you wanted to improve your personal financial situation... You violated the principle of selflessness...

You allowed these vile vampires to take you by surprise... You did not foresee the possibility of the worst-case scenario... You violated the principle of vigilance...

You saw that your mercenary companions were more interested in drinking and having fun than in methodical training and careful preparation for a likely meeting with enemies... You saw their vices, but you did not stop these vices...

You allowed the vampires to capture you... You failed to sacrifice your life at the last moment to inflict maximum damage on your monster enemies... You violated the principle of ruthlessness...

You allowed one of the vampires to turn you into a disgusting monster... Now you yourself are a vampire... You are a vile monster... You are a parasite that harms civilized society... You have already killed two innocent persons... You have drunk all the blood from the bodies of these two commoner hunters...

Suddenly, the voice in your head stops reciting the text of your paladin oath.

You hear the clear words: “The only way out is light...”

Your body is trembling... You understand what your goddess means... Now, obviously, it is still daytime... If you leave the crypt and leave the ruins of the fortress, you will fall into direct sunlight... You are now a vampire... You will die a painful ****, burning from the light of the sun...

You fall to your knees. Your body is shaking more and more. You feel wetness on your chin. You wipe the moisture away with your hand, your palm turning red. You understand that this is the blood of the commoners you killed...

The voice in my head repeats the words more and more insistently: “The only way out is light...”.

You crawl on your knees to the stone stairs that lead to the exit from the crypt...

At the first stone steps you stop helplessly... The trembling of your body becomes more and more intense...

You let out a cry of animal fear: “Please! I don't want to die!

After this, something unexpected happens.

The voice in your head says only one word, which is imbued with boundless contempt: “Traitor.”

The pain in your head disappears. Also, there is no longer any divine voice in your head. Images of strange silvery whirlwinds no longer appear before your eyes.

You are on your knees, resting your hands on the stone steps of the stairs. You are still in this dark crypt. From a moral point of view, you now feel like the most disgusting bastard, who is the most despised scum in the existing world... But you exist...

You clearly understand that you need to get out of these ruins only at night.

If, of course, you want to continue your existence...

You rise to your feet...

Your gaze notices a strange silhouette of some miniature thing that lies near one of the stone sarcophagi. You strain your vision. This... This can't be...

This is the same marble figurine that the merchant who hired a group of mercenaries wanted to get.

You can barely restrain yourself from shouting angry curses.

You think: “This looks like some kind of evil mockery of fate! This vile figurine! I don’t need it at all now! After all, now I won’t be able to live normally in a crowded city! I will be **** to hide every day until nightfall, otherwise my body will burn under the merciless rays of the sun and become ashes! I don’t even know where I can find a place where I can safely hide! I can't risk going back to the crowded city of Onteria! After all, the priests of the Church of the Equally Great Brothers-Deities will easily expose me and burn me!”

It is almost obvious to you that now your “life” will change radically. Your existence will be filled with a grueling search for shelters, attempts to hide your identity from others and attempts to find food at night. At the thought of having to seek “sustenance” you feel a surge of disgust towards your own personality.

So, you clearly understand that you need to find normal clothes, weapons and supplies. And then you will leave this gloomy crypt and you will go to some sparsely populated area.

Completely rational intentions.

However, when you look at this marble figurine, weak aspirations of a completely irrational nature appear in your mind. These are logically inexplicable aspirations. You want to get closer to this figurine and take it in your hands. For some reason, you feel that if you do this, you will be able to return to the crowded city of Onteria. Absurd thoughts fill your mind.

You just have to take this thing.

Your strength will increase. You will have new abilities. You will be able to influence other persons.

You are looking at the figurine. She depicts something unfamiliar to you. A strange figure of a large satyr and something else. Upon closer inspection, you will notice small purple lines that cover the cold marble, as if they are arteries through which blood flows.

You squeeze the temples on your head with your fingers.

You think: “Calm down... I just need to make a decision and act quickly...”