A rabbit was crying out of a trap hole which I made the previous night. Poor fella must have broken at least one of his limbs.

“I am sorry, little one, I didn’t mean to cause you pain. Still, you need to die…” I said with a calming tone while reaching into the hole. The little animal tried running away from my grasp.

The next moment I snapped his neck ending his life as quickly as possible. I could see how life was leaving his body, like a gentle colorless mist hovering over it for a few more minutes.

I feasted on it “inhaling” the essence. It was the only thing in my new “life” which allowed me to experience any positive “emotions”. Not happiness, not joy, but something else.

After over a day since my failed assassination attempt my rage became… slightly dulled. Dormant. It was still there, pulsating lazily within my bones. Hah, it couldn’t vanish, in the end this very rage was the thing that didn’t let me peacefully die in the embrace of the mistwalker, this rage was my core. This rage - was me.

As soon as I cooled my head I realized the obvious - this “life” and this vessel were indeed nothing more but a curse. The dulled sensations, the feeling of being a stranger within your own body… and this chilling coldness and hunger which were always there.

It was like having an open wound within my chest, as if something that I had was taken away from me and only then I learned how essential that thing was. Like a hunger constantly reminding me that things were not what they were supposed to be - the emptiness.

And what I was craving I learned a few hours ago when I killed my first rabbit.

It was life. Only now I could see - while looking into every living being after a moment of focus I was able to notice this pulsating force under their skin, force, which would be released at the moment of death. Standing within the fumes of the deprived life, the cravings were satisfied…

… at least for some time.

It was like alcohol, intoxicating the mind, like a drug which, for a split of moment, gave life meaning. This is why despite having quite a few traps prepared I waited for a moment before heading towards the next to check if any prey was foolish enough to get itself caught. I did that to not get addicted to this feeling. I was afraid that I might lose the little sanity I have left and start attacking innocent people, or even forget about my goal!...

Just a few moments ago I was thinking that turning into undead and losing the ability to feel pain made me fearless and bold, but now, I only realized how much more I have yet to lose. This is why I started repeating in my head the names of those that I loved. My mother, my father, ol’ Margret, priests, Ol’ Jonson… and of course, Elize.

Just keep on thinking, calling the names, as another spine was snapped.

Killing for the sake of survival was normal. Killing to achieve your goals was acceptable, even though morally questionable. Killing for pleasure? That would make me the same as that hunter who pierced my stomach and watched me bleeding, disgusting.

It took me about three hours to check a few traps before I resumed my journey. Gradually, I noticed that the surroundings started changing. It became darker and darker, the soil looked grey and infertile and trees became thinner. The whole area quickly became covered by thick mist, which greatly limited vision. Pardon me - which greatly limited vision of every creature that was relying on eyes to see.

This whole place felt unnatural, not a single sound could be heard - no bird was singing, no insect was buzzing.

You have entered a special location: [DeadWoods]

Sometimes, due to curse, extreme crimes being committed, or evil mage's intervention, a deep, sleepy forest can be corrupted.

The place will become a gate between the world, bringing the Mist unto the land, the Mist in which the souls which did not cross the river are trapped. This mist will save all the undead from the harmful effects of the sun while harming every living being trapped within it.

Lost traveler, be on your guard because otherwise, you as well might be trapped in the Mist for eternity.

Effects for [Undead]:

- Night-time bonus triggered permanently regardless of the actual time

- Permanent, slow over-time healing [5hp/hour]

- STR, VIT, RFX, DEX + 5

- [Life-sensing] skill efficiency improved by 50%

Effects for [Living]:

- Light spells efficiency -25%

- Damage taken from [Dark], [Blood], [Chaos], [Trauma] sourced increased

- Random effects might be inflicted depending on the event: [Festering Wounds], [Fear], [Terror], [Halluciantion]...

Ah, it felt almost as I was back home.

A group of adventurers cut down another walking corpse, yet despite having half of its torso gone, it once again started getting up from the ground. Only after the priest squashed its head with a one handed mace did it stop moving.

“May the Light of the Lady guide you to your rest!” Sang the man, yet in his voice there was no mercy. Quite the opposite, only disgust and hatred. “Ugh, why walking corpses?!...” a woman holding twin-bladed glevia groaned “... the church pays more for shadow beasts!” “Stop bitching around, Agnes, and get back to work! These abominations won’t kill themselves!” “Thanks but no. That’s the reason I hate undeads. Cutting weapons, like mine, are pretty much useless! Look! I stab it and…”

She forced her weapon into the stomach of another approaching creature and twisted it inside of it, causing the weapon to get stuck within its rib cage.

“... and that’s it! This shit won’t die unless you smash it or sing these silly songs!” “These…” The priest bashed another creature “... Are not…” he kicked another clumsy creature away, making it stumble and fall, gaining some time and space “... Songs! These are chants from the Book of Gospels! Powerful spells and prayers for sending evil away!” “To me they are mostly songs tho!” The woman dropped her weapon, making the other end dug itself into dirt. The zombie tried to mindlessly push onward, yet it impaled itself on the glaive and got stuck, it just kept on groaning while stretching its head toward the woman who right now wasn’t paying any attention to it.

Another person entered the middle of havoc, with slashes of swords and bashes of shield he carved his path toward his comrades.

“The fuck are you two doing!?...” A noble-looking person asked in a very non-noble way “... why did you drop your formation!?” “Ask that bitch!...” The priest hissed “... she just randomly stormed out from the group!” “Ah! Captaaain! You came after me! So in the end you do care about me!” A woman giggled. “Back to the main squad! At once! Agnes, I will deal with you later!” “What’s the big deal!? They are all just animated corpses! We didn’t have to send the entire House for such a silly…” “Don’t underestimate your enemy, idiot! Never! Didn’t you notice anything weird!? Their number? The fact that they appeared pretty much overnight? The fact that despite being just mindless corpses they are moving in groups?” “Wait, captain, are you saying…” Another man’s eyes shined with fear. “We can’t be sure. It may be a new dungeon, or havoc in mana winds, or…” “Undead Lord?”

Hearing the last one the woman called Agnes started jumping with excitement.

“UNDEAD LORD!? Finally some action! Hey-hey-hey! What kind of Lord is he? Elder Lich? Undead Knight? Vivid Horror?! Or maybe… THE EMPEROR!” “Agnes! We have no idea what’s the actual source of this plague! It’s just one of the possibilities, not to mention that higher undeads are calamity level threats! They don’t just appear! And …” “I will go scout the area ahead! I am counting on you! See Yaaa!”

She raised her weapon from the ground, kicked the body which was still stuck on its other end before jumping over the crowd of zombies vanishing in the mist.

“AGNES!” The capitan yelled after her. “Leave her, commander, with some luck she would get herself killed and we would never have to see her ugly face again.” “Knowing our luck she will just lure another horde back to the camp…” The capitan slashed again, his beautiful silver armor was stained with dark blood of another walking corpse “... for now, let’s clean this clearing up and return to the main force. Our objective remains unchanged. Localize the source of the shadow plague and if possible - neutralize it.”

The priest bowed his head in agreement, then, he corrected his grip over his weapon as another group of undead approached.

I walked deeper into the mist covered forest, and it took me only thirty or so minutes after entering the Deadwoods when I first encountered them - other undead. They ignored me, treated me as if I wasn’t even there, with their hollow faces turned to the west, they kept on marching.

I wanted to keep moving North. Why North? Because I came from the south, and I didn’t want to go toward the place the undeads were going, nor towards the place they were coming from. Reason for that? Such a march was unnatural. Despite being only empty husks, their action had meaning. They had a goal that they wanted to achieve, and if so many undeads shared a same goal that meant only one thing - that goal was being given to them. If I would go east and find whatever or whoever was summoning them - I risked being either manipulated and used by, for example, a skilled necromancer. And if I would go “with the horde”... well, wherever a huge threat from monsters appeared, the kingdom was sure to send its elite forces.

Let’s not forget about adventurers as well! The church was never stingy with money when it concerned purifying monsters, beasts, undeads, heretics, and political enemies. I definitely didn’t want to be slaughtered by a bunch of skilled monster hunters the day after being resurrected… again.

That left me with only one option - further north.

I managed to move just a short distance, when I heard a loud noise to my left. A group of mindlessly walking bodies was attacked by a very nimble creature. It was too fast and I couldn’t quite get a good look at it. All I saw were zombies being thrown all over the place in a rather comedic fashion

The quickly moving attacker actually struggled a little. To me it was obvious that its attacks weren’t as effective as they normally were supposed to. The stabs and slashes that would normally cut the enemy throat open and make them bleed out were just scratches to groups of undeads which didn’t even seem to notice most of the attacks.

“Annoying! Little! Fucks!”

ITS voice was very feminine. And annoying.

The annoyingly feminine thing managed to gather some distance and take a stance before she started to rapidly move her bizzare weapon in all directions around her, decimating every approaching enemy.

The group wasn’t that big and she was quickly finishing her battle, only two or three more corpses remained… but…

One of the bodies which had half of its torso missing creeped over the ground toward her and grabbed her ankles and pulled her down.

My “heart” skipped a beat.

I didn’t know what to do. On the one hand, it was not my problem! Quite the opposite, if she would learn who I was I risked being attacked in the very next moment! On the other hand…

… As a knight or adventurer she lived a beautiful noble life - she gave up on comfort and risked everything she had to fight for the sake of her family, friends, and total strangers. I always respected and admired them. They were the heroes of my childhood. Such noble, beautiful people can’t die in dirt from the hands of a mere swarm of lesser beasts!

I clenched my teeth and pulled the hood over my naked skull before charging in with a dagger in hand.

I rammed my entire body into one of standing corpses, tackling it down. It still kept on acting as if it didn’t know about my existence. Using the opportunity I raised my dagger and started repeatedly stabbing the beast’s neck trying to aim for a spine. The third strike reached its target, piercing through the bones.

I quickly rose up from the ground and checked the situation. Another zombie was about to collapse on the lying girl who kept trying to kick half of a body off herself. I wouldn’t manage to get in there in time, so I raised my hand and threw the dagger at the creature.

It landed perfectly, digging deep in the zombie's eye. The body fell down next to the girl which just managed to throw the last creature off herself. She just got up from the ground and started kicking her attacker’s skull with a reinforced iron boot, turning its head into a pulp.

“Phew! That was close! Good thing the rest of the team didn’t see me like that! I could never show my face after almost getting killed by these weak things. Anyway, here is your dagger, pal!”

She picked the blade from the zombies head and threw it toward me. It landed a few meters from me and dug into the soil.

“Anyways! What’s my savior’s name? And from which House? I need to remember your name! I owe you!”

I picked the blade off of the ground and hid it behind my belt. I turned and faced the other way and started walking away.

“Don’t worry about it.” I just said.

My voice resonated in a ghastly, terrifying way. I forgot that my voice sounds like thousands of tormented souls.

“Don’t me here! Your name!... Also, is your throat sore? Back in a camp we have a priest, who is a nagging bitch, but at least can cure some lesser sicknesses...” “Aster.” I kept on leaving the clearing, not turning back. “Which house?” “None.” “Haaah!? Freelancer!? You guys are allowed to enter special zones?!” “I am.”

Did she really not notice that I am not speaking the normal way? Or that I am doing everything to leave already? That I am more than just suspicious!?

“Hey! The source of the plague is in a different direction!” She yelled pointing toward the east. “That’s not my concern.” “Hey! You! I am Agnes! Of the Silver Lion house! If you would ever enter the city in which our House would be staying, come find me! I will at least buy you a beer!”

I just waved my hand over my head as I kept on vanishing in the mist. From this far there was no way for her to see that my hands were nothing but naked bones.

…

I did something good.

This alone somehow managed to light up my mood. My chest once again was filled with pleasant, warm sensation, similar to those of depriving one life. But this time, it didn’t leave a nasty aftertaste in my mind.

Oh! I killed these two undeads! Did I get some essence?

You killed [Walking Corpse - Empty Husk] Error!

Race conflict detected.

User is an [Undead] race - [Exp] is being converted directly from [Essence]

[Empty Husk] variant is an [Undead] recently animated, and thus the one that didn't yet feed on the essence.

[Undead]s does not possess [Essence] of their own.

No [Exp] is being granted.

Fuck. Well, you can’t have everything!

After two more hours, Agnes returned to her camp.

“O-ho! Isn’t that our beloved crazy kitty!?...” One of the camp’s guards raised his voice “... I heard from the Captain that you ran off into the mist again! He is M-A-D! I don’t want to be in your skin!” “Hello Bob, have a good day, Bob.” She just passed through the gate.

She didn’t reply with her usual insults. Bah! She acted as if she barely noticed the guards! Just passing through, with a silly smile on her face.

“Agnes! Here you are!..” Just as she entered the camp she happened to bump into her commander “...Report back at once! Then…” “Yes, good day Captain Godryk. Good day to you, Captain…”

And she just continued her march toward her tent. She set it up on the edges, close to the gate so “in case of attack” she could get into battle as quickly as it was only possible. As soon as she got in, she fell on her bed, hugged her pillow and let out a muffled, silly giggle and started rolling from one edge of her bed towards the other.

“Agnes! Is everything right?!”

Captain Godryk entered her tent shortly after, sounding rather anxious and distraught

“Entering a woman's tent without asking for permission?! How forceful of you, Commander! Did you realize after all this time what your feelings towards me were? Unfortunately, my heart has been stolen by somebody else!”

For a moment, the Captain turned around, kneeled, bow his head clasping his hands to prayer.

“... Gods, thank you, you truly answered my prayers…” He got up and faced his soldier “So, who is this miserable bastard?” “Oh! He was sooo cooool! I was… AMBUSHED! By a… HUNDRED of HIGH RANK UNDEADS! Umm… the...the… the.. REVERSED! Yes! Reversed soldiers! Lead by a… um… Death Knight! Yes…!” “So you just slipped and were overpowered by a group of lowest corpses…” “YES!…I mean NO! They were HUNDREDS OF HIGH RANK UNDEADS!” “Yes, yes, of course…” “I was fighting proudly, holding my ground… but… I was… attacked from behind!” “... or below. I keep on telling you that you need to pay attention to the undead who have fallen - you need to check if they are dead for good…” “And then he came! Using nothing but a dagger he killed two… dozen! Of the attacking zombies and gave me the opportunity to finish the last one!” “Well, if he saved you, he needs to be properly rewarded.” “And that’s the best part he was like... “ She changed her expression and voice, trying to mimic some macho-man “... Don’t worry about it!... Kiii! Just like that! Wasn’t that like, super cool?!” “Yeah, surely… and quite generous. Helping people that do not belong to your House has become quite rare… which saddens me deeply.” “Uhhh. I told him that if he would ever enter the same city as we, he has to find us! I really can’t wait to know him better!” Then she returned to her pillow-huggy roll all over her bed. “Do you at least know his name and house?” “Aster. Freelancer.” “Freelancer?! In a special zone?” “He probably had a quest somewhere else and was just passing through. In the end, he walked north… Oh, and he said that shadow plague is...” she changed her voice again “... not my concern!” “Freelancer passing through a special zone? Could he be an S rank?” “Hmm I doubt it. He moved like a amature… I-I-I-I mean… he killed those… four… hundreds… undeads, like an amature! Ha-ha-ha!” “Suuure. Well, I hope you will find him quickly… Seriously, I do… Because then you would start changing his life into hell instead of mine…” “Oh, his black coat! His chilly attitude! His proud posture! His boney-body!” “Bony? You are into skinny guys now?” “Ha-ha! Not like that! He was literally a skeleton!” “Oh sure…” it took him a few seconds before he fully understood what Agnes meant. His eyes popped out, his jaw fell low “Wait! What!? A talking skeleton! A higher undead!? Here?!” “That’s what I just told you!” “Why didn’t you start with that!” “Why would I? I thought you were not speciest! You keep on saying how all humans, dwarves, faery folk, elves and so on are all equal!” “BUT HE IS AN UNDEAD! HE COULD BE A SOURCE OF THIS PLAGUE!” “THEN WHY WOULD HE SAVE ME!?... and no, he didn’t have this disgusting smell like the rest of these corpses. I am quite sure that he doesn’t share the same energy as the rest of the undead in the forest.” “But… but… HE IS AN UNDEAD, RIGHT?!” “YOU JUST CAN’T UNDERSTAND OUR LOVE!”

In an instant she lost her composure. She picked a random trinket from the shelf next to her simple bed and threw it at her commander. The man quickly left the tent.

Ah, also, the trinket she threw and broke was a porcelain statuette of a cute white cat lickng his paw. Her favourite.

“MISTER PAWSON VON FLUFF! NOOO!”

Her scream of terror echoed across the camp.

On the far east end of a dead forest, two people were standing over a huge, deep hole. One of them was an old, hunched, ugly woman, the other one, a pale man with white hair, bizarre eyes and a nasty grin on his face.

And the hole… the hole was filled with hundreds of bodies. Every few seconds one of them would get up and start crawling toward its edge.

“Are you sure that’s everything you want…” The woman asked in a high, squeaky tone. “What, you want me to ask for more?” Zariel, The Fate Breaker laughed cheerfully. “No! No! By all means!... I was just surprised… and, you mean, that our deal would be…” “Fulfilled. You would no longer owe me anything, and I will never again ask you to do anything for me. That's unless you or I would want to make another deal, accepted by the other party.” “... No catch?” “Your suspiciousness amuses me! No! I do things for you, you do things for me. That’s it. I have a reputation to maintain so I can’t just randomly add things to the deal.”

Woman didn’t calm down, after a few more minutes of chanting she asked one final time.

“So, for saving my life from a pyre, all you want me to do is to raise a bunch of bodies and send them in the general direction of one of the smaller cities to the west? Without actually intending to harm the city? Like, I could organize them into a proper army and…” “Morrigu! I need distraction! Nothing else! You are just one of the pawns on the chessboard! You do your thing, in the meantime another chessman moves.” “... pawns are used as sacrifices for the sake of a game…” “Not this one.” “... so no one would come running after me, seeking some kind of vengeance or…” “Morigu, Morigu… Morigu. We are almost done. When we are done, you go back wherever you came from. Unless you are extremely clumsy or slow, no one should be able to reach this place, and thus you… because it’s more than obvious that the kingdom would send someone for investigation… and you do not intend to stay here, are you?” “No! By any means, no! I just… can’t believe it's over. Just like that. Back then I thought I struck a deal with some kind of devil. That you would either make me suffer more than my original punishment, or make me commit an unholy act… but… just raising a bunch of empty husks… You sure you don’t want me to raise some stronger undeads…” “You know what? Fine. Send some middle rank undeads, but that’s it!” “Good! Good!”

Witch, actually felt bad knowing that the god valued her life to such “extent” that he considered the deal over once a bunch of low corpses were being sent away. Something that any amateur necromancer with enough of magical supplies could do!

“... Also, where did you get all those bodies from?” Which broke the silence again. “They didn’t want to meet their end of our bargain.” The god said casually.

In that moment, a cold shiver ran down the witch’s spine.

“Just kidding! By the Void! I am just kidding! Look at you! Some of those corpses look healthier than you right now!” “So… the bodies?” “Not a concern of yours. Focus on your end of a bargain. You don’t need to know where your supplies came from or what they are being used for. The less you know the better, don’t you agree? I am not talking about you with any other paws either.” “That’s fair…”

The witch didn’t say anything more to Zariel that day.

… But, a few moments later, much stronger creatures started leaving the den, far stronger than middle rank were supposed to be.