In a barren land, where as far as the eye could see not a soul was in sight. The black charred lands, made an unexpected serene sight, under the beautiful and rare starlight that had managed to find its way in this eternally dark land. Thus making a sight, that came right from a painting, as the clouds that covered this land, had given way for the pristine blue moon to show itself. And in this painting, something uncanny happened.

The soil in the center of this field, shook a little, as a bony, literally a hand made of only white bones, pierced the soil, to escape its burial. Following which, more soil was displaced as white skeleton escaped the soil. It pulled itself, till it finally reached the surface and sat down. The skeleton looked around, and if one were to describe its expression from human standards, then it would be, blank. Or more appropriately, confused. It looked around, to see where it was and stood up to dust itself, although it wasn't wearing any clothes.

And the first thought that came to it's mind, although it didn't have a brain was,

'I can think. That's nice.'

But then, it scratched its head.

'Wait. What do I think. Ah yes. I'm Arun.'

It didn't know why it thought that. But the thought of "I'm Arun", pleased it a lot. So it thought again.

' I'm Arun. Ah yes, most certainly, I am Arun. And I'm a man.'

That's what he kept thinking to itself, as it stood there.

' I am Arun and I am a man. Nice. '

As it stood there for sometime, repeating the thought constantly in its head. Another voice sounded in its mind, that most certainly wasn't his.

"Greetings from Shukra. You have, been chosen to walk the path of The Asura. Do you agree?"

To which he replied,

"Hi. I am Arun."

And although the action of talking did no more than move its jaw, as it lacked the organs to speak. He'd most certainly "said" that. And to which the voice replied,

"Accepted."

After which the moonlight seemed to concentrate on its head, and a mystical tiny blue flame started burning in the center of its skull, which led to some blue light leaking from its eye sockets , making it look like he had pupils. Then, the voice spoke no more.

Although that didn't discourage him, as he kept repeating

"Hi, I am Arun."

After some time passed,the skeleton, Arun, decided to walk. The starlit night was beautiful, as even the black lands looked good under its shine.

Thus he walked, and walked, as it emptied his head of thoughts. Finding himself to be redundant. Though he didn't know what "redundant" was.

It kept walking for a long time, when eventually he stopped. For something had changed. He percieved it, the night had darkened. The moon had vanished, and the starlight shone no more.

"Well, I'm still Arun. "

With that train of thought he kept moving. As he kept going through the darkened night, he suddenly heard a growl. After which, another questionable thought came to his mind.

'I can hear?? Nah.'

And he kept moving. But, he came to a stop soon, as a hyena had appeared in front of him. Well, calling that a hyena wouldn't be very appropriate, as it had pale rotting skin, a single eye, and grey matter hanging from one side of its broken head. When seeing this monstrosity that had walked right out of a nightmare, Arun reacted.

"Hey, I'm Arun."

And in response the hyena cackled, and started giving chase. Seeing that the hyena was ready to pounce at it, Arun without knowing why, started running away from it. And the chase continued for a while, as both of them were tireless, ending when the faster hyena had Arun under its paws.

"Bad doggy."

Was all Arun could say, as he held the hyenas jaw as it tried to bite at his skull. After sometime of the hyenas effort of biting, something snapped in Arun, as he straightened his bony fingers and pierced them through the hyenas remaining eye. Following which he clawed at the exposed part of the hyenas brain and separated it from the rest of the body. The hyena went into a daze, as it staggered. Making use of the opportunity, Arun twisted its neck and ripped of the head from its body. And instinctively crushed a tiny grey crystal present in the head of the hyena.

The hyena moved no more, as he got up, dusted himself, and pointing to the "dead ?" hyena said,

"You can't do that to me. I'm Arun."

And then he started walking again. He walked, till some vegetation came in view. Well, calling it vegetation would be a long shot, as it was mostly dead. But there were still leaves, although not green, and the trees were still lush, lush grey that is. He also saw, a few black trees, completely stripped, and they swayed despite no wind blowing. Thus, the vegetation was nice, small withered shrubs and little plants here and there. Albeit a bit depressing from a connoisseur's perspective, Arun found the scenery pleasing. At least better than the empty lands he'd risen from.

And as he made his way through the new found forest, he suddenly saw a cackle of hyenas moving together. Well, zombified hyenas that is. And seeing them, Arun immediately ducked under cover, as he knew, he wasn't a match for them. But the hyenas were not alone. There were a bunch of human zombies against them, and the group seemed to be engaging in mutual slaughter.

Eventually, after long fight, the zombies were annihilated by the hyenas. And three of the hyenas were left. The biggest of them all pounced on the other two, and gobbled them up. After which, it lay down to rest, and started growing at a visible pace, with some obvious mutations happening to it, enhancing its monstrous features.

Arun watched the hyena for a while, and decided to leave.

" That's one rabid dog.", He said. Although the meaning of rabid eluded him.

He walked around and saw a variety of creatures and was lucky enough not to be noticed by them. Well not that lucky, as he ran into a group of ghouls and had to climb a tree till they left. And upon that tree he was suddenly faced by an owl, which startled him and he fell down.

Then after hours and hours of walking, and roaming through the forest, he came across a pleasant surprise.

There stood, in a clearing a thin figure of bones, cracked here and there. With a teeth or two missing, and some parts of its body showing signs of yellowing. Another skeleton with hollow eyes.

Arun looked at it, then back at himself. Although the complexion of the other party didn't look as good as himself, he didn't hesitate as he came out of the bushes to face his kin.

He confronted the "new" skeleton, and said,

"Hi. I am Arun."