Knowledge is Power

     A light knock came from the door dragging me from the book that I was reading. "Come in."

     Lisa came in but froze as soon as she saw me. "Kaz.... What are you reading?" I looked down at the stack of books and then the one in my hand. They were all about Zombies. I had read the one Badru gave me earlier and found it fascinating so I asked for some more. There were now piles of books all around the room. The one I was currently reading was Abraham Lincoln zombie slayer a knock off version of Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter.

     "....I just thought I should read up on this whole Zombie thing that everyone seems to know about."

     "..." Lisa glanced around the room again then shook her head. "It has been several hours since you came here. It is know time to announce about the full moon tonight. Also Terry, Van, and Akuji would like to talk to you."

     "I see... Badru!" Badru appeared behind Lisa in the door way. "Badru I have to go take care of a few things and then hopefully I'll be back later. While I'm gone can you take this stack away and bring in some alchemy books about transmutation. I have a feeling that that damned necromancy used some alchemy in his spell."

     "Of course." Badru floated the books out of the room and went to find the ones I asked for again.

     "Can't you go ask Terry what he used and what spell?"

     I looked back at Lisa. "I have. He won't give me the information. He says its some trade secret passed down through generations."

      "Then I doubt you will find the answer here. You will probably have to ask his master for the information."

      "Sigh.... Your probably right but I really don't want to talk to him. Come I need to do the announcement." Lisa nodded and followed me back to the office. The sun was setting casting long shadows in the street.

      We walked to the entrance of the City Hall when Lisa stopped. "Terry, Van, and Akuji are all in the office already. I will be heading home. Also Clara seems to be back at your house already. Good night."

     "Good night Lisa." I walked up into my office to be greeted by oppressive silence. The three of them were sitting in chairs, that they brought up from the conference hall, at the edge of the room. Walking in I took a seat at my desk. [ What a depressing site. ] "What can I do for you?" I asked with a smile on my face.

    Akuji paused and then spoke up. "I can wait to discuss what I wish to tell after the evening announcements."

     "As can I". Said Van.

     " I just came to say that I dropped Clara off at your house." Whispered Terry. He got up to leave only to be grabbed ahold of by Akuji. Terry's face showed discomfort but he sat back down anyway.

     "I see... Then please be quite while I do the announcements." I pulled the radio and speaker out and began. 

     "Good evening Shadow Wood. As you all know it is that time of the month were we have to go home early and lock all our doors and windows. That's right I'm talking about the full moon." 

     As I continued a little machine in the speaker changed the way my voice sounded. Many of the people who lived here did not know what the mayor of their town looked or sounded like. It wasn't that it was kept especially secret but my voice did not carry well on electronics so the voice changer was necessary. On the other hand I don't do public appearances. This meant that when I go out a lot of people don't know who I am. 

     "Now that the full moon is tomorrow night I shall go over the normal procedure. Make sure to be home a good hour before the sun goes down. Do not let your children out at night. Gather all the guns and silver bullets in the house that you can and sleep with it within reach. If you are new and do not have any, stay at a neighbor house for the next four days. Do not follow or respond to any blood curtailing screams that you may hear. Lastly make sure that you are very quite this night, as to keep them from taking to much note of you. 

     On that note the Darkness has a message for the citizens:

     “For those who wish to join our ranks please come to the broken tree on the east side of town. There we shall initiate you into the group. Make sure to keep in mind that only half of you will survive.”

                                          "Darkness"

That is all for the news. Make sure to have all your things prepared for tomorrow and be safe. 

Your Local Leader,

                               Kaz"

     "...Now how can I help you?"

     "Kaz please tell the new residents in the town to not mess up my power plant." Van said in a huff.  I looked at her a bit startled.

     "The ones that came from Redroad?"

     "Yes!! Some of them came and saw Dirk doing work and freaked. " [ Ahhh.. So that's what it is about. ] "It was fine when the kids just came but the parents couldn't take it. This is why I left human society in the first place."

     "What did they do?"

     ".... Well nothing really but when the parents ran off, with the kids, screaming it depressed the Dirk. Now they are just sitting around doing nothing and I can't do anything about it. I swear if I could just destroy them and create them again to solve the problem I would but I can't do that."

     [ Wow, I'm surprised they weren't depressed already. ] Terry and Akuji looked at Van in horror. OK so Akuji just gave a quite stare. "Well I'm sure they didn't mean to depress the Dirk. Why don't you go and explain to them what they were and tell them that they are harmless."

     "No." Stubbornness shown in her eyes. "I can't do that. First of all they are not harmless they can easily kill. Second it is their fault that they are depressed now. I told them repeatedly that they were not to play with the kids. But Nooo~ they go and do it anyway."

     I pressed my hand against my forehead feeling a headache coming on. "Just tell the people that they are made of dirt and harmless." She opened her mouth to say something. "I know that they are not made of just dirt but tell the people this. Do not even think about mentioning what else it is made of. This will make it so that the kids can play with them again and they won't be depressed."

     Van nodded her head reluctantly and left the room leaving Akuji and Terry sitting there in silence. The silence continued for a little while then Akuji finally spoke. "What is a 'Dirk'? Is it just one or more things?" The question threw me off.

     "... The Dirk are what's running the power plant." Akuji nodded.

     "I understand."

     "... Alright now what can I do for you Akuji?" I smiled a little to help ease the tension in the room.

     "Master Kaz there is a problem in the Coven. As you know we act as home base for the witches and wizards in this country and their familiars. Recently the out brake of Zombies has caused untold damage on the residents outside of Shadow Wood."  [ Sigh... ] "As a result many of those in the society have faced some problems and wish to move here were it is safe. Others wish to have the problem solved, but do not wish to move."

     I nodded my understanding. [ In short fix it...  ] "I see no problem letting the ones who wish to move here do so. However you will be in charge of finding places for them to stay."

     "That will be no problem. They can move in with the coven."

     "Good. As for the second part... I have no solution to the current problem with the Zombies. They are beyond my understanding and are extremely difficult or impassible to destroy."

     "What about asking the 'Resident' to explain what he did to get rid of the ones in town?"

     "... The 'Resident' did not destroy the ones in town... It was more like... Wiping them from existence. We, or at least I, do not have that kind of power. You would have to ask the 'Resident' to do that for you."

     "I see..." Akuji fell silent. The quite continued for some time making Terry shift uncountably in the chair. "Then we must ask the Necromancer to fix the problem." Terry froze and looked at Akuji in silent horror. "It is true that you created this problem correct."

     "....That is correct..."

     "Then you must fix it."

      Terry looked at me with pleading eyes. "Yes Necromancer, why do you not regal us with your tales about my cemetery." The soft and deep voice froze both Terry and Akuji.

     "Good evening 'Resident'. You're early tonight." A shadowy figure stood at an opened window. A predatory smile appeared making Its teeth visible within the shadow of the hood.

     "Is that so?"

     "I am sure you heard Akuji's request about the Zombies."

     "Indeed I did."

     Akuji sat stiffly in the chair as he listened to the conversation. "Do you happen to have a solution to the problem?"

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

     The 'Resident' was silent for a moment. "No."

     "I see... Then do you have a suggestion on how to handle this problem?"

     "As we do not have any useful information there is nothing we can do. However the more information there is, the more we can do."

     "How wise..." Not even attempting to hide my smirk I turned my eyes back to Akuji. "There you have it Akuji. We are currently unable to fix this problem. However this might change in the future. If you stumble across any information please let me know."

     Akuji stood up quietly and left the room. Leaving Terry by himself. "Um... Is it OK if I go?"

     I glanced over at the clock that now read ten pm. "Sure. See you tomorrow." Terry hastily got up and left the room shutting the door behind him. "Now what can I do for you 'Resident'?"

     The 'Resident' turned to look out the open window before speaking. "I have come to give you a list of the beings that wish to seek refuge in this town. However I do not see how you are going to accommodate all of them and their unique requirements." The paper that was handed to me held names of creatures I had never even heard of.  This made it even more difficult to place them in town.

     "Are they coming all at once?"

     "No. They have to travel here from different locations so their arrival will be scattered."

     "I see..." Setting the list down I pulled out a map of the town. "Any news on the outside world?" [ I think the forest can accommodate two of them. ]

     "Probably nothing you haven't heard." [ Will the gremlins and bogarts fight each other?  ] "The Zombies have made it over seas at this point. It is now considered a world wide problem. Apparently it happened because of a international flight. The countries that haven't been effected have closed their borders, but I feel that only island countries will be able to avoid getting affected by the Zombies..." [ Hahaha, I can stick them with the vamps. Let them deal with that. ]

     "...At this point it would almost be better to try and create a warp dimension and leaving to avoid getting involved any further with this problem."

     "...." I looked up at the 'Resident' stunned."... You wish to create a hole across dimensions?"

     The 'Resident' pulled up a chair in front of the desk and sat down. "Well yes. I would like to expand the town so that it would be able to contains every living thing as far away from the Zombies as possible."

     "While I understand what you are saying, but it doesn't really add up. Why would you want to do that? Especially since you are not affected by the Zombies."

      "... Thats not really true.... Its true that the Zombies can not harm me physically but they are taking a toll on me mentally."

      I frowned. "...What?"

      "..." The 'Resident' shifted unhappily in Its chair. "I can't take it anymore. Day and night I have to fairy the newly dead to the underworld. It was good before because the improved health care has caused a drop in the number of dead, but with the Zombie out brake the work load had doubled what it used to be in the olden days!"

     ".... I thought that the creatures changed into Zombies after they were bitten so why would your work load increase?"

     "It's because when someone gets infected before it can take ahold a lot kill themselves or are killed by others! The Humans are having wars and murdering each other for the supplies that they need to survive! Just imagine 7.3 billion Humans killing each other! It is ridiculous!"

     "... I see. Was there 7.3 billion people on this planet?.... Anyway I can understand why you would want to do that but it would probably be easier to either eradicate the Zombies or create a cure. Do you have any news on the Zombies?"

     "...It looks like when a supernatural creature is bitten it does turn into a Zombie. However they do not retain their original powers. In fact you could say that the Zombies are a new supernatural creature that has the power to convert others."

     "... Is that so." A howl sounded in the night and drifted through the window. "It is good that they don't keep their original powers but if it is as you say and they are a new species of supernatural creatures then we have a completely different problem. Who do you think would be best to send out to research the Zombies?"

     The 'Resident' sat silently for a while. "For now why don't we send some wolves out to hunt. I am sure that they will find out useful information. Also they are much stronger than most of the creatures here."

     "Not bad. I'll contact the alpha and see if he is willing to lend out his wolves for a while."

     The 'Resident' nodded its head then stood up. "I must go Kaz. If there is anything new please contact me." With that it walk/drifted out the window and into the night. I looked at the clock that now read 11pm. [ I guess its about time to head home. ]

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Kaz - Mayor of Shadow Wood

            Self proclaimed 'Green Spirit'

            'Embodiment of forest'

Terrry - Necromancer

                 Cause of the Zombies

                  Kaz's Assistant

                  Babysitter 

                  A Bosh

'Resident' - Lives in a crypt

                        Friend of Kaz

                        Farries the Dead to the Underworld

Lisa -  Cat Sidhe

              Kaz's secretary 

              Crow familier 

Ali Baba - Witch

                    Twin Sister to Baba Yoga

                    'Alba'

Baba Yoga - Witch

                          Twin Sister to Ali Baba

                         'Bayo'

Jasmine - Leader of the Water Fae

Van - In control of the Power Plant

            ....'Human'

Dirk - Employees of Power Plant

             Golems (created by Van)

David Baker - Mayor of Redroad

                            Human

                            Missing

Inta - Ali Baba's daughter

Usor - Ali Baba's Son

Clara - Little girl from National Park

               Living with Kaz

               Wood Elf

Akuji - Wizard 

              Head of Magic clan

Kraken Family - 3 in total 

                                 Live in the pond

                                 From Chaos demention

Badru - Head of the Library 

                Sphinx (Cheetah variety)