The shamblers invaded the living realm three times a day. In the morning, the afternoon, and the evening. There were so many of them that it kept the Enlightened busy for hours while they tried to clear them.

The shamblers paused when they entered my abilities radius. Before I could get lost in “us mode,” I reigned in my skill, so I didn’t disrupt their movement further.

“Hey, are you listening to me, zombie?” the brutish elf said.

I heard him, and there was no way I would do his work. Why would I help him anyway? I was still pissed about his role-playing remark.

Now that I thought about it, he was role-playing too. The elves weren't technically in an army, yet they had a command structure and were playing their parts.

Lily hadn't slipped out of her leader persona when I'd met her, and Koffer seemed to be sticking to his role too. Then again, they may have been acting for their streams.

Koffer stood with his guards as if they were a group of workers taking a break. Which meant that Koffer probably wasn't streaming. That, or he was chatting with viewers.

Something hit me in my back, causing me to turn.

“Auden, stop throwing things at the zombie and move those bodies,” Sandra commanded.

Auden, I thought.

It pissed me off that his name was so cool. I showed him my pinky and used it to pick my teeth.

He glanced at Sandra, then back at me, shook his head, and walked off.

I decided to do a little research while I waited for the hordes to coalesce. I'd read about the elves' speed before, but I needed to know specifics.

I opened my menu and tapped the infoBase button. My body separated from Inethiel’s as I stepped away from it.

A small white fox padded into view. “Hello, Azerail. You're wondering how the Elven passive and Max Agility stats work together, correct?” it said.

Zix was the AI vulpine's name. Its voice was masculine, but I changed it periodically.

He had limited access to my thoughts and memories. There was a much more advanced AI at school. I used it for my Narrative Design classes. This one was prehistoric in comparison. He was built into my implant, so I didn't expect much from him.

The restrictions my parents put on Zix frustrated me to no end. “Yeah,” I said.

“Elves are able to do a quick burst of speed every three minutes. This, combined with their maxed agility, allows their burst to move faster than an average person can see. Because Dark Offerings is an augmented reality game, the system shows that they aren't moving while they—”

“That's enough, thank you, Zix,” I interrupted.

DOs devs liked to use that particular technique. Sometimes there was a tell since their AI took over movements for the character. I'd have to watch them more closely next time.

In fact, that was what was controlling Inethiel at the moment.

“That's all, Zix. Thanks,” I said.

“Enjoy your game!” he said and dashed away.

I stepped back into Inethiel and checked to see if anyone had noticed my little AFK moment. Koffer's eyes locked on mine and then he looked away.

My control undead ability spread out as I checked on the shamblers. There were six groups of thirty in the immediate area. They would start their advance soon, and I didn’t want to jump the gun, so I shut down the skill.

One of Koffer’s soldiers shivered. “You guys feel that?”

“The wind?” Sandra asked.

Koffer rubbed his hands together. “It felt good,” he said. He glanced at me. “Can you talk yet?”

“Can I tal—” I broke out into a coughing fit. After recovering, I said, “Yes.”

I shouldn't have been able to speak. Then again, Kumo was boosting my stats.

You use it. It's mine! Kumo said.

Use what? I asked.

Anger boiled in the pit of my stomach. It's my power, not yours!

When I focused, I sensed a small amount of energy pouring into me. I couldn't tell where it came from or how to stop it.

“Good God, you really are a zombie, hello!” Koffer said as walked up to me, waving his hand at my face.

I backed up and hissed as he closed in. Kumo was distracting me.

“What?” I asked.

Koffer put up his hands. “What did you do to Lewis?”

Lewis was the one who pinned me to the ground while Lily had me detained.

“How’s Lily? Is she cow—” I cleared my throat. “Cowering under someone else's legs?”

My delivery wasn’t the best, but my throat was cut in half thirty minutes ago, so I was giving myself a little leeway.

Every one of Koffer’s companions made an aggressive step forward and drew their swords. Koffer glanced behind him and thrust a closed fist in the air, and they stopped.

Koffer closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When he opened them, his features went flat. Where there once was compassion and curiosity, only emptiness remained. “I’m not going to ask again.”

Stolen novel; please report.

I looked down at my still-reforming hand. The muscles had finished their trek along my arm, and the fatty layer was starting to work its way down. It was detailed, even more detailed than my nightmares.

“Killed him?” I asked.

He lowered his arm and strode toward me.

His men surrounded me.

Koffer got in my face and spat as he spoke. “He lives, barely.”

That didn’t seem right. I knew what a dead person looked like, and I had a pretty good look at him when his helmet flew off.

Does drain kill them, Kumo? I asked.

Amusement flooded my senses, but there was no reply.

The spider was worse than me when it came to making people suffer. I was beginning to like it.

I grinned. “Does he suffer?”

Koffer’s hand went for his sword.

Wield me! Kumo shouted.

I backed up and spread my arms wide.

It’ll kill me if I do! I thought.

No. Wield me!

The sword that coalesced in my hand looked completely different from how it had earlier. Its once faint green glow was now a bright blood red. Along its center were four flaming green glyphs. The webbing on the hilt had changed to a pair of upward-facing fangs.

My hand quickly healed and appeared flawless. Shamblers weren’t supposed to have skin like that.

Let go, Kumo commanded.

I obeyed, and the sword hung in the air on its own.

Then Kumo’s Fang darted toward Koffer. It spun in an arc leaving smoky trails of red behind it.

Koffer quickly drew his sword and blocked. Then he went for me.

Kumo cut him off, and I kept my distance.

A growl that could only be from a shambler came from the wall of fog as the horde passed into this realm.

Without hesitation, I released my power, and a cold breeze spread across the forest.

Seventy of us dashed forward, closing the small ten-meter gap instantly. There were no minds fighting my decisions; it was pure bliss.

The elves were divided and caught off guard as we flooded the area. Unlike the newbie shamblers, the NPC versions knew how to fight, so I released them and let them do what they did best.

I was suddenly back in my body as my skill shut down again.

Koffer and Kumo’s swords sparked as they relentlessly clashed against each other. Every time Koffer moved toward me, Kumo unleashed a flurry of blows causing the man to back up.

More power! Kumo demanded.

The men surrounding us had turned their backs on us. They were busy fending off the invading horde.

I really didn’t want to go through another person's memory, so I re-activated my control undead skill keeping the radius as close to me as possible. Then, I slipped behind one of the guards, glanced at Koffer, and grabbed a man from behind while activating drain. He shook and dropped his sword. I followed him to the ground as that precious energy seeped into my body.

Then it happened again. Something inside of my body cracked, but this time, it was followed by a wet pop.

What was that?

You are changing, little shambler, Kumo said.

I let go of the guard and checked my body to see if anything was different. Change? What change? I asked.

No answer.

The soldier on the ground stirred, so I laid my hand on his arm and reactivated drain. It took a while before the skill stopped working.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I removed the man's helmet. An unmoving dried husk remained. The only thing that still held moisture was his eyes. They stared up at me, twitching slightly as he observed.

It was one of the creepier things I had seen in the game.

I expanded the area of my control into the Fields of Woe and latched onto a couple of the slower-moving hordes.

We dashed forward and joined the others that were already fighting.

Most of the elves were winning their battles, using their speed to outmaneuver us, but that was because I wasn’t in command. It was nearly impossible for me to wrap my head around each individual battle, so I reduced the radius and focused on a much smaller group of us.

The elf wasn’t expecting the increased speed, and we got a hold of him. He stuck his sword into my stomach, and I pushed, letting it dig into my gut until it went through the other side. I bit into his neck, and blood spewed everywhere.

My focus shifted again to another small group of us, and I repeated the process.

We needed to find him. Auden.

By the time we had killed half of the elves, they began to panic, making more and more mistakes. Before long, there were only ten left. Auden had grouped up with two other elves and Sandra.

They had slaughtered over forty of our kind.

The separated ones fell just as easily as the others. However, I had a hard time breaking through the circle of men guarding the shambler that was me and Koffer.

Getting close to them was nearly impossible. Their swords caused an immeasurable amount of pain and it was too much even for me.

“Are you still trying to win?” we asked.

Sandra yelled, “Shut up and die!”

She lashed out, slicing into my shoulder and her sword got stuck in my collar bone. We yanked on her sword and she made the mistake of holding on. We dragged her into our midst. A part of me didn’t want to kill her. I ignored it, ripped her armor off, and tore her heart out. Her sacrifice would benefit the Hexed.

We surrounded the three remaining elves and pressed together.

I snuck behind another guard and drained him. When his sword dropped, we dashed in and seized his legs, pulling him away. His armor strained against the pressure of our hands but wouldn’t bend.

We took his helmet off and bit deep into his neck, and gnashed our teeth. He died almost instantly.

“Watch out for the one in here with me!” Koffer yelled.

Another group of shamblers entered my range, and joined us.

There were now over a hundred shamblers in the area, and I couldn’t control them all.

Several of the uncontrolled Hexed threw themselves at the thirteen men surrounding the shambler that was me. While the guards were distracted, I drained another one, and I kicked him into them. We grabbed him and separated him from the others.

They continued their suicide attacks, and I sent three more men to their deaths as they devoured their flesh.

At that point, there was a big hole in the men's defense, and we flooded the circle, trapping them.

I raised my hand. To me, Kumo.

The sword floated above us until it landed in my hand. A fifth burning green glyph was now on the blade.

Let me taste them, Kumo pleaded.

I wove through my horde and observed the men. Their armor was better than what I’d seen before, There was a gap under the armpit so I set Kumo next to it and let go. The sword sunk into the man.

Waves of satisfaction flooded my senses. It was a bit disturbing how much pleasure Kumo was getting from the kill so I left it alone.

I drained the remaining guards until they were weak enough to eat.

The elves received the same treatment except for Auden.

We pinned him to the ground, stripped him of his armor, and I wrapped my fingers around his throat. He stared at me, and I gazed back.

“We are no longer the fodder for your petty games. You will all die!” we said.

Then we ate him alive.

When we finished, I dug through his remains. I found his pinky and picked my teeth with it.

***