On a barren planet in an empty world lay a single skeleton wrapped in what was once regal clothes, now torn and battered, and would have looked dirty if it weren’t black.

The skeleton, who should have no lungs, gave a huge sigh at the desolate void above him.

“This is the end it seems” he thought.

His name is Verum mors, once a human now undead, and soon to be nothing.

Above him there are no stars, instead there is a thick mass of darkness, almost liquid yet ethereal, almost divine yet dangerous.

It is the Devourer, a slime like creature that swallowed worlds to get stronger. Many beings had tried but failed to kill it, their worlds, universes long gone and consumed. This one would be as well, with him in it.

But he doesn’t care, instead, he looked at the torn book laying right next to him. It was once one of the most dangerous items in existence, now a useless junk, but still he reached out for it and read the contents.

Most of the pages were missing, either torn or consumed already by the devourer.

Still, it’s value is priceless for him, for the back of the book contained a page, a single sentence that truly mattered.

‘I will always be with you’

I he had a face, he would have been seen smiling from ear to ear.

“Damn, I really messed up this time” Verum spoke out loud.

“Out of all high rank worlds, the slime bastard just had to pick mine.” He complained.

He expected to hear an answer from the slime, but It remained silent. Probably busy consuming everything.

Verum sighed again, he had the option to run, he is more than powerful enough to travel between worlds, but instead, he stood his ground, not moving an inch.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

His kingdom, his world was already destroyed. Everything he worked for, gone in a single battle. He had nothing.

‘Im done with everything, I already died once, personally, it’s not bad.’ he convinced himself, ‘This is better than rebuilding millions of years worth of effort. I’m done living…..or being an undead.’

“Maybe if Life gave me a sign, If she gives me another purpose, another dream to achieve, but who am I trying to fool? She hates me.” He laughed.

As the mass of darkness approached, he himself went closer. Using the last ounce of his energy, he flew up and embraced his end.

----------

Only to be teleported to a random location.

As soon as he entered the slime, he felt a weird sensation, like being encased in gelatin, but at the same time, he knew that a normal person would feel like they were surrounded by acid, considering how fast his body was disintegrating.

‘Luckily, I’m undead’ he thought, ‘Goodbye world, and I hope you get killed someday you stupid slime.’

When the last piece of bone was gone, his soul starts to be consumed as well, he can feel all his abilities slowly being drained.

However, before it removed anything, he felt a distortion in space. Not only that, but time seem to have been manipulated too.

Next thing he knew, he was a floating soul, inside a wooden house on a perfectly normal world.

“What in the hell.” he exclaimed.

Surrounding him was not darkness, but clear, crisp air and an aqua colored sky. The house which he is in was dark, broken, and possibly ancient.

It was covered in leaves and bursting with plants, as if it hadn’t been touched for a very long time.

Despite that, it is not his concern, rather, he is curious of his savior.

Below him is a little girl lying on the ground, emotionless, and most likely dead, however, he can feel the faint law of Death emanating from her body, something only an undead or someone dying can emit.

Chances are that she is alive since his race can’t sleep nor get unconscious in the first place.

Whether she is a fellow undead or not, he still had to help her, returning a favor is simply basic etiquette regardless of species, even if he didn’t need to be saved at that time.

First of all, he still needed confirmation of her current state, so he casted one of his abilities that work only on undead.

[Unworthy]

An ability that allowed him to essentially either destroy, strengthen, or make an undead loyal to him while making it able to communicate through any distance. Though he is using it right now to know if she is truly dead.

His soul emitted black smoke, which then made its way onto the girl. Verum expected her to rise immediately and apologize for pretending to sleep.

It did not work, at least partially, she did not get stronger but he felt a link establish between them. Which means she is dead at the moment but is technically still alive, or would be alive if she met some sort of requirement.

Verum raised his nonexistent eyebrows. “Well this is interesting.”

Self revival abilities are extremely rare, he himself had only seen less than one hundred individuals who posses one.

Verum considered the state of the girl, she looked so much like a dried piece of wood, and her white hair was so dirty it literally blended with the dirt and grass below. Her body, which was frail to begin with, seemed to have also taken some damage from rain, snow and winds while she was dead. It’s a miracle that her ability made her not rot in the first place.

‘Whatever.’ he thought, ‘One of the requirements is probably for her to be healthy.'

Verum hadn’t used some of his abilities for a very long time, mostly because it doesn’t fit his fighting style.

He was once a light mage that focused on battle and healing- a paladin - before becoming undead, so he had an ability that only worked on the living.

He floated right next to the girl and stretched out his hand to cast the most basic of spell, the first spell he ever knew.

[Heal]

The light surrounding the house was suddenly retracting, concentrating on the girl, making her glow with radiance.

‘I don’t know if your injured or not, but I- huh?’

His ability [Heal] was a low level spell that heals a target depending on the gap of their strength. In other words, it’s effectiveness increases the stronger he is than his target.

Verum not only felt the healing spell work on her. He also witnessed how her body, which was white as bone, turn rosy pink, her raisin-like skin became silky smooth, her motionless chest started to rise and fall, while her filthy white hair glowed and slightly grew.

Even so, she did not awake.

“Wait that was too effective, is she a regular girl?” He exclaimed.

‘There is no way she saved me, the difference between me and an unranked human is akin to an ant and a God!’

He attempted to grab her, eager to understand the true identity of the girl before him, only for his ethereal hand to pass through entirely.

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He then felt a reaction, It was very faint, like a drop of water in an ocean, but it did not escape him for its one of the things he is specialized in.

He felt his lifespan decrease.

Every being had a set of time before they die called a lifespan. All species, including undead, has very different amounts, however, all of them can increase It by simply getting stronger. Running out of lifespan is most commonly known as dying of old age.

Verum, who is at the pinnacle of strength once had a nearly endless amount, but the majority of it was consumed by the Devourer, so he could now see the small decrease in his lifespan after his hand went through her face.

‘This girl just took some of my lifespan.’ He bizarrely thought, ‘ She had an ability that takes lifespan!’

It was a very rare ability, which already made her a genius among geniuses compared to her peers.

“I must make her my host!” Verum exclaimed “It so damn rare finding people like her. I have long given up since they often lose their life too early due to the infamy of a life draining ability, and now I find one right before I die…..again.”

Not to mention, most of his subordinates who had those abilities was also killed by the Devourer. Verum needed a host he is compatible with in order to gain a new body.

‘I know I said I give up, but if life gave me a second…..third chance to live again then I don’t see a reason to refuse, besides, I might be able to take revenge as well. I only needed her to be strong enough to handle my powers.’ He thought and imagined how much this girl must have suffered at such a young age, ‘God’s, if only people like us weren’t discriminated.’

Verum observed the girl once more, and thought of what he should do as the next step.

‘Let’s see, she looks healthy now, but I can still feel the law of Death on her. What if I give her more of my lifespan? Maybe around a hundred years would be the best I could give. Any more and Ill end up dead in a millenia which might not be enough time for her to get stronger.”

Verum hesitated, but carried forward with his plan and plunged his hand towards her. He then actively tried to manipulate his lifespan, which felt incredibly awkward, but found that the girls draining speed is faster, so she just let her do it automatically.

----------

Cassandra doesn’t know how it happened, but she died.

It was all so sudden. One day, she and her little brother was on the way home from playing in the forest pond.

As far as she could remember, it was a calm and sunny day. The leaves are lime green as if they were new. The fragrant smell of mintdrop poppy’s were extremely prevalent, and the grass was surprisingly modest despite last winter. The animals, fresh from hibernation, was happily making noises, and filling the forest with much needed liveliness. Cassandra, who was long used to the environment, was looking up to try finding any potential fruits to pick while on the way home. Her soaking wet brother on the other hand leads the way whilst holding a stick like a knight would in his fantasies.

As she recalls her memories before she died, she doesn’t seem to remember his face nor his name.

“Casey, just so you know, I will tell mom that you pushed me in the pond today.” her brother complained.

Cassandra looked at her brother, his golden hair dance in the wind and his small body swing the stick in a back-and-forth motion made for a cute picture, even if she is seeing it from behind.

“It’s not my fault you were so annoying.” Cassandra remembered explaining “I was trying to grab a pet fish for us, but your stupid mouth won’t stop yapping that it even scares them away. Besides, I only sprayed a bit of water. It’s entirely your fault that you slipped.”

“I’m still telling” her brother said as he sprints in the hopes of telling their mom and getting mad before she could explain anything.

Cassandra, on the other hand, was easily able to keep up with him as she trailed from behind. Her 8 years old brother can’t possibly outrun someone four years older than him. She wasn’t intending to overtake him though. She knew that their mom would rather believe her than the little liar in front considering his past history with telling the truth.

It was a happy time for her. Cassandra had almost no worries in life. The only thing that wasn’t great was a disease she had since she was a baby. She doesn’t know what it does, but it kept her constantly weak and miserable. Although for some reason, being near animals seem to help her feel a bit better, but even so, Life was great.

That is until both of them came a cross something beyond their wildest imaginations.

As they enter the vast wheat field of their land, Cassandra saw a dot in the horizon amidst the sea of golden yellow.

“Our house?” Cassandra asked, but shook her head after “Did I get taller? It’s supposed to be farther than that.”

“Maybe it’s dads’ carriage” her brother reasoned. Their dad recently went out of their home a few days ago to sell his goods. Cassandra believed that his explanation made sense.

Both of them sprinted even faster to meet the man, possibly getting a look of surprise and lots of kisses for them.

However, as they got closer, Cassandra smelt something foul in the air. She couldn’t quite understand what it is, but she thinks it smells somewhat like iron. Moreover, the dot on the distance did look like their father’s carriage, but it was supposed to be fully dark brown, yet this one seemed to have a really, almost unnoticeable hint of dark red.

It was her brother at the front that noticed it.

There was a man at the side of the carriage. He seemed to be floating, but the metallic protrusion from his stomach indicates that it’s already dead, it was a corpse that was struck with a sword, hanging lifelessly from the unmanned carriage.

To both of their horror, the body belonged to their father.

There was no sound, no scream, no reaction.

Instead, both of them stood in silence, looking at was once a beloved man, with a funny mustache and a booming laugh, now turned into an empty shell, hanging in the wind on a beautiful day.

“Dad?” her brother whispered, which woke up the paralyzed Cassandra. She looked at the carriage, then at the corpse, then finally at her brother.

“D-d-don’t” she said as an avalanche of tears began falling from her eyes “No stop looking Its n-n-not real-l. It- “

“Dad!” her brother said as he ran towards their lifeless father while Cassandra stood still at the unfiltered reality.

“No, please wake up!” her brother screamed as his tears began to fall uncontrollably “wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up!” he said over and over again without pause.

Cassandra, who is standing still in the distance, held her hands on her mouth and tried to come up with a reason and solution.

“I- Il find mom. Yeah, she will know what to do. Hang in there tightly okay!” She said as soon as her body started moving toward their house that is now visible in the horizon.

She doesn’t know if her brother understood, but he stayed by their father’s side regardless, his voice fading as she rushes home that is now only a few minutes away.

She ran as fast as her small legs could carry her. She doesn’t know why but she feels her mother’s life slowly, horrendously fade away too.

By the time she gets to their home, she understood.

What was once a simple house made from wood and a straw has a large gaping hole where the door once existed, the roof is dripping in a crimson liquid.

The ground is fully tainted in blood that should not belong to any one individual and the air is polluted by its foul stench that Cassandra almost stumbled upon catching a whiff.

She continued forward, ignoring the unbearable headache from the smell and finally got inside.

What greeted her was a man sitting cross-legged on their table, holding a strange flat rectangular object that emits light to which he occasionally touches as if swiping on it.

The man was wearing glasses that has no lenses, a very fancy crimson robe decorated with threads of gold, and a simple brown leather jeans that went extremely well with his outfit. He was very handsome, perhaps too handsome that it’s borderline uncanny, his skin is white as snow and has a look of someone on their early twenties. His hair, which looked almost white with only a hint of yellow, is kept very wild, as if the owner was too lazy to deal with them. Despite that, his eyes betray his appearance, it was fiery red and slit, making him less as a young nobleman to a more vicious, ancient predator.

“Took you long enough, little girl, my phone battery is almost dead because of you.” The man complained, his eyes still focused on this “phone” that Cassandra had never seen before.

“Where is mom?! Who are you?!” Cassandra shouted.

The man looked up from his phone and smiled. “Oops, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Kaito, I am a vampire from the mid world Indra, although I doubt your lower world would even know of that place, let alone your technologically poor planet. As for your mother, well….hehehe.” He creepily smirked “I control dead cells you see, she was much more stubborn than your father, and well, I think you know what happened.”

Cassandra wanted to get mad, but somehow, her body won’t move, she can’t make a sound, move a muscle, nor breath, she is just frozen in place, frozen in front of the man named Kaito.

“Usually, I would have tortured you then make you explode, but I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll only kill you painlessly through the brain.” he said as soon as Cassandra lost her sight and her bodily control. Before she lost her hearing as well, Kaito spoke once more.

“Now then, Since she came from that direction, her brother must be there as well. I wonder what I would get from killing him. Master seemed to hint that he is quite important as to personally send me to do a simple errand.”

Then, she died.

What came after was complete silence. All she could see was pure darkness, and all she could hear are her own thoughts.

At first, she was still coming to terms at what had happened.

‘What is this, where am I? no, please not my brother too.’

‘Let me go please’

‘Why did you kill my family?!’

‘Who are you?’

‘What are you?’

Eventually, she calmed down, but the darkness did not end.

‘How long are you going to keep me here’

‘Why can’t I move’

‘Why can’t I feel’

‘Just who are you?’

Still, there was no response, just her and nothingness.

‘I hate you’

‘I will never forgive you’

‘Let me out please!’

It must have been months, or years already that she had been in this state. One by one, Cassandra lost her memories and her last bits of sanity.

‘Why...was I sad?’

‘What was I talking about?’

‘What am I?’

‘Just……who am I?’

Until eventually, her last thoughts are gone along with her humanity.

…

….

.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, she no longer remembers who she was, why she was angry, and what it’s like to live, whoever, despite that, she still remembers one face and two words.

Her last memory, which is the image of their murderer, and a simple desire to “Kill Kaito.”

She doesn’t know what it meant, nor does she care, Cassandra simply has to do it no matter what.

Suddenly, she felt something, something warm and welcoming going through her body, then she heard the sound of the distant birds again, then she felt the touch of grass around her body and the cold winds going around her skin.

She slowly opens her eyes, and what emerged was not Cassandra, but a husk of what she once was. Her pupil, which used to be bright purple, now an ink of empty darkness, her face that used to shine so bright is now static as stone, and her active demeanor was slow, like waking up from a long dream.

She looked at her surroundings. Her beautiful home was long gone, turned into ruins by the river of time, their wheat no longer there as it was devoured by bugs and overtaken by wild grass over the centuries.

It looked familiar to her, as if there was a hidden part of her memory that she can no longer access, she faintly remembers this place, although for her, it doesn’t matter right now, instead, she looked up, and stared at her savior, at the face of death itself, and smiled.