During her time as a class rep Kaya had her problems. Either it would be the scribblings on her desk, rotten food on her locker, or Nancy and her gang deciding to stuff her desk with garbage. At these times Kaya remembered walking up to the rooftop of the building, sitting down beside the last stair and pondering on her life choices. Back then those days were what she hated the most, but now with a magical zombie running amok she realized she’d handle thirty different bullies rather than face her life right now.

“Give me options,” she said to an invisible Place.

“Lady Kaya I believe my advices come with limitations,” Place uttered, but for some reason the tone of his voice made Kaya wonder if he was enjoying the situation. “It is very similar to your interactions with the hero. I can give you an overview about your powers and your limits. What you do with them, is not for me to say. I don’t want to face the wrath of the high mother.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“That’s profanity.”

[Profanity uttered. 2 Evil Points. 15 Evil Speech Points in Total.]

The zombie gave a shrill roar. Its voice was like an old lady’s high pitched scream. The minotaur crashed through the alleyway, slamming the walls with its axe like a child destroying its lego. When it emerged on the other side, it’s scrutinized the floating zombie before attacking.

“Ah, this is interesting,” Place added.

Now he decides to talk…

The monster plunged, its axe held high and its body in the air. From the distance Kaya assumed it was one clean strike. The zombie would then be split into two very equal parts. But during it’s mid jump Karon - now the zombie - lifted his hand. His fingers wiggled and cracks of purple energy escaped through his fingertips, spreading through the air and all arcing up towards the minotaur. The energy which ran like webs connected at the creature, joining together in one powerful blast.

Light bursted forth, and a fraction of a second later the sound emerged. Kaya closed her eyes as the brightness grew. It lasted only for a moment before dying away like an old man’s rattled cough. When Kaya opened her eyes again, the minotaurs axe fell down from thin air to the ground. As for his body, it was just thin black ashes racing to the ground.

“Ah…” her face brightened. “He killed it! My trick worked.”

It was cruel to think when the core part of the trick had become an undead, but desperate times had desperate consequences.

She was doing her own tap dance inside her head before Place’s voice rang beside her again. “Did it, my lady?”

Now the scrambling soldiers turned back to the undead. In their eyes they must have seen a very enigmatic Karon, because they dropped their weapons and marched towards him, chanting his name. Some fell to their knees and prayed to the sky. Undead Karon now looked at them with his head cocked to the side, then moved his arm with wiggling fingers towards them.

Uh-oh.

“Place, we should-”

Before she could finish the same purple energy blasted from Karon’s fingers racing to meet the oncoming soldiers. It moved through them like ghosts, but each time even the tiny trace of energy hit a person’s body they fell to their knees, clinging to their chests and writhing on the ground.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The lucky ones at the back realized something was fucked up, and turned their backs and started scrambling back towards the castle. The ones who were praying a moment ago were the fastest.

I should do something, Kaya thought. And Place isn’t helping. If I could approach the problem differently…

“Place?”

“Yes, my lady?”

“What are the powers of a goddess that is best suitable to stop the undead?”

There was a pause.

“Ah very wise my lady…but I believe your only options are incinerating them.”

“Even the hero?”

Another pause.

“A goddess killing his own hero will be a grave crime. The consequences can be dangerous and you’ll be visited by the High Mother herself if news gets around. Even if that doesn’t happen the Evil Points you get will scale up faster than the time you take to have very bad decisions.”

Karon turned at her. His eyes, now the color of purple seemed to stare right through her. Then he fell to the ground as if gravity finally defied his powers. But in the next moment he was scampering towards her in all fours. It was a very funny sight Kaya would have enjoyed, only if the man wasn’t coming at her.

“Okay, what is he doing now?”

“As a magical creature I believe he can sniff powerful magical scents. And now that the minotaur is gone, you are the one with the most powerful magical scent my lady.”

“Great! I always wanted to smell good in front of the boys.”

“Was that sarcasm my lady?”

Karon was scrambling the hill she was in now. He didn’t seem to slow down.

Kaya could lift her hand and incinerate him in a very grandeur fashion, but that will only ruin her reputation further.

“Place, now would be a very good time-”

When Karon was at least twenty feet away he jumped, like a horse jumping up through the fence. For a moment Kaya thought he was floating in mid air, but then he aimed himself right at her.

Wait he can do that?

“Place-”

Karon flew near her, his eyes blazing. Just as he was inches near, Place materialized in front of her, but this time in a new suit. A thin brown cloak was wrapped around him, and two scaly black legs touched the ground. His feet were like a crow’s paws, and the single hand that emerged out of the cloak was thinner than a cardboard, but three long fingers extended out, buzzing with tendrils of red energy.

Place swung his hand, and his claw like hands crackled red light, pushing the flying creature back down to the hill until he ended at the very bottom, arse up, head on the ground.

“Stand down human scum,” Place’s voice now sounded rich, almost like three people with deep voices were talking at once. “You are too tainted to touch a goddess.”

The zombie’s legs came down, and it rose to the ground again. Place shielded Kaya’s view, but Kaya heard a disgruntled roar. In the next moment Karon was scampering towards the forest. He ran on all fours and faded into the darkness.

Kaya didn’t realize she was heaving until the creature faded from view.

When her right mind finally returned she looked at place, who was now fading from view.

“H-ho-h-”

“I believe the question is how my lady,” Place disappeared completely, but Kaya still heard his voice.

“Yes, how?”

“We are naturally born to protect our masters and mistresses. You are my mistress, so it is my right to protect you.”

“That’s it! Then as your mistress I order you to hunt that thing down and bring him to me. Then I can apply holy magic or whatever I have and revert him back to human.”

There was a long pause.

“What?”

“Two problems, my lady. One, I cannot hunt him down. I am your guard but not your guard dog. My orders are to protect you during an attack, not to chase after the attacker and bring him to you. Two, holy magic to undo dark magic is only possible when you have accumulated enough holy points and have very minor amount of evil points, none of which you possess.”

Kaya rubbed her temples. She almost had the urge to ask what she should do next, but she knew Place wouldn’t respond.

“Alright,” she calmed down her thoughts. “So we have a undead with magic running loose. What do we do when there is a threat to the world?”

“We beckon the hero, my lady.”

And if the hero is dead?

The solution naturally came to her mouth. “Place, can I summon another hero to this world?”

“Quite possible, my lady. We can even start now. But we should get on with the interview process.”

“There’s interviews?”

“Of course my lady, and I believe that’s harder than stopping a magical undead on the loose.”