Due to the shock of finding the walking-rotting corpse, she failed to react when it suddenly lunged at her. Its bloated hands reached for her, trying to grab her. However, and fortunately, the creature’s foul hands passed through her. This gave her time to recover and distance herself, all the while sighing in relief. It seemed that as a ghost she really had become intangible. Having confirmed it, the panic that had previously risen when the zombie tried to grab her vanished. Knowing she was safe, her thoughts drifted elsewhere.

A fucking zombie…

The arsehole in the Dark was a real piece of shit. What were the odds that the first creature she would meet would be a walking corpse unless he planned it that way? But how exactly should she interpret this? Was she in some kind of land of the dead? If she kept walking would the settlement she encountered be a necropolis instead of a living city? Was this the kind of place she had been sent to?

Her thought process was interrupted when the zombie attacked her again. This time it tried bite to her, but- just like the previous attempt- it passed through her. Seeing this, her alertness of the situation quelled even further. Still, a wave of what would have been nausea if she still possessed a body passed through her abdomen when the creature went through her. The idea of being close to such a disgusting creature did not appeal to her. She put more distance between the two of them.

However, the creature was relentless. It kept coming after her, swinging its decaying arms ferociously. A few times it tried to sink its teeth into her. All its attempts failed, either they were out of her range or they met the same fate as its first ones.

Dammit! She exclaimed as she kept putting more distance between herself and the creature.

No matter how much she distanced herself from it, it just kept on coming! Minutes passed in which she was certain she traversed hundreds of metres worth of desert. The zombie was still only a few metres from her. Even when she had run it had been fruitless. The belief that zombies were slow was completely unfounded.

How do I get rid of it? She asked herself.

Should she try to attack it? That would be the logical conclusion. However, in her current state her fists would probably pass through it. Even if it turned out that she could hit the zombie, she did not have much hope of destroying it with her bare hands. Besides… she looked at the creature once more. If she had a stomach she would have retched from the sight of it. She certainly did not wish to touch a creature so foul. Having made that decision she stopped simply trying to put some distance between them and earnestly began trying to escape. Without a second thought she turned around and started running.

The zombie pursued. It was pretty fast, but she was even faster. The distance between her and the creature kept widening until, after a long time, the zombie was no longer behind her. Only then did she feel the need to stop and take a breather, in the non-literal sense.

She looked up at the sky, having already lost count of how many times she had gazed upon its greyness. After a couple of seconds she looked down at the sand, comparing its dull colour to that of the bleak sky for the zillionth time. In all honesty, whatever god created this place lacked an imagination. Seriously, was grey the only colour they knew?

After all the time she had spent here she was beyond tired of this place. No sun, no trees and no wind; what kind of moronic being would create such a place? Why would anyone create such a place? There weren’t even insects for fuck’s sake! The last part she would have considered a blessing if not for the fact that the previous things were missing. If the one who created this place did was not a complete and utter fucking moron, then they had the worst humour in existence.

Was it that arsehole? She wondered.

It felt like something he would do. It would make complete sense if someone living in the darkness lacked the slightest sense of artistry. Black, white and grey were probably the only colours he knew so it was not farfetched that he created something this stupid. After all, did he not send her here despite her vehemently wishing otherwise?

This is a very beautiful world you created, she commented.

Minutes passed without a response, causing her to purse her lips in frustration.

Honestly, she thought that maybe by complementing this worthless land she would get a response from him. Maybe he could not hear her anymore. Or maybe he still could but did not respond because he was not the creator of this world. Another reason might be because he knew how she really felt about this shit land. The last reason would make sense considering the fact that he was able to sense her innermost thoughts when they had conversed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

If that’s so then… FUCK YOU! She exclaimed. This is a pretty garbage world you created! Was grey the only colour you could afford? Is your imagination so lacking that you couldn’t even create a proper desert? Where are the fucking dunes?

She wanted to say more but was suddenly aware of movement to her side. Quickly, she swivelled her neck in a ninety degree angle and was met with the sight of another rotting corpse. This one was different from the previous one. It was taller and bulkier, with more flaked skin. Its mouth was torn from the lips to the ears, turning it into a vicious gaping maw with endless drool dripping from it. As she kept staring the creature’s information appeared before her eyes.

Race; Zombie (Undead- Ghoul)

Physique: Grade 4

Mana: F (White)

Just as she finished reading its information, the creature gave a throaty grunt and lunged for her. Its speed was completely different from the other one. She could not move out of the way in time. Luckily, as with the previous zombie she had encountered this one could not seem to touch her either.

Trying to distance herself from the creature proved useless as the zombie’s speed far surpassed hers. Wherever she went it would appear a millisecond later, poised to strike. It possessed a speed that belied its size, allowing it to swipe at her so fast the actions generated faint gusts. Behind it she caught sight of deep prints it had embedded in the sand.

This thing was dangerous, and fortunately it could not hit her.

However, she was still troubled with how she would escape from it. Although it could not hurt her, she did find its persistent efforts to do so irritating. She tried to run like she did from the previous zombie but this one caught up with ease. It kept swinging and swinging, its hands constantly passing through her. The actioned irked her until she could not take it anymore.

In her anger she swung a punch at it. As expected, it went right through it. Her previous assumption had been correct. The zombie could not harm her, but neither could she harm it. At this realisation she released a grunt similar to the zombie’s. If she was unable to escape or come up with a way to dispose of the monster the two of them would be stuck in an eternal stalemate. That was not something she wished for.

Isn’t there anyone else who can get this thing off my case? She wondered.

At some point she stopped trying escape the thing and began to search, allowing the zombie’s attacks to annoyingly fly through her. The thought of such a disgusting creature invading her private space was nauseating. Its putrid stench assaulted her ethereal nose. If she had a body she would definitely be feeling sick right now.

Just then, while looking around, she spotted the previous zombie. Its nature was quite relentless, seeing that it had continued chasing after her even when she had completely left it in the dust. As the creature closed the distance between them she heard its guttural groans. The creature rushed them and slammed into the other zombie, freeing her from what would probably have been an endless torturous cycle.

It seemed the two creatures where not allies despite being of the same kind. The first zombie she had encountered began to pummel the other viciously.

This was as much as she saw before turning around and making a run for it. The sooner she lost sight of the both of them, the better. Then she could finally get back to figuring out where the fuck she was and what the fuck this world was.

That hope did not survive long.

She did not even take five steps when a burly rotting hand burst through her chest. She recognised it as belonging to the second zombie. The surprising act brought her to a halt. She looked back, searching for the first zombie. What she saw was a pile of dismembered limbs surrounding a squashed head and torso.

FUCK! She exclaimed. This zombie destroyed the other one so easily! She was truly fortunate the creature could not harm her or she would have suffered the same fate.

Now what do I do? She wondered.

She was unable to destroy the zombie and she lacked the speed to escape from it. How then could she get rid of the damnable thing?

After thinking about it for a minute she came up with the perfect solution; look for someone to dump it on.

With the way things were, it was likely the next person she encountered would be a zombie as well. If that was so she could try to escape when the two engaged each other. If it turned out to be a human, she could run away when this zombie was dismembering them. Hopefully the zombie would try to eat their brain like in the movies, giving her more time to escape.

So with her mind made up she began her journey. It was wrought with intense stress as she tried to ignore the zombie’s constant harassment.

Fortunately it did not take long to find a potential saviour.

Unfortunately, the candidate was not alone. Or rather, there was more than one candidate.

At some point in her journey she came across a group of around two dozen zombies. The {Index} triggered and their information flashed before her eyes. Most of them had a Grade 5 physique like the zombie that was destroyed in seconds, around three of them possessed a Grade 4 physique like the one currently glued to her.

The bizarre thing was that these zombies seemed to be at peace with each other, which was contrary to what she had seen earlier. She had just started wondering why it was so when a translucent- nearly opaque- form in the middle of the small horde caught her attention.

Its ethereal skin was ashen like the desert, a hairless creature with claws for hands. The creature’s arms were long and disproportionate to its body. It did not have legs, instead hovering half a metre above the ground. She felt a chill when the creature turned to look at her with its glowing red eyes...

Race: Wraith (Undead- Spectre)

Physique: None

Mana: A (Brown)

Title(s): Netherkin

… She was in trouble.