The figure trembled as it slowly worked itself upright. It stared at its hands then moved those very hands to pat over its body as if searching for something. A sigh rose from the figure, breaking the silence of the misty forest. A mutter was barely audible as the figure spoke, one simple phrase that explained the wide range of emotions the figure was currently experiencing.
“What the actual fuck.”
The figures name was... It scratched its head in confusion. It did not remember its own name, it vaguely remembered being human. While vividly remembering having died, violently at that. Although the specifics escaped him the feeling and explosion of sounds had left remnants on his soul. That was not the problem at hand, however, not having died would be great. Except he had died. He was sure of it, the fact that he could poke his finger through his cheek and feel his own teeth helped in proving that.
A memory tickled just below the surface, he made a mental reach for it and realized that he knew what he now was. A zombie, he had turned into one of those walking dead, shuffling, moaning and supposedly brain-eating undead. Except he had kept his mind, his thinking was still as sharp as it had ever been... At least he hoped it was.
He furrowed his brows as he tried to remember his past, any details or things of note. He drew a blank, he could not remember anything noteworthy. Well, a man needs a name. Did a zombie need one though? He honestly didn't know but if he wanted to continue to refer to himself in the third person as he had been so far he needed a name. He shrugged and went with something simple, Z would do.
The sound of skittering tore Z out of his thoughts. He glanced around only to see a thing from nightmares making its way towards him. A bonafide cat-sized spider, a nasty looking one at that. With surreal looking fangs dripping with a liquid colored such a vivid green that it was nearly luminescent. Normally a person would have panicked, Z did not panic. Panicking had never been nor would he hope that it would ever be the kind of person he was. Calm and controlled whenever shit went down, that's the kind of person he felt he was.
The creature continued its path as it rushed closer towards him, it made a clicking sound with its chelicerae. Which was apparently the word for the fang/mandible things that a spider had. As he once more got lost in the nonsensical trappings of his own mind the spider made a lunge towards him. Leaping a surprising distance of nearly twenty feet, blinking at the sudden rush Z simple pulled up his foot and smashed it down on top of the spider once it reached him. Crushing it with ease.
He should have felt something, the impact of his foot. Or the goo that seeped out of the spider between the toes that had smashed into the spiders insides. Which reminded him, he really did need clothes. Not that being naked bothered him that much, he grinned at the thought. It would be strange to be worried about being naked when he wasn't concerned at being a zombie. Take everything in stride, that was the best way to live your life. Z thought to himself.
Then something else happened that caused him to blink and narrow his eyes. A bonafide game-style message.
[Monstrous Northern Funnel Web Spider, Small size: Slain, 1 KP earned.]
He frowned, well now he knew what kind of spider it was. But what in the seventy-seven blazes was a KP? As if the message had heard him thinking another one popped up.
[ KP = Points earned from kills, can be spent on perks, abilities, stats, evolutions and more.]
Fantastic, so how would he be able to spend those points. The very thought confirmed that whatever was sending him these messages had the ability to read his mind because yet another of the messages popped up.
[Spending of points currently unavailable.]
So how do I spend those points? Z wondered, How do I make them available.
[Spending of points currently unavailable.]
Fan-friggin tastic, that was no help what so ever. He shrugged and let the matter slide, he had to find out where he was first. Good thing he was undead, finding food and water were no longer important. Nor would he need sleep, meaning he could just go wherever and figure out what to do from there. Making up his mind he set out for the forest, unconcerned about the dangers that possibly lay ahead.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Leisurely making his way through the forest Z was enjoying the sights. The trees surrounding him were... off. The colors of the bark, the leaves and the shape were ever so slightly different than they had been wherever he was from. After a few minutes of strolling through the forest, he came across a clearing. A slight hill in the middle with a small stream running just past it. The moonlight was peering through the leaves creating a shimmering light around the clearing. He enjoyed the look of it and decided that he would set up a home here.
A man must have a home afterall undead or not. He was not one for continous travel, first, he would have to make a shack or a log cabin. The problem was that he had no tools he could use, he shrugged and headed to the stream bed. As expected there were more then enough rocks giving him a variety of choice, he smashed one of the rocks onto another until one of them broke in half giving it a jagged edge. He used some of the river weeds and a stick to create an impromptu stone axe. He swung his arms back, planted his feet and swung his newly made axe towards the tree, the air whistled as the axe swished through the air. It collided with the tree, the axe exploded into pieces, a few of the splinters piercing the skin of his torso. Not that he felt the pain but it was still extremely annoying.
He sighed and took his time plucking the pieces of wood from his chest. The sound of many legs tapping against bark alerted him to more spiders. By the sound of it, there was near army of the things coming towards him. Should he leave before they arrived? He pondered the question a moment before shaking his head. No, he would stay, he liked this spot and was determined to make it his. Besides dying a second time wouldn't be so bad right?
He mentally shrugged and lowered his center of gravity. He waited with bated breath till they appeared like a skittering horde. Many of the cat-sized spiders rushed towards him with two larger ones lingering near the back. He ignored those for the moment and swung down his foot similar to his first fight and squashed one of the spiders. He grabbed another one out of the air, put his hand over its head and yanked it off. Zombies were stronger than humans and he grinned at the realization. He smashed the body of the spider into one of its comrades, before stomping another one of the critters into the dirt. He swung and stomped and occasionally tore one of the things to pieces. They tried to pierce his skin and inject their venom. Much to the spiders' displeasure, the toxin did absolutely nothing to his already dead body. His heart did not beat so the blood did not flow, making poison useless when used against him.
With a manic grin on his face, he tore into the horde of spiders, ripping them apart with apparent ease. A bone-chilling laughter erupted from his mouth as he wrought destruction, being dead was interesting! He chuckled as his eyes unknown to him glowed in the dark. A vivid red a sharp contrast to the monochrome grey of his skin and hair. One of the larger spiders made a move, charging at him. It launched itself towards Z slicing through the air its chelicerae glittering in the moonlight.
He dipped his shoulder beneath the creature, he stepped back and launched an explosive uppercut into the monstrosities abdomen sending it flying up cracks spreading through its thorax. The spider crashed into the floor near him, he stomped on one of the smaller spiders flattening it. Then rammed his hand into the spider, tearing out its insides. With a flash of insight, he twisted around and held up his arm, just in time to stop the other monstrous spider from piercing his neck with its fangs.
It snapped its fangs shut onto his arm, he heard the sharp snap of his bone breaking. He smashed the creature into the floor with his arm. Then reached back with his other arm and shoved his fingers into one of the spiders many eyes. A sharp shriek split the air, not one to show mercy Z shoved his hand deeper into the spider until he felt he had a hold of something important which he then proceeded to rip out. With a bloodthirsty grin, he turned around for the next opponent, only to find nothing but the corpses of spiders surrounding him.
It took him a few seconds to calm down and regain function of his brain. His eyes swiveled from side to side as he read the incoming messages.
An entire list of kills greeted him, he frowned into annoyance and was only mildly surprised when the system compiled the list into a summary.
[Monstrous Northern Funnel Web Spider, Small size : Slain, 21 KP earned.]
[Monstrous Northern Funnel Web Spider, Medium size : Slain, 6 KP earned.]
He nodded to himself, so he had killed twenty-one of the smaller ones. Each of the bigger ones were worth 3 points then. The next option interested him more, however.
[Having claimed this area as yours and then bathing it in the blood of those seeking to take it you now have the option to claim the area yours : Cost 10 KP]
He grinned and tapped the message, getting another message asking him if he was sure about his choice. Naturally he accepted, a deep green light spread throughout the area and he watched with wide eyes as the area changed. The previous green gras turned a crimson, the trees around him had their barked turned into an eye-catching ivory. The leaves turned into various shades of crimson similar to the grass. Then the small hill he stood on started changing, tombstones erupted from the grass. With a large one in the middle with a picturesque drawing of himself on it. He tilted his head to the side as he glanced around the area. He walked up to the large tombstome in the middle and examined it. That was when new options appeared before him.