Gufran looked at the tall skinny one

And said out loud "I wonder what happened."

And to his surprise he replied

He said they tried to kill you

As soon as you passed out they tried to kill you.

So I killed them all.

Gufran was stunned

He didn't expect him to talk

Was it him causing this change?

Was it the fortress?

Whatever it was it didn't really matter at this point

What mattered was he was alive and he was alive because the tall and skinny zombie saved him

"What's your name?"

I don't know

From today you have a name, it's kendrick, kendrick enya

Kendrick enta fell to his knees and bowed to gufran

Gufran had gained a first true follower

Not one he had to control

Not one that would try to kill him as soon as he passes out

A true loyal follower

---

Gufran turned his attention to the fortress.

He had felt it the moment he stepped inside. That presence. Not a spirit, not a god—something older, something deeper.

The fortress itself had shown him the vision.

Not through whispers. Not through voices.

Through knowing.

He scanned the vast halls, the towering walls. The fortress was empty, but not abandoned. The stone was too well-preserved, the structures too intact. No ruin. No decay.

This place had not fallen.

It had been left.

But why?

Why was it here?

Why was it waiting?

And why had he seen—

The images were still fresh in his mind, like echoes of something half-remembered. A history buried beneath time itself. And yet, as he pieced them together, a pattern emerged. A truth hidden beneath centuries of decay.

Two nations.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

A war that did not just break the world—

But tore it in two.

Literally.

The land itself had been sundered, reshaped into something unrecognizable. And from that moment, everything changed.

The dead did not always hunger.

The witches were not always hunted.

Witches…

The thought struck him with a force that made his body tense.

Something pulled at the edges of his memory.

Someone.

A shadow—no, a face. A voice. The lingering touch of something warm, something gentle.

She was there. Somewhere in the fog of his mind.

But who was she?

And why did it feel like remembering her was more terrifying than anything else?

....

Gufran pushed the thoughts aside. He could not afford to linger on memories that refused to surface. Not yet.

The fortress had revealed something to him, but it was not ready to explain.

Or perhaps he was not ready to understand.

So, he continued forward, deeper into the unknown halls of the fortress.

He spoke to it—aloud at first, then in his mind. No answer.

He reached out, testing his control over it.

The result was… limited.

The gates obeyed him, creaking open and shut with a mere thought. The strange magical lights that lined the corridors flickered to life, their glow cold and unnatural.

But that was all.

Nothing more bent to his will.

Not yet.

And yet, he knew—as surely as he knew his own hunger—that the fortress had accepted him.

It did not reject him. It did not fight him.

He was simply too weak to grasp its full power.

That would change.

Soon.

---

As he moved through the fortress, he came upon something unexpected—a stone tablet, resting alone in the depths of a chamber untouched by time.

It was ancient, worn yet whole. And it was covered in inscriptions.

Runes. Letters. Symbols.

He could not read them.

He spent long minutes—perhaps hours—tracing the carvings with his fingers, trying to make sense of the patterns, the shapes, the meaning buried beneath centuries of dust.

Nothing.

His mind was strong, his instincts sharper than they had ever been. But against this? He was blind.

Then—

A hum.

Not a sound, not exactly. More like a vibration in the air. A resonance that spoke without words.

One word.

One truth.

"Witches."

Gufran stilled.

It wasn't a memory. It wasn't an order.

It was a key.

To what, he did not know.

Did the fortress demand a witch to unlock its secrets? Was this tablet a message left for them—for those who had once commanded magic freely?

It did not matter.

Because Gufran had no time to search for answers.

A war was at his doorstep.

And this time… it would not be a simple skirmish.

This time, they would not underestimate him.

This time, the living would come prepared to end him.

He turned to Kendrick, who stood silently, waiting.

He met Kendrick's hollow gaze.

"We need to rebuild the horde."

---

Kendrick stood still, waiting for the command.

Gufran didn't speak right away. He was thinking.

Rebuilding the horde wasn't just about numbers—it was about control. The undead were easy to gather, but mindless. If he was going to make them into something more, he needed to push further, to understand his power.

He looked at his hands, flexing his fingers. The hunger was always there, deep inside him, but now there was something else—something new.

A pull.

Not just toward flesh, but toward the dead themselves.

His influence was growing.

"Kendrick," he said at last. "Let's go."

Kendrick nodded once. He understood.

Without another word, they left the fortress.

---

The land beyond the fortress was silent, a wasteland of forgotten ruins and twisted trees.

But it was not empty.

Zombies were scattered across the landscape, wandering aimlessly, driven by nothing but their endless hunger.

Easy to kill.

Easier to control.

Gufran stepped forward, reaching out—not with his hands, but with his mind.

The pull strengthened.

One by one, they stopped.

Dozens of them.

They turned toward him, their empty gazes locking onto something unseen. Something greater.

He had their attention.

Now he had to claim them.

He focused, tightening his will around them like a fist. Mine.

Some resisted.

They twitched, staggered, their instincts fighting back.

Gufran clenched his jaw.

He would not fight them one by one.

He would drown them.

He pushed harder, letting his presence flood their rotting minds, filling the empty spaces where thought had once been.

The weak ones fell first.

Then the stronger ones.

One by one, they stopped resisting.

And then, one by one—

They bowed.

A sea of the dead, kneeling before him.

His army was forming.

And this was only the beginning.

---

Gufran turned to Kendrick.

The kneeling horde stretched before them, a sea of rotting bodies waiting for purpose. Some were barely intact—limbs missing, jaws hanging loose, eyes clouded with decay. Others were stronger, their flesh still holding together, their movements less broken.

But not all of them were useful.

Not all of them deserved to be part of what he was building.

He met Kendrick's hollow gaze.

"This is your kill."

Kendrick blinked.

"The ones you don't like—kill them."

A pause. The horde remained motionless, waiting, unknowing.

"Keep the ones you think are good enough."

Kendrick's expression didn't change. He looked out at the kneeling zombies, scanning them as if seeing them for the first time.

And then—

He moved.

Fast.

His claws slashed through the first zombie before it even realized what was happening. A clean kill—head severed, body crumbling.

The next one barely had time to twitch before Kendrick tore through its chest, ripping the spine free in one fluid motion.

Gufran watched.

Admiring what was unfolding.

There was no hesitation in Kendrick's movements. No wasted effort. No anger.

Just judgment.

One after another, he cut down the weak, the slow, the useless.

And the ones that remained?

They did not flinch.

They did not resist.

They simply waited.

Gufran nodded. This was necessary.

They weren't building a mindless swarm.

They were building something stronger.

When the last corpse hit the ground, Kendrick stepped back, silent.

The chosen remained—fewer, but better.

Gufran exhaled.

"Now," he said.

"We get some more."

--- Authors note ---

Yooo so my grandfather is really sick so chapters for a day or two might be a little shorter than the usual but I will make sure to update daily

Also let me know if you like the pacing or would you like me to change it a bit

And what about the writing style like it?

If no! well can't change that, can only change the pacing

And one final thing, do you like kendrick enya?

Well that's all have a good day.

Love you all