There are moments when time itself seems to slow down. These are the rare (or frequent) moments when your life is about to end, perhaps by an arrow in the battlefield, perhaps by some poison your closest friend fed you, or in my case, when an undead man lunged at me with his teeth bared open.

My first thought was: I’ll die anyway.

My second thought was: It’ll be really painful when he bites my face.

I would have waited him to bite off my face, had not my scuttling fingers felt the touch of the sword beside me. My fingers wrapped around it’s rusty pommel and with whatever energy that remained I pulled it up, the pointy end pointed right at the lunging man. For anyone looking from afar it might seem like I’m a very talented warrior who just pulled out the right weapon at the right time, but anyone close would have seen my gawking mouth and panicking eyes and guess otherwise.

But that didn’t matter. The silver cleanly passed through the man’s lunging throat, and jutted out from the other side spraying out a column of dark red blood. The undead man stopped in his mid jump, his body falling atop of me and his face inches close to mine.

For a few moments I stood heaving, peering into the eyes of the undead that just became dead.

Shouldn’t he be awakening by now? I wondered.

The damn blue screen appeared again with a message. I released the grip of my sword and let head fall into my lap, and read the message.

Strength +3 Achievement Unlocked - Zombie Killer!

“I killed him?” I snapped, my voice hoarse. “I thought you said undead couldn’t be killed!”

Hint: Take a look at item.

I glanced at the sword, and then took the time to painfully excruciate it from the dead corpse. Pulling a sword from a corpse wasn’t the same as pulling a sword from the mud. Well, you could replace mud with flesh and the grime with blood to get a better picture.

Once the sword was on my hand the message shifted again.

New item discovered! Silver Sword 300-350 Damage +3 Beast Attraction █ Strength: 70% Description: A legendary weapon of choice on the battlefield, the Silver Sword is specifically designed to combat demons and the undead. Its sleek and polished blade reflects the courage and determination of its wielder. Its balance and powerful attacks are a great defense against beasts, but the inability to apply ointments and level up proves to be a disadvantage.

I brushed the screen away and stared at the object. That meant silver kills the undead. So if I killed myself…

The blue screen flashed again.

Suicide was never an option. Stabbing yourself or committing suicide would only result in further loss of your health and suffering. Not recommended unless masochism is deeply rooted within you

“Aaargh!” I dropped the sword and stared at the field. I was in the same posture a few moments ago, except this time I had a dead undead by my side and a new piece of extra information.

The damn blue screen could actually give me information on what I want.

“Tell me you annoying piece of existence, how much undead are there in this place? And how are they created?”

Only limited information is available on this matter. Undead, similar to demons, are summoned by merging with the souls of hell by necromancers and dark wizards. Undead have been an immense threat to the kingdom of Kaya due to a spell known as the “Breaker’s Curse”. Soldiers often hunt for the undead and special squadrons have been launched by armies specifically to hunt and kill the undead.

I looked at the corpse beside me. That meant he could be one from those squadrons. That still didn’t answer my questions. But I was getting too tired to even search for anything. It wasn’t boredom, it was something that blurred the lines between boredom and pessimism. My stomach let out another howl and bile reached my throat. I spitted it out, then kept sitting there, my hand on the silver sword.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

A part of me had the urge to try stabbing myself considering there wasn’t much to do, but then something caught my eye.

A tiny figure was approaching from the woods. He walked the same path I had walked, but beside him was a lagging animal, who walked even slower than the figure. I squinted, covering my eyes from the blazing sun and trying to make sense of whatever that arrived. If it was a soldier I might as well try stabbing myself. Or I could wait the soldier to stab me. I doubt it would make much of a difference.

But as the figure closed the gap I saw his shoulders were hunched, he was being assisted by a walking stick and a thin white beard struck down from the bottom of his chin. If I judged him by his tightly wrapped rags and scrawny pants I’d say he was a homeless guy, but beside him, his mule lagged carrying heavy luggage, which meant he was a rich homeless bastard or a trader.

He didn’t stop when he saw me, and I didn’t change my posture either. It is usually a strange sight to see an undead squinting at you from the distance early in the morning, but the man seemed to be used to more bizarre sceneries.

“Damn undead,” he stopped near me, then leaned on the poor animal for support. The animal didn’t look happy about it. “It’s lucky that you cannot kill an old man like me. Or else I would have chopped you off with that sword of yours.”

I cocked my head. “Old man, you can barely walk.”

“Ah! He speaks! Perish the thought of me being weak you brainless oaf! I was a brave warrior in my younger days.”

He staggered towards me, eyes on the hilt of my sword. I gripped the pommel tightly, but before he was two steps near it, the man tripped and fell to the ground.

“Curses!” he raised his face and spatted out the soil. “Like I said, I was a more brave warrior in my younger days.”

“I can see that,” I deadpanned.

He somehow managed to wobble up, then sit beside me. For a few moments, we both sat heaving.

“Damn weather!” he wiped his brow. “In my younger days I would have-”

If I heard that phrase again I would stab myself. “You seem to take a zombie lying beside a tree with a corpse beside it as a regular occurrence.”

“I’m old, and I’ve seen too many. But I’ll admit, it’s rare to see an abnormal.”

“Abnormal?”

He stared at me like an idiot. “Souls trapped in bodies of undead or demons. How come you have no knowledge of it?”

“Maybe I’m still young. And does being an abnormal make me a good person?”

“You didn’t raise your sword when you have the chance. In my eyes you may be a mixture between a good person and an idiot. But that doesn’t matter. You have lost your life, and I have lost what mattered to me the most.”

“Your home?”

“No you oaf! My daughter!”

“Oh…I apologize.”

“Despite that apology coming from a dead creature, I’ll accept it,” he eyed the corpse beside me. “Were you the one who killed him?”

I nodded, the bones in my neck creaking with each movement.

“Curses! If he was alive I could have asked for support.”

“He was already dead by the time I arrived,” I pointed at the arrow. “Some bastard shot him. And then he came back alive, and I killed him again.”

“Not surprised,” the old man scratched his beard. “The curse of the Breaker still hums in the air. Kill me and I’ll wake back as the undead. But tell me, why is an undead lying beside a tree?”

“I have no memory of who I am. All I have is this!” I willed the blue screen to appear and it materialized with a sarcastic greeting that awaited me.

Good day! The air feels fresher today, if only you could breathe

“What are you pointing at?” the old man asked.

“You can’t see it?” I closed my hand towards the man’s face, but he squinted and nodded.

“My eyesight is a bit dull. But in my younger days-”

“As for your question,” I interjected. “I’m hungry, and I’m waiting to be fed. And I refuse to be a cannibal and eat human meat.”

“There’s plenty of meat in those packs,” the old man pointed at one of the large sacks on the mule. “I’ll admit they are a bit dry, but some nice slices of ham and pork is always a treat.”

My mouth watered. If the old man was a woman I would have kissed her, though I doubt a kiss from an undead would be accepted with a warm smile and a blush.

I tried to stand up, feeding the last energy I had to my legs, but before I could, the old man gripped me by the arm. “Not so fast.”

For a bastard who compared himself with a younger version of himself he had a damn good strength.

“If you killed that soldier then you have considerably better strength and agility than me.”

“I heavily doubt that,” I said, eyeing his grip.

“Listen you bastard. My daughter was kidnapped from me, but I know where the assailants are. I came all this way searching for help, but if a damned undead is what the gods give me then I’ll gladly ask for its assistance. I’ll feed you meat, and even myself, but first, pick up that sword and save my daughter.”

The last hints of pride in his voice faded when he finished with the last sentence, and I saw the edges of his eyes welling with tears.

Well, it’s not like I have anything to do as the undead.

The blue screen flashed again.

Side Quest Unlocked! Rescue the daughter of this prideful old man, who would have rescued her himself, if he was only more younger.

I couldn’t believe the damn thing took even the old guy as a joke.

“Alright,” I nodded. “But I’ll need some meat before leaving. At this rate, I could barely lift a sword even against an old man like you.”