"Sigh, Zach you've grown up a bit now, so I think it's appropriate to help you learn what's going on around us, why we have to stay in this cabin in the woods, and why I take trips to the surrounding villages, but first I need to get something, ready young man, there is a lot you need to learn, take one last day of your magic training/fun/exploration you do but then that's going to be it for a while."

  Zach looked up at his uncle who had already turned around and began rummaging through his personal desk, gathering a bunch of tools. and some other things before Zach shrugged and bolted out of the door. yelling behind him "cya later uncle I can't wait!!"

  as he reached the dark shadows of the treeline he opened up his status page, sitting down with his back against a tree.

  "All my stats have finally reached the next number, what should I work on next..." he sat there hand pressed against his cheek for some time. "I remember that was Uncle Greys' suggestion, but now that I've done it I just want to play for a bit!" Zach stood up climbed the tree behind him and stood atop its crown. "here we go."

  the mana flooding the skies of Zalua above The lesser Asglan woodlands began to converge, and miniature balls of light began to flicker into existence. they floated high in the sky spinning around each other, they condensed into smaller and smaller lights their glow illuminating the nearby 150 meters around Zach his face awash with joy as he shaped them according to his will.

  The 8 balls of light were all blue, but one of them flickered with a gray glow from time to time, yet Zach was too focused on controlling them to notice it. He made them dance again and again like a group of ballerinas pirouetting in a ballroom, slowly they all lowered, till they were about 50cm away from his body, spinning faster and faster around him, they bobbed and dipped with the flow of music his mind created.

  the spin grew faster and faster as the ambient mana grew thicker and thicker, till his eyes couldn't keep up with their speed. the after-images they would leave behind morphed and stretched becoming more so like pillars of energy connecting the ground to the sky. then... they vanished.

  his face, just now flush with color turned deathly pale, he got too caught up in his act. his inspiration that had started making the mana orbs act like that was gone alongside his mana, he fainted atop the treeline, sleeping peacefully.

  ...

  Callum burst through the door, panting and exhausted. "Father I heard something.. something moving towards me during practice." Callum was now an adult and was training in the ways of the spear hoping to get assigned to the Emperor's military if he could get there. he often brandished his spear to hunt for wildlife, earning him enough levels to hunt zombies effectively.

  "its footsteps were silent in the forest I only heard the bushes rustling behind me as I traveled. It's like its.." the door burst open. a leaf-green scythe ripped through it and the window, Uncle grey moved towards the back of the cabin grabbing himself a bow and set of arrows. "it was hunting you, get back son. we have an evolved Mantid here."

  the creature pressed its head through the broken door, its dark green face coupled with its pitch-black eyes and blackened veins gave clear identification of its identity as it hobbled inside the room...

  Zach awoke sometime later, in his sleep, he had fallen off the tree crown and was dangling loosely off a branch. "oh shoot Uncle Grey is waiting for me" one for in front of the other he slowly jogged back to the cabin, the sheer distance he walked made the journey long. 30 minutes later he arrived. through the forest, he could hear the swinging of sharp weapons whistling through the air. "Uncle I'm home!!" he shouted blissfully unaware of what awaited him inside his 'home'.

  "huh? Where's the door." Zach stepped up to the doorway noticing an arrow embedded in the wall next to him. his eyes were filled with a gray energy like mana swirling around the cabin. he entered slowly, the whole building was wrecked, with holes and slash marks littering the walls, floor, and ceiling then he came across it.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Uncle? uncle wake up are you okay?" in front of Zach was his Uncle Grey collapsed to the floor and covered in cutmarks, Beside him was a 8ft tall Green monstrosity with a spear connecting its head with the ceiling. Zach sat there trying to wake his uncle up for a minute or two before realizing. 'wait.. that's my cousin's spear' "Callum where are you, he shouted.

  Looking around the beast he eventually found him, "C-callum?" or at least half of him. 'no how could this happen' tears welled up in Zach's eyes. although he was incredibly mature for his age owing to his high mental stats, no one could be mature enough to see this. Callum's upper half lay there, entrails and organs leaking out of his lower half, with bite marks across his chest and face.

  Zach sat there, lost what could he do? 'Uncle Grey's not moving and Callum is.. dead. is Uncle Grey the same?' he thought to himself crawling over to him and rolling Grey's lifeless corpse over, checking it for wounds where he found a deep cut across his chest. from right hip to left shoulder, Grey's chest bloomed open like a flower.

  ...

  time slowly ticked past.. he sat there in a daze for hours, moving back and forth with his family. he puked up what little food was left in his system during that time and felt weak.

  "urghh..." a voice trailed out of Grey's body, and the light returned to young Zach's eyes, he ran over to help his Uncle stand, "come on Uncle here let me help you" he gripped his uncle's waist, and pulled him up. the creature stared at the young undead in front of it listlessly as Zachs' passive skill blessing of undeath activated. his eyes swirled with black energy. he could feel the gray energy filling up His uncle's body.

  "n-no you are not my Uncle are you? what are.." a sentence echoed in Zach's head, one uttered by the creature in front of him before 'You'll know them when you see it, stay away from zombies' "your a zombie.." Zach began to back up as Grey's corpse lunged. Its three middle fingers ripping into Zach's chest.

  "NO stay away please.." fear leaked through every word Zach muttered triggering the zombies hunting instincts. Grey pounced again, ripping through Zach's left shoulder.

  His whole body hurt, throbbing pain echoed throughout his body. '[Mana spear]' he summoned the only thing he could, a detailed spear identical to his cousins but ethereally blue appeared within his hands. he thrust it roughly. trying to remember how his cousin moved during training, Grey lunged again, left arm colliding with the Spear. The booming impact reverberated throughout the Cabin as Grey's arm ceased to be.

  "ok, I can do this.. no I must do this." Zach re-assured himself before thrusting again, this time colliding with his uncle.. no the Zombie's exposed chest wound.

  The young boy collapsed to the floor crying himself to sleep.

  His nightmares were haunted by the memories of his family, He remembered every night and every breakfast. all the times he helped his older brother practice, and all the magic shows he presented to his Uncle, the very echoes of those relationships shattered, and they haunted him throughout that sleep, and many more to come...

  He awoke a few hours afterward, hoping and praying that all he experienced was a dream, a sick twisted nightmare created in the depths of his mind. yet seeing his uncle's rotting corpse in front of his face solidified that nightmare into reality.

  In the corner of his vision flashed a blinking light. Zach stared at it confused temporarily before "open." nothing.. "activate?" still nothing.. "stats"

  "I'm... going to become like that? ok I just need to put these points into willpower"

  "But.. now what?" he looked around his cabin, nothing was here for him anymore. no more family. no food, even his bed had been destroyed in the fighting. what now?