1 Waking Up From a 'Dream'

Slowly, I came to, feeling groggy and stiff.

"What a weird dream..." I muttered as I remembered a dream with a giant green man. At first, I thought I was having a dream featuring the raging beast himself, the Hulk. But, in this surprisingly vivid dream, that giant green man wasn't the Hulk. He was the God of Zombies. Allegedly.

The dream went on to him explaining to me some kind of Undead War and how I was picked for his representative. He explained how I would be sent to a world specially made to be the battleground for this war, to either make my own faction or to just get stronger.

I told him no.

He told me yes and explained a lot of things to me. And then he hit me.

And then I woke up.

Seeing a strand of grey-silver hair, I brought a hand to my face before sighing.

...Who am I kidding? That wasn't a dream. I knew it from the get-go. It was too realistic. The barren graveyard I was summoned to smelt of dirt and death--rot and other nasty scents produced by dead bodies in mass graves--Hell, the fact I could clearly hear the giant green guy was a surefire way to realize it wasn't a dream! When has anyone had a dream where they can remember someone saying something that made sense and wasn't something they'd heard before? Fun fact about dreams, and the brain, it can't make up a scenario from things you've never felt, seen, or experienced before.

You won't experience being stabbed--the pain, I mean--unless you've felt the pain of actually being stabbed. The brain just can't imagine that kind of shit up.

So, when I was sitting across from a giant green man, in a graveyard full of tombstones that all had writing that made sense on them? I knew I wasn't dreaming. But I guess you can just say that I was hoping that it was just some dimensional being fucking with me for their entertainment. I can play the clown, the entertainer, but you know what I can't play? The trained killer, the soldier--some undead God's enforcer!

Feeling my anger rise, I couldn't help myself and slammed a hand into the wall next to me, crumbling the wall and revealing the hallway to me. My shock instantly washed away my anger and I brought my hands back to my face before shouting into them.

Why was I this angry?

Remember that Undead War I mentioned earlier? Well, that's why. I didn't want to get thrust into a war I didn't start.

Remembering the green bastard's words, I closed my eyes and went over the information given to me along with all the memories, from him, about the war and everything I 'needed' to know about it that he forced into my head.

There are 5 factions in the Undead Realm.

The Zombie Faction.

The Vampire Faction.

The Ghost Faction.

The Skeleton Faction.

And finally, the Mummy Faction.

Now now, don't get excited about the last one. I'm not talking about single MILFs in your area, I'm talking about bound corpses who were removed of their organs before being buried in fancy coffins aka sarcophagus.

Each Faction has a leader. A lord.

And each lord answers to the God of their respective Faction.

The Zombies have a King. The Vampires have a Coven Leader. The Ghosts have The Elder. The Skeletons have The Eternal. Finally, the Mummies have a Pharaoh. Each holding an equal amount of power over the Undead realm. But this word...'equal' didn't please the Gods of the Undead realm and their greed. Not one bit.

So, in their annoyance, the Gods killed the leaders of the 5 factions before figuring that they needed to decide who would rule the Undead realm entirely.

What was the best way for that?

Well, they figured it would be to have a war, and the winner takes all. But that wouldn't be fair, would it? The established factions were only kept in harmony by the leaders and their power and ability to combat the other leaders, and without a more fair fight, some of the Gods would be wiped out of the competition because of the inherent weaknesses of their races.

But the ones who held the advantage pushed for the war all the more now they realized they could easily win.

The Zombies had the numbers and superior physical strength, the Mummies had their superior Magic, while the Vampires had the best technology and technique. But the Ghosts and the Skeletons? The Ghosts' weaknesses were known to all, and the Skeletons were a jack-of-all-trades, so a direct fight would never net them the win.

And this made a stalemate.

Why didn't the advantageous side take their advantage? Because they couldn't. A long time ago, during a time similar to what was happening right then, a mysterious being came from the ground and made all 5 Factions agree to sign something; a deal.

The deal said that without all 5 Gods agreeing, no serious matter could be passed. Why did they sign this agreement when it came at such a cost? Such a disadvantage? Well, that would be because it was a time of need. The Factions needed unity. But the Gods always wondered what that Mysterious being gained from brokering such a deal.

They would soon find out.

As the Gods had their hundredth argument for the hundredth day, a mysterious being came from the ground. He spoke in a husky voice they all remembered too well.

"Now now, this won't do," he smiled, "How about we sort this mess out?" he spoke in a mildly patronizing voice like he was speaking to children, "I say, you should all recruit new Leaders from a Planet I own. Earth, it's called. It has plenty of good seeds for you to use. Then, you should use a Planet I've been meaning to use to host your war."

'What do you get out of this?' 'Is this why you made us sign that deal?!' the Gods asked, only to receive a smile in reply, every but the man's chin and mouth covered by a black hood and the shadows.

The Gods thought and thought, thinking about any way to not make the deal and play into the mysterious beings' palm.

But even after years, they could not think of anything to solve their stalemate and commence with the war to decide the true ruler of the Undead Realm.

So they made the deal.

And that's how I was dragged into the war. This stupid greed induced, absolutely stupid, fuck fest.

Opening my eyes and exiting the memories from the Zombie God, I stood up from my bed and felt the floorboards creak. I was warned about that being a problem.

You see, every Race has a specific Energy, inherent to them only. It's what gives them their advantages and their powers.

Zombies have Undying Energy. I was shown it, by the Zombie God of course, and all I can say to describe it is that it's a mixture of green and gray gas that has a terrible smell. Like rot and disease. Or vinegar. Either one works.

I was told what the other energies for the other factions were, but we'll get to those when the time comes.

What my Undying Energy does for me is that it's what changed my body into that of a Zombie King. Well, more like a potential Zombie King seeing as I don't have world-ending power. Yet, I guess.

Anyway, Undying Energy has a few special properties.

One, it has the passive effect of hardening whatever it comes into contact with; flesh, bone, skin, and even nerves and hair. Meaning the density of my body has increased...and that means I'm heavier. Hence the floorboard creaking like it was about to snap.

Two, the energy has taken away any kind of biological limiter on my strength and along with it, my pain receptors. Though I can still weirdly enough feel things and textures. I guess pain is just a foreign concept to me now? Physical pain, anyway. Whatever. What I mean is that my physical strength is now abnormally potent. It also helps that the first effect of Undying Energy has reinforced my bodily structure to be able to withstand a lot of force/weight as well.

Three, my senses, mainly my sense of smell and my sense of hearing, have been enhanced by the energy. As much as I hate to admit it, Zombies are predators. They hunt, kill, and eat things, usually humans, for their raw flesh. So the buff to my senses makes sense. It's to make hunting easier.

This thought made me sit back down on my bed, letting it creak under my new weight.

Shit.

I need to eat raw flesh now. No more medium-rare steaks for me. Or anything that's been cooked and isn't raw meat.

Shit.

So that means no more chocolate, right? Goddammit.

Despite my slightly joke-like thoughts, I felt bile rise up my throat at the thought of eating a human.

Okay, just...no.

I stood up and walked to my kitchen, ignoring the noises my weight made.

Getting to the kitchen, I opened the fridge and saw that it was stocked with meat. But I picked up what I saw first. Steak. From a cow, thankfully.

Tearing open the packaging was easy enough with my new strength, and before I knew it, I was ripping apart the meat in my hands with my harder and sharper teeth and my stronger jaw. It tasted divine.

Good. I don't have to eat people. Fight people, I'll do it. Kill people...I'll do it. But mutilate a corpse and eat it? Yeah, no thanks.

Smiling to myself, I went back to my room while munching on my juicy, raw steak.

Why did I need to eat if I was dead? Well, that's because Undying Energy doesn't regenerate on its own. Kinda ironic, honestly. But seriously, it doesn't just magically appear out of nowhere, it needs something it can convert into energy. This is where raw flesh comes into the picture. It can be converted into the energy I need, so I need to eat it. Otherwise, just like a human would, I'd be weakened from hunger and I'd eventually die. Undying Energy is pretty much what's keeping my 'alive' and moving about, so if I can't regenerate it...then you should be able to see the problem.

So yeah, Undying Energy doesn't come without cons, either.

The first and biggest con would be that it didn't do anything for my bodily coordination or my agility. Luckily, I was a pretty sporty and athletic guy before I was turned into...this, so I'm fine and I'm not shambling about the place like a decrepit Walker from 'The Walking Dead'. But if I were a lazy, fat slob, the increase in density would have affected my agility and body control.

That can be improved on and even pushed past the human limits--because I don't have any limiters on my body anymore--but it takes a lot of arduous training. Though I'm still gonna undergo such training. Why? Because I don't wanna die, duh. Keeping my weaknesses without eliminating the ones I can is stupid. Especially when you've got four other leaders out gunning to kill you, all to make sure their God comes to power.

Sitting on my bed, I felt a tingle in the back of my head and my face went deadpan.

Oh, fucking hell--

--Was all I could think before a rush of memories rushed into my mind like a flood breaking through a dam. My body fell back into my bed, convulsing not in pain, but because of the memories being uploaded to my brain. The bed creaked aggressively before finally snapping under the force of my weight convulsing about on top of it.

How did I know what was happening?

This is exactly what that Zombie God did to me when he gave me his memories so I knew what was happening. I was being given memories. For a second time. Goddammit.