Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

The streets of Seoul were lifeless. Quite literally, as not a single living, breathing soul could be spotted among them. Whoever the local Horde King was, they had completely wiped out the living population down to the last man, woman, and child.

Those who did not find themselves food for the dead were turned into one of the ravenous beasts which hunted them in the first place. It was a disaster of epic proportions. Even a small city like Reno, Nevada, had some semblance of a surviving population.

But here in Seoul it was as silent and still as the dead. The corpses that littered its streets stood there without movement. As if they had died standing, and were incapable of falling over because of some invisible force field.

They did not even look upon Zane or Gwen who were the only ones walking among them. Their eyes made no sudden movements to focus on that which had silently entered their domain.

They just stood there, frozen in place, almost as if they were made out of stone. In fact, there was a weird texture to their rotting flesh, similar to the way wood became after being petrified.

It was unnerving, so much so that even Gwen made a comment on it. Believing that they should not try to farm the dead in Seoul, as she had some form of inexplicable, yet eerie feeling about doing so.

"Big brother, we should move on from here… Something about this doesn't sit right with me…"

Zane would not voice his disagreement in this regard. Especially since he could feel the eye of the local Horde King gazing upon his back as he walked towards the outer edges of the city in the hopes of heading south towards one of South Korea's other metropolitan areas.

No doubt they had attracted the attention of the local Horde King by being the only things moving in its territory. But why? Why didn't it make a move against them? And in Zane's next moment of thought, he looked around to realize he was all alone.

Gwen had disappeared. So much so that he no longer felt a connection to her. Or even that to the rest of his Horde, for that matter. In fact, nothing existed within his view except for the vacant ruins of Seoul, and a large mist spread about its streets.

The dead who stood silent and frozen at every corner were nowhere to be found. Hell Zane could barely see five meters in front of him with the ever pervasive thickness of the fog. He looked around frantically, calling out Gwen's name. In search of his companion who had suddenly vanished along with everything else in this world.

"Gwen! Where are you!?!"

However, utter silence remained. That is until Zane felt something odd pressing against his back. It was large and soft, a sensation he was all too familiar with. Before he could even react, a pair of hands wrapped themselves around his back.

One controlling his waist, and another his chin. As a pair of eerie golden eyes looked past the back of his head and examined the side of his face.

"Oh? How interesting? You're not from around here, are you, mister? A Caucasian, no… Your hair and eyes lead me to believe you are something else entirely. *Sniff* *Sniff* You smell… heavenly! Are you perhaps my little brother?

You know it's rude to enter Big sister's room without first making your presence known, right? What am I to do with a naughty little boy like you?"

Zane did not know how to respond to this. He wanted to resist the woman's control over his body, but before he could even try to pry himself away. She let him go, causing Zane to stumble forward onto his knees.

He quickly staggered back to his feet as he turned around and gazed upon the woman who had suddenly revealed herself with a deep sense of caution in his eyes. Zane quickly manifested his blades in his hands. Causing the Horde King to look at him with curiosity.

"Oh? Now, where did you get that? A ghostly weapon? How unusual? By the looks of it, you're only a Tier I Horde King, and yet you carry a ghostly blade. It's not from that little girl who has been scurrying after you like a trained pet.

That's for sure. Tell me, just how many sisters do you have?"

Zane had always known that Horde Kings each possessed an eccentric personality. Gwen had an obsession with Zane the moment she laid eyes on him. Evilyn had treated him like the dirt beneath her feet until she realized the truth of his heritage.

Eliza was quick to anger, and almost always pissed off about something or another. While Lawrence, for whatever reason played the part of a cowboy straight out of an old western. Hell, the list went on. But this was his second time coming across a Horde King that instantly became obsessed with him.

Perhaps it was his mother's scent, which was constantly around him that attracted Horde Kings to Zane like flies to a pile of horseshit. But regardless, this one did not seem keen to share her new toy. Unlike Gwen.

Because the moment she asked how many sisters Zane had, the Horde King flew into a fit of rage. Instantly crossing the distance and holding Zane up in the air by his neck. Damn near crushing his windpipe as she screamed at him in a crazed state. Her eyes damn near bulging out of their sockets they were so wide with rage.

"Who is she! Why would you do this to me!?! Don't you know that your big sister loves you!?! Why would you betray me like this!?!"

Zane stared at the Korean Horde King, which took the form of a college aged Korean woman as if she were absolutely insane. He was hers? This is your first time seeing him! How the hell was he yours? Because of this, Zane scoffed at the absurdity of the situation. Making a comment about his luck with women.

"I'm starting to think I'm cursed… You love me? How could you possibly love me? We just met!"

It was an accurate guess on Zane's part. There was something clearly not right with this Horde King, whose power seemed to be able to rip Zane away from reality, and enter either a state of illusion, or a false dimension entirely.

And because of his words, she dropped Zane, and cowered back, rambling on about some crazy shit as she broke out into tears, while rocking back and forth over the idea of losing her "little brother" who she had just met.

"This can't be… Little Brother wouldn't leave me… Not for another woman! This can't be! This can't be!"

Ultimately, Zane was at a loss for words. He honestly had no idea how to escape from this crazy bitch. Nor did he know if she would rip his heart out if he made one bad move. Because of this, he remained silent, and still as the dead who once walked in the streets before he ended up in whatever fucked up kind of situation he now found himself in.

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