White snowflakes drifted endlessly from the clear sky. Clover blanketed the distant hills, and the fragrance of roses came on the wind. The snowflakes fell upon Leichina without causing the slightest pain.
Warm, gentle light arrived with hope. At the other end of it, Leichina vaguely saw his father repairing the porch. His father seemed to notice him and smiled in his direction. Leichina's mother was washing the family's clothes and hanging them out to dry, while Sister Fanafuna held Denolan's hand tightly and happily announced their wedding to Father and Mother.
"From that moment on, everything was destined..."
The sweetness in the wind echoed across the plains. A voice urged him forward, to embrace that fleeting future.
"Leichina, come here..." Fanafuna held out her left hand. "You still have to be the flower boy at Denolan's and my wedding—"
"Sister Fanafuna... you don't blame me anymore..." Leichina reached out, wanting to step forward.
"How could Fanafuna blame you?" Leichina's parents said with smiles. "We're family..."
"Family..."
"Don't just stand there. Everyone from the village is here, so hurry up and come over!" Denolan waved at Leichina.
"The people from the village..." Leichina looked into the depths of the light. The deceased elders were beckoning to him. "Grandma Talia... Uncle Demol... Grandpa Xilili..."
"Mm!" Leichina nodded excitedly. The dawn of hope was calling to him, and the eleven-year-old ran toward the source of light in delight.
"You can't..." A voice stopped Leichina. "You can't leave yet..."
"What's happening..." Leichina's body stiffened, and black flower buds bloomed from his hands and feet.
"What's happening—"
The light dimmed. Leichina watched as his parents and the villagers began to blur, then gradually vanished before his eyes.
"Leichina..." His parents' voices, his family's voices, gradually faded.
"Dad... Mom..." Even Leichina's own voice gradually disappeared. "Sister Fanafuna..."
Endless whispers and murmurs rose from the dark abyss. Pale green venomous snakes crawled out from the black flower buds. Terrifying darkness descended upon the boy once again. The light drifted farther and farther away, leaving only him behind. Pain began, and the mark of life was branded upon Leichina's soul...
"Ah—" Leichina awoke in pain, and before him was nothing but yellowish-green mud.
"So... strange..." Leichina looked at his outstretched hand. "This really is my hand... but... why can't I feel it at all?"
"Oh~ You're awake." Rosa Kevin sat atop a seat piled from rotten mud and gave an order. "Kid, I've already transformed you into a zombie. You're my servant now! I'm hungry, so I order you to go into town and rob a bakery—"
"I'm a zombie?"
"That's right—" Rosa Kevin nodded proudly.
"Then can my body be taken apart and put back together however I want, like the bards sing about, without dying?"
"Probably..." Rosa Kevin thought for a moment. "They're both zombies made through Necromancy, so there shouldn't be much difference..."
"Oh—" Leichina removed his arm, swung it in a wide arc, and hurled it like a dart straight into Rosa Kevin's face.
"You old hag! You XXXXXXXXX, did I ask you to save me?! And robbery? You're inciting a minor to commit a crime—that's punishable by law!"
"You were burned down to a basket of bones! I'm the one who pulled you back from that abyss and turned you into a zombie! Do you have any gratitude at all?! I'm hungry, and you can't even go rob something for me?!"
"No—" Leichina removed his right foot and threw it like another dart, striking Rosa Kevin squarely in the face. "You're inciting a minor to commit a crime! On top of that, there's desecration of a corpse. With all those crimes combined, you witch should be sentenced to hanging! Hanging!!"
"Hey! You dead zombie, you're just some rural brat, not a lawyer. How do you know so many legal statutes?!"
Smack— Leichina's left foot struck Rosa Kevin in the face again.
"Hey! Enough already! Don't hit people in the face! Why do you hit my face dead-on every single time? You're doing it on purpose, aren't you?!" Rosa Kevin pinned all of Leichina's limbs beneath her butt. "You little brat, I'm putting all your arms and legs away! I'll leave your dead head hanging there, and after three to five days, we'll see whether you listen to me!"
"Ah—ptui! You dead witch!!" Leichina threw his dead head as well, hitting Rosa Kevin squarely in the body.
"You little brat... fighting dirty... Urgh~" Rosa Kevin was struck in a vital spot and immediately fainted to the ground.
Seeing Rosa Kevin collapse, Leichina used his remaining arm to crawl out of the mud. After reassembling his new body, he wobbled to his feet.
"Old witch, ptui—" Leichina headed toward Canfor.
Time passed quickly. By the time Rosa Kevin woke again, it was already night. Black Snow had begun to fall from the sky, while Leichina had long since vanished.
"Ah—choo!" Rosa Kevin wiped her snot with the folds of her clothes. "That damned little brat... when I catch it, I'll make it regret this!"
Rosa Kevin's howls echoed throughout the decaying Elrina Forest...
"The black snow is falling again..." Denolan curled up inside a temple beside the wilderness, his body shivering from the cold.
"Why... why..." Whenever he recalled the village's tragic state, Denolan could not stop himself from choking up. "Why did everyone choose to die?! Mountain-Sealing Day hasn't even arrived yet! I brought back holy water—I was ready to return! If... if everyone had only waited a little longer! I could have made it back. There was enough holy water. Everyone could have survived this winter!"
The curse continued to drift down. Denolan knew what these things represented, and he understood the village's suffering over the past ten years. But... why... why had everyone chosen death? If there was hope, why not try once more? Perhaps if they had tried one more time, the night would have ended...
The night continued, but Denolan was now alone. The boy slept with the jar of holy water in his arms. An ancient voice came from the old, abandoned temple. The past of the Old Gods intertwined with the future of the new gods. Destiny came from here and would depart from here. Destiny's child would be born in this place, and despair led hope onward...
At dawn, Denolan gathered himself and held the jar of holy water, preparing to sell it at the black market for a good price. At the same time, Rosa Kevin found the unconscious Leichina in the mud before the village.
"Kid—" Rosa Kevin sneered. "Let's see if you can still act so tough now!!"
"Cough—ptui—" The fluid accumulated in the zombie's lungs sprayed all over Rosa Kevin's face. "Witch, so what if I act tough!"
"You..." Rosa Kevin wiped the filthy water from her face with the rags on her body. "You little brat are fucking disgusting. I'm not playing with you anymore..."
"Fine, don't play! Who cares!" Leichina climbed out of the mud and headed toward Canfor. "I'm going to Canfor to find Brother Denolan. Sister Fanafuna must be with him..."
Thud— Leichina collapsed about five meters away from Rosa Kevin.
"What's... happening to me..." Leichina, not yet unconscious, shouted loudly, "You old hag, what magic did you put on me?! Witchcraft!"
"Magic?" Rosa Kevin scratched her head. "I didn't cast any magic on you. Oh~ I forgot to tell you. You're a zombie I transformed with my divine power, but my power is insufficient... so the transformation was... not quite successful..."
"What does that mean? Speak plainly..."
"How should I put this..." Rosa Kevin picked her nose. "My divine power is somewhat different from Necromancy, so the zombies transformed by my divine power differ somewhat from ordinary zombies... As for that difference..."
"Get to the point!"
"OK~"
"The zombies transformed by my divine power are more advanced than ordinary Necromancy zombies. Zombies personally transformed by me, Rosa Kevin, using divine power are high-level zombies that retain their souls. As long as you remain loyal, little brother, I can transform you into an even higher-tier undead creature. Of course~ ordinary zombies are merely soulless shells, so they can never be transformed into higher-tier undead beings."
"The point! The point! The point!" Leichina nearly shouted his tongue out. "I'm asking why I collapsed on the ground!"
"Coming... coming... here's the point..." Rosa Kevin said. "The point is that you are now a product created by my Decaying Divine Power. As long as you move about fifteen feet away from me, you'll lose consciousness."
"Huh..."
"Still not clear enough? Then I'll say it again." Rosa Kevin stroked the fat folds of her belly. "As long as you remain within fifteen feet of me, you can move freely. But once you go beyond fifteen feet, you'll lose consciousness and collapse, until the distance between us is once again within fifteen feet. Of course, once my divine power recovers, the distance you can be from me will increase somewhat in the future."
"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
"Calm down... calm down..." Rosa Kevin said earnestly. "Don't swear..."
"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
"Brat, I told you not to swear! Can't you understand me?! I XXXXXXXX."
As snow fell, the evil goddess Rosa Kevin and her servant Leichina exchanged the most sincere greetings with each other...
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