A Chaotic and Sorrowful Beginning

White snowflakes drifted continuously from the clear sky. Clover covered the distant hills, and the fragrance of roses came with the wind. The snowflakes fell onto Leichina's body without causing the slightest pain.

Warm, gentle light arrived with hope. At the other end of the light, Leichina vaguely saw his father repairing the porch. His father seemed to see Leichina and smiled in his direction. Leichina's mother was washing the family's clothes and hanging them out to dry, while Sister Fanafuna tightly held Denolan's hand and happily announced their wedding to Father and Mother.

"From that moment onward, everything was destined..."

The fresh sweetness in the wind echoed across the plains. A voice urged him to step forward and embrace that fleeting future.

"Leichina, come over quickly..." Fanafuna extended 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.

"Why would Fanafuna blame you?" Leichina's parents said with smiles. "We're family..."

"Family..."

"Don't just stand there. Everyone in the village has arrived. Aren't you coming?" Denolan waved at Leichina.

"The people from the village..." Leichina looked into the depths of the light. The deceased elders waved at him. "Grandma Talia... Uncle Demol... Grandpa Xilili..."

"Mm!" Leichina nodded excitedly. The dawn of hope was beckoning to him, and the eleven-year-old boy ran excitedly toward the source of light.

"You can't..." A voice stopped Leichina. "You still can't leave..."

"What's going on..." Leichina's body stiffened, and black flower buds bloomed from his hands and feet.

"What's going on—"

The light weakened. Leichina watched as his parents, along with 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 came from the dark abyss. Pale green venomous snakes crawled out of the black flower buds. Terrifying darkness descended upon the boy once more. The light receded farther and farther away, leaving only him behind. The pain began, and the traces of life branded themselves upon Leichina's soul...

"Ah—" Leichina woke from the pain. Before him was nothing but yellow-green sludge.

"So... strange..." Leichina looked at his outstretched hand. "This is definitely my hand... but... why can't I feel anything from it?"

"Oh~ You're awake." Rosa Kevin sat on a seat piled from rotten mud and issued an order. "Kid, I've already turned you into a zombie. You're my servant now! I'm hungry. I order you to go into the city and rob a bakery—"

"I'm a zombie?"

"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?"

"It probably can..." Rosa Kevin thought for a moment. "They're all zombies made through Necromancy, so there shouldn't be much difference..."

"Oh—" Leichina removed his arm, swung it in a full circle, and flung it like a dart directly into Rosa Kevin's face.

"You old hag! You XXXXXXXXX, did I ask you to save me?! Robbing people? You're inciting a minor to commit a crime. That's punishable by law!"

"You were burned down to a basket of bones! I was the one who saved you from that abyss and turned you into a zombie! Do you even know how to be grateful?! I'm hungry now, and I can't even have you rob someone for me?!"

"No—" Leichina removed his right foot and flung it like a dart, striking Rosa Kevin squarely in the face again. "You're inciting a minor to commit a crime! And on top of that, there's desecration of a corpse. With all those crimes combined, you witch should be hanged! Hanged!!"

"Hey! You dead zombie, you're just some little country brat, not a lawyer. How do you know so many laws?!"

Smack— Leichina's left foot struck Rosa Kevin in the face again.

"Hey! That's enough! Don't hit people in the face! Why do you hit my face every single time?! You did that on purpose, didn't you?!" Rosa Kevin pressed all of Leichina's limbs beneath her butt. "You little brat, I'll put away all your hands and feet now! I'll leave your dead head hanging there. Let's see if you'll listen to me after three or five days!"

"Ah—Ptoo! You old witch!!" Leichina threw out his dead head as well, hitting Rosa Kevin squarely in the body.

"You little brat... playing dirty tricks... Urgh~" Rosa Kevin was struck in a vital spot and immediately fainted to the ground.

Seeing Rosa Kevin collapse, Leichina crawled out of the sludge using his remaining arm. After reattaching his new body, Leichina wobbled to his feet.

"Old witch, ptoo—" 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, and Leichina had long since disappeared.

"Ah—choo." Rosa Kevin wiped her snot with the folds of her clothes. "That damned little brat... once I catch it, I'll make it pay!"

Rosa Kevin's howls echoed through the entire decaying Elrina Forest...

"The black snow has started falling again..." Denolan curled up inside a temple beside the wasteland, his body shivering from the cold.

"Why... why..." Whenever Denolan recalled the village's miserable state, he could not help choking up. "Why did everyone seek death?! Wasn't the day of sealing the mountain still not here yet?! I already brought holy water and was preparing to return! If only... if only you had waited a little longer! I could have returned, there was enough holy water, and everyone could have survived this winter!"

The curse continued drifting down. Denolan knew what these things represented, and he understood the village's misery over the past ten years. But... why... why had everyone chosen the path of death? If there was still hope, why not try once more? Perhaps if they tried again, the night would end...

The night continued, but Denolan was now alone. The boy slept clutching that jar of holy water. In the ancient, abandoned temple came a voice from time immemorial. The old gods' past intertwined with the new gods' future. Fate came from here and would depart from here. The child of destiny would be born here. Despair led hope into its beginning...

At dawn, Denolan collected 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 arrogant now!!"

"Cough—ptoo—" The fluid accumulated in the zombie's lungs sprayed all over Rosa Kevin's face. "Witch, so what if I am arrogant!"

"You..." Rosa Kevin wiped the filthy water from her face with the rags on her body. "You brat are fucking filthy. I'm not playing with you anymore..."

"Then 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..."

Clang— Leichina collapsed about five meters away from Rosa Kevin.

"What's... happening to me..." Leichina, who had not yet lost consciousness, shouted, "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 now a zombie I transformed using my divine power. But my power was insufficient... so the transformation was... not quite successful..."

"What does that mean? Speak like a person..."

"How should I put it..." Rosa Kevin picked her nose. "My divine power is somewhat different from Necromancy, so the zombies transformed by my divine power are a little different from ordinary zombies... As for that difference..."

"Get to the point!"

"OK~"

"The zombies I transform with divine power are superior to ordinary Necromancy zombies. Zombies personally transformed by Rosa Kevin using divine power are high-level zombies that retain their souls. Little brother, as long as you remain loyal, I can turn you into an even higher-grade undead creature. Of course~ ordinary zombies are merely empty shells without souls, so they can't possibly be turned into higher-grade undead creatures."

"The point! The point! The point!" Leichina nearly shouted his tongue out. "I'm asking why I collapsed on the ground!"

"Here it comes... here comes the point..." Rosa Kevin said. "The point is that you are now a creation of my Decaying Divine Power. As long as you leave a distance of around fifteen feet from me, you'll lose consciousness."

"Hah..."

"Not clear enough? Then I'll say it again." Rosa Kevin rubbed the fat folds of her belly. "As long as you stay within fifteen feet of me, you can move freely. But once you go beyond fifteen feet, you'll lose consciousness and collapse, unable to get up, until the distance between us is fifteen feet again. Of course, once my divine power recovers, the distance you can be from me will increase in the future."

"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

"Calm down... calm down..." Rosa Kevin said earnestly. "Don't use foul language..."

"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

"Brat, I told you not to use foul language! Can't you understand?! I XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX."

As the snow fell, the evil god Rosa Kevin and her servant Leichina exchanged their most sincere greetings...