Xyrin Empire-Chapter 198 - Zaken’s Story
Chapter 198: Chapter 198 Zaken’s Story
In this underground city filled with a stifling boredom and permeated by the smell of preservatives, Anwina and I spent two days living a life that amounted to waiting to die, though merely eating and sleeping until ending up in a coffin has always been my greatest life goal, I now sadly realized that it would be terrible if life really just boiled down to that.
Anwina and I were sitting in a cave in Dark City—although the owner called it a living room, I still insisted that a place carved out underground without even basic beams and with a stone table as the only piece of furniture should be called a cave and not a living room. Across from us sat two skeletons that looked identical to me, aside from size and smoothness, but were in fact a married couple. In front of this odd group of two skeletons, a ghost, and a living person, there was a small pile of paper pieces with crooked and twisted symbols scrawled on them.
Alright, my original plan was to create a deck of playing cards, but as it turned out, my drawing skills were barely better than my sister’s, such that this deck of cards, which I had labored over, almost got tossed by Anwina, who mistook it for some Rune Fragments containing Ancient Curse Power created by a sorcerer—if these little paper pieces had been made by my sister, Anwina’s guess would have been astoundingly accurate.
While the playing cards were just a slight relief from my deadly boredom, to the skeleton couple facing us, this simple and novel game that even undead creatures could indulge in was nothing short of a revolutionary invention that turned the entire entertainment world on its head. Although they completely misunderstood the symbols on the cards and mixed up the rules of the poker game, the skeleton couple enthusiastically played with us all morning, and now their ribs were densely covered with small paper notes that fluttered in the breeze like waves in a spring meadow—choosing to use sticky notes as a punishment instead of drinking cold water at the start was ingenious. These boneheads might have a stomach capacity of zero, but they at least have a broad “surface area.” Such unique body structures are indeed a blessing for avid poker players…
“To be honest, your love is truly moving. I thought all The Forgotten were cold-blooded and dark creatures,” I said as I clapped my hands and stood up, after successfully burying the skeleton brother opposite me under paper notes.
Then, the skeleton brother across from me, who I dubbed Paper Basket Brother, proudly raised his skull in a clattering motion to express his pride. Following that, Sister Skeleton who sat next to him dealt her all-too-familiar and expertly executed karate chop, which she must have been proficient in both in life and after death, onto Brother Skeleton’s crown, scattering the chaotic notes everywhere.
I really couldn’t understand what the rhythmic clattering meant, so I had no choice but to seek help from Anwina, the humanoid spotlight who could understand them because she too was undead: “Anwina, translate.”
The Little Ghost immediately stopped her sneaky card-swapping antics, glowed all over, and said in a serious tone, “He says: ‘Jina will forever be my beloved. Even if this skeleton of mine shatters, I will use my entire soul to accompany her.'”
Upon hearing this, Sister Skeleton in front of me immediately collapsed coyly into Brother Skeleton’s arms, and he reciprocated with a long hug—not that it could be short, since their ribs had gotten tangled up with each other.
Watching two skeletons perform a love story right before my eyes, I felt nothing but a chill down my spine. If such a scene were in a movie theater, it’d scare countless innocent children to tears in under a minute! However, maybe it would be slightly less traumatic in a Heavenly Dynasty’s theater since a horror film of this caliber could get chopped from a two-hour feature to a thirty-minute trailer. By the time the cast list and theme song wrapped up, there’d hardly be anything left.
How did my thoughts drift this way?
After interacting with The Forgotten these past few days, my impression of them had utterly changed. They had their dark aspects, yes, but there were also ones like this skeleton couple in front of me—heartbreakingly sweet. This was nothing like the Undead Kingdom I’d imagined. Yet, it made sense. Even the most evil and deranged Race must have its bright side. If an entire Race were to sink into hatred and madness, focusing on nothing but revenge, then their future would indeed be nothing but darkness. Sylvanas would become history’s most failed Leader, because such a Race would have fundamentally lost all possibility of growth and prosperity.
Okay, I’m off-topic again.
After much effort in extracting their ribs from one another’s bone gaps, Brother Skeleton in front of me flashed me an awkward smile—or at least, I assumed it was an awkward one—then his jaw continued to clack away. Anwina translated without prompting, “The arrival of the Undead Catastrophe destroyed many families. Many people rose again to join the Destruction Army. After the Witch Demon King’s reign ended, seventy percent of the humans from Lordaeron had become the very dirt of Tirisfal. The remaining thirty percent found it hard to locate their loved ones from before, becoming lonely Walking Dead. I was fortunate to find Jina. Although we’ve become like this, at least we’re together again.”
The Forgotten were lonely; the whole world had cast them out. Many of them could only seek a tiny shred of belonging, and even more curled up alone in the dark Underground City or numbed themselves with battle and aimless wandering. All while allowing the dark thoughts in their hearts to grow ever stronger—a concerning situation. If it continued, The Forgotten as a Race would ultimately descend into madness, consumed by resentment and loneliness, possibly becoming the Resentful Spirits that Sylvanas spoke of.
Perhaps Sylvanas had foreseen this, which is why she saw our Salvation Army plan as a glimmer of hope, a possibility to prevent The Forgotten from turning into mad Resentful Spirits through isolation and hatred.
Even though I knew that even if we didn’t show up, Sylvanas would have ways to resolve this issue with her abilities.
Just as the feeling of boredom was creeping back in, and Anwina began to entertain herself, glowing intermittently with a bored air, I decided to find some topic to break the slightly oppressive silence. Seemingly possessed by some whim, I remembered that Skeleton Soldier who had brought us to Dark City, always with the simpleminded Little Zombie in tow.
“Do you know Zaken? He seems to always wander around Dark City with a Little Zombie following him.”
I tossed the cards in my hand and stretched languidly, asking,
“Of course I know him. We used to be neighbors. That little zombie always by his side is his daughter.”
My half-done stretch came to an abrupt halt, and at least six groups of muscles from my waist, back, and shoulders simultaneously expressed a strong desire to continue the unsatisfying stretch. Unfortunately, without the coordination of the central nervous system, the muscles fought each other, ending up in a tangle as chaotic as second-ring road traffic at 5:30 pm.
“Nana… hurry… I’m running out of breath…”
After Anwina’s frantic rescue attempt, I breathed a sigh of relief, finding it amusing that I, the Imperial Leader, almost met my end due to my own lazy stretch.
Well, another Imperial Leader almost choked to death on a piece of cake once.
As I regained my strength, Brother Skeleton immediately grabbed Sister Skeleton’s hand, pointed at me, and their jaw clacked.
“Darling, you see, flesh isn’t necessarily a good thing.”
“Anwina, there’s no need to translate that.”
Zaken’s story was simple, as straightforward as any former housebound nerd like me could imagine in an instant, and Zaken’s story was heart-wrenching, just like the story behind each of The Forgotten.
Zaken was once an ordinary reconnaissance soldier in the Lordaeron army. Although he didn’t hold a high rank, with his wealth of experience and a couple of commendable, albeit minor, military achievements, he led a decent life. Like many young, robust men in novels who end up popular despite being secondary characters and have a fair bit of success in their careers, he had a loving wife and a lively, adorable daughter—this simple and happy life continued until the Undead Catastrophe struck.
After the war began, Zaken was ordered to join the battle against the Catastrophe Army and was thrown into the frontline. He was incredibly unlucky and on just the second day of fighting, his heart was pierced by the claw of a ghoul…
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When he awoke as one of The Forgotten, Zaken discovered that his homeland had been reduced to a plague-ravaged ruin.
This blow nearly caused Zaken to completely break down, and he almost became a mad undead creature. In fact, nearly half of The Forgotten would become vengeful, murder-driven Walking Dead upon regaining their free will and eventually be eliminated by Sylvanas. Zaken, too, came dangerously close to that path.
Perhaps it was fate that led the dazed Zaken, while left to die slowly in a cellar, to come across a mindless, dazed little zombie.
On the neck of this little zombie hung a delicate little pendant, engraved with words he would never forget, words he had carved himself—For Nina, my dearest daughter.
The little girl’s spiritual power was far too weak. Even with the Witch Demon King’s power gone, her consciousness had already been obliterated by the intense invasion of spiritual power, leaving only instinct to follow Zaken.
From then on, the silent Skeleton Soldier Zaken was followed by a perpetually dazed, silly little zombie that served as his messenger.
