"..."
Lying on the ground I stared at the three keys in my possession.
Surrounded by blood of black and red hues, it was a miracle that most of the blood spread against the ground wasn't even mine.
It was also a miracle that I even survived being hunted by numerous undead with physicals akin to athletes and skills akin to professionals.
It was definitely a miracle that I didn't join the pile of desecrated bodies lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood.
I didn't escape completely unscathed though hence the lying on the ground surrounded by a pool of blood similar to that of the butcher room.
I wasn't going to die from blood loss, but it really seemed like I should be doing exactly that.
Death himself appeared around me to note that it was a miracle I was still alive.
Many miracles today.
[Do you want to know something Slade?] Looking at the me lying on the ground surrounded by blood and guts, Death opened their jaws
"What is it?"
[Do you understand why is it that I sent you here?]
"What?"
Hearing Death's confession, I tilted my head in confusion repeating my previous question with a lot more curiosity in my voice.
"Isn't that because Fun did something that granted me these abilities forcing you to send me here?" I raised my hand to show the inventory as an example.
[That was part of the reason, but even if that wasn't the case, I would've still sent you to another realm to live out the rest of your life, it's just that after what Fun did to you you became a unique case]
"...Is that a complime-"
[No, now listen to me]
"...Ok"
[Do you understand why you met me in the first place?]
I recalled a past that had occurred... two months ago.
'Huh.'
Despite realizing that not much time had actually passed since I had adapted to this world's absurd anomaly of a disease, I spoke. "you said something about me dying before my actual time."
[Correct] The skull adjusted their glasses. [Souls have something that we up above have something we like to call a soul timer.]
"And that is?" I sat up and stared at the floating skull, pocketing the three keys I had scavenged from somewhere amongst the corpses.
[You could say it determines how long you possibly have to live on the mortal plane before dying, meaning that most usually die once their soul timer ends.]
"Huh."
[Now what do you think when anomalies like you start to die before or live past the time when the Soul timer ends]
"I... We meet you?"
[Partially correct.] The skull looked out of the window. [When you live past your soul timer, decay begins instantly killing most of the still living cells in your body before you die.]
[But when you die before your supposed death date...] Death turned to look at me with their glasses down to reveal to Obsidian Colored Eyes.
[What do you suppose happens next?] Death spoke while still staring at me Eyes that seemed to consume the soul
It was a deep dark abyss... that was now covered by the glasses again.
I blinked.
"Could... Could you repeat that?"
[What do you suppose happens next Slade when your soul keeps you alive although your body remains in a state of death?] The Skull turned to look at the bodies covering the floor.
[I think you're pretty familiar with what happens when the soul is alive but the body is dead.]
I blinked again as a realization struck me and I hesitantly spoke "That... No way, Are you saying that I could've..."
I pointed at the bodies on the ground. "Become a zombie?"
[Undead to be precise, but correct.] The skull continued to stare at the corpses and spoke with a strange emotion in his voice.
It took me a while to realize that the emotion was pity.
[So whenever someone dies before their time, the reapers interfere with the mortal plane and collect souls before they become a problem and mess up the natural order of life and death.]
If Death currently wasn't just a skull, I felt as if he would've shrugged his shoulders. [So after we meet, I was going to send you to another realm with a reset soul timer so you could fully live and die.]
"But... then how is it that the Malaise is even causing all of these corpses to rise up from the dead to become undead? Didn't you just say that people need to die before their soul timer ends?"
[Aha, now you're asking the questions I want you to answer.]
Smiling without any lips, Death clacked their jaw together before looking at the corpse.
[Now short quiz, tell me everything that you learnt about this disease.]
"Suddenly?" I raised an eyebrow "Well alright."
I began to list off things about the disease.
From the obvious thing of how it was infectious thus causing any flesh they had to additionally be infected to their increased strength and aggressiveness.
I also covered how it was able to cause madness and infect people through names for some ungodly reason.
[Are you referring to fun?]
"Yes"
[Consistent]
"I honestly hate him less now, but it's kind of a principle"
---
A boy playing video games with multicolored eyes sneezed
---
[The reason behind the disease causing madness is actually really simple, the human body is decaying in real time to add more time to the soul timer]
Death explained
[This disease is a strange thing in that in exchange for increasing the time of the soul, it decreases the vitality of the flesh, and not many could remain sane underneath the strange circumstances.]
"So they become mad and then become undead?"
[Yes, there are probably some that could retain their sanity, but not much of it.]
I recalled the numerous elite undead and especially the Golden Order that had retained a significant portion of their skills from before they were dead.
"That..." I nodded my head unconsciously "Actually makes sense."
[The name infecting thing is pure bullshit though.]
"What" Blinking at the sudden cursing of the God of death, he continued as if he hadn't just destroyed my mental image of him in one word.
[As the God of Death, I know many things, those things include the fact that infecting through names isn't a disease but a curse, something that this Malaise clearly isn't]
Gesturing at the air, the God of Death continued
[And the thing about infecting people through madness? Simple folly and misinterpretation of facts. They aren't infected because they're mad, they're mad because they're infected.]
I nodded my head but asked a question "But why is it that such a disease exists?"
If Death's skull could sneer, I swear it would've happened by now.
[Ah that? Tell me, what happens when you live past your soul timer?]
"Your body starts to decay and die right? But what does that have to do with... oh." My eyes widened with realization.
[Yep, someone wanted to become immortal but in the process started an infection that forced the Apostle of Time to lock the world in one repeating moment.]
"I... Wow."
If I was still standing and had the stamina to do so, I would've probably fallen atop my butt in astonishment, it was just... surprising.
'I know death is something that you have to fear, but do you have to infect and kill all of the islands inhabitants?'
I don't know the exact population of the entire island, but if the Ramparts were an example of how many people there were, the population was roughly in the tens of thousands.
An absurdly large number.
And they were all killed because of one man's fear of death.
'Well not that I'm any different.' I glanced at the floating skull of death patiently waiting for me to digest all of this information
'But I think they would be more welcoming of death if they found out how polite he was.'
Still staring at the skull, Death started to flicker in front of my eyes.
[Oops, I spent to much time explaining things.] The God of Death seemingly smiled for a moment [Anyways, this was a good conversation Slade, it was nice meeting you once again.]
"The same could be said for me."
[Please die again if you want to talk, I'm always at the nearest blade.]
"Ahaha..." I awkwardly laughed.
[Just kidding.]
'So it was just a joke...?' Laughing better now, the God of death flickered a bit more before disappearing into the tattoo on my chest.
[I look forward to when you finally free the world from its fat--]
Hearing the God of Death's word trail off, I got up from the ground dusted myself off, liking how the blood soaked garments seemed to slowly remove the blood clinging to it.
I also felt that much lighter.
'I guess all I have to do now is just find where these keys go so I can beat up whoever caused this disease in the first place.'
I turned to look at a giant painting of a man on the throne wearing a crown with three spikes framed by a giant sigil of the Sevallian Kingdom behind him whilst wearing purple and white drapes.
'And what better way than to find the face of the King who I haven't even seen yet?'
Staring at the face portion of the King which had been covered in splattered blood, I turned around and searched for the King's Hold.
+++
Tree that still has one more week of exams
Pray to whatever Gods you believe in for me.