Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Zane stood in bewilderment for several moments. Death herself was clinging to him tightly while calling him her son. It was a surreal moment, one straight out of fantasy. But on a deeply instinctual level, Zane also could not deny its truth.

The woman's embrace was comforting, and full of maternal warmth. In a way that Zane had never personally experienced growing up, but knew all too well from the way normal people had often described their relationships with their mothers.

There was an urge to cry on his part. It was, after all, a grim and somber reunion between a mother and son, who had been separated their entire lives through no fault of their own. And yet no tears fell from Zane's eyes.

Not because he could no longer produce them, but because he bottled up the myriad of complicated emotions which he currently was struggling to comprehend. Forcing himself to remain stoic as he tried his best to maintain his composure.

And despite the fact that tears did not fall from his eyes and crash around him, he couldn't help but reach out and accept his mother's embrace, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her back. The woman's voice was soft and caring, which again was a semi-alien concept to Zane, as she spoke to him with a curious tone.

"So… Is there anything you wish to ask of me? I am sure you have many questions for me? And we have plenty of time to remain together, whether in this dream space of yours, or in the real world, where I will continue to stick by your side as little Maya. So go on, don't be afraid to ask. Your mother is an open book."

Zane had to force himself to remain calm as he pried himself away from Death's embrace and stared at her with an almost accusatory glint in his eyes, which were as dark as the abyss.

"I don't understand… What is the point of all this? The undead virus, the system which aids humanity in its survival, the Horde Kings? I don't understand any of it!"

There was a subtle, but smug look on Death's face as she responded to Zane's questions with an answer she had previously given him. While also elaborating further on it.

"Have you hit your head and already forgotten? I already explained my intentions to you moments ago. The so-called apocalypse is humanity's reckoning, the judgement I have cast upon it for committing the crime of theft against yours truly.

That little bastard dared to steal you, my only child, away from me! I mean, the Horde Kings may call me their mother, and worship me as such. But they mean that insofar as I am their creator. They are not genuinely my children. At least not in the same way you are!

I created them with a purpose in mind. After all, what would be the point of having a massive army of undead, if there were no officers to command it? But as you can tell, there is only so much an army can do when its officers are squabbling among themselves for resources and power.

It's an army lacking a General… And without one to seize control, and give them a purpose, all they will do is ravage the landscape, like a scourge upon it. But that general has finally arrived… Even if they may not recognize his authority at first…."

Perhaps if Zane was still the man he was when the apocalypse first began, he would not understand the underlying meaning of Death's words. But with his vastly increased intelligence that was now at a superhuman level, such a superficial attempt to indirectly say what she really meant was instantly uncovered by Zane.

It took only a moment for Zane to think through the implications of what he had been told, and how it applied to every harrowing adventure he had undergone up until this point.

"You're saying I'm that General? Everything… Everything that has happened has been about me? The system which granted me a unique skill, allowing me to fully transform into an undead myself. The system which allowed me to gain strength and craft equipment.

A system which allows me to manage the dead in my own horde, and even build entire settlements for the purpose of rebuilding civilization. It was all designed for me, as a tool to prepare me for the game that is to come?"

A proud look appeared on Death's face as she made a snide remark regarding Zane's increase in intelligence.

"Clearly it has worked as intended. If you still had the intellect of an average man, I doubt you could so easily put all of that together in such a short span of time. Yes, the system was designed for you, my beloved son. It was designed to allow you to become what you were always meant to be. My son, my Prince, my defender!

But there is still much to be done before you can reach that point. You have yet to gain sufficient enough strength to compel the Horde Kings to obey you. For now, you should continue on your current path. In doing so, you will eventually be able to fulfil your destiny.

As for humanity... I'm not going to lie. After watching them so pathetically try to save themselves from their own reckoning with the meager strength they possessed, I felt a bit of pity for them, and decided to give them access to the system as well, albeit in an inferior state to the one you possess. You know, as a fighting chance.

Unfortunately, humans are every bit as petty and foolish as I initially believed them to be. After gaining access to the system which I granted them, a system which allows them to surpass their limitations and gain significant strength.

What did they use it for? I'll tell you what! Those hairless chimps actually used it as a means to wage war amongst themselves just as much as the dead which seek to destroy them! I mean honestly, how stupid can they be?

Here I gave them a lifeline, and instead of using it as a means to rally together for the first time in the entire history of their species, they saw it as a means to compete for resources more efficiently!?!

Are those morons honestly just simply braindead? Can they not see that there are billions of blood crystals in the world? Meanwhile, what are there? Eighty million humans left on the planet? Perhaps even less than that with the sheer degree to which they have killed themselves!

There are enough blood crystals and achievements for all of them to reach a satisfactory level of power to defend themselves against the Horde Kings. And yet despite this, for reasons I cannot possibly comprehend, they would rather kill one another for the sake of hoarding them! It is utter madness… Madness and stupidity!"

Zane couldn't help himself from breaking out into laughter after hearing Death's rant about humanity. This was a rant that he had expressed to himself, in his own mind, more times than he cared to count.

To see how flustered Death, no, his mother, had become over the issue. It was almost as if the man was looking in the mirror and preaching to himself.

Her son's laughter caused Death to pout as she grabbed hold of the man's ear and dragged it, perhaps giving the man the first motherly scolding he had ever received in his life.

"Are you laughing at me, young man? You know what they say about laughing in the face of death, don't you?"

Zane winced in pain as his mother gripped his earlobe and used it as a means to drag him away with her. He ultimately broke away, before clarifying why he was laughing, no doubt in an attempt to calm her down.

"I'm not laughing at you… Mom… It's just that you really are my mother. Because that look on your face, and the words that came out of your mouth, it is almost as if I am speaking to myself while looking into a mirror...."

Upon seeing that her son had the same discontent with humanity's eternal ignorance that she did, Death leaned in close and hugged Zane once more. She whispered something in his ears before kissing him on the forehead. And once she did, Zane awoke from his slumber.

When Zane looked around, he saw that the door to his room was open, and all the girls were around him with worried expressions on their faces. There was simply no way to tell if Zane was alive or dead anymore.

He no longer needed to breathe, which ceased to happen when he slept, and he had no heart rate. Because of this, they were deeply afraid he would never wake up. But when they saw him open his eyes, all the women who lived in the bunker with him sighed in relief.

Zane, however, was looking for someone else, something which they did not notice. And when he found her, she was once more in the form of the little girl named Maya. For the first time since Zane had adopted her, Maya showed a sign of emotion to him, where she winked at him, and put a finger to her mouth, as if to silently tell Zane not to reveal her little secret.

Thus confirming that what Zane had dreamt was no figment of his imagination, but was reality itself. With this in mind, he sighed heavily before lying back down in his bed, where he pulled his covers back on top of him, and demanded that everyone leave him be.

"I'm fine, you can go now…"

Upon seeing that they had interrupted the man's peaceful slumber, the women in Zane's life sulked off towards their own rooms, where they prepared themselves for the day ahead. Meanwhile, Maya stuck closely to Zane like she always had.