"Take that, you little shit." The speaker had a loud and high pitched voice, the kind that set your nerves on edge just hearing it. The man was on the short side, with fat cheeks, and a round belly pushing the front of his rich green robe forward. He waved his hand and the teenager in front of him was knocked back into the alley wall. A groan escaped his lips as a puff of dust billowed away from the brick surface. His long dirty hair fell across his face, but he still looked up at the mage who was hurting him. "I don't know why all of you zombies haven't been sent to the mana stone pits. What is the point of living without magic?" the chubby man said. He snapped his fingers and the air shimmered around the boy, as if from a great heat, then the boy's clothes lit on fire. "Arrrgh," he yelled, not looking defiant any longer. He rolled on the dirty cobblestones of the street, through puddles of questionable origin, but the flames didn't extinguish. He started tearing off his c

The sun was rising higher as Shinra walked away from the gate, having had no trouble leaving. ‘Guards are always happy to see Zombies leave.’ This close to the gates, he wasn’t worried about his safety yet, but he had a few kilometres to travel before reaching the Zombie tent village he lived in with his sister. A small group of younger men and women walked with him along the way. Shinra tried not to look at them too closely, but he could see the bruises and damage typical of Zombies that worked ‘night shifts’ with the cruel mages. ‘Everyone needs to find a way to help feed their families, but I will never let my sister lay with a damn Mage.’ It was just part of their life, Zombies weren’t even second class citizens. As Shinra saw last night, a mage wasn’t worried at all about killing him. ‘The rules aren’t enforced equally. I guess it is better to get paid for what a mage could do by force,’ the thought made him sick. Then he remembered that the Mage last night paid with hi

‘Not a ghost… but not normal. I can’t see really through myself, but it feels like I almost can. Am I solid?’ he asked, then poked his arm. Solid. His clothes, and even the skin of his hand, had taken an ash grey and coal black colouring. The pattern was random, but it moved and adjusted as he watched. ‘This colouring would blend in well with the grey cobbles of the road and the shadows cast on it. Is this what Fade does? It helps me camouflage.’ He looked over at the Knight and the girls. He had already finished with the blonde girl. She was sobbing on the ground. Large welts covered her naked back. ‘He probably hit her with the flat of his blade,’ Shinra thought. He looked on in disgust as the Knight, Woodruff, strutted over to the next girl in line. She was a short brown haired girl that Shinra recalled being very well endowed. The thought made him feel guilty. “You’re next,” Woodruff said, and grabbed around her chest roughly. “Ahhhhrgghhh,” she cried in pain. ‘

Shinra was stunned. He was laying defenceless in the grass, but somehow he seemed to be getting more powerful. ‘I mean, am I? What do these numbers really mean?’ They had increased a lot from his baseline value, but would these increases be noticeable? [Health 300] [Strength 25] [Speed 40] [Intelligence 21] [Dexterity 45] [Charisma 6] [Wisdom 13] [Magic 0] ‘Health, strength, speed, intelligence, those all seem straightforward. I guess I understand what charisma and wisdom are, but what is dexterity? It must be important, it was buffed as a core assassin skill.’ Speed, Intelligence, Dexterity and Wisdom were the core assassination skills, apparently. Shinra wasn’t sure why Health and Strength weren't there. ‘Why is magic at 0? My skills must be magic, and the System too, right?’ [Dexterity is the measure of your ability to make subtle and precise movements. It is also related to the accuracy of your sense of touch. Dexterity is valuable for throwing projectil

 ‘Shinra doesn’t often stay out all night and all morning.  He’s alright though, I know it.’  Naori had unshakeable confidence in her older brother.  Others thought he was cold and questioned his morality, but she knew that he would move the heavens to keep them safe.  ‘That kind of love should be appreciated,’ Naori knew this well, zombies didn’t have a lot of time for sentimentality, but emotions drove their lives.  Unfortunately the dominant emotion was fear. She busied herself in their hovel.  Shinra had built it himself using salvaged wood planks, wood he’d finished himself with ‘borrowed’ tools and river clay.  It wasn’t pretty, but they had enough room to stand up and move around.  There was a table, a raised bedding area in the corner, a fire pit in the centre and sev