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Chapter 7: Broken

"I can't do this anymore." Seeing her triggers something in me. The pain, it's still so fresh, I couldn't make it stop. My hands shaking so badly I can barely bring them to my eyes, I stare at Yin's innocent expression and try to clear my head. Even though it's over, the memory is so intense just thinking about it makes me feel like I'm on fire, being rotted through from the inside out. "I'm done."

"W-What?" Yin reaches out to me, but Donovan yanks her back. "Hey! Look, he's clearly hurt!"

"He's wasted! Leave him!" The blonde bastard yells as he watches me with slitted eyes. I don't care. I finally understand that it doesn't matter what I do. I'm just going to get hurt again and again. My power is a lie. It doesn't let me change things. That's impossible. All it does is bring me back to suffer over and over. "See? Look at him, let's go!"

I let them go. I don't stop them. My resolve wavers slightly when Yin calls back to me, as always.

"Um, sorry about that! If you need help, just follow the stars! We're going North!" This time, I won't save them. But I'll give her one last thing in this world before she goes. Raising my voice, I call out.

"If you go that way, there are several undead which will kill you. Go around or you'll regret it." My shout causes them to stop and turn around in confusion. They try to get my attention, learn more from me, but I don't care. I'm washing my hands of this matter. Whenever I try to help, Yin just suffers. Maybe it's my fault for trying to change fate. Either way, I'm done. Turning on my heel, I ignore their shouts and stride off into the woods.

"Thank you!" Yin's voice fades away behind me. For a while, I just walk, listening to nothing, thinking about nothing. Images of red mist, boiling flesh, and the world tilting as my head snapped off continue to haunt my every step. It's my worst death. By far. I'd rather be torn apart by zombies or eaten by wolves. The pain was unreal, and the whole time I couldn't even scream. I just had to stand there and watch...hold it in.

I was so...so powerless.

"GODDAMIT!" I roar into the woods. Some small birds flutter away, startled by my cry. But no undead come. This part of the forest must be empty. I'm walking away from the river, towards nothing in particular. Eventually, I begin to wonder what Yin is doing now. I've changed the pattern. Altered fate. Whatever happens to her isn't my problem anymore. Hopefully her teammates aren't as scummy as I think. "It's done. I'm done."

However long it is I walk, I'm not really sure, I end up going far and deep into the woods. Away from the main path, the branches and trees grow thicker, snagging on my clothing but I push onwards. I tire more easily, I'm not even Lvl. 1 since I didn't kill those zombies, but at the end of the day, humans were built for walking. Eventually, the ground begins to slope upwards. It's like I'm climbing up a hill, but I don't really want to go around, there are too many bushes over there. So, I keep going.

Up.

Up.

And up.

Until I'm breathing heavy and sweating. The air is growing hot, and humid, as if I'm entering some sort of tropical rainforest. Suddenly, my foot presses on something funny underfoot.

*Crunch*

I look down.

It's a skull. An old one, there's no flesh on it. My boot has landed directly on its nose and caved in the fragile bone. Retrieving my foot, I see that there's more bones around me. Bits of white stick out of the dirt and leaves, seemingly growing out of the ground. As I take a few more steps, it becomes apparent. This place is like a graveyard. And I've walked right into it.

*Clack*

Something grabs onto my ankle. When I look back, a bony skeletal hand grasps my foot and I hurriedly kick it away. The fingers rattle as the whole thing shatters. However, all around me, I can hear them rising now. The dead have stopped slumbering. And they're hungry. Everywhere, bones are shifting, rattling around of their own accord as some strange force causes them to pull together and rebuild their fallen forms.

"What is this place?" I whisper to myself. I turn around to go back the way I came but it is too late. Two fully formed skeletons have already reanimated themselves. One of them is even holding a black, rusted sword. I know not what strange species they belong to, but I know any undead with a weapon is either a boss or beyond Lvl. 20. Which means that as a non-Hunter I could try my entire life to kill it and not succeed.

This must be some sort of forbidden danger zone. What the hell? I can't believe there's something like that here already!

Instantly, I seize the only course of option left to me. To run deeper into this strange graveyard. As my thunderous footsteps shake the earth, I hear hordes of bones shivering. They're all awakening. It doesn't matter.

I can't turn back.

It's not even worth looking to see what horrors are following me. I ignore the endless clacking, the thuds of bony feet on the loamy earth. My only hope is to get to the other side and escape there. Finally, I can't resist the urge any longer. I look back. There's an ocean of white bones surging towards me. Humanoid, non-humanoid, canine, feline, all manner of undead life, all polished clean and shining rush across the ground like an unholy tide. I'm being chased by what feels like every single thing that could have ever died in this forest.

*Thud*

*Thud*

The noises are getting closer. Skeletal dogs bay with a strange hissing noise that those without lungs use to convey their frustrations. I'm not going to make it. They're too fast. My hand slips into my coat, searching for my cleaver. If I'm going to be run down, I'd like to put up a fight at least. However, without the skill of a Hunter, I'm just not as graceful. My balance is thrown off by the motion and a passing root snags my foot.

*Whump*

My face goes into the ground, sending leaves flying everywhere. I skid a good body-length across the forest floor, eating dirt all the while. Before I even stop, I'm already getting my hands under me, trying to get around to meet my pursuers. I scrub at my eyes, trying to clear the crap out of them. When I open them, I fully except to be set upon by a horde of undead. However...

*Clack Clack Clack*

The forest has a new kind of tree. Bleached bone, twisted skeletons, fingered leaves, the horde has stopped just out of reach of me. They stand there, their arms waving eerily like mock branches in an invisible wind as they reach out to grab me. But some strange barrier prevents them from coming even a step closer. Squinting, I can almost see it. This faint red mist in the air surrounds me. The undead refuse to come any closer. It looks strangely familiar.

"Ow." My eyes are beginning to sting. It's like someone is spraying pepper spray. Slowly, I get up onto my hands and knees, keeping my eyes on the skeletons. They just watch, occasionally pressing their hands into the fine red mist curtain, but as soon as they touch, they jerk back. I shake my head, standing up all the way. Still a little scared, I look around. The sun is being filtered by whatever's in the air. Even the light has this strange coppery tinge to it. Looking behind me, there are no more undead. It seems this is a forbidden zone to them. I'm safe in here. But it reminds me of that strange acid cloud I encountered in my last life.

"Straight out of the frying pan and right into the fire..." I mutter uneasily. Taking one last look over my shoulder at the undead, I shrug. There's no going back through them. "Guess we'll have to see if it burns." Striding slowly into the mist, I head deeper into the forbidden zone. For a long time, I'm afraid that it will be like last time and I'm about to be boiled alive. However, except for a mild irritation on the surface of my skin and eyes, it doesn't get worse. Then the trees begin to thin out. There's a clearing up ahead. Someone's sitting on a chair.

"Huh?" I pull up short. To be honest, calling it a chair is an understatement. A throne more likely. Someone has built a throne of gleaming white bone. "Who are you?"