Entry 4

  Been a few weeks, have been traveling. My horse got gutted by a zombie. I liked that horse. Named her dancer. She was sweet like getting scratched under the lip. I’m out here looking for some ruin that’s older than Usten. Syrus wants me to acquire some stone tablet with an ancient spell or a map to a spell? Something about a spell. I didn’t really ask. By the time I come back, the ring should be finished. So he said. I wonder if I fucked myself by agreeing to work for that ring. What if he just pretends to, no never mind. Winter sucks out here. I was hoping to pass by where my house was but I'm headed west not north. Maybe I'll take a detour coming back. I hope some of my things are still there. Especially the sword, the king himself gave it to me as part of the ceremony when he named me spymaster. It was a nice party. Lots of delicious drinks. The queen got so drunk she tried to bed me and a few others after I politely declined. There was imported food from Kargos. I wonder if I'll ever have a reason to go there.

  Fuck. Why not just go. I’ve been thinking and once the ring is paid off, I’ll grab a ship and head over there. Sure I'm not a spymaster, I’m not even a spy anymore and all of my information is over fifty years out of date. Sightseeing. I’ll go just to experience it. Food still tastes like it did so why not try the famous gems. Apricots, I think they were called apricots. Of course if I’m stuck working for Syrus for years because of this deal. Shit.

  By the time I crossed the mountain pass and entered Usten winter had set in. Snow and darkness. Jif said that it never goes away, the darkness. There's no grass, the trees are dead. My once beautiful homeland is famous for its lush grasslands. Grasslands that were stained with blood, so much blood. War after war after war

  Entry 5

  Haven't written in a few days. Was forced to stay in a cave. Terrible storm. I saved a girl from some zombies. Almost got hit by lightning. Never seen lightning in a snowstorm before. Her name is Clara, said she came to the deadlands to gather some plants that only grow around the undead. She offered to heal my scars. Had to decline and told her I’ve already tried healers they can't help. She didn’t push it further after that. Clara has wavy brown hair and green eyes, her face is plain but not ugly. I can tell she is of simple birth. Her speech is simple and she doesn’t know some of the fancier words I've used to converse. She was telling me of how she and her friends have been traveling for months just to get a few of these plants. Then the storm hit, undead came up on them without them seeing and they got separated. She said that the plans are used to make potions that cure necrotic rot. I’ve never heard of such a thing but apparently the undead carry a rotting disease. Some mercenaries that make it back from the deadlands get sick with it. It rots away at you until it reaches your organs and then you’re fucked. And you end up a zombie and continue to spread it. Don’t even need to be bit, to get infected. There was an outbreak in Bhor, she and her group came here because the town ran through their supply.

  Bhor that’s far. It's in the kingdom of La’estes. Lufen is near there. Turn s out the place is still standing and is still as cutthroat and dangerous as ever. Some lords raised an army a few years back. Tried to pacify the place. There was a siege. Held for a year but they had to give up and retreat when some mages showed up and summoned monsters to rip through the army. Yes, I recall learning that Lufen is run by a secret order of black mages. Guess not all of my information if out of date. Wonder why they would wait a year to attack their invaders though. That place sounds just as crazy as the last time I've been. I should visit. And this time it won't be to hunt down a runaway noble that sold his own citizens into slavery.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  I spent the next few hours thinking about the one thing that I got to enjoy on my last trip there, the brothels of Lufen.

  Entry 6

  So those plans she was looking for started sprouting right next to where I pretended to sleep. That proves it, I am a fucking corpse. A walking, talking and thinking corpse but a corpse nonetheless. Clare freaked out and ran away into the storm. I’m not going after her. Her own fault if she dies out there. FUCK.

  I went after her. Found her surrounded by zombies. Killed the zombies, re-killed the zombies? Anyway, I started a fire to warm her up once I carried her back to the cave. She’s hurt pretty bad. Her ankle is broken and she got bitten a few times. She’s walking up.

  It took a lot of swearing up and down that I wont hurt her. I showed her my face. At her request. I told her the truth. I am undead. She asked me a lot of questions. Mostly how am I able to talk. Well I don't know. Maybe I’m cursed. She asked to check if I was carrying the rot and I let her. But I told her I've been around people for a long time and no one got sick. She started casting some spell and I ran out of the cave. Thats when she noticed her leg was fucked. I explained that magic made me this way and I'd rather not have spells cast on me. We agreed that she wouldn't cast magic on me and I came back into the cave. The cold really doesn’t agree with me.

  She healed her leg, thanked me for putting it in a splint. The storm is still going. Four days. The lighting creeps me out. I promised to try to help her find her friends. I'm still a great tracker but with the fresh snow I'm not sure what I can do. For now just giving her some hope will have to be enough. Talking like this it’s been nice. No mask on, not pretending. I missed it a lot more than I thought.

  She’s been to Imagen and we laughed over the crappy rooms at the hanging brad inn, where i stayed before. She told me how the place got that name. Some famous bard hung himself in one of the rooms after his lover married a noble. Dark. Interesting story I might even ask around If it’s true when I’m back in town.

  It took some time but I’ve calmed down. Clara cast that spell of hers on me while I was writing. Little bitch. I don’t think I'll ever let anyone cast a spell on me ever again. I really wanted to kill her. Chased her into the storm. The cold took me and I couldn’t catch her. We’re both back in the cave next to the fire. She ‘s smiling at me and she apologized several times. Well I'm not carrying any diseases. I guess that’s good to know.

  Entry 7

  The storm finally ended two days later. Found the rest of her group. Didn’t take much, I just climbed a tree and looked for the light of a campfire. For once the perpetual darkness was a good thing. The dead don’t need a fire to keep warm. She swore to some nature god that she will keep my secret. I didn’t expect that. She seems like a good person. Clara offered me 50 gold for saving her and finding her group. I didn’t take the gold, just told her and her pals to get home safe. Suggested that she take those sproutlings from the cave. Who goes to collect herbs in winter? Guess they underestimated the time it takes to travel.

  Back to traveving on my own. Few days in and I miss Clara's company. She had a nice laugh. I really hope she makes it out of the deadlands safe. The cold makes me so sluggish so I started lighting fires when I sit to rest and write. No wonder the zombies are so easy to take out. I don’t actually need rest, I just get bored of walking.