I Became A Zompirewolf

Ashton rushed in to finish the fight, but as soon as he took a step, everything froze. The undead, the wolves, the air... everything. He was still aware of his surroundings but he couldn't move an inch, nor could anything else. It was as if someone had stopped the time itself.

'What's going on?' Ashton asked Astaroth, but there was no answer, 'Damn it!'

Ashton did not like what was going on. Even Astaroth was 'frozen'. But unlike what he was thinking, not everything was frozen.

From the corner of his eyes, Ashton saw the Behemoth making his way toward him. It could have been one of the undead's skills, but to be honest, Ashton was too focused on the Behemoth to even think about anything else.

He was helpless and the behemoth could finish him in a single strike, had he desired to do so. But it didn't seem like the creature was planning on ending him so soon.

"You... Human..." A voice echoed in Ashton's ears, "You are human... yet you're different. Two souls... one body. Not like... you were supposed to be."

For a moment, Ashton thought he was going mad. But what he heard was true. The behemoth was speaking to him as he slowly approached him.

"What do you mean?"

"You were created... to embody... the precursors..." The behemoth hissed while he walked around Ashton, "Your lust for power... has corrupted you. You are no longer... their successor..."

Ashton couldn't make the head or the tail of what the bastard was speaking. Also, why the hell was he speaking in the first place? He could have killed Ashton easily considering his time-frozen state, and yet it appeared the Behemoth was more interested in talking with him.

"What do you know about the precursors, and who the hell are you?"

Behemoth didn't reply but kept sniffing Ashton up. While he no longer had his eyes to see, but behemoth could still sense the 'human'. It almost felt like he was looking for something, within Ashton.

"Who am I...? It's been so long... since someone... asked me that. Let me show you... instead."

The behemoth tapped Ashton's forehead with his pointy fingers and everything went black. After what seemed like an eternity, Ashton finally opened his eyes, only to realise that he was in a completely different place.

'Where am I?' Ashton wanted to speak, but no voice came out of his mouth. He looked down, and the sight surprised him. He could see thorough himself as if he was a ghost or something.

'What's going on? Astaroth, are you there?'

No reply.

'Great... looks like I'm already dead.'

Having nothing else to do, Ashton decided to take a look around and see if he could find a way out of this... dream-like state. He walked around a bit before the realisation finally dawned upon him. The place felt familiar to him because it was the same cave he had been inside mere moments ago.

'Did I travel back in time or something? Unlike before, this place looks... well maintained.'

The corridors were cleaner than Ashton remember and most importantly there were no undead. Hell, it appeared there was no one inside the cave, only him. That was until Ashton heard a voice ahead.

'What the hell is going on here?' Ashton was having a rough time believing his eyes.

There were Xyrans all over the place. Everywhere he could see, there were Xyrans. Not only that, there were different coloured Xyrans... none of them had the golden skin like Beelzebub had. It made Ashton wonder whether it was some sort of a classification based on the colours of their skin or not.

'The ones with brighter skin colour have useless decorative armour, but the ones having darker shades have better weapons and armours... Maybe the brighter ones have more authoritative powers but less combat experience? Or is it something else? I'll definitely ask Astaroth about this if I ever get out of here in one piece.'

Their skin tones weren't the only thing different. The wings were different as well. Not all of them had white angel-like wings. Some were nastier than the other, but for some reason, the brighter ones had poorly maintained wings, which was different from what Ashton had expected.

However, before he could analyse his surroundings any further, a conversation took his attention away.

'Looks like I can hear them after all... but why can I only hear a certain person talk?'

Everyone around him was moving their lips as if they were conversing with each other. Yet Ashton could only one such conversation. Thinking it could be a clue to get him out of there, he headed over to listen in on them.

"Torvak, I head you have been promoted as the warden for the prison?" One of the brighter Xyrans excitedly asked.

"Haha, yeah. I just received the news myself." A dark-skinned Xyran, wearing an azure blue armour smiled.

"Well deserved promotion, my friend. If it is anyone who could get those fucking 'forefathers' of us to speak, it's you. No one can torture the hell out of the Precursors as you do!"

'Fuck! It is a prison, just as I expected!'

The armoured man only smiled wanly in response. Soon the lighter-skinned Xyran left the warden to himself. It was then Ashton saw something weird.

The warden had clenched his hands tightly as if he was enraged, yet he was smiling as his colleague congratulated him. Something was off about him. Ashton decided to follow him as the warden entered one of the many prison cells.

'WHAT THE HELL?'

Ashton got wide-eyed when he saw who was inside the cell... a human. An ordinary human!? Although Ashton did not know what time he had travelled into the past, he was certain all of this was happening while the humans on earth were learning to make weapons out of stones.

It didn't make any sense how the hell there was a human prisoner there. But what if the man inside wasn't a human at all?

While Ashton was computing what was going on there, the Xyran entered the chamber and did something to the switch next to the wall. The next moment, the cuff bounding the naked man to the ceiling vanished.

However, instead of falling down and hitting his face, the man gently landed on the floor. Ashton wanted to know who the man was, but for some reason, the face was blurry. Almost as if someone forgot about him.

"You did well, Mr Warden." The man said as the warden kneeled before him, "I hope you're not having second thoughts about doing the necessary?"

"N-No, my lord. Unlike my people, I will never betray the precursors." The warden replied but it almost felt like he was more scared of the man than anything else.

'Precursors? Wait... I knew the precursors were similar to humans but I never expected them to be so... alike...'

"Sadly, you had to take the lives of my brethren to achieve what you did..." The precursor replied while gently stroking the Warden's hairs, "I don't hold a grudge against you, my child. How can someone of my stature hold anything against an insignificant creature like yourself?"

Suddenly the warden gritted his teeth. The precursor was clearly doing something to him, but the Xyran did not fight back. Either he was too weak to do so, or he simply didn't want to, was a mystery to Ashton.

However, what he did realise, was the fact that Precursors weren't as merciful as he was led to believe. Judging by how scared the Xyran was of the man, Ashton had no doubt the precursor must have shown the Xyran a bit of his powers.

"My apologies, great lord..." The Xyran mumbled, "I swear I will pay for the sin of beheading your family."

"I have no doubts that you will... and quite dearly so, I'm afraid." The precursor let go of the warden and turned his back on him, "Make the preparation as fast as you can. The foolishness of both of our kinds has already caused havoc in the galaxy."

He continued, "Thanks to your kind's insolence, there is no order anymore, only chaos. I have to return to the Motherworld and make a report to the <One Above All>. You understand me, don't you... Atlas?"

The Xyran did not dare speak a word. He simply kept kneeling down, watching his own feet as drops of sweat left their mark on the floor.

'Atlas? Where have I heard the name before? Wait... it's-'

Just the mention of a name was enough for Ashton to piece everything together. His consciousness had not travelled back in the past as he thought. He was simply living through the memories of the warden. The warden who would be known as the Behemoth in the future.

The following moment, the scenery was replaced. Everything was on fire, everywhere Ashton could see, he only saw corpses, of both Xyrans and precursors. Sirens were blaring crazily and in the middle of all that... was Atlas, on his knees.

In his hands was a scythe... Ashton immediately sensed the familiar aura of death revolving around it. It had to be the equipment the notification informed him about.

'What the hell happened here?'

"You tricked me... you took everything away from me!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, "It's not over yet. YOU HEAR ME! It's not over yet, you piece of shit Precursor! I will take my revenge on you! With the same scythe that you killed my family with! I'll live until the day I kill all of you bastards and anyone related to you!"

Those were the last words Ashton heard before darkness swept his vision again. But this time, he was back to where it all began. Back inside the cave. Only this time, the space wasn't frozen anymore.

"Now... you know... why I will... kill you." The Behemoth roared as the scythe from before materialised in his hands, "Die!"