Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 230: False Hope

Although she did not initially notice it, while Elena communicated with the other women in her party about the possibilities which existed for the new skill that Madison would soon be granted, she could not help but flash Zane a glance.

And when she did so, the young crimson haired beauty immediately noticed that something was wrong… Very wrong… Zane was usually a man who had a neutral or stoic expression. And while that was still the case, there were subtle signs that something was off about him.

Whether it was the fact that he had unequipped his gauntlets, something he would normally not do until he decided to take off his entire armor upon returning for the night.

Or the fact that he was staring blankly into space, as if he was looking beyond whatever his eyes could really see. There was definitely something going on inside the man's mind that should be deeply concerned to Elena herself, and the rest of the women in their group.

And because of this, she did not hesitate to walk towards Zane, and try to communicate with him, all while the ignoring the conversation that was going on. It was such an unusual act for Elean to just pass them by, that not a moment after she approached Zane did the attention of everyone else fall upon him as well.

"Zane… Are you okay? You look unnerved…."

It took Zane several seconds to recover from the voices in the back of his head, which were interrogating him about a great deal of subjects, speaking over one another as they did so.

And instead focus his attention on what was in front of him, but when he fully recovered, his stoic façade collapsed. Replaced with a look of existential dread, his words mirroring this expression, as did the tone within them.

"I don't know…. I'm not sure who… or what I am anymore."

It was clear that although Zane was looking at Elena; he was not truly focused on her. Something had broken him in the moments after they had killed Beatrix. And immediately Elena and several of the others went into panic mode.

"Hey, Zane… Zane, look at me… What do you mean you don't know who you are anymore? Zane, what's going on?!?"

Zane was in such a state of shock, that he did not even try to conceal what had happened to him. He was about to confess to everything when Angelica's green eyes grew wide. Her look became one of fear as she spoke about Zane's change in condition with the utmost certainty and severity in her voice.

"He… He isn't human anymore!"

In addition to being granted the ability to heal human beings. Something else had been gifted to Angelica upon awakening her powers. And that was the ability to detect a person's lies with absolute certainty, as well as understand their true nature.

It was not exactly an active ability, more so a passive feature, which she simply knew by instinct. And there was no mistaking it. Zane was not human. He had the same aura of the undead, or rather the Horde Kings which they had fought before.

In a fit of panic, Angelica reached out and grabbed Zane's arm. Checking his pulse, only to be mortified by the result. She looked back at the other women, who she now considered being like sisters to her, and expressed Zane's condition aloud with an absolute sense of dread oozing from her voice.

"There's no pulse… Zane… What did you do? What has happened to you?"

Zane quickly retracted his arm from Angelica. She did not appear afraid of him, but rather in fear for him, and what his current condition meant for his future. Yet, Zane's action was hasty, and one which displayed a sense of deeply entrenched shame which he now held for himself.

This was only further expressed by the aversion of his gaze, a refusal to look the women who he had grown close to in the eyes as he admitted everything that happened to him, hiding nothing about what he knew, or even speculated regarding his sudden physical transformation.

---

While much of which Zane had said about his new condition was mere speculation on his part, speculation supported by nothing more than anecdotal evidence, the very notion that Zane was the son of death was a deeply chilling thought to the women by his side.

Zane had advanced the unique skill that he alone possessed in this world, and in doing so turned into a Horde King. While this came with considerable advantages, the fact of the matter was he was no longer a living human being. He did not belong in their world. Or whatever remained of it.

And yet, none of the women by his side, even Lily, who only had undeveloped feelings for Zane, were willing to cast the man aside. Instead, Angelica tried to cast her healing magic on Zane. And though it did not harm upon him, there was no change in his condition.

Perhaps if he was wounded, then Angelica's healing magic might still have a positive effect on him. But there was simply no way to know. Instead, Zane remained dead… A walking corpse, so to speak, one that was wholly incapable of degrading or decaying. And despite this, Angelica insisted she would replace a cure for him.

"Zane, I promise you, I will replace a cure for whatever has happened to you! Even if we have to kill all the horde kings in the world, and give me their blood crystals so I can gain new skills! I promise you, you will not be like this forever!"

Zane forced a smile as he pat the blonde beauty's hair in a sign of affection. He knew there was nothing she could do to save him from what he had become. After all, the system itself had declared his transformation as the result of corruption beyond repair.

But what the girls needed most right now was hope, hope for Zane, and hope for themselves. That they could save him from his current state. At the very least, it warmed Zane's dead heart to know that they did not reject him, or cast him out as the monster he now was.