A hunter is born.

The forest only seemed to become more dreamlike and inviting as the sun set over the hills. Branches that weaved and wagged as if the trees were all waving. The child stood at the mouth of the forest. He looked over to his mother; he trembled watching as the shadows taunted him. Each elongated form was like that of a humanoid watching him with hateful eyes. He knew this voyage was important, but Arlo wasn’t the type to just ignore his fears; he was still a lad, after all. He had heard the tales, the horrifying stories of creatures constructed from rotting bodies with a taste for human flesh. Arlo was rightfully terrified of the dingy dark forest. He looked to his mother, hoping for even an ounce of comfort, but she offered only a chilly remark.

“Oh, come along, Arlo, stop being such a baby,” his mother snorted. Grabbing her son by the arm, the pair made their way into the forest. The mother wasn’t as cold as it seemed; she scanned the horizon, and a look of stark terror colored her face. She began to grow frantic and picked up the pace. She turned and looked at her son, who was more terrified than she was. Tears welled in his eyes as every sound the forest life made was only further evidence that something was after him.

“Mother,” the boy cried. His mother couldn’t hear him over her own frantic mumbling. The only thing the boy could pick up was the word. Grimm and another snippet about hunters. His mother nodded and muttered the word yes a few times before slowing her pace. She grabbed her son’s hands and knelt.

“Can you do mommy a very important favor?”

“Anything for you, mother,” the boy replied shakily. His mother smiled and gently patted his head.

“Good, good. I need you to run to the end of the forest and find one of mommy’s friends. A hunter, any hunter will do. There are not very nice people in this forest, and the Grimm will help us. A hunter, any hunter will do. Understand?”

The boy nodded; just as his mom began to stand up, Arlo pointed to the corner of her mouth.

“Mother. Y..you’re bleeding”

She took a deep breath and embraced her son before shoving him down the path. The boy stumbled but soon was running as fast as he could.

“Go, my boy! Fly!”

“How Sentimental. The mother protects her child.” a sinister voice sliced through the forest's calm. The mother looked down; blood began to soak through her gown. As the moonlight slowly filtered in through the trees, it became clearer that what had pierced her was no blade. Foul dry wood shaped into a rudimentary spear had lodged in mother’s back. The wood seemed fastened from multiple sets of hands that came together and formed a deadly point, all to the end of piercing whomever it aimed at. “Tsk Tsk Tsk, I’m surprised people still wander through here. I mean…this is my turf after all”

“Foul abomination!” the woman shouted, turning to her attacker. At that moment, she swatted the air with her palm. A glyph made of several interlocking octagons spun rapidly, igniting and launching towards the shadowed attacker. A simple punch sent the fiery projectile careening in the other direction.

“My, my, that’s harsh. This is simply the food chain. Lions eat Gazelle, and yet the lions aren’t abominations!”

“Lions aren’t demonic. They…just operate on their instincts,” mother shouted into the darkness.

“Demonic? That’s it? You think I wanted to hunger like this? Do you think I wanted this body?” The voice of the attacker began to raise in volume. Form coherent words to just a conglomerate of shouts strung together until they almost resembled speech.

A fist punched right through the poor woman’s chest. Blood poured out of her mouth, and the zombie dropped her to the ground like some lousy plaything.

“Filthy bitch you aren’t even good enough to eat!” the zombie clicked his tongue. lifting his head and sniffing the air. A sizeable toothy grin outlined his mouth. “Fear!” he screamed in delight, throwing his head back with ecstatic laughter. “Oh, such potent pungent FEAR” the zombie leaped into the air. Arlo ran through the forest wheezing and huffing. His body felt ripe to give out. Stopping for a moment would force all his fear to overwhelm him. All that mattered was running as fast as he could. However, his body couldn’t keep up; he toppled to the ground, gagging and gasping. The boy couldn’t control his sobbing. He failed his mother’s request. He was a failure of a son. The ground was suddenly caved in. there was an unexpected arrival. The boy screamed as he met the zombie’s hungry red eyes. The zombie was a terrifying specimen of unrestrained voracity. Standing nearly double the height of any man, his arms were thick with ropey muscles hidden just below the surface. Skin a disgusting shade of grey with mismatched, poorly sewn segments that looked fit to fall off with a hard enough swing. The zombie raised his hand and took hold of a large bolt stuck straight through his head's side. He began to spin it while maintaining eye contact with his newest prey.

“Child,” the zombie spoke. “I will give you five seconds to run as fast as possible. After that, I will take your life.”

The child screamed and got to his feet. Despite the pain he was in, he just couldn’t stop running.

“4,” the zombie counted. “3” the Zombie got down into a starting position. Continuing to spin the bolt in his head. Arlo didn’t look back; he kept running, going as fast as he could.

“2” the zombie’s muscles began to bulge, nearly tearing his grey skin to shreds. His hunger formed an impenetrable aura.

“1” the zombie reached the end of his countdown. He started on his way, tearing up the forest trail. Less of a humanoid in sprint and more of a flash moving beyond comprehension; He charged after the child mouth first, ready to take a giant bite. The next thing that happened was a flash of chomping. Blood spilled to the ground….but the child was fine. The zombie recoiled, rubbing his chin.

“Bleeding hell! Yazin! Of course, a member of Grimm would be poking their head around my turf,” the hunter recalled his weapon. He attached a bracer to his arms and legs; a large purple strand connected the bracer on his leg to the large iron ball at his side. The zombie and the hunter circled one another; it almost seemed like a regular occurrence. Yazin silently eyed the zombie before him.

“how many times have we fought Yazin?”

“How many times must you terrorize the poor people of this land.”

“This is my hunting ground! They take the risk!”

“You savor our fights don’t you?”

“Why wouldn’t I; you’re the strongest person I know!!”

“I can’t keep playing with you, Judas! I’m a hunter. I exterminate your kind.”

“My kind! Pfft, nice joke, Yazin! We both know I’m the only one of me there is!”

“How Naive I once was”

Yazin spun his leg around, and the ball shot forward; Judas stepped forward, countering the ball with his strike. The moment the zombie’s fist connected with the iron ball, it melted down into a thick purple goop. Trying to withdraw his fist proved fruitless; it was a trap; in a split second, a second iron ball slammed into Judas’ face knocking him backward, taking his trapped arm along with it. The hunter turned to the boy to his side, much to the ire of the injured zombie.

“Child, listen to me carefully” Yazin knelt to meet the child’s eyes. Yazin grabbed the child roughly. “Have you taken leave of your senses!? For what reason have you gone through this forest?”

“I…I Mother s..said we had to come through this forest.”

“Your mother is-- was a fool.”

“W…Where is my mother.”

“Your mother is dead,” Yazin spoke sharply. “Stay your tears; you need to be strong.” Yazin assumed a battle stance. “Stay close to me, boy. I’ll teach you what it means to be a hunter,” Yazin and the zombie made eye contact. A silent agreement to fight without holding back.
“Quite unlike you to hunt down a child. Huh? Judas!”
“I DON’T OWE YOU AN EXPLANATION!!!!” Judas stormed forward, swinging his fist with predatory anger. Only to meet with a lightning-fast deflection from Yazin’s weapon. Judas suddenly grabbed his head and tossed it. The head soared through the air before landing teeth first into Yazin’s shoulder. The zombie’s body formed neck first in the blink of an eye. Keeping his teeth lodged in Yazin’s shoulder, he prepared a powerful punch that struck true. Yazin went sailing, slamming into a tree and sliding down. The hunter gagged, coughing blood, but he wasn’t going to stop. He got to his feet and began to do a series of acrobatic flips and spins.
“Judas!!!!” Yazin launched a series of acrobatic punches and kicks, launching powerful blows into Judas’ torso and head. Yazin spun his leg, and with a snap, the ball to his side shot forward before being yanked suddenly upwards. Catching the zombie in the mouth, a handful of the zombie’s teeth were thrown to the ground.

Judas jumped backward, screaming like a banshee out of hell. A haunting aura of death permeated the forest. The zombie roared. It was like a clap of thunder pierced through the woods. The wounds Yazin had given him had begun to close; the unholy blood began to dry, turning into red steam and evaporating away; the zombie huffed. His body lumbered forward, and his muscles seemed to go limp. He grabbed the bolt and spun it. Each time he turned it, the blasted thing made a harsh click noise that rang in the air like the sacred tone of a death knell—One-click, then a second, finally a third. The zombie slowly wriggled and writhed, muscles tensed, and the beast rose to his sense. Tilting backward at an upward angle, he let his mouth hang open. A most haunting hallow gurgling noise emanated from his throat before finally he was back to his senses. He let out a heart-stopping roar. A malignant aura of pure hunger shot off of him like the shockwave of a powerful explosive. Before Yazin could even react, the aura had ripped the forest to shreds. Trees were pulled from the ground and tossed around like toothpicks, leaves wholly torn from their branches. The trail was devoid of life. The trees were now just barren corpses discarded on the side.

“I should thank you, Yazin. I can finally cut loose!!!” Judas took a step forward; the world seemed to shake around his footstep. In a split second, Judas unleashed a deadly assault against the hunter. Judas threw numerous powerful punches into Yazin’s chest in the blink of an eye. The zombie ended the string of blows with a powerful downward blow slamming his fist into Yazin’s face. The zombie jumped back, laughing hysterically. Blood sprayed into the air, burying the hunter into the dirt, and the hunter gagged; all fell silent for a moment.

“Finally, our battles end here and now, Yazin!!” Judas chortled. He soon stopped laughing and snapped his attention to the child. He raised his arm; the child screamed, cowering under his arms, hiding his head. Like the one that pierced mother, a wooden spear fired from Judas’ hand. It flew through the air before being smashed to splinters and scattered. Yazin got to his feet, withdrawing his weapon. The hunter blew a wad of blood from his nose and braced himself.

“Damn, shoulda known an old bastard like you wouldn’t be put down so easily.”

“We’re done here, Judas. Come along, boy.”

“Done….no, no, we're not done. C’mon, Yazin, let's play some more,” Judas spoke, bouncing on his feet, ready to fight. However, Yazin didn’t have the same energy; he removed his bracers, opened his knapsack, deposited them, and began walking away.

“Yazin! Don’t you walk away from me!!” Judas roared

“Take a look around, Judas. It's pointless” Yazin pointed to the sky, soft orange rays slowly rose over the horizon.

“No! No, No, no no!!!” Judas slammed his hands on the ground. Large hands sprouted out of the earth and wrapped themselves around the zombie. “This isn’t over, Yazin! This isn’t over!!”

“Just shut up already!”

***

The barren woods tulgey and quiet soon came to life with the sounds of footsteps. A hand reached out and knocked a couple of dozen times upon Judas’ cocoon.

“Whadya want?” Judas grumbled from inside his cage.
“I have a proposition for you, my son.” the voice was silky smooth, breathy as if will o wisps had been given a voice. “If you are willing to speak, it is safe to come out” the voice softly placed their hand on the cacoon; with a simple thrust, the shelter was blown into splinters. “I’m pleased to meet you, my son.”

“Ok! Back the fuck up! Who are you?”

“Oh, that’s right. You don’t remember me…nothing but a small trifler. I have a small church I would love for you to be a part of. All of your siblings are there too!”

“First of all! Who are you!!?”

“I am your creator, Kin Hasan. And you, my dear, are my beautiful son Judas.”

“Kin? Hasan? No! You’re lying to me!!”

“Do not bare your fangs at me!”

“Look! All I care about is having a good fight.”

“Come with me, and you shall have the best fight of your life” the voice extended his hand. “The fight to annihilate humanity from this world.”