Author's Note

Did you recall that the flashback is divided in six chapters, which the first two featured the main character's human past self?

Well that task became kind of a tricky, so I decided to finish the human part in the next chapter, which will be also a point of transition toward his new life as a pony before the pestilence on Equestria and his infiltration in Cloudsdale.

I hope you enjoyed that.

The Rise of the Undead Knights (GRAMMAR FIXED)

In the Void, Walken, now reborn as the Beast's demonic herald, Brutus, returned from the massacre that happened during the marriage that he was attending under the Beast's order. He stepped inside the room with the crooked gate at the end of it, the same place were he and that devil first met. He was in front of his demonic master, with na annoyed Dagon standing next to him, being in his real monstrous appearance. Walken flinched in awe upon seeing Dagon like that.

His form was a grotesquely, creepy one, being mostly skeletal, sorely composed by rust colored, hardened bones except for his head. He wore a long cape made of black feathers and human flesh, and a long metal plated skirt covering his legs. His hands are nine digit claws and his feet being made of spines. His face resembled a plague doctor mask with a very long, sharpened metal beak and tusk-like blades on it and eyes being only orbs made of pure blood with a golden shard for iris.

Dagon reported that Walken hijacked his rage inducing spell as was him who had put Romulus into a rampage during the chaos of the battlefield in which he was in, which for him seemed an act of jealously. The Beast stared at Walken, which made the brunette boy to flinch. But that wasn't for his cyan-holed, liquid gushing eyes, but rather his face filled with curiosity.

Walken was about to lose his cool for that perpetual stare until Dagon got his boss' attention to report him about the boy almost sabotaging his spell, sparing him from that visual torture.

"Brutus acted without my permission," Dagon said with a coarse, metallic voice. "This former human should learn to respect the elders."

"Does that have any importance?" The Beast replied impatiently.

"Master?"

"Everything is going in the right direction, so this minor part is purely trivial. Don't waste my time with this pointless detail."

"My apology, master." Dagon said calmly as he knelled in front of him.

After that, Dagon turned around and headed toward the exit. He then stopped in front of it, and looked at Walken in his eyes, seemingly glaring with distrust. They awkwardly exchanged their own gazes for a moment before the skeletal demon returned to his path and leaved for real.

Tired to have any uncomfortable moment, Walken was about to leave as well when the Beast called him out.

"Brutus, I can't help but ask to you," The Beast said. "Why hijacking his spell to make yourself look like it was you who had cast it to Romulus Blood and not Dagon?"

Walken, trying to not show any fear, shrugged his arms. "I just wanted to see his expression, but hey, demons like him seemed to take themselves too seriously.

"You lie." The Beast said, narrowing his eyes.

"Trust me, is just like Dagon said," Walken said calmly. "I acted arrogantly without him giving me any order."

"Dagon was about to put Romulus in a raging frenzy anyway, so your maneuver wasn't necessary. What were you trying to obtain anyway with that?"

"Didn't you had dismissed that as a pointless triviality before?"

The Beast's face shifted into a slightly irritated one, only to calm down a few seconds later. For a moment, Walken thought he was about to had to face some reprisal or something.

"Nevermind," The Beast replied. "Now let's get to the next phase of the plan."

"Already?" Walken said, almost annoyed.

"You are my herald after all, Brutus. Remember?" The Beast remarked.

The demon like creature pointed his finger at the ground next to him. And all of sudden, a the spectral image of a very deformed tree with long claws and pulsing fruits being attached to it. Walken reacted with slight repulsion at that creepy sight.

"What the fuck is that shit?" Walken demanded disturbed.

"That is what Fatima called the Holy Tree," The Beast said bluntly. "She managed to create this abomination using my blood, the gift that I had bestowed to her. And there's a thing that I didn't had mentioned to you before."

"What is it?" Walken said, raising an eyebrow.

"Create a world where humans are immortals couldn't be completed without a very detestable detail," The Beast pointed out, almost furious. "She is steadily becoming so powerful to control my blood and would probably be able to actual control the entire Void, and me... THAT IS OUTRIGHT BLASPHEMOUS!"

Walken's eyes widened in realization, for that was a thing that he was suspecting from the start. "So this is why you want her dead. Not just because she escaped your control."

"Exactly," The Beast responded. "But I won't send you against her, Brutus. I will send the three murdered victim of the massacre against them. You will have only the task to follow them, wherever they go."

"That's it?"

"Any problem?"

"Nothing, but still... How can you consider these three persons as your agent of justice if they are dead?" Walken asked, hiding the fact that he already know the answer.

"I had proposed a deal to Romulus," The Beast paused before giving a devilish, psychotic smile. "He accepted without hesitation."

Night fell in the most aggressive way possible, seemingly hunting down the sun. The air was unnaturally cold, the wind was blowing slightly strong. Dark clouds obscured grand part of the sky above every realm of the world.

Walken traveled all alone across the Duchy of Gloucester, walking on the darkling hills. As he pressed on his path, he made a mental recap of what he saw so far and what he heard from the Beast regarding the slaughter of the household before being sent for his task.

The massacre of the Household of the Blood orchestrated by Queen Fatima, through King Gladys ended with every single member being butchered. Romulus, Remus and Sylvia were among the victims. Or to be more accurate, Romulus accidentally killed the other two during his murderous rage induced by Dagon's spell, unbeknownst to him. Nonetheless, that event was remembered as the Marriage of Blood. A very ironic and yet appropriate name for such event.

"And a very screw up story since the king seemed to know that her daughter fell victim of his own orders and yet he buried her in a very forsaken place... Then again, I can't blame a man who was turned into that bastardous queen's undead bitch."

After a chunk of time spent going through the trees of the woods, Walken arrived at the top of a hill facing at a forsaken cemetery. According to what he heard from some sources, that was a criminals' graveyard, forgotten to all with the name of Tombstone Hill. He felt creeped out for a moment, until he remember to have the demonic powers that the Beast had bestowed to him and regained his composure.

Walken stared down at a row of gravestones, where three of them were supposed to be the ones he was looking for. He watched over the mournful place for a handful of minutes with nothing happening. Then, he noticed something glowing above the place. He looked up to see three red, spectral streams of energy descending on ground nearby the three gravestones, penetrating the terrain.

The brunette boy was astounded to see a spectacle like that, although he literally expected something like that happening.

"So it began," Walken murmured.

"Awoken, my children..." The Beast echoed out of nowhere, startling Walken. "And take the gift that I had bestowed upon you. Together, we will right the injustice you have suffered..."

As few second after the streams dissipated, three hands came out of the ground came out of the ground, followed their heads. Slowly, three bodies slowly emerged from the ground where they were buried and stood tall with a newfound, twisted determination. Soon after, four blades suddenly protruded out of the ground, all of them covered with red, glowing veins that pulses with a dreadful power. The three figures didn't waste any time in objections to wield them.

Walken looked at them with an incredulous, disturbed face, recognizing the undead creatures being Romulus, Remus and Sylvia. Except that their appearance were literally different.

Remus wore a noble attire symbolizing his former connection with his household, consisting in very long black boots, red trousers, a brown garb with a half shredded left sleeve and and three leather belts, which two of these being wrapped around his belly and a third one being absurdly located on his right arm. His skin was extremely pale, with his slithered throat being exposed and a gruesome, jagged red scar that extended around his body, and down his partially exposed torso to the end of his left hand. has black hair with a white tuft and golden eyes. He wields a couple of two long swords as his weapon, exalting his grim determination in his face.

Sylvia stood in her violet sleeveless dress slightly exposing her cleavage, with a golden stripes at the top of it and a mostly shredded incorporated long skirt exposing her legs, and wore two separated long sleeves sharing the same color and stripes, two golden plated belts and a pair of bizarre gladiator sandals. She was the same as Remus, sharing his same pale skin, slithered throat and red scar, except that it extended from her left cheek and down her neck to the end of her left arm and can also be seen on her right thigh. She has pale blonde hair and green eyes. Her hands were holding a sinister scythe, which matches her intimidating visage.

Romulus was the most altered and demonic one of the three, having his armor being merged with his entire body and being turned into black-ironed, humanoid warrior with two big shoulder pads being also part of it and volcanic like veins extending from the left side of his helmet, down to his torso to the end of to both his hands. He wield a long huge sword with a broken top sharing the same veins as his own on his right hand. His head was covered by his helmet except his face. He has sharpened teeth and eyes blighting with an ominous light, as they were burning on a raging fire.

Walken was feeling the same aura that he felt from the Beast every time he was in his presence, except that their own was just a small portion of him. A homicidal, bloodthirsty halo of pure hatred exuded from their bodies. These mixed auras combined chilled his blood.

"I knew that he was about to resurrect them as zombies and use them as his own pawns," Walken said, taken aback from the scene. "But I never thought that he would had even poured a portion of his power to them, just like he did with me."

Keeping his eyes on the scene, he noticed three sword armed soldiers storming in the graveyard. They instantly recognized who they are and were overtaken by fear. One of them was even trembling.

"W-What the...?" One of them said.

"They were... But it's not possible!" Another one shouted.

The three undead creatures looked at them with a menacing gaze, as if they had already considered them being their first target. They didn't care if they were or not involved in the massacre in which they were murdered. They would had killed everything that has followed Queen Fatima's order, regardless of their reasons.

"I'm back to serve my own king... Serve his own head for what he's done..." Romulus said.

"Nothing can replace what was taken from me... but the lives of every bastard who betrayed me will make a good start." Remus said.

"They will pay, every single one of them. Hell no fury like this bitch scorned." Sylvia said.

"Flesh of my flesh. Blood of my Blood." The Beast said gleefully. "Those with whom you choose to share my gift... shall become your soldiers in undeath. Cease your suffering, and restore balance to the land..."

"Wh-what are those things!?" One of the soldiers shouted.

"Don't expect any answers from them! Just attack already," another one ordered.

"Are you INSANE!?" The third screamed frightened.

Two of them rushed toward the three undead creatures while the another one was running away from them. Remus promptly dashed toward him, reaching him in a second and grabbed his head.Romulus blocked the attack of one of the the two rushing soldiers by grabbing his head and lifting his body upward. The remaining one tried to rescue his comrade with a surprise attack, only for Sylvia to block him at the same way Romulus did.

They could had killed their enemies, but that wasn't what they wanted. Since they had the most brutal method to deliver their vengeance at their disposal, there's no way that could be wasted. True to their bloodlust, they engulfed their wriggling soldiers in a black-red fire with their powers, causing them to scream in agony.

Watching from afar, Walken was perplexed by their move at first until he recalled what the Beast said earlier. He flinched upon grasping the implication of this words. He observed the soldiers' bodies undergoing to a very horrific transformation. Their bodies started to decay, with their eyes becoming completely white and lifeless, their faces becoming feral ones and jagged, red scars appearing on their chests and partially spreading through their bodies.

With their enemies' metamorphosis being completed, the three undeads released their grasp on them, leaving their bodies to fall on the ground. The soldiers slowly rose up, growling ferociously. They stood tall, looking dead and without a will left in their minds, cementing the end of their humanity.

Walken froze up, disturbed and incredulous by that, a moment before recovering. "WHAT!?"

In that scenario, group of other soldiers stormed in the graveyard, this time leaded by their own captain. The ended up watching in fright what had become of their companions and the three undead monsters responsible for that.

"That can't be! Is that female creature King Gladys' daughter!?" One of the soldiers shouted incredulous.

"What are these monsters!?" Another one demanded.

"They are the ghosts of the House of Blood!" Their captain shouted.

"Ghosts cannot hurt the living," Romulus replied. "Unfortunately for you, we can."

"King Gladys' Daughter was murdered by you." Sylvia announced as she pointed her finger at them. "You will see her in hell!"

Walken assumed a very perplexed expression upon realizing what she and Remus said earlier.

"What!? But wasn't Romulus the one who killed her and Remus?" Walken demanded in his mind.

"You hadn't paid attention during the Marriage of Blood, aren't you?" The Beast said in his head. "The two didn't saw his face when he slithered their throat during his rampage. So they assumed that the soldiers killed them and not him."

Without any other delay, the Bloods rushed toward them, followed by their three mindless zombies fighting. The fight became a literal one-sided onslaught in a few seconds. Romulus, Remus and Sylvia effortlessly butchered their ranks, terrorizing of them. Blood splattered in many parts of the graveyard, including some gravestone. In that fight, the Bloods turned multiple soldiers into zombies to grow their own ranks.

Once they finished to slay their enemies and filling their ranks, the three undeads headed toward the exit. This until another wave of soldiers arrived to stop them, only to be slaughtered by their blades or feasted by the zombie who were once their comrades while other being turned into zombies in the process. Now the Bloods' hordes of zombies became very larger and threaten to grow even more. They were not human anymore, but minions and instruments of their fury.

Having observed both the substance and the physical form of the macabre mess that mangled both the cemetery's quiet and the bodies of the shredded soldiers, now scattering on the soil and wet in their own blood, Walken could really tell to have witnessed a war being initiated. He shivered for a moment upon having saw such brutality. That scene leaved a very terrific impression in his mind...

"If I wasn't watching a puppet show version of a zombie flick." Walken commented crudely.

Walken was impressed but not too much, knowing already that he saw pawns in action, not avengers. The Beast just needed to exploit their grudge, misguided or not, in order to deal with his threats. He hated to admit, but he was a pawn to the devil as well. He had intuited that because he never trusted a devil. Walken knows the obvious truth. The Beast would never give his tranquil life as long he suits him, making him expendable.

He summed his own role and that of the Bloods with a mental lecture of his own.

"Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot. My life thou shalt command, but not my shame: The one my duty owes; but my fair name, Despite of death that lives upon my grave, To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have. I am disgraced, impeach'd and baffled here, pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear, the which no balm can cure but his heart-blood which breathed this poison."

"What are bubbling about, boy?" A serious and yet mocking, female voice said from behind him.

Walken turned his head to see who talked. Much so his slight surprise, it was a petit girl with a with a battered white garb, blond airs, a very pale skin, broken nails and red eyes, adorned with a tough face. She was accompanied by a young boy in a leather armor. The girl was looking at him with a tired and yet curious visage. Despite the fact that what he said doesn't belong in his world, the brunette black armored boy decided to respond anyway, right after giving a faint smile.

"William Shakespeare." Walken replied.

"Who?" The girl demanded.

"He was a great comedian and illuminated mind in my own land," Walken said with half honesty. "By the way, why you are in this forsaken place anyway."

"Is the same thing that I asked to her," The armored boy said before looking at her. "Milady, we should-"

"Do not interrupt me, Kardus!" She shouted. "I'm fully aware that I'm talking with a herald of the Beast!"

Walken stared at her with suspicion. "How did you know about that?"

"Trust me. This is not the first time I heard of the Void."

"Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Johanna Fatima, former... daughter... of Queen Maria Fatima." She said with an almost resentful tone. "The boy next to me is just my servant, Kardus.

"Fatima you said?" Walken demanded surprised, not expecting that coming. "But she knows that you are here?"

"I have no mother," Johanna said coldly. "Not after all those agonizing experiments that she had performed on me. She thinks she can do everything she want. Because I wasn't born naturally, oh no. You see? I was spawned by her as her failed successor."

"Experiments? Are you talking about tests with the Beast's blood?"

"Does the pallor of my body look very normal to you? Of course not, since the Beast blood is flowing inside my veins too. I have not received any love from that whore, so I refuse of return to her. I will not show any empathy towards her... Because her soul is empty, devoted to her hollow cause to immortalize the people. A real nightmare indeed."

Upon hearing him, Walken was struck by an unusual shock. That feeling seemed partially familiar to him, although that came from a foreign person. Her story about being mistreated by her family was a slightly similar to her, only brutal and with different details. But he has not time for that since he has his own things to do.

"You won't believe but I know exactly how you feel." Walken said calmly.

"W... What?" Johanna looked very confused.

"Fatima turned your life into a living hell, but she will pay for her crimes, soon or later," Walken paused. "But enough, bullshit. Just tell me what is your deal here?"

"M... Milady?" Kardus called meekly.

"During my escape, I saw you wandering across the hills," Johanna responded upon seeing the bloodbath being still present in the cemetery below the hill. "Oh my god. What slaughter was invoked there? Has your abhorrent boss have anything to do with this horrific act?"

"Not personally," Walken said. "He just resurrected Romulus, Remus and Sylvia as his own undead agents, who are now unleashing their terrible vengeance against the ones responsible of their own deaths. All of that while turning soldiers and others as their own zombies and slaughtering the others. Their awakening and rampage was the result."

"..... So the Bloods and King Glavys' daughter have returned as dreadful Undead Knights," Johanna said, very disturbed by what she heard. "And now they began to destroy any realm, motivated by revenge... I think I'm going to puke..."

"I apologize for my insistence but we should at least get out of there," Kardus said worried, only for her to refuse his help.

As Johanna and Kardus began to argue, Walken began to considerate the vast spectrum of what he heard from her.

"If I have some lead regarding Fatima's experiments or something similar, maybe I could discover something about the Beast and his possible weaknesses. Also... She called these three creatures Undead Knights. A pretty badass name I will say."

"Hey demon." Johanna called.

"I have a name, Brutus." Walken said.

"I pretend at least on answer from you."

"Ok... Shoot."

"... I don't understand part of your strange language but..." Johanna paused, seemingly hesitant. "Why you gave me that precious information regarding the Bloods and Sylvia having returned back to life without any protest?"

Walken remained impassive, pondering for a moment about the information he gave to her. She was practically right about that since he told that information to the daughter of the enemy that the beast wanted to see dead. He could be punished from a moment or another.

Yet, deep inside, Walken had a strange vantage. Having felt the power of the Beast and that of his three agents, he had the confirm that his power didn't seem to be akin with that his boss had supposedly bestowed to him. He saw the difference, so he was certain to have a ace in his sleeve. Such discover made him smirk with dark confidence.

"Let's just say that I have my own type to vengeance to carry out."