"Bro, where are you?"
In the depths of the Rocky Mountains, a young man hiked. With only a map in his hands and a backpack of supplies, he walked deep into the mountain range. Thick trees towered over him as night fell.
The young man was Finn Gravi. He used to be an investment banker. A successful one. His future was looking bright.
But he threw it all away when he was given the tragic news that his twin brother had gone missing in the Rocky Mountains. After a failed rescue mission, his brother had been pronounced dead.
But Finn knew his brother wasn't dead. He could feel it.
Some call it instincts or a special connection between twins. Whatever it was called, Finn wasn't planning on letting his sibling die in the wilderness without giving it his all to rescue him.
So the man who loved the comforts of modern city life packed his bags, quit his job, and went into the depths of the mountains.
"Is it about to rain?" Finn stared at the dark circle that appeared on his map.
Then, a second and third one followed.
Knowing that he had to cut today's search short, Finn quickly rolled up the map and set up a tent.
He just barely managed to pitch up the tent before it began to downpour. The heavy thud of raindrops bore heavily on Finn's heart.
He sighed and curled up in his thick UltraMax Sleeping bag that was made by and for explorers. His brother's favorite brand.
And it worked great too. Even as the temperature fell outside, he stayed nice and cozy. He could easily fall asleep even in this weather.
Finn's eyes fluttered as the combination of the sound of heavy rain, exhaustion, and stress all hit at once. Within seconds, he fell asleep.
Boom! The sound of thunder woke Finn from his slumber.
"Morning already?"
Finn narrowed his eyes. The rainstorm continued to rage without remorse.
The occasional flashes of light from lightning provided some sight. That was why Finn felt that it was bright enough to be the morning.
As the light faded back to darkness, Finn's heart skipped a beat as a dark human shadow walked past his tent.
The dark shadow seemed to turn its head to look at him before leaving without another word.
It took Finn a second to regain his composure before he quickly called out to that shadow.
In his eyes, it was another explorer who had gotten caught up in the rainstorm. With how strong the rainstorm was, it was too dangerous to continue to travel in these conditions.
He was raised to always help where he could.
"Hey! Are you an explorer?"
Finn waited for a reply, but he never got one in return. The faint sounds of footsteps walking through the wet ground showed that the explorer from before was still around but was getting further.
Thinking that the explorer didn't hear him, Finn called out louder. When that also didn't work, Finn shook his head and put on his thick waterproof coat by UltraMax and went outside.
Boom!
Another round of lightning lit up the forest. Revealing the figure of the black shadow. The black shadow seemed to be a small man on the thinner side.
What was shocking was his clothes. They were not made for exploring the wilderness. They were loose and thin, fluttering chaotically in the wind.
"Damn wind!" The explorer shouted with anger and continued walking deeper.
"Hey! It's too late to make it back to your camp in this weather! My tent is right here! You can rest with me until the rain stops!"
This time, the explorer seemed to hear Finn. The young man paused for a second before running as if his life was in danger.
"Eh?"
"Why are you running so fast? It's like you think I'm a murder or something." Finn complained under his breath.
If Finn wasn't such a good man raised right, he would have left that ungrateful explorer to die. Luckily, he wasn't raised so poorly.
Finn ran after the explorer.
But after a few minutes, he was already regretting his decision. The heavy rain made it difficult to see. His feet sunk into the mud so every step was difficult, and more importantly, that explorer was as slippery as an eel.
He ran through the forest like it was his home. It was as if the thick foliage, mud, and rain couldn't affect him.
Instead of getting closer, their distance was getting further and further apart.
Even a good man like Finn had his limits. He couldn't risk his life anymore than this. He still had to rescue his brother.
So although Finn was reluctant, he stopped chasing, wished the ungrateful explorer good luck, and began making his way back to his tent.
Boom!
"Gahh!" The blood curdling scream stopped Finn dead in his tracks.
He turned around and couldn't believe this ungrateful explorer's luck. He somehow managed to get struck by lightning when in a forest.
The bright light from the lightning burned Finn's eyes, but he could faintly see the body of the ungrateful explorer who was lying on the ground.
Walking in the ungrateful explorer's direction, Finn clicked his tongue in astonishment. That unlucky guy was still alive and could still move.
He was crawling in the mud with black smoke rising from his body. If it wasn't for the rain, his clothes would have been on fire.
"Buddy! Slow down! My tent isn't far from here!" Finn called out once more to give the ungrateful explorer hope that he would survive.
But the ungrateful explorer didn't stop crawling. In fact, it seemed he was trying to crawl away faster.
With his injuries, there was no way he could escape from Finn's rescue.
Finn eventually closed the gap between them. With a closer look and the assistance of the light from lightning, he saw that the ungrateful explorer was digging up something.
Finn stopped. He clutched his heart that was rapidly thumping. He didn't know why, but he didn't want to get any closer.
Finn gulped nervously and shouted through the storm. Unfortunately, no matter how much he shouted, the ungrateful explorer ignored him. He ignored his own injuries and focused entirely on digging up whatever was buried underground.
Purple light broke out of the mud shining on the ungrateful explorer's face. The face that was charred black from the lightning strike earlier showed a smile of relief.
The ungrateful explorer reached for the object emitting that purple light.
Boom!
Lightning fell.
The ungrateful explorer was struck again. The explosion caused him and the object he was holding to fly backward toward Finn.
"Man, you're unlucky. I need to get out of here." Finn muttered as he stared blankly at the charred corpse beside his foot.
He couldn't recognize the guy anymore. Being struck twice by lightning in two different spots was probably a first in history.
Finn didn't believe for a second that anyone could survive a back to back lightning strike. So, in his eyes, the ungrateful explorer died due to his own bad luck.
Finn turned to the object that was emitting purple light. After being hit by lightning, the light it was emitting grew brighter.
Squatting down, Finn saw that it was a purple crystal in the shape of a human heart. It must have been carved by a master since it looked almost like a real heart.
Finn reached out and grabbed the purple heart for a closer look. As soon as he grabbed it, he felt a hand tightly grip his wrist.
"Ahhhh!" Finn screamed as his heart nearly escaped out of his mouth.
The corpse of the ungrateful explorer was revived. Its charred hand squeezed Finn's wrist as it began rising back to life.
The eyes snapped open to reveal the empty eye sockets.
"Let go!"
Fear coursed through Finn's body as he stared back at this zombie. He didn't hear a thing, it said, as the sound of his heart beating in his chest was much louder.
"No! Stop! It's mine!"
Finn's eyes rolled back as he fainted. His body went limp and fell face first into the mud. The purple heart shone brightly like an explosion.
When the light faded away, Finn and the corpse of the ungrateful explorer vanished.
...
Southern Emerald City
On the outskirts of the city lay an unconscious young man. His clothes were strange for this world, but the experienced merchants knew better than to interact with the strange.
No one knew if their help would cause a chain of events that would signal the eradication of the bloodline.
There were too many stories of people who were too noisy and too kind-hearted for their own good.
But for every experienced merchant, there was always one who wasn't.
A young man wearing a white feathered robe held a paper fan between his slender fingers and bore the youthfulness that hadn't been washed clean by the harshness of reality stepped forward.
"Grut wake this peasant up." The young man waved his fan commanding the tall, burly servant behind him to act.
"Yes, young master." The big brute lowered his head and poured a bucket of cold water on Finn.
"AAAhhh! Zombie!"