"Wait, hey grandpa I have another question, what was that thing you did that made me shut up, do you have magic spells, hehe, are you a wizard, your a wizard harr-"
[Silence]
"I am not your grandfather, I have no children. I will explain this once in our family the effects of our bloodline is strong and binding due to your first ancestor my mother. Our blood gives us abilities that other families from back then do not have. In our family an ancestor of ours accidentally discovered something, we could break away from our blood. That ancestor was called Grace if I recall correctly, she was the first Blood Broken. She gained the ability to start her bloodline, however, she never did. My grandfather, August he did start his own when he became a Blood Broken but it did not last long as Ara, my mother brought his son back in, giving birth to me, who also became a Blood Broken at birth."
"Hey, grandpa that was a lot couldn't you have shortened the words, like why do you say 'I will' when you can just say 'I'll' or even better you could've just shortened the whole explanation since you don't like talking much anyway right, or do you like talking so that's why you won't cut corners with your words."
"It is amazing how you do not tire yourself out as much as you do me with your incessant talking. To answer your question one last time, I am not yet used to your language or speaki-"
"I found some more over here, and there's a woman too", a particularly disgusting shout was echoed through the fallen structures in the surroundings. Following the voice which had previously rung through the streets, a series of hoots and other strange sounds echoed.
Soon after Wynter and Cassius found themselves surrounded as men and women gathered around the crater staring down at them. These men and women wore tattered clothes in the best case and in the worst cases a few were wearing only the bare minimum of underwear and what looked like torn scraps as footwraps. They were very clearly unclean but considering the dust and ash still in the air, it would be strange if they were clean. However, something about them naturally brought about a feeling of repulsiveness.
"Who was it that spoke out to warn us of this evil, step forward."
The group begun to push, pull and shove each other as they all tried to step forward. It was like watching school children fight over who was first in line at lunch. The jostling continued with seemingly no intention to end.
"My fellow saviors speak and speak true who among you bore witness to this evil," the man-made several exaggerated hand movements. Silence soon followed his words, however.
"Cassius, remember what I said before about the people here not being all that friendly to outsiders." For the first time, Wynter showed no signs of playfulness or any kind of childishness at all, her tone deep and her words slow.
"So these people are who you meant. Who are they and what strength do they have?"
"They're a group that believes they were left behind by some god to 'cleanse the world of sinners' as they put it. They're all just crazy, they've been trying to kill me for the last year non-stop. They call me a false god and pretender because of my abilities."
"Since when is talking someone to death a power exclusive to gods. I can see how it would be dangerous and just the peace that would come from dealing with such a nuisance is understandable."
"That's not my power y-you, jackass. How dare you even call me annoying, people love to hear me talk I'll have you know I-" Wynter easily fell back into her childish nature and threw a tantrum.
"Lord Speaker, I bore witness to this great evil. I ask that I be cleansed along with the evil that stains me," there was now a face to match the disgusting voice from earlier.
The man attached to that voice was bony, dirty, and had an extremely aquiline nose that nearly resembled a bird's beak. These features coupled with his beaded eyes and permanent scowl made him visually unappealing to most people. He kneeled in front of the one he called 'Lord Speaker'.
"Our Savior has done well," he first addressed the group then directed both his attention and words to the kneeling man, "You have seen a great evil, you have stained yourself with this evil's presence so that we might be saved. Our Savior you have walked this tainted world and bore witness to the greatest of many evils, you have taken them among yourself. We send you now on your final journey. May you find peace away from our endless war on evil, may you find rest. We pray for the salvation of this Savior," Lord Speaker waved his hand across the birdman's neck, slitting his throat.
Thorugh it all no one aside from Lord Speaker had said a thing. Looking around at the rest of this group Cassius saw gazes filled with envy directed at the corpse of that man. He had seen madness in many forms but what he witnessed now was a first. Even those societies who worshipped the god's of Death still held at least some respective fear for the end of life. But these people here seemed ready to push themselves to death joyfully.
"You people have no respect for life or death. You wish for salvation and I will remain here to tell you none of you will find it. I will personally ensure that when each of you dies your souls find only the coldest most isolated space I can conjure, you will not even have the luxury of feeling pain or insanity. I will make certain that you are fully aware and mentally healthy as you experience every moment of that place."
"Hmm," a startled Cassius quickly turned his attention to Wynter who was shaking and mumbling under her breath. Though others may not have heard her, he who stood beside her heard her. Staring at her now he no longer so any traces of the playful child or the serious woman. While her words reminded him of his mother when she fell back into her queenly persona, her presence did the opposite. There was no calmness or serenity in the area his every breath caused steam to rise from his lips, the near-naked men and women around the crater were rubbing their hands together or huddling in close with each other.
"It begins, that bastion of evil is attempting to taint us. It tries to convert us into one of its monstrous slaves. Stand strong and we will eradicate it once and for all."
"You all I should've gotten rid of all of you a long time ago. You take the lives you are so lucky to have. So carelessly you give away your lives for stupid unrealistic thoughts you have. Does life mean so little to you? Do you-"
"Careful do not let her words trick you. We mus-"
{Shut up you are all so stupid. Do you want to throw away your lives? You think that if you die some imaginary god you conjured up will save you. Then we'll test your faith. You people have made this my city, all the lives you've taken. Meet the departed, the ones you've killed in the name of your imaginary mission. This city will no longer welcome your kind. This city is now for the Dead.}
A tornado rose from the center of the crater, the howling wind was truly howling as the tornado was formed from the souls of the departed. Shades, Ghosts, Ghouls, Revenants, all kinds of undead crawled from the crater. On this day of New York City changed once again to New York Zero the City of the Dead.