It was almost night when Aleric saw the first tombstone. It was so weathered and covered in moss that he barely recognized it as one. However, there was another tombstone several meters away. And more of them in the distance.
The sight filled Aleric with hope and made him forget his exhaustion and his pursuers. He followed the trail of old tombstones and abandoned graves like breadcrumbs until he saw the centerpiece of this forgotten graveyard.
It was an old crypt that looked like it was built from dark stone just yesterday—moss and erosion didn't touch it. A pair of statues of knights stood at the entrance like guardians, and the dim lighting made them look almost alive and watching.
Aleric could feel the power coming from the spells on this crypt with his skin.
This was it!
Ecstatic, Aleric ran up to the crypt's doors. He didn't even care if there were traps!
He pushed the doors... but they didn't budge.
'Locked. Of course! Damn it!'
Aleric's blood ran cold. He frantically looked around the door, searching for a deadbolt he could lift with a wire or a lock he could try to pick.
But there was nothing.
The pair of stone doors had no visible lock, handles, or any other way to open them. Now Aleric felt like the knight statues above were not simply watching, but mocking him.
The lock on these doors was clearly magical. Aleric knew he had some magic talent, but without magical studies, all he could do was sense magic near him.
The wind brought the sounds of distant voices from behind him.
"…here! I can see him!"
"Caref… …ace is cursed!.."
"Finally…"
Aleric leaned on the stone doors, feeling all the exhaustion of this day return tenfold.
Would he get caught so close to his goal? The Church of Light's monster hunters would burn him without a trial. He would die without ever getting his answers.
He would die…
"I don't want to die," Aleric whispered. "Not now. Not ever. They won't get me…"
He stood up. Perhaps he could still hide somewhere. Or at least fight—he had a knife!
Aleric turned toward his pursuers, the figures of whom he could already see in the far distance between the trees.
At this moment, he heard the screech of stone behind him.
When Aleric spun around, he saw that the doors of the crypt had opened on their own, showing a set of stairs leading down.
He gasped—but Aleric wasn't about to question his luck. Without waiting another second, he ran down. He only paused after hearing the doors closing behind him—but then clenched his teeth and kept moving.
'If this is a trap and I'm about to die here... At least I will try to get my answers before that!'
The inner room of the crypt was much smaller and emptier than Aleric imagined it would be. There were no chests of treasures and no shelves with books, only stone walls with mysterious writing engraved in them and a pedestal in the center. The only sounds heard here were those made by Aleric himself.
On the pedestal was lying a staff made out of several human spines bound together and topped by a skull with golden engravings in it.
Another person would've grimaced with disgust at the sight of this macabre creation, but Aleric thought only about the magical aura he could feel coming from it.
'So much power... I never felt anything like it! This must be one of those artifacts people tell legends about, items wielded by kings and heroes! But… is there not a single book?' Aleric thought, looking around. 'How can there be no books? And no grave? This is a crypt, after all. It couldn't have been built only for this staff, could it have?'
At this moment, the skull's eyes lit up with a green glow.
"Come here, heir… Let me look at you," the skull spoke in an eerie voice.
Aleric gasped.
'It… spoke?'
He never heard about artifacts that could speak. His survival instincts told him to run, but there was nowhere to run to. Cautiously, Aleric approached the staff and stared down at it. The staff stared back.
"Yes. You are truly an heir to the great Xarvain. This means that I, the Spine Staff, am your inheritance. From now on, you are my new master. Wield me! Command, and I will obey!"
Aleric could barely believe this. For the first time in six years, someone spoke with him normally. Or spoke with him, period. Even if this was a magical staff.
He felt that he had come to the right place, even if he didn't know what this place was exactly. Aleric sat on the floor, giving rest to his tired feet. Now his face was on the same level as the skull.
"Who is this Xarvain, and why am I his heir?"
"Xarvain the Arch-necromancer is one of the most powerful necromancers in the world, master. A long time ago, he decided that pursuing knowledge wasn't enough and wanted to leave some of it as a legacy for a worthy heir. He made seven sentient artifacts, each of which contained a part of his immense knowledge, and built seven crypts to store them. People with talent for Dark magic are drawn toward the power in these crypts, and the magic in them separates the worthy from the unworthy. You are touched by death while seeking eternal life, just like great Xarvain did—thus, you are worthy."
Aleric laughed, feeling weak in the knees with joy.
This Spine Staff really was answering his questions! And it had some knowledge in it.
This meant Aleric had actually found the library he was looking for! Just in the form of a weird staff—but everybody knew that necromancers were weird and evil.
"Do you know why I look so strange, staff? People think that I'm a ghoul or a zombie..."
"This is because you are death-touched, master. This is an extremely rare gift that few lucky people awaken when the dark energy of death and suffering surrounds them. The death-touched people are so close to the Dark that they gain some advantages of the undead and can wield Dark magic with incredible ease—sometimes even without studying at all! They make the best necromancers."
This sounded exactly like the things Aleric experienced. He only used Dark magic once, though—that day six years ago, when he accidentally raised the dead. The day his mother died, only two days later than his father.
"So… It's not a curse. And it can't be reversed, can it?.."
"No. And why would you, master? This is a boon that only a few people in history got!"
Aleric chuckled.
"Too bad that necromancy is outlawed in our kingdom... And in the entire world! You speak about this Xarvain in the present tense, staff, but he probably died with all the other necromancers in the Dark Spires when they fell four centuries ago. Even kids know this story. Forces of Light versus the forces of Dark..."
The Spine Staff's eyes flashed.
"Outlawed? This means a truly long time must've passed while I waited for you, master. But it doesn't matter. If you take the great Xarvain's legacy, you will become powerful enough to build your own kingdom. Let me give it to you!"