The cemetery's existence echoed in Erwin's head. A location he was forced to visit, against his wishes, filled the type of enemy that threatened his sanity the most.
So, he sat down.
"Leather strips, nails, ropes for repairs, cloths, oils, and whetstones for maintenance," Erwin mumbled as he cleared out the pouches he obtained from skeletons and draugrs. "Most already rusted or rotten, what a waste."
They were carefully placed over a large piece of cloth next to his bed, now serving as a rug replacement.
First light of the morning fell over them.
This monotonous inventory kept him distracted. He didn't want to think about the place he would visit eventually. Or at least not as loudly as his brain was.
"The forgotten cemetery." He recalled the name. "Quite possibly the reason why I have seen so many stray undead outside. Most likely filled to the brim with more of them wandering its halls. Why there of all places..."
He didn't like his goal being so clear and enforced. "Not to mention it is called a cemetery. Probably filled with undead."
Erwin mumbled, recalling his first encounter with a guardian, the events that happened in that goblin settlement.
He dug a little over two dozen graves that day.
That much was enough for the curse to force itself upon him.
"Then again, when I encountered the skeleton mob and draugrs, it didn't put pressure."
He didn't know the limits of the curse, and it had become a source of constant anxiety to him.
He knew the curse progressed a little. Drawing undead to himself, and giving him the ability to see their souls.
It was the side effect of forcefully opening his mana channels with the conduit used by the goblin shaman.
But there was a positive effect as well. "Magic. Feels even more dream-like than all those monsters." He wanted to use it. Pragmatic as he tried to be with the time and resources at his hand, he still poured hours into it.
And despite the slowness of his progress, and how hard it was to navigate developing this skill without any mentors or source of guidance, only sensing his mana and a childish desire to use a wonderful, otherworldly ability motivated him.
The sense of cold, new but not unfamiliar, strong but calming and seething, starting from his chest and spreading across his body like blood flowing in veins.
Erwin closed his eyes. Trying to recall that feeling.
Taking slow, steady breaths as he felt the magic start gathering.
"It is becoming easier and easier to draw it. But if Ivara's words are to be believed, this is but a drop in the path to mastering it."
Erwin opened his eyes, returning to the equipment he gathered.
First was armor. A helmet here, a chain vest there. He almost looked like a bandit from a B-movie.
"Long as it protects my center of mass, and my head."
To test them, he picked up his dagger, trying to penetrate various parts of it. "Slips around or gets caught by them. Not perfect but better than what I had before."
He already knew armor wasn't impenetrable. He had both killed and watched enemies with better armor setups than his get killed.
With his armoring done, Erwin looked at the three he picked to bring with him.
First, the spear. It was the simplest of them all. His lack of training in this sort of weaponry mattered the least when holding a spear.
Second was the mace. "Bashing a piece of solid metal to face, it cannot get simpler and better."
And lastly, the arming sword, one of the four he obtained from draugrs. Most well-maintained and probably the highest-quality weapon in his pile.
"Best weapon in my hands, yet I have no experience or training on it whatsoever."
Erwin grabbed a sword from the pile, taking the whetstone and a little bit of water before starting to sharpen it.
Draugr had taken decent care of it, keeping it from rusting or chipping, but it was a bit dull.
"Blade is made from decent metal, and has been cared for."
He murmured as he moved the blade on the stone's surface.
"Has almost a noble feel to it, like it has a soul. Not like those huge knives they gave us back in the army. Those looked sad, soulless, mass-made to kill."
Or so he assumed. He never used one before, after all.
His best comparison was his combat knife skills, which, after he performed them one after another, at first with a dagger, then with a sword, felt lacking.
"Faster than depicted on TV, but still plenty slow compared to the knife."
Erwin raised the sword, wiping the edge with a rag to inspect it. "At worst, you will become a sharp, longer-than-necessary knife. Useful either way."
With that, he got up.
"Dried meat, vegetables, clean rags I boiled to make sure they were sterilized."
Besides those, he had nothing else.
He didn't know how long the road would take, so he planned that if the cemetery were far enough, he would return to the cave, but that had its risks as well.
["Ready to depart?"] Words crystallized before him.
"Much as I can be with what I have. Though I've done more with less."
Erwin exited the cave and glanced at the forest. "Time for the next guardian."
The second guardian was known as the crypt fiend. An undead arachnid monster that inhabited the old ruins.
Erwin knew that much about it, as it was also what Ivara knew.
He did ask her again if she knew anything more, but the answer was the same.
["That's also as far as I know. It will also be my first time encountering this creature."]
So, he didn't pressure her further and enjoyed the walk as it was.
The hilly ground flattened as he moved deeper into the forest. Following the direction where the skeletons arrived from.
Deeper into the forest, Erwin reached a path, seemingly human-made.
Old enough that vegetation grew all around it, and a thin layer of snow covered some parts of it, but a path nonetheless.
"There are even remnants of pavement."
["Oh! You should follow this path. There is a good chance it takes us to the cemetery."]
Ivara commented, appearing before Erwin, looking excited, her eyes focused on the ground.
She then turned back to Erwin with a huge smile. ["We are so lucky to see these!"]
Erwin couldn't help but feel some happiness as well, seeing the woman's excitement. "Say, do you know who made these roads?"
["I do! At least the style."] She added the last part, crouching down to inspect the floor.
Erwin moved next to her. "Since we don't know how long we have left to reach the cemetery, can you tell me about them on our way?"
["Of course!"]
*****
Erwin took his time.
The weather was rather pleasant compared to other days, and there was no rain or snow.
At times, he even found open patches where the sun hit directly, enjoying the small warmth it provided.
Ivara walked next to him. Her words crystallized faster than usual as she excitedly told tales of an old empire.
One founded by dwarf-kin. A stoic, hardy, but prideful species.
Her excitement only grew as they passed ancient statues covered in moss.
["Here! Please, look!"] Ivara rushed to two huge, ovalish stones set beside the path.
Mostly covered in moss and vegetation.
Erwin followed, helping her clear the vegetation and moss to reveal two statues of a humanoid species.
Details mostly gone, and stones damaged, but some details, like beards or big, flat noses, could be made out.
"So, these are left from the dwarves who lived here?"
["It should be."]
Erwin took his time looking at the statue. "Feels different than seeing something like this in a museum. And she is rather excited."
He had visited plenty of them. As a veteran back home, he had free access to all museums nationwide, and out of boredom, he'd visited some.
"You act as if we made some grand discovery."
["We did."] Ivara moved to the back of the statues and crouched down to look at some runic carvings. ["Carved by Igor, son of Hammerhead clan on third foundation."]
She translated them to Erwin.
["At least six hundred years old. Goes back around five or six dwarven generations. To think I missed all this development back then."]
"Incredible." Erwin looked at Ivara. After a little more fun facts about dwarves, they hit the road again. Erwin looked at the excited woman. After a long time, he felt he finally found another connection.
But, trustworthy as she looked, friendly as she was, and accepting of her as Erwin was, even if it was because of his loneliness, deep inside, he didn't trust her fully.
"Her situation, the words she so carelessly mutters as if normal, that causes a thousand questions to flash in my mind." He sighed. " I cannot accept her, yet isn't a fake friend better than no friend at all?" As they moved farther and farther into the forest, the ground grew uneven once more.
Till they reached a hillside.
A large stone obelisk stood beside a clearing.
["This should be the cemetery."]
"Is it Dwarven craftsmanship as well?"
["No. This is human-made."]
Erwin closed his eyes and sensed dozens of souls resting inside.
Not to mention the curse, acting up once more.
Saliva gathering on his mouth, shaking hands.
He looked at his hands. "The unnatural hunger."
The sensation was strong, but he had to be stronger.
He grabbed a single cigarette from his pocket. "One for the road." He mumbled as he inhaled the smoke.
The hunger, the call of the dead, became quieter. Not enough to be silenced, just enough for him to hear his own screams in his head.
After finishing his smoke, he took a deep breath and exhaled it for a long time. "Alright!" He exclaimed, eyes locked on the cemetery as he drew his mace. His hand trembled. He felt the weight of his weapons, his armor, and, more importantly, his body starting to tire from all this.
But more so, he felt the weight of what was to come if he failed.