The sun was much higher in the sky by the time Darian had travelled to the location on his map. It had taken him about an hour of walking, and as he topped the last sun baked hill he was thankful it was still fairly early in the morning and the full days heat had not yet manifested itself. Even so, the temperature must have been in the 30’s already and sweat drenched his hair and shirt. His throat and lips were dry, a good indicator he was starting to become dehydrated already, but with his limited water supply, he knew he should hold off until it was absolutely necessary.

Darian had decided to leave his gift flask until last, mainly because it also healed injuries, as well as slaked thirst. Who knew what injuries he may take ahead, and he could only use that once a day. If he used it now, he knew he would be in top health to start anything, but if he picked up an injury afterwards, then that could be a problem.

Before him lay what he had expected to find, a graveyard, but the sheer size of it astonished him. There must have been at least a couple of thousand graves in it. He had only been expecting a tenth of this number, considering the size of the village. He squatted at the hilltop, partially to res, but also to reevaluate his original plan.

The graveyard was surrounded by a rough stone wall, made up of stones and boulders taken from the land about it, sanding at a maximum height of four foot, with an open gateway, sans gates, on the side facing him. From this gateway a winding path, barely discernable against the baked earth elsewhere, snaked inwards towards the center, ending at what Darian would call a large stone mausoleum. Dry, withered trees dotted the graveyard, no longer providing shade to those who rested beneath.

Darian didn’t fancy digging into graves to see if there was anything useful within, and he had nothing to dig with anyway, so the mausoleum structure at the center had to be his target. Thinking back on the mythology he remembered about Earth, Darian was pretty certain skeletons didn’t walk around during daylight, but this wasn’t Earth, so he had to be prepared for all eventualities, and he withdrew the mace from his bag. Looking at it, then the graveyard, he reconsidered, then once again reached into the bag and took the helmet from it.

Name: Helmet, Plain Bowl

A very basic helmet, enough to protect ones head from falling twigs. This helmet will provide a +2 defensive bonus to the wearer

Item Class: Common

Item Condition: Poor

Requirements/Restrictions: Can not be worn by characters with mage or rogue classes.

Darian shrugged, not comprehending the meaning, or what it pertained to, and clapped the helmet onto his head. Any protection is better than none, he thought. He was quite surprised when it fit him perfectly, feeling as if it had been made for him.

He reached the gateway to the graveyard after a short walk down the hill. Looking through them, he could see the ranks of cracked and broken tombstones stretching away, no sign of movement anywhere, he couldn’t even see or hear any birds or insects, something else that seemed to be absent since he had been here. Is everything dead in this world, he asked silently, looking to the sky. He didn’t expect an answer, nor was he disappointed when none eventuated. Shaking his head, he strode forward and entered.

As he passed through the gates, the temperature noticeably lowered, making Darian shiver at the sudden change, the sweat on his brow and shirt becoming chilly. What the fuck just happened ? thought Darian, and rapidly backed out of the graveyard. Instantly the air once again became hot, the chill he had experienced making it feel hotter than before. Frowning, Darian stood there, in confusion. He had no idea what the change in temperature meant, and it worried him. Things didn’t happen like this, in a localized area, for nothing. It must mean something, but like everything else to do with this place, he was at a loss.

With determination, he stepped once again through the gates and into the graveyard, and like last time the temperature dropped. This time, being prepared, Darian ignored it and started along the pathway towards the center, passing grave markers on each side. As he reached about quarter of the way towards the structure soil on the graves on each side of him started to churn, and dirt covered skeletons dragged themselves from the earth, dry clots of soil dropping from between their bones and back down to the ground.

The sight horrified Darian and he flinched back in fear, for he was still accustomed to the beliefs of where he originated from and had not yet grown accustomed to the game lifestyle that was now his new life. This brief hesitation of his being enough time to allow both skeletons to fully emerge and to gain their footing. As they started to stagger towards him, their eyes blazing and their jaws working, he gave each of them a quick examination, backing away slowly as he did so, Both gave him the same information.

Name: Skeleton Villager

The revived skeleton of a slain villager. The poor excuse for an undead creature was once a productive civilian of Eternia. Called from its rest, this creature has been tasked with guarding the pathway you travel. Villager skeletons are usually unarmed and unarmored, just like they were when life filled them

Health: 5/5

Armour: 1

Damage: 1 to 2 + disease (Bite), 1 to 2 damage (Clawing)

After reading their descriptions, Darian felt a lot better. These two undead were very weak, much weaker than the first skeleton he had faced. All he needed was to make one hit to each of them and the fight would be over. Confidant, Darian lifted his mace and advanced on the one on his right. As it got within his weapons reach, he lashed out, sending the ball at the end of the mace sideward towards the skeletons head. It connected solidly, cleanly removing the skull from the spine that held it up and sending it flying through the air. Darian stood there, watching the rest of the skeleton disassemble itself into a pile on the ground, the bones rattling as they bounced off each other.

He soon realized that he had made a mistake when the other skeleton wrapped its bony arms around him from behind and sank its yellow, decaying teeth into his shoulder, the injury making his arm give an uncontrolled jerk, and across his vision he saw

Skeleton surprise attacks you from behind causing double damage.

Skeleton bites you

Damage received : 4 (2 x 2)

Health remaining: 16 / 20

Skeleton bite infects you with leprosy. You will lose 1 point health every five seconds for one minute, or until cured.

Health remaining: 15 / 20

The first thing Darian thought was ‘shit’, because he had underestimated the speed of the skeletons before he attacked, the next thing was ‘Oh, fuck, it gave me leprosy’ and he panicked as he saw his health ticking away. If Darian was a gamer, he would have understood how this worked, would have known, or seen, that the damage from the leprosy wouldn’t kill him before the disease ran its course. But Darians beliefs were still firmly rooted on Earth, and to him leprosy was something that would kill him, and not something that only lasted for a minute.

Fearing for his life brought a strength to Darian that he never knew he had, a strength that only those in mortal danger found possible. He wrenched himself from the grip that the skeleton had on him, breaking one of its arms off and causing it one damage before he fled away, running back towards the gateway. As he neared it, his sense of reasoning returned and he slowed down, glancing over his injured shoulder.

The skeleton was following him at a slower pace than the once he had just had, its single remaining arms still reaching towards him. With shaking hands ,Darian plucked the flask from his bag and downed its contents in one long swallow, its cool contents chilling his throat as it went down. As he waited for it to work its magic on him, the skeleton had shortened the distance between them by half. It was at this point the warmth passed through him, closing the bite on his shoulder, and cleaning the disease from his system. With relief he dropped the flask back into his bag.

The skeleton had got to within five foot of him at this point, and it lunged at him, its dirty finger bones trying to grab at him. With a cry of disgust Darian clubbed at the skeleton with the mace, overhanded and with no finesse at all. The ball missed the skeleton, but the handle came down with enough force to shatter its fragile collarbone and shatter the top three ribs of its chest.

Crushing blow to skeleton.

Damage given : 9 ((5 x 2)-1)

Health remaining: 0

You have defeated the Skeleton Villager

You receive 10 experience

Current Experience 80/100

Slumping to his knees in the dust, Darian sobbed in relief, a pile of bones in front of him the only sign of his opponent, another glowing speck within it. His hands still shaking Darian reached out and grabbed it. All that the loot pop up contained this time was another of those skulls, and a small handful of coins. Darian took everything.

Congratulations, you have recovered the bones of a lost soul of Capalia. You can find these remains in your inventory. Collect another ninety eight to receive a hidden Quest.

You receive 10 Experience.

Current Experience 90/100

Wiping away the tears he felt, he thought on the messages he had just received, and it reminded him that he had that unread message in his inbox. It also made him think why he had received no other mail in the time he had been here, other than the first two. Hadn’t his family said they would be in contact with him, were they not concerned that he had not messaged them and tried to contact him ?

He uttered the word to open his mail system “Inbox.”, but nothing happened. Frowning to himself Darian repeated himself and this time he got a response, but not one that he was expecting.

Mailbox Error Code 1088 – No such service exists

The ingame mail system is only available to registered citizens of New Eden. The system has detected the requestor to be a citizen of Eternia. As a citizen of Eternia, only manual message delivery offices are available for your request, please visit your nearest message delivery office to send or collect messages.

“What the…. ‘ started Darian before chopping himself off. Those damn AIs must have changed more than they said, he realized, anger rising in him. Until he could find out how to fix this, it looked like he would remain uncontactable by not only his family, but everyone. He reined in his temper, getting to his feet and angrily kicking the bones at his feet, sending them flying about. Even though it hurt his foot, he gained a little pleasure from it.

Returning to the point he had been first attacked by the two skeletons, he found the remains of his first kill, but there was nothing for him to take this time, no glowing ember, no skull, nothing. Disappointed, he stirred the bones with one foot, just in case he had somehow knocked the loot thing to the bottom, but the result was the same, nothing. Obviously not all the skeletons rewarded him when they died… again.

He was attacked once again by two more skeletons, both villagerss, at the half way point of the path, but this time he managed to defeat them without injury to himself, but it had been a close call when his vision had been partially obscured with a message announcing a new level and another character point. He did know that a new level was supposed to mean he was getting stronger, or more advanced, but the character points he had gained stayed a mystery. A search of the remains gained him a third set of remains, and some more coins.

The third battle on the pathway, pretty close to the mausoleum, was identical to the second battle, but this time he didn’t gain a level, nor did he gain any loot, which was disappointing, as he was starting to look forward to them. After this was over he was going to take a look at the coins he had been finding, see what they were worth. The coins fascinated him, because the use of coins as a form money had ceased on Earth twenty years ago. He still had some… well, he used to have some when he had a real life.

The remaining distance he travelled to the mausoleum was unhindered and he arrived at its closed marble doorway, pillars on each side holding up an ornate, overhanging mantle. Three marble stairs led up to the entrance, and two small iron cauldrons of burning embers flanked the door, aromatic smoke rising up. Darian eyed the door, wondering whether he should enter, then he eyes the burning cauldrons. Just the thing, he thought.

He kicked both cauldrons over, spilling their contents out to smolder on the ground, then he pushed the cauldrons away from the heat, hopefully to cool down rapidly in the cold air. He didn’t fancy staying around this place for too long, who knows how many more skeletons might appear, and they might be stronger than the villager ones he had already faced.

It wasn’t long before they had cooled enough that he could touch them without burning himself. Considering that good enough for him, he collected them up and bagged them. They were considered as medium size, so both fitted in one slot of his bag. This done, he turned his attention to the door.

The door was comprised of two gigantic slabs of unadorned marble, neither containing anything resembling a handle or keyhole. How they opened was a mystery to Darian, for each of them must weigh a ton. He ran a hand across them to see if he could feel any imperfection that would indicate a secret button or lever, but both were not needed, for at his touch they easily opened inwards, silent and smoothly.

Darian stood there, watching them glide open until he heard the faint noise of stone meeting stone, and they stopped their movement, a cold wind blowing into his face. Looking in, all he could see was darkness, which surprised him. With his amulet on, it shouldn’t be that dark in there, the amulet should have reduced it to a gloom. Anticipating an attack, he lifted the mace and stepped into the darkness.

As soon as his foot came down on the interior floor torches lining the walls burst into flame, chasing the darkness away, and allowing Darian to see what lay within. It wasn’t what he expected at all.

The interior of the mausoleum was empty, well, mostly empty. It contained no crypts, no coffins and no biers. The only thing within it was a large black oblong placed at the far side away from the door. It stood about three feet high and seemed to suck in the light and heat from the torches, and the cold air that he had felt blow in his face seemed to originate from this object. As his gaze sat on it, its description appeared.

Item: Lesser Alter of Nekkir-Amon

This black alter is one of a hundred of the Lesser Alters of Nekkir-Amon spread among the lands. Once a blessed alter of Cyana, it was seized by the minions of the dead god Nekkir-Amon and twisted to his purpose. As long as this alter remains, the undead scourge that plagues this area will remain. If you pray at this alter, you will become a follower of Nekkir-Amon and receive great powers from him. As long as one alter dedicated to Nekkir-Amon remains undestroyed, he can never be purged from Eternia.

He was disturbed in his examination by someone speaking to him. Looking up, he saw a cowled being standing behind the Alter, arms crossed on its chest. “Welcome, former brother. You may have changed your form, but your soul remains the same. Nekkir-Amon sees the gods have removed his blessing from you.” The voice was soft, but a softness that could be heard in every corner of this room. It came out like each word was forced out on a breath, windy and harsh.

Nervously Darian stammered out “Wh.. Who are you ?”

The being laughed, a terrible sound in the small room. “Who am I, he asks. Who am I is not important, is no longer important to you, traitor. Our god blessed you and you have spurned him.” The creatures voice rose higher as it spoke. “what is important to you, is now it is time for you to die.” It lifted one arm to point at Darian, and a dirty cloth wrapped hand appeared, one finger pointing directly at Darian. “So die.”

A bolt of darkness sprang from the creatures fingertip and flew across the room, striking Darian in the chest. His chest froze where the bolt struck, then the ice rapidly spread outwards, freezing him into place. He was still mentally aware and thinking frantically as his body slowly toppled backwards, hitting the marble floor and shattering into a thousand pieces.