The blue hue of his mage armor surrounded his body like scalemail with shoulder pauldrons. Combined with his high dexterity it provided him protection rating almost as effective as plate armor. This combined with his limited use of shield spells which raised his rating almost as significantly he could potentially deflect a couple of almost certain blows. However, if he used divine magic he could extend that, or imbue his blade with holy power.

Mirio decided that it was worth one less shield spell to do extra holy damage to the undead, and drew his sword. He drew forth his divine mana and pooled it into the runeblade. The surface of the runeblade shimmered like the bottom of a pool of water.

Mirio looked around the small hallway, and noticed that it opened into a larger room up ahead, he pointed the tip of his blade ahead and pushed off his back foot, slowly and carefully making his way into the room.

The body of a long dead adventurer was half rotting on the floor. Mirio picked up the small wooden shield on its right arm and gripped it in a ready position. He looked closer at the armor, and it was full of deep slashes and holes.

“Poor guy, but it looks like the Skeletons are using greatswords by the damage on his armor, meaning they were probably warriors in life”

Mirio’s eyes were drawn to a small pouch on the adventurer’s belt, he pulled it off and opened it to reveal two small healing potions, a lantern stone, and a scroll of fire wall. He linked the pouch to his belt and took out the lantern stone and ignited it. As he lit up the stone and looped its attached thread to his belt he noticed markings on the wall.

“What is this?”, he said before quickly dusting off the inscriptions, “It looks some kind of oath”

“The corruptor of the weak, infestor of doubt and lying rot, desecrator of all, and master of the mask. By the power of the hidden shadow we curse he who lay here for all eternity, and vow an oath to stand watch until eternity reaches him”

Mirio, “A cursed tomb for an enemy”

Mirio closed his eyes

“DETECT EVIL”

In opening his eyes again, red blurs moved in the distance, and on the other side of the wall, a small blue light.

“Something is alive inside. How is that possible?”

Mirio counted the red blurs, “five enemies… two potions… 3 more spells… and a firewall scroll. I can do this, just hold on until I reach you”

The room split into two hallways, one heading to the left, and the other to the right, but the hallway on the right had collapsed. Mirio headed to the left and turned the corner to the right. One of the red blurs was inside this room.

Mirio dashed quickly into the room towards the red blur, and charged into it with his shield, smacking it into the wall. Metal and bone crunched into stone, and Mirio hacked at the skeleton’s wrists, as he continued to smash at the skeleton and keep it pinned to the wall. The skeleton reorganised its bone structure and faced Mirio directly, and then with its superhuman strength, pushed against Mirio’s shield and tossed him back a couple of steps. It raised its sword above its head and then struck down hard at Mirio.

Mirio deflected the sword to the side and slashed at its wrists with another hard strike.

SNAP

One of the bones of its forearm cleaved in half. The skeleton pivoted around to Mirio’s right side, and swung its sword in a sweeping arc to try to hit around the blindside of his shield. Mirio stepped back and deflected the sword upwards. The skeleton used the upward momentum to swing down again hard, but Mirio threw his shield off, grabbed his runesword in both hands, and swung upwards with his strongest blow.

CRACK

The other bone of its forearm snapped in half. Mirio then twisted off to the side to avoid the remainder of the blow. The skeleton turned and stepped back and attempted to swipe at Mirio.

“Gotcha”

Mirio gripped the Skeleton’s remaining arm under his left armpit, and hacked with his runesword along the Skeleton’s neck.

CLANK whirrr

The Skeleton’s head fell to the ground and then rolled to a stop. The red blur surrounding it then dissipated.

Mirio looked around the small room, and found a small obsidian statuette of a god on a table. He picked it up and slid it into his pouch, gathered his discarded shield, then stepped over the skeleton remains into the next hallway. At the end of the hall was a right turn and around that corner a large red blur, about 50% larger than the skeleton he had just destroyed.

He peaked around the corner to see a skeleton the same height as the tower in rusted and damaged plate metal standing guard in front of a large doorway. “Should I use the wall of fire?” Mirio said before shaking his head, “No, I don’t know what else is in here, I need to hold it in reserve, and if I don’t find any tougher enemies I could sell it”.

“Eagle’s eye”

Light tendrils drew up around the giant skeletal guardian, flashing as they marked out vulnerable points in its skeletal structure. Mirio then put his hand down onto the ground and focused on a spot on the opposite side of the Skeleton.

“Prestidigitation”

POP

A snapping sound popped behind the giant skeleton causing it to turn briefly in the direction of the sound. Mirio’s footwork was swift, carrying him forth like a gust of wind. He drove his blade into the back of its neck. Its neck bones however were fused and thicker than normal so his sword only chipped off a small section. Mirio’s eyes opened wide in shock, for any other creature it would have been a killing blow. The giant skeletal guardian spun around and gripped Mirio into a bear hug, and began to crush him. Mirio kicked the inside of its knee, bending it out at an awkward angle, and then jammed his sword into the knee joint and sliced it through the tendons holding the knee together. The giant skeletal guardian fell onto its side, but didn’t relent in trying to crush Mirio in its grip. Mirio used the pommel of his sword to smash at the underside of one of its elbows, attempting to dislodge it. Thanks to the give between bone and metal armor Mirio won an inch and in that same split second slipped out of its grasp. He drew back from the giant skeleton, and watched with disbelief as it stood back up, and grasped its greatsword.

“Its knee isn’t quite cut through, the magic holding it together is tough”

The greatsword tore through the air. Mirio danced back with his footwork and slipped just out of its reach. He immediately jumped in and slashed at the weakened knee and then retreated back to avoid the next big swipe. Mirio knew that the undead were devoid of tactical ability and so he continued the same tactic for the next several minutes, dodging the greatsword blows and chipping away at the exposed tendon and bone of its injured knee. After a few minutes it lurched forwards, attempting to grab at Mirio. As its leg finally separated from the rest of its body it dropped to one knee. Its gaze was now directly opposite Mirio.

It continued to swing undaunted by the loss, however Mirio drew it into the center of the room and then began circling around it. It clumsily attempted to track his movement but was not fast enough. Mirio dashed into its blindside and struck a heavy blow with the back pommel of his sword, taking off yet another chink from its neck. He then sprung back just before the giant could reach back and grab him. He then circled around the other way and dashed to its other blindside and struck with another resounding blow. This time the guardian hissed and grabbed its neck in pain. Its hands were covered in full plate gloves, providing it with excellent protection.

“Damn it, you aren’t smart, but I guess you know to protect yourself at some point”

Now the guardian was knelt down, with one hand gripped around its own neck, leaving only one hand to swing its greatsword.

SWIPE!

“You haven’t lost much speed, I guess because you are strong enough to wield that greatsword one handed”

Mirio eyed its other weak points, and began chipping away at the armpit joint of the arm protecting its neck. Strike by strike, slowly untangling the strength of the magic in its bones in its tendons until finally the arm was cleaved off. Mirio then dashed to the rear of the guardian and then cracked the pommel down on the hand, dislodging it from its hold on the vulnerable spot on its neck.

SWIPE!!!

The great sword clipped the edges of Mirio’s mage armor as he dived back out of range. The creature then swung wildly.

CLONK, EEEEK!

The enormous force of its blow struck the large doorway behind it and it blasted them open. Mirio glanced beyond the doorway and saw two undead dire wolves looming. Their red eyes lit up with deadly intent, they spiraled forth and dashed through the doorway. Their fangs opened up and came straight for Mirio’s neck. He gripped up his shield in time and braced himself behind it. The giant beast smashed into him at a high velocity which threw him back against the farthest wall. The second undead dire wolf latched its teeth onto the shield and began wildly lashing its head forcing Mirio to throw it free.

In that same instant Mirio dashed as fast as he could into the hallway to force the wolves to pursue him through the bottleneck. The fangs of the first wolf dug into the shoulder pauldron of his mage armor, dissipating the magical energy in that area and tearing off the pauldron. As Mirio reached the hallway he pivoted to bring the unprotected shoulder to his rear and held the tip of his sword between the eyes of the first wolf. As it encroached he slashed the side of its face hoping to cause it to reel backwards. Due to its undead nature however it attempted to bite the sword and then rushed forwards at Mirio.

Mirio spun the sword to reposition the hilt low, and he got as close to the left wall as he could to get an angle on the beast, and then drove his runesword through and into its neck. He then pulled the sword out with a merciless yank, and jumped back two steps. The second wolf leapt over its dying partner and moved slowly towards Mirio edging him back into the open room where he fought the first skeleton. Mirio felt himself exit the hallway and reminded himself that bones were scattered on the floor, he would need to pay attention to his footing.

The moment his back foot hit the chainmail and torso of the defeated skeleton the dire wolf dived at him. Mirio immediately rolled to the side and scurried back to his feet and slashed out at the wolf. His footwork pitter pattered and twirled until he was back in the hallway.

The wolf dived forwards, and Mirio did his best to sweep upwards with the blade to catch underneath its jaw to deflect its enormous bite, but it turned its head, and caught his blade in its mouth. Mirio tried to turn the mistake into an opportunity by trying to slice up through its jaw, but was left disappointed as his blade clanked against the bone in its skull. The wolf then lashed wildly and dislodged the blade from his hands. Mirio, far from allowing this to happen without a hitch, thrust his own body towards the wolf while its mouth was engaged, and drove an elbow into the side of its head, followed by driving his arm up under its neck and smacking it against the wall. He then cartwheeled over the creature and sprinted back to the other room and picked up the rusted great sword.

He flung the tip of the blade back towards the enormous dire wolf just in time as it dived out at him. He spun the blade, and drove it into its mouth again like a mussel but this time on purpose. Its weight knocked him onto his back, but Mirio turned it into a sacrifice throw, and kicked his foot into its back hip. Pivoting it over the blade he kicked it in an arc over his body and then quickly regained his feet. The wolf also regained its composure quickly.

“You guys have some incredible dexterity don’t you, grrr” Mirio said as wiping blood from his lip.

The wolf lashed at him again, and Mirio used his footwork to scramble and dodge, diving from side to side; the wolf had to chase after him with every attack. Eventually the speed of the wolf out paced Mirio’s own and it found a good angle, Mirio couldn’t dodge so he moved back to the wall and pivoted at the last moment and threw the wolf against the wall. His blade then drove into the dire wolf’s side, piercing through its undead heart and pinning it to the wall.

SNATCH!

At that moment a giant hand gripped onto Mirio’s neck, and an enormous weight pulled on him toppling him backwards. The guardian skeleton had crawled its way from the other room, and had caught him unaware amidst the battle. It dragged its arm around Mirio’s neck into a deadly choke hold, and wrapped its other leg and stump tightly around Mirio’s lower body, yanking his body out like he was on a torture rack.

Mirio desperately reached around with his hands, but in thinking quickly realised that this was a skeleton, and there would be nothing to grab. He had only one option, to escape the choke hold. The squeeze of the guardian’s enormous arm was enough to crush metal, bowing and bending its own armor.

Veins began bulging from Mirio’s forehead.

A dark aura began to fill the room, and Mirio was filled with unnatural calm. A deep voice called out from within his mind, “Reach out with your mind, find it”. Mirio’s mind bounced around like light amidst a prism, bouncing from idea to idea, feeling to feeling, and eventually locked onto the vulnerability points of the skeleton he could see with his eagle’s eye. There were blindspots in the skeleton’s strength itself, planes through which force might be applied. And if done with the full weight of his body rotation, he could…

Mirio jammed one hand onto the elbow joint of the guardian, and then slammed his other hand onto his own elbow joint, and pushed up hard with both, while twisting to get his lead shoulder under the push as well. He then snapped and twisted with all his body’s force and blasted the arm free from its grip around his neck. He dived out of the way of the guardian’s attempt to grab him again, and went into the hallway to retrieve his runesword. He gripped it firmly and walked back to the giant skeleton. It picked up a greatsword and swung it at Mirio, but in his rush of adrenaline he smashed his sword back hard into its own. He then kicked its sword to the side and spun in a wide arc, cleaving its head off of its body in one blow. It dropped down lifeless at his feet. Mirio then turned his gaze to the remaining red glow, it was through the wall, in the main hall, and it was approaching the blue glow.

“Oh no! I might arrive too late”

Mirio sprinted around to the doorway, and then into the main hall of the tomb. He hurdled over a fallen pillar and reached into his pouch. As he came into view of the enemy he saw a dagger surrounded with dark shadow energies raised above the head of a Lich, ready to plunge down at its target.

Lich “Sacrifices must be made for the seal” it screamed out

Mirio instantly noted the terrifying danger of the Lich, and crushed the magic scroll’s wax seal.

“FIREWALL!!!”

Flames leapt out from the ground, with and enormous blast of heat. It hit into the Lich like a sledgehammer and threw the dagger free. Mirio grasped the dagger, and slid it into his belt, and then looked to the blue glow, and picked up its fluffy little form. He grasped it in both hands, and sprinted back out of the room. While sprinting through the hallways, he cracked open a healing potion, and tipped it into the mouth of the small animal. And then cracked the lid of the second potion and swigged it for himself. He quickly squeezed through the narrow entrance to the tomb and sped out of the rock crags. He knew that if the Lich were to catch up to him it could obliterate him with magical spells he had no chance of defending against.

VWOOM!

The sword of a skeletal warrior slashed at Mirio.

VWOM

But Mirio cast a shield spell which erected a blue barrier that deflected the blow. Mirio was far too fast on his feet to be swept up into a melee, so he broke free and charged through the fog at full speed towards the master’s hut.

After twenty minutes, Mirio came storming in from the fog. His face contorted in panic.

“LICH LORD! MASTER LOOK OUT”

The gnome twisted around at super speed, and cast an enormous barrier spell in an instant.

“Wall of force!”

The magical barrier surrounded them all as flames exploded against it. The lich flew with terrifying speed around the wall searching for any weakness in its creation.

Its croaking voice called out, “Breach!”, and an arrow shot from its hand. The black arrow hit into the force wall like a bullet would hit glass, causing it to shatter with violent force. The gnome quickly retaliated with a chain of attacks, “Run Mirio! You did well bringing it to me. It will be no match, but I will not be able to contain the destruction of this battle. Now go!”.

Shots of magical energy blasted forth from the little gnome’s fingertips faster than the eye could follow. Forcing the Lich to cast its own shielding spells which the gnome then broke through with his own breaching spells. Mirio swirled and twirled as he ran back towards Gimly.

“I’m sorry master, but once I knew it was following me I couldn’t track it towards the village, good luck” he said with a bowed head.

The small blue fuzzball in his hands began to stir and become conscious, its head bobbed up and down as it opened one eye. And just as it did Mirio tossed it back through the air, and brought his rune sword forward, instantly clashing with the sword of a skeletal warrior. The same skeletal warrior that had swung at him as he exited the rock crags.

Sparks flew up in all directions as the both slashed at and parried each other. Mirio kept careful eye on his positioning to remain between it and the little furball. He then entered into a bladelock and wrapped up the skeleton’s arms, drove his legs past and around it and then tripped and flipped it to the ground. The skeletal mass thumped as it collided with the ground, and Mirio drew the dark dagger from his hips, and drove it through its skull, instantly disintegrating it and turning it to dust. The dagger’s shadow-like tendrils began to reach up around Mirio’s arm, and started to dig towards his neck. Mirio tried to throw the dagger off but it was now connected to his arm, and began to dissolve into it.

“Argh, arrhh!” he screamed and struggled.

Shadows appeared around him, but not like he was used to, not with a simple dark aura… These shadows were sinister. The dark tendrils started to dig into his flesh like a curse, as the dark shadow began to laugh hysterically. Mirio was in a state of panic and complete shock. He had no idea what to do. He glanced over at the glowing blue furball, and finally made out what the shape was. It was a baby direwolf. It must have been the offspring of the other two dire wolves and they had somehow been captured by the lich, its parents turned, and it was to be sacrificed… With this dagger. Mirio had a thought, that the dagger was seeking a sacrifice for its god, and that what was streaming around his arm right now had to be nothing other than divine power. He looked at the shadow with his one remaining unobstructed eye, and mumbled under the dark tendrils wrapping around his mouth.

The shadow laughed curiously, “Oh you have something to say, I suppose I won’t deny you your last words”.

Mirio, “I won’t give in without a fight!”

Shadow, “Oh pish posh, you can’t possibly stop this curse, its force is continuous and it can never be broken”

Mirio, “Then I will become a force equal to it! I will manage to fight it! Forever if I have to!!!”

Shadow, “Don’t be silly, dying is a better option than living at that price”

Mirio, “Noooo, I won’t let you beat me! Not without at least making it hard for you!”

The dark tendrils wrapped around Mirio’s mouth and sealed shut, and then it wrapped over his eye, and covered its way around his entire body. Mirio stood to his feet, and then extended a hand, now covered in dark magic.

He focused in on the divine energy pools all around him, drawing them up through his feet like he had done at the lake previously. Divine energy lines drew up his legs and spiralled around his body, and broke strands of the dark energy off of his body, allowing Mirio to catch a breath.

Shadow, “It is all for nothing, you can’t keep that up forever”

Mirio, “Oh yeah! Just watch me!” his teeth gritted, and he lifted his other arm, and began drawing sigils. By instinct he altered the sigil circles into a slightly different shape, one that twisted into another magic circle, and then another, and another, all bound within each other. Chaining them together in a continuous link. Drawing them with both divine and arcane cantrip continua techniques, he then used the primordial magical energies from within him to bind into and enhance the spell circles and their shapes. He turned the cantrip continua into a lower tier of magic, binding their circles into the primordial energies of his body. The circles became smaller and smaller, and dived into his body, smaller and smaller, around each of his body’s cells, flowing through his blood.

He began to cough and splutter, a drip of blood coming from the corner of his mouth, and he fell down onto one knee.

Shadow, “Impossible. You dare defy me! The lord of corruption! The god of the hidden! I don’t believe it”

Mirio, “I don’t care for all your whining”, Mirio raised a hand and prepared a blast of divine light.

VWOOM!

It shone out brightly, blasting the shadow to bits, but not before it could say one last sentence, “One day you will weaken, one day you will doubt, one day you will believe my lies, and your resolve will rot, and I will be there to take away that soul of yours and it will be MINE”

The shadow blasted away, and Mirio fell to the ground, mumbling a mantra

“I will fight hardest when weakest,

I will not be defeated by veils of truth,

I will remember who I am,

I won’t let this be cheapened,

I believe in more”

The puppy walked up to Mirio and sat beside him patiently.

…

A giant explosion erupted in the distance, an enormous mushroom cloud dispersing the fog for miles, revealing the grassy plains of the misty meadows, as a place with rolling hills and wandering monsters and occasional wolf packs hunting the weakest of them.

The gnome wiped his brow and released his hold on his protective barrier, its blue energy dissipating bit by bit as smoke rolled in through its borders.

“Ah! My garden! The moon tulips!” he said in a sudden realisation. He ran to the garden where he sighed with relief, “Ah good they are unharmed”. The Lich Lord’s dead body fell down from the sky and then collapsed into a blast of bones as it hit the ground.

The gnome then turned towards Mirio’s direction with his true sight, and zoomed in to see strange magical patterns moving inside of Mirio’s body. “Did I knock him down with the force of that explosion? I must be getting rusty in my old age, dear oh dear”

The gnome then walked out to Mirio and looked down at the little wolf puppy, “Hrmm, come to think of it I never got to ask him where he found you, I’m guessing the same place as he found this Lich lord, in one of the ancient undead barrows scattered about these regions. Ay, problematic, the god of the hidden won’t like that. I didn’t expect that of the boy. I am glad he survived the encounter”

The gnome cast a sigil on Mirio’s chest which made him as light as a feather and then he picked him up by his hand and drew him along behind him back to his house.