Shion's heart pounded in his chest, and he feared that the world would come to an end. He was inside a large underground cavern. There was barely any light, except for the ethereal radiance of luminescent mushrooms that dotted its uneven terrain. Around him were the still corpses of several dozen undead knights, the same ones who had just killed his friends. It had taken everything he had to defeat them, and now he was utterly exhausted.

He slumped to the ground, so weak that he could barely even lift his sword. Shion’s breath came in raspy gasps. He cursed himself under his breath, he knew that he needed to keep going ahead, to stop Galleus Blackheart from reviving the First Necromancer. But alas, he was just too exhausted. It was all too-

But suddenly, he could hear a voice call out to him. "Shion…come closer."

Shion turned his head back, his eyes widening as he saw that Nia was still breathing, albeit weakly. He dragged himself over to her side, forcing every bit of strength he had left in his muscles to get closer to his fallen ally.

"Nia…how are you…still alive?" Shion asked in between bated breaths.

"Doesn’t matter, give…me…your…hand." Nia muttered weakly.

Though he was unsure what Nia had in mind, Shion obliged and offered out his right hand. His eyes widened in shock when he saw Nia placed her hand above his, radiating a soft, greenish light. She was healing him. Though he tried to pull his hand back, Nia’s grip on his hands was surprisingly strong. She would not let go.

Within seconds, Shion could feel his strength returning to him. Wounds knitted back together as bruises and cuts vanished. Despite this, there was no happiness in Shion’s eyes.

"Nia! No!"

"Just…go." Nia muttered as her limbs went limp once more.

Though he wished that he could mourn the loss of his friend, Shion knew that there wasn’t much time. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand, sword in hand. Summoning every last inch of strength he had left, he ran as fast as he could. He would not let his friends die in vain.

The adventurer’s guild had tasked Shion and his party with a simple task: to stop a rogue mage from reviving the First Necromancer. Truth be told, Shion did not know too much about the mother of all necromancy. He had thought that she was nothing more than just another myth at first. But circumstances changed, and the prospect of her returning now was both very real, and very much terrifying.

As he ran through the dark cavern, Shion encountered more and more undead. He tried his best to avoid most of them, but those he could not avoid, he cut down with his sword. Though his muscles grew weaker and his breath more ragged, he pushed through the pain. He needed to keep moving forward.

He had heard tales of the First Necromancer's power before. How she conquered entire kingdoms with teeming hordes of undead. How she managed to defeat even the mightiest heroes with ease. How she humbled even the dragon lords and forced them into exile. Feats unimaginable to him, and ones he hoped were confined solely in the realm of fantasy.

Eventually, Shion entered a large burial chamber, and his senses were instantly overwhelmed, forcing him to cough violently. The air in the chamber seemed as if it wanted to choke him. Towering stone pillars lined the area, each one had glowing runes etched on their surface, their meanings were lost to time.

At the heart of the chamber, atop a raised dais, rested an imposing stone coffin. But to Shion's dismay, Galleus Blackheart himself stood there, guarded by hundreds of undead soldiers. There were too many of them. Shion cursed his luck.

Once Galleus noticed that Shion had entered the room, the old mage let out a wicked smirk. "Welcome back, Shion. I hope that my minions gave you a nice warm up."

"Galleus, you need to stop what you’re doing right now!" Shion yelled out.

"And why should I do that? I’m already so close to victory."

"You have no idea what you’re going to unleash on the world."

"Oh, but I think I do." Galleus paced around the large coffin by his side. "Tell me, my sword wielding friend, what don’t I know about the First Necromancer?"

Shion clenched his fists until they turned white. "She is a monster who has broken, conquered countless nations and vanquished anything or anyone that stood in her way."

Galleus’s grin grew wider as he stroked his graying beard in amusement. "And that sounds like music to my ears."

"You don’t understand, Galleus, it’s not worth it!"

"Oh but I think it is. I’ve worked countless years for this moment, should I not be rewarded?"

"This will not end well for either of us!"

"And that’s where you’re wrong, this will end poorly only for you."

In that instant, Galleus placed his hand over the stone coffin next to him. The old mage pulled out a large scroll from within his dark blue robes.

Shion tried to dash forward, to stop him. He tried to cut his way to Galleus, slaying every undead he could see. But for each one he killed, more would take its place. He was soon overwhelmed, knocked onto the ground, crushed underneath the ironclad boot of an undead warrior.

"Now, now, Shion, I know that you are excited. But there’s no need to rush, this is an important moment, I think we should savor it, no?" Galleus asked sarcastically as he unfurled the scroll he held.

"Please…no." Shion muttered weakly.

"I’m afraid I don’t take requests."

Chanting words of power, Galleus began to recite the contents of the scroll. The words he spoke were foreign to Shion’s ears. But, the shaking of the chamber told him everything he needed to know.

The colossal lid of the coffin began to slide open with a grating, eerie sound. From within emerged a woman of breathtaking presence, an ethereal beauty who commanded both admiration and fear in equal measure.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Her ivory-white hair flowed like moonlight, in stark contrast to her flowing black robes. Shion couldn't help but steal a moment to admire her. Even now, he found himself captivated by her charm. However, his admiration was short-lived. The aura that the woman emanated was not one of gentle innocence, but rather a chilling and profound power that sent chills down Shion's spine. Even the undead soldiers by his side seemed to pause, as if drawn by some irresistible force.

Then, the First Necromancer slowly opened her eyes. And the chamber itself seemed to hold its breath.

***

Alza’s limbs felt stiff. Relying on muscle memory and pure instinct, she managed to slowly stagger onto her feet. Though her senses were dull at first, her nose soon tingled with a pungent smell that permeated throughout the air. She winced slightly at the scent, it was so horribly putrid. As she opened her eyes, she saw that there were several hundred undead warriors in her chamber. It was no wonder that the place smelled so rancid.

"Yes, I have finally done it, I have revived the First Necromancer!"

Alza shot a glance to her left. She saw an old man with a graying beard and dark blue robes. Judging by how pale his skin was and the black veins around his eyes, she presumed that he was a necromancer of some kind.

"Are you…the one who awakened me?" Alza asked, tilting her head slightly. The man was not familiar to her, she didn’t think that she would have been revived by another necromancer of all things.

"Why yes! I am Galleus Blackheart, master of the undead!"

"I see, and what do you plan to accomplish by awakening me from my rest?"

"Why I will use your powers for my own ambitions of course! No one will be able to stop me with you by my side."

Alza breathed out a sigh, crossing her arms. "And what makes you think I’ll help you?’

A smug grin etched itself onto Galleus’s visage. "Your cooperation is not optional, I have placed a powerful curse on your body, you will have no choice but to listen to what I say."

"Go ahead then, try to command me."

"If you insist." Galleus then pointed towards a lone swordsman at the back of the burial chamber. He was being held up by a pair of undead warriors, as if presented for execution. The swordsman seemed scared, causing Galleus’s smile to grow ever wider. "Go forth, First Necromancer, and kill this fool!"

For a split second, Alza felt the slightest tingle at the back of her head. If this was the so-called curse placed on her, she knew that she had nothing to fear.

"I refuse."

"What…but how? You were supposed to listen to my every command!"

Alza breathed out a sigh. "You really are too arrogant for your own good. A curse will only work if the user is more powerful than its target."

"But I-"

"You’re a few thousand years away from where I am, fool." Alza scoffed. "But if you need me to demonstrate the difference in our power, then watch closely."

With a casual tap of her finger, Alza sent an enigmatic force coursing through the air. In an instant, the hundreds of undead that were present dropped to lifelessness once more. Their bodies falling to the ground in rapid succession.

Galleus staggered backwards slowly. His mouth agape in shock. "Ho-how, how did you do that?"

Alza raised an eyebrow. "Did you not know that lesser undead always obeys the will of a stronger necromancer? How unfortunate."

In a panic, the old mage pulled out a black covered spellbook from his robes. He frantically flipped through the pages until he landed on something in the middle, when he stopped, Galleus smiled.

"I see that I may have made some…slight miscalculations, but it’s of no matter, I’ll just get rid of you using the Necronomicon!"

Alza let out an amused chuckle. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

"What’s wrong, First Necromancer? Are you perhaps finally beginning to feel fear?" Galleus taunted with a confident grin.

"Oh, not at all." Alza dismissed with a wave of her hand. "I was just surprised that you had such confidence."

"Why of course! The Necronomicon is the foremost text on necromancy, it contains the most powerful-"

"The Necronomicon is nothing more than an amateur's tool."

Galleus’s eyes widened. "That’s…impossible! I have spent years studying every inch of this text, there is no way such a thing is meant for-"

"It was made for the sole purpose of teaching necromancy to those who knew little of it, a fine text mind you, but certainly not something to become excited over."

Galleus glanced at the book clutched in his hands, his face contorted in disbelief. He seemed to struggle to believe the weight of Alza's words. And then, as if the strain on his mind became too much to bear, he let out a hysterical, almost manic laugh. It was a desperate cackle, straining the edges of a nervous breakdown.

"I see…an interesting bluff, First Necromancer, but I will not be so easily fooled," Galleus sneered. He then cautiously moved back a few steps, his feet shaking slightly. "Because you have entertained me so, I’ll make this quick."

With his spellbook in hand, Galleus began his incantation, his voice resonating with an ominous power. "Return my enemies to the dust where once they came: Blight Bomb!"

As the incantation concluded, a page from the Necronomicon tore itself free from the book's hinges, vanishing into the air as it was consumed by ethereal black flames. Then, in a surge of malevolent energy, a colossal ball of darkness materialized just above Alza's head, its size rivaling that of a small dragon. And just as fast as it appeared, the black sphere detonated.

The explosion that followed was devastating. The ground trembled, sending shards of debris and spectral energy scattering in all directions, while an ominous, bone-chilling roar filled the air. The armies of lesser undead nearby disintegrated on the spot, their bodies reduced to nothing.

When the dust finally settled, Alza stood completely unharmed. Her gaze briefly shifted to the swordsman she saw earlier, who remained protected by two colossal skeletal hands concealing his body. Her intervention had saved him from most of the damage.

Returning her attention to the visibly irritated Galleus, Alza met his wrath with a calm demeanor. "You truly are more foolish than I thought."

"Silence! Don’t you think you can make a mockery out of me!" Galleus declared proudly as he beated his chest. "I am Galleus Blacheart, and I am an AAAH."

Suddenly, the veins on both of Galleus’s arms blackened into a deep onyx. It was as if ink had been spilled all over his body. The old mage seethed in pain as he fell onto his knees.

Alza scowled. "You know, I can’t help but feel that the world would be much better off without you."

"I…will…kill…you." Galleus muttered weakly.

"I beg to disagree."

In a sudden surge of power, Alza thrust her right hand skyward. The ground beneath her splintered as an enormous skeletal arm erupted from the earth. With eerie precision, the colossal skeletal hand seized Galleus in a vice-like grip, hoisting him aloft as if he were a ragdoll. Alza's fingers clenched into a fist, and with an earth-shattering crunch, the skeletal hand followed suit and crushed Galleus's form into nothing more than a splatter of blood and squashed entrails.

With that nuisance out of the way, Alza walked towards the injured swordsman she saw earlier. He was unconscious, but was still breathing.

Alza dropped to one knee and placed a hand over the swordsman. His injuries rapidly healed and knitted, as if he had never been injured at all.

Soon, the swordsman opened his eyes. "Who…are you?"

Alza let out a gentle smile. "I am Alza, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance."