Chapter 10: The Guardian’s Rest

The wind carried the scent of old stone and damp earth.

Niko stood at the threshold of something ancient. Something forgotten.

The crumbling entrance of the crypt loomed before him, carved into the rocky hillside like the mouth of a sleeping giant. Vines curled around its edges, trying to swallow it whole, as if nature itself sought to erase its existence. The stone arch above was cracked, its inscriptions faded with time, but the presence of power—faint, lingering—remained.

The bound spirit beside him stirred.

For the first time since their connection had formed, Niko felt something stronger than mere presence.

Recognition.

The echo he had tethered to himself a fragment of a long-dead knight knew this place.

This was his crypt.

Niko exhaled slowly, fingers tightening around his cloak.

"This is where it begins."

He took his first step inside.

The air within the crypt was thick the kind of stillness that belonged to tombs untouched for centuries. The passage sloped downward, leading into darkness deeper than any natural shadow.

His footsteps echoed softly as he moved, the only sound beyond the faint whisper of the bound spirit at his side. The stone beneath him was uneven, worn by time, yet there was a deliberate order to it. This was not a mere tomb.

It was a place of purpose.

As he walked deeper, he let his fingers brush along the walls, feeling the etched symbols carved into the stone. The language was old—older than the kingdom of Varthas, older than any living dynasty.

He recognized a few sigils. Warnings, oaths, passages speaking of a guardian, a watchful protector sworn to an eternal duty.

Ser Kael.

The spirit's presence pulsed slightly, a silent confirmation.

"This place was yours,"

Niko thought.

But what had it been before?

He pressed on, past crumbling archways and pillars cracked with age. Dust hung in the air, disturbed by his passage, revealing the extent of its abandonment.

And yet, it did not feel… empty.

There was still something here.

Watching.

Waiting.

Then a shift.

The silence became something else.

The air trembled with an unseen pulse, like the distant echo of a bell that had been struck long ago.

And in his mind.

A voice.

"You have come at last."

It was not from the spirit at his side.

This was something older.

Niko stopped in his tracks. His breath slowed.

He wasn't alone.

He reached out not physically, but with the part of himself that had touched the veil, the part that had bound echoes to the world of the living.

The presence responded.

It recognized him.

And with that recognition came… memory.

Not his.

Ser Kael's.

A flood of images crashed into him

A battle beneath a darkened sky.

A crown, radiant and golden, now shattered.

A vow, spoken in blood.

Then a door slamming shut. A silence that stretched across centuries.

And finally waiting.

The sensation faded, leaving Niko gasping.

The spirit beside him flickered, its form unstable, as if reacting to what had just occurred.

"The past does not rest here," Niko realized.

It was still alive woven into the very bones of this place.

And something or someone had felt his arrival.

Ahead, the passage opened into a vast chamber.

Massive pillars stretched toward a ceiling lost in shadow, their surfaces engraved with countless names—the names of the fallen.

At the center stood a single altar, its surface marked with sigils of binding and protection.

And beyond it—

A gate of iron and stone.

A door sealed with chains, ancient magic coiling around it like vines of light. The weight of the enchantment was immense, pressing against the air itself.

Whatever lay beyond it—it was never meant to be disturbed.

But more than that—

Something on the other side wanted to break free.

Niko stepped closer, his pulse steady despite the rising tension in the air.

Then, a voice.

No longer just in his mind—but echoing through the chamber itself.

"Who dares trespass upon this sacred ground?"

The words carried weight, not spoken in anger but in authority.

As if bound to the command, the dust in the chamber began to stir.

The sigils on the altar flared to life.

And from the darkness beyond the gate a shape began to emerge.

A figure in armor, its form faded, yet imposing.

A knight, wrapped in remnants of old glory.

His presence was overwhelming—not in sheer power, but in the unshaken certainty that surrounded him.

This was no ordinary specter.

This was a guardian.

And he knew Niko.

Niko held his ground as the figure fully materialized.

Its armor, though rusted, still bore sigils of ancient order—symbols of a kingdom long lost. A greatsword rested at its side, the blade inscribed with markings of warding.

The helm tilted slightly.

Then

"You bear the mark of the bound."

The voice was lower now, more measured.

"Yet you come alone. Without a master. Without a king."

Niko swallowed.

This entity this remnant of Ser Kael was testing him.

He knew better than to try and deceive it.

So he answered truthfully.

"I seek the truth of this place," Niko said. "And the truth of who I am becoming."

A pause.

Then, the knight raised his sword.

"Then prove yourself, Gravewalker."

The chamber shook.

The sigils burned bright.

And the guardian of the crypt charged.

Niko barely had time to react.

The knight's sword moved faster than thought, a blur of rusted steel and cold determination.

Instinct took over.

He twisted to the side, the edge of the greatsword carving through empty space where he had just stood. A gust of air followed the strike, the sheer force of it sending dust spiraling through the chamber.

Not a mindless wraith.

Not a simple undead warrior.

This thing knew how to fight.

Niko clenched his fists, steadying himself. He had no sword. No armor. Just his mind, his magic—and the spirit bound to him.

The knight stopped his advance, blade resting at his side. The flickering sigils along the chamber walls pulsed, illuminating his form.

Then, for the first time, Niko saw it.

The sigil on the knight's chestplate.

It was identical to the one on the spirit bound to him.

Recognition flickered through his mind.

"You are Ser Kael."

Not a fragment. Not an echo.

The true guardian of this crypt.

The knight studied him in silence.

Then, he spoke.

"You are unproven."

The words carried weight, not just in the air, but in Niko's very bones.

The chains around the great door pulsed faintly.

"You carry a presence that does not belong to you. A fragment of what was. A memory of what is lost."

The spirit at Niko's side wavered, its form flickering slightly.

Ser Kael tilted his head slightly, then raised his free hand.

A sudden force seized Niko's body.

Not a spell.

Not a curse.

A command.

The ground beneath him shattered.

Niko's breath left him as the floor collapsed, the world twisting into weightlessness.

For a single moment, he hung in the air.

Then.

He fell.

~

Darkness swallowed him.

The fall lasted only seconds, but it felt far longer—a descent into something deeper than stone, deeper than the world itself.

He landed hard, knees buckling as he hit the cold, damp ground. Dust rose in the dim glow of lingering magic.

The air was different here.

Colder.

Older.

He exhaled sharply, pushing himself up, his pulse hammering in his ears.

Above, the broken ceiling revealed the chamber where Ser Kael stood.

The knight did not look down at him.

Instead, his voice boomed from above.

"Climb."

Niko's breath caught.

Ser Kael had cast him down.

Not to kill him—but as a trial.

There would be no easy way back.

No simple path upward.

He had to prove himself.

And that meant facing whatever awaited him in the depths of this forgotten tomb.

His fingers curled into fists.

He had come here searching for truth.

Now, he would have to fight for it.

Niko took a slow breath.

Then he turned toward the darkness ahead.

And took his first step forward.

~

P.S.

Did you like the beginning of Eclipsed necromancer? From March 3th at 14:00 UTC the second volume will start to be released and I will try to publish 2 chapters per day. I will give space to a lot of fights, items and new characters, I hope you will like it!

P.P.S.

If you like, leave a comment to say your piece!