Chapter 1: Curse Part 1

It was a dark and windy night and a boy was strolling through a forest with a dagger in his hand and after a few steps, he went into the forest.

Nothing in the world mattered to him anymore and he felt like he had nothing else to live for as he slowly strolled along the forest with dull heavy eyes that were fixed on the ground and he continued to move forward until he came to a stop in front of a hill.

Without much hesitation, he continued forward and when it felt like his legs couldn't carry him anymore he turned around to see just how far he had gone.

" I wonder if this is far enough?" He mumbled as he turned back round and slowly continued forward.

He looked up and saw a steep slope which he proceeded towards and after a while of walking, he came to the end of it. Without hesitation, he turned his back to the end of the slope and stabbed himself with the dagger he was in possession of.

Many thoughts came flooding through his mind and tears instantly filled his eyes as he continued to step further backward and it wasn't long before his leg slipped off and he fell.

The memories of everything he had been through went flooding through his mind as he fell to his end.

*****

Inside a room that was dimly lit with lanterns and was filled with the wavering scent of alcohol and tobacco, eight men were scattered around with tobacco pipes in their mouths, and cups of alcohol were lying before them except for one who seemed to be the youngest.

The room had nothing inside it but a long back bench and a small round table. Two of the men were sitting on the table, three were sitting on the bench and the two were leaning against the wall.

The door to the room flung open and a man wearing a black shirt coated with a black coat and thick black trousers walked in with a brown sack above his shoulders.

" Get ready guys cause our next job might be our toughest one yet." He said, dropping the bag on the floor.

" Hey, I hope the pay will be worth the hassle cause I'll be taking no nonsense from nobody after I'm done working my heart out." One of the men sitting on the couch said, taking a puff of his tobacco-filled pipe.

" I'll explain when I'm back. For now, I'll go and prepare our transport. Our target is the Azure-lia catacombs." He said, immediately leaving the room.

The youngest in the room had nothing on him and would constantly cough violently because of the tobacco smoke that had completely engulfed the whole room. His eyes were slightly bloodshot and his gaze was fixed on the ground.

The guy sitting next to him immediately took out the tobacco pipe from his mouth and stuffed it right into the boy's after a slight puff. He instantly took it out and began to cough violently.

" I completely understand that you're new to this but you'll need some of that along the way." He said, taking back the tobacco pipe from the boy.

He turned his head to the side and thought, "Well too bad I don't plan to follow on your so-called way."

After that, he stood up from the floor and slowly staggered towards the door. The smoke had become intolerable and he wanted to get out of there as fast as he could.

The moment he opened the door he quickly staggered forward and gripped onto the concrete rails that were placed in front of the building while his gaze shifted to the far distance.

" Azure-lia huh? I've heard about the place a couple of times and something about being sacred with the dead." He mumbled.

*****

A week later they were now standing on plain grassland and Harry the youngest looked up ahead and could see a rusty black door with many engravings on it which had two guards standing in front of it.

It was very dark and felt like the cries of dead people could be heard but the presence of others lessened the anxiety of everyone standing in their midst.

They were standing behind a tree while looking over at the guards who were wearing ocean blue shirts and plate armor which had a teal symbol of wind engraved onto the right side of their chest.

With a little effort, they were able to subdue the guards and brought them behind the tree where they had been standing before.

After that, they slowly approached the gate while taking each step carefully. They wanted to get the job done as soon as possible but they also didn't want to fail for any reason.

" I'll unlock the gate, you guys spread out and make sure no one finds us out." Their leader said as they slowly approached the gate.

They all quickly spread out and Harry continued towards the eastward direction of the cave and after a while, something seemed to call his attention.

He could sense a faint amount of magical energy present on the outer wall of the cave and it felt overly familiar for some reason. Leaving that he continued forward and it was only a while before he came across a broken part of the wall.

He contemplated on everything he had felt and seen at the moment, especially the unusual familiar acquired energy and it was making him feel uneasy which gave him even more reason to go on and report it quickly.

He immediately turned around and continued forward to where he had just come from while walking significantly faster. One of his accomplices had caught sight of him but left him be because of how in a hurry he seemed.

He walked straight to their leader and whispered everything he saw to him while leaving out the part about the strange presence he had felt.

" Maybe someone was here before us." He thought as he finally pulled off the chains that were on the gate with as much care as possible.

Everyone gathered around and they immediately went into the cave while one person was left behind to scout for any potential hindrances to the success of their mission.

Their torches were immediately lit and it was smooth sailing for them for most of their journey through the catacomb.

Harry continued to look around the place which had many engravings around the walls and he wasn't even able to see all of them because his gaze was limited to the distance of the torch's light.

Everything he had seen and was seeing came as a big surprise to him and after a while of walking they came to a stop in front of a stairway that continued further down and a little farther away from its end was their gold prize.

" If the map's correct then Queen Azure-lia's tomb should be the one right in front of this staircase.

With that in mind, they continued further down the stairway and while they were still walking a human skeleton suddenly began staggering straight toward them but it was instantly sliced in half the moment it came into striking distance.

" A necromancer? I don't know why but I'm having a really bad feeling about this." He thought as they continued further down the stairs.

The stairs were long and barely in shape which made it even harder for them but luckily they were able to make it there safely and it was only a few twenty more steps before they arrived right in front of Azure-lia's tomb which was shielded off with a huge boulder.

Without hesitation, they all quickly got into action and began to push the huge boulder out of the way and as soon as their greatest obstruction was out their gazes were left fixed on the golden coffin which illuminated the entire room as their torches shined on it.

Harry and their leader walked into the room together while the other five were left behind and after a few more steps he too stopped while their leader continued forward towards the coffin.

He licked his lips and rubbed his hands against each other at his greatest achievement yet and as soon as he tried to open the coffin a strange invisible force and they along with the others outside instantly went crashing to the ground.