The Tomb of King Ancalius

I stand before an ancient tomb, overgrown by lush vines. The entire purpose of my visit to Galeford lies directly ahead of me, sealed away from the outside world for millennia. With a fire spell, I quickly clear away the greenery at the front, revealing the entrance. A smooth, white stone lies inlaid in the wall, clearly a door of some kind.

Carved into the area around the stone is a large amount of different runes that I've never seen, clearly written in a long-extinct language. I attempt to use a translation spell, but nothing comes up from it.

"Hmm. Interesting."

The words, despite clearly being magical in nature, still can't be translated into words. I don't remember this part from the book. I remember the hero just being able to waltz right in. It couldn't be that simple, right?

I walk forwards, putting a hand out in front of me, expecting the feeling of cold stone as my hand reaches the entrance. Instead, my hand goes straight through. The stone is an illusion. One that, for some reason, I can't sense.

"Interesting…"

As I walk through it, I smell the stale air of the tomb assault my nostrils. The dark cave is suddenly illuminated by automatic torches lining the walls that glow a soft orange light which bounces off the spiderwebs lining the ceiling and floor like thousands of small stars.

Lining the side walls are coffins composed of various types of stone, along with a few created of iron and steel. Up ahead, the hallway diverges into two paths heading right and left. I sense a weak magical signature to the right as I walk forwards, and come face to face with what appears to be a basilisk. These magical snakes, unlike in normal fantasy, have no petrifying gaze. Instead they cast a stunning spell whenever looked upon, similar to bloodlust just much weaker.

As I walk towards the creature, it begins to curl up and proceeds to cast the stunning spell. Of course, this does nothing, so it resorts to a much more snake-like attack. A bite.

I reach forwards and flick my finger up, causing a boulder just small enough to fit in the snake's mouth. As the boulder lodges itself in the basilisk's throat, the creature begins to roll around in pain.

"Hmm… You know, you may make a great pet."

I walk over to the creature, finally understanding just how large it truly is.

Its body is around the same width as a barrel, and it's back is lined with armored scales that are sharp barbs. Its scales are a pale grey, nearly white and glisten as the torch light hits them. It's eyes are violet and seem to glow with power. Speaking of its power, this would be a monster that would give the hero of light a run for his money. Its strength is comparable to a 6th circle mage, or a 5th circle knight without the stunning spell.

As the snake rolls around, attempting to force the boulder from its throat, I go ahead and cast a domination spell on it. This spell inscribes a rune chain on its heart and makes the beast unwaveringly loyal towards its master. Naturally, I remove the stone from its throat as well.

As the stone is removed, I let the beast take a few seconds to catch its breath and recover. While it does this, I decide to come up with a name for it. Something that… Oh, yes.

"Ralia. Your name shall be Ralia. Rai for short."

Noticing the name I gave it, the basilisk slithers towards me and lowers its head. I smile at it as I run my hand up its head, feeling the cool texture of its scales. I place my palm on its head and cast another spell to shrink its body down to the size of a regular snake. I also use another one to smooth out the barbs along its spine and let it wrap itself around my arm.

As the domination spell fully connects Rai to me, I feel that she's incredibly hungry. As Rai is a basilisk, which is technically a monster, not an animal, she feeds off of magic. Normally, a monster will get this magic by devouring the corpse of either another monster, or some other magical being. However, because of how potent my magic is, along with the fact that my body is nearly 100% made of magic, Rai will be fine just from feeding off the magic leaking through my skin.

I look down at my new living bracelet and run my finger down her back before continuing on.

The rest of my trip through the tomb is relatively boring, with a few spiders being the only other life forms I see.

I understand now why the author kind of glossed over the tomb. A bit of a missed potential for a storyline.

Eventually, I come upon a single, golden door. Inscribed on it is an old saying,

"Veracius xe propites kel Imbratur Ancalius."

"Here lies the great Emperor Ancalius. Strange. The language at the front of the temple clearly read in modern Perotian. Lazy writing, I suppose."

Now that I've reached the actual tomb, I can feel something. Almost as if something is calling to me. I can feel something on the other side. I walk forward and press my hands against the very real door to the tomb, finding them to be surprisingly easy to open.

The sound of stone scraping fills my ears as I'm suddenly hit by a blast of dust coming from the inside of the room. I cast a wind spell, clearing the dust away and revealing the actual sarcophagus.

The room itself is large for a single body, being around the same size as my bedroom. The back wall behind the sarcophagus has overgrown with various different mosses and a few flowering plants that give off weak magical energy. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all made of thick marble blocks with bits of obsidian lining the grout between.

The sarcophagus itself is carved out of a single block of marble, with gold and Adamantium inlaid into it showing the many battles King Ancalius took place in. The Adamantium on this sarcophagus by itself would be worth more than the entirety of the imperial taxes for a year. However, that is not what I'm here for.

I walk forward to the sarcophagus and reach for its lid, slowly pushing it to the side and hearing the sound of stone rubbing against stone. Luckily, the king has been dead for millennia, so I don't have to worry about stench.

As I peer inside, I see the skeleton. And it… Is definitely a skeleton. But, while the ceremonial robes he was buried in have all but disintegrated, what hasn't is a very specific book.

It's cover is created of dragon skin, and the sinew of a Tower Demon has been used to bind it. The pages are created out of the dried skin of succubi. The immense amount of magical energy coming from the book is enough to make even I feel slightly weak at the knees. The significance of materials used is enough to tell me that King Ancalius was far, far more powerful than the book let on. He may have only reaches the sixth circle of both mage and knighthood, but those two separate circles made him a being in his own class.

My heart races, feeling the power flowing into my body as I hold the book. The writing within begins to flow into my brain as I open it and begin gazing at the pages. I can feel… Something… Divine coming from these pages. No, that's not quite right. This is something… Different.

Something…

Eldritch.