An armored hand reached out and touched the shimmering golden light binding the ornate tomb, causing it to fade with a tinkling noise. The owner of the hand, a large man known as Lieutenant Saut, looked somewhat surprised beneath his full helm. It appeared that the ancient barrow was far older than his captain was informed, or else the seal would not have broken so easily. Looking back to the pair of mages assigned to go with his unit, Saut nodded, indicating that they could press forward.
As the platoon moved forward, they noticed that there was not a single speck of dust in the tomb, there were even faint golden embers in the braziers dotted throughout the halls. With rising discormort paired with just as much anticipation, the group reached a wide semicircle shaped room. Within said room was a resplendent sarcophagus bound in golden chains, standing mightily as if it were a god of death standing in his fields.
Lieutenant Saut and his men felt their hackles rising, but before they could say anything, the eyes of the two mages started to glow with excitement. Without care for the consequences they dashed up to the coffin and struck down the once mighty chains that wasted away over time. Using what little physical strength they had, the pair of mages managed to open the sarcophagus.
Behing the lid stood a handsome young man, seemingly asleep. He had a perfectly proportioned but sharp face, pale skin and jet black hair. Though on the lean side, the young man had his well defined muscles visible as he only wore black pants. When the audience finished inspecting him, his eyes suddenly snapped open, revealing a menacing well of pitch black while a reptilian slit of green glowed ominously in the center.
Before either mage could react, a pair of slender hands grabbed them by the neck. And before the terrified soldiers, all of their flesh rapidly withered away into nothingness as two streams of green energy flowed into the young man. Dropping the two robed skeletons, the young man stepped forward before speaking perfectly in common.
"It appears that my power has been exhausted breaking the seal, good thing that some fools showed up. It spares me the trouble of finding a settlement of the living on my own." he stated.
While his men were frozen in fear, Lieutenant Saut finally mustered up the courage to speak.
"Retreat! I'll hold this thing off, you go warn the fortress!" Saut shouted, which made the young man give an eerie smirk.
"You think you can walk into my tomb and escape? It might have been plausible before, but now that you have exhausted all the divine energy keeping me here, it's just laughable. As you are to be my first servants, I will tell you my name beforehand. I am Orcus The Soul Weaver, now die." Orcus stated before a wall of bones rose from the ground to block all escape.
After a short pause, Saut recovered from his shock and charged at Orcus, already having drawn his greatsword from its sheath. Seeing the blade hurtling at his skull, Orcus sidestepped inward and attempted to grab the lieutenant's arm. Remerbering what happened to the mages, Saut jumped back mid swing which caused him to stumble and almost drop his weapon. With his opponent staggering about, Orcus lunged forward to strike, only to be blocked as a soldier used his body to take the blow. Seeing one of their bretheren fall to the ground as a pile of bones, the rest of the men, now numbering twenty-nine, felt their rage overtake their fear as they charged forward with a roar.
Seeing his enemies charge, Orcus picked up the fallen soldier's sword before immediately dodging to the left. Saut's blade sparked as it struck the ground, before swinging once more towards Orcus. Instead of retreating however, Orcus dived under the sword before slashing Saut's arms at the tendons. With Saut not having a weapon, Orcus now only needed to focus on the other soldiers. Raising his empty left hand, Orcus focused for a moment before a bolt of green energy dashed from his fingertips before exploding amonst his foes.
While his were opponents sent flying, Orcus raised his sword as a pillar of green energy rose from it. Similar pillars rose from all of the corpses of those who died in the explosion as well as the mages. Any residue flesh turned into wisps of power which entered Orcus while the bones and armor reassembled to their previous shape, with glowing green flames floating in their eye sockets.
"Strike down all but one of them." Orcus stated calmly before turning to Saut. "And for you, I'm going to see if my skills are still there even if my magic isn't."
Kicking Saut's armored knee, Orcus made the poor man kneel before grabbing his head. Pure agony started surging through Saut's body as if there were hooks being pulled through his veins. As Saut fainted from the pain, Orcus focused, using his power to map out the body, bone structure and mind, forming a blueprint that could be used to make more undead. Once he was finished, Orcus killed and reanimated the former knight. Turning around, he saw the last survivor of the expedition forced to his knees by two skeletal soldiers, waiting to be scanned.