Karyk reached the end of the passage, coming to a halt before a massive door that stood slightly open.
With a light push, he swung the door open and stepped inside. However, as soon as he crossed the threshold, an unsettling sensation gripped him as the door began to close behind him.
"No!" exclaimed the Emperor, his eyes fixed on Karyk from the other side of the door.
Desperate to reach him, the Emperor sprinted forward, but his efforts were in vain as the colossal door sealed shut.
"Arghh!" The Emperor's roar reverberated with fury as he attempted to force the door open. Unfortunately, to his dismay, the door remained shut, refusing to budge.
Even as he had hurried, he was still one step too late. Moreover, although he hadn't seen the face of the person that entered, his back felt familiar.
His sister and the Shadow Guards caught up to him, slowly realizing the gravity of the situation. For the first time, they had seen their Emperor react like that.
They could only wonder what was on the other side of the door that the Emperor was going crazy over.
Even his sister was unaware of what lay beyond that door, as her brother never permitted her entry into that place. Only the ruler of the Empire had the privilege to access it.
With deep concern etched on her face, she gently placed her hands on the Emperor's shoulders.
"What is everyone staring at? Open the door!" She commanded the Shadow Guards.
Reacting swiftly, the Shadow Guards positioned their hands on the door, exerting all their strength. She too joined in, pushing with determination.
Unfortunately, the outcome remained unchanged. The door remained firmly shut, not budging an inch.
The Emperor stood in silence, his gaze fixed upon the closed door, seemingly lost in a trance. His pupils trembled, betraying a sense of fear that seemed unfamiliar to him.
Observing her brother's distress, the girl couldn't bear to see him in such a state. Unfortunately, she was at a loss as to what she could do. There was an underlying intuition that even if they were to attack together, this door would not even crack.
"What lies beyond that door?" she inquired, hoping to gain some insight into the source of his fear.
"Beyond that door... There is... Chaos..."
....
Karyk glanced back at the sealed door, aware of the presence of people outside who were attempting to open it.
The swiftness with which they caught up to him surprised him, but what truly astonished him was the fact that even the Emperor himself couldn't unlock this door.
It seemed that this place was beyond the Emperor's control, raising questions about its significance. The haunting roar from the Emperor still echoed in Karyk's memory.
Though Karyk was uncertain about the nature of this place, he was sure that the Elzeirans absolutely didn't want him to be here. With his attention no longer fixated on the door, he shifted his focus to the room itself.
At first glance, the room appeared to be ordinary, resembling any other space. However, there was one striking difference.
There was a pitch black coffin positioned at the room's center. Surrounding this strange black coffin were seven more coffins arranged in a perfect circle, as if creating a formation around the coffin in the center.
Karyk walked over to the first coffin amongst the seven surrounding coffins.
The coffin had a symbol of the Elzeiran Royal Family and looked to be made from even better materials than the coffins outside which he had stolen.
With caution, Karyk gently ran his fingers over the smooth, polished surface of the coffin. It felt cold to the touch. He could feel an aura of death on the other side which made him certain that there was a body inside.
He carefully opened the coffin and was able to confirm his assumption. There was truly a body inside the coffin. And it wasn't an ordinary body either. It was the body of the previous Emperor of the Elzeiran Dynasty.
If the bodies outside were the bodies of Royal Family members, then this place possessed the bodies of the previous Rulers.
Realizing that, a smile spread across his lips. The Elzeiran Emperor couldn't open the door, which gave him a lot of time to finish his work.
Moreover, if he could turn the previous Emperors into his undead, he could truly create an army more powerful than before.
"What a treasure trove..." He glanced back at the door. "I suppose I should thank you for creating such a place for me."
....
"That place carries the bodies of the previous Emperors," the Emperor told his sister, his expressions dark.
"If it's just the bodies, is there really a need to be this worried?" His sister couldn't help but find it strange that her brother was behaving this way over a few bodies.
It wasn't as if they respected their ancestors that much to the point that they would lose their sanity if those dead bodies were desecrated.
The Emperor went silent for a moment. His voice was grim as he continued, "It's not the bodies that I'm worried about. It's about what else is there..."
"What... else...?" The woman asked, confused.
....
Karyk walked from one coffin to another, opening all of them. In each of the seven surrounding coffins, he found a body that was still completely intact. However, there was not a shred of life in them.
Even though it had been a long time since they died, he could still feel a mysterious power brimming within them.
He didn't know why, but he felt something familiar within the power inside them. It was a feeling that he had many times since he entered this world. He still didn't understand what that feeling was.
For now, he didn't think about it. There was still one more coffin to open after all. It was the pitch black coffin in the center that appeared to be the most precious one out of them.
