Who Said A Necromancer Can't Be A Priest?-Chapter 64: Eternal Sleep (1)

Aaran silently followed the Emperor. At some point, Donovan had joined them. Even he looked off. It was strange seeing them with such serious expressions.

They walked through door after door. But unlike the rest of the palace, these doors were guarded by the elite among elite knights. These doors were like checkpoints. Then Aaran saw something that made his blood go cold.

The knight drew his sword against the Emperor.

Is this fucker out of his mind!?

Aaran didn't voice his opinion, but he was shocked. He almost prepared a spell when Donovan gently grabbed his hand, shaking his head.

The next moment, the knight asked the Emperor a question.

"The moon is quite pleasant, isn't it?"

"The trees are better."

None of it made sense, but the knight immediately dropped his sword, bowing before the Emperor, which should have been his first reaction.

"My apologies, Your Majesty!"

"It's alright," the Emperor patted his shoulder. "I'm the one who asked you to do this."

The knight nodded and opened the gate for them.

From then on, things got even stranger. Some knights literally attacked the Emperor, and a moment later, all of it was forgotten.

In all his nineteen incarnations, Aaran had never seen or heard about such a thing going on in the palace.

"Please ignore the absurdity of the situation, Your Highness," Donovan said, sensing Aaran's confusion. "It's a security protocol the Emperor designed himself."

"I… see."

Aaran had been to the royal treasury many times, in this life and the lives before. However, even the place that held the empire's treasure had lackluster security compared to what he had just witnessed.

It made him wonder what could be hidden behind these doors that required more protection than the kingdom's wealth itself.

Princess Eleanor. But why does she need such security?

Finally, a strange door appeared before them. Unlike the previous doors, there were no guards. No servants. No security at all. Instead, there was a stone tablet, similar to the one Aaran had found in the Dead Forest.

The Emperor placed his hand on the tablet and poured a bit of his darkness into it. The door unlocked, but instead of heading inside, the Emperor turned to Aaran.

"Only two people in this world know what lies beyond this door," the Emperor said. "From today onward, you will be the third."

His tone remained calm, but Aaran knew it was a warning.

If the secret of what lay beyond the door was leaked, the Emperor would have Aaran's head first. Then Donovan's and finally, his own.

Aaran nodded. Although strange, Aaran expected something like it. After all, the Emperor wasn't the type to trust blindly, especially not for something as important as what was beyond the door.

All of them took off their shoes, and Donovan opened the door for them.

A gust of cold air swept them. Aaran peeked inside and saw… darkness.

Despite it being noon, the room was shrouded in pitch-black darkness. Multiple thick curtains were lined up against the windows, allowing no sunlight to enter the room.

The only sources of light were the floating candles that drifted near the ceiling. Even their flames were weak, barely lighting the room.

Aaran followed the elders inside, and once his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw someone.

A girl was lying on the bed.

She was smiling, her eyes closed as though she were sleeping peacefully, but Aaran knew something was amiss.

The girl's skin was sickly pale, glowing under the candlelight, akin to moonlight. Her face was full and beautiful, unlike the rest of her body.

She was withering away. Her hands were as thin as the branches of a dried tree, and her once lustrous silver hair was missing chunks, exposing patches of bare scalp.

But the most noticeable thing was the dark circles under her eyes. It looked like a coal paste had been rubbed under her eyes. Not only that, but the dark circles were deep and hollow, as if she had been awake for years.

Despite smiling in her sleep, she was in unimaginable pain and not the peaceful sleep one would think she had.

It wasn't the first time Aaran had seen someone like her.

Someone suffering from Eternal Sleep.

It was a curse that trapped its victims in an endless nightmare. While their bodies remained in the physical world, deteriorating over time, their souls were tortured in a nightmare. Eventually, the cursed being would either succumb in the nightmare or their body would die in the physical world, but they'll die inevitably.

After taking her condition into consideration, Princess Eleanor should have died long ago. Yet she was still alive. Barely so, but alive.

Aaran realized why the Emperor had been waging wars in all directions. He used that darkness to extend Eleanor's lifespan, forcing her to endure torture in hopes someday, someone would save her.

While Aaran analyzed the situation, the Emperor moved to her side and gently patted her head, as if worried his touch might shatter her.

"She's… my lovely daughter," the Emperor said. "Princess Eleanor Runedral."

Aaran would have consoled the Emperor had he not known about the future. Instead, he remained silent, allowing the bold emperor to turn into a vulnerable father.

"This is your final trial…" the Emperor sighed. "Please save my daughter…"

Suddenly, everything clicked into place.

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The Emperor's preferential treatment for Aaran, and the need to train Aaran and have him gather darkness.

Why?

Because only darkness can put an end to the endless nightmare.

Eternal Sleep was a curse used by the demons and their followers. They often used the curse to subdue an enemy. Once cursed, only those possessing darkness could save the victims.

Since humans despised darkness, only demons could cure a victim. In this way, they forced the humans to surrender and expanded their influence over the planet.

Back then, killing someone in Eternal Sleep was the only remedy the temples could administer.

But there shouldn't be any demons in the world right now. At least a demon capable of casting such a curse.

That's what bothered Aaran the most.

As for the cure, Aaran knew someone who could do it. The only known human to have cured the illness.

Unfortunately, that person wasn't born yet.

However, Aaran remembered the method she told him.

Either get rid of the nightmare or kill the demon who cast the curse.

The latter wasn't possible for Aaran with his current abilities. But he could try the first method. But first, he needed to enter her nightmare.