"You understand your assignment?" Farim, the leader of the human forces in the area asked the two champion knight brothers.
They both nodded, their pitch-black armor clanking slightly as they did so. "Repeat the mission to me." Farim stated.
"We are to find and eliminate the leader of the undead forces in the area." The one on the left, Lord Benton echoed his orders.
"And we are to kill any forces in our path." His brother, Lord Geoffrey added.
Farim gave them both a nod of approval. "Bring light and be on your way." He declared. The brothers then turned their horses around in a one-eighty and spurred them forwards where Teldorn of the undead was last sighted.
Along their path, the two had slowed to a trot and only encountered a few skeletons as they neared the mausoleum where they believed their target to be colluding with the other evil forces that lay within the land.
That was when they saw him or rather, it. Its back was turned as it entered the black structure and the brothers nodded at each other, thinking the same thought. Wait and ambush the creature when it exited the building. They strode forward as quietly as possible on horseback when out of nowhere, a colossal being clad in gold and silver armor bearing a green shield and a sword the size of a large man emerged from the tree line, took one look at the brothers and raised its shield.
They rushed forward and both delivered a slash at the being, but both strikes were blocked as Geoffrey's sword literally bounced off of the shield with a resounding clang and the creature parried Benton's attack. They regrouped once again and two red eyes stared at them from the slits in the helmet. As they charged once more, Benton and Geoffrey gave a loud war cry as they moved. Geoffrey slashed once again at the creature but his brother never got the chance as the massive sword was thrust through his horse's heart and chest, making it whinny in pain and fall on top of him. Horrified, Geoffrey could only stare in shock while the undead lord exited the building carrying his longsword and banner with a red skull emblazoned on a field of darkness.
It looked to Benton, then to Geoffrey and finally to the creature responsible for his brother's current situation. It then began to laugh a sadistic, malicious laugh and it implanted the banner in the soft ground with a thud.
"Very well done, Pell." The skeletal creature addressed its minion, which ignored the praise.
"What of this one, master?" Geoffrey heard a low voice ask from behind him. Turning his head around slightly, he saw the figure of a Dark Elven Blackguard pointing its pike at the back of his neck. "Shall I kill him?"
The undead lord shook its head. "No Duxnal, I have other plans." It then walked over to where Benton was trying to remove himself from underneath his horse's corpse and stabbed his sword through his chest, piercing his armor and flesh.
"NO!" Geoffrey screamed in protest. His grief quickly turned to anger as he shifted his gaze to his brother's killer. "You unholy fiend! He was my brother!"
"Is that so?" It asked in an intrigued voice. "Well then, I guess you would most certainly like to see him alive again." It then chanted something too obscure and quick for the champion knight to understand and the very bones of his brother's body separated from his flesh as they cast off his body like an itchy coat and picked up his sword and shield.
The skeleton then faced its new lord. "Master?"
The undead lord looked like it was grinning and pointed a bony finger at its new minion. A nova of white energy enshrouded the skeleton and it became a new being, wrapped in armor and carrying a slightly larger shield with curved horns attached to its head.
"I feel stronger." Geoffrey's former brother declared in a raspy whisper.
The undead lord again pointed his finger at the former knight and again, a nova of white energy surrounded it. This time, the being that emerged was completely clad in dark blue armor wielding an even larger shield and a sword of the same size.
"I feel much stronger." It declared in a deep voice.
Geoffrey heard a low chuckle behind him, undoubtedly the Blackguard known as Duxnal laughing at whatever was happening to his former brother's bones.
After one final transformation, Benton had formed into the very creature that ended his life. "I… AM… INVINCIBLE!" It thundered victoriously.
The undead hero glanced at a speechless Geoffrey and gestured to his horrific excuse of a brother. "Here he is, knight. Your brother now serves me to the death. I now offer you a choice; go back to your settlement with the message that I will shift every one of your warriors into one of my own or join your brother among my ranks."
"Never, foul being." Geoffrey mumbled as he spurred his horse forth. Unfortunately, the animal was spooked by the recent events and the two sharp and sudden pains in its sides only spooked it further, making it rear back on its hind legs.
Duxnal quickly stabbed his poisoned pike into the beast's stomach, killing it instantly. It fell forward and Geoffrey rolled towards the undead lord, his weapons out of reach. The creature known as Pell raised its massive sword but an open boned hand stopped it.
"No, it is only fitting that his life be ended by the one he spent most of it with." The skeleton declared, looking over to the new addition to his forces. "Kill him."
Benton's new form nodded, implanted its shield into the ground so that it protruded straight upwards and walked over to his brother. Geoffrey looked up with pleading eyes.
"Brother please, do not succumb to the darkness!"
His former family member held the massive sword with two hands, raised it above its head and glared back. "DOOM IS AT HAND!" It boomed before beheading his brother.