Novels by D F X

The camp was quiet, but the quiet did not feel safe. It felt heavy, like something bad was hiding inside it. The fire at the center of the camp burned low. The shadows moved too much, even when no one walked.Axel sat alone near the broken wall of the old school building. His hood was over his head. His eyes were on the ground. He did not speak. He did not look at anyone.People whispered.“He is changing,” Damian said in a low voice. He stood close to Mason, making sure Axel could not hear them. “I saw it with my own eyes.”Mason crossed his arms. “You always see trouble first.”“This is not trouble,” Damian said. “This is death. Axel is not normal anymore.”Mason looked at Axel. Axel did not move. “He saved us many times.”“He also controls the dead,” Damian said fast. “Did you forget the skeletons? Did you forget how they rose when he screamed?”Mason’s face grew tight. “He did not ask for that.”“That is how it starts,” Damian said. “Power always starts small.”Lena stood behind a

“Axel, what happened to you?” Ethan asked the moment Axel climbed out of the underground tunnel.Axel did not answer. He stood there, breathing hard. His clothes were covered in dust. His eyes glowed a strange crimson red for a second before fading back to normal. Everyone saw it. Everyone froze.Nurse Evelyn walked closer with careful steps. “Axel, your arm… let me see it.”Axel looked down at his arm. The mark was burned into his skin like fire. A serpent curled around a skull, dark and glowing faintly.Evelyn reached out. “Let me check it. Maybe I can—”“Don’t touch it,” Axel warned, but it was too late.Her fingers brushed his skin.She screamed.Smoke rose from her fingertips as if the mark burned her. She pulled her hand back fast. “It burned me! Axel, what is this?”Everyone stepped back in fear.Ethan looked at Axel with wide eyes. “What happened underground? Tell us the truth.”Axel turned his head away. His mind still echoed with whispers from the skeletons below. The whispe

The ground was cold under Axel’s feet. The air was heavy and dark. He looked around the underground chamber and felt his heart beat fast. The place was silent at first, too silent. Then the soil at his feet began to move.Axel stepped back and whispered, “What is this place? Why does it feel like it’s alive?”The floor cracked open again. Bones pushed out from the dirt. Hands made of bones grabbed the ground. Skulls rose next. One skeleton… then two… then ten… then more. Soon, the whole chamber filled with them. They stood tall, made of bones but moving like trained soldiers.They were not slow like zombies. They were not confused. They moved together, sharp and ready.Axel swallowed hard. “Are you kidding me? Skeletons? Really?”One skeleton stepped forward with a rusted sword in its hand. Another held a broken spear. Their weapons were old, but Axel could feel the danger in every move they made. These things could kill him with one strike.Axel reached for his knife. “If you want

“Are we really going inside this place?” Chloe asked as she held her torch tight. Her voice shook a little.Axel looked at the old cathedral standing in front of them. “Yes. We have no choice. This place might have answers.”Ethan stepped closer and frowned. “It looks dangerous. The windows are broken. The door looks like it wants to fall.”The old cathedral stood in the middle of the dark forest like a forgotten ghost. The stained glass windows were shattered into sharp pieces on the ground. The air felt cold, almost like something was watching them. No birds. No wind. Nothing.Professor Grant walked ahead, touching the broken wall with his old hand. “This place… I know this place. It was once used for rituals to keep the undead sealed. We must be careful.”Nurse Evelyn held her medical bag and looked around nervously. “I don’t like this, Axel. Everything feels wrong here. Even the air tastes strange.”Axel nodded but pushed open the old wooden doors. They creaked loudly like they ha

The cathedral was cold and dark. Dust floated in the air. The broken windows made soft whistling sounds. Everyone stood still as they looked at the huge, red, pulsing heart in the middle of the room. It hung from the ceiling by thick black veins that looked alive. The heart beat slowly at first, like it was sleeping.Thump… thump… thump…Rowan stepped forward slowly and raised his hand.“Do not touch it,” he said. His voice shook. “If we destroy this thing, maybe the infection will end. But maybe… maybe something worse will happen.”The others looked at him with wide eyes.Axel felt something strange in his chest. It was like someone was calling him. Like invisible hands were pulling him toward the heart. He pressed his fingers against his shirt.“I… I feel it again,” Axel whispered. “It wants me.”Chloe moved closer to him, worry on her face.“Axel, don’t go near it,” she said softly.But Axel kept staring at the beating heart. The pull grew stronger.Ethan grabbed Axel’s shoulder.

“Did you hear that?” Mason asked as he stopped and looked around the dark stone hallway.Rowan held up her hand. “Everybody stop moving. There is something here. I can feel it.”Ethan turned slowly. “The walls… they are making sounds.”Axel frowned and walked closer to the wall. “This place is crazy. I swear it was quiet a minute ago.”Chloe stood behind them and hugged herself. “I don’t hear anything.”But the others did.Soft voices.Echoes.Whispers.Voices that did not come from outside.Voices that came from inside the walls.Mason stepped back, fear rising in his eyes. “No… no… I know that voice. It’s my mom. She’s saying I killed them. She’s saying it’s all my fault.”Rowan looked at him. “Mason, she’s not real. It’s the wall talking. Don’t listen.”But Mason shook his head. “I can’t stop hearing it.”Then Rowan stopped walking too.Her eyes went wide. “Oh no… the children… the children I couldn’t protect. They are calling me. They are crying. They are asking why I did not save