The hidden marrow door closed behind them with a thud that echoed like a warning. Chris flinched. “That door isn’t opening again, is it?”Lira traced its surface. “Not unless the corrupted Bonekeeper opens it.”Marco exhaled sharply. “Great. We’re locked in a crypt with a traumatized giant serpent, a corrupted bone-zombie, and whatever nightmare the nobles buried down here.”Chris swallowed hard. “Can you not list it out loud…?”Marco grabbed his shoulder. “Relax. In my professional opinion, we’re. ”“You’re not a professional anything,” Chris said.“Exactly,” Marco said. “So trust me.”“…That doesn’t help.”“It wasn’t meant to.”The corrupted Bonekeeper, still bowed, still trembling, turned silently toward the newly revealed stairway. It pointed down with its broken hand, bone shards clicking softly.Chris whispered, “Is he… leading us?”Lira nodded. “He remembers what happened.”“But his mind is…” Marco gestured vaguely at the creature. “Very crunchy.”Chris glared. “Marco. ”“What?

The ghost of Arlon Oakwood, Chris’s father, stepped fully from the marrow shard, his form made of white flame and drifting bone dust.Every bone in the chamber trembled. The High Marrow Enforcer faltered mid-strike, blade suspended inches from Chris’s skull as if held by an invisible force.Marco whispered, “Okay… okay, I’m not crazy, right? That’s a ghost king?”Lira didn’t answer. Lira couldn’t answer. Her eyes were wide. Terrified. Reverent.Chris lay gasping against the bone pillar, barely able to move, barely able to breathe. His ribs burned. His vision wavered.But he knew that voice. Somewhere deep inside his marrow, he knew it.“…Father?”The ghost king turned, slowly, with the weight of a thousand years, and looked directly at him.“My son.” Chris’s breath broke.Marco whispered, “Holy.... okay, emotional moment, but maybe someone can stop the murder machine with the sword?”The Enforcer struggled against the unseen force holding it still. Blue fire flickered in its helmet. A

“Come home, darling.”Jenna’s voice slid through the tunnel like a blade wrapped in silk. Chris froze. His heart didn’t race, it stopped.Marco whispered, “Nope. Don’t like that. Don’t like that at all.”Lira stepped forward slightly, bone-thread blade humming. “Chris. Don’t answer.”“I… I know that voice,” Chris said hoarsely. “That’s her. That’s really her.”From the darkness ahead, torchlight flared to life, cold blue marrow-flames lining the tunnel walls. Shadows stretched long and distorted. Then footsteps. Measured. Calm. Unhurried. A woman emerged from the glow. Jenna Oakwood.She wore noble marrow armor, elegant, white, etched with command sigils. Her dark hair was braided neatly down her back, her face serene, almost gentle. Almost. She smiled when she saw him.“There you are,” she said warmly. “You look terrible.”Chris’s breath came shallow. “You… you sent someone to kill me.”Jenna tilted her head, as if disappointed. “Oh, Chris. Must you be so dramatic?”Marco barked, “D

The city didn’t wait for his answer. Stone groaned. Bone rang. Somewhere above them, metal screamed as ancient mechanisms, forgotten, buried, awake, began to turn.Chris staggered, clutching the wall. “What… what’s happening now?”Marco listened, eyes wide. “That is not panic. That’s… coordination.”Lira closed her eyes, focusing. “The Undercity is opening its arteries. Safe routes. Old sanctuaries.”Chris swallowed. “Because of me?”“Yes,” Lira said. “Because it recognizes you.”Chris shook his head weakly. “I didn’t ask for that.”“No one who leads ever does,” she replied.A deep boom rolled through the tunnel. Dust shook loose. Far-off voices echoed, shouts, confusion, fear.Marco winced. “Okay, so the city’s alive, the nobles are angry, and your wife is definitely plotting something dramatic. What’s the move, Your Bone-ness?”Chris shot him a look. “Don’t call me that.”“Fair,” Marco said. “But we still need a plan before someone drops a building on us.”Lira turned sharply toward

The Bone Sea swallowed them whole. Cold, not freezing, but heavy, pressed in from every direction as Chris plunged beneath the surface. The water wasn’t clear. It was thick with drifting bone fragments, glowing faintly like submerged stars.Chris thrashed instinctively.“No...no...no...!”A hand locked around his wrist. Lira. Her eyes were open underwater, glowing softly as bone-thread symbols flared along her arms. She tugged him downward, not letting him fight the descent.Marco flailed beside them, bubbles exploding from his mouth as he pointed frantically upward, then downward, then at himself.I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS, his expression screamed. Chris tried to scream back. Water flooded his mouth. Pain exploded in his lungs. And then, Something shifted inside him. The pressure eased. The panic dulled.His chest expanded, and he inhaled. Water did not enter his lungs. Instead, marrow-light flowed through him, warm and steady, forming a thin internal sheath that let him breathe.