All Chapters of Naked BONES OF THE BETRAYED: Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
12 chapters
CHAPTER 11 — The Forbidden Stair
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?
CHAPTER 12 — The High Marrow Enforcer
The High Marrow Enforcer stepped into the chamber like a nightmare sculpted from steel and bone. Its armor was carved from fused vertebrae, polished to a mirror sheen.Null-runes crawled across its gauntlets like living veins. Its skull-like helmet glowed with cold blue fire.And in its hand, a null-forged execution blade, humming with lethal precision.Chris staggered backward, breath broken. “W-why… why would she…? Why would Jenna want me dead?!”The Enforcer’s hollow voice echoed beneath the helmet.“She has offered your marrow as tribute.”Chris felt something inside him crack. “No… no, that’s not.... Jenna wouldn’t... she couldn’t... ”Marco grabbed Chris’s arm. “Kid, listen to me. We believe what the evidence says, not what your heart wished it was.”Chris shook violently. “I loved her… she was my life… she... she took care of me... she.”Lira snapped sharply, “She played you.”Chris flinched like she’d struck him. Lira’s mother, the ghostly imprint, stepped between them. “Chr