2025-12-15 00:40:11
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 19 — Where Names Drown
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.
CHAPTER 18 — The Relic with No Name
The Spine Market didn’t celebrate. It braced. The last civilians vanished into glowing passages as the Undercity sealed itself in layers, bone shutters sliding into place, marrow-lanterns dimming to emergency glow.Chris sat slumped against a pillar, breath ragged, sweat soaking his shirt. “I can’t… keep pulling on it like that. It feels like my bones are trying to tear themselves out.”Marco crouched beside him. “Yeah, that’s usually your body’s way of saying please stop before I explode.”Lira pressed two fingers to Chris’s wrist. “Your pulse is erratic. The city responded because you asked it to protect, but it exacted a price.”Chris managed a weak smile. “Of course it did.”A low thrum echoed through the plaza, rhythmic, deliberate.Marco stiffened. “Tell me that’s not more boots.”Lira closed her eyes, listening. “No. That’s… deeper. Older.”The old woman from before stepped forward again, leaning heavily on her cane. “The Watchbones are waking.”Chris frowned. “The what?”“Guar
CHAPTER 17 — The Question the City Asked
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
CHAPTER 16 — When the City Listens
Jenna stared at Chris like she was seeing a ghost crawl out of its own grave.“You broke the seal,” she whispered again, disbelief cracking her composure. “That’s not possible. It was reinforced by the Council.” Chris’s voice came out low. Steady. Dangerous.“Then the Council doesn’t understand bones.” The Undercity answered him.A low hum rolled through the tunnel, not sound exactly, pressure. Memory. The walls pulsed faintly, ancient marrow-lines glowing as if the city itself had opened one eye.Marco swallowed audibly. “Okay… I’m officially voting we never make him angry.”Lira didn’t look away from Jenna. “Chris. Focus. She’s still dangerous.”Jenna pushed herself to her feet, blood smearing across her lip. “You think this changes anything?” she snapped. “You’re one man against an empire.”Chris tilted his head. “I’m not alone.”Behind him, the bone wall reshaped, arms lowering, ribs knitting back into the stone like soldiers standing down but not leaving.Jenna laughed sharply. “
CHAPTER 15 — Come Home, Darling
“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
CHAPTER 14 — Collapse Into the Unknown
The ceiling came down all at once. Stone. Bone. Dust. Screams. Chris barely got his arms up before Marco tackled him sideways.“DOWN, DOWN, MOVE!” Marco shouted.The chamber erupted, giant slabs of bone crashing around them like falling teeth. Lira threw up a bone-thread barrier, sparks flying as null energy hammered against it from above.Chris coughed through the dust. “Where’s, where’s my father?!”Lira yelled, “His echo shattered, MOVE!”Chris tried to look for Arlon’s fading light, but another explosion ripped through the ceiling, forcing them deeper into the chamber.Marco grabbed Chris’s hand. “Kid! No stopping for ghost parents, we’re in a cave-in!”“I didn’t hear his last words!”“NEITHER DID I, MOVE!”A giant bone pillar cracked in half and crashed where Chris had been standing seconds earlier. The corrupted Bonekeeper shoved them aside, taking the blow across its back. Bone shards exploded from its body, but it remained standing, shielding Chris with a trembling frame.Chri
You may also like
I Turned Out To Be The King Behind The Scenes
doe18.4K viewsTales of the Slime Tamer
Rapture Tales61.8K viewsThe Saga of the Unbroken
RandomGuy32.5K viewsMon'Ter
ReinStriver27.5K viewsGod Of Gluttony: Runestones Give Me Unlimited Abilities
Chukwuemeka_101332 viewsPlundering In The Apocalypse
Dakshay5.8K viewsCrimson and Furs 2
Evil Buddha959 viewsHealing Skills
Tricia best320 views