The skeletons screamed.
Not all of them ran.
Some of them…
crawled.
CRRRRRK…
A hand dragged itself across the dirt.
Fingers.
Bone.
No flesh.
Just pale joints clawing forward.
SCRAAAAPE…
A skull followed.
Its jaw hung loose.
Twitching.
Chattering.
KRR…KRR…KRR…
Its empty eye sockets locked onto them.
Henry froze.
"…It's still moving…"
Behind it;
More.
Dozens.
Half-bodies.
Broken spines.
Detached ribs.
They pulled themselves forward with slow, desperate jerks.
SCRRRRKK…
CRRRAAAP…
Bone scraped against stone.
One skeleton's arm bent the wrong way.
Backward.
It didn't stop.
It kept crawling.
Its spine twisted;
CRACK…
and rotated until its skull faced them fully.
Leah's face tightened.
"…They don't need legs…"
Another one rose.
Not standing.
Unfolding.
Like something remembering how to be alive.
KRRRRRRK…
Its ribs expanded outward.
Its spine straightened one notch at a time.
CRACK…
CRACK…
CRACK…
Mauris thrust his spear into one before it could finish rising.
THHRRRKKK!
BOOOOOOM!
It exploded.
But the others kept coming.
Unafraid.
Unstoppable.
Wrong.
Thalia stepped forward.
Her breathing slowed.
Her eyes searched beyond them.
Past the crawling dead.
Past the rising bones.
Past the mist.
She saw it.
There.
Near the piles of bone.
Still.
Watching.
Waiting.
Her fingers moved.
FWIPP!
The arrow flew.
It cut through the mist.
Through the darkness.
Straight toward the figure;
Closer...
Closer....
Closer....
Then
The creature moved.
Slow.
Certain.
Its right hand lifted.
The arrow reached it;
and stopped.
Not slowed.
Stopped.
Frozen in front of its palm.
As if the air itself had obeyed it.
Henry gasped.
"…What…"
The creature's fingers closed.
CRKK.
The arrow snapped.
Two pieces fell.
TIK…
TIK…
They hit the ground.
Silence swallowed the world.
Thalia's breath vanished.
Her eyes widened.
Her voice escaped in a broken whisper;
"…Got you…"
Not fear.
Recognition.
Confirmation.
Her arm lifted.
Her finger pointed straight into the mist.
"There!"
Frauner turned instantly.
"Where?"
Thalia's voice shook;
But it was certain.
"Near the bone piles"
Leah narrowed her eyes.
She saw nothing.
Mauris stepped forward anyway.
His grip tightened.
Henry swallowed.
"…I still can't see it…"
Thalia didn't look away.
Because it was still there.
Still watching her.
She whispered,
"…It stopped my arrow…"
And far ahead;
Beyond the crawling dead;
Two yellow eyes burned brighter.
The mist shifted.
Slowly.
Like something inside it was breathing.
HHHHHHH!
The white veil curled.
Parted.
Moved aside.
And something stood within it.
At first;
Only a silhouette.
Tall.
Too tall.
Still.
Unmoving.
Watching.
Henry's voice came out as air.
"…No…"
The mist slid lower.
Revealing its head.
A crown.
Not gold.
Not iron.
Bone.
Jagged vertebrae fused together.
Spikes rising backward like the broken halo of a fallen god.
Leah's grip tightened.
"…What is that…"
The fog moved again.
Its face emerged.
Not a skull.
Not exposed bone.
A mask.
Carved.
Smooth.
Ancient.
Made from pale, polished bone.
Its surface was etched with thin, branching cracks.
Like frozen lightning.
Like veins.
The mask had no mouth.
Only a narrow vertical slit.
Silent.
Merciless.
And the eyes.
Behind the mask;
Two yellow lights burned.
Deep.
Bright.
Alive.
Not empty like the skeletons.
Not dead.
Aware.
Looking at them.
No.
Looking at Thalia.
The mist fell away from its body.
Its form was complete now.
Its chest was covered in layered bone plates.
Not random.
Crafted.
Fitted.
Armor.
Ribs of something massive shaped into a breastplate.
Its shoulders were capped with curved bone guards.
Its arms;
Not thin.
Not skeletal.
Strong.
Wrapped in bone bracers.
Its fingers flexed slowly.
CRRRRK!
Its legs were long.
Armored.
Built.
Not a corpse.
Not undead.
Something else.
Something that ruled the dead.
It stood there.
Silent.
Untouchable.
The skeletons around it stopped crawling.
Stopped moving.
As if waiting.
As if obeying.
No one breathed.
No one moved.
Frauner's eyes widened.
For the first time;
Fear.
Recognition.
His voice came out low.
Grave.
"It's a…"
He swallowed.
"…Osseifex Rex."
The words fell heavy.
Ancient.
Final.
Mauris frowned beside him.
"…What the hell is an Osseifex Rex?"
Frauner didn't look away from it.
His answer came like a death sentence.
"…The Bone Crafter King."
The creature tilted its head slightly.
And the mist obeyed.
The creature stood unmoving.
Watching.
Judging.
The mist curled around its legs like kneeling servants.
Frauner's voice came low.
Heavy with something older than fear.
"…It was never supposed to be real."
Leah didn't look at him.
Her eyes stayed on the crowned figure.
"What do you mean?"
Frauner swallowed.
His grip tightened on his sword.
"It's a myth," he said.
Another skeleton twitched near the creature's feet.
Didn't rise.
Didn't move.
Waited.
Frauner continued.
"Long ago… a coven of witches tried to learn the forbidden art."
CRRRRRK…
The crowned figure's fingers flexed slowly.
"They wanted to conquer death itself," Frauner said.
"To command it. To rule it."
Henry whispered,
"…That's not possible…"
Frauner answered without hesitation.
"They failed."
A pause.
Then;
"…All of them failed."
The wind hissed through the trees.
Except one.
Frauner's voice dropped.
"One witch learned too much."
The yellow eyes burned brighter.
"He found the final spell."
Leah's jaw tightened.
"…Found?"
Frauner nodded faintly.
"…Or became it."
The mist shifted.
The bone crown gleamed.
"He stopped being human."
CRRRRRRK…
Bone armor creaked as the figure slowly straightened its neck.
"He became the one thing they were trying to control."
Frauner said its name like a curse.
"…Osseifex Rex."
Silence.
Mauris stared at it.
Understanding now.
Henry's breathing shook.
Thalia didn't blink.
Frauner finished.
"…The Bone Crafter King."
The title settled over the forest.
Heavy.
Ancient.
Final.
For a moment;
No one spoke.
Then Leah stepped forward.
Her sword rose.
Her voice burned.
"…Whatever it is…"
She pointed the blade at the crowned king.
"…we kill it."
Henry stepped beside her.
Fear still lived in his eyes.
But something else stood with it now.
He raised his dagger.
"Yeeeah!"
He shouted it anyway.
Forced courage.
Defiant.
Mauris lowered his spear into position.
Ready.
Silent.
Certain.
Frauner stepped forward last.
Placing himself slightly ahead of them.
Between death;
And his people.
"…Stay together," he said.
Behind them;
Thalia lifted her bow slowly.
Her eyes locked with the yellow gaze in the mist.
The forest held its breath.
Five mortals.
Facing a king of death.
The Bone Crafter King did not move.
Did not speak.
Did not threaten.
It simply looked at them.
And they looked back.
Two sides.
Two forces.
One moment before slaughter.
Then;
The king tilted its head.
Just slightly.
As if curious.
As if amused.
CRRRRRKKK…