BONES

Dum, crack, crack, dum ahhh—a rhythm pulsated in the dark, echoing like a heartbeat originating from deep within the earth itself. It was a haunting discord, the sound of bones colliding, the very fabric of the ground resonating with each ominous beat.

While swirling ash and the acrid scent filled the air, Jean and Mu Kanjo stood frozen, their senses heightened by the disquieting atmosphere. 

"We are free!" a voice echoed ominously from beneath them, sending shivers down their spines.

"The gatekeeper is dead," another voice chimed in, cold and cruel.

"The seal is broken," yet another voice intoned, heavy with dark portent.

"It's time to overtake them," a chorus of voices proclaimed, each dripping with malice.

As if responding to their dread incantations, the very ground beneath them began to tremble, vibrations coursing through from the core of the earth. The trees surrounding them were being swiftly consumed by the earth's ravenous hunger, and a gaping hole was rapidly forming before them, a dark abyss that threatened to swallow everything in its vicinity.

Jean and Mu Kanjo exchanged panicked glances, adrenaline coursing through their veins. "Hell no, I'm not ready to die!" Jean exclaimed, urgency lacing her voice.

"Shall we run, sire?" Mu Kanjo replied, his voice steady yet filled with dread.

With no hesitation, they turned and sprinted away from the encroaching pit.. But then, in an instant, everything came to an unexpected halt. 

A chilling rattling sound emerged from the depths of the pit, shattering the silence. A skeletal hand emerged first, clawing its way toward the surface, followed by another, until soon, a complete human figure, devoid of flesh, was rising from the ground. Like a swarm of ants, more and more skeletal forms began to pour forth from the pit as if summoned by some dark desire.

"Flesh and blood will be mine immediately," one of the spectral figures hissed, its empty gaze locking onto Jean and Mu Kanjo. In that moment, all eyes of the undead turned their attention towards the living, their intentions clear and sinister.

"This is bad," Jean thought desperately, her mind racing. "Where is the way out?" she finally asked Mu Kanjo, her voice trembling with urgency. 

He pointed toward the highest point in the valley. "That way!" he urged, as they both prepared to flee …

The spectral figures were on high pursuit, I thought you were a vampire Jean asked 

"No, I'm not a vampire; I'm immortal," he answered. "Vampires require blood to survive, but my Creator was far more complex.

 He consumed blood and performed rituals to maintain his eternal youth, while I'm simply his experiment, his breakthrough, if you will. I don't rely on blood for sustenance, nor do I turn to ash in sunlight. In fact, I gain strength at night and feel more human during the day

 We are referred to as immortals." replied Mr Mu Kanjo 

So there are more of you out there Jean muttered 

Are there others like you?" Jean probed further.

"Yes, there are," he confirmed. "They will soon come looking for vengeance for the death of the Master."

"Oh," Jean replied softly, worried..

Excuse me, my lady, but what is that in your womb? I can sense a dark energy coming from it, and I'm aware that it feeds on my former master's life force.

It's a tricky story... Inside me lives a being and I am much older than I look. I bear the burden of a betrayal I committed while she was talking. Out of nowhere, huge logs came crashing down toward them, and they had to move fast to dodge them, a narrow escape. When they looked back, they saw bone golems standing far away behind them.

The bone golems emerged like titans forged from that abyss. Each of them stood nearly fifteen feet tall, ribcages fused with skulls, jaws laced with black stones, spines twisted vines. One golem lifted an entire pine tree trunk and hurled it toward them like a spear. "Down!" Mu Kanjo screamed, dragging Jean with a strength that seemed more than human. The log slammed into the earth where Jean had stood just seconds before, exploding into shards. Jean's breath was short. Her eyes darted across the terrain, wild and desperate. Her womb pulsed, a strange warmth unfurling inside her. Whatever entity resided within her stirred, sensing the danger.

Mu Kanjo pulled her close. "We cannot outrun them for long. The infection will spread if they touch us, even a graze. Jean asked, "What happens then?" "You turn," he said, voice dark and final. "Your skin peels off, your soul tears. You will scream, but your mouth never closes again."

They ran through a narrow pass, they burst through a veil of moss and stone, finding themselves inside a vast cavern. And it was not empty. Inside, people huddled in shadows dozens of them. Wide eyes, hollow cheeks, the stink of fear. Fires burned low in crevices. Children cried without a sound. A few of the cave-dwellers raised weapons rusted blades, sharpened bones. 

"You led them here?" an old woman shrieked, her voice sharp like flint. "They will find this place!" 

"We're trying to escape them!" Jean yelled. "We're not infected!"

 A gruff man emerged from the crowd, holding a wooden staff embedded with bones. "Prove it," he growled. 

Mu Kanjo opened his shirt, showing unmarked flesh. Jean lifted her palm glowing faintly, a sigil etched in her skin, older than time. "The mark of the Ashura," the man murmured. "You carry the unborn curse. You're not ordinary…"

Jean didn't have time to answer. A massive crack echoed outside. The bone golems had found the entrance. The mountain groaned as if in agony.

 "They've breached," Kanjo said

Behind, a shriek rose the unmistakable cry of a man. Jean glanced back and saw that an elderly man behind them was struck by a skeletal hand. His scream turned to gurgles, his skin melted from his bones like wax, muscles tore from sinew as if rejecting life, and then he stood not a man, not anymore.

 "He is one of them now," Jean whispered, heart pounding. "Don't look back!" Kanjo snapped, blood streaking his face. "Run we must find the gate now!" 

The gruff man looked grim. "You seek the Circle Gate, it lies beneath the Pool of Murmurs. But you'll need to chant the words while seated in the twin chairs only then will it open the rift.

"The chant?" Jean asked. "It's carved into the ceiling above it," he replied. "But you must hurry the bones… they don't die, they convert."

Jean and Mu Kanjo found the Pool of Murmurs, a mirror-like basin of black water, whispering in unknown tongues. 

They dove in, swimming through its chilling depth until they reached the air pocket below a circular chamber of bone and gold, lit by a strange, pulsing light. In its center stood the Two Chairs, back-to-back, carved with ancient glyphs.

 "We sit there he pointed and read that he pointed at a writing and pray it works," Kanjo said

 As they climbed into the chairs, the pool vibrated. A massive bone golem had found them. Jean screamed as a skeletal claw slashed at her leg, tearing flesh but not deeply.

 The infection didn't spread, not yet. She pressed her palm to her womb. "Help us" she whispered.

Above them, the chant glowed in fiery runes:

Thou who walketh on cursed time,

Sit back to back in blood and rhyme.

Speak the words and bear this soul,

That bone may break and flesh be whole.

They chanted their surroundings' blurred and spinning as if the chair spun. A vortex opened beneath them, light bending, air howling. The golem lunged….