Chapter 9 – “The Village in the Bones”

Chapter 9 – “The Village in the Bones”

Arc II: Universe D-099X – The Dinoverse

The trees parted like curtains in a forgotten theater.

Darkeran led them down a path carved not by feet but by instinct—roots bent aside, moss worn smooth, vines whispering old stories. The air grew still, reverent, as if even the jungle knew what lay ahead.

And then it revealed itself.

A village. Hidden in the bones of a fallen god-beast. Stone huts nestled between colossal ribcages. Firelight flickered on bone-white walls. Children in hide cloth froze mid-play. Warriors gripped their spears.

They had returned.

He had returned.

Darkeran—the beast with a man's soul.

---

The Chief and the Shaman

An old man with skin like carved bark stepped forward. The village chief. Darkeran’s father.

His eyes held no fear, only fire. “You came back,” he said, voice heavy with time.

Behind him, a woman emerged. Her hair was woven with wires and bones, her hands ink-stained and shaking with hidden energy. The tech-shaman. His mother.

She walked slowly, stopping just short of touching her son.

“You still carry the scent of the void,” she said softly, eyes flicking to Blackstorm and Red. “But these two… they reek of it.”

Red smirked. “Love to make a first impression.”

Blackstorm didn’t speak. He watched the firelight on her palms—residue of a machine that felt far too modern for this world.

---

The Ki Cloaking Device

Later, inside the great hut carved into the ribcage of a titanic beast, she showed them.

A sphere of glowing crystal pulsed with blue veins. It hovered silently, anchored by bone and wire, surrounded by ancient runes.

“This is how we kept him hidden,” she said, placing a hand on the orb. “This... silences his Ki. And masks his dimensional imprint.”

Red whistled low. “That’s… advanced. Even for us.”

“We didn't invent it. We found it buried beneath the bones. I just repaired it.”

Blackstorm stepped closer, scanning it with his gauntlet. “No wonder he stayed off the map. You made him a ghost.”

Darkeran stayed silent. Watching. Thinking.

---

A Village on Edge

They walked the village under moonlight.

Some villagers avoided them. Others stared. A few reached to touch Blackstorm’s armor or Red’s floating wrist-holo, whispering prayers or curses.

“My people are afraid,” said the Chief. “The stars are bleeding. Dreams speak of shadows with our son's face.”

At the edge of the village, beyond a crater where nothing grew, a broken egg the size of a boulder sat cracked open.

“We buried it. It clawed its way out,” the Shaman said.

Red’s eyes narrowed. “Something was born here...?”

“No. Something woke up,” she corrected.

---

Whispers of the North

“North of here,” the chief growled, “is the Sky-Burnt Ruins. We do not go there anymore.”

“Why?” Blackstorm asked.

“Because something walks there now. Something we thought we buried.”

Darkeran’s fists clenched. His voice was low. “It’s him.”

“Who?”

“My rage… given form.”

---

Nightfall. The Dream Returns.

That night, the jungle howled. But inside Darkeran’s hut, only silence screamed.

He dreamed again.

Not of the village.

Not of his parents.

But of a battlefield soaked in ash and bone. Variant after variant—of himself—torn to pieces. Their faces twisted in terror.

Above them, a figure stood—burning with red lightning and molten flesh. A crown of horns. Fangs. A roar that shattered dimensions.

The Dinoking.

The beast with his face—but none of his humanity.

Darkeran sat up in the dark, breath ragged.

And far, far away in the northern ruins, a creature opened its crimson eyes.

The wind carried a whisper:

> “Soon.”