Chapter 11: The Bones of the Desert

The sun was hanging low—but in this cursed realm, it never blazed. Instead, it brooded, casting the same dim twilight as always, like a memory too old to be trusted. Shadows stretched long, licking the broken rocks like tongues of regret. The group walked in silence. Tension lay thick, even thicker than the dust hanging in the air. Zayn leaned toward Riven, his voice barely more than a whisper.
“Do you trust him?”
Riven glanced ahead to where Ravaa walked, his golden figure still and glowing.
“No. I trust my blade more than that glowing mystery,” Riven muttered. “And even that breaks sometimes.” They both chuckled dryly. There was no joy in the sound. Just defense. “I say,” Zayn continued, “if he turns, we turn on him first. He’s powerful, yeah, but not invincible.” Ahead, Lilu skipped a step, as if she’d overheard them.
“You guys always whisper like I’m not here,” she said with a pout. Kael walked beside her, his arm resting casually on his sword hilt. He smirked.
“That’s because you never shut up long enough to hear the whispers.” “I heard that!” Ravaa suddenly halted. The group paused behind him. The wind picked up and the sand seemed to moan. Before them stretched a vast wasteland—a desert not made of golden dunes, but of bones. White, sun-bleached corpses as big as fortresses rose from the ground. Skeletal remains of long-dead giants, stacked like discarded gods. Some bones pierced the ground like daggers. Others lay half-buried, twisted in the agony of death. Lilu’s laughter died in her throat. “What… is this place?” Nyra whispered, drawing closer to Riven. Ravaa did not look back.
“This… is the Gravewalk. Corpses of the Titans who rebelled against Rashka. Their punishment was not death—but to sleep endlessly in dust.” Zayn cursed under his breath. “You brought us here?” Kael studied one of the rib cages, big enough to be mistaken for the ruins of a coliseum.
“If these things wake up…” “They won’t,” Ravaa said. But the ground trembled beneath their feet. A long, slow grinding sound tore through the stillness. Then another. From the sand, a monstrous arm rose. And then another. Massive hands, still wrapped in rusted armor, curled into fists as if remembering their purpose. A giant's skull, cracked down the center, tilted back with a scream no throat could make. The Titans were waking. “Dammit!” Zayn shouted, drawing his gun. Riven and Kael followed suit, blades unsheathed in a whisper of metal. “Twenty of them,” Nyra said, eyes scanning. “No—more.” “Lilu—stay behind me!” Kael shouted. “I’m not a child!” she cried, even as she ducked behind a half-buried bone. The giants began to move. Limbs snapped from ancient stiffness. Jaws opened, releasing sounds like stone scraping against bone. They looked like the guardians of a forgotten apocalypse, and they had one goal: destroy the intruders. “Ravaa, do something!” Riven roared. The golden figure closed his eyes. The ground beneath his feet began to glow with runes. He punched the earth. The bones cracked open. A deep hole tore through the desert floor beneath the group’s feet. They plummeted. Sand swallowed them whole. Darkness. Silence. Then— A groan. Kael rolled over, groaning.
“We alive?” “Barely,” Zayn muttered, brushing sand from his hair. “What in the black sky was that?” They were in a tunnel now. Cool. Deep. The kind of ancient that made your skin crawl. Above them, the roar of the awakened giants echoed like a funeral drum. Nyra lit a small fire crystal. “We need to keep moving. They’ll find another way down.” “We can’t outrun giants!” Lilu cried. “No,” Ravaa said, standing calmly and brushing dust from his shoulder. “But we don’t have to.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” Riven asked sharply. Ravaa raised his hand again. The air shimmered. Stairs—made of golden light—unfolded from nothingness above them, reaching toward the sand-cracked sky. Kael blinked. “You could do that the whole time?” Ravaa’s face remained unreadable. “My power is tied to purpose. I do not carry you. I guide you.” “So helpful,” Zayn muttered. The five began to climb. As they reached the surface again, the sunless sky greeted them with wind and the echoes of rage. The giants had returned. More of them. Ten. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred. Skeletons made of nightmares, rising like a tide of bones and wrath. Each one taller than mountains, with eyes of black fire. “RUN!” Riven shouted. They did. The ground thundered beneath their feet. Lilu screamed. Kael grabbed her arm, pulling her forward. “They’re gaining!” Nyra called, looking back. One giant swung a massive bone-club, striking the ground just behind them. The shockwave sent sand flying. Zayn turned mid-run, firing a bolt of red plasma. It hit the creature’s face, exploding one of its flaming eyes. It roared in pain. “That’s for touching my girl!” he yelled, though Lilu would later deny being “his girl.” Ahead, the world fell away. A canyon. No bridge. Just a straight drop into the unknown. “Abyss ahead!” Nyra warned. “No time to stop!” Kael shouted. The five jumped. Mid-air, Lilu screamed. A giant’s hand shot upward and grabbed Nyra mid-flight. “NO!” Riven screamed. Zayn twisted, mid-air, and fired—blasting the giant in the face. The beast howled, dropping her. They all tumbled into the abyss. Darkness again. Silence. Only their gasps. And the memory of a hundred skeletal giants screaming in rage as they fell into shadow.