Dry Bones Game Novels & Stories

"Remember, you're with us now." Elora squeezed her hand in return, grateful for the comfort but still acutely aware of the dangers that lingered just outside their perception. The shadows of the trees loomed tall and dark, whispering with the wind as though they held secrets of their own. “Just over this hill,” George instructed, picking up the pace. “The cabin will be on the other side.” As they crested the slope, the cabin came into view—a modest structure framed by tall pines, with a weathered roof and a faint glow flickering through the windows. It looked inviting in the midst of the storm, a beacon amidst the uncertainty of their lives.

My fingers rested on the keyboard, unmoving. Because he wasn’t wrong, but instead of answering, I changed the subject. “You should focus on your work, Mr. Woods.” “Drake,” he corrected. I stared at the single word longer than I should have. “Drake,” I repeated softly under my breath, as if testing how it felt on my tongue. Obviously, just the sound of his name makes me shiver both in fear and emotional excitement. I locked my phone after that, placing it gently on my chest as I exhaled slowly.

His response was a dull smile but inside, his thoughts were darker than the words he let slip. “If you’re playing me, Amira… if this is all some game, if you’re the snake Rhea claims you are… I’ll cut the smile off your lips before you ever use it against me again. And I’ll bury you so deep in the ground no one will ever whisper your name.”

Nero was about to say something else as they reached the final step, but the sight stopped Nero cold. Connor lay sprawled on the filthy floor of his cell, his once defiant body now convulsed in death. His lips were blue, with foam crusted at the corners of his mouth. His open eyes stared into nothingness, bloodshot, and clouded with the dull sheen of poison. His skin had a deathly pale colour like those bodies you found at the morgue with blue and green streaks along his distorted skin. For a long, tense beat, the dungeon was silent except for the drip-drip of water from the stone ceiling. The guards were anxiously waiting for the storm they were sure was going to break loose.

I had thought I would calmly expose his lies, but my body couldn't help but tremble as I spoke. "You disgust me! Since that's the case, I'm done playing this game. Go, be happy with her." Shane didn't expect me to know the truth, and he couldn't even form a proper sentence. "W-What do you mean, you're done playing this game?" "I'll leave this world. I won't appear in front of you anymore." A trace of panic appeared on Shane's face. He clenched his fists, but with so many people around, he still forced a smile. "That's got to be a bluff! Your mission's not complete yet, so your sister will die!"

Bo said seriously. “Really? And what do you know about Jericho?” “Jericho is this crazy ass white dude that always gets the job done. He doesn’t even blink, man. He kills you so quick you don’t even know you dead,” he said and I laughed. “Word is he’s ice cold too, doesn’t feel a thing and he can get real creative. You know him?” “Yeah, I know him,” I said. “His last job paid nine hundred.” Bo’s eyes widened in shock. “No shit? Nine hundred? Damn, man.”

he said, and suddenly the air felt strange. Everyone around me started whispering, turning to each other with wide eyes and open mouths. I froze. The Mate Games. I’ve heard stories, like everyone else. Old tales. Fables meant for children. Girls pulled from villages to compete for the hand of a royal heir. Magic and power and fate all tangled into one big, unbelievable mess. But that’s all they were. Stories. Until now. “They say the heir has the rarest kind of wolf,” a woman beside me whispered to her friend. “Unbound. Untouched by bond. Free.”

And at the edge of a glade where no path had ever existed, the ground opened. No explosion. No quake. Just silence and then the trees parted to reveal something ancient. A tree made entirely of bones. It towered like a monument to forgotten gods its branches skeletal, its bark a fusion of ribs, spines, and skulls grown into unnatural curves. The marrow glowed faintly with violet light. From its roots oozed a dark ichor that hissed as it touched the earth, burning runes into the moss. “The Bone Tree,” Rowan whispered, eyes wide.

They are killing everything around me. I clenched my golden fist. "I am the Statue in the desert," I realized. "And they are making sure there is nothing left to look at." THE OFFER (The Deep) Damian watched the red dust drift up the shaft. "You're starving them," Damian said to the Skeleton. "I am pickling them," the Skeleton corrected. "Dry meat lasts longer." The Skeleton looked at Damian. "Your son is strong. He filtered the pool. But can he filter the rain? The wind? The

"I dislike silly brain games." He got a little closer to me before saying, "I can promise you that this is not a game." Pedro always seems to leave a trail of dead bodies behind him. A few seconds passed, and the atmosphere shifted in an indefinable manner, yet it remained tense and agitated. And then, quite suddenly, Jerome's demeanor mellowed, quite similarly to how it had done in the hotel room. I don't want you to join the ranks of those people.