The Black Desert stretched endlessly before them a land of swirling ash, blistering sun, and shadows that whispered. As far as Ayọ̀kúnlé could see, there was nothing but dunes shaped like the backs of slumbering beasts. But deep within this forsaken expanse lay the Ruins of Ọ̀run, their final destination, where the last relic the Bone Relic awaited.
The party had changed since the Lake of Reflections. Each wore the weight of their truths silently. Ayọ̀kúnlé led, his eyes fixed on the horizon, his thoughts still clouded by the vision from the Relic of Truth himself in a crown of darkness.
"What if that vision wasn't just a warning," he whispered to Adérónké as they rode side by side atop their sandwalkers, "but a prophecy?"
Adérónké tightened her grip on the reins. "Then we'll change fate. We've done it once before."
Behind them, Tùndé and the others rode in silence, the heat bearing down like a living weight. Every step into the desert felt like a march into the mouth of a myth.
That night, as they made camp in a narrow canyon of black stone, they saw them.
Shadows.
At first, just shapes flickering at the edge of their vision. Then movement quick, jerking, unnatural. Tùndé unsheathed his blade.
"Scouts," he murmured. "Rányìn's monsters."
They didn't attack that night, but everyone kept their weapons close.
The next day brought ruin.
A storm brewed from nowhere, the sky darkening with unnatural speed. Lightning cracked overhead. And then, from the dunes, came the monsters.
Winged and horned, with leathery skin stretched tight over bone, their eyes glowed with molten gold. They shrieked as they descended.
Ayọ̀kúnlé stood his ground and raised the Fire Relic. It pulsed, emitting a fiery wall that shielded the party.
"Now!" he yelled.
Tùndé and the warriors counterattacked. Arrows flew. Blades rang. Flames danced. Adérónké fought beside Ayọ̀kúnlé, her blade a blur of silver.
But the monsters kept coming.
A massive beast broke through the fire barrier and roared. It lunged for Ayọ̀kúnlé. He raised the relic again, but this time it didn't respond.
The beast tackled him.
They crashed into the sand, rolling, claws tearing at his armor. Ayọ̀kúnlé grunted, reaching for his dagger then the monster suddenly screamed.
Adérónké stood above it, her blade buried deep in its skull.
She yanked it free and helped him up. "You owe me again."
He smiled weakly. "I'm starting to lose count."
After what felt like hours, the creatures finally retreated, their bodies dissolving into ash.
The party regrouped bruised, bleeding, but alive.
"They're getting bolder," Tùndé said, panting.
"They know we're close," Ayọ̀kúnlé replied.
By the third day, the landscape began to change.
The dunes gave way to jagged cliffs of ivory bone. The ground turned white and brittle, crunching underfoot like dry parchment. In the distance, ruins emerged towers toppled, archways shattered, and temples sunken halfway into the earth.
This was Ọ̀run.
And something was wrong.
There was no wind. No sounds. Even their footsteps felt muffled. As if the air itself mourned.
They passed statues of warriors, their faces twisted in agony, and murals half-buried in sand depicting a once-great city ruled by beings of both bone and spirit.
"This place wasn't destroyed by war," Adérónké whispered. "It was consumed."
They reached the heart of the ruins: a circular arena surrounded by ancient thrones. At the center stood a single figure a towering skeletal guardian in armor made of obsidian and gold.
The Bone Lord.
It did not move.
Ayọ̀kúnlé stepped forward. "We seek the Bone Relic."
The guardian's eyes flared with blue fire.
"To take the relic," it said in a voice like cracking tombstones, "you must give what you fear to lose most."
Ayọ̀kúnlé froze. "What does that mean?"
"Sacrifice," Adérónké murmured. "It means sacrifice."
The Bone Lord raised its sword. "Prove your worth."
A duel began.
The guardian moved with terrifying grace. Its blade sang, forcing Ayọ̀kúnlé back with every blow. He dodged and parried, calling upon the Fire Relic but its flames barely scratched the ancient bone.
Adérónké leapt in to help, but the guardian summoned a wall of bones, trapping her and the others outside the arena.
"This is my trial!" Ayọ̀kúnlé shouted.
The duel raged. Blow for blow. Blood for blood. Until at last, Ayọ̀kúnlé stood above the fallen guardian, sword trembling in his hand.
"I don't want to lose her," he whispered.
The Bone Lord looked up, its flame flickering. "Then you know your cost."
A light engulfed the arena. The bone wall crumbled. In the center, floating above the guardian's remains, hovered the Bone Relic a black orb veined with white energy.
Ayọ̀kúnlé took it. And felt everything change.
The relic whispered to him.
You will sacrifice love for duty. You will bleed for a throne that may not be yours. You will die, and yet not die.
The vision vanished.
Adérónké ran to him. "Are you okay?"
He couldn't lie. "No. But we have it."
Tùndé stepped forward. "Then we go. Rányìn will not wait."
Far to the north, in the sky citadel, Queen Rányìn screamed.
She had felt it the third relic had been claimed.
"Send the entire army," she ordered. "We fly for Odanjo. Burn it to ash."
As her generals bowed and left, she turned to her mirror.
Inside it, Ayọ̀kúnlé's reflection appeared.
"He's stronger than I expected," she mused.
A voice answered from the darkness. "That is why you must corrupt him."
Rányìn smiled. "Oh, I will. When the moment comes… he'll choose me."
At the edge of the ruins, Ayọ̀kúnlé stared into the horizon.
"We have them all," he said. "Fire. Truth. Bone."
Adérónké stood beside him. "Now what?"
"Now we return. And we reclaim Odanjo."
But in his heart, he knew the cost would be more than relics… it would be the people he loved most.
As they left Ọ̀run, the ruins trembled.
Ayọ̀kúnlé paused and turned back.
A flicker of movement just a shimmer in the air. Then gone.
He frowned. "Did you see that?"
Adérónké shook her head. "What did you see?"
"I'm not sure," he muttered. "It felt like… a memory trying to escape."
Behind them, hidden beneath centuries of rubble, a pair of ancient eyes opened slowly.
The Bone Lord was not alone.
To be continued…