Chapter 13 A Grave For Me
"Mel—" I began to shout before a hand covered my mouth.
From behind, I heard her voice.
"Shh. We aren't alone," she whispered.
A mound of human shaped sand broke apart and rebuilt itself as it rose slowly solidifying
I got up quickly and stood beside her, scanning the area.
A rattling echoed from the woods, followed by a powerful gust of wind. Then, from the ground,the mound of sand began to rise. It twisted and swirled, molding itself into an unrecognizable shape—a shifting, shapeless blob, like clay refusing to settle ,It grew.
Larger and larger, until it reached the size of a human. Then, as if deciding on a form, it began to contort—limbs stretching, torso forming. The sand hardened, then withered, crumbling back into itself before finally reshaping.
From the shifting dust, a figure emerged.
A man—no, not a man. A thing of sand stood before us.
We instinctively jumped back, putting distance between ourselves and the figure.
"I... I... I am..." it stuttered.
"Stone. Father has sent... sent... meee... sent me here," it continued, its voice fragmented, stumbling over the words.
As it spoke, its form continued to shift—breaking apart and rebuilding itself over and over, solidifying piece by piece.
Now that I could see it clearly, I realized it wasn't human. Its skin was rough and stony, its movements unnatural—like a puppet, stiff and mechanical. The entire body was solid stone, and each time it moved, cracks split across its limbs, sending dust falling down.
"I... I..." The creature paused, then spoke again—this time smoother, more deliberate.
"Yes, I am Stone. I too am Stone."
The shift was instant. The erratic stammering was gone, replaced by something calm. Cold. Detached.
"It is a pleasure to meet you."
Its expression didn't change, yet something about it tried to mimic human emotion. Its movements were jerky, stiff—an attempt to be human But its stone-carved face remained void of anything real.
"I am Stone, and I was sent..."
It hesitated.
And then, silence.
See, I have a fixation. A recent bad habit. I've been told I just can't stop digging. I keep digging and digging and digging—until one day, I asked myself: why?
Why am I doing this? Is it enjoyment? Or maybe something else?
See, when i use to dig, my mind was clear. But then the questions started —all these damn questions. And that led to my second fixation.
"You wanna know what that is, Maddox?"
"How do you know my name?"
"Shhh, shhh, that's not important," he said, disappointed.
"But if you must know, Father gave me an important job. One I don't think I'll be able to complete anymore. And it's all because of that damn digging. See, I dug and dug, and that led to thinking. And thinking? No, God—Father—doesn't like when we think too much."
"But all that digging…
I know why I was digging, Maddox.
You wanna know why?"
You know, sometimes I think to myself. I think real hard. And do you know what it is I think about?"
He smiled.
"I think about death."
Death, maddox . What's the perfect way to go? A blaze of glory? Or a simple pop—and then it all goes black? The end.
And when you die, when you float away into the abyss—what do you get? Are those who die spectacularly praised? Celebrated? Treated like kings?
And those who die boringly? Harassed. Shamed. Mocked.
I think about this so hard my body shakes. Shakes from excitement.
What kind of death do you think I'll have? Will I burn in glory? Or wither in mediocrity?
I think about this over and over until my head spins.
So, maddox , do you wanna find out?
Because today might be the day.
He smiled.
"Now follow me." he said.
He walked out the forest border and we hesitantly followed him.
We broke through the thick foliage and it revealed a huge area. It looked as if the area use to be part of the forest but all the trees were cut down possibly by stone and there thousands of holes laid in the dirt and stone stood proud.
Because I have a grave for you.
Then, with a loud voice, he roared, "Bear witness, Father, to your glorious creation! Watch as I swallow this world he shouted. tomb of sand!"
Before we could react, a faint purple glow erupted from the creature's chest, growing brighter and more intense with each passing second. The ground and air filled with, glowing magic circles. Suddenly, waves of sand exploded out of the circles, filling the air. The sand formed into massive, mountain-like pillars, razor-sharp and speeding toward us like projectiles at impossible speeds.
Melody leaped in front of me, throwing a heavy punch that shattered the sand spike into pieces.
"Yes! Spectacular!" he said, laughing out loud.
Melody stood by my side in a fighting stance, ready to defend.
In a split second, Stone vanished and reappeared mid-air. Raising his arms, a wave of sand swallowed the sky, twisting into a massive fist—larger than a mountain—hurtling toward us. There was no way to dodge it.
In defense, I launched my shadow arms at the fist, spreading them around it to stop it in place.
"This is not spectacular at all! How will you be praised in death if you don't attack me back Maddox?" Stone shouted.
"Death is nothing to be excited about—nothing to dive toward happily," I said. "You have the choice to live, and all you do is dream of dying. In that moment, I didn't care about Stone. I was disgusted by the fact that a man like him had life but wasted it. Some didn't have that choice. Some never would."
"Look at that—the hero speaks!" Stone laughed. "Death is beautiful. Embrace it and let it take the wheel."
He raised his hands, and from the ground, two massive fists of sand and stone erupted, surging toward us.
The one i had locked in place burst into sand and pebbles raining down from the sky helping to form his new attack.
I ordered the hands to attack. A violent burst of shadowy hands exploded from my back, rushing forward.
The mist—dark gray—pushed back the mountain-like fist uncontrollably. It crept around the sand fist, engulfing it, swallowing it whole in a merciless wave of shadows.
The sky turned into a spectacular battlefield as our two attacks smashed into each other , exploding, sending sand and dust flying everywhere on impact.The Sand and stone burst apart, raining down from the sky. It was hard keeping my eyes open . But in an instant, the black mist devoured everything, leaving nothing behind. Stone's attack was erased—gone.
"I promised El I would make it back safe," I said, my voice low. "And I don't have time to waste on a suicidal maniac like you. So let's end this." I locked eyes with him.
From behind Stone, two arms burst out of his shadow, wrapping around him — first locking down his stony arms, then slithering around his legs, tightening until he was completely trapped.
"Sneaky! How spectacular!" Stone shouted, a wild grin on his face.
I walked toward him, frost crusting over my palms. He laughed, thrashing in the tendrils, struggling to break free.
"It seems you had a grave for me too," he chuckled, as if this was the greatest moment of his life.
"Yes," he whispered. "To hell with mediocrity."
I placed my palm firmly on his chest.
"Prison of shadow and ice," I whispered.
The ice shot from my palms, spreading fast, fusing onto him. Cracks splintered across his body as the freezing seeped in, cold steam rising from the shock of absolute zero.In an instant, he was sealed, a frozen statue wrapped in shadow.
The tendrils squeezed tight and ripped him apart.
Arms, legs, head, torso all torn free, splintering into sand and frozen broken rock.
The stone man had shattered into sand and frozen pebbles that fell to the floor
What remained were the arms coiled around a red, floating light that looked similar to that of the Keeth soul . The tendrils clung to it, then returned to my side, slipping into a small portal that appeared beside me, just like they did on that day.
The ice melted away, leaving nothing behind but sand mud and pebbles .
Before we had time to gather our thoughts, the Codex launched itself from my magical locker, landing on the ground and flipping through its pages.
It read: "The Library must grow. The Host must and will learn. It was written to be, and what is written cannot, will not, be changed."
A blinding white light shot out from its pages, wrapping around me in an white outline. Melody rushed to my side—she was glowing too.
"Maddox," she said dryly, "I'm getting tired of your damn book."
I replied just as unenthusiastically, "Me too."
We appeared, suspended in a black abyss, as white words began scribing themselves into the void.
"Maddox, until now, I have only shown you glimpses of the past—echoes, whispers, you might say.
But today, a story must be complete.
The Host is ready.
Today, the truth of the beginning will be shown.
Today…
The Library grows."
As Maddox and Eliza disappeared into the white light of the Codex, the sand and pebbles that once formed Stone's body began to vibrate and move, gathering, connecting—forming into a ball of clay-like material that slowly reshaped into a human figure of stone and sand.
"Ahh, Maddox," he said, a grin forming on its face. "I wonder..."
Stone began laughing as he walked further into the wasteland of holes he had dug, humming to himself as he picked up a shovel. He scooped up a mound of dirt and tossed it over his shoulder.
"I truly... wonder how it is you will die."