Cold.
That was the first sensation to register in my waking mind. A damp, biting cold pierced right through me.
I attempted to flex my fingers. I listened to a hollow, dry rattling sound echoing in the pitch-black cavern. I slowly angled my vision downward to inspect my hands.
My flesh was entirely absent. Only bare, yellowed bone remained.
I tried to draw a panicked breath. I failed completely. I lacked lungs to hold the air. The memory of a fatal car crash flashed through my mind. The blinding headlights and the crushing impact felt distant and muted.
I was dead. That much was blindingly obvious.
Panic began to claw at the edges of my consciousness. I tried to swallow a nervous lump in my throat. I had no throat. I possessed no beating heart to race in my chest. I was a consciousness trapped inside a brittle cage of ribs.
Before the horror could fully paralyze me, a translucent blue screen shattered the darkness. The glowing rectangle hovered directly in front of my hollow eye sockets.
[System Initializing...] [Host Soul Bound.] [Race: Skeleton] [Level: 1] [HP: 10/10] [Strength: 2 | Agility: 3 | Intelligence: 10]
I stared blankly at the floating text. Ten health points. Two strength. Even without fully comprehending the rules of this strange magic, those numbers felt pitifully low.
I reached out with my right hand to touch the floating panel. My bony fingertips passed cleanly through the blue light. The screen remained anchored in my field of vision. It followed my gaze wherever I looked.
I needed to move. I needed to assess my surroundings and find a way out of this crushing darkness.
I braced my right hand against the stone floor and attempted to push myself upright. A sudden, jarring resistance stopped me dead.
I turned my skull to the left. A massive slab of jagged stone pinned my left forearm firmly to the cavern floor. A massive cave-in must have collapsed this section of the tunnel before my soul ever bound to these bones. Heavy boulders and crushed stalactites littered the surrounding area.
I yanked my trapped arm upward. A sickening pop echoed in the silence. The pale bone of my forearm fractured under the pressure. A strange magical energy pulsed around the joint, acting as a bizarre connective tissue to keep the limb attached to my elbow.
[-1 HP] [Warning: Left arm structurally compromised.]
A jolt of phantom pain registered in my mind. It was not the physical agony of tearing muscle. It was a deep, resonating ache right in the core of my marrow.
My health dropped to nine. I realized instantly that my physical form was incredibly fragile. A few more wrong moves would shatter me entirely.
I sat still and evaluated my trap. The boulder weighed several hundred pounds. With a strength stat of two, lifting it was a physical impossibility. Digging the stone floor beneath my arm was equally futile.
I was completely defenseless and anchored to the ground.
Scratch. Scratch.
The subtle sound of claws scraping against wet stone made my skull snap toward the shadows.
The noise of my struggle had disturbed the silence of the cavern. Something was moving in the gloom just beyond my line of sight.
I strained my vision. The darkness seemed to part slightly. Crawling out of a deep fissure in the rock wall was a beast the size of a large dog. Its patchy gray fur hung in matted clumps from its rotting body. Saliva dripped from its elongated, serrated front teeth.
A small line of red text hovered above its head.
[Corpse Rat: Level 2]
Its beady crimson eyes locked onto my skeletal frame. It paused to sniff the damp air. It did not see a threat. It smelled the magical marrow housed inside my fragile bones. It saw a free meal.
The rat let out a vicious hiss. It began to circle my trapped body.
I twisted my torso to follow its movements. I had no weapons. I possessed zero defensive spells. My left arm remained crushed under the heavy stone.
The beast lunged forward to test my defenses. I swung my free right arm in a wild arc. My bony knuckles connected with the rat's snout. The impact sent a painful vibration up my shoulder.
The Corpse Rat skittered backward. It shook its head and snarled. The minor blow had only angered it. It crouched low to the ground and prepared for a lethal strike.
Survival instinct hijacked my thoughts. I could not fight off a feral beast with only one hand while pinned to the floor. I needed mobility. I needed to break free from the boulder immediately.
I looked at my crushed left forearm. The glowing blue text still hovered in my peripheral vision, reminding me of my fading health points.
The rat leaped off the ground. Its jaws opened wide to snap my cervical vertebrae.
I grabbed the splintered end of my ruined left radius bone with my right hand. I planted my feet against the stone floor for leverage. I pulled upward with every ounce of my meager strength.
The magical connective tissue snapped violently. I ripped the bone free from my own body.
[-3 HP]
Agony flared in my mind. My health dropped to six. I collapsed backward onto the stone floor, completely detached from the boulder at last.
I rolled to the side just as the rat landed in the spot where my neck had been a fraction of a second prior.
I scrambled to my feet. I gripped my newly amputated, sharpened arm bone like a crude dagger. The rat spun around to face me again.
Suddenly, the blue system screen flashed violently. The calm blue light shifted into a deep, bloody crimson. The new text scrolled rapidly across my vision.
[Condition Met.] [Desperation detected. Activating Hidden Class Protocol.] [The Bone Forger System has awakened.]
I ignored the flashing text. I had no time to read the words.
The giant rat launched itself at my chest. I planted my feet firmly on the uneven stone. I thrust my makeshift bone shiv forward right as the rotting jaws closed in.