A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6751

Jared offered no reply.

His gaze settled ahead, where indistinct shadows loomed through the fog.

They were warped and irregular, resembling dead trees or perhaps the ruins of collapsed buildings.

"Is anyone there?" Master Veridian called tentatively.

His voice carried through the gray expanse, traveling farther and farther, but no echo ever returned.

Something barely perceptible quivered under Jared's boots.

At first it was barely noticeable, a rhythmic pulse like a heartbeat. Then it intensified, rising from the soles of his feet, passing his knees, and shooting up his spine to the crown of his head. It was as though the space itself were a living creature drawing breath.

"We've drawn its attention."

Jared kept his voice low. "Whatever it is, it knows we've come in."

They continued forward. The gray fog slowly closed behind them, leaving no sign that it had ever been disturbed.

After walking for about half an hour, they emerged into an open clearing.

Countless white objects lay scattered across it. At first Jared took them for stones, but when he approached, he saw that they were bones.

They carpeted the black ground, some intact and others shattered, discarded as carelessly as rubbish.

Some of the skeletons seemed several thousand years old, their bones weathered and blackened.

Others were relatively intact, with scraps of clothing still clinging to their frames.

Jared crouched beside a well-preserved skeleton near his feet and examined it closely.

A perfectly circular hole pierced its chest. The edges were smooth as glass, as though a burst of intense heat had punched through it in an instant.

A dark brown substance coated the inside of the opening. It had calcified completely, making its original form impossible to identify.

"Are these... all the people sent in as sacrifices?" Gwendolyn's voice trembled slightly.

Jared nodded. "And the members of those expeditions. They all died here."

Master Veridian crouched beside another set of remains and reached out to touch the relatively intact frame.

The instant his fingertip met the skull, a tiny crack sounded, and a split appeared across the bone.

Then the entire skeleton collapsed like running sand into a mound of white powder. Fine ash billowed upward, and not one whole bone remained.

Master Veridian jerked his hand away as though burned. "Holy shit! This thing crumbles at a touch?"

The bones lay across the black ground like dry branches tossed aside.

Jared crouched again and examined several more skeletons. Every one had the same precise circular hole in its chest, with edges as smooth as a mirror, as if a perfectly controlled force had pierced it in a single blow.

Every opening lay in exactly the same place, directly over the center of the heart. Such accuracy was almost inconceivable.

"They weren't merely devoured..." Jared said quietly. "They were killed. One strike each."

Gwendolyn swept a cold, grave gaze across the bones. "If they were sacrifices, why kill them first?"

"The sacrifice was their soul, not their body."

Jared rose and stared into the deeper fog. "That thing only wanted their souls. Their bodies held no value for it."

Master Veridian rubbed his prickling arms and lowered his voice. "Mr. Chance, we should leave while we can... The longer I look at this place, the worse it feels."

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