The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Nyktos himself who bestowed the power on the bones of the
dead. An act he carried out when he ruled over the dead in
the Shadowlands. When he was the Asher, the One who is
Blessed, the Bringer of Death, and the Guardian of Souls.
The Primal God of Common Men and Endings.”
The…the Shadowlands? Ruled over the dead? Nyktos
was the God of Life, King of all the gods. Rhain was the God
of Common Men and Endings. I had never heard of the
Shadowlands before, but with that name alone, it sounded
like a place I didn’t want to learn more about.
“But I digress,” he said, and I saw the hazy dark outline
of a man in the gloom. I squinted, focusing on him, but I…I
sensed nothing from him. “You pull on those bindings, they
will simply tighten. You keep doing it, they will cut through
your flesh and into your bone. Eventually, they will sever
your limbs. Don’t believe me, take a closer look at the one
beside you.”
I didn’t want to look, to take my eyes off the shadowy
form, but I couldn’t help myself. I glanced at the body
beside me and looked down at its side. The skeletal remains
of a hand lay beside it.
Oh, gods.
“Lucky for you, you only carry the blood of the gods in
you. You’re not a deity like them. You would bleed out and
die rather quickly. The deities like the one beside you?” the
man said, and my attention shot back to him. The shadowy
mass was closer now, having stopped at the edges of the
fiery glow. “He…well, he grew weaker and hungrier until his
body started to cannibalize itself. That process alone most
likely took centuries.”
Centuries? I shuddered.
“You must be asking yourself what he could have done
to warrant such a horrid punishment. What did he and the
others lining the walls and in their coffins do?” he asked.
And, yeah, a part of me wondered just that.