NOVEL WEB Chapter 17: Chapter 17 — Bone Storm
Location: Outskirts of Ashtashram, Abandoned Sector D
Date: October 6, 2029
Time: 5:27 PM
The wind changed before the storm arrived.
It started with smell.
Not water.
Not rain.
But bone dust.
Yash was the first to notice it.
He stepped outside the shelter's west gate, looked at the sky, and saw something wrong:
The clouds weren't grey.
They were pale white — almost… ivory.
Inside, Rishav was boiling rice.
Mira was fixing a comm unit with Khushi.
Ankita was checking the makeshift fence.
None of them saw it coming.
Not until the first shard hit the ground.
A crack.
Then a scream.
The sky split open.
Not with thunder — but with a shriek.
And from that shriek fell shards of bone.
Shaped like arrows.
Jagged like teeth.
Falling faster than rain.
Yash shouted:
"Inside! Now!"
But it was too late for two people near the edge.
One was struck in the shoulder.
One… in the neck.
The ash barrier flickered, then collapsed.
This was not weather.
This was a curse.
Ankita dragged the wounded in.
Mira sealed the main door.
Khushi hugged a blanket, whispering.
Yash stood at the door, eyes glowing — ash rising around him like a shield.
And then…
he saw them.
Figures inside the storm.
Walking slowly.
Unaffected.
Long-limbed.
Wrapped in rags.
No faces.
Only bone masks.
"Rakshasa-born," he whispered.
"Stormwalkers."
They didn't attack.
They didn't speak.
They just stood.
Watched.
And after an hour…
they left.
The storm followed them — like a beast on a leash.
When the wind finally died, and the ground was covered in shattered fragments, Mira picked one up.
Her voice shook.
"This isn't animal bone."
"This is human spine."
Later that night, Yash went to the gate again.
The ground had symbols etched in ash and blood.
One word, repeated three times:
KALINAYA.
KALINAYA.
KALINAYA.
The fracture was awake.
And the Rakshasa-Viras weren't hiding anymore.
They were testing.
Probing the edge of Ashtashram's faith.