Near a swamp, two human figures could be seen moving under the dense fog. Their movements were only minimal, not disturbing the other creatures that could be lurking around the swamp.
It was a quiet night, as was mostly the case here. The bubbles popping at short intervals in the swamp was the only indication that life was once present in this area. One wouldn't think that though if the only movements were caused by the wind.
With the breeze only blowing softly, the dense fog was not getting blown away, however, the two figures were swaying from a tree branch, making the wood creak. The rope that was hanging them two feet off the ground was almost frayed. Just a few sways would surely make these two humans, now corpses, fall on the wet ground.
They were probably not even acquainted. Fate had just led them both to choose to die here on their own terms. Soon, both of them would just be another part of this infertile land.
The scene was a lot different from the one Ling and Maga had seen in the yellow 'haze' desert. Like what Mayari had told them earlier, this swamp was a recently formed desert, caused by the deaths and despair of the suicide victims.
They could still see the remains of the recently dead. Their flesh were either rotting or the remaining bones were already partially burried under the ground. Surely, more were lost under the soil or their dust taken by the softly blowing wind.
That was a disgusting thought. What if someone had actually breathed in those remains? Fortunately, Mayari had already warned the two young ones to keep their shields up, even against the fog.
In a single line, the two people and one dragon continued to walk on the muddy pathway, their shoes, bare paws in the case of the dragon, squishing on the wet ground. They were distracted by that wood creaking earlier, but it was just the same view, another dead body, or bodies in this case.
Since the three were trying to avoid falling into the swamps on both sides of the path, Mayari was in front, leading the two while still explaining the area. "The fog had already thickened here but we still had to go deeper, past that darker fog at least." He stopped to check if the two behind him knew were he was pointing at. "That was where the we can collect the bigger stones too."
Of course, they had already collected enough from the yellow 'haze'—especially Ling and Maga, since they had reached far deeper in that 'haze'. They had carried back several large stones for the troupe, taking those out too when they left that area.
It had already been two days since these three separated from the rest of their group. The others probably returned to the shore by now, and would eventually reach the Sikat troupe's camp to deliver the stones. Now, Mayari only needed to guide these two for their practice, but that didn't mean they still couldn't collect more stones.
As the three continued to step forward, they finally reached the boundary where the fog started to turn darker. The squishy sounds of their footsteps stopped, muffled by the heavy atmosphere of the place.
It felt like their ears were bombarded by a huge pressure, like they were suddenly submerged underwater. Still following behind Mayari, Ling decided to inhale sharply to make sure that he could still breath.
Immediately, he realized that that was a bad decision. Stopping his footsteps, he had to suppress the bile rising from his throat as he covered both his mouth and nose with his hands. The rotting smell in this area was way worse than the path they were walking at earlier.
Squinting his eyes now to see, Ling noticed that the man he was following was still walking. He then tried to call out to Mayari in front of him, but he realized that he couldn't open his mouth. Another surge of bile has threatened to go up! If only he could use his 'mist' to shield the smell too!
That was when Ling noticed that his friend, who was supposed to be behind him, has also stopped walking. With his ears muffled, he wasn't able to hear that Maga was already retching a meter behind him.
Without another choice, Ling let out a ball of 'mist' and threw it to hit Mayari on the back to get his attention. Mayari almost tripped from the force. He turned around angrily, about to scold the boy behind him. But then, his expression changed to surprise when he saw the scene behind him. Under the dense fog, a boy had both hands covering his face while a dragon was on all fours, casting out its meal.
Confused, Mayari was about to ask what the problem was as he walked back. But when he opened his mouth, he suddenly had a thought. "Damn!" he said with a slap on his forehead, "I'm sorry. I forgot to remind you about the smell. Don't worry. You'll get used to it soon."
Ling and Maga were speechless. Or more like, they literally couldn't speak. They had to wait for half an hour to 'get used to it', as the old man had said, but their eyes were still watery as they glared at the old man.
Mayari ignored their looks. When he saw that the two were not going to vomit anymore, he turned around and continued walking. Helpless, Ling and Maga just stared at each other and soon followed.
After a few steps, Ling caught a slight movement and light in his periphery. "Uncle, what's that?" He pointed at the light floating above a swamp.
Mayari stopped to look. "Oh, that's a will-o'-the-wisp. That means we can stop here. You can start searching for stones, but avoid touching those. We're only here to collect and have you experience another desert since we don't know what you'll experience in the Limaw Sea."
"But what is a will-o'-the-wisp? Why can't we touch it?" Ling asked when the older man didn't continue explaining and just crouched down and started looking on the ground. Maga also stopped staring at the ground, interested with that light.
"Hmm? Oh, those were gases or something. I forgot the science of it." Mayari said distractedly. Then, his eyes lit up. He looked up at the two, smiling and looking like he had another story to tell.
Mayari lowered his voice as he spoke. "However, there were stories going around. Stories that were once a warning to little kids, but adults still avoided those lights." A pause as two heads lowered closer to his, before he continued. "They said that those were souls! The souls of the dead!"
Two sharp inhales were heard during another pause, followed by coughs. Fortunately, there was no vomit included this time.
Disappointed by the reactions he got, Mayari just watched the two until they stopped, then continued the story but without inflection this time. "Anyway, the 'mist' from the despair and pain of those who had died here could have made it. You might be possessed by their emotions, so, yeah, don't touch it." Waving his hand, Mayari just finished the story like that and started searching on the ground for stones again. He was disappointed that his horror story was interrupted by those coughs.
Ling and Maga were left speechless again. They only looked helplessly at each other, then, a second after, walked around to also start their search. It wasn't like they could change the older man's personality. However, their eyes kept shifting to that light, curious.
That was why they noticed that the light was looking bigger and bigger. Ling stood up from his crouching position while Maga just raised its head, squiting their eyes in the direction of the light.
Earlier, it was just a dot from their distance, flickering softly, but now, it was the size of a palm, flickering more rapidly. To Ling's surprise, it was not just moving in place but going towards them albeit slowly. That was one of the reasons why it was suddenly bigger.
"Uh.. Uncle?"
"Hmm?"
The light kept moving, increasing the speed of its flutter. This time, Ling and Maga noticed that the ball was not a big one but was composed of smaller lights, still moving towards them.
"That light was moving."
Mayari had his eyes on the rice grain-sized rock in his hand, thinking that the area they found was abundant of these big stones. He was distracted as he replied, "It was moving earlier too. Don't worry."
"No, uncle, it's moving towards us and there were more of them."
The wonder in that vouce finally got Mayari's attention. Eyebrows curling, he raised his head in time to see the will-o'-the-wisps separating from each other slowly. The lights stopped moving, then darted forward faster than before.
"O-kay. Run!"
Keeping his shield up, Mayari ran to the direction where they came from but Ling, together with Maga, went deeper into the fog. When Mayari looked behind him, he was exasperated when he realized that the lights were only chasing the two.
He stopped running and shouted, "Ling, Maga, go here! They might not follow us if we went to the less foggy areas! Remember to keep your shields up." Then, he sent a 'mist' ball to try to slow down the will-o'-the-wisps.
Hearing the shout, Ling and Maga changed directions, going to where the older man was standing at, the will-o'-the-wisps still following them.
That was when they noticed another group of lights coming from another direction. That would mean they had to avoid that too. The two moved together in another direction but the other group of lights were then closer to them.
Ling couldn't think of another way to escape those. He had also tried to throw a 'mist' ball to see if his 'mist' could stop the lights. To his surprise, it only managed to block one, but a few others soon moved after to dart to his 'mist' ball until it disintegrated. The same happened to Mayari's ball. That was a good example of what would happen to their shields then.
"Just don't let it touch you! Still keep your shields up!" Another shout from Mayari, as if they needed a reminder.
But then, Ling had a thought. He stared at Maga's eyes to see that they were thinking the sane thing. He then removed all his shields, converging it to his feet. That made him ran faster and Maga followed his example.
It was a given from the title that Ling would still meet a misfortune. When the two were about to increase their speed, the two groups of will-o'-the-wisps behind them also converged, hence, they were actually faster than the two.
Right before they reached Mayari's position, a bright light flashed behind them, and then, their visions became dark.