On rare occasions, my stamina would be fully depleted but I could feel myself nearing my limits. I don't know exactly how long we've been walking, it felt like both minutes and hours. The sun above hasn't moved much.
Outside of the map I carried with me, all I had was a compas which was rendered useless. The hand was rotating rapidly in circles. I placed it back in my bag and turned back towards Ghost and Zeraf.
Zeraf's tail was stuck to her leg which shivered ever so slightly. She never was used to these kinds of situations, I played plenty of scare pranks on her growing up for this reason. But this is the most scared I've seen her. Ghost shivered a little too, not a usual sight to see a ghost shiver in an eerie environment.
(''Shit-'') My foot throbbed from the hit to the stump. On the odd occasion, some stumps were too small to see through the fog, resulting in me kicking them. If I knew this was going to happen I wouldn't have offered to lead the group.
Sweat built up on my face after all this walking. It clung to my skin instead of evaporating because of the humidity of the fog. I'm sure Zeraf felt this too. If a fight broke out her flames would be nearly ineffective in this damp environment. Her martial arts and speed could still outmatch any amateur adventurer or C-tier creature.
The toads from before were hardly even D-tier. A travelling merchant examined her and gave her a rating of B in terms of power. Once we get to Bitum we should head to the guild in order to receive a full evaluation.
(''Ghh-'') A spine-chilling wave ran down my back. It was here again. Those eyes that stalked us before, this time only….they were much closer. I swear my eyes were playing tricks on me while staring intently into the thick fog I could make out moving figures.
(''Are you alright Abby? You've been very jumpy since we entered the fog. I agree this place is creepy but I am getting worried about you.'') Ghost voiced her concerns, she was totally right. Why was I hiding this from them? We are a party, and I should really tell them anything that could pose as a risk.
(''Actually, ever since Zeraf and I left our hometown, there has been this… this entity following us. At first, I thought it was nothing more than my imagination but it kept coming back, just staring from a distance. Its eyes bearing down on me.'') I spilled everything on my mind. They felt slightly relieved after hearing it, or at least they looked like they were. Zeraf hooked her arm around my neck and rubbed her knuckles against my head.
(''You need to learn to rely on others young Abby! We are a team, depend on us as we depend on you.'') She took a step back and stretched her fist out in the middle of the three of us. Ghost and I looked at each other with wide smiles, finishing off the group fist bump.
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Hours dragged on by. I was starting to feel the full front of the fatigue engraving itself into my legs. Ghost had changed her lower half into a spectral tail. Zeraf has done training for long walks so I was the only one really affected.
The treeline appeared as far as before. Only thing that had changed was the dark clouds only allowing small amounts of sunlight through. I reached into my bag and pulled out a portable lantern. With a small amount of frin pumped into the crystal, it lit up. The flickers danced against the dense fog.
Throughout this whole walk, the needling stare never left. This time it was different, I wasn't the only one who knew about which gave me a sense of security.
My heart roared, beating with enough strength to rip open a hole in my breast. A tenseness hung in the air on top of the crushing foggy atmosphere. Anyone knew what was to come next. A massacre…
I gripped my shaking hand around the blade strapped to my side. It clattered in the scabbard with each step I took. The tome pulsed with frin from the dark atmosphere. Under normal circumstances, I would practice magical spells, but there was no point in studying when death was looming just out of sight.
Zeraf and Ghost noticed my hands prepared for the battle that is to come. They assumed battle positions and we slowed down. I wanted to make a joke about how quiet it was, but small groans surrounded us. It isn't loud, you would have to really listen to it in order to hear it.
Wait… no, it was slowly growing in intensity. It was very slow but it was worrying nonetheless. Zeraf and Ghost seemed to pick up on it too. Their face contorted into a helpless frown which wasn't far off what was on my face too.
I stretched out my right arm to gather dark frin. It was shaped into a ball of pure darkness, though it wasn't very stable. The sphere is the most stable shape in the wild and the easiest to control. It can't really be used as an attack, it's more of an exercise learned in the beginner volumes of dark incarnate. I was using it as an excuse to calm my nerves.
(''Abby, do you still sense the presence?'') Ghost asked cautiously while darting her head around. Zeraf was using her nose to try and sniff out a scent. Her nose twitched in a particular direction, in a direction I could feel the strongest gaze. (''The presence is close!'')
We stood our ground in preparation for what was to come. Now it was not just me sweating, it was all three of us. It was nearly enough to form a puddle at the base of our feet. We stood in a triangular formation so that no side went unnoticed. I could feel their backs trembling against my own, this situation was horrifying.
The sound of the groaning built up, gaining more and more volume with each minute that passed by. Like a chorus of the undead, it sang a symphony of termination. This was no longer the sunny adventurer I was hoping for, no. It's the beginning of the end, the final chapter. So might as well make it a good one!
We charged forward through the fog, swinging, kicking, and firing spells. Anything to start the looming battle. But no sign of retaliation from the presence. (''What the hell are these noises?!'') Zeraf screamed in annoyance at the ever-rising volume. I wish an answer would come to me, almost begging my brain to remember anything that could come anywhere close to this.
A void of static filled my mind amplified by the chaotic environment tormenting me on the outside. What would a leader do in this instance? How can I protect these two in case of a fight? Questions I had no answers to.
The groaning was pierced by a shrill shriek. Zeraf was grazed by the tip of an arrow. It was a shallow wound, a small amount of blood trickled down the side of her arm. It came out of nowhere, the whistle of the arrow masked by the wall of noise surrounding us. The arrow was not one of wood and steel, it was…made of frin. Shadow frin to be exact.
A shadow user ambushed us? What reason could they have? No, it can't be. A shadow user who can control water and wind doesn't exist. A monster maybe? That also wouldn't make sense, there are no dungeons around this area.
Ghost air sealed the wound for Zeraf. It acted as a temporary fix until we escape this situation. The ground shook from the chorus. My knee met the damp grassy dirt. One hand on my knee and the other on my sword. I could feel it. It was coming.
It ceased. The overbearing wails of agony stopped. It was dead calm. An eerie sense of tranquility settled over me. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of my face, dripping off my chin.
Ahead of us was a large clearing that had not been there previously. The only clearing in this foggy wasteland, the only place you could see anything. Devoid of grass and tree stumps.
She stood there alone. A tall horned lady in the middle of the clearing stared at us. She wore a pitch-black tuxedo which looked clean in comparison to her long cloak which was dirtied and torn at the bottom. Her arms were hidden inside the cloak but her smile was wide. It revealed serrated teeth, sharper than any beast in the wild.
Her teeth separated and out came a series of choir-like voices. It was a mix of angelic and demonic voices all in one (''Hello-'')
(''And goodbye.'')