Sorken and Tamara stood in the park, their voices carrying freely through the late afternoon air. The laughter of children, the distant hum of conversations, and the rustle of leaves formed a tranquil backdrop to their intimate moment.
"We will go to the Caribbean for our wedding and then spend our honeymoon in Switzerland"
Their voices could be easily heard by other people in the park, but at this moment, this was the last thing they cared about as they warped each other in a warm embrace, enough to suffocate anyone, but not them.
"Will we? I thought Sorken would do something so surprising that even my wildest expectations would be surpassed as I would feel like the luckiest bride to exist. " The kind where we two stand below the stars, shouting our vows to each other and there is no one in the world but us"
Sorken looked at the girl in front of him with eyes filled with love and adoration as if she was the most precious thing in this world and for him, she was. The girl who had black glistening eyes and straight auburn hair that fell to her waist, looked at him with tears and a slight smile.
"You know me the best…. You really do… sometimes I wonder… What if I never met you? Will there be someone who would even try to understand me?"
But as he knelt before her, ready to speak, something shifted. His senses sharpened, as if something sinister had crept into their perfect moment.
He glanced up and froze.
From the edge of the park, something unnatural slithered toward them—a creeping white mist, thick and unrelenting, rolling in like a silent wave. It swallowed benches, trees, and the people walking by, erasing everything in its path. For a moment, Sorken's heart skipped a beat, and a chill crawled down his spine.
"Do you see that?" he muttered, rising to his feet, his brow furrowing. The mist advanced with an eerie stillness, too fast, too deliberate. He blinked, wondering if this was another one of those absurd marketing stunts or city events, but something about it gnawed at his gut. There was a weight in the air now, oppressive and cold. It pressed against his skin, sinking deep into his bones.
Badump. Badump. Badump.
His heart pounded louder, faster, as a low murmur filled the air.
"By the shadows of forgotten stars…"
The chant was faint, almost imperceptible, yet it echoed in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't quite place the source, but it seemed to slither out from the very mist itself, like a voice that didn't belong to this world.
Tamara leaned into him, frowning. "What's that? Did you say something?"
Sorken shook his head, eyes wide, fixed on the creeping fog. "No. I didn't say anything. Do you hear it? That mumbling… it's coming from the mist."
"The ruler of light and lord of war…"
The chant continued, growing louder, crawling into the spaces between their thoughts. It was suffocating, like the mist itself. Sorken took a step back, instinctively pulling Tamara closer to him. His grip tightened around her, and for the first time in years, fear clawed at his chest.
"What is this?" Tamara whispered, her voice trembling. "I hear people... whispering, chanting... but I can't see anything. I can't see—"
The mist surged forward, now faster, hungrily devouring the park. All around them, screams erupted. First distant, then closer, the sound of people—men, women, children—vanished in the thick white fog. Their cries twisted and distorted, like voices trapped in a void. Sorken's legs began to tremble.
Tamara gasped, gripping him tighter. "Sorken, what's happening?!"
"I don't know," he replied, his own voice barely above a whisper. He could feel the fear in her shaking frame, but his eyes remained locked on the wall of mist that closed in, its whispers growing more insidious.
"And the whispers of silent moons…"
Sorken's heart thudded violently against his chest, the chant now a pulsing force in his mind. His vision swam as the mist rolled over the last stretch of park between them, dragging an unnatural cold with it. He stepped back, dragging Tamara with him, but no matter how far they moved, the mist followed.
"I call upon the void, where truth and fate commune…"
The final words reverberated through the air like a death knell.
Without warning, the mist enveloped them.
The cold hit first—a bone-deep, paralyzing chill that stole the air from Sorken's lungs. His breath came out in ragged gasps, but each inhale only pulled more of the suffocating fog into his body. His skin prickled, the blood in his veins turning to ice. He stumbled backward, dragging Tamara with him, but it was too late. The fog pressed in on all sides, thick and impenetrable.
"Sorken!" Tamara's voice was distant now, muffled by the weight of the mist. "I can't... see… I can't feel anything..."
Her words slurred, distorted, as if they were being pulled away, into the void.
His arms ached, struggling to keep her close, but she was slipping from his grasp. Panic surged through him, but the mist pressed tighter, suffocating them both. The last thing Sorken saw before the world was consumed was Tamara's face, pale and blurred in the thickening fog, her lips moving in a soundless plea.
Then the mist swallowed them whole.
The world vanished. No sound, no sight. Just the cold, just the void. And in the darkness, the chant echoed one final time.
"By the shadows of forgotten stars..."
Everything went black.