“So, uh guys? What are we supposed to do now?” Herculia asked as he rubbed the back of his head.
Arthur crouched down and took a look at the cliff from up close. Quickly, he noticed a protrusion right beneath them that looked like a broken path, leading down to the very bottom. It didn’t look very safe, but also didn’t seem completely unusable.
“Well, we can only go down and continue moving. We have expected the region to change in nature sooner or later. This shouldn’t stop us.” Isla turned around and walked back to the horses. “We will continue as planned until further notice.”
“Got it.” Herculia nodded.
The group then started walking back to their own mounts while Arthur still stood there, examining the area with his eyes. His expression seemed a little dark for some reason but he didn’t know why. This particular area of the forest gave him the creeps in a different way than what they had been through before.
‘I hate when something gives me the chills, it’s almost always a call for trouble.’ Shaking his head, he turned around and got on his horse too. Whatever was going to happen, he had to be ready for it.
With that, the group moved with their horses toward the edge of the cliff, then, they slowly descended through the small broken path. They had to be very careful with each step not to slip and fall. The horses were agile and flexible enough to make the task easier than they expected, but it was still slow.
Jumping from one rock to another, they made their way into the thick mist. The scenery around them quickly shifted into pure whiteness. Their vision was cut short and they could barely perceive anything beyond a few meters away.
“We’re completely blind,” Danny said. “This isn’t good.”
“Stay very close to one another,” Isla ordered as she jumped the last step landing on the thick, humid grass. Now, they were fully submerged in the mist from all angles. The massive trees peeked at them like horrifying monsters here and there.
There were no sounds except for the occasional gush of wind passing through the forest. The eeriness wasn’t something they could ignore.
“I already hate this place.,” Emmy murmured with a pale expression. “I never liked forests to begin with. But this… This takes the cake.”
The group stood there near the cliff as if they were waiting for something to show up. But, as expected, nothing moved nor appeared around them yet. That made them even more uneasy. Walking blindly into such a thick forest was simply terrifying.
However, in the end, they couldn’t simply stay there and had to start moving. Slowly, they walked through the mist, going deeper and deeper into the cloud forest.
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They didn’t try to go fast as they could barely see the path ahead. Their only indication of the direction they had to go through was the compass integrated into the map function. The rest of the map was basically covered in the same fog so they couldn’t use it as a guide for them.
Arthur’s night vision activated to help him a little. But, it didn’t really make the situation that much better.
‘If something attacks us, we won’t see it in time.’ He thought to himself as he felt his stress level rise slowly. Being this open and blind was very nerve-wracking and that showed very quickly. Nobody dared to talk much as they were very focused on their surroundings.
*CRACK*
“What the hell?!” Danny’s horse stepped on something and it made a cracking sound, making him screech instinctively. Looking down, he noticed that it was a tree branch. Exhaling a small breath of relief, he continued moving along with the group.
As they went deeper and deeper, the fog was somehow getting thicker and thicker, making the task of seeing even more impossible. At this point, nobody knew where they were or if they were even moving through the forest or were stationary.
Seeing the person next to you became a hard task too and the horses slowly became a foggy silhouette.
“Guys?” Arthur called for them. “Don’t get too far.” He said.
He started feeling his unease grow as his vision became more and more obstructed.
“I can’t see shit.” Herculia waved his hands in front of him. “Are you guys next to me or not?”
“I’m here.”
“What about you, Emmy?”
“I’m also here. Is that you Arthur next to me?”
Nobody could recognize who was moving next to them. They could see that someone was there, but they couldn’t figure out who it was.
“This is abnormal, Isla,” Arthur said.
“… I’m already aware. It’s not a natural fog. Something is off.” She frowned deeply. ‘It’s like we’re being completely blinded deliberately. But, by whom?
Is it some kind of monster?’
She couldn’t tell what was causing the fog, but it wasn’t a natural phenomenon. Fogs could be very thick, but not this thick. It was like a smoke screen.
Arthur continued moving ahead slowly, trying to get everyone to stay close. He saw Isla’s silhouette getting slightly farther and farther ahead. So, he tried to get close to her to get her back with the group. He moved forward a little faster only to end up… nowhere.
At that moment, he suddenly noticed a giant tree looming in front of his path.
“Huh?” He gasped as he looked around him. Isla was nowhere to be seen. The silhouette he followed had suddenly vanished. “Isla? Isla! Where are you?”
He called for her and didn’t receive an answer. That made Arthur frown deeply as he turned around to alert the others, and that’s when he noticed the second problem. The others were nowhere to be seen.
The mist covered his vision completely, and even the silhouettes of his group vanished.
“Emmy?! Danny?! Herculia!! Anybody here?” He called for them, and yet only the howling wind responded to him. “What the hell is going on?… Where is everybody?”
Arthur slowly put his hand on his sword. ‘Fuck, how did I lose them? I barely turned away for a split second. Did they lose their path? No, that couldn’t be. Unless something deliberately separated us.’
They had been moving north the entire time and didn’t take any detours or sharp turns the entire time. It should’ve been impossible for them to get separated especially when they were following the compass. After all, how many paths could’ve they taken apart from the straight line they had been on the entire time?
*Swish*
At that moment, Arthur felt a chill run down his spine as something moved behind him. Quickly, he turned around and aimed his sword. But, there was nothing there.
‘Bastard, something just moved behind me.’
*Swish*
Then, he felt the presence behind him again, making him quickly turn. Yet, he couldn’t catch a glimpse of it. His horse started panicking and moving frantically.
“Hey, easy boy, easy. It’s fine. Nothing happened.” He patted the animal gently to make it calm down as he kept his eyes around him. ‘This is really bad. What am I supposed to do?’
Arthur couldn’t feel it, but his guts were telling him that he was completely surrounded by something. Whatever it was, it was trying to toy with him in a bad way.
Standing there, he kept his hand on his horse and the other hand on the sword as he waited patiently for the thing to show itself.
‘Come at me, whatever you are.’ He clenched his teeth. ‘I will split you in half.’