If you find yourself stranded in the dead center of the fog, seek out the light. At the very least, it might offer you a direction.
A full week had passed since they commenced their grueling trek toward Aethelgard. Despite only hovering around the absolute fringes of the western territory, the cataclysm ravaging this land was already intensely palpable. Torrential downpours, accompanied by gale-force winds, battered the landscape, sending debris flying through the air. Unfortunately, their field of vision was completely compromised, obscured entirely by a dense, unyielding fog.
The narrow trail normally traversed by horse-drawn carriages now felt like a foreign, alien abyss that no living soul had ever set foot upon. Peer into the cabin, and Yujin looked hyper-vigilant. The youth kept his eyes glued outside the window, even though he knew deep down that doing so was completely futile.
Yujin glanced across at Kaien, who was equally on edge. Kaien was no longer crossing his arms defensively; his fingers were coiled tightly around the hilt of his weapon, his lips moving silently as he muttered frantic, short prayers to the 「Arkhe of Prosperity, Aurelyne」. The faint, muted glow radiating from his silver pendant served as the sole source of illumination within the pitch-black carriage cabin.
Beneath the heavy fabric of Yujin’s cloak, the Obsidian Heart felt as cold as ice against his skin. Yujin gingerly felt the pendant, ensuring that the stone wasn't vibrating. Though his eyes were completely incapable of piercing the soup-like fog, his frantic heartbeat seemed to race in tandem with the violent howling of the wind slamming against the carriage walls.
Suddenly, a hysterical, blood-curdling shriek erupted from the driver’s seat. Before either of the adventurers could react, the carriage accelerated to a violent, unnatural speed.
KKRRIIEEET!
The sharp, piercing screech of the horses echoed simultaneously as the entire cabin tilted violently, throwing both youths off balance. The carriage was tearing through the terrain at a breakneck, desperate velocity—as if something unfathomably horrific was snapping at their heels.
Sure enough, the moment they scrambled to their feet, heavy, concussive thuds reverberated through the earth from not too far behind. Based on the sheer weight of the impacts, it was glaringly obvious that whatever was hunting them possessed a massive, towering build.
The sound of the wooden wheels thrashing frantically against the unpaved soil grew increasingly deafening. They had absolutely no inkling of where they were being dragged, but following that initial shriek from the coachman, an eerie silence fell over the outside world—save for those thunderous footsteps and the terrified whinnying of the horses.
BDUUMP!
The carriage slammed hard over a massive boulder, completely obliterating its center of gravity. The vehicle flipped violently, plunging down into a steep embankment far below the main road.
Yujin fought like hell to remain conscious as the impact drove his head into the wooden framework. Fresh, warm blood began trickling down his forehead, but that was the least of his concerns. The moment Yujin kicked open the shattered carriage door, his senses were assaulted by the overwhelming, suffocating presence of an exceptionally lethal apex predator. And then—
KKKRRRIIEETT!!
A horse's final, agonizing scream tore through the desolate forest, instantly followed by the sickening sounds of wet flesh tearing and thick bones snapping like twigs. As Yujin lay paralyzed, hiding inside the wreckage of the cabin, a stray eyeball rolled across the floorboards, coming to a dead stop right in front of his face. It was horrifyingly fresh; even the frayed fibers of the rectus muscles were still attached to the sclera.
Yujin’s chest tightened, suffocating him. His lungs literally refused to draw breath while the monstrosity loomed just feet away.
KRAANG!
The distinct smash of shattering glass echoed outside. Peering through the wreckage, it appeared that the carriage's oil lantern had fallen and broken. The flickering, dying flame illuminated a horrifying silhouette: an emaciated, unnaturally elongated body, disproportionately long arms and legs, and jagged fangs protruding grotesquely from its maw.
Suddenly, an impossibly pale, clammy hand reached into the wreckage and violently yanked Yujin out into the open. The moment that porcelain-white grip clamped around him, the obsidian pendant pressed against his chest began vibrating so violently that his fractured ribs felt as though they were being hammered by a blacksmith's mallet.
Opening his eyes, Yujin was forced to look dead into the face of the nightmare. He desperately wanted to fight back, but the monster’s crushing grip completely pinned his arms, rendering him entirely incapable of drawing his black sword. His levator palpebrae muscles seemed to freeze solid from sheer, unadulterated trauma; his pupils dilated in horror as he stared at the reality-defying abomination hovering over him. He couldn't even muster the neurological signal to twitch a muscle, let alone wage a counter-attack.
Fortunately for Yujin, as the creature analyzed him with jerky, unnatural, stop-motion-like movements, it suddenly paused just as it was about to drive its claws straight through his abdomen. The monster abruptly snapped its head toward a specific direction in the woods, violently hurled the youth into the dirt, and bolted into the thicket—running with a frantic, desperate speed that implied it was the one fleeing a terrifying predator.
The aberration vanished into the tree line, completely swallowed by the creeping mist.
Coughing up blood, Yujin strained every muscle to push himself up from the damp soil, his sternum flaring with a familiar, agonizing ache as the old fractures re-cracked. He dragged his feet forward, stumbling toward the front of the wreckage where the driver and the horses lay. When he saw what was left, his breath caught in his throat. Both the coachman and the beasts had been butchered in a manner that defied logical explanation.
Their abdomens had been completely eviscerated, their internal organs strewn carelessly across the muddy terrain. When he inspected the horse's eye, it was technically intact, but the cornea had clouded over into a dead, sickly grey color. However, when his gaze drifted to the corpse of the coachman, he noticed one of the man's eyeballs had been surgically gouged out and was entirely missing.
Yujin had been desperately fighting down the bile since the moment he laid eyes on the carnage, but the gruesome sight finally broke him. He staggered over to a nearby thicket and violently threw up everything in his stomach.
Meanwhile, Kaien, who had been thrown a considerable distance into the brush, slowly came to. His head throbbed with a blinding migraine, his vision swimming with dark spots as he forced himself to stand. He limped over to the obliterated carriage, his eyes widening as he took in the mutilated corpses.
"Are you alright, Yujin?" Kaien called out, keeping a hand pressed firmly against his throbbing temple.
"I'm fine..." Yujin’s voice trailed off, his entire body trembling and depleted of energy after violently emptying his stomach. "Ugh... dammit. That little incident just cost me my entire lunch," Yujin muttered, his breathing still shallow and rapid. "What the hell do we do now?"
Both of them scanned the surrounding wilderness, but the realization hit them like a physical blow: they were entirely blind, resembling lost children with absolutely no compass to guide them home.
Eventually, Yujin spotted a faint, narrow foot trail cutting through the brush not far from where he had thrown up, and suggested they follow it. Kaien reluctantly agreed, recognizing that despite the inherent risk, staying stationary next to raw meat was a death sentence.
As they navigated the pitch-black trail, the leather-bound stone around Yujin’s neck never stopped emitting a low, ominous vibration.
Suddenly, both of them froze. A rustling sound echoed from a dense patch of bushes roughly ten meters ahead.
Yujin’s breathing hitched. The phantom pressure of the monster's suffocating grip from earlier flashed through his mind, and his battered ribs throbbed in response. Sensing Yujin's hesitation, Kaien took the initiative to investigate, keeping his blade raised and his guard completely up.
SREEEK...
Both adventurers blinked in utter disbelief as the foliage parted, revealing that the entity lurking behind the bushes was nothing more than a small child.
Yujin’s eyes widened, genuinely stunned to find an actual lost child wandering around in a macabre, godforsaken environment like this.
"A-A child?" Yujin’s voice trembled slightly. "Hey... little girl, what are you doing all the way out here? Where are your parents?"
The girl possessed stark, snow-white hair and a pair of brilliant, crystal-blue eyes. She looked entirely dazed, seemingly just as bewildered as to how she had ended up in this clearing.
"M-Mister...? Where am I?" her voice was incredibly soft, frail, and fragile.
Despite a nagging, deep-seated hesitation whispering in the back of his mind, Yujin’s body moved on pure instinct as he approached the girl.
"Calm down. We're adventurers from the Lumeris Guild," he said, dropping down onto one knee to bring himself level with her eye line. The tone projecting from his mouth was remarkably steady, contrasting sharply with the chaotic tremor rattling his inner psyche. "Do you remember anything at all before you got lost out here?"
"I-I don't know..."
"Hey," Kaien chimed in, stepping into the conversation. The little girl had to tilt her head all the way back just to look up at Kaien's towering frame. "Which village are you from? Do you happen to know the way to a place called Nerthvale?"
The girl gave a slow, tentative nod, though a profound layer of fear remained etched across her small features. "I... I live near here, but I've never heard of a place called Nerthvale. Isn't that... a dangerous area?" she asked with complete innocence.
Kaien shot a perplexed look toward Yujin, his brow furrowed. Sensing the impasse, Yujin took the lead to establish some trust.
"Hey there, little one. It's a bit strange for us to talk without introducing ourselves first, right?" Yujin extended his hand, forcing a small, reassuring smile across his face to keep from scaring her. "My name is Yujin. You can just call me Big Brother Yujin."
Slowly, her tiny hand reached out and grasped Yujin's fingers. She stared into his smiling face. "My name is Yuna," she murmured, before pointing a finger at the towering adventurer behind him. "What about that really big brother over there?"
The moment the name Yuna left her lips, Yujin’s mind flashed back to the mysterious woman he had encountered weeks ago within the depths of the Nerthvale forest.
Gently holding Yuna’s small hand, Yujin covered it with his other palm, locking eyes with her crystal-blue pupils while maintaining his gentle facade. "The big guy? He's my partner. His name is Big Brother Kaien."
Shortly after the brief introduction, Kaien lightly tapped Yujin’s shoulder, using his eyes to signal that they needed to extract information about where she had come from.
Yujin let out a quiet sigh before addressing the girl again. "Say, Yuna. Do you happen to remember the general direction of your home? If you do, could you possibly guide us there?"
Yuna went dead quiet for a moment, suddenly pressing her hands against her temples as her face contorted in discomfort. It was obvious she was straining every cognitive faculty to reconstruct the path she had taken.
Finally, her face lit up. "Ah! I remember!" She pointed a small finger deep into the dense forest directly behind them, claiming she had emerged from that exact path before stumbling into this clearing.
Kaien let out a frustrated breath. "It's impossible for us to head through there, Yuna. The fog in that sector is far too thick. It's entirely too reckless to blindly march into that," he stated, crossing his arms firmly.
"It's fine," Yujin interjected, cutting Kaien off. "It actually makes sense, Kaien. Look where she was hiding," Yujin pointed toward the mud behind the bushes, highlighting a faint but distinct set of small footprints pressed into the earth. The physical evidence solidified Yujin’s resolve to trust her. "Oh, come on, she's just a little kid. What reason would she have to fabricate a story like that?" the youth argued.
Kaien let out a low, irritated growl. He knew damn well that once Yujin locked onto a mindset, the kid was as stubborn as a mule.
"Fine. Lead the way," Kaien finally relented.
With that decision finalized, the trio plunged straight into the dark, oppressive woods. To make matters worse, the torrential downpour intensified, relentlessly hammering their bodies. Seeing Yuna shivering violently under the icy rain, Yujin couldn't bear it. He unclasped his heavy cloak and draped it over her small head, providing her with an improvised hood to shield her from the direct brunt of the storm.
"E-Eh?" The girl blinked in utter shock at the sudden gesture, and Kaien looked equally dumbfounded by the sheer recklessness of giving up his protection. "Big Brother Yujin? W-Why are you giving me your cloak?"
Yujin didn't offer an explanation. He simply patted her head gently, gesturing for her to keep it on, and continued moving forward.
However, as Yujin scanned their pitch-black surroundings, a distinct, incredibly familiar chime rang in his ears.
TING.
「Trait: Trained Instinct I (+1) is attempting to notify you of something. 」
Notifying me? he muttered internally. Of what? Is there something hiding in these woods? Yujin’s expression instantly shifted from calm neutrality to rigid tension. He frantically swept his gaze across their immediate vicinity, but the opaque fog completely blinded him. Navigating or tracking anything in this environment was an absolute nightmare. Yet, seeing how both Kaien and Yuna looked entirely oblivious and at peace, Yujin began to rationalize that perhaps his hyper-vigilance was just causing him to overreact.
As he stole a quick glance backward, he momentarily felt a faint, incredibly subtle presence hovering in the air. But the biting, freezing wind gnawed at his skin, shattering his concentration. Another system prompt materialized before his eyes, but before his brain could process the text, Kaien’s loud shout shattered his thoughts, calling his name and telling him to hurry the hell up.
Yujin hastily swiped the red warning prompt away, running to catch up with the group—completely unaware that the notification he had just casually dismissed was a literal borderline between life and absolute death...
「Trait: Trained Instinct I (+1) warns you that an immense, catastrophic threat is rapidly closing closing in on your position!」