Chapter Twenty-One: Horrors of the harrowing mist

The night began to make its way through the woods but the thick mist concealed it away from their eyes.

The silence was heavy, except for the hearts thudding behind the warriors' chests.

Ayra and the others stood in front of the aged wooden gate, completely armed and ready. They left their horses behind, deciding to venture through the forest on their feet now.

The heaviness of her armour hauled her down as if the protective sheath carried the ruthless storm of emotions heavily swirling atop her shoulders. Only the press of the locket against her neck and her Arcadius resting across her spine served as the only solid assurance to her.

She gazed at the broken gate of the secret path.

Ayra felt a lot of things as she stood there, encompassed by the deadly mist. Heavy reluctance, unsettling horror, raw rage and sheer powerlessness. She felt all of them. Every one of them, vividly and distinctively.

But one particularly merciless emotion stood out the most, so deeply and intensely that it almost pulled her to her knees.

Fear. Raw, limpid fear.

It devoured her senses, smothering the flames of courage that she so desperately tried to alight in her mind.

But it wasn't the fear for her life. It was the fear for the life of every soldier that walked with her from hereon. It was the fear for the lives of her loved ones.

Ayra stared at Neslyn and Valda conversing in front of her.

This was the very place where she lost her loved ones before and as she stared at her best friends standing before her, Ayra would protect them with her life if need be.

Ayra clenched her fists and looked around. And as she looked at every single armed guard here, she prayed to the Celestials above to protect them this entire mission. It was impossible, yes, but she still prayed with her entire heart.

"Neslyn, Valda," Ayra called out for them.

Neslyn and Valda looked at her.

Ayra wanted to tell a lot of things to them but for now, she settled with a soft,

"Let's do this."

They just blinked at her.

"What?" Valda raised her eyebrows. "Let's do this? That was so lame." She scoffed.

Ayra bared her teeth. Valda bared hers. 

"Remember how we used to do it?" Neslyn questioned, eyes glinting.

"Yes! Wait, whose turn is it now?" Valda questioned.

"Ayra was the one who did it in our last mission, so...."

Neslyn and Ayra just looked at her. Valda pumped her fist in the air.

"Show me your backs, ladies."

They turned around. Valda rubbed her hands in excitement.

"Okay, here we go!"

After a blow to each of her palms, she raised her hands and harshly slapped them on their backs.

Smack!

"Let's break a leg, comrades!" 

Ayra winced and Neslyn visibly flinched and moaned in pain.

"You monster!"

Valda just snickered, placing a hand around their shoulders and pulling them closer. Ayra couldn't help but feel a little motivated inside.

Now, she felt as though she can do it.

"Let's go!" Rydan commanded into the silent, eerie night.

Ayra didn't know if it was the malice of the forest ahead but the atmosphere seemed spookily reticent here. Even as the armoured warriors marched forward and beyond the gate, the silence didn't ebb away. It was still present, like a spectral ghost that had a mind of its own.

Goosebumps raised on her flesh at that.

Even her wind was unresponsive. She could feel the wind around her but it seemed as though something else was weighing down on it. Ayra could only assume it was the mist confining the forest.

They couldn't make out their surroundings. The mist was mercilessly thick. And suffocating. Like phantom hands grabbing their throats and suffocating them to death.

Ayra nudged the fog around her, contemplating whether it would react to her breeze.

But nothing happened.

"Anything?" Ryo questioned next to her, all armoured and ready. It was unsettling, to see a mere child such as himself hold a weapon in his hand and armour on his shoulders. But Ayra, for once, didn't doubt the power he possessed.

She shook her head at his question.

"It's like a puppet in a play. Seems like it will only respond to its puppeteer." She scoffed bitterly.

Ryo sighed. She looked at him, wondering if his ghosts sighed at that as well. Her eyes gradually meandered to his shoulders and the vacant air above. She wondered if their blood-red eyes were looking at her too.

Ayra shivered. She hoped not.

"A puppeteer that plays with a powerful puppet. This is going to be difficult."

Ayra rubbed her arms and observed her surroundings as everyone walked in silence.

The fog was clouding her sight, however, Ayra could still faintly make out the things around her.

Particularly the bright emerald wards that illuminated either side of the muddy path. Formidable and magical wards that shielded this secret path and protected the passing priests from the terras of the Tryvyan forest.

The wards were powerful but not powerful enough for the demons breaking havoc inside, it seemed. 

And just then, just freaking then, a shadow moved in her peripheral vision.

She halted.

And slowly looked towards the side.

However, there was nothing.

"Ayra? What happened?"

Ayra.

Ayra.

Ayra.

Someone was calling for her but she couldn't listen. She couldn't listen at all. Her ears started ringing.

All of a sudden, she felt something trickle down her hands and Ayra froze all over. She slowly raised her palms to her eyes.

Ayra's heart stopped.

A black ribbon laid atop her hand. And surrounding that piece of accessory was thick, dark blood.

She felt someone grab her shoulders and shake her to reality but it was to no avail. Ayra kept staring at the bloodied ribbon in her hands, the more she stared at it the more heavily the past crashed in.

This ribbon will look pretty on your hair, Ayra.

The flash of those words in her head killed her.

She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. She felt like her mind was being crushed to nothing. And as she stood there, frozen in silence, the feeling just got heavier and heavier.

Stop. She must stop this.

Another scream erupted from behind her, so loud and so painful that it almost snapped her from whatever trap she was caught in.

When her mind cleared a little, she immediately used her power to stop the air in her throat. She arched forward, wheezing out for more air and lost her balance to her knees. When she released herself from the mercy of her own power, her mind seemed more focused than ever.

And that's when she noticed Neslyn and Valda by her side, along with Aslan crouching in front of her in worry.

"Ayra! Are you alright?"

"What happened?!"

"Can you breathe?!"

Questions after questions poured in but before Ayra could answer, the screams returned.

She immediately straightened up and whirled around.

The guards crowded around three soldiers.

One soldier was writhing on the ground, the other one was clawing his face and the third one stood against a tree, just staring at the night sky with his eyes rolled back.

"Hallucinating..." Ayra breathed out, "They are hallucinating."

"Get out of the way!" Cressa yelled, pushing through the crowd with her hands reaching forward.

Vines lashed out like vipers and coiled around the arms of the guards. Thistles awakened on the veins, slightly, ever so slightly puncturing the skin of their bodies.

The guards immediately gasped out loud, eyes widening at what had just occurred to them.

The wind swirled around her.

Ayra closed her eyes and raised her head, observing for any changes.

Her eyes were wide with astonishment when she opened them.

"It's the mist."

Everyone looked at her.

Cressa stepped forward, eyeing everyone,

"Dont lose your focus, soldiers! Sharpen your minds! Don't let it wander away. Always keep alert! Pinch your arm, slap your cheeks, bite your tongue and grit your teeth. Do anything! But don't lose yourself."

Clenching her shaking fists, she said in a low tone,

"Don't lose yourself to the mist.''

Ayra's eyes wandered towards the Guardians and stayed on Rydan.

"We must find the source soon." She breathed out,

"Or else, we'll die."

If the mist traps them in its menace, then everyone will end up killing themselves. Ayra knew this much.

She unconsciously flexed her fingers, desperately trying to lose the phantom feeling of the blood-soaked ribbon from her hand.

Rydan just stared at her for a long moment before catching himself and swiftly nodding his head.

"March ahead!"

They marched ahead, quicker than ever and more horrified than before.

Ayra grit her teeth when she noticed more shadows dance behind the mist. She burrowed her nails deeper into the flesh of her arm.

They walked and walked and walked, struggling to not lose themselves to the deadly power of this mist.

The wind suddenly stilled and everyone stopped walking.

Her wind flinched.

An inhumane sight greeted them.

A few soldiers got on their knees and grabbed their hair at what lay ahead of them.

Bodies. Bodies of the priests. Bodies of the twenty soldiers who ventured to the ruins. They lay atop one other. As though somebody intentionally dumped them in their way like a heap of waste.

To show them. To scare them away.

But that was not the horrendous part.

It was the man sitting atop that pile. Gloved hands held a book, legs gracefully lay crossed upon one other and thin lips pulled back into a kind smile.

Ayra couldn't feel the wind anymore. Even her power recoiled at the creature standing in front of them.

Because in front of them, stood a demon.

Cressa immediately pushed out her hands in front of her, ready to strike at the demon with her vicious veins. But Rydan stopped her immediately and Aslan held her hands back, shaking her head softly.

She pulled back, scowling.

Ayra didn't fail to notice how each of the Guardians' hands shivered ever so slightly. Even Valda and Neslyn stood closer to her.

The wind shuddered.

The man gently closed his book and straightened up on his feet.

Red eyes gleamed at them.

He opened his mouth and in a smooth, rich voice, stated,

"Hello, wizards."

They immediately unleashed their weapons.

The demon simply smiled.