The mist was so thick now that it blocked out the sky completely, leaving the woods around them in shadow. Adding to the creep factor, it swirled all around them, forming phantoms that appeared to laugh and gawk before melting back away to roiling white. The trees themselves were changed, too, now more gnarled with long limbs that hung low.
It also appeared to be the end of the trail. Expecting to see something in the distance, Charlie found nothing but thick, swirling white. Griff decided to try his own luck and ventured a few steps in all directions. He hurried back when the mist grew denser and he felt invisible fingers clawing at his clothes.
"Super nope," he said. "You have any ideas?"
Charlie shook her head but didn't look at him. Instead, she watched the flame—the embers, in particular. While there seemed to be no light or any sign of the outside world, there was a slight breeze. One the fading embers didn't seem affected by. While leaves and loose petals swirled in all directions, the flame flickered off to the west. Chancing it as being the right way, Charlie walked a few paces.
"H-hey, don't be careless!"
"I'm not." Pointing further ahead, she added, "Look. More torches."
They decided to go for it.
At the pair of torches, they stopped walking, deciding they didn't need to get lost themselves inside some unknown dimension. Nothing but mist and large, gnarled trees fanned out in all directions beyond. No light, no path, not even an animal.
Suddenly a twig cracked, and they both spun around. They each scanned the forest, but nothing moved aside from the shifting mists.
Charlie swallowed and uttered, "Hello?"
"Charlotte?"
"Reiem!"
Out of the white walked their missing companions. While Reiem appeared as his normal, indifferent self, Ignis was paler than usual. He walked close to the immortal, eyes darting behind every and now then.
"Was this part of the trial?" Charlie asked.
"In times long past, yes. Centuries ago, this was part of the Guardian's trials, leaving the trial-goer with nothing but wit and the forest itself to guide them. Yet with the changing times, it was stricken from the required tasks and now simply protects the bloodline's final resting place. Why do you ask?"
"Dude, we just had to follow a buncha torches. And you know what else? Something tried to grab me when I wandered a little off the path! These spirits have no sense of consent."
"My apologies," Reiem muttered. "The ring must not have had enough charge to bring us straight here. However, we all seem fine, so…" He motioned past the torches and into a solid wall of white. "Would you continue to do the honors, Charlie?"
Somehow, she expected something like this. She knew this place reeked of being some kind of proving ground. Since it led to the location of her predecessors, she might as well figure out how to navigate it.
The further they went, the more mystified they became. Huge roots spread across the ground, twisting like the great backs of serpents. Mushrooms and blooming flowers in all array of colors and shapes peeked through the leafy undergrowth. Swollen boughs, gnarled with age, hung over their path. It would have been so beautiful had there been some light.
"What was it like before?" Charlie asked as they went. To the silence, she elaborated what exactly it was she meant. "Like, when this was a trial. Were there freaky enemies? Magic? Sprites?"
Reiem hummed from behind her. "All of that and more. One of your ancestors—Loreley Mellark—had quite the terrible luck her first time here. She was the reason it was stricken from the required trials."
Careful to follow the embers' path, Charlie looked over her shoulder. In the flickering light, the shadows danced across Reiem's face, making the circles under his eyes appear darker, more menacing. He flicked his gaze to hers and spoke, seeming to hear the question she was too afraid to ask.
"These forests hide more than graves, Master. Monsters spawn within the deepest pockets of mist, and of them come ones that hunger without end. Such was Loreley's misfortune."
Griff cackled. "Oooh, do I sense a story?" Ignis nudged him hard with his elbow.
"Would you shut up? You're creeping me out."
"I wouldn't mind a story," Charlie said. After nearly tripping she focused back on the way forward. The winds had shifted, and so they all adjusted their course.
"As you wish. 1624 was Loreley's thirteenth year. Her birthday had only just passed when she began her trials. Alone, as she always preferred it, she took her satchel and set off into these very woods. Yet, as the elders had dictated, I soon followed her."
"Were you her guide or something?" Griff asked.
"No. I was to stalk her every move."
"Stalk?" Charlie repeated. "You mean…you had to literally hunt her?"
Reiem nodded. "Indeed. Trapped within the thicket, no clear way forward or back, no sense of the horrors lurking just out of sight and with the mines of that time impregnable… How else was she to learn to survive? These were different times, Master."
A cold shiver raced up her spine, yet she continued to lead them all in silence, even as Reiem began his retelling.
II
The air was cold enough that Loreley's breath came out as steam to mix with the swirling fog.
Somewhere to her left, a raven gave a rasping croak. She checked her pocket watch—only 5:43am. She sighed and her torch flickered as a gust of night wind hit it, the embers drifting away in the mist. She'd only begun this trial less than an hour ago, but the cold, the mist, the clinging dampness… It felt so much longer.
Looking over her shoulder, she wasn't sure if she could retrace her steps. The dew that soaked her pants and cloak had already been replaced on the grass by the thick, swirling mists. Then, floating through the air, she heard a faint song. A low, ominous humming from someone clearly male. Finally. Something to follow.
"Hello?" she called, but no reply came. The humming didn't stop.
She followed after it, startling a pair of ravens that flew off into the branches of one of the countless gnarled trees. They seemed to circle around her, just out of sight, croaking their annoyance—scolding her, almost. On her left, on her right, now behind her, until she was thoroughly turned around. Hopelessly lost with no sense of direction. She checked her map in a last-ditch effort, but the mist seemed to have warped the very paper upon which the lines were drawn.
Loreley muttered a curse, stuffing the paper back into her satchel. The fog around her wasn't still anymore. Something was moving.
Her ears twitched. The creaking of dry bones and clacking of pebbles; that meant duskstone golems. She pulled the collapsible spear from her back and extended it. It had good reach, and she didn't mind if it broke on the annoying monsters. Loreley expected to see the contorted things shamble out of the mist but instead, they pulled themselves from the dirt around her. Several of the misshapen, grinning horrors stalked towards her, pale lights glinting in their empty eye sockets.
The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she backed away. This wasn't right. Nothing about golems was right, of course, but this… They shuddered and jerked, this way and that. Their claws clacked and feet stumbled as they screeched and hissed. She struck out, thrusting the tip of her spear into the nearest golem's ribcage.
The golem fell apart, but the stones and bones that made up its form… They hung in the air, each suspended by their own invisible puppet thread. They rattled together, reforming. Loreley watched in fascinated horror as a scene she'd watched countless times with her father deep down in the mines played out in this new, bizarre fashion. And her inattention nearly cost her. She had to dodge quickly to the side as a second golem burst up beside her. Fast. Much faster than normal.
As the creature passed, she saw a dagger-like spike protruding from its back, a small section of chain rattling as it went. In the background, the person continued to hum.
Loreley refocused. These things were a threat. It didn't matter how unusual they were or even if they weren't part of the original t
rials—they needed to be destroyed. She tightened her grip on the spear. With a pivot, she thrust it into a golem approaching from behind. It fell apart, it's widely grinning head bobbing in the air. With an upward jab, she shattered it. The rest of its corpse exploded into smoke with a chilling shriek.
One down, two to go…
‡ † ‡
Somewhere distance, a stag bugled, an eerie noise in the dark air. Loreley panted, and her limbs shook. How many golems had she taken out now? A dozen? Two? She didn't know…she'd lost count. The fog swirled around her, the humming still carried through the swirling white. Time in these woods felt meaningless. She needed a new tactic. She'd followed the tune, she'd walked away from it. She'd walked in a straight line only to end up where she started.
She knelt down on the earth beside a nearby log and pulled a flask from her satchel, greedily gulping down the water before pouring some onto the dirt before her. Her slender fingers then clawed at the dirt, tearing up clumps of grass. Together with the fresh mud, she mixed a tiny blue crystal in with the grass and muttered a short phrase. The cool mist swirled rapidly around her and a chill ran up her spine. Loreley shuddered, shaking the feeling off.
"Reyfa, show me the way."
A glowing symbol appeared in the mud between her fingertips, and the swirling mists were blown back by some unseen force. As quietly as she could, she moved through the path that seemed to literally cut through the fog, crouching low in the grass. Closer and closer, she crept towards the source of the humming. Finally, she saw—leaning against the thick, gnarled trunk of a dead tree—a tall man dressed in a black cloak. Pale hair spilled out from the hood, and his head nodded from side to side in time with the song. He playfully tossed a bright green apple up and down in one hand.
Carefully, Loreley took aim. She had no proof that this man was responsible for the duskstone golems, but she'd rather be safe than sorry. She shot the apple from the man's hand. With a soft cackle, the man pushed himself from the tree and turned to stare at her before disappearing in a whirl of lightless shadow. She couldn't discern their face for the shadows cast by the hood but shuddered at the pair of glowing purple eyes that pierced through her.
Loreley watched the mists all around her. If the man was anything like the spirits known to haunt these woods, then she'd be able to discern his path as he moved.
There was nothing.
In the distance, the humming began again. Moments after, the familiar sound of stones and rattling bones floated from the mist. She grit her teeth and stood. Of course, there would be more of them.
The pale, gleaming eyes were farther from the ground this time. Towering out of the fog came three giant duskbrutes. They stepped forward heavily, pulling against their invisible threads. Loreley readied her sword and shield. The first brute came lunging at her, far faster than its natural lumbering gait.
Not enough time to dodge. She braced her shield for impact. The force of it knocked her backwards, back of her head colliding with a nearby tree. Her vision flickered. But she stood, readied herself, and then charged. She bashed the brute with her shield and then lashed out when it flailed backwards, cutting cleanly through both stone and bone.
After this set of foes was destroyed, she slipped back into the mist. More brutes and golems patrolled the woods but as long as they didn't spot her, she didn't engage. They shambled through the woods, crossing now and then through the path Reyfa had made for her. And she followed as closely as she dared, slipping by the creatures until the man in black was in her sights again.
He sat atop a stump this time, apple once more in hand. A pair of golems stood guard next to the man but with her bow, Loreley didn't need to get close. This time, she didn't aim for the apple.
The arrow pierced the darkness of the man's hood with a sickening squelch and crack of bone. He froze for a moment, and the golems beside him crumbled. Then the man's head snapped in her direction, a disturbing grin on his face through the blood.
Loreley froze. She knew the man.
"Reiem!"
With a chilling laugh, he disappeared.
Loreley groaned. She was tired, sore, cold, and hungry. She checked the time again—1:09pm. She closed her and took in a deep breath. She'd been lost in the fog for over seven hours. When was the last time she even ate? And why was Reiem even out there? She was supposed to endure and solve this trial on her own…and from what she'd seen and heard, he wasn't even there to aid her!
Somewhere in the fog, someone hummed a tune.
The sound of jaws snapping and a hiss. Stinging pain flung her forward as a serpent's tail cracked against her back like a whip. Rolling to avoid another serpent's assault, she bumped into the hard roots of a tree. She scrambled to her feet as fast as she could.
She was backed into a corner. Her movements were slow and sluggish. Tired.
The first serpent whipped her with its tail again, giving rise to a stinging welt across her skin. With a shriek of pain, she raised her shield just in time to deflect a third strike. Again, she caught the gleam of a blade-like spike and chain protruding from the monster's back. And that distraction was all a third serpent needed. It raised its tail and brought it down once, twice, knocking the shield from Loreley's grip and then slamming into her small frame with full force.
Loreley collapsed to the ground in pain, grabbing for her shield that balanced precariously on the edge of a dried riverbed.
The serpents didn't give her a chance to retrieve it. They converged on her and slapped as one with their tails, sending her flying through the mist and over the riverbed. She hit the ground and rolled for several feet. She lay still in the grass when she finally came to a stop, feeling numb. Darkness began to cloud her vision, but the mists glowed a pale red above her. She blinked.
Wha…? Oh…a sprite.
The little apple-shaped being floated above her. Once it saw she was conscious again, it left, its light fading away into the mist.
She came back to herself slowly. Everything hurt. She could hear them looking for her—serpents, golems, and brutes alike—hissing and clattering through as they moved through the mist. Loreley lay still and held her breath as they searched up and down the empty riverbed.
She was so tired…
…but Reiem continued to hum.
With a groan, Loreley rolled over and pushed herself up. She checked her gear, retrieved her shield when she was sure those creatures were gone, then swallowed down a bottle of gleaming red potion that filled her small body with warmth and energy, revitalizing her completely. It was her only life elixir, and she had desperately needed it.
And she wanted out of this fog.
Again, she carefully crawled her way towards the humming, avoiding any creatures she came across. This time, Reiem was jovially walking around a bizarre horned statue as he hummed, tossing the apple from hand to hand. Silently, Loreley drew back her bowstring. Three Aesiri silver arrows flew through the air and struck Reiem—throat, heart, and hip. He screamed and disappeared in a sickening whirl of red, green, and black shadows, the precious but deadly ancient metal making quick work of her father's mad servant.
The fog thinned; light crept over her. Up ahead she could see a clearing studded with headstones, and a massive flowering oak in its center.
Loreley sagged against the rough bark of a tree. Finally. The trial was over. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, silently thanking the Astrals for aiding her, but then…
A man's laughter crept out of the surrounding trees.
Loreley jumped, scrambling behind the massive tree and peeking through a crack in the edge of its curling bark. In the space she'd only just been, a flurry of shadows swirled and Reiem morphed back into existence.
But…how? Aesiri silver is supposed to be the bane of all Ancientkind!
Two broken arrow shafts jutted from Reiem's body and with a sickening squelch, he pulled the third free from his throat.
"That…hurt…little Master," he gurgled. "My turn now."
Reiem cackled before vanishing into the blackness.
What…?
"One…two…three…"
The words were drawn out, lingering in the mist that began to curl back through the trees, obscuring the path to the trial's end.
What is this madman playing at? …does he truly think this a game?
"Four…five…six…"
She had to run, make it to the clearing before he reached the end.
"Seven…eight…nine…"
Her family's servant spent the last several hours trying to kill her. Of this she was quite certain; there was nothing helpful in his methods at all. He was outright, literally trying to kill her. Father and Uncle would no doubt deal with him…if she made it home to tell them.
"Ten! Oh, little Master, ready or not…here I come."
She readied her sword and shield. Shadow and mist crept around the tree, curling their silvery fingers around her. She scanned the mist for movement.
The pale, bloodied face appeared right in front of her. "Found you."
Her vision flared white as a thin knife was thrust through her side. Distantly, she heard the man laughing.
Loreley woke face down in the dew-covered grass. Immediately she pushed herself, fingers clutching at her side…but the wound was gone. There was no blood, not even a hole in her clothes. But the pain lingered. When she looked around, she saw she was back at the lone stone archway, its ivy creeping over the edges like ghastly fingers. She was back at the beginning.
The time was 7am.
Ahead, in the fog, she could hear a man laughing.
‡ † ‡
"Loreley turned and went straight home, informing her father and uncle of what I'd done. I didn't see her again until she was well on in years with a family of her own."
Reiem's voice trailed off into the thick mist, sounded every bit eerie as the whispers of a soul searching for forgiveness. Charlie kept her gaze ahead, pushing forward despite the chill seeping through her clothes. It wasn't from the mist, she knew that much. Griff stared down to the ground, at a loss for words. But Ignis stared straight at Reiem, his blue eyes fierce with anger.
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