Chapter 253: Hours in the Mist
Time had become meaningless in the perpetual white twilight of the Forbidden Mist.
Hours had passed – at least, they thought it was hours. The mist created its own reality where regular markers of time ceased to function correctly. The silence pressed against their ears, broken only by the faint hiss of the mist as it curled around the trees. They had traveled several kilometers deeper into the twisted forest. However, distance was as difficult to judge as time when every direction looked identical and the mist swallowed all landmarks.
Leon’s kill count had risen steadily. Over fifty of the larger, mana-bearing creatures had fallen to his blade, each one dispatched with the same ruthless efficiency as the first. The pattern had become almost monotonous – detect the creature through spatial awareness, close the distance before it could react, bisect it with a lightning-charged strike, collect the blurry white mana core, and whatever weapon it carried. Each strike ended with a wet, muffled thud, the mist swallowing the sound almost instantly. The cores vibrated faintly in his palm before dissolving into storage, a cold pulse lingering against his skin.
The weapons were fascinating in their variety despite all being made from the same white material. Some creatures carried swords like the first, others wielded spears, axes, or weapons that defied easy classification. Each one went into Leon’s spatial storage, a growing arsenal of mist-forged armaments that he planned to study extensively once they were safe.
But despite their extended hunting, they had encountered no other types of creatures. Just the smaller, dissolving monsters that left nothing behind, and the larger, intelligent ones that dropped cores and weapons. The mist’s ecosystem was limited to these two species, predator and prey, perhaps, or something more complex that they couldn’t understand from their brief exploration.
Leon noticed Seraphine’s exhaustion before she even said a word. Her movements had lost their crisp precision, her breathing had become labored even when they weren’t fighting, and the purple lightning of her aura flickered occasionally rather than maintaining its steady glow. She had been maintaining her enhancement techniques for hours, pushing herself to keep up, to remain useful, to not be a burden.
"We’re stopping to eat," Leon announced, already scanning through his spatial awareness for a relatively straightforward area.
"I can continue," Seraphine protested, though the relief in her eyes betrayed her true feelings.
"No point in pushing until you collapse," Leon said pragmatically. "We need to maintain our strength. This place is too dangerous for half-measures."
He found a small clearing where the twisted trees created something approximating a circle, providing at least the illusion of a defined space in the endless white. With a gesture, he channeled earth element mana, and the spongy ground rose and shaped itself into a simple table and two chairs. The furniture was rough, purely functional, but solid enough to serve its purpose.
From his spatial storage, Leon withdrew their supplies. He had packed traditional food, knowing the Spoon of Infinite Soup wasn’t with him – that artifact remained with his people in the dimensional space. The supplies emerged still slightly warm, preserved in the exact state they’d been stored, time frozen within his inventory. The smell of fresh bread cut through the mist’s sterile scent, almost overwhelming in its normalcy.
There was bread that remained soft and fresh, dried meats that hadn’t lost their flavor, fruits that were still crisp, and even a flask of wine that Seraphine raised an eyebrow at.
"Planning a celebration?" she asked with a tired smile.
"Always be prepared," Leon replied, setting out the food on their earthen table. "Besides, after fighting mist monsters for hours, we’ve earned it."
They ate heartily, the simple meal feeling like a feast after the constant tension of combat. The food grounded them, reminded them of the world beyond the mist, where things made sense and followed standard rules.
"This place," Seraphine said between bites of bread, "it’s nothing like what I expected. When I was here before, I was too terrified to really observe, but now... It’s almost like a completely different world, isn’t it?"
Leon nodded, chewing thoughtfully on dried meat. "The creatures, the environment, even the way mana works here – it’s all wrong compared to what we know. These monsters can manipulate the mist itself, create weapons from it, and use it as armor. That’s not normal magic."
"Do you think they were always here?" Seraphine asked. "Or did something create them?"
"Hard to say. They seem perfectly adapted to this environment, as if they had evolved here. But evolution usually creates more diversity. Two species aren’t a sustainable ecosystem."
Seraphine pulled out her pocket watch, frowning at it. The hands were moving, but erratically – sometimes fast, sometimes slow, occasionally backward. "This is useless here," she said with frustration. "My watch has been going crazy since we entered. How long do you think we’ve been inside?"
Leon considered the question. His internal sense of time, usually quite reliable, felt muddled. "Six hours? Maybe seven? It’s hard to tell when there’s no sun, no change in light, nothing to mark the passage of time."
"It feels longer," Seraphine admitted. "Like we’ve been here for days, even though I know that’s impossible."
"The mist might be affecting our perception," Leon suggested. "Another defense mechanism, perhaps – disorient intruders, make them lose track of time, wear them down psychologically."
They continued eating in companionable silence for a while, both lost in thought about the strange realm they were exploring. Finally, Leon made a decision.
"Two more hours," he said. "We hunt for two more hours by our best estimation, then we leave. We’ve gathered good intelligence and collected valuable resources. No point in pushing our luck too far."
Seraphine nodded in agreement, clearly relieved to have a definite endpoint. As much as she had wanted to prove herself, the constant vigilance required in the mist was exhausting on a level beyond physical tiredness.
They cleared their makeshift camp, Leon dissolving the earthen furniture back into the ground, and resumed their hunt.
The following two hours passed in a blur of violence and acquisition. More large creatures fell to Leon’s blade, their mana cores adding to his growing collection. The cores fascinated him – each one slightly different in its pulse pattern, its intensity of blur, its shade of white. Some were pearl-like, others more crystalline, while a few had an almost gaseous appearance. Whatever process created these creatures had variations, subtle differences that might prove significant.
Seraphine fought when she could, taking down smaller creatures and occasionally assisting with the larger ones. However, Leon’s speed usually ended battles before she could contribute much. She didn’t mind – she was learning just from watching him move, studying his economy of motion, the way he read opponents instantly and exploited their weaknesses without hesitation.
The collection of white weapons had grown impressive. Leon had gathered over sixty pieces – swords, spears, hammers, and guns that looked like tuning forks, as well as others that resembled geometric sculptures more than traditional armaments. Each one thrummed with potential, with power that was alien to everything he knew about enchantment and crafting.
Finally, by mutual agreement, more than any accurate time keeping, they decided their hunt was complete.
"Time to go," Leon announced, and Seraphine pulled out the small blue orb she had been carrying.
The sphere pulsed gently in her hand, its glow indicating the direction of its partner. As she turned, the light shifted, growing brighter when she faced the correct direction, dimming when she turned away. It was elegant in its simplicity – no matter how the mist confused their senses, the orbs remained connected.
"This way," she said, taking the lead for the first time since they’d entered.
They moved steadily through the twisted forest, following the orb’s guidance. The light grew progressively brighter as they traveled, the pulse quickening like an excited heartbeat. They were getting close.
"The intensity is increasing rapidly," Seraphine noted. "We should be almost there."
The forest began to thin around them, the twisted trees becoming sparser. The spongy ground beneath their feet grew firmer. These were good signs – they were approaching the edge of the mist, returning to the everyday world.
The orb in Seraphine’s hand was now glowing so brightly that it was hard to look at directly. They had to be right on top of the second orb’s location.
"Just ahead," Seraphine said, excitement coloring her voice. "We should see the edge any moment—"
She stopped mid-sentence, her feet freezing in place. The silence deepened, so heavy it pressed on their eardrums until even their own breathing felt too loud.
Leon, following close behind, nearly ran into her. He stepped to the side to see what had caused her sudden halt, and his own expression shifted to match hers.
Shock. Complete, absolute shock.
They had reached the location of the second orb. The blue sphere was currently right in front of them in their range of sight, glowing steadily just a few meters away.
They could see it clearly.
But what they saw made no sense.
How can this be? Leon’s mind raced, unable to accept what his eyes were telling him.
How can this be? Seraphine’s thoughts echoed his, her face pale with disbelief.
They stood frozen, staring at the orb and what lay beyond it.