(Time-Stilled World, 4 Kilometers into the Forest Of Death, Between A Mysterious Fog Field)
The fog didn't roll in.
It rose.
Quiet. Pale. Patient.
It seeped up from the ground like it had been waiting there all along, tucked beneath the mulch and ash, curling around ankles and knees with the slow certainty of death.
At first it was just mist, thin and gentle, like dew. But as the team pushed deeper into the forest, it thickened.
Until they could no longer see the ground at all.
Leo felt it immediately. Not on his skin, but in his gut.
Something was off.
Every instinct in his body screamed for him to stop, to turn around and run, but his legs kept moving, one foot after the other, following the file.
The others felt it too— he could see it in the tension of their shoulders, in the shallow rhythm of their breath that they were all nervous as well.
"Keep your spacing, no need to bump into one another, we are not kindergarten kids walking towards school, we are grown ass assassin's damnit," Raiden ordered quietly, though his voice carried an unfamiliar strain.
He tried to sound tough, trying to inspire confidence in the team to not be afraid of something as inconsequential as cold fog, however, it was easier said than done.
As once the fog rose up to their waists, was when the real menace began.
The first sign was the sound.
Leo heard a whisper. Not from ahead, nor from behind.
But rather from just beside him.
"Leo..."
A soft voice said…..
But it wasn't just any voice, it was a voice he vividly recognized.
It was the voice of Elena, his mother, from back when he was just a kid running into her arms.
He turned instinctively, dagger half-drawn— but there was no one there.
Just vines. Fog. And trees that pulsed faintly as if breathing through the bark.
He glanced back.
The team hadn't noticed, as once again it seemed like he was the only one who had heard these whispers.
"Focus," he muttered to himself, shaking off the echo, but then Patricia spoke up.
"Raiden, I think someone's following us. I keep hearing... footsteps behind mine. Like two seconds after."
"Illusion," Raiden said again. But this time it wasn't firm, it was just a word…. A hope.
Moments later, Karl stopped walking altogether.
"Guys," he whispered, "Where's Cipher?"
"What do you mean?" Leo asked, glancing ahead.
But Cipher was gone.
Vanished from the file.
No sound, No trace, No scream.
Just... gone.
Raiden immediately raised a fist. The group froze, hearts pounding, as they scanned around with night vision.
For a moment they saw nothing, but then a shape stepped forward from the mist.
And thankfully it was Cipher.
"Sorry," he said. "I tripped, got turned around, I'm good."
But Leo's eyes narrowed.
Because the Cipher that returned had injury on the wrong side of his neck.
'Wasn't he bit on the right side of his neck?' Leo wondered, blinking again, however, by the time he opened his eyes again, the bandages had shifted to the right, as if his previous image of him having an injury on the wrong side had been nothing but another illusion.
'The hell?' Leo wondered, blinking a few more times, but nothing changed.
The bandage stayed put, as he really started to get spooked now.
'Bite me–' he thought, nonetheless, he said nothing, as he did not want to spook the rest of the group with him.
Beads of sweat began to glisten on his forehead because of the stress, as although the lower half of his body was being chilled by the cool fog, his forehead still perspirated, as such was the pressure of this terrain.
More minutes passed.
And the fog slowly rose up to their chest, as this was when things began to change again.
The trunks of the trees around them began to bend.
At first, Leo thought it was another illusion, nothing more than a trick of the eye.
But no.
The trees were actually curving and leaning inward, ever so subtly.
It was as if the forest itself were trying to guide them towards a particular path and Leo did not appreciate this guidance one bit.
'Fuck. Is it too late to run?' Leo wondered, when Bob suddenly broke the silence.
"My brother's here," he said, as everyone turned.
"What?"
"I see him," Bob muttered. "Right there. Behind that tree. He died ten years ago... but he's here now. He's looking at me."
Patricia reached for the space between the trees where Bob was pointing, as if to touch it and ask 'Are you seeing the illusion here?', but Leo grabbed her wrist first.
"Don't touch it," he said.
Because Leo could see it too now. A silhouette.
Smiling.
Perfect teeth.
Eyes that glowed too bright to belong to the dead.
However, apparently, him and Bob were the only two to see that figure, while the others did not.
"The fuck is going on here? Do you see it as well, Skyshard?" Patricia asked, however, before Leo could respond, the night vision goggles glitched.
Static.
*SKKRRRRRRK.*
As everyone froze.
When the vision returned, the silhouette was gone.
But the air was colder. The fog, thicker.
And beneath it all, Leo could swear he heard laughter.
Not cruel. Not joyful.
Just...
Wrong.
'Bloody Hell…. I finally understand why people go insane in this place, FUCK ME, nobody can survive this madness for months at a stretch–' Leo realized as he subconsciously tightened his grip on his blades.
This place was a literal clown show and no amount of reading could ever have painted him an accurate picture of how dangerous this place really was.
He had been to literal battlefields where thousands died every second that felt less stressful than this place, as for the first time since entering this world, he realized he wasn't afraid of dying here.
But rather he was afraid of becoming something that didn't know how to die.