Chapter 13: The Smile in the Mist

The end of the Ocean of Fear was not light, but less darkness. The sick fog thinned until it clung only to their boots, winding in tendrils like dying spirits. Riven stirred slowly in Kael’s arms, but Nyra lay still, breath shallow, her eyes unmoving. Her face was pale, lips dry, her spirit seemingly frozen in the hallucinations she never described. Zayn clutched his gun tightly, every step deliberate. “Where the hell is Ravaa? He said this place couldn’t kill us.” Lilu's voice was soft, uncertain. “Maybe it didn’t kill her… maybe it just… took something.” Then Kael froze. “Do you see that?” The fog twisted near the edge of the trees, forming a figure. Crooked. Almost human, but wrong. It was shaped like a man, tall and bone-thin, but entirely made of fog—churning vapor that never settled. Its limbs were long and curled in odd angles, like puppets bent the wrong way. It hovered inches above the ground, slowly turning its head toward them. A smile. Wide. Too wide. Stretching ear to ear without lips. No eyes. No voice. But laughter—silent, heavy, soul-deep laughter—rolled through their bones like distant thunder. Zayn immediately raised his weapon. “Back off. Who the hell are you?” The smile didn’t move. It didn’t speak. Just floated… closer. Kael shifted Riven’s weight, placing her gently against a boulder. His hand slid to the hilt of his sword. “I’m not liking this.” Lilu stepped behind Zayn. “Why is it smiling like that…?” The fog-man hovered directly over Nyra now, who still hadn’t stirred. Then, without warning, it reached a single long-fingered hand and touched her forehead. Zayn moved to shoot—but nothing happened. His finger froze on the trigger, his body stiff. “What the—?” he growled, struggling. Kael and Lilu were rooted in place too, paralyzed not by fear, but by something else… something invisible. Something that wrapped around their lungs, their nerves. Only Riven could still move. Barely awake, her eyes fluttered open. “…Nyra…” Then—a gasp. Nyra’s eyes shot open as if waking from drowning, her body jerking upright. She looked around wildly, then at the fog-man directly above her. But she didn’t scream. She whispered, “I… remember.” The fog-man tilted its head. “Remember what?” Kael managed through clenched teeth. Nyra turned slowly to face the group. “I saw something… when I was under. I was in fire. But not mine. Someone else’s. A voice kept whispering my name…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes turned to the fog-man. “Was that you?” But it said nothing. Then, the creature slowly turned its faceless head to the side—toward the distant cliffs ahead, past the trees, where the fog broke into jagged mountains. A direction. A command. Then— It dissolved. Silently. Slowly. Its grin the last thing to vanish. Zayn finally regained control of his hand. “Okay, what the hell just happened?” Kael helped Riven sit up. “That thing just fixed Nyra like it was brushing dust off a book.” Lilu, shivering, said, “I don’t think it wanted to hurt us…” Riven stood now, leaning on Kael’s shoulder. Her voice was low. “That wasn’t a person. That was a memory.” Zayn looked at her. “A what?” “A memory that never got to die,” Riven said. “Some ancient fragment of fear, stuck in this realm, feeding off what we’ve lost.” Nyra touched her chest where the fog-man had reached her. “Whatever it was, it knew I was going to break.” “And it didn’t let you,” Kael muttered. “Why?” Silence fell again. Then Nyra turned to the cliffs ahead. “I think… it pointed that way.” The mist was thinning now. In the distance, jagged mountains loomed like teeth, black and sharp, under the eternal twilight sky. Still no sign of Ravaa. Still no answers. But one thing was certain—the path forward was clear. And something was waiting.