“The Mist.”

Finally having made it out of the labyrinth, we emerge into a forest, but it’s nothing like the one we came in through. Instead, it’s withered, aged, and twisted.

A heavy, thickness to the air, almost like mist.

Emrys comes to a sudden stop.

“Emrys? What’s the matter?”

Jorvain asks, concerned.

“It all ends here.”

She mutters, quietly, ominously.

“What ends here?”

Maelis asks, rubbing the back of their neck nervously.

“Nothing ends till we reach Sloth”.

Dain says.

She mumbles something under her breath, but I can’t make out a word. We all exchange glances, now uneasy.

Jorvain clears his throat.

“Hey, Em, is something—

“The shortcuts! From here on they end and we merge onto the main path so my map..it’s all but useless!”

She exclaims, as if she’s revealing some big secret worthy of the prior suspense.

“Are you serious?”

Maelis asks dryly, completely baffled by the whole thing.

“Oh, uh…well isn’t that a good thing?”

Jorvain asks with a nervous smile, trying to comfort Emrys, whose hugging her map tightly to her chest.

“Yes, I suppose it is..but the map's useless now..and maybe it’s not the only one.”

She mutters with furrowed brows, dramatically clenching the map.

“What the hell’s she being all melodramatic for?”

Dain asks with a raised brow as he puts his helmet on.

Something tells me this is about more than shortcuts and a map but should I say anything? What good will it do?

“Emrys, you’re not useless, neither is this map, those shortcuts helped us throughout our journey countless times, we’d probably still be on that mountain if it weren’t for them.”

Jorvain says with a gentle smile.

“Uh, not to ruin this, “

Maelis starts, no doubt about to ruin it.

“But we only went to that mountain because of the shortcuts..So, I mean—

“Maelis!”

Jorvain scolds.

“B-but that doesn’t change anything! We shared a lot of memories on that mountain!”

Maelis says sheepishly with a shaky smile.

Jorvain glances at Dain, signaling for him to join in as we continue walking.

He sighs and clears his throat.

“Maelis…is right. If we didn’t take those shortcuts, we never would’ve come across the mountain village and met Serena and anika.”

Dain says gently.

“Although we also wouldn’t have needed to get a new wagon or horse had we not—

He clears his throat once more, cutting himself off.

“See? It was nothing but pointless hardship! I even made us lose all our stuff!”

Emrys whines, holding her head in her hands.

“No way! We ended up getting our stuff back, even better than before!”

Maelis adds, placing a hand on Emrys shoulder

“Even if it was totally a bad idea to enter that cave to begin with”.

They mutter.

“I heard that!’

Emrys shouts

“Dain’s right! We never would’ve been able to learn about Serena’s husband, or make up with her father.”

Jorvain adds.

“We never would’ve helped Hamlin or his mother.”

He continues with a gentle smile.

“And if we weren’t there, we couldn't have helped all the people we helped.”

Dain adds.

“I guess…I guess that’s true, my shortcuts were kinda great.”

Emrys says, her frown replaced with a haughty grin.

“The truth is, I think taking those shortcuts is what made our journey special”.

I say with a small smile forming on my face.

“Wow, hey that’s a wonderful sentiment, I think I agree! “

Jorvain says with a smile.

“Definitely, but uh, what on earth is that smell!”

Maelis says covering their nose with furrowed brows.

“Rude.”

Dain, who is standing next to them says with crossed arms.

“Not you Dain, something reeks of death!”

They exclaim.

“No, I-I smell it too.”

I say through a cough, covering my mouth.

“But where is it coming from?”

Emrys asks with furrowed brows.

The further down the path we walk, the thinner the trees, the stronger the smell, the thicker and more unclear the air.

“Um, G-guys? I think I figured out where the smell is coming from.”

Maelis says uneasily, wrapping their arms around Dain.

Along the thin trees of the forest, are the decaying carcasses of animals. Deer, bear, squirrel.

“What did this to them?”

I ask in horror.

“Sloth’s Ardor, if you look closely there are no puncture wounds, they simply withered.”

Jorvain says quietly, looking away.

“The air’s getting thicker, it’s like fog or something!”

Emrys exclaims, rubbing her eyes.

“Everyone stay close—

“Dain?”

Maelis says, their voice already laced with panic.

“Dain!”

They shout louder this time, rushing through the progressively thickening air, manifesting into a fog-like mist.

“Wait! Maelis don’t, we’ll find him together!”

Emrys shouts out.

No response.

“J-Jorvain!”

I shout, rushing forward to the outline of his body in the mist.

“Jorvain!”

Emrys shouts after me, swinging her arms through the mist.

But there’s no response.

“Jorvain—

“No!”

I shout, shooting through the mist, I grab hold of Emrys's hand, pulling her close to me.

“G-get off me!”

She exclaims, trying to yank her hand away—

“Stop! You said it yourself we have to stay together, we already lost the others!”

I yell, my brows furrowed.

She pauses.

“We don’t need to hold hands do we?”

She mutters, bitterly.

“Do you think I’m doing this cause I want to? After how you treated me? I don’t even wanna talk to you Emrys, but we’re on this team together, so we’ll get through this together. You can go back to pretending I don’t exist once we reach the others, okay?” I say coldly, clenching my teeth as I look away.

She’s silent, but she keeps her hand in mine and that’s what matters.

But isn’t this just too cliché? Of course it was me and her who had to be stuck together like this.

I mean she so obviously would rather be with anyone but me, like Jorvain for starters.

And I bet she’d rather cut her own arm off than ever hold my hand again.

She hates me, and she doesn’t care if that hurts, It’d take Jorvain scolding her for her to say she’s—

“Roba i’m sorry.”

She says softly. Three words, three words I never thought she’d say to me, three words, I myself, am so used to saying.

My heart sinks.

“I heard what you said to Jorvain, and while I..i don’t agree, that’s not what mattered to me, it didn’t upset me, not like the things I heard him say to you.”

She holds her head low, hanging with shame.

“What he said to me? What do you mean? H-he was mad at me.”

I say with furrowed brows, turning to face her.

“Hah…”

She sighs,

“He wasn’t mad, just disappointed, and he was only disappointed because of how..how highly he regards you.”

She says through bitter laughter, and it’s not hard to tell each word hurts to say.

“And judging by how you were holding him in your arms when we found you two in the labyrinth, surrounded by all those fae…looks like you made up.”

Her eyes gloss.

“It..but it wasn’t…Sure, we made up, but that was just a part of his stupid plan to get back to you guys, and Dain carries Jorvain and the rest of you all the time, what’s so weird about me doing the same?”

My brows furrow. I wanna pull my hand away, tell her I don’t care what she thinks of me. But that look in her eyes, it’s hard not to want to understand it.

“I-it’s not..it’s just.”

She stops in her tracks, yanking her hat off her head, she clutches it tightly in her free hand.

“H-hey, we have to keep going Emrys, come on—

“I know I’ve been cruel! Awful! Arrogant and unfair to you Roba! I know that! But I’m just so jealous of you! And I hate you for making me feel that way because I hate it! I hate how it makes me feel…so bitter and envious, just useless.”

She sobs, her arm going limp, I hold her hand harder, unwilling to let it go.

“Why should you be jealous and envy me? And why do you get to hate me and hurt me because of it! That’s not fair, I don’t deserve that Emrys.”

I shout, frustration furrowing my face.

“I know..”

She mumbles softly, like a child being scolded.

“But I can’t help it..I told myself it was in my head..the way he looked at you and smiled..but then I heard him call you special, I heard him say he has enough people at his hip for his heart!”

She breaks down, helplessly crying and hiccuping. It hurts to see, despite everything it hurts to see, because I know this pain.

“And although he had never told me I was special, I was more hurt that he saw me like that, like this useless parasite pining for his heart.”

“But Emrys, Jorvain didn’t mean that any more than I meant it when I called him prideful, he was just hurt and disappointed like you said, he said it to hurt me, he didn’t know you’d hear him.” I try to argue, to reassure her, slowly walking towards her.

“N-no! No you don’t understand! “

She cries, stepping back, the fog embracing her—I take hold of her hand and pull her into my arms. Wrapping them around her.

“Then make me understand. If you explain, and I still don’t get it, you can keep hating me, and I won’t harbor any resentment. But please try to help me understand.”

I say softly, running my fingers through her hair.

She sniffles and sighs, taking a deep breath.