Chapter 14: Rolling Fog

 I.

Nico’s day began the same as his last: in bed, groggy from a restless sleep. Fortunately, the nightmare had passed him by this time. His eyes drifted from the ceiling tiles to the foot of the bed. He expected to see Rinzai’s judging glare, or at least a puff of mist as proof of her presence. There was nothing there. After the fight, he had expected her to berate him. He was reckless, putting himself in danger to protect Ezia. Maybe Rinzai didn’t want to waste her breath. The thought alone saddened him. He shook his head. Maybe the cave wasn’t real. Maybe it was all a dream. Of course, that was wishful thinking. He shifted his arm as a prickly soreness cascaded down his arm. He grimaced as he lay back in bed.

The fight, the strange doll, and the man with the flaming skull were all real. He massaged his eye through the eyepatch. It ached. His shoulder hurt; his eye ached. Massaging the eye did nothing to dull the pain. It was a transient pain, like it was on a body part you couldn’t see or feel. It was like a part of him was still adrift in the Sea, drowning, gasping for air.

Nico clicked his tongue, crumpling the sheets in his hand. He didn’t have time to sit around and recover. The girl was still out there, afraid and alone. His mind drifted back to the darkness of the cave, to the screeching sphere and the thing sealed behind it. The murky visage of an insect. Eight legs. Eight spindly legs tipped with hands. It had eight eyes. No, more than eight. The longer he thought about it, the clearer the picture became. A night sky illuminated with a constellation of red stars. Each of them glowed with a baleful light.

His eyes throbbed.

The image was seared into his mind.

He couldn’t shake it free.

Nico wasn’t meant to see it. It was sealed for a reason, by someone or something. The real question that plagued Nico was who put it there. Was it the flaming skull, or had it always been there under the old shrine? Nico glanced back at the foot of the bed for answers that never came.

“Are you there?” Nico said.

“Yes, I am.” Rinzai’s voice echoed in the empty air. Nico sighed in relief.

“W-what was that thing down there?” The words fell from his mouth. “That sphere. I heard voices saying something like ‘we bind it’ or whatever.”

The exact words escaped him. He knew he heard voices. Not only that, he saw memories of some woman running through a muggy swamp.

“I saw her memories,” Nico said.

“Her?” Fog coalesced into the form of Rinzai.

“The thing sealed in the sphere.”

“A lost one, I take it?”

“Yeah,” Nico said, clenching his hand. If the insect creature was a lost one, then the concern that the others had made more sense. But, why did that creature appear to him in that state? Why did Nico see the girl as a child, but not as a monster?

“Don’t get the wrong idea and act the fool, Nico.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know precisely what I mean.”

Nico didn’t want to admit it. The horrid images made him feel pity for what the creature once was. He thought of what the creature experienced and how. Ultimately, he couldn’t prove her wrong. Rinzai had two whole days to pull from as proof. She probably had more than that, given that apparently she’d known him for years. A prospect that was still beyond him.

“That sphere was keeping her sealed. It kept repeating something, like ‘we bind you’.” A cacophony of voices chanting in tandem, their words carrying a distinct melody. They spoke, but their voices felt hoarse. Drained. Whatever they were doing to keep her sealed, it wouldn’t hold for much longer. Nico paled at the thought of it—or rather her— being released. “What was that thing?”

“The sphere, the doll and the blue flame wreathed in armor are the same kind of being. I’m unsure of what they’re called now, but we referred to beings like that in my time as Solchildren.”

“Solchildren?”

“An existence born of a soul without a body to call their own, so they merely make one themselves.”

Nico wasn’t quite sure what she meant. There were tales of beings born with a soul and no body. But, it felt like a conundrum he couldn’t comprehend, even if Rinzai did explain it.

Rinzai sighed. “Have you seen the little fish that hover in the air?” Rinzai said, a frown on her face.

“You mean the escha?” Nico asked. He saw two a few days ago dancing about in the sky. A rare sight, as far as he was concerned. A dance between two transient creatures.

“Your ‘escha’ are my Solfish,” Rinzai said. “Beings capable of granting life to the inanimate.”

The wonders of life granted by the Sea. Nico wanted to observe the Sea and study it, but that was the realm of Artisans. A world he felt was beyond him. Beyond the shores of Serya, and away from the place he called home.

“Rinzai—”

Nico’s door slid open.

Rinzai vanished in a puff of mist.

Ezia stepped inside, sniffing the air as she placed a hand on the hilt of her sword. The injury from the previous day had completely vanished. Nico felt relieved, but he couldn’t shake his growing concern.

“How are you feeling?” Ezia walked across the room with her hand held out. She pressed her palm to Nico’s forehead. “You don’t feel sick.”

“I’m fine, Ezia,” Nico said, pulling his sister’s hand free from his head. “You don’t need to be so concerned for me.”

“I’m relieved you didn’t just get up and leave again,” Ezia said, sitting down on the foot of the bed. “It was already hard catching up to you the first time.”

“I doubt that,” Nico scoffed, trying to hide his concern. “Not for you.”

“Just don’t go running off again, Nico.” Ezia leaned back, her hands flat on the bed. “ Not without telling someone first.”

Nico wanted to leave. The girl was still out there. Even more so now after the confrontation in the cave. The flaming solchild, as Rinzai called him, might be out there trying to find her. It didn’t matter if she was a lost one; he had to do something. He pushed himself off the pillow, straightening his back.

“Nico, rest.”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing.” Nico shook his head. Liz told him to stay put, and he couldn’t. Not when there was something he could be doing. With the new bond with Rinzai, he was sure he could make a difference. He could be more than just a dead weight.

“You need to rest.” Ezia leaned forward, pressing a hand on his uninjured shoulder. Nico tried, and failed, to push back against his sister’s palm.

“But Liz is—”

“In good hands,” Ezia finished Nico’s thought. “A talented Pathfinder named Miss Alex is with her.”

The letter mentioned a Pathfinder named Alexandria. It never crossed his mind the first time because of panic, but what was a Pathfinder doing up here?

“A Pathfinder?” Nico mumbled. “We don’t know anything about her. We should—”

“Stay put.” Ezia guided Nico down to his pillow. “You’d be a burden in your state anyway.”

A burden. It was painful when he admonished his own weakness, but to hear others speak of it—it hurt even more.

“Maybe before meeting Rinzai, but I feel like I can do something now. I can make a difference. I know I was weak!” Nico snarled. “That much hasn’t changed, but there’s something going on here. The Pathfinder, the lost one, these past two weeks have been…”

Nico’s eyes widened.

A realization dawned on him.

Something a part of him wanted to ignore.

“Do you remember what the flaming skull said, before we left?”

Ezia nodded. “He said ‘Don’t attack members of the Verconis family’.”

A flaming skull, a solchild, that resided in the dark cavern. A cavern where the sealed lost one resided. Nico’s breath caught in his throat. His eye wandered to the floor, then to Ezia. An unpleasant anxiety weighed on his chest. A thought he never really wanted to point toward anyone, especially his family.

Suspicion.

“Sister, do you know when the Pathfinders were hired?”

Ezia rested a hand on her chin. “I believe the Pathfinders were hired a month ago, but collaborations between Serya and the Underworld has been discussed for quite some time

“What kind of collaborations?”

“Trading between Serya and a few Underworld settlements, as well as the joint defense effort of a Pathfinder crew.”

“I can guess the Straconis are responsible for the former, but what about the latter?”

“A joint effort between Father and Thaleo.”

“A joint effort?” Nico frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Father.”

“Father gave his approval, but he’s mostly ambivalent. It’s more Thaleo’s idea than anything.”

“It’s too convenient,” Nico said, pushing himself out of bed. He winced as he spoke. “Thaleo might have something to do with this.”

“Nico, rest.” Ezia guided Nico back down to the pillow. “You’re thinking too hard about this. It is true that there are lost ones roaming about on Serya, but perhaps that’s why Thaleo pushed for the Pathfinders’ help to begin with.”

“If a lost one had appeared before now, we would’ve heard about it,” Nico frowned, shaking his head. “If someone else spotted one, or was killed, we would know about it.”

Ezia frowned.

“You’re right,” Ezia said, her head held low. She moved toward the door. “I wanted to check to see if you were alright. I’ll talk to Thaleo and Father.”

“Sister, what’s going on?” Nico pushed himself off the bed.

“Get some rest. And Rinzai, make sure he doesn’t leave.”

A veil of fog moved in from the open window.

The door slid open, then closed. Ezia’s shadow vanished into the corridor beyond.

II.

After the fight, the dog didn’t move. It didn’t bare its fangs or strike. It simply licked its wounds. It was as though the flame that thrust it forward to fight had fizzled out. All that remained were smoldering embers. Alex watched from a distance, peering at the hilt of her broken blade. She moved forward and kneeled down, observing its wispy, black form.

Aria, frustrated, moved to finish the rem— but Alex stood in the way. She pointed to the ground where the rem lay. The grass remained a vibrant green, and the soil hadn’t died. The remnant’s glare wasn’t hollow, there was a light to it that should be studied. Aria, still frustrated, conjured a ball of lightning. However, once Alex mentioned the tinge they could earn, Aria was more willing to stay her hand. After a little coaxing, as if he were a pet, the shadow dog followed them back to Liz’s home.

By then, the night had come and gone. Alex waited outside Liz’s house with the dog to observe it. Alex asked Aria to join her outside, but the veteran Pathfinder wanted to sleep indoors for once in her life.

“This is so stupid,” Aria said, clutching her head with her hands. “Why did I agree to this?”

“You can stop anytime,” Alex said with a yawn. “And, hey, he followed us back. watched him all night. If it wanted to kill me, it could have.”

Alex leaned against a tree at the bottom of the hill outside of Liz’s home. She looked a few steps over to see the familiar shape of a dog. A dog made of undulating darkness. It didn’t move. It simply lay on the ground, its head on its paws.

“That’s not the point here!” Aria narrowed her eyes. “It doesn’t matter how much those Trenchies will pay out; a kid dies in Persal, and we’re seen with this thing? That’s a good way to get executed!”

“They don’t do that here.”

“Again, that’s not the— Wait, they don’t?”

“No.” Alex crossed her arms. “The worst punishment they do is exile.”

Aria sighed. “Still, Lexi, this ain’t a good look no matter how you spin it.”

“Your accent’s showing.”

“W-wha—” Aria choked on air. “Shut up.”

“It’s not my fault you’re obsessed with your image.”

“And it’s not my fault you’re not concerned with yours at all,” Aria pinched her nose. “When’s the last time you took a bath?”

“In a river two days ago.” Alex pulled a stray hair from her face. “What about you?”

“We’re not having this conversation.”

“Hey, you started it.” Alex shrugged. She looked back at the hound. It wasn’t looking at the bickering Alex and Aria. Instead, its eyes were firmly fixed on the house atop the hill.

“Whatever, I’m going to go do the rounds,” Aria sighed, throwing her hands up into the air. “Make sure that dog doesn’t move.”

“Alright.” Alex fixed her gaze on the hound. She crossed her arms and sighed.

This wasn’t how she expected to spend her day. She looked treeline and into the sky, toward Spavia and the Verconis manor.

III.

A faint wisp of steam rose from the whistling kettle. It lingered in the air before being swept away in the draft from the open kitchen window. Baqus smiled, grabbing the singing kettle and pouring a third cup of tea. The cup clinked onto the saucer before sliding toward her. She grasped the cup’s handle with two fingers before blowing the steam off the top. It was too hot.

“Thank you, Baqus.”

“It is no problem, lass. You let me stay the night here, so it is only fair, no?”

The guest, Arula, sat at the opposite end of the table. She swirled the tea in the cup before taking another sip. “Thank you for the invite, Miss Lizbeth.”

“There’s no need to be proper with me, Lady Arula,” Liz said. “I’m a maid of the Verconis family.”

“I suppose so,” Arula said. “It just feels strange to see a maid of the Verconis out of uniform.”

Ezia gave permission for Liz to take a few days off. It wasn’t unprecedented, considering there were workers from the Lower Ring in the Upper Ring. The circumstances were unique, but Liz didn’t need to rush back to the manor. She wasn’t here for leisure; it was for business. They were supposed to find the lost one that Nico had been trying to take care of. The only lead they found was a corpse. The town was tense. Gone was the Persal where you could venture out at night without fear. It was possible that if you ventured out into the dark, you might never come back. A sobering thought that the realities of the Underworld had truly migrated to Serya. Liz drank her tea in the hopes that it calmed her nerves.

“You said you wanted to discuss something, Lady Arula?”

“I did, yes,” Arula said as she set the cup down. She clasped her hands over the table. The floor at her feet began to squeak. “It’s about the town. I’m, uh. Not quite good at this.”

“The missing person?”

Arula frowned. “Yes. I’m sorry if it seems like I’m using you, I just don’t know how to deal with any of this.”

“Have you tried speaking to Lord Straconis?”

“Yes. In fact, before I came to town, he forbade me from leaving the manor,” Arula’s foot shook. It seemed like she couldn’t stop. The floorboard’s erratic rhythm continued. “I left anyway. I couldn’t stay there, not while our people were suffering.”

“I can see why Lord Taizu picked you for Lord Thaleo’s marriage proposal.”

Arula smiled. “Thank you, but I’m not here for flattery.”

“Forgive me for being presumptuous, but I feel as though you’re at your wit’s end.”

“What gave it away?” She forced a smile. It wasn’t convincing. “I just don’t know what to do. For myself, or for my family. My father has rescinded the marriage to Lord Thaleo, blaming him for everything. ‘It’s because of the Verconis boy that all of this is happening,’ he says. That's all he talked about last night.”

Liz wasn’t sure if she should be privy to the gossip of the Straconis. It might just be better to ignore what she said. “I see. So, how does this all relate to me?”

“I’m not sure myself.” Arula clenched the cup in hand. “I just want to do something. What I can do is limited, I know, but I just can’t stand to see Persal like this.”

Liz shared the same sentiment. She wanted to help, but there was little she could do on her own. A plight the people of Serya shared. Her eyes moved across the room to the front door. Then, she turned to look at the empty doorway. What would her parents do? A question she would love to ask them. No, that’s not the only one. If she could talk to them again, she would probably ask more questions than just that. She would talk until day changed to night and back again. She never realized how much she missed them. It react hurt to be in such an empty house.

“Are you okay, Miss Lizbeth?” Arula asked.

Liz exhaled. “Yes, I’m fine.”

“So, what do you think I should do?”

“What you can,” Liz said, echoing the words of her own mother.

“What I can? That doesn’t exactly answer my question.”

“Think about what you can do that no one else can.”

“What I can do?” Arula mumbled.

“Hmm, that’s a bit strange,” Baqus said as he leaned out the window.

“What is it, Baqus?” Liz asked.

“A rolling fog this late in the morning,” the chef mumbled. “It hasn’t rained and the sky seems clear.”

A rolling fog.

A mistswell.

“Oh no,” Liz mumbled. “I hope it isn’t what I think it is.”

“What’s that, Miss Lizbeth? It’s just morning fog, isn’t it?”

“No,” Liz shook her head. “It’s—”

The front door hit the wall with a crash.

Alex stepped inside, grasping the clothed blade leaning against the wall.

“We got a mistswell.”

Liz’s fear was confirmed.

“This one is big. You guys aren’t safe here.” Alex hoisted the weapon over her back with one hand.

“Is this linked to whatever attacked that child?” Arula glanced toward Alex then at Lizbeth.

Child? Liz didn’t know a child had been attacked. Her heart sank, but now wasn’t the time for interrogating the Pathfinder. She had a job to do.

“Yes,” Liz answered.

“Then, what of the townspeople?” Arula said. “They’re still locked in their homes. We should—”

“There are three other Pathfinders in town,” Alex said. “I need to check something.”

“Where are you running off to now?” Liz asked.

“Things will get a lot worse if I don’t move,” Alex stepped out the door.

“That’s a mistswell. That is definitely a mistswell.” Aria’s voice echoed from beyond the door. She came into view behind Alex. “Wait, where are you going?”

“I’m heading back to Spavia then checking the Verconis manor,” Alex said. “I can get there pretty quickly.”

“Wait, what about the dog?” Aria glanced around the side of the house.

“He’s coming with me,” Alex said. “He should be able to keep up.”

Liz poked her head out of the door.

They were right.

It looked like a hound forged of starless night. A black murk trailed off its body. It looked at Liz with its shining, yellow eyes. They really were like stars. Her hand reached forward to pet it, but she pulled back. Something about it was nostalgic. Was this the creature that they were supposed to be afraid of?

“Be careful, Liz.” Alex rested a hand on Liz’s shoulder and pushed her back into the house. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. You guys need to get somewhere safe.”

“Let’s go to the Straconis manor. It has walls. It would be a lot better than staying here,” Arula said.

“That’s a start,” Alex said. “Help them evacuate, Aria.”

“I—” Aria’s complaint vanished with Alex as she rounded the corner. The dog pivoted and ran after Alex. “Okay, fine, I guess I’m stuck with this job.”

“I know I just said us, but can we evacuate the townspeople as well?” Arula said.

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Aria rested a hand on her forehead. “Might as well.”

“Thank you, Miss Pathfinder.”

“Aria. My name is Aria.”

“Miss Aria, then,” Arula said, bowing. “Thank you.”

“Alright then, let’s get this show on the road!” Baqus laughed as he quenched the flame on the stove. “Tea will have to wait.”