“These are definitely robes from the monastery, alright.” Veros talks aloud as he thinks. “Not sure who this is, exactly. It's hard to tell after he's decomposed so much.”

“They don't carry any sort of identification on 'em?” Kellar asks from his horse.

“Not that I know of, but I suppose it won't hurt to look.” Veros kneels and begin to pat down the body.

“These other two fellas were Mistwalkers.” Royd announces after searching the bodies of the two non-monks. “They had cards.” He hands both cards over the Kellar.

“Jacob Darvick and Sid Uppam.” He reads the names aloud. “Their stamps have the same dates. Must've traveled together. Last stamps were over a month ago.” He places the cards in his bag without a second thought.

“No forms of identification on our religious friends.” Veros approaches the group, but raises his hand to show them two gold necklaces. “But they were wearing Idrid medallions around their necks, which proves they were real monks.”

“If they had no Mistwalker cards on them, could they have been here since before the mist showed up?” Atticus chimes in with a question worth pondering.

“I'd be a bit surprised if that were the case, considering that would mean they've been undetected for the last several months, but...” Veros looks back down at the heavily decomposed corpses in blue robes. “It would definitely explain how heavily rotted they've become.”

“Do high monks travel on their own like this?” Kellar inquires.

“No, not usually.” Veros replies. “When they leave Evatica, they take some squires and monastery knights with them, especially when venturing into a different region.”

“So they could still be around?” Royd asks. “These squires and knights?”

“It's possible.” Veros hypothesizes. “If the monks were able to wander around for this long, then their entourage could, as well. However, they might not be anywhere near here. They could've found themselves all the way at either coast, or maybe even up to Armasstadt.” He climbs back onto his horse, placing the medallions in his bag. “Their presence here raises some interesting questions, but finding answers involves us going too far out of way. We should just continue making our way to the next checkpoint before the sun sets.”

“That's fair.” Royd responds as he climbs back onto his horse, as well. “What are you going to do with their medallions?”

“Should we ever accomplish our goal and make it out of here alive, I'll go back to the monastery and return them.”

“Wouldn't you rather sell 'em?” Kellar interrupts with a suggestion expected of him.

“It's illegal to sell Idrid medallions that weren't issued to you.” Veros states quickly and matter-of-factly.

“Well, aren't you just a righteous man of the church.” Kellar bitterly replies.

“No, I'm just normal law-abider.” Veros states under his breath before announcing the group's departure. “Anyways, let's go. We're burning daylight.” The stern leader urges his horse forward, and the group follows.

Another few hours of quiet journeying pass, and the sun is beginning to set. The physical and emotional fatigue of their Levinburg experience is finally catching up to them as they show hints of lethargy, though they manage to endure it.

“Is it just me...” Royd speaks up suddenly. “Or is it a bit darker now than it was yesterday at the same time?”

Atticus turns his head upward and to the west to look at the orange sky, slightly desaturated by the grey fog, and responds: “The mist gets thicker as we get closer to the center of it, right? That's likely why.”

“I wonder if we'd be able to even see our own feet beneath us once we close in on Armasstadt.” The large warrior says with an unsure shake of his head.

“We'll figure it out once we get there.” Veros interjects. “If it's truly so bad that we can't even see a brick wall until we walk into it, then it might be one of the few reasons to turn around.”

“The next checkpoint should be close by though, right?” Kellar asks.

“Yes. We should see it any second now.” The coolheaded leader answers.

It doesn't take much longer before the checkpoint does indeed enter their field of view, just off the road. It's another walled safe zone with hastily-made watch towers and fenced-in perimeter. The group crosses into the interior of another magical barrier that keeps the mist of bay. They approach a gate where two soldiers, again in armor baring the Legion's coat of arms on their torso, stand guard. One of them approaches.

“Hold!” The soldier commands. “Are you all Mistwalkers?”

“Yes, we are.” Veros answers.

“Can I see your cards?”

“Of course.” Veros reaches into his pant pocket, retrieving his folded card, and hands it over.

“Is this your first time reaching this Checkpoint Aethen?” The soldier asks.

“It is. For all of us.”

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“On your first outing, too. Impressive. Alright, everyone get your cards out. I'll check them one by one, and you can go to headquarters.” The soldier returns Veros's card while beckoning the others to line up and show their own.

In order, Veros was followed by Royd, Kellar, Erik, Zyra, and Atticus. Once all of them are within the checkpoint walls, they go to the large cabin serving as headquarters, where they dismount their horses and tie them to a hitching posts near the front door. Bales of hay and water troughs were next to it, easily accessible to the animals. The Mistwalkers quietly enter the cabin, and repeat the same procedure they performed at the last checkpoint: simply standing in line and getting their cards stamped. Once finished, they enter the dining hall opposite from the check-in counter. As expected, there are a handful of soldiers scattered around, already eating their dinner for the day. There's a few Mistwalkers among them, too. The selection of food available to eat is similar to what was offered at the previous checkpoint, but of lower quantity. Royd takes notice of this.

“There's not as much food here as there was in Eowerth.” The bulky warrior gripes.

“I'd imagine it's harder for food carts to reach checkpoints the further they are into the affected area.” Veros responds with a reasonable point.

“Just another part of what makes venturin' deeper into the mist more and more difficult.” Kellar complains.

“Aye.” An unknown voice calls out in agreement. It belongs to a sturdy-looking soldier behind the food counter who approaches them. “It does take a while for food shipments to get here. Aethen's not in a very easily accessible area.”

“Are you the quartermaster here?” Veros inquires out of curiosity.”

“I am.” The soldier responds. “Quartermaster Terlus.”

“So is it because of the Tumarda River you're in a bad spot?”

“Aye.” Terlus nods. “That and Levinburg. Food transport is told to go around them. It makes it harder for them to reach us, but the Emergency Corps was adamant on sticking to the plan of establishing checkpoints exactly fifty miles between each other.”

“So even the Legion is told to go around Levinburg...” Kellar repeats what he heard, shocked that the group did what even the proven military of Yhordran wouldn't do.

“Wait.” Terlus catches Kellar's grim expression and makes a guess as to what it means. “You lot didn't go through Levinburg, did you?”

The group looks nervously at each other before Veros answers: “Yes. We did.”

“By Idrid, are you all mad?” Terlus expresses deep surprise, but also with a tinge of amusement. “Did all of you make it through? Don't tell me you used to have ten more in your group.”

“No, we didn't lose anyone.” Veros quickly responds. “Though us being here and not being here is a difference that was made by a measurement of mere seconds.”

“Let's just say that avoidin' Levinburg is, without question, the right call to make.” Kellar chimes in with a sour expression, obviously displeased with the unnecessary situation the group had put themselves in. Irritated, he grabs a plate and begins to choose his meal, leaving the others behind.

“Was it really that bad?” Terlus asks.

“It was.” Veros responds sternly.

“Well, I'm glad to know you all made it out in one piece. Fill your bellies and take a load off. Gods know you deserve it.” With a sympathetic face, Terlus encourages the group to eat their fill.

“Thank you.” Veros voices his gratitude. “We certainly will.”

One by one, the rest of the team picks up their plates and begins to choose among various fruits, vegetables, and cooked meats. They all huddle themselves together at the far end of one table, away from other groups and individuals. Royd wastes no time digging into his meal, which consists of almost nothing but slabs of beef and pork stacked on top of one another. Kellar can't help but voice additional annoyance at what he heard earlier as he angrily cuts into his own meat, though keeping the volume of his voice reasonably low so as to not interrupt the surrounding soldiers and Mistwalkers.

“I can't fuckin' believe we went ahead and did something so dangerous, that even the Legion avoided doing it.”

“Hindsight is far clearer than foresight, Kellar.” Veros says with sigh. “We didn't know how bad Levinburg was, so it truly did seem like the better option at the time.”

“We all made it out.” Royd announces with confidence as he violently gnashes on his meat. “Without a single misplaced person or item, at that. So rather than moaning about how dangerous it was, instead we should rejoice that we came out completely unscathed!”

Kellar throws a disdainful glare at Royd's apparent lack of self-preservation, and resumes bitterly eating his meal.

“I wonder if anyone here knows about the monks we saw earlier today.” Veros thinks aloud.

“Monks are important to the clergy here, right?” Atticus, the foreigner, joins in the discussion. “Wouldn't the monastery be up in arms if some of them went missing or died?”

“They would. However, it doesn't mean they'd be vocal about it. They could be in a panic, but only private, so as to not alarm the public.”

“That's a bit iffy.” Kellar pauses his brooding to also voice his thoughts on the subject. “Missin' monks is a pretty big deal. I don't think they'd try to hide it unless making it public would reveal somethin' shady.”

“Why those monks were here, why the monastery hasn't said anything; I couldn't begin to guess why for any of it.” Veros listlessly pokes and prods at his food, lost in thought.

“Could there be more out there? Undead monks wandering the region?” The black knight asks.

“Possibly. Considering how decomposed the ones we found were, they were dead for quite a while. Other Mistwalkers could've seen more.”

“Don't you think we would've heard about it if they had?” Kellar interjects, insistant upon his idea of shady dealings.

“I don't know.” Veros responds with a simultaneous sigh and shrug. “Now you have me wondering if I should even dare ask around for more information.”

“I think we should focus on reaching Armasstadt, first and foremost.” Royd speaks up, hovering over his now blank plate, wiping the stray pieces of meat from his mustache. “We're here to solve the mystery of the mist. It'd be bad to get distracted by other things while in such dangerous territory.”

“Well, that's some wisdom I wouldn't expect to come from you.” Kellar states mockingly.

“Haha! Well, when my belly is full, so is my mind.” Royd pokes his temple with his finger while sporting an egotistical grin. Kellar just puts on a bewildered expression, unsure of what his burly comrade's statement was intended to mean.

“A fair point, Royd.” Veros chimes in with agreement. “We should take our journey one goal at a time.” Content with the conversation, though if still a bit curious, he resumes eating his meal, as does Kellar.

Not long afterward, the group is setting up camp next to the checkpoint barracks. Everyone's tents are set up and bedrolls are laid out. Veros, Kellar, Royd, and Zyra are huddled around a small bonfire, and Atticus starts to remove his heavy black armor, replacing it with a more comfortable cotton shirt. Before he sits down to take in the warmth of the flame, Erik comes from headquarters with a quiver full of new arrows.

“Atticus.” The archer speaks in his rarely-heard, but smooth voice. “Would you mind shooting with me? They have a small range behind headquarters.”

“Sure.” The knight responds in kind, despite being a bit surprised that he'd be fulfilling his promise so soon.

The archer, with a face of clear anticipation, turns and walks back in the direction he came from. Atticus turns and looks at Zyra, curling his hand upward in an inviting motion.

“Want to join us?” He asks.

“Uh, yeah.” The pyromancer accepts the invitation, as equally surprised as the knight was at Erik's.