Meera got out of the grotto first and made sure there were no Mistblades around. The sun had set, and the white light of Mirithia shone through the foliage above. It was challenging to differentiate the Mistblades from the mists and nigh on impossible once they had the Whispering Mists skill active. So, she listened for them. When she heard no swirling mists or whispers about killing her, she motioned for Tamas to come out.

He barely managed with the walking stick Meera had made for him. The man was too badly injured, and she had no potions or healing skills to fix him. I really need to pick up a skill that heals others as well.

Meera looked at Tamas' injured leg and then at Onyx's tattoo on her hand. "I'm going to need you for this, friend."

"Huh?" Tamas scratched his head.

Meera brought out Onyx, and he came out like he always did—very dramatically. A rush of white smoke melded with the mists, and once it cleared enough, in its place stood a powerful black stallion.

Tamas gasped. "How did you do that?"

Onyx snapped his head from left to right, looking as confused as he should be. "Where did all this mist come from?"

Tamas shrieked and hid behind Meera. "How can it talk?"

"It can hear just fine, too," Onyx replied

"Ahh!" Tamas held onto Meera for dear life. "That's a ghost. I can see its tag. It's latched onto you."

Meera frowned and Identify'ed Onyx. She hadn't bothered to do so before, as there was no need.

[Bonded Spirit – Level 87]

"Hey, what do you know? Onyx, you're no longer a Trapped Soul."

"I guess since I'm no longer trapped in that cave and only trapped in your soul," he replied.

"Would you like to go back to the cave?"

"No, ma'am."

"Good boy." Meera pulled the scared Tamas off her and brought her forward. "Tamas, meet Onyx, our ride out of here. Onyx, this is Tamas. He's our guide, sort of."

Tamas shivered all over. "Y-You know this-this—"

"Don't say beast, or I'll bite your hand off," Onyx interjected, making matters worse.

"Onyx," Meera scolded. "Don't worry, he's actually very nice. He won't hurt a fly." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Let me tell you a secret, bonded spirits can't hurt anyone until their human commands them to."

Meera gave Onyx a look, and thankfully, he got the meaning and shut up. "See, he got all quiet because I asked him to."

"O-Okay, and you're sure he won't do anything…unnatural to me?" he asked.

"No, not at all. He's very nice. Go pet him."

"I can do that?"

"Of course, you can. Onyx will let you."

Onyx neighed. "Sure. Come here."

Tamas took his sweet time paddling to Onyx while Meera kept her ears open for any Mistblades. The only problem was their illusions. Last time, she could not tell the illusion apart from the real thing. She saw something move to their left, and out from the woods, clutching a bloody wound in his chest, came Urvan.

"Okay, we need to go now." Meera activated Druvis Power, picked up Tamas, who felt light as a feather, and seated him on Onyx. The cook cried out and made sounds of disapproval, but she had other things to worry about. Urvan's illusion was moving too fast for someone with a hole in his chest. She promptly jumped up on the stallion's back.

"Tamas, hold on tight. Onyx, run. No matter what, you don't stop. They're coming after us."

"Who's coming—"

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Tamas," the Mistblade posing as Urvan called and doing a damn good impression of him. "P-Please help…"

"Oh, by the gods," Tamas exclaimed. "How are you alive?"

"Onyx, run."

Onyx shifted on his feet. "Shouldn't we help—"

"No, we should not. Just run!"

"Meera, Urvan needs our help."

If Onyx were a real horse, she would've yanked his hair out in frustration. "That is a Mistblade, casting an illusion on itself. They've done the same thing to me before."

As soon as she said that, the illusion vanished, and a Mistblade emerged.

"Oh no, a ghost!" Onyx cried and, thankfully, shot off.

Tamas nearly tumbled off his back but ended up grabbing hold of Meera at the last minute. He held on tight and hugged her back after that. If the threat of the Mistblades weren't imminent, she would have told him to back off.

The Mistblade took off after them, and his speed was nothing extraordinary, but then he started using Mistwalk. He dispersed from one spot only to reform at another, and that was enough to match Onyx's speed.

He threw a couple of misty throwing knives. Meera's first thought was to activate a Mirror Shield, but they had passed her shield before. So, she pulled Onyx out of the way.

"Onyx, they're throwing weapons at us. Swerve between the trees to dodge them."

"O-Okay, but I'll be slower."

Shit. She patted his neck. "It's okay. Just do your best."

She pulled off a level 2 chakram with difficulty as Tamas wouldn't let go of her but gave her enough space to take it from her back. She launched it at the enemy.

The Mistblade deflected it with his sword, which elongated to double its original length. She hated that she didn't have Mist Affinity. She used Mirror Wing and brought the chakram back to sever its head, but the Mistblade turned at the last minute and stopped her chakram.

They learn from their failures, which is fantastic for them but not so fantastic for me.

She tried to get him a few more times, only for him to block or deflect her blow each time. Even though she did not kill the Mistblade, she put enough distance between them that it would be impossible for it to catch up to them. She recalled her chakram and hoped she hadn't come too far. Her chakram zipped straight for her like a bullet. It cut through tree trunks like they were nothing and was in her hand in no time.

"Tamas, are we going in the right direction?" Meera asked.

He looked around and then up at the planet named after the mother goddess. "Seems so…I think."

"We can't afford to head in the wrong direction—"

She heard whispering again and started looking about in every direction.

"W-What?" Tamas asked.

Meera ignored him and listened intently. The worst part was the whispering was growing closer. Are they catching up to us?

She scanned the woods up ahead. They were dark and filled with mists, but everything was filled with mists. Since her advanced vision failed her, she relied on her advanced hearing, listening to their whispers.

"We will kill them both."

"Yes, we will."

"They come."

"Our prey comes."

Meera's eyes widened. "Onyx, stop!" She pulled on his hair. She pointed to her left. "Go that way."

Onyx neighed and, without another word, took off to the left. The whispers cried foul play, but Meera had guessed right. They were lying in wait to ambush them. Four Mistblades appeared out of the mists, weapons at the ready.

All four threw throwing weapons at them. She swerved Onyx back in their original direction. It saved them from the throwing knives, but the Mistblades vanished into the Mists. She still heard their whispers, but she could not know where they were.

"Onyx, if you can run faster, now would be the time," Meera said.

"Hold on tight," the stallion replied.

Meera gripped his mane tighter while it wasn't possible for the trembling cook to hold on to her any tighter without suffocating her. Onyx shot off like a blazing missile. He swerved through trees like he had been born to do this. Meera's eyes watered too much from the wind, so she shut her eyes and relied solely on her Mirror Eagle Perceptivity skill.

She had to toss her chakrams to cut through some low-hanging branches, or she and Tamas would have been slapped off Onyx's back. The rushing wind in her ear made it impossible to hear the Mistblades' whispers.

They continued at this speed for a little while before Meera pulled on Onyx's hair, telling him to slow down. He slowed down to a trot, and she listened intently and heard whispers, but they were faint. Nothing immediately concerning, but they weren't far behind.

"Tamas, how far until we clear these mists?" Meera asked.

"I don't even know where we are, miss." He looked about. "This is all so…so confusing."

Meera wanted to shout and curse, but she kept it quiet. Keep a cool head, Meera. That's what Dad taught us. She had to figure out a way to get rid of them. When she thought they would get a breather, the whispers intensified again.

She gave Onyx a light kick. "They're back. Go."

"Full speed?" Onyx asked. "You will have to tell me why we're running from these ghosts when I saw you kill hundreds of wraiths back in the cave."

Back in the cave, I had safe zones where they couldn't get in…

Something struck as odd to her. "Onyx, not full speed, but still run." As her stallion friend took off, she turned to the wounded cook. "How did you escape this mist wall the first time?"

"We went through a gate. There are many in the border wall, with the Bloodstone Watchmen standing guard along with the Mistblades to back them up. Somehow, it makes it easier to sneak out. We hid in a merchant's wagon."

"I don't suppose we're close to a gate, are we?"

"No, I don't think so. The border moved last night, so the watchmen wouldn't have had enough time to set up proper gates. I don't think there even are gates in the border wall right now."

"This night just keeps getting better and better."

"That's just it," Tamas cried. We just need to survive the night, and if we can get through to the other side by daybreak, we'll be safe. As I said before, Mistblades are not allowed in the realm and cannot survive outside the border wall in the day."

"Why didn't you say so sooner?" She pointed forward. "Is this still the right direction?"

He looked up at Mirithia and seemed to be doing some calculations. He nodded. "That is still west. So, we should be headed in the right direction."

"Onyx, max speed ahead."

"Leave it to me. I'll get you out of this scary mist before you can even blink."

Why do I get the feeling he jinxed us…