Chapter 19: Guiding Light

The nebulous haze still stood before them, the stiff duo reticent of their decision. This was their only passage out, away from these alien grounds.

No alternatives or any substitutes. Left with nothing but a single pathway through the black fog.

The two still had reservations about trudging through shrouded mist. A single mistake and they may as well give up on seeing the other side.

Hence, the pair weighed down their options, though their judgement deviated towards one option, and it was to brave the haze.

★[I uh...]

He remained vigilant of the amorphous gloom, concrete in his opinion that whatever it hid posed enough dangers to eradicate his presence, just as it had done to Willow’s comrades.

Her story did not help to soothe his already dwindling fears.

★[Since you could enter the castle, does that mean you’ve passed already through here?]

☼[Yes.]

A stoic response to his question, one that somewhat relieved him of his concerns. If Willow found safe passage within its depths, then perhaps she knew how to proceed further.

The black fog was a major barricade that annulled any attempts at bypassing the Twilight Forest. It tread the path to heaven.

Neither land nor sky became a safe journey for its travelers. They would need to pass through the haze, either way. If there were other alternatives, then the scholars succeeded in their pursuit of knowledge. Yet as of now, none appeared to them.

The neighboring states conducted various expeditions to probe the Twilight Forest’s depths, only to fall short of their projected goal.

Soldiers, adventurers, and mercenaries, none succeeded in their pursuit. Beyond what they hoped to reach, all fell in vain.

Every expedition failed because of a single obstruction, the black fog.

But there was an irregularity among these strings of failures; Willow, the person who would be his protector. She was quite special, that much he was sure of.

From what she claimed, the wisp had lived for centuries, far beyond what he’d assumed of her.

The strange being’s status as a Replicator elevated her further, which made her the perfect guide.

She was the sole exception. Of the haze which brought forth tragedy, from that did she survive. Willow was his only hope.

☼[Nonary, I’ll be using a single string to monitor your emotions.]

The wisp was extremely blunt in her assertion, conveying her intentions to him.

If previously, her strings became a cocoon to safeguard their descent, the current purpose would be to supervise his mental state.

Though, with her being straightforward, it eliminated any immediate revulsion from him.

☼[While it may seem like I’m overstepping my boundaries, know that I only want to keep you safe.]

Willow quickly followed, aware that the boy was averse to her methods.

The fog posed too much of a threat, and her twine would be the only way to keep his companion safe, just as she had promised him.

At the very least, she had Nonary’s safety in mind. And he was aware of that. If he refused, then she would need to proceed without him, and that was a possibility he absolutely loathed, more than having his mind probed.

Nonary made an oath to himself that he would defer to whoever could lead him out of the accursed place. Willow became the answer to his problem.

If not for her, then he would remain trapped within the forlorn castle, with the ravens as his companion.

Compared to those backstabbing bastards, Willow was far more tolerable. At least she felt guilty about her actions. The ravens were rather conceited with what they enacted upon the pair.

Ever so smug in what they did, who knew that the ravens were capable of such devious crimes?

Then again, the birds became embodiments of misfortune, and such a comparison wasn’t far from the truth. That single act of betrayal destroyed his respect for the ravens.

If he could, and he really wished that he could do so, that the birds be deprived of their jet-black feathers as compensation for what they did.

Fixated were his thoughts, curious about what Willow had to say next. Nonary’s attention became devoted to Willow’s dictation.

Her orders took precedence over whatever opinion he may have over the wisp’s plans. Because, as she had warned him before, the infernal passage would devour his presence, with Willow held culpable over his demise.

Her guilt still followed, remorse over what she lost. No trace of her friends ever remained, nor was it possible to even recover a fragment of their presence.

While the wisps were incorporeal in their form, the cores they possessed became their physical embodiment.

Yet the fog took it. In her own words, they disappeared like mist. And the same could happen to him if he failed to engage in what the wisp ordered from him.

The current state of affairs required him to entrust his safety towards her.

☼[Close your eyes so you may not see... block your ears so you cannot hear... seal your mouth so you will not speak...]

She mentioned what the forest forbid of him to do, and should he perform any of the prohibited actions, then his life would be in danger.

☼[I implore you to heed my words if you wish for me to guide your wayward path. If you fall... then I cannot save you. You shall perish at your own decree, Replicator.]

Her voice remained stern.

At her proclamation, whatever semblance of the laconic tone she once possessed had all but disappeared. Her strange expression, though exotic and unknown, was one of heartache.

The wisp had means to convey her emotions without the need to speak in worded tongue.

A simple expression of concern was enough to convince the newly christened individual, one named Nonary.

★[If... by some odd chance, I were to fall behind...] He asked about the unknown, hopeful that the wisp withheld information from him, if only to preserve his bothered mind.

He needed to understand what it really was.

★[Do you know what would happen to me?]

☼[...]

★[From your own words, this thing has been standing for over centuries now. Does no one really know about what happened to them when they disappeared?]

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

☼[I really don’t know...]

★[Good grief.]

It sounded quite impossible. How could the towering wall of mist remain an unsolved mystery when centuries had passed since its discovery?

★[It’s stressful enough to gaze at it...]

There must be some progress made because, if not, then this fog really posed a threat to their world.

By some unknown methods, the wall refused to expand from its position, yet what happened if it shifted in place?

An unfathomable, formless black mist that stood to test the ravages of time, unresolved and unknown.

★[What’s your reason for monitoring my emotions though?]

While her actions will be to his benefit, he wanted to be informed of what she planned to achieve with that knowledge. Too many things remained unknown to him.

★[Is there a specific danger tailored towards disruption of my senses? Is that what it is?]

From what the wisp warned of him, her request tailored towards restricting the stimuli that his body received. Perhaps the threat would overwhelm his perception of reality, or maybe it would distort them in its entirety.

There may be more possibilities, but he saw them not in a good light.

In the end, the looming threat would remain a detriment, especially so for him.

Willow’s reluctance only worried him more, as her agitation proved what hazardous ends did the veil carry. If he failed to brave its dangers, then he would die.

It was a simplistic, facile result of deficiency coming from him. The fault belonged to him. But if he succumbed, Willow would blame herself for failing in her promise to protect him.

And strangely enough, he didn’t want her to carry the burden of his death. While he was quite selfish, and his awareness of this pact proved this point, for her to be bearing the responsibility was quite bitter and concerning.

She had no control over the situation, so the blame should not lie to her. If ever, his death would be of his own if he chose not to heed her words.

‘How depressing. I’m getting worried about her. A few hours ago, I held her to be grim and hostile. Yet now I’m worried?’

Contrary to his former behavior, Nonary’s concern for her was quite natural. As for his depressive streaks, they were the opposite of any normal semblance of rationality.

Unnatural means, a product of his visor’s interference brought forth his previous burst of emotions. His mind weaved between sanity and logical thought, yet it all ended when Willow appeared.

‘Though I guess I need her, in more ways than one.’

★[Wait, don’t answer that, I’ll probably worry a lot if you do.]

As Willow prepared her response, he shot down her attempt. He’d asked far too many questions by now, and it felt best to let their dangerous gamble play out. Without his rejection, that is.

If he learnt more, then his composure would remain shaken.

★[Ignorance is bliss, it’s what they say.]

☼[Alright...]

The blue strand was a familiar sight to him, with Willow as its origin. She unraveled the sapphire string, tying itself beneath the boy’s clothed limb.

☼[I'll remove it once we're done, I promise you.]

★[Ah, don’t worry about it.] Nonary shrugged off her worries.

She remained anxious over his preference for privacy, but he also needed to fulfill his end of the bargain.

★[You still need to replenish your energy, right?]

☼[I mean I do, but...]

She still felt indecisive about absorbing his temporal energy, as it would take a few hours to finish.

Until then, the sapphire string exposed his emotions, as it wasn’t a process she could turn off at will.

☼[Is it really alright with you?]

★[Well, if you want the answer to that then...]

He was already giving his consent to the entire process, yet she was rejecting the offer.

It made little sense when her elation at the contract’s process was quite obvious to him, yet now she felt hesitant about the matter. There’s also the problem regarding her need to absorb energy.

★[What happens when you run out of gas?]

☼[Run out of gas?]

Confounded at his statement, Willow tried to comprehend what he meant as his manner of speaking was strange.

A few manner of times did the boy speak in unknown jargon, and she’d yet to unearth what they meant.

★[Ah, I mean when you're out of energy, what happens?] He quickly clarified to her, as he realized that most of the idioms he spoke of became quite jarring for the wisp.

He possessed knowledge that seemed to come from another source, and it did not translate well to his companion. Thus, defining his parlance was necessary for her to understand.

☼[Err...]

She understood what the boy meant. If the wisp did not meet her needs, then she would perish. Her capacity for action correlated to the amount of energy she possessed. To lack energy meant an incapability to produce a response towards the worldly dangers.

And inaction meant-

☼[I’ll, um... die?]

★[See?]

It was a necessity to convince her. Even if they were to leave this forest, Willow remained an important asset of his.

He needed to make use of her strength, no matter how weak she was with her current state.

★[I can’t have my guide dying on me, and that’ll happen if you keep putting it off for later.]

☼[Don’t blame me, alright?]

Willow settled on his choice, though she still felt quite apprehensive about the matter. While the boy’s coaxing helped conclude her thoughts, the indecision within remained.

But in the end, the wisp yielded. If she avoided the process, then it would be her life to grieve, though she wasn't necessarily sure of whether the boy would actually do that for her.

☼[It’s your words, not mine...]

She tried to hold Nonary responsible, though the wisp only did so to her concern. Guilt was a mischievous emotion, one that made people feel remorse over their actions. And she felt needless guilt over the boy’s acceptance of her.

She was to feed on someone else’s time, even though it was already decided as a part of their contract.

‘Why in the world did you bring up the contract if you were going to keep hesitating like this?’

His attempts to improve the situation succeeded, yet the wisp remained uncertain. In direct contradiction with their pact was her hesitation in the matter of energy consumption, though forming the contract enamored her.

‘Please don’t tell me she did that on a whim...’

★[Say...]

He sought to confirm his newfound suspicion. And what better way could there be than questioning the guilty party.

He did exactly that, wording his statement as if he’d seen through her.

★[When you formed the contract, it was because I’m your first pact-bearer, wasn’t it?]

He stared at the will o’ wisp who, at his words of wisdom, suddenly froze in shock. A genuine reaction towards his query, one of glaring guilt.

This was a somewhat obvious response, if only by the slimmest of margins. Her feedback was as obvious as it came to be that she acted on her own whims.

And this was a terrifying discovery, one that may affect future choices of his.

★[Willow, I hope you realize that I’m scolding you in front of the dangerous Black Fog and that our conversation makes little sense within the scheme of things since we are going to face countless dangers out there but uh...]

Loathed it may be; he had to tell the truth.

★[Can you really keep me safe?]

She was far too passionate in her actions, to the point of impulsiveness. While she possessed the capacity to separate emotional input from rational thought, as she’d shown from when she deemed him dangerous, the wisp’s hasty demeanor proved to dominate a majority of her personality.

☼[Nonary, while you may be correct in your judgement towards me, know that I will never falter in my desire to shield you.]

Within this strange world, the words of a will-o’-the-wisp carried more than meager concepts. They were the culmination of what they willed to be theirs; of what their kind represented.

☼[Because within this haze that covets our misery...]

It was her will... As a will-o’-the-wisp, as the queen of the wisps, and as a Replicator. That she may succeed in her endeavors, where all else failed.

She already grasped the wayward path, fraught with dangers unavoidable to her. And in their attempt, they would prevail. If not, then another would fall in her name.

She couldn’t bear that choice.

Her failure would cripple what little hope she held for salvation towards herself. She wanted to reassure him he would survive alongside her. That she would bring him outside of the Twilight Forest and then show him the wonders of the world.

It was really strange of her to think so.

The two had only met recently, with both wary of each other. When the pair first met, sparks flew as their weapons clashed. The startling look he gave towards the wisp. It was one of fear.

She was unaware of why he acted so, yet it remained obvious... that the boy was afraid of her.

After they had made their amends, he fulfilled her first promise towards him; that she would free him from his forlorn prison, a fortress of mysteries where ravens stood to gaze at them.

And while their descent wasn’t quite safe as he’d hoped, he still felt the ground before him. Not of the castle, but the coniferous soil where the trees grew.

And now, they stood by the Black Fog, where its travelers were condemned to fade like mist. The accursed grounds demanded it that those who enter cease to be. To succumb and vanish, like the haze that left its maw.

Willow didn’t want her first pact bearer to disappear, and she couldn’t be blamed for such selfish thoughts.

☼[And wishes it to be your demise...]

A funeral pyre for those who were lost... A pillar of flames for those she wept for... And the warmth of a blaze, for those who would survive...

She wanted him to survive, even though she failed countless times before. Willow would protect him, just as...

☼[I shall be your guiding light, just as I had promised you.]

The breath of a vow, one that she would uphold until time wept for her.

Nonary would live to see what lay beyond the mist. He knew nothing of the outside world, and it was a cruel way to live. So long as her companion did not break, so long as he followed her words... That the boy would not die. He would discover the mysteries that followed.

★[I see...] Her vow caught his mind aflame, rendering his fears asunder.

Perhaps he would perish... It remained a possibility, yet he believed in her. In the creature which brought his mind at ease. And while the moon’s presence remained to be seen, he would trust the stranger that showed him kindness.

★[Let’s go then.]

A sapphire string may bind them together, to proclaim the bond between the two. Until the Torched Contract fell, she deemed that none of them would disappear.

'If she does backstab me then, I guess it's my funeral. I only have myself to blame if that happens'

And from there... They would be a figure of the night, led by its guiding light, that would cross the thorny path of twilight mist.