The thick green fog around Ardwyn seemed to have some sort of effect on him. His thoughts jumbled and ran together. Ardwyn struggled to muster the courage to face the darkness building up within him. The fear of something in the fog haunted him.

He wasn’t exactly sure what caused it. He felt a strong pull to slump over on the side of the street and fall asleep. He became incredibly tired all of a sudden.

Ardwyn took a deep breath and tried to shake the fog off or whatever effect came over him. His legs felt heavy. No one was around. What if he just stopped for a moment and rested? Closed his eyes…

A stranger’s hand shook his shoulder, waking him. He had no idea how long he’d slept. Thick fog still surrounded him in the night. The temperature had dropped, and he shivered from the cold. He realized he had slumped over near the sidewalk, the earlier tiredness clinging to him.

“Wake up!” the stranger called. Thick leather gloves pressed against Ardwyn’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”

Ardwyn squinted in the darkness. The words echoed in his mind pulling him out of a deep sleep. The features of the stranger slowly came into focus. A large, burly, bearded man stood before him, wearing a wool hood, and leather boots pulled up almost to his knees. The man seemed dressed as if shielding himself from the fog. A sheathed long sword hung from his leather belt, and in his right hand, he held a lantern. Its bright, warm glow cast the man’s silhouette on the cobbled street.

“You shouldn’t be out here lad. This fog — it’s not natural.”

“I’m okay,” Ardwyn said.

“Can you stand?” the man offered his gloved hand.

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Ardwyn grasped it, feeling the man’s strength pull him up to his feet. He stumbled slightly but then caught himself on the wall.

“Whoa, easy there,” the man said. “Give yourself a moment to find your feet.”

Ardwyn took a deep breath of the cold night air and steadied himself.

Once Ardwyn regained his senses, the man asked, “What were you doing out here? Have you lost your way?”

“I thought I saw…” his voice trailed off as he realized he wouldn’t make much sense. “Never mind. It was nothing.”

“In this fog lad, nothing can be the most dangerous thing of all.”

Under the streetlamp’s light, Ardwyn got a better look at the man who had helped him. Dark eyes shined from underneath his hood. His long beard was tucked into the side of his cloak.

“I’m Rodrick,” the man said. “Sometimes I take watchman duties on these streets at night.”

“Ardwyn.”

“Do you have a place to stay in for the night?” Rodrick looked around at the fog surrounding them. There was a sense of unease about him.

“I do not,” Ardwyn said. “I’m a traveller.”

“If you’d like, I can offer you a roof to wait out this night, away from this treacherous fog.”

Ardwyn considered the man’s offer, unsure which fate was worse, staying out in the fog or trusting this stranger. If Rodrick wanted him dead, he’d already had the chance to kill him while he slept. Ardwyn also had no money nor anything worth taking.

“How far from here?” Ardwyn asked. “I need to meet my companions at the town fountain.”

“It would be folly to attempt to reach the town fountain tonight. There are things that lurk in these fog that hunger for the warmth of the living.” Rodrick instinctively placed his hand on the handle of his blade and scanned the area around them.

A single street lamp lit a narrow part of the alley. Darkness shrouded the rest. Houses lined the street, but no lights shone from their windows.

“Come, let us seek refuge from this gloom,” Rodrick said, his eyes glancing up as if something might even fall out of the sky upon them.

Ardwyn finally said, “I would be grateful for your kindness, Rodrick, to provide me with shelter for the night.”

“Aye, let’s go this way then,” Rodrick said, pointing to the street ahead.

It was then that the face emerged at the other end of the alleyway, like an apparition of some kind.

The voice echoed from down the street, magnified by some unnatural force, “Refuge, you say? But what if the answers you seek lie within the very danger you flee?”

Rodrick drew his sword and positioned himself in front of Ardwyn. “Who goes there? Show yourself!”