Ardwyn wasn’t sure what the feeling that came over him was, but he felt like he had to follow Gwynn. He stepped into the fog, as if in a trance, his mind blank, and devoid of any thoughts. The fear of everything was also gone, replaced by a tranquil feeling of being lost in a warm fuzz of space.

The air around was thick and green with the fog. A foul smell drifted by, but even though the sensation registered, Ardwyn did not care. He couldn’t tell how long he was walking. Time faded away, becoming just an abstraction. There, somewhere in the fog, was Gwynn. She would help. Bring him the Ethereal Blossoms. It was only there that mattered. He could finally get out of this world and return home.

The streets around him disappeared, swallowed up in the fog. A light shined ahead. Perhaps a lamppost. Ardwyn followed the light.

Ardwyn. A voice called his name. You’re almost there.

The whisper came from somewhere close by. He wasn’t scared. Nothing else mattered but this place where he could finally end his journey.

Ardwyn you have been searching for a long time. The voice came again. It is here that your journey ends.

He looked around to see where he was. There were no landmarks around him, just a solid green fog as if he was in the very middle of a cloud of some sort. The air was thick and he had a slight problem breathing. He gasped for air as he choked on the thick gas of the fog. It was stronger now. More intense, and more foul with some sort of decaying odor. Something putrid like a rotting animal.

Ardwyn didn’t care. The destination was all that mattered. All of his suffering would finally end. Being alone in this world, always fighting to survive, it would all end.

All of a sudden he became extremely tired. The weight of the fog bore down on his shoulders like some great pressure. He was tired of walking, tired of being lost, with no one to ever turn to. He just wanted to go home.

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Back home he didn’t have much going for him. Not a lot of friends, no money, no status, but at least it was home. It was what he knew and what he was comfortable with.

The tiredness crept up on him more than he realized. He just wanted to rest, to give up. To fall down here, and sleep… forever.

The fog had hypnotized him. Ardwyn wasn’t sure how long he kept walking, descending deeper into the darkness.

You came, Ardwyn. You’re finally here. It all ends now.

The voice came again. Ardwyn didn’t question where the voice came from or who it belonged to. None of that mattered to him. His intuition for danger was gone, completely erased by the fog’s spell. His fear of death had also disappeared. It just did not seem important anymore…

His trance was broken momentarily by a shape calling out to him in the fog. It was Gwynn. She reached out to him, in her left hand carrying the Ethereal Blossoms. The flowers glowed beautifully there in the fog with sparkles of magical energy.

As Ardwyn approached, the blossoms began to shine brighter, their sparkles growing larger and floating up and around in the air. Lines of energy burst from the blossoms, surrounding Gwynn’s hand, connecting and spiraling down her body. The lines of energy then reached out to him, enveloping around him in coils, and pulled him in closer.

He no longer needed to move. His body went limp. He lost control over his muscles, and felt a tug pulling him in toward the Ethereal Blossoms.

Gwynn smiled sinisterly, as if finally getting what she wanted. Her eyes opened wide with greed, and insatiable hunger. She opened her jaws as if she was going to swallow him hole, and out of her mouth came a thick bolt of energy shooting him right in the chest of where his heart was.

The shock was unlike anything he had ever felt. It was deep, throwing him back a few feet onto the floor. He tried to move, to scream in pain, but his whole body remained paralyzed.

Then Gwynn lifted her hand to the sky. Another bolt of energy grew in her palm, a ball of white-hot light, shooting upward and forming an umbrella of energy that erupted into lighting and thunder in the clouds.

Something began to escape from his heart. His life force was squeezed out of him as if someone squeezing juice out of a fruit.

Ardwyn lay there in terror, now sobering up from his trance under the weight of the heavy pain that moved through his body. He wanted to groan and curl up into a ball, but he was still paralyzed. The only thing that showed on Ardwyn was the terror in his eyes.