There was no sound inside the mists. No insects, wind, or animals could be heard. Gone was the ringing from the blacksmith he heard just a moment ago. It was as if someone had completely muted all outside sounds. The only sound Kai could hear was his own heartbeat. The pounding increased every second he stood there. It was almost as if time was frozen inside the mists for everything except him.

It had the look of an ordinary forest, except for muted colors of greens and browns. He immediately noticed the forest didn’t have that rich vibrancy in color he had seen in previous ones. It was as if the mists were dimming everything.

The further he looked, the denser the mists became until eventually, he wasn’t able to see through it just like when he had been on the outside of it. It limits my visibility inside too… It wasn’t just the sight and sounds that were muted, but the smell too.

This is way too eerie. Unnatural even. I’ve seen enough.

His already rapid heart rate shot up. The village was gone. All he saw was more forest until the mists obscured his vision. “What the…” Shifting his head quickly, he was surrounded by grass, bushes, and trees. I don't understand, the village should be right there! His heart rate shot up.

He didn't move from his spot. Turning in circles, he couldn't see any indicators of his village or life. The village, which should have been only 100 feet behind him was now gone. It was as if taking that one step into the mists had transported him into the middle of the mist-filled forest.

None of the other children had ever said anything about this sort of thing happening. A chill ran down his back. His instinct wanted him to yell, but his rational mind took over, saying that making noise in the disturbingly silent forest would be bad. He laid his hand against his chest and willed his heart rate to slow in an attempt not to panic.

I have two options. I can stay here until an adult finds me or look for a way out. After thinking about it for a minute, he decided he would do a circle around his current position in the hopes he would be able to see a way out or any hints about getting back home. Marking the nearest tree with the knife his grandfather gave him for his birthday, he started in the direction that should have been where the village was.

Everything was silent except for the crunch of his footsteps as he walked across the grass. The trees towered above him with trunks larger than his body. Raising his head, he couldn’t see any leaves, as the branches extended higher into the depths of the mists, well past his vision. If it wasn’t for the eeriness of the situation Kai would even think that the forest was serene in a creepy untouched sort of way. The environment seemed entirely preserved which was different from what he was used to in his past life when trees and the ground were always being torn up to make way for progress and buildings.

He continued to progress forward, marking an arrow pointing back home on every other tree with his knife. Every crunch of grass under his boots caused him to cringe in the silent forest. After what he estimated to be 20 meters, he turned back and looked at the original tree he marked. It was partially visible in the thick mist. Seems like a good place to start circling.

After another minute of walking, Kai began to feel eyes on his back again. Someone or thing was watching him. Shifting his eyes left to right, he caught movement vanishing into the mists. He hoped it wasn’t his eyes playing tricks on him. A shiver of fear sped down his back thinking something was lurking beyond his field of vision watching him. He backed up, knife at the ready as his eyes kept shifting.

Kai froze when he realized something wasn’t right. The mark he had just made on the tree 15 seconds prior was gone. The tree appeared unblemished as if he had never marked it. Looking over to the previous tree he had marked, his eyes widened when he noticed that mark was missing as well. His body went cold. Even with all his past life experience fighting monsters and exploring new lands, Kai was beginning to panic. Something was going on and he wasn’t equipped or prepared to deal with it. No one told me about any of this.

As if to further incite panic and fear, a high-pitched screech cried out from an unknown location. Kai’s heart hammered in his chest. His grip around the knife was growing clammy.

The screeching stopped, instantly silenced, but now he could hear multiple crunching sounds coming from inside the mists. Something was moving and growing slightly louder the more time passed.

Putting his back to a tree, he looked around seeing nothing. Kai was frozen with indecision. If he moved, whoever was inside the mists would hear where he was; but if he stood still, the thing making the noise might see him as it came closer.

Staying silent and still, Kai kept his eyes trained on the mists ahead. After a minute he finally saw movement. The shadow of a creature appeared. It was still obscured by the mists, but judging by its silhouette, it was large. That was enough for Kai to make his decision. With no other choice, he ran.

He kept his eyes trained on the trees as he ran by, looking for the symbols he had carved, but none appeared. He winced with every step he took, as the crunch of his footsteps seemed to echo in the silent forest. The same screech as before resounded in the forest accompanied by the rapid crunching of footsteps on the stiff grass approaching him.

Twisting his head, Kai could see the creature now. It was a Screaming Forest Boar, something the village regularly had for meals as it was one of the more common creatures in the forest. The beast was twice as large as Kai and had to weigh easily five times him.

Kai kept turning his head back and forth to make sure he wouldn’t run into a tree as he watched the boar quickly gain on him. The distance was shortening with every second. His heart sank when he realized there would be no chance of outrunning it, especially with the body of an eight-year-old without magic.

Steeling his resolve, Kai stopped in front of a tree and turned around to face the boar, knowing if he kept running, he would be trampled. Only a few seconds away, the boar was completely revealed.

Adrenaline rushed through him as he narrowed his eyes and bent his knees ready to move. I have to time this perfectly otherwise I might die. Kai’s palm felt slick with sweat, his nerves were getting to him. The beast didn’t slow down as it approached, either not noticing the tree behind him, or not caring.

Now!

Jumping to his left last second, Kai tried to dodge the incoming beast. Pain exploded in his right foot as the boar clipped it, causing him to go flying through the air. Eyes scrunched in pain, he heard a loud thump, followed by a smaller one.

Falling to the ground he felt the air escape his lungs as he crashed onto the ground, the short grass doing nothing to cushion his fall.

“Fuuuuck,” he screamed at the top of his lungs. The pain was overwhelming as he lay there on his back. Gritting his teeth, it was all he could do not to scream out again.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Opening his eyes, he could see the boar lay next to the tree unmoving except for the gentle rise of its back as he still breathed. Turning over he got onto his hands and knees. Even the slightest movement was causing him agony. Putting his good foot under him he stood. Lightly he placed his injured foot onto the ground. The pressure caused him to stagger and cry out in pain as the pain flared up. His eyes shot to the boar which was still unconscious.

My knife where is it... Scanning around he noticed the knife lay between him and the boar only one meter away.

Shit... Mom is going to ground me forever if I’m able to make it home. Kai grumbled knowing his mother would punish him by not allowing him to train in the sword for some time. The worst punishment for an aspiring swordsman.

Hobbling over a few feet he bent down and grabbed the knife. Kai’s face took on a crestfallen expression as the boar twitched. Its breathing continued to remain steady. Limping towards the boar, Kai winced in anguish every time he brought down his foot.

After a minute he finally made it to the boar. Grabbing onto a tuft of hair, he steadied himself. Even flat on his stomach, the beast was still taller than him. Staring at the creature, it looked so peaceful unconscious, but he knew otherwise. He had to kill it, or there was a chance it would wake up and attack him before he could hobble away.

Sorry, but this is the way of the world. As you tried to kill me, I will not fail in killing you. Kai raised his hands with the knife aimed down and plunged straight into the boar’s eye. Its other eye shot open, as it began thrashing its head side to side, squealing in a high-pitched noise. Startled, he tightened his grip on the tuff of fur, as he threatened to fall.

He felt like it would dislocate as he held onto the knife’s handle. The boar kept thrashing its head wildly. Kai realized then that his knife was too short to kill the beast through the eye. Pulling it out, he aimed for another soft target, he stabbed down into the side of its neck, drew back, and stabbed again. His hand was slick with blood, making it difficult to hold its grip. Worse, the beast had stood up.

Kai tried to hold on but as the boar began moving, he tried to take a step and ended up coming down on his broken foot. The unexpected pain caused him to lose his grip on his knife. Taking off the boar began sprinting away, knife still lodged into its neck. After a few seconds, it slowed down and staggered. Letting out a whimper of pain and victory, he watched the boar collapse as its movements stopped completely.

Clap. Clap.

Turning swiftly, he saw a figure standing right behind him. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he recognized the tall figure.

“Grandpa, what are you doing here?” Kai gulped; aware he had screwed up.

Roy Cineris didn’t look a day over 40. With short black hair, a trimmed beard, and piercing gray eyes, he stood with his arms crossed, frowning down at his grandchild. Kai recognized the expression, it was not the kind, caring grandfatherly face that he usually portrayed, but the face of a stern village leader who was about to give out punishment.

Below, sitting at his grandfather’s feet, a majestic-looking fox sat stared at him. Her intelligent golden eyes were filled with displeasure. Fur of crimson red covered most of her body, except underneath where a strip of pristine white fur ran down from the lower mouth to her back legs. Smaller than most of the adult foxes in the village, Akane, the gluttonous reigned supreme as the current ruler for all foxes residing in the village. Known widely as the one who eats, the unseen stomachs, and his favorite title is “she who sleeps, lest you disturb her slumber and suffer the consequences.”

Growing up around the foxes, Kai could figure out their expression immediately now. For some reason, seeing the angry fox at him, made him more nervous than the anger of his grandfather.

Still sitting on the ground, Kai decided to try a different approach. He gave his grandfather a winning smile. “Look what I was able to do!” Kai said, pointing to the dead boar. He would play the innocent child card if it meant avoiding punishment.

Akane sauntered up to Kai, quickly doing a 180-degree turn, she smacked him in the face with her fluffy tail. It was a light tap, that he guessed was her way of telling him to shut up, but the tail felt so fluffy he didn’t really care. In fact, he couldn’t help but reach out and pet the fur of the fox down its backside. Stiffening, she remained still unmoving as he continued to pet it, unintentionally falling into a state of relaxation now that he was safe.

“Kai.” His grandfather said grabbing his attention. “Drink this. We need to get going. Your mother is probably worried. If we don’t hurry, she will rally the other villagers to look for you. You’ve been gone for thirty minutes.”

Eyes wide in fright at the mention of his mother and thirty minutes, Kai grabbed the vial of red liquid that had appeared from midair. Knowing full well the vial hadn’t appeared magically from thin air but instead had come from his grandfather’s ring of storage, one of a few in the village.

Popping the cork quickly, he chugged the red liquid. Peppermint flooded his mouth. The warmth traveled down his throat and throughout the rest of his body. Within a minute he felt his broken foot heat up significantly more than the rest of his body. With a crack and a pop, the foot snapped back together, prompting him to swear aloud. His foot continued to pulse and itch until a few minutes later when healing effects had worn off. Standing he gingerly pressed his foot onto the ground, making sure it was back to normal. There was no longer any pain, only tenderness.

“Let’s go,” his grandfather simply said as he moved past him, Akane trotting at his side.

Kai remained silent as he walked, his thoughts back to what had just happened. He had been stupid and reckless to come into the mists alone and without magic. He knew that even though the mists were regularly patrolled, it didn’t mean there weren’t animals or monsters that wouldn’t attack him. What was most strange was he hadn’t gone more than one meter into the mists, or so he thought. Even the markings he made had vanished from the trees. What should have been a fast and easy matter turned into something dangerous. There was no reasonable explanation except some nefarious magic at play.

His grandfather and Akane remained quiet as well, simply glancing at him as he walked between them.

Freezing in her tracks, Akane stopped without warning. A second later, all kinds of animals and monsters began screaming throughout the forest. Following those cries, the ground began shaking. Nearly losing his balance, Kai grabbed onto his grandfather’s sleeve. As quickly as it had started, the shaking ceased along with the noise, the misty forests returning to silence once more.

“It’s been happening more and more lately,” his grandfather mused aloud.

There was another pause in conversation as they continued their walking.

“I’m sorry,” Kai said breaking the silence.

With a sigh, his grandfather spoke, “You have good instincts, Kai. You didn’t even flinch or hesitate to kill it. I mean you should have cut its throat, to begin with, but it was a good try. I assumed I was going to have to save you, but you were smart to set a trap for the boar.”

“It was all I could do. I thought I was going to die. I mean, I even broke my foot. If that boar didn’t knock itself out, I really might have died.” Kai went silent thinking how lucky he had been.

His grandfather smiled brightly. “Of all my grandchildren, you have always been the one to make me the proudest. Your intelligence and craftiness are unmatched by those your age. But you should have come to me if you wanted to see inside the mists. I’d ought to smack your backside for going in unsupervised if I wasn’t sure your mother was already going to do it.”

Kai gulped, knowing he was doomed if his mother found out. He felt phantom pain on his backside already.

His grandfather gave him a knowing look. “I won’t tell her...”

Kai beamed and quickly gave his grandfather a hug.

“But you have to promise me you will not enter the forest again unless you’re with an adult, a fox, or in the third realm. Although we do our best to cull them, there are many stronger monsters living in the mists.”

Kai did the only thing he could to escape punishment. He agreed.

The fox remained silent as they walked, nodding away at their conversation as if she understood it.

“What level was it?” Kai asked. He was practically skipping now that he learned there would be no punishment.

“Foundation, level 27. Not bad for an eight-year-old mortal.” His grandfather gave him a smirk.

“Only level 27?” kai muttered to himself. I thought it would be stronger with how it shook the tree.

Silence lapsed again as they continued their trek through the murky mists. Yawning Kai was growing tired, the battle had taken a lot out of his immature body. “Grandpa, how did you know I was out here?” Kai asked with interest. He guessed that the person watching him now had been his grandfather the entire time.

“It’s not like you were being stealthy, you just walked right out of the village. Even the village watchtower guards saw you leave.”

“What? There were no watchtower guards there when I was leaving,” Kai admitted.

“They were there,” his grandfather responded mysteriously.