The screams of alarm resonated through the big cart. The four horses stumbled and pressed close together in terror. The man walked and ran about the cart nervously, checking the sides and hoping that the dogs had decided not to come any closer.

Sunshen was doing similarly well. Turning and looking, turning and hoping. But the hounds were only getting more plentiful around them. It was the same as with Gret before. He knew that once he saw a hound in the dark, it only meant that a few dozen more were waiting behind.

Sunshen was given four quick horses and yet, the hounds could catchup easily. Their hunger reflected in their crazed eyes. Now and here, Sunshen felt no empathy for the animal.

No. He only felt fear. Felt the fear of a prey animal. Felt the hunter's gaze and hunger upon him.

"Fucking...Help!" yelled one of the men.

Sunshen turned to see the man holding a spear, unsuccessfully stabbing into the dark, at one of the hounds that was closest. He kept stabbing in panic, trying keeping the hound away.

"There is a bunch of them over here, they are getting..." the words trailed of as the man jerked and fell down from the darkness, than disappeared in it, still holding his spear.

"Lucas!" Others ran to the spot where the man disappeared. But none would dare stop, none would dare try to help him.

Sunshen muffled his ears. He knew full well that the man was a lost cause and the sounds around him only made his legs shake. He fell onto the wood and curled into a ball. Hyperventilating. He almost felt the void, the vines that teared into his flesh. The memories were coming back so alive.

"Men! No outreaching weapons. Philip, you take Lucas's spot. Others, back to your station! We can mourn him later. But now, make sure we won't have to mourn you as well." Bert yelled as he took the reins of the horses. The change of pace threw Sunshen around the cart. His head hitting the bench.

His uncovered his ears brought him the sounds of men screaming over each other. One warned about hounds getting close to the horses, one about a hound jumping into the light only to back off again. The pack were everywhere and it was only getting closer.

"Why is there so many of these fuckers!"

Suddenly the cart jumped up and fell down with enough force to throw all the men down. Most fell back onto the cart. But another fell beside. Without a niatra, his weapon lost. Sunshen had not seen him since that point.

The abrupt stop of the car thrown Sunshen at the bench, propping his hands behind him as he stood up involuntarily.

Even in his haze, he saw the mayhem around him. Even in the chaos he realized the important thing.

We are not moving. We are not moving. Was all Sunshen managed to think.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Bert yelled as he moved to a corner on the cart. "Fucking wheel! You two!" Bert yelled and pointed to two of the crew. "You come with me, we will have to change the wheel."

Sunshen slowly moved to the corner as the man ran toward Bert.

The wheel was chipped, a part of it left somewhere on the road. Now it was keeping them in place. Unable to move. Unable to escape.

"Now on three!" Bert yelled as the man beside him held the cart.

"One! Two! Three!" The two men lifted the cart a little above ground and Bert started disassembling the wheel. Sunshen watched as a grey-purple maw came out of the fog. It started sizzling, but it only quickened in the light. Followed by more. Even though they burned, the hounds still ran to the light.

Sunshen nostrils filled with the scent of burnt fur and rotten meat as the two beasts lunged at the men and each bit into one of them except Bert. Bert skillfully dodged and swayed, staying out of the hounds reached. The men also tried to resist, they flayed their hands, shouted. But the power of a fog-beast was undeniable. Once they were caught, both were dragged into the fog, only sounds of gasping and tearing meat left of them.

Sunshen felt sick. He leaned on the railing as his stomach turned and twisted. He could almost hear something, but the buzzing in his mind overpowered any sound. He only smelled the rotten scents, only saw the dark fog.

"Sunshen!" Bert yelled as he slapped his captain from under him.

"But I...I can't..." What could I even do?

"Come fucking help me, or we all are gonna die!"

Sunshen saw the look in Bert's eyes. Those weren't the eyes of a man who planned to die that day. Sunshen stilled his breath and jumped over the railing.

"Lift it!" Bert shouted, holding a new wheel.

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Lift it? By himself? But how could he, he was so weak compared to the rest and even before two man were needed to...

"Get done with it!"

Sunshen moved to the cart and grabbed it by the bottom. Then he hefted...and lifted it a few more inches than the two before him.

Bert quickly replaced the wheel and fitted the screws. After testing the wheel he quickly jumped back onto the cart and reached out a hand to Sunshen.

Sunshen heard the sounds of beasts running after him, felt their malevolent gaze on his back. So he jumped. He managed grabbed on and Bert hefted him up . Than he ran back to the reins.

The horses each ran in panic, as they felt the cart finally give way to their stress. They ran wildly, throwing the men on board from side to side.

Sunshen looked back down, where he was but a moment ago. He only saw the burnt tattered tails of the hounds that tried to catch him retreat into the dark. Then he turned to the others. From his crew before, only one was left. Naheila was covered in blood and her short swords were swinging wildly down on the burned beasts. Spraying ooze around the cart.

As Bert got caught the reins, he guided the horses back onto the road.

They quickened on the stone road, but they were still too slow, the hounds running after them, snapping their jaws.

"They gain on us! They will reach us in a min-" the man fell onto the ground from the cart.

Sunshen watched as the man ran after them, screamed murder and profanities before the hounds caught up to him. He continued watching as the hounds gathered around the man, as they teared into his flesh. Tore bone from bone. All the while the man only screamed. Though his screams turned from profanities and curses into an incoherent mess of pain and anguish. But the men still kept on screaming. Sunshen heard him long, after he disappeared in the mist.

Sunshen turned to Naheila, her arms still stretched over the railing. Her face as still as ever.

"Had to toss the weight." she said.

The hounds seem to have been satisfied with their prey, as none ran after the cart once they crossed the river. But even then, Sunshen still gazed back at the road behind them. All of his men, lost to the accursed evil of the fog as well as his incompetence. Another day and Sunshen had even more blood on his hands.

Not only that, but Naheila thrown one of their own out of the cart. Just when he started believing that the woman might be a human after all, when he thought he heard emotion in her voice, she killed one of their own without blinking.

Now she was reining the horses, wordless yet again.

"Are you alright?" Bert came up to Sunshen.

"I...they..." Sunshen's mouth continued moving, but no sound came out. The gore from the fight fresh in his mind.

Bert took out a small box, revealing pre-rolled cigars coupled together.

"Take one. Helps to calm the nerves. At least a little."

Sunshen took one of the cigars, almost dropping it with his shaky hand. Then he noticed it. His golden arm had not shook, had not swayed. It was completely still. Calm. The sight made him even more uncomfortable.

Releasing a small puff of smoke. Sunshen seemed to relax at least slightly.

"First time is the hardest. Seeing them is something altogether different than hearing about them."

"It wasn't my first time. I saw one before, killed one before."

"Oh did you?" Bert asked. His body turning to Sunshen in curiosity.

"I had a propeller and loaded it with gold, shot it at one of them at close range."

"Really? Then you killed more of them than I have."

"How? You made these runs numerous times."

"Yes, but I avoid fighting with them directly. Better to let others take the risk."

"Probably what kept you alive through them all."

"Probably." Bert nodded as he let out a few circles of smoke. "So who are we meeting anyway boss?"

"Gold miner. Or more correctly the owner of a gold mining company."

"Getting low on materials?"

Sunshen shrugged. He did not think that there actually was any shortage. The rebellion stockpiles seemed almost inexhaustible.

"Do you know anything about Bethil Bert?"

"Was there a couple times on jobs. Safest city in the Great Purple. At least that is what they say, but I believe it. A mountain riddled with streets and housing. Dozen niatra's at every entrance and at least two at every intersection."

"You mean to say that they all live in a mountain?"

"Yes. Story goes that some nomad leader had enough of his men succumbing to the fog and dug straight into a hill. Fog does not move through the earth, so they huddled up inside, closed off the entrances from it and were safe."

"Sounds smart."

"Well it is working."

"Why doesn't Kitva do the same? We are on a hill after all. We could all fit in there."

"Why would they? The rich are protected enough. The big niatra's shine over each other, so even if multiple break, there is ample time to replace them."

"And the other's have no vote in the matter anyway."

"Exactly."

Sunshen wanted to call the injustice out, but that would be sheer hypocrisy. He himself had just sacrificed multiple of his crew. Only he, Naheila and Bert remained - the higher positioned. When given the opportunity, he failed the poor as well as any leading class. Leaving them dead...no, leaving them even worse than just dead. Leaving them to die slowly and painfully, so they could savor every each piece of meat that the beasts bit from them.

Sunshen shivered again.

Whoever had cursed his birthland was the greatest evil he could imagine. The fog could only kill and corrupt. Sunshen wondered what the world would look like without it. The people would finally have space to be nice to each other. Pleasant. Why would anyone have conflict if such an evil did not exist? It would have to be such a pleasant place.