As resolute as he was when he accepted the journey to the darkness, coming face to face with it was something else. The giant gate laden with the golden and silver light of niatra's pushed the rolling fog away, but the power of it's pressure was still clear to see. Sunshen was really supposed to enter there?

"Couldn't we have taken the knights?"

"Not enough has been manufactured, plus this is supposed to be a quickie." Gret replied. Then he looked at Sunshen's arms. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

Sunshen had been carrying a niatra fixed on his mangled arm, as well as a small dove propeller, one of the lightest of the steam propelling weapons. It had still weighted on him heavily though.

"Yes, no problem."

"Alright. At least you've got guts, I give you that." Gret said before checking some thing with Naheila. Sunshen learned that the woman was mute, or completely unwilling to talk at least. She was showing him the seemingly random tools she was carrying. A hook there, pieces of rope around her body, dagger there, there and there. It was obvious they had been through this whole ordeal before.

"Remember now. You have the gun to scare them. It won't do shit otherwise. If you hit it, do not run after it, do not attract it's attention. If everything goes right, you won't even come to contact with them. Understood?"

"Yes, I will support you from behind."

"Great." Gret answered as he hefted his great golden sword on his back. Then he started walking against the wall of darkness.

Sunshen walked with him, but he was slowing down with every step. The fog beckoned him closer and shooed him away at a same time. He had never before come so close to it. Never really knew it's feeling. It was horrifying to say the least. He almost decided to give up right there and then. He was a cripple after all right? Everyone would understand. What could you expect from a cripple? As he thought all those things a picture of his father appeared in his mind. This was exactly what he must have though and Sunshen wanted to prove him wrong. Prove that even if he is a cripple, he can, so he mustered all the courage he could and ran through the gate.

The world was much darker outside, even with their niatra's and the massive niatra's at the gate entrance, Sunshen could only see a few meters in front of him. When he tried to look further, he saw only rough silhouettes.

They had been walking for a while, their travel lacking of any sounds or signs of beasts incoming.

"Strange..."

"What is?"

"The fog. When you travel through it is often as I do, you learn that it has a...temperament. Like it's alive. The fog is crawling further away from us than it normally would."

"We have the niatra's."

"Yes, but they don't have this range."

"Should we...turn back?" Sunshen asked, his heart beating even quicker than before.

"No, if we left every time something is amiss. We would never walk anywhere in the great purple."

"Great purple?"

"That's what nomads call the fog. I like the name better, so I use it as well."

Sunshen looked behind him to make sure Naheila followed. He had to check every ten steps or so. Every time he turned around, he expected her to be missing. Eaten or worse. Instead, she walked on, her stern expression still on her face, but Sunshen couldn't help but notice her brow twitching.

They walked on, but Sunshen heard nothing out of the ordinary. Their surroundings were still the stuff of nightmares, sure. But the howling, or similar sounds Bert told him about were missing. Slowly but surely, he was getting at least a bit accustomed to their travel. On the other hand, Gret seemed to be skittish. He often flashed Naheila a look, the kind that Sunshen could not decipher, but held clear nervousness. He couldn't blame the man, his own knees were still shaking.

"How many of these hounds did you kill?"

"You know what they look like?" Gret replied with surprise.

"I know a guy, he used to guard caravans."

"Had to be good if you still know him. Five. I managed to kill five."

"Oh, must have...been hard."

"Expected more huh? It's not as easy to kill them as it sounds. Most metals corrode when in contact with their flesh and gold does not last long. Thankfully, we ain't got to use either no more."

"How come?"

"Sorry, but I don't think I can tell ya. Not yet anyway. Let's focus on catching one of these dogs. If we come back with their pelt, you might be allowed to know."

"Hopefully." Sunshen replied as he checked on Naheila again. She was walking slowly, as the two were. Her eyes trailing shadows in the fog.

Sunshen leaned closer to Gert. "Is she mute?"

"Probably. Can't say for sure. Never heard her speak, but I didn't see her try either."

Suddenly, Sunshen saw a shadow move somewhere in the darkness. As if by instinct, or maybe driven by fear, he armed his propeller and shot out a valley of bullets. As they cut through the fog, Sunshen could see the torn red cloth, caught on the branch, swaying in the wind, now with riddled with holes.

"Sorry." he said, turning to Gret.

"Hopefully there were none close by to hear the bang. You got to be careful with that. What did I tell you?"

"Yes, I will, I promise."

Gret was watching the shadows as he gently lifted the giant sword from his back. Meanwhile Sunshen looked around them. He saw no worm-riddled snout, no shadow of a beast in the fog. Nothing, except him and Gret. He almost sighted with relief, until he realized that there were three.

"Naheila is gone!" he shouted in fear. A big strong hand came behind him and covered his mouth. Sunshen started thrashing about, trying to lose his attacker.

"Shh! She is patrolling around. Because of the racket you keep making. Can you shut up?"

Sunshen gently nodded and Gret let him out of his hold.

The air was different, somehow. It had felt rotten before, but now it seemed to carry a sense of hunger. The hair's on Sunshen's arm stood up in anticipation.

That was when the howling came. All around, the hounds made themselves known.

"Gret...are those..."

"Hounds. A lot of em." Gret finished the thought. "Get behind me kiddo." Gret took a pinkish vial from his belt and threw it a few meters before them. The vial burst on the ground, it's liquid splashing on the ground.

One of the hounds jumped from the shadows right at the liquid. It crazily dig with it's snout, as if trying to capture all of it. The great beast had reminded Sunshen more of corpse than a living dog, it's fur fell out in places, leaving it's bare purplish skin on display. It's maw and head was locked in a strained stare, it's legs mangled and longer then they should have been. A tail nowhere in sight.

Gret jumped to the hound and sent one of it's limbs flying with the swing of his sword. Ooze dripped down from the cut off limb and the wound, quietly hissing when it fell to the ground. The hound whimpered and growled, slowly crawling it's way back into the safety of the darkness. Leaving behind a trail of goo. Somewhere far behind them, they could hear a different hound wincing.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"We have to run. They are trying to encircle us!" Gret yelled as he started running back the direction they came. Sunshen could do nothing but follow.

The road had changed, slow vines laden with thorns laid across the path they had taken to get here. Now, the overgrowth was reaching for Sunshen's ankles as he desperately ran from the howling pack behind him. The vines sizzled as the light of his niatra washed over them, burning them and banishing the quick ones back into the darkness and leaving the slower as blackened remains.

He heard the hounds gallop beside them in the darkness, he heard them howl and growl and snarl. He heard his labored breath.

So stupid. he managed to think. So eager to prove my worth, only to be hunted down.

Resigned as he was, his feet started to drag. His body was exhausted, unused to intense stress. The space between him and Gret grew wider. He tried to shout at him, tried to yell for help, but he had no air for it. He tried to quicken his pace, but the vines dragged him even further behind. Slowly but surely, his remaining companion ran away from him, replaced by a wall of fog.

With great difficulty, he had lifted the niatra that was fixed to his left hand. Cleaning as much space before him as he could. The road slowly disappeared, leaving behind a trail leading...somewhere. Safe to say that Sunshen got lost. While he lost his sense of direction, the pack behind him was a different matter. They were getting brazen, moving into the light, only to be burnt and retreat. They tried to cross this boundary, but they were unsuccessful, at least for now.

With nothing but the great purple around him, Sunshen could do nothing but walk forward and prey. Prey to what? He himself was unsure. The saint mother seemed a worthy candidate, since her light was what kept him alive up until now, but he did not have the wits to think, so he preyed to no one in particular.

The hounds were angry at the light he held, angry that it kept his flesh clear of their fangs.

He was growing even weaker, his steps sluggish.

Why did I come, why do I try. He drowned in self pity. I wanted to be someone, someone my father would look upon with respect. Yet all I will manage is ending our line in this purple end of the world. It is useless, I am aimless.

In his stupor, Sunshen stumbled on an uneven stone block, almost shattering the niatra in the fall. The glass only cracked, but the sweet light of life started to slowly escape it's metal containment.

Sunshen looked at it without breathing, realizing that the time he had left has just drastically shortened. The horror awoke his survival instincts, making him run faster. He failed to remember his exhaustion, failed to feel the cries of his muscles. He only ran. Sunshen did not know for how long, but it felt like weeks. The only time he spent not running, he observed the silvery particles escape their golden imprisonment of the niatra with horror.

The path was twisting and rough, but Sunshen followed it still. He followed it through mud fields, jumped across a stream, he followed it to it's very end.

A shallow cave crevice. One where he fit only if he crouched, but small enough to cover it whole even with his small dying niatra. Even with the little time he had left, Sunshen knew that he had to rest.

He climbed inside, torn a piece of his clothing so he could cover the crack of the metal on the lantern, but the cloth soon caught fire and burnt completely. Even if he had little to no time, even if he all he really wanted was to be safe in his home, he still collapsed in the small rock entering. The hounds barked and growled at him angrily, spiteful of the fact that Sunshen hid. But the niatra's light, weak as it might have been, still kept them at bay. What would get him first, fog or hound? Sunshen did not know, as he fell asleep.

When Sunshen awoke, the niatra just barely lit his immediate surroundings. Just a little bit and he would succumb to the fog all around him. His body ached and his mind rang.

He listened first, for the sounds of the ravenous pack outside, but he did not hear their snarls. The hunger must have driven them away, to easier prey.

Sunshen turned to crawl out of the cave and that was when he saw it. There was only one, he saw no more, and it was missing a front leg. A front leg that someone must have chopped clean off.

The beast did not make a sound, as it watched from the entrance. The veins in his eyes were swollen, what should have been white was a light hue of violet. The eyes were blurry, lost. Even face to face, even if the beast's presence might have been what would kill him here, Sunshen could not help pitying the beast. Lifeless and tortured by its mere existence.

"How did you deserve this?" he asked the beast, but it did not respond.

But for all the pity Sunshen felt, he did not want to die. The uncomfortable respite had refreshed some of his strength, as well as spirit. He put the propeller between himself and the beast, and shot. The iron disc erupted into splinters, each shard of the iron cut into the beast, drawing the purple ooze from its body. The beast remained motionless, its gaze locked on him. It hadn't even whimpered.

He loaded another of the disks to the chamber and shot again and again and again. With each shot, the hope in Sunshen's heart died out, bit by bit. The beast was hurt, but not nearly enough as it should have been. Sunshen loaded the last disk and pressed the trigger.

The disk broke apart to shards again, each penetrating the beasts hide. But they slowly disappeared, fell to the ground. The area of contact corroded. Gret had told him that most metals were inefficient, but he expected to at least kill the beast with one. But it still stood before the opening, waiting for him. Sunshen looked around his body, hoping to find maybe one more disk, maybe if he had just one more...

Instead, Sunshen felt his father's gold watch. The one he brought with him. The one he was sure would return in one piece. It was an heirloom, one passed down to the head of the family. He was an only child, so he always knew that he would inherit it someday. He just took it a little earlier. But the family tradition would end with him. He loaded it to the propeller, he was lucky, it was a very similar size to the iron disks, so the springs in the chamber managed to clasp around it. But he hesitated.

What if the gold is not strong enough? Maybe he can get out a different way, preserve the little of the family he would be given? He thought.

But then he looked onto the beast again. Family did not matter at the moment, neither did the strength of gold. It was the sole chance he had and he was resolute in not dying today.

He aimed the propeller at the hound, this time to where he suspected its heart would be, but his arm was still weak and he couldn't get a clear shot. He made a wish to nobody in particular and pressed the trigger.

The gold and glass of the watch shot out, slicing into the beasts throat, disappearing within its flesh. Its crazed eyes finally calmed in the eternal rest, as it fell on its side, this time truly lifeless. Its body relaxed from the cramped state it was before. Though the signs of decay were still prevalent, it finally seemed at rest, peaceful. Sunshen found solace in that. That at least even if he had to kill, it could have only set the poor beast free. There was no reason to resent what was in this state, even if he had to sacrifice something dear to him.

For a minute, he thought about bringing a part of the dog with him, but since he was severely weakened and did not even know if he himself was going to make it, he decided not to.

Plus, it would be in poor taste.

The light was so much smaller now and it kept weakening. Sunshen focused on bathing himself in its dying light.

As he walked, niatra overhead, his own shadow had hid the uneven rock in the road, making him stumble. Parts of himself stuck to the fog. His elbow erupted into incredible pain as soon as it touched the fog, blackening and spreading the poison elsewhere. It was as if it set his bones on fire, cooking the meat around them. Instinctively he quickly shined the light onto it.

The purple in his hand gave way to his natural color, but the pain did not subside. As if the fog inside his arm was more resilient to the light, or maybe it already managed to leave hurting scars. Thankfully it did not spread, only making his elbow ache.

As he focused on his wound, Sunshen did not register the presence of the familiar vines, which slowly made their way to his leg. As he hefted it back into the air, he saw the vines coming for him from all directions. He shined his niatra on those before him that were closest, burning them to a crisp.

A different vine caught his leg from behind. Sunshen quickly span to burn it with the light, but it managed to crush his ankle before he did so. The pain made Sunshen lose his footing and he had fallen onto the rocky road, shattering the niatra.

Sunshen watched as the light flooded from the niatra, leaving behind just a speck of what it once was.

The vines had again turned around his leg. With no other options, Sunshen grabbed the lantern and began wildly swinging at the vine. It had released his leg and scattered to the darkness around him. Now Sunshen held the completely empty niatra and saw the fog move like a living thing, ancient and gluttonous, trying to find prey to seep into. The vines, what he thought were his opponents, were only a tool, to make his guard fall.

First, it reached his outstretched legs. His muscles spasmed as the life was sucked from them, making Sunshen scream. As it got to his knees, it started to feast on his hand. Sunshen felt his strength being forcibly sucked into the great purple. It was as if someone cut him across his hand an impossible amount of times, making him bleed from every inch of skin. But even when his hand and legs were burning he felt more and more.

The fog's ravenous hunger tore into him, gnashing his flesh like invisible teeth, its hunger endless, It did not want to kill him, it wanted to devour him.

Maybe he It have joined the rebellion, maybe I should have stayed an unwanted son, maybe I would have been able to enjoy life someday, maybe Tatiana would marry me.

Sunshen yelled in pain, his mind blank. It seemed that like his watch, Sunshen would not come home in one piece. He yelled in his last effort to resist and stay alive, but his fight was futile. Sunshen screamed, until he could not scream anymore, until the fog wrapped around him, like the end itself beckoning him into the abyss. But he did not falter. His mind raced, desperate to hold on the last threads of awareness. Than at last, he fell unconscious.