the fog of illusion
Darius awoke to a cold, damp sensation surrounding his body. As he opened his eyes, all he could see was a dense fog wrapping around the landscape like an eerie veil. The stagnant water beneath him reeked of rot and death. He tried to stand, but the sticky mud clung to him as if trying to pull him under.
"Where… am I?"
Everything around him felt foreign… The endless swamp, the lifeless trees that looked like twisted ghosts, and the deafening silence that offered no comfort.
Then he remembered. The jump. Their fall from the cliff.
"Adam…"
He looked around, but there was no sign of him. His heart quickened for a moment, but he took a deep breath to calm himself. "I trust he'll be fine… He's better at survival than I am."
Right now, he had to focus on his own problem.
The Illusions Begin
He started walking cautiously, feeling that every step could be his last. But after only a few minutes, something felt… off. An unexplainable sensation crept into his mind.
Then… he saw it.
His village.
The wooden huts, the muddy road, the trees surrounding it… Everything was there, but it was wrong. The colors were faded, like a distorted version of his memories.
And then, he saw them.
His mother… and his little brother.
They stood at the far end of the road, looking at him in complete silence. But… they had no faces.
They just stood there, emotionless, wordless, and then… they began to walk away.
"Wait!"
He ran toward them, his feet sinking deeper into the mud, but he didn't care. He had to reach them, had to understand what was happening!
The closer he got, the thicker the fog became. And just as he was about to touch them…
They stopped moving.
Their bodies began to change, their limbs dissolving into the mist, twisting and reforming…
And that's when Darius realized the truth.
They weren't his mother and brother.
They weren't human.
Before his eyes, their figures twisted into a massive entity of swirling mist and darkness, a grotesque creature with elongated limbs that writhed like they were searching for prey, and countless eyes opening and closing all over its shadowy form.
Then, suddenly, it moved toward him—fast.
The Chase
Darius ran.
He ran with everything he had, but the ground was against him. The swamp dragged at his legs, the fog choked his breath, and fear gnawed at his mind. The creature was gaining on him. He could hear the whispers, the distorted breathing, the countless eyes watching him from every direction.
Then, amidst the chaos, something appeared.
An old, dilapidated hut, barely standing in the muck. He didn't care how or why it was there. It was his only chance.
He lunged for it, shoving the broken wooden door open with all his strength, and stumbled inside.
And then… silence.
Total darkness.
No sounds.
No fog.
No monster.
Only his own heartbeat, pounding wildly in his chest…