No dawn in the fog

The stench of blood was thick in the air, mingling with the ever-churning mist that seemed to pulse with life. Luke carved through another grotesque creature—a bloated, quadrupedal thing with leech mouths for feet and a mane of writhing worms. His blade split it open, spilling sickly purple bile across the moss.

And still—they came.

More twisted silhouettes stirred in the fog. Their outlines swayed like dancers, limbs too long, movements too smooth. There was no end to them. No break. No pause.

Luke pivoted and sliced clean through another—a skeletal beast crawling on backward elbows, jaw snapping wide like a hinge unhinged. He drove his foot into its skull after the cut, grinding it into the muck.

But even as his body moved on instinct, his mind was racing.

This isn't sustainable.

They'd barely slept—two hours, maybe three, snatched between watch shifts and nerves that never truly settled. Their bodies were already worn from the road, bruised from training, frayed at the edges.

And now this. A night of slaughter in a cursed bog with no end in sight.

If this goes into the day…

The image flashed in his mind—sunrise through mist, and creatures still crawling, still screaming. No rest. No safety.

The wargon would collapse. The kids would collapse. Even he would.

He slashed another creature—a gurgling, hairless hound with multiple jaws stacked like layers in its face—and let it fall twitching.

Either we stay and die slow… or we risk moving through this madness.

He gritted his teeth, ducked under a scythe-like limb, and stabbed upward into a gaping, lantern-eyed horror. The beast convulsed, fell limp—and even as it did, he was already moving to the next.

Too many.

He exhaled sharply, turning toward the others.

"get the wargon ready!" he roared, voice cutting through the fog like steel. "we're moving out—first thing!"

The sound of metal-on-bone, claws on bark, screams and shrieks—it all paused for a split second as his voice echoed across the battlefield.

Kairo twisted mid-air, landing in a crouch beside a twitching corpse. His eyes flicked toward Luke, wide with surprise. "What?!"

Another beast lunged from the trees, but he reacted in a blur—sidestepping and bisecting it in one spinning motion. Blood sprayed behind him as he ran toward the rear.

"We'll get it ready!" he shouted, already moving past another shambling monstrosity. "Just come back alive, you hear me?!"

He reached the wargon, sliding into place beside Liora, who stood like a battered statue, her crimson thorns still pulsing with power. Her breathing was heavy, chest rising and falling in sharp bursts, but her grip on the spear hadn't wavered.

"Plan's changed!" Kairo barked. "We're staying on defense now—only kill what gets close to the wargon!"

Liora didn't flinch, didn't argue. She just nodded once, blood dripping from her jaw, her voice low and spent. "Understood."

Kairo opened his mouth to call out to Vivy—

But before he could, her voice cut through from the shadows near the beast.

"I'll get the wargon and the beast ready!" she snapped, her crossbow slung to her back, hands already weaving black vines into the harness system. "You just keep fighting!"

Kairo blinked, then gave a grim smile. "Okay. I'll do my best."

And with that, he turned back toward the fog, blades ready.

Because now they had one goal: survive long enough to run.

Luke drove his sword into the chest of a wailing, worm-infested scarecrow-like monster, wrenching the blade free in a spray of dark, wet pulp. He staggered backward as another tried to leap from a tree—he ducked, let it sail past, and brought his sword down hard across its back as it landed.

He couldn't see the end of the threat. They just kept coming. But knowing the others were moving—knowing Kairo, Liora, and Vivy were doing what needed to be done—it gave him just enough clarity to focus.

If they didn't get moving in the next few minutes, the forest would claim them.

He clenched his jaw, cracked his neck, and stepped forward into the swirling white murk, blade raised, as if daring the next horror to try its luck.

Because they were getting out of this swamp.

Or they'd die trying.

Wargon wheels shifted.

Vivy tightened the final clasp, vines twitching and binding like living ropes. She could barely keep her vision steady from the headache pounding inside her skull—but the beast was moving again, paws twitching, snorting, ready to run.

Liora stepped in front of the wheel, stabbing through a crawling creature made of tendons and smoke.

Kairo stood at the edge, blades flashing in the dark.

Luke held the line in the distance—mist swallowing his form in flashes of silver and red.

The fog rippled like a living thing, shrieking and pulsing with each passing second. The air had become a graveyard of noise—claws against bark, metal slicing flesh, breath drawn in pain and spat back out in fury.

Luke cleaved through the last of a charging horror—something like a wolf, if wolves had no skin and mouths inside their ribcages. Its death was messy, its weight dragging his blade low with the pull of its collapsing body. His shoulders screamed. His knees buckled slightly.

His lungs burned like they'd been soaked in smoke.

Then he saw it.

The wargon was moving.

Vivy stood braced against the rear gate, her arms slick with blackened blood and the bloom of her magic still dancing faintly in her veins. Kairo was at the front. Liora to his side. The beast itself—a massive, scaled thing bred for wilderness treks and light combat—was snorting and pawing the earth.

Luke shouted over the chaos, throat raw.

"Get on the wargon and ride to me! I can't go to you!"

The mist tried to steal his voice, tried to wrap his words in silence. But they heard him.

Kairo immediately turned, grabbing Liora by the arm and pulling her onto the platform. Vivy darted forward, sliding beside them as the beast began to shift its weight in anticipation.

Then she turned, her voice calm despite the fire in her eyes.

"Kairo, you need to ride the beast. Me and Liora will keep them from coming—go get Luke."

Kairo blinked. "What? I—"But her expression was unwavering, and Liora was already moving to the edges, twin blades at the ready, her thorns pulsing weakly. No words. Just resolve.

Kairo bit back the knot in his throat and climbed into the front saddle. The harness felt too large in his hands. The reins, too stiff. Sweat was already pooling along his brow.

"Shit, shit, shit—"He wrapped the reins in his fist."I don't know how to ride this thing…"

He leaned forward, his voice lowering as he placed a hand gently on the beast's scaled neck.

"Buddy… your owner's right there. You know him. Let's go get him, okay?"

The wargon huffed, eyes narrowing with awareness. A flick of its ear. A snort. Then—movement.

The beast launched forward, heavy legs slamming against the dirt and moss with controlled power. The entire wagon lurched, wheels catching over roots and uneven ground as it picked up speed.

From the battlefield, Luke saw it coming.

A brief flicker of relief crossed his face.

Then a new wave emerged from the trees.

Monsters—scores of them. Crawling, shambling, flying. Twisted bodies laced in bone and shadow. Inhuman gaits. Eyes like burning coals or hollow voids.

Luke exhaled through clenched teeth.

"My body's… reaching the limit."He could feel it—his muscles locking up, the chill seeping into his joints, his fingers trembling slightly on the hilt."Fuck it."

The next wave struck—and he struck back.

A leaping, spider-like creature landed in front of him—he drove his sword through its belly mid-air and spun to deflect a tendril-limbed wretch that slithered from the side. He parried, lunged, ducked. Every movement felt like swimming through ice.

When the last one fell in a pool of green ooze, he turned sharply and bolted toward the approaching wargon.

"Turn right! he yelled, voice fraying.

"Get Back to the wargon—I'll jump on the beast!"

Kairo nearly dropped the reins.

"Are you serious?!" he shouted back.

But he didn't need the answer.

One glance at Luke told him everything—his gait was wrong. Slower. Stiffer. The endless energy that burned in him like wildfire was flickering low.

Kairo yanked the reins and veered right, wheels screeching as the wargon's massive body twisted to obey. The wagon jerked, nearly toppling, but held.

He glanced back.

"Vivy! Liora! I'll defend the back—Vivy, take the right! Liora, the left!"

They didn't answer—but they didn't need to.

He knew they understood.

And he knew they were just as close to their edge as he was.

Liora struck down another beast with her last ounce of speed, blood dripping from her chin, thorns retracting slightly from exhaustion.

Vivy's hands trembled as she reloaded her crossbow, her pupils dilated wide from strain, her lips dry as paper.

Even though I only use them when necessary, Kairo thought, I still feel it. My arms are stiff. My legs feel like stone. My focus is slipping.

"Shit… I need to focus…"

The wargon thundered forward through the bog as mist swallowed the path behind them. Kairo gritted his teeth, holding the line from atop the wagon's rear.

Monsters still chased them—dozens. But Luke was running full-tilt, his breath ragged, a trail of ichor behind him.

Then—

He leapt.

Timing it perfectly, he kicked off a tree root and hurled himself through the air, cloak snapping behind him like a broken flag.

Kairo pulled the beast slightly left—then sharply right.

Luke slammed onto the saddle behind him, gripping the harness like a lifeline.

The force nearly threw them both, but the beast kept moving, snorting violently as it pushed forward, veering back onto the safe path.

Behind them, the fog burst with more shapes, more shrieks—but none were fast enough now.

The wheels tore through the earth, and the wargon barreled through the trees, breaking branches, leaping dips, grinding over uneven terrain.

The forest was unnaturally still. No more howls. No more scraping claws. The oppressive sound of wings and teeth that had haunted them since dusk was finally fading into silence.

The wargon's heavy breaths were the only sound, aside from the low creak of the wooden wheels turning through softened earth. The cold of night pressed on their skin, sweat beginning to dry in patches, mixing with the blood and grime.

They were still alive.

Luke sat atop the beast, his back upright despite the clear tremor in his hands. He pulled the crumpled map from the leather pouch hanging off the saddle. Moonlight filtered through twisted branches overhead, just enough to make out the faint ink lines.

He studied it in silence, lips pressed thin.

Below him, Kairo had collapsed onto the wooden floor of the wagon, arm slung over his face, breath shallow. His body felt like it had been hollowed out and stuffed with lead.

I'm doing worse than them…

He tilted his head slightly, glancing toward Liora, who sat with her back against the railing. Her eyes were closed now, and her pale face almost glowed in the dark—ashen, almost translucent. Her arms were limp, and the green of her vines had dulled to gray. She was utterly spent.

She's at her limit…

Vivy, on the other side, was hunched over with one arm clutching her stomach and the other gripping her book. She had thrown up multiple times. Her eyes were glazed, but she stared fiercely at the pages, as if by reading them she could stay grounded, stay sane. Her hands were trembling.

Maybe that's just her way of focusing…

Kairo groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his bloodied hand. He let his fingers fall from the hilt of the dagger he'd gripped too tightly.

The moment he did—

Whispers.

Faint and crawling like ivy up the walls of his mind.

"He's watching."

"She's breathing through your lungs."

"The flower weeps tonight."

He pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead, trying to push the voices away.

"Ugh… I want to sleep. But not now…"

They hadn't started until earlier—right in the thick of battle. Three distinct voices. One calm. One giggling. One whispering like it lived inside his ear.

They hadn't stopped since.

Shaking it off, he pulled himself to his feet and stumbled forward, dragging his body past the quiet wreckage of his friends, until he reached the front of the wagon.

Luke noticed him first, his eyes dull but alert.

He offered a short nod of acknowledgment.

"Thanks for holding on back there," Luke said quietly, his voice cracked and slightly hoarse.

Kairo shrugged, trying to sound casual, but it came out tired. "You too. We'd be dead if you hadn't kept holding the front."

Luke looked ahead, then side-eyed Kairo.

"Still… better not let your guard down."

"Yeah, I know, Luke," Kairo muttered, running a hand through his matted hair. Then, as his eyes adjusted to the shadows and the twisted trees surrounding them, he frowned.

"Wait… aren't we off the safe path now?"

Luke didn't look back.

His voice was quieter this time.

"Yeah… we are."

Kairo's stomach turned. "Why?"

Luke exhaled slowly, his shoulders stiff.

"The monsters… they weren't just coming from behind anymore. They started showing up ahead too. Over and over. I think… it was forcing us off."

Kairo narrowed his eyes, his mind already turning.

"So you're saying… they wanted us to leave the safe path?"

Luke didn't reply at first. He stared down at the map again, hands gripping it tight enough to crease the edges. His silence lasted just a moment too long.

Then, as he folded the map and tucked it back into the saddle pouch, he murmured,

"Yeah. Sort of."

A pause. Then

"Not like we can go back. They were surrounding it. Even if we tried to return, I doubt they'd just… let us."

Kairo squinted. "Why would they do that? It's really strange. It's not just random attacks."

Luke gave him a look, like he'd already asked himself the same question a dozen times.

"I wonder too. But that's not what we need to worry about right now."

He glanced back over his shoulder toward Liora and Vivy.

"We need a place to rest. Somewhere safe. That's the priority now."

Kairo nodded slowly. His whole body still ached.

"Right. I'll keep an eye out. We'll take turns."

Luke gave a quiet nod, his gaze already drifting back to the path ahead.

And so, the wargon pressed on into the night.

The trees grew denser. The shadows longer. But no more monsters came.

Still, no one slept.

Kairo sat with his dagger unsheathed, staring into the darkness as the whispers teased the edge of his mind.

Luke never stopped scanning the map in his head.

Liora barely stirred.

Vivy clutched her book like it was the only thing left keeping her together.

They had survived the night.

But dawn…

Dawn still felt very far away.