A Shadow in the Mist

“The Mist is a fog that emits from vents in the ground, it is not like normal fog that disappears in the day or can be burned away by common fire. The Mist can be temporarily burned away by fire or sun abilities or blown away by the wind but more Mist will replace it in around an hour.”

-from a dissertation on the Mist by Ambrose Melvor 513 AB

Cain- Tuesday, August 6th, 564 AB

The Mist was cold on my skin and the heat of the summer was far less intense inside. Rineer stepped up to me close holding a heavy spear in hand.

Quest

Type:

Search

Difficulty:

Lethal

Search the Mist and find the Soul Forge to upgrade your interface.

Reward: Soul Anvil, 15,000 XP

Yes/No

“Do not accept it,” Rineer told me sharply.

“What…?” I began.

“Every Mist Warden gets that Quest every time they enter the Mist,” he explained. “But no one has ever completed that Quest and lived to tell. It may say its difficulty is only Lethal, but it might as well be Suicide. Don’t take it, just say no every time. Efforts by entire organizations have been made to try and complete that Quest and they all failed.”

I mentally selected no and we moved deeper into the Mist. We approached the bandit camp, their horses neighed at our approach but went back to grazing. Only humans were affected by the Mist, animals couldn’t see through it either but they could breathe it with no ill effect. Rineer stalked forward silent as a panther his armor forming all around him moving like liquid with his movements.

“I’ve never known a Mist Warden without a stealth skill,” Rineer whispered. “Now is the time to use it, we sneak in and see what we’re dealing with then get out.”

I nodded.

“Before we go in, have you learned to open your mini-map yet?” Rineer asked.

“No sir,” I said.

“Cut it out with the sirs,” he grunted. “It’s not to hard but it might be a bit distracting at first. Think about your surroundings focus on visualizing where you are, and where I am in relation to you.”

I closed my eyes and felt him slap me.

“Keep your eyes open,” he snapped. “You won’t be able to see if works, and never close your eyes in the Mist. The creatures who live here rely on stealth and camouflage you need to be on alert at all times.

I felt a bit foolish and nodded, focusing as he had instructed. A square of light appeared in the top right corner of my vision. It had strange lines on it and white dot and blue dot on it.

“Are you seeing it?” Rineer asked.

“Yes si…” I cut myself off before I called him sir again.

“The white dot is you; blue dots are people in your party. Red dots will be enemies and yellow dots will be anything you’re not sure about yet.”

“Got it,” I said.

The map was a bit distracting, but I would get used to it I supposed.

“Enemies you see will be marked and remain on your map even when they move out of line of sight,” he explained. “That wears off after a minute, but it will let you and me look at them and get a good count of their numbers. Let’s go.”

He started climbing the ruins and I steadied my nerves and pushed aside my fear.

“Ghost Walk,” I whispered.

All sound cut off around me, I could still hear outside sounds, but nothing made within my immediate radius. I started climbing up the ruined wall my gauntlet forming around my right hand; my Relic Armor had grown by about an inch and a half from the corruption I’d absorbed into it. There was a ladder going up but there would no doubt be a guard on it. The bandits had to be living above the fog level to breath, even the best air bladders only lasted a few hours. I reached a level and spotted wooden planks laid out over the holes in the ruined floor of the Ancient’s building. Red dots popped up all over my mini-map including areas I hadn’t seen yet.

I could see a few men walking around laughing and talking. Not seeing any prisoners, I kept climbing reaching the next floor. I paused to take a breath and reactivated Ghost Walk scanning the floor I saw more bandits making there number at least thirty so far. Checking my mini-map I saw the number of red dots was at least double that.

They had cloth barriers put up creating cover for themselves. I heard crying and climbed higher. I found a brutal sight, cages filled with people at least twenty captives in all. Children cried in cages and several of the cages had dead men in them their bodies covered with spear holes. The prisoners didn’t look out, huddled in balls for warmth. I climbed up and moved forward towards the source of the noise.

A woman was sobbing as man held per pinned to the ground his trousers around his ankles as he pushed himself into her grunting. Rage filled me and I rammed Achlys through his back before I could even think the sound of her crying cutting out as she entered the radius of Ghost Walk. The man’s back arched as the dagger ran through his heart, if he screamed no one could hear it. Pulling him off I pulled down her dress to cover her immodesty. She didn’t get up from her position on the ground her body shaking and heaving.

I looked at the body and dragged it to the edge of the ruin and tossed it over the side. No one would be able to see it in the Mist until after this was resolved. The woman was looking up from her prone position her eyes red and puffy one side of her face badly bruised.

Ghost Walk ended and I returned to her side putting a finger to my lips to remind her to be quiet. “I’m here to help,” I said. “Are you injured?”

“I’m…I’m…” she stammered the shock of the rape keeping her in shock.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Daniella,” she said.

“Daniella, how many men are there here?” I asked. “Can you tell me if there are any prisoners somewhere else?”

“I don’t know how many there are,” she said shaking her head. “I…I don’t think there are other prisoners somewhere else.”

I heard a sound behind me and whirled my dagger ready but lowered it as I saw Rineer climbing in through a window. He looked at the woman and the blood on the ground and to me nodding in approval.

“You learned anything?” he asked quietly.

“These should be all the prisoners,” I said gesturing to the cages visible through the doorway. “I’m still not sure how many bandits there are.”

“They’re just regular humans,” Rineer said shrugging.

“They’re Fell Men,” Daniella spat.

That made me and Rineer freeze.

“I thought you said tribes wouldn’t be this close to civilization,” I said.

“They wouldn’t,” Rineer said. “But I can imagine a group of outlaws like this being tempted by that kind of power. Ma’am, are you sure they’re Fell Men?”

“We were a merchant caravan,” she said. “We had two Cleric tier Wardens and their apprentices both Squire tier, they set upon us as at sunset two miles from here and killed them and all our guards. They’ve been killing the men one by one since then.”

“This is bad,” Rineer said. “I’ve counted at least sixty men here so far. If they took down two Clerics and Squires on the lookout for trouble…” He sighed. “It’s never easy.”

“They can’t all be Fell Men,” I said. “The man I killed here didn’t give me any XP.”

“That’s good, but we can’t be sure what percentage of them will be tainted,” he said.

Quest

Type:

Vengeance

Difficulty:

Hard

A group of your fellow Wardens were killed by a group of Fell Men turned to banditry. Avenge your fallen brothers-in-arms and exterminate and purge all the Fell Men.

Reward: Leg Guards C grade, 500 XP

Yes/No

I selected yes and looked to Rineer.

“I got a Quest to kill them,” I said.

Rineer frowned. “I got a protection Quest; I have to keep all the survivors alive.”

I frowned. “Why would the Voice give us different Quests?”

“Because we can’t do both at the same time,” Rineer said. “You need to lead these men away; I need to stay here and make sure they don’t get used as human shields. Once you lead them into the Mist, I can signal for Sir Valren to come in and pull these people out to safety.”

A terrible fear gripped me, the fear brought to mind a burning house and I pushed the memory back. I steeled myself and nodded. “I can lead them away,” I said with confidence I didn’t feel.

“Good lad,” Rineer said clapping me on the shoulder. “If you’ve got anything in your inventory that could help you now would be the time to pull it out.”

I was about to say I didn’t have anything then I remembered the shield I had gotten as a quest reward. I opened my character sheet and opened the section that contained my inventory. There was an empty gem tab, and a currency section with a few dozen Imp cores, a dozen Beast cores and two Soldier cores. There was also a large amount of Djinn dust I’d collected as a byproduct of absorbing their corruption. A little ways down was the inventory, and I selected the only icon inside it, that of a shield.

Type:

Small Round Bone Shield

Grade:

B

Reduces total damage dealt by 50% when blocking with this shield

Durability:

350/350

It appeared in my hand. It wasn’t very big, not a large round shield like the one Rineer had on his back but as highlander’s targe no wider than my forearm. I pulled it onto my left arm, it was made of a very thin material but felt strong. Its surface was covered with black cloth, its rim was rawhide riveted to the shield. The pelt of some animal made up the back of the shield providing some minor cushioning for my arm. I tightened the straps and Rineer nodded in approval. The shield was B grade and with the effect it provided would last me a long time before it broke and needed to be replaced.

“It’s not a big shield but you’ll want to be fast and agile and with a weapon like yours something more maneuverable will suit you better. Good luck Cain.”

Taking a deep breath, I moved to a hole in the floor. I activated Ghost Walk again and dropped down. I crept through the bandit’s camp finding a rope bridge leading to another of the ruined buildings. This meant there were probably more bandits out there. There was no time to worry about it now. I used Hurricane Step to teleport to the other building. This area appeared to be more of their main living quarters. There was a cooking space and large makeshift table with men moving about eating and drinking.

I needed to get their attention and make them angry enough to chase me. Easy enough to do. Stepping out of the shadows I drove my dagger into the back of the neck of the nearest man who was sat down to eat.

36 XP gained; 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

Blood sprayed out as he died in one hit. I jumped forward into the middle of three men activating Lunar Smite. I slashed out activating Cyclone Strike hitting all three at once. Two of them dropped dead instantly but the last one stumbled back still alive but bleeding heavily.

If he was alive after that he must be a Fell Man and have put points in Endurance to raise his hit points. He drew a sword, but I side stepped with far faster speed and slit his throat. My attack had been silent but not stealthy and Ghost Walk ended. Every man in the room drew their weapons and a cry of alarm went up. I couldn’t leave now and couldn’t let them know I could teleport either.

If they knew I could teleport, they might figure I was just leading them on a chase. They had to think they could catch me the whole time or this wouldn’t work. I jumped over the table flipping it up and ducking as crossbow bolt hit it humming as it buzzed back forth quivering in the wood. I rolled under the swing of an axe and drove my dagger up into their gut.

That didn’t kill them but my goal was to sow chaos right now not rack up kills. Blocking a sword strike on my shield I spun and drove my dagger into his armpit uncovered by the leather and hide armor they wore.

16 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

I needed to move faster, ducking down I stabbed the dead body again absorbing all corruption in his core.

5 Corruption absorbed by your Relic, 1 Corruption absorbed by your Core

I cursed inwardly, he must have been bound to the Mist element. Of all the times to have my Relic filter most of the corruption this was the worst time for it. I rolled across the ground and drove my dagger into the other man I had killed absorbing the corruption within him.

12 Corruption absorbed by your Relic, 12 Corruption absorbed by your Core

I felt the twelve-percent boost to my Stats instantly moving noticeably faster already. I blocked the thrust of a spear and used it to shove up the weapon and moved in ramming my dagger into his chest driving it through the metal links of chainmail he wore. The shouting was drawing everyone in; I dropped the corpse to the floor and ran.

A spear flew past my ear, and I dropped to the ground sliding between the legs of a man wielding a heavy great axe swinging it down at me. I felt the axe graze my cheek, but I was like the wind and couldn’t be pinned down. Achlys stabbed up into his groin as I passed under him, and he collapsed screaming as he bled out from his privates.

Pushing up I sprang back to my feet. I grabbed the man and hoisted him up ramming my dagger into his back half a dozen times as I used him as a human shield to block the spears, arrows and crossbow bolts aimed for me.

42 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

He was dead and my Relic absorbed the corruption from his core as I let his pin cushioned corpse fall to the ground.

23 Corruption absorbed by your Relic, 23 Corruption absorbed by our Core

I grunted; I hadn’t expected to gain that much corruption from one person. I had to be careful and not absorb any more corruption than necessary or I’d risk oversaturating my core. I had certainly gotten everyone’s attention. Blocking a sword strike on my shield I stabbed my dagger into the joint of his arm crippling the limb.

The man staggered backwards screaming and spraying blood everywhere as I turned and found the set of stairs. Most of the stairs had collapsed but wooden replacements had been constructed by the bandits I entered the haze of the mist. Some of the bandits baulked at entering, they were either regular humans or not bound to Mist and couldn’t see through it. They would be limited to seeing a pace to two in front of them at all times.

They didn’t need masks to chase me. Fell Men, like animals and djinn were immune to the effects of the Mist. A few of them could still see me and rallied the others behind them and gave chase. That was what I wanted so I started to run. I couldn’t run at my full speed, I needed to keep them only dozen or so paces behind me at all times.

“Come at me tainted!” I shouted. “The Voice has promised me a reward for killing you, do me a favor and fall on your swords!”

I continued to shout taunts and insults just to keep them from thinking and let the ones who couldn’t see me know I was still there as they followed my voice. I kept moving through the trees, then I ran into a bog. I tripped in my haste and fell straight first into the water. I couldn’t stop and started wading through the water which ran up past my waist.

Splashing sounded behind me as the bandits followed me into the cold waters of the marsh. I had to reach out and grab the limbs of trees to keep from falling over as the mud sucked at my boots. My dagger was suddenly on obstacle in my hand, but my sheath was somewhere underwater. Improvising I slid my dagger into the straps of my shield letting the pressure from my arm hold it in place.

That actually worked really well and solved my usual issue of it always trying to slide out of its sheath. I pulled myself through the bog, the depth changing and making me swim at some points. I had to dive underwater as bandits running along the shore fired arrows or threw spears at me. Pulling myself ashore I ran and jumped from bank to bank the crashing sounds of the bandits following me.

Checking my mini-map I could tell not all the bandits had followed me, but it was more than half of what I had seen. I was confident that Rineer could deal with the few that remained and I didn’t have time to worry if he couldn’t right now.

I spun around a tree as spear thunked into its trunk. There wasn’t any more bank to run along, I’d have to swim and with all the arrows I’d be skewered trying that. Checking my Mini map, I saw the fell-bandits had been strung out in a long line, only being in groups of seven to five. Steeling my nerves, I drew my dagger noticing that it felt a lot faster to draw sheathed on my arm.

A bandit came around the tree and I ducked under the swing of a warhammer ramming my dagger up under his chin dropping him in one hit.

31 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

I teleported behind the next man ramming Achlys with both hands through his spine.

25 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

Two men came at me this time. I blocked the swing of an axe on my shield grunting from the force put behind it but spinning with it instead of staggering back. My dagger cut across the forearm of the second man as he dodged the slash I attempted on his throat. I rammed my Relic into his gut and spun behind him as his hands went to staunch the wound and drove it into the back of his neck.

18 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

The axe swung at my head, and I ducked then kicked out feeling his knee give out. I hadn’t put many points into Might yet, but I was still more than twice as strong as a normal human. He went down on the ground, and I pounced on him stabbing down into his chest three times before he stopped twitching.

36 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

Another group of men charged me now four of this time. They were moving together as a group; they all carried shields and spears and moved in a tight group. I teleported directly behind them with Hurricane Step.

“Lunar Smite, Cyclone Strike,” I said hitting them with a double use of my skills.

The men screamed two dropping to their knees but none of them died outright from it. I thrust forwards with my sword into the back of one of the men down on his knees.

29 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

The other man down on the ground spun and blocked my sword with his shield. The other men lunged with their spears and I blocked one turning my body to the side letting the other one skid against my leather chest guard. I slashed out cutting off two of the man’s fingers and he dropped the spear screaming. An arrow hit me in the shoulder and I grunted spinning from the unexpected attack. I teleported behind one of the spear wielders driving Achlys up into his heart.

15 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

Another arrow came at me but I used the corpse as a shield then dropped it and stabbed by dagger down through the top of skull of the man trying to get back to his feet.

17 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

The last man of the group of four blocked my dagger with his shield and rammed his spear forwards. I blocked it on my own shield and kicked out sending him staggering backwards on the slick muddy ground. I also stumbled backwards but I was faster so I got to him before he recovered and drove my weapon through his neck.

24 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

Level Up! You have reached level 8! 15 Stat points are available to spend, Ether core increased by 5.

Another arrow whizzed past my head and my heart raced with fear. Only my desperate struggle for survival kept the fear from overwhelming me. I ducked behind a tree and opened my character sheet. Looking over my stats and core I saw that I was currently forty-six out of seventy-four for corruption. I’d gained plus five to my ether capacity, but it was a gamble if I’d level up again before I got to my Core’s limit and risked oversaturation. I split my fifteen available stat points between Might, Agility and Endurance. Pretty soon I’d have a fifty percent bonus to all my stats with my trait and I would need all those physical traits to stay alive.

More shouts came towards me, and I pushed down the rising fear in me. I couldn’t let it control me, not again. I stepped out ducking low as a crossbow bolt shot past me. The Fell Men linked to mist began directing the others towards me. I focused on them a new plan rising. Kill those that could see, then the others would be left blind only able to see the length of their sword in the Mist.

I teleported behind an archer driving my dagger forwards pushing against its pommel with my left hand punching through the rings of metal sewn into their vest. Blood spurted from their mouth as they spasmed. Yanking my dagger free I stabbed it into his chest again, dropping him to the ground dead.

27 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

“Hurricane Step,” I said again teleporting behind another man who was hollering and directing other Fell-Men towards my position. He spun around as soon as he lost sight of me blocking my attack with his sword and lunging I raised my shield and felt the arrow in my shoulder give me some trouble. I managed to block his attack and trip him with my foot. I fell on him on the ground driving my dagger down into his chest right were his collar bones met puncturing through his rib cage.

32 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

I rolled to the side as an axe fell where I was. Teleporting next to another archer, this one wielding a crossbow. He dropped his bow reaching for a short blade at his hip but I slashed his throat before he could finish drawing it.

19 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

“He’s killing those of you who can see, protect your brothers!” one of the men next to the archer shouted hacking at me with a sword.

I blocked the strike with my shield again feeling the pain of the arrow in my shoulder. I shoved his sword to the side and drove my dagger down over his shield pushing down through his shoulder into heart blood sprayed out as I hit an artery and created a fine red mist in the air.

35 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

I ducked behind the stump of a fallen tree and yanked out the arrow in my shoulder. It did more damage coming out than it had going in, but I put hand over the wound.

“Celestial Healing,” I said and instantly the wound closed, and I was restored to full HP.

Unlike djinn you didn’t gain any ether when you killed a Fell Men, in some ways this made fighting them harder, but it was balanced out by the fact they didn’t have any skills. Even imps had one skill, but Fell Men only gained stat points which still made them ten times the threat of a normal human even if it came at the cost of tainting their souls by eating the bodies of djinn.

I stood up and ducked down as arrows flew past me. There were only a few archers left but they were all surrounded by groups of other Fell Men bunched up and ready to strike if I appeared next to them. Then a massive man walked forwards, he carried a masterfully crafted mace that had to be a Relic. At first I was worried he was a Warlock, I stared at him, it took ten seconds to identify a person but I needed to see who I was dealing with.

Hans Arendachi – Fell Man– Mist – Level 19

He wasn’t as high a level as the Warlock had been but he was armored in heavy plate and had two snarling hounds beside him. They almost looked rabid meaning they had to be fell beasts and they snarled pulling at the ends of thick chains.

“You’ve put up a good fight Warden,” he called out. “But you’re not the first Warden I’ve faced, and certainly not the most powerful.”

I blocked another arrow on my shield as I readied myself. I was only level eight but my trait gave me the stats of someone level fourteen or fifteen even if I didn’t have the ether capacity to match it. I teleported behind the man.

“Mist Blade, Lunar Smite,” I said activating another two abilities.

His mace came around like the tail of a scorpion before I even had a chance to land a strike and I rolled out of the way. The dire hounds lunged towards me and I teleported behind one slashing down with my dagger. I cut deep but their hides were thick and folds of skin around their neck kept the wounds from being lethal. The dog let out a whine of pain before lunging for me again.

Hans let go of the chains letting the two hounds have free rein. I rolled under the belly of the other mastiff and eviscerated it. It let out a howl of agony, it was sad to have to do this to what had probably once been a normal dog. Now the two dogs had been twisted, probably starved by the bandits until they ate meat mixed with corruption, gaining increased size, strength and speed at the cost of massively increased aggression. The eviscerated hound still went for my throat even as its blood gushed out of its body.

The mace swung for my head, I blocked it on my shield and found out that was mistake. My shield absorbed the strike, but I felt my shoulder crack under the force of it. I had invested most of my stats into agility, but this man seemed to have put most of his into Might. I rolled in the dirt my arm dislocated from its shoulder. The other hound was on me, and its jaws closed around my shield as I threw it up just in time to protect my throat from being ripped out.

I thrust up into its neck and the dog collapsed on top of me.

43 XP gained, 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

The dog weighed me down, I tried teleporting but couldn’t’.

You cannot teleport when in contact with another creature or while over-encumbered.

“Damn it,” I swore and pushed with all my might shoving the hound which had to weigh over twenty stone. The mace came down and I rolled to the side but still felt it clip my shoulder shattering the bones there and dropping my health bar by a third. I teleported away biting back tears and a scream of pain. I gingerly pressed my other hand to my broken shoulder.

“Celestial Healing,” I said.

I felt some of the pain disappear and my health bar recover but I still couldn’t use the arm. I realized the problem my ability didn’t fix broken bones just cured surface level wounds and restored hit points. Heavy footfalls sounded and I turned to see Hans charging me. His two hounds were dead but the other Fell Men were all alive and advancing on me. I froze in panic as the fear gripped me.

Move! I screamed internally but the fear had a hold of me now. Memories of a burning building and my mother and brother calling my name filled my mind, I had frozen then too.