"Do you smell something, Guan...?"
His voice more serious than the usual tone Jikith carried when speaking to Midas—the driver tucked back onto the leashes that were strapped onto the two Fahin, making them abruptly stop. The carriage halted midst of one of the shallow waters of the marsh, completely hulled in the thick fog that stretched through the entire lowlands—the morning seemingly not going by as their vision of their surroundings was still blurred.
Carefully making his way back to his seat, he reached under the bench Midas remained seated on while keeping his stern gaze on the light grey right outside the ride. Retrieving his hand, the three children watched in silence as the skinny man retrieved a wooden bow, picking out one single arrow to go with it as he aligned it against the curved wood. With sharp brows and a wrinkled forehead, Guan aimed into the unclear distance as Jikith climbed out of the ride to scan their surroundings.
Inhaling deeply through his nose again, he changed the angle of his bow, aiming slightly to the right, as if he had already calculated the position of the thing that made them halt. Midas kept quiet, briefly scanning Javelin's and Uteli's faces as both of them stared into the fog. Unsure, they followed Guan's movements while the youth unsheathed his rusty weapon. Before they knew it, the arrow spun up against the thin rope of the bow and shot through the mist, making a high-pitched howl ring through it.
"Pack of Colmars, probably four of them..."
Midas grew surprised, sure these hounds only roamed around the Luvious forest without leaving that territory. Having fought a pack of them before, the youth stepped forward—unable to see much as he squinted his eyes, ready to defend Guan as he picked up his entire arrow bag, hastily tying it around his waist.
"They must've smelled the trail of your Fahin all the way back from the forest. Usually they only come at night, but I suppose this fog serves them just as well when it comes to sneaking up to us."
Guan's voice met no answer; half of his words were muttered as he prepared the next arrow with dimly trembling fingers. Jikith walked around his Fahin, trying to cover all of the angles as best as he could—even though he was surrounded by nothing else but fog. Clutching his hand around the handle of his dagger, he prepared himself—able to hear the water splash from his back and front—announcing the hounds had split up to attack the front of the ride on both sides.
"They're on me...!"
Jikith quickly called out as he evaded a launching Colmar that jumped right out from the fog, kicking it to the side as he quickly rammed his tiny blade into the side of its furred throat. Barely able to block the bite of the second as it jumped out from the fog almost simultaneously. In the meantime, Guan was quick to step into the driver's seat, dashing through the inside with large steps as his spun-up arrow landed inside the eye socket of one of the hounds that aimed for the unguarded Fahin.
Only shortly disrupted, the Colmar was joined by another as they bit into the lower stomach and neck of the Fahin as Guan was unable to reload in time as his palms trembled more prominently. Seeing the horned beast screech, Midas left through the back, clutching his teeth as he threw his sickle into the fog, making his rusty sickle get stuck in between the ribs of the hound, forcing it to collapse into the water. Making the Fahin fall, the last hound that was able to stand on his feet headed towards the youth as he dashed through the mist to retrieve his blade.
Met with wide open fangs and clawed paws hulled in darkened, wet fur, Midas was forced to use his stone instead—falling onto his back to narrowly avoid the strike of the beast, letting his bandaged hand rise up as a stone shot against the eye of the Colmar before its teeth could rip open Midas's throat. Seeing the beast tumble back, the youth lumpily pressed his palm to the ground, extending a stone pillar right under the stomach of the hound, making it spew blood before it eventually stopped moving.
Shock made Midas grasp for air, laying down against the rubble beneath the dim layer of water that streamed along his body—his stress making him feel the density of the air, as the fog around him felt suffocating. Loosely holding onto his throat, over which the sharp teeth of the beast seemed to be hovering, before forcing himself to stand up—completely soaked from the water he stumbled back onto. Able to make out the water surface that glided along his feet, the youth widened his eyes somewhat as he saw the change of color—slowly becoming red while he watched.
Still catching his breath, Midas stepped over the dead carcass of the hound, ripping out his rusty blade with a tired motion, as it was still stuck inside the body of the other Colmar. Matching not only his widened mouth but also his tired glance, Jikith inspected the bleeding-out Fahin right in front of them. Kneeling down to it, as the driver and Midas both frowned att the blood-rinsed spot on the neck of the horned beast, Jikith retrieved his blade, holding onto his forehead. Peeking out the front, Uteli and Javelin watched with worried expressions as Guan hopped out of the ride.
"Forgive me, Avernil, I'm not as young as I used to be..."
"This is a problem, Guan. We still have quite a considerable distance to cover, and I was paid to cross this distance in time... The damage is already done, I suppose. There's no other option than using our leftover Fahin here."
Covered in dimly bleeding claw marks on his forearms, Jikith undid the leather straps of the horned beast, patting the remaining Fahin onto its neck as the driver inspected its state. Not hurt by the attack, the driver combed through his longer hair, sighing in dim annoyance before crawling back into the carriage. Inspecting his palm, as there was a visible flaw on his skin, Guan eventually climbed into the ride as well, sitting down next to Midas, who tucked his curved weapon under his blade.
Javelin watched from the back as the fallen-over bodies of the Colmar pack were swallowed by the seemingly never-lifting fog of the lowlands they crossed through. The ride now moved at a much slower pace. Jikith watched the Fahin pant with a sunken head as it struggled, tugging at the weight of the ride, dreading the distance they had to cross once they left the marsh behind. Javelin watched Midas right in front of him, seeing him stare onto the wooden floor as his fingers cupped around his throat lightly.
Throwing out his sickle most often worked when Midas had to react fast, without being able to cross the distance to his target in time, not bound to the charge-up time he had to deal with when using his mana—even though it grew shorter over the many suncycles he had already spent inside the water kingdom. Once having thrown his sickle, however, Midas was much more vulnerable, as he was completely reliant on his sun shard to defend himself with.
Uteli silently gripped onto the wooden handle of her axe, glancing over at Javelin, who had held her back from joining Jikith and the others to defend the ride from the beasts. Seeing the hooded boy beside her, she scanned Midas's face with a stern expression. She eventually laid her palm on the back of Javelin's hand, just like he had once Guan announced the incoming Colmar. Jumping slightly at the touch of her cold hand, Javelin was dragged out of his thoughts—watching her face with wide eyes.
Feeling the back of his clothes stick slightly onto his skin, making him shiver at the cold he now felt, Midas eventually leaned back against the wooden wall of the carriage, forcing himself to finally shut his eyes again as his head stung sharply from his lack of sleep. Able to relax, as the quiet intensity of his surroundings faded by the dim laughter of Uteli at Javelin's reaction, Midas found himself drifting off.
The dark surrounding him eventually blitzed up with hasty images of his arm swinging at knights, their screams a muted memory his brain had forced itself to remember as the images of the contorted faces, unregulated movements, and the color of blood eventually became a blend of raw colors that eventually cleared up with the youth lying on his back. Situated in the same clearing in which he found Uteli being held onto by the two knights, Midas watched as his past self crawled through the bushes, the sounds of the foliage much louder than he remembered.
Halting his breath as the knight seemingly turned to look down onto his crawling physique with a derogative glance from above, Midas wasn't able to move his limbs as he was forced to watch the spear of the knight press down right into his back, shutting his eyes seemingly right before the tip of the spear could reach his flesh. Widening his lids again, he was met with the glaring sun—his body lying on the same tiles that plastered the entrance of the university, directly looking up to the dark shadows of multiple students holding wooden weapons.
His face contorted as the wooden swords pressed firmly into his body, only able to look into the stern gaze of the boy with perfectly combed-back hair—matching the same gaze of the knight from before. Feeling his arms open up again, he found himself traveling back even further in time as his body crawled forward towards the same rocky opening he laid eyes on when on his way to Puertuagua.
His hand eventually stopped clinging to the ground to press his body lumpily forward as he felt the sensation of a blade cutting through the flesh that covered his back, making his eyes widen as the surrounding wildfires to his sides seemingly enclosed him as he screamed into the dark sky of the night in agonizing pain. His ears picking up the shrill laughter of the brawler that cut into his flesh from behind—ending his nightmare.
Eventually opening up his eyes, Midas watched with wide eyes as Javelin and Uteli chatted to themselves casually—the only one that was acting out seemingly only Midas as he looked down onto his sweaty palm, feeling his stomach turn. Guan gave out a relaxed laugh at the sight of the youth hanging out from the back as he puked out of the ride—his throat hoarse from the acidity of what he released.
Coughing dryly, as the others only watched in silence, Midas glanced up to a much clearer region of grass fields; no fog consumed their surroundings as the sky he looked up to was hulled in a light grey. Looking at the unpathed path as it curled down in the direction of the lowlands the carriage slowly but surely left behind, the youth mustered the region with tired eyes. Letting his head hang out of the back, Midas looked onto completely plain grasslands—eventually passing by what seemed to be gigantic blades of grass and flowers, sprouting from the ground in clusters, reaching up high above the roof of the ride.
"Welcome to the plant kingdom, kid. Already excited for what you have planned here, I see."
Jikith remarked with a sharp grin on his face, as he couldn't help but join Guan as they laughed at Midas's numb expression once he sloppily moved his body to face them. Rubbing his lids, as he the way he leaned against the wooden frame that prevented anything from falling out from the back made his back ache, the youth groaned dimly, as his head continued to ache from the dim bit of sleep he managed to get.
"Don't worry, you won't have to show anyone your papers—you won't need them here..."
Guan added, making Jikiths' laugh sound even lighter, as the two of them couldn't help but make a fool out of the youth that hung out on the back. His head foggy from the things he so quickly experienced at once in his dream, Midas didn't comment on the mocking he experienced, yearning for a bed to spend a night in.