After the tense conversation with Barton, Leon and Eva received orders to prepare before the red fog would creep in to fully shroud the city come nightfall.
Leon walked through River Bend's open-air market with purpose, scanning the ramshackle stalls. The familiar cacophony of traders hawking rusted weapons and questionable food filled the air, but today it felt different. More urgent. People moved faster, glanced over their shoulders more often.
The red mist was coming.
He stopped at a shabby second-hand shop, eyes fixed on a wooden club displayed on torn canvas. Hardwood, the right size for his grip, studded with wicked metal spikes. This could do real damage—unlike his pathetic pipe.
"Shopping for new toys?" Eva's voice came from behind him.
Leon glanced back. "What I buy is my business."
"Sure, but—" Eva started, then the shopkeeper's cloudy eyes looked up at them.
"How much for this one, old man?" Leon pointed at the spiked club, cutting off whatever Eva was about to say.
"Kid... what're you gonna do with something like that?"
"Patrol unit," Leon said curtly. "For the rats."
The old man mumbled something about a hundred fifty-five FreshCoin. Leon counted the coins in his pocket—only ninety-eight. He met the old man's confused gaze with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"You said ninety, right?"
The elderly merchant nodded vaguely. "Yeah... ninety..."
Leon quickly exchanged the coins and grabbed his new weapon, walking away before the old man could reconsider.
"Leon, that wasn't—" Eva started.
"It's just a little thing," Leon muttered, testing the club's weight. "Besides, we might need every advantage we can get."
Eva studied his face as they walked. "You're worried about tonight."
It wasn't a question. Leon didn't answer immediately, his fingers unconsciously running through his black-and-white hair.
"Aren't you?" he finally asked.
Eva was quiet for a moment. "Yeah. But... whatever we face in there, we'll get through it together. Like always."
Something warm flickered in Leon's chest before he quickly buried it. "Don't get sentimental on me."
"Too late for that," Eva said with a small smile that made Leon's steps falter slightly.
Before he could respond, footsteps pounded toward them from the market's edge.
"Leon! Eva! There you are!" Ken's voice cut through the noise. "Barton sent us to find you. Time to assemble!"
The casual atmosphere vanished instantly. Leon gripped his new weapon tighter while Eva's face grew serious. They followed Ken through increasingly empty streets toward the assembly point—the wide plaza in front of the old city hall ruins.
About ten patrol members waited, each armed and tense. Most kept glancing toward the horizon where a blood-colored cloud mass was slowly forming, creeping closer with unnatural purpose.
Barton stood with arms crossed, his weathered face grim. "The situation's changed. The fog's forming faster than ever." His eyes swept over the assembled team. "We go in now, while we still have some daylight."
He gestured to a tattered map spread across a rotting crate. Strange symbols Leon had never seen marked several locations outside River Bend's boundaries.
"Leon, you're with Team A—Eva, Ken, advance scout." Barton's finger traced a route on the map. "Your job is to use those ears of yours. Any unusual sounds—footsteps, breathing, even things that seem like nothing. Your warnings could save lives."
Leon studied the marked path. "What's our real objective? Just scout and return?"
Barton's expression hardened. "Our objective... is to eliminate the red fog's influence. And if possible, open a path for this city's freedom."
Murmurs rippled through the group. Some faces showed fading hope, others resignation.
"You talk like the city's already dead," Leon said quietly.
"It's not much different if we keep hiding behind walls," Barton replied, then slapped Leon's shoulder. "Save your energy for what's in there."
The sky began darkening rapidly. Gray clouds swallowed the dying sun while that ominous red fog crept closer to the city's edge, moving with deliberate menace.
"No time for debates," Barton announced. "Move out."
The patrol unit followed in tense silence, only footsteps and wind breaking the quiet. When they reached the fog's edge, the temperature dropped noticeably. The familiar scent of rust and earth mixed with something else—a faint metallic smell that made Leon's skin crawl.
Barton scraped a deep line in the dirt with his boot heel, just steps from where the red wall writhed and pulsed.
"The moment it crosses this line, we go in. No hesitation."
Leon stared at the blood-colored barrier. It seemed almost alive, expanding and contracting like something breathing. "Might as well not draw a line at all, old man."
The fog suddenly stopped its forward creep, hovering just before Barton's mark. It moved slowly now, almost teasingly, as if waiting for the right moment.
Time crawled. Leon felt every hair on his body standing alert, his enhanced hearing picking up... something. Too faint to identify, but there.
"Just now..." he murmured. Eva and Ken turned toward him.
"What is it?" Eva asked, voice tight.
"Like water dripping," Leon concentrated, but the sound vanished. "Maybe nothing—"
Hee... hee... hee...
This time everyone heard it. Childlike laughter, cold and wrong, drifting from within the fog. Not loud, but it penetrated their hearing, sending shivers down spines.
"What the hell—" one team member gasped.
"Stay calm!" Barton barked, though his own voice carried tension. "Could be fog tricks."
The laughter continued, circling them, coming closer then fading away. Leon tried desperately to pinpoint its source but failed—it seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Then the fog surged forward like a living thing, crashing over Barton's line and swallowing them whole!
"It's coming! Get ready!" Barton's command mixed with the clash of weapons being drawn.
The thick red curtain engulfed the patrol group instantly. The last traces of daylight vanished, leaving only blood-colored darkness and utter confusion. Shouts of alarm, barked orders, and the sound of combat erupted in chaos.
Leon could barely see beyond arm's length. He tried to stay close to Eva and Ken, but the fog seemed to actively separate them, twisting directions until up felt like down.
"Eva! Ken! Where—".
His voice was swallowed by the oppressive silence that pressed in around him. He was alone now, surrounded by red mist that pulsed with its own malevolent life.
And somewhere in that crimson void, something was waiting.