Purple Fog

Soon it was nightfall, the group had to rest for the night within the dark cavern. The next morning they moved through the cavern with the help of fire torches for a few hours taking series of turns, Soon reaching a point where the tunnel divided in two.



"What's the supposed route?" asked the soldier in the forefront.



"I think it should be the left one" replied the other soldier taking a quick glance at the map.


They went along to the left route walking on its straight path for some time before reaching a bright exit. The whole scenery changed around them all of a sudden, it was a bright and dazzling scene like a jungle paradise with beautiful flowers, trees, waterfall, birds, and all that you could imagine. The group couldn't help but drown in fantasy.



"Snap out of it you all" shouted one of the soldiers with an angry look. "You should know that this isn't a safe zone right? any wrong move from you bunch of wastes can put the lives of everyone here in danger. Besides, don't forget our main purpose is to find the golden goose egg as requested by the patriarch and we're running out of time. After speaking these words bringing everyone back to reality, the three soldiers went far ahead of the main group leading the way. The group moved on for hours without rest and were conscious of numerous changes of scenery, and soon came noon. 



"Doran right?" asked a similarly young girl glancing at a boy who seemed to have been lost in thought for a long while



"?... oh, yes that's me"


"You seem to have been thinking about something... is something wrong or do you find anything strange about this place?"



"I can't say for certain, but I think something isn't about right"



"W-what? what's that?" the young girl hurriedly asked with peaked interest.



Doran took a glance at the three soldiers in front and spoke "Do you remember what that soldier said about the teran wolves territory?"



"Yes, he said it's located deep within the main forest. Why do you ask?"



"I'm just curious about something... I don't think we're the first set of people to have come to this place, evidently someone made a map of it entirely. But what's most strange about it is that it seems like a completely new world where no one has ever been so...just take a look, this place is rich with resources, why hasn't there been any record of this?"



"Now that I think about it, you have a point" said the young girl as she turned and glanced around the surrounding.



"What the f*ck!" An angry shout was heard and everyone turned straight to see the soldier who seemed to have shouted while glancing through the map held by his companion. "Don't tell me we've been going the wrong way ever since!"



"There's no way, I believe I checked correctly, we're on the right track"



"Then can you explain why there's a river here? seems like the wrong way to me. Can't be, it can't be a problem with the map right?"



The map bearer was silent while thoroughly looked through the map 'Something's f*cking wrong, where we led here on purpose?' he thought.



"W-what? There's a problem with the map right?"



"Speak of the devil" the archer among them suddenly said while looking to a particular position behind him. the sky suddenly became dark as a huge mass of thick purple fog was seen approaching them at an abnormally rapid pace. 



Everyone present was thrown into a state of confusion. "Hey, what's that thing?" The young girl looked panic-stricken as she asked pointing to the direction of the emerging purple fog.



"I don't know but it can't be anything good" replied Doran. after making a quick observation of the purple fog. "We need to find a safe place first" he added. As he spoke, some of the people present already began to read the entire situation and made attempts to flee the area right in the face of potential danger.



"Stop! don't move, I'll kill anyone who dare tries to flee" Shouted the soldier with the map. "You all are f*cking cowards. You're already scared beyond measure just because of a mere unidentified natural occurrence?"



'Natural occurrence? with the whole situation, it's clear that this is nothing more than absolute death approaching' Doran thought within himself as he traced his chin.



"What I think is... this should be a situation caused by the reaction of some sort of spirit artifact, there's no reason being scared" the soldier said while trying to remain as calm as possible. "You should consider this as an opportunity to obtain some benefits, I'll be sending two people once more to observe the situation upfront, any complains about that?" he added as he walked towards the group.



"Shameless! it's obvious that they're trying to use us as bait once more" whispered the young girl to Doran.



"Mhm"



"You two! go and do it" The soldier said pointing to two middle-aged men in the group. The middle-aged men couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.



"S-sir are you sure it's safe" one of the men spoke frightened.



"What? you dare question me?... oh, perhaps you imply that my speculations are wrong?"



"No, no that's not what I mean sir" the middle-aged man hurriedly interjected. In this world, the weak were bound to fall in submission to the strong, everyone was aware of this fact. Strength was considered everything, according to one's strength was his status. 



The middle-aged men left the group and walked towards the purple fog. After reaching a close enough distance from the approaching purple fog, they felt a peaceful sensation and then glanced at the purple fog which seemed so harmless at the moment, and let out a sigh of relief.



'I must have thought too much of the situation, seems to be as that soldier said. Besides this could be a real opportunity, I might find some lucky chance...' just as he was lost in thought he suddenly glanced over and noticed that the other man was nowhere to be found.



'what...where is he? did something bad happen?' realizing the sudden turn of events he turned around trying to flee from the midst of the fog and just as he was about to do so, he was caught by the leg by a condensed layer of fog chain protruding from the purple fog and pulled in at an amazing speed. The lower half of his body began to disintegrate into dust and swallowed into the purple fog like a giant maw of a beast. The whole event from afar was witnessed from the beginning to end by the group of people who were now gripped tightly by tremendous dismay.

Chapter end