Ethan was still, paralyzed by shock.

Charlotte wasn’t there. In fact, not even the light from her car nor the buildings that surrounded him were visible. Somehow, the fog crept over in the short timespan of him getting out of the car and it was obscuring his vision to heavily that he couldn’t see the ground.

*rumbles*

‘Ok, that rumbling sounds a lot closer than it did when I was in the hospital. And there isn’t any lightning anywhere, could it be an earthquake perhaps?’ Ethan contemplated. In the end, he made up his mind very quickly, because no one should be out in the open if there’s an earthquake going out.

Grabbing his phone, he tried to dial his parents, but the signal was gone. Thinking of an alternative solution, he swiped a few buttons on his phone until his flashlight was on. Hoping that by some miracle he would walk around, slowly and cautiously until he came across some sort of building or landmark. Yet, the more he traversed, the more lost he felt within the fog. Even when he quickened his pace, he made no progress…

“Help…Mommy…”

Ethan stopped mid-step.

‘That voice! That voice was what I heard before! But, it doesn’t sound like Charlotte…no, it sounded very frail and…childish?’

Realization hit him harder than any of his past panic attacks.

There’s a child, wandering alone, in this heavy fog, and…

*RUMBLES*

Ethan was thrown off balance by that enormous tremor, swaying side-to-side trying to stay balanced.

“AAAAHHHH!”

Ethan faced toward the direction that scream came from. That kid!

He sprinted off, hoping to find the child as soon as possible. It was difficult, however, as every ten seconds, a large but short tremor would occur, making him wobble a bit. As he continued his rescue attempt, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out.

“Hey, kid! Please, stay where ever you are! I know I’m a stranger, but all I want to do is to help you!”

His plea echoed far into the fog…

“Please! Stop, get away! Mommy, anyone! Help me!” The voice, that now sounded like a small girl, called out.

‘Shi-!’

Ethan quickens his pace from a sprint to a dash, tripping over his feet several times before bouncing back up to continue running. It seemed the tremors weren’t what Ethan was worried about anymore!

“Little girl!? Where are you!?”

He kept on calling her, even when his throat ached in pain, he kept yelling.

Finally, the fog started to dissipate, revealing the area Ethan was now in.

“What the?”

From what he could tell was that he now stood in a large open grass field that had several narrow pathways leading to an open plaza, yet he couldn’t see anything past the entire area, for the fog was still present. Arriving at said plaza, he stood before a large statue of a woman with long hair holding an orb in her hands near her chest. While the orb should be the main focus, Ethan couldn’t help but notice the facial features of the statue were similar to someone he had met in the city.

*tap, tap, tap.*

“Oof!”

The sound of small footsteps and a squeak of pain snapped Ethan out of his wandering thoughts. Turning his head to the right, he saw a child, dawning a white cloak with green trims and a hood over their face, on the ground, clutching her leg that had a scrape on it. That had to be the child that he had heard! He rushed over to her, not noticing how her eyes were set on something just past him.

“Found you! Hey, you’re sa-!”

“Watch out Mister!”

*thump, Thump, THUMP*

That warning had him on edge before the heavy footsteps were upon him. Sensing a threat behind him, he ducked and barreled to the side. He felt the ground shake from whatever was about to hit him. Lifting his head up, he focused on the girl that was now beside him. But she wasn’t staring at him, but rather, she was staring at what was behind him. Ethan turned to face whatever she was gawking at and felt the color drain from his face.

A…monstrosity stood before them. Its entire body was a murky black slime that occasionally detached itself and fall to the ground before sizzling away into nothing. Its arm was embedded into the ground where Ethan was standing. Its head, that was nothing more than a bulbous heap of ooze with pasty white eyes, slowly turned towards them. Seeing that it missed its target, a fine line formed across its face before turning into a gaping black hole of a mouth.

“RRRRAAAAAGGGHHHHH!”

It let out an ear-splitting howl, causing Ethan and the little girl to cover their ears. The creature lifted its hand from the ground and slowly trudged over to them, almost determined to continue its attack.

Ethan took notice of the creature’s mission and stood up on his feet quickly while hoisting the girl onto his shoulders.

“Hang on, ok?!” Ethan advised the girl, getting a nod of confirmation from her.

Turning his entire body around, he dashed out of the way from another attack from the creature. Pieces of debris, small and large, were sent flying towards all directions from the fist that was buried in the ground.

The child curled around Ethan’s head, trying to shield herself from the debris. But, as she did that, her arms had shifted in front of Ethan’s vision, causing him to trip over a rock. Ethan fell face first into the ground, his forehead colliding into the concrete. All his senses were on the fritz, his eyes were blurry and red, an annoying ringing was in his ear, and he couldn’t feel the little girl that was on his shoulders a second ago…

“M-mister!” A scream was heard over the obnoxious sound in his ear.

Lifting his head towards the noise, he could barely make out the blurry outline of the young girl scrambling away from the beast that had its large arm in the air. Then, a strange glow emanated the limb, before it started to transform into a large spear. Taking aim at the girl, who was petrified with fear, before rushing at her…