A lamp with too many light holes brightened the cramped box that hunched Brigit and her father. Before the rabid maws of the fog could bite into their memories, Masso snapped his finger to swap the broken down door of the room with an hermetic cage, usually used for containing dangerous elemental firgs. While it protected them from the dangers of the outside, it also crippled them in place. 

Brigit- “I can’t hear a damn thing, dad. Should we take a peak?”

The Union leader crossed his legs and arms, pondering about their situation and the one from outside. If it was just him, he would have risked a foolish try at cracking a wall or the ceiling… or even run back the way he came from; but–

Brigit- “ But what? Least you forget, I’ve been training with Perren, mom and you for the past decade. If even now I’m not ready, then when?” The girl read his mind with ease, thanks to the years spent learning how to read his winces and scowls.

Masso- “ All I’m saying is that-”, he then stumbled in his words. While his head urged him to use her skills for both to escape, his fatherly heart was about to stop beating from the worry. “ Well, I don't know what I’m saying. I agree, you’re scabbard is our best chance…but you still can’t control it.”

The indignant daughter wanted to puff her nostrils, clench her shaking fists and yell out the hot air that was collecting in her chest. So, instead of all of that, she played with the settings on the lamp. Rotating knobs, switching flips. “ Recently, I met a young, strong, loud girl with a will like no other. And recently, I also started to feel more in control of it…For a few brief seconds. I can rein in the vortex.”

He knew that his little girl didn’t lie to him, he could see it in her unwavering eyes. While he, on the other hand, his spirit trembled; not even facing Victor troubled him as much as having to put his care in the hands of his daughter. His steady mind weighed the balance in Brigit’s favor. “Alright”, he mustered to say, in spite of the difficulty to utter it.

The haze still hovered around the chamber, waiting. If you weren’t aware of the mind behind it, you could have sworn that it was just a normal cloud of mist. The moment the box even peeped, though, the white swarm stood still, patient. 

‘Snap’ and the box swapped for a set of a large shield and a morningstar, weapon which Masso left unattended on the floor. At the same time, a blinding light from the lamp showered the entire chamber, just in case pairs of eyes were hidden in the fog.

Masso quickly grabbed the shield and used it to flutter the air around them. In those few precious seconds that he bought for his daughter, she gripped tightly on the handle of her blade, trying with desperation to pull it off the clingy scabbard.

Brigit- “ JUST”, she screamed while her scowl almost reached the tip of her nose “- LET GO ALREADY!” 

Masso- “ Not trying to hurry you or anything here, but…anytime now.” No matter how much the warrior blew the evercoming mist, another portion would wave over to envelop the two remaining rebels in its hold. Tiny particles managed to reach his ears and make brief, small, but staggering changes to his memories; flashes of his past would blind him for moments, enough for him to notice how dangerous the mist was. 

Lucky for him, Brigit’s will gave her the strength to unleash the abyssal eater that was the scabbard; anything light enough to be pulled in by vacuum would be lost inside the black void of the sheath, where not even Brigit knew what would happen to it. 

In a brief few seconds, she managed to free the entire room of the invasive cloud; with the side effect of bringing her on a knee from the fatigue the weapon induced on her. Masso used the time she bought to throw his morningstar through a wall. He then grabbed Brigit by her cowl in one hand, and the weapons in the other and jumped out outside, from the top of the 10 story building..

Brigit- “ What the he-”, but the girl was already in mid air, ready to fall like a meteor to the ground. 

‘Snap’

The two found themselves back in the box, falling without breaks towards the ground.

Masso- “ Think, think, think”, he muttered desperately, showing that his plan lacked a few steps while the windows from the tower became fewer in number. 

Brigit clenched her teeth in preparation of the bone shattering impact, while Masso went through his mental list of objects he marked to be used with his swapping ability. Unfortunately for him, most of it was weapons and more boxes. 

• “ Food box?!”, yelled the rattled girl, trying to spark some ideas before the-

‘THUD’ 

…

After getting bored of pacing left to right, Goidel changed to a diagonal route; after which he picked his daggers and adopted a meditation position he learned from his captain. “Lay on the back, arms crossed above the head and…” nothing. Unfortunately for the librarian, his mind’s constant rattering from trying to escape the cage made by the one he admired was way too loud.

Until a pair of emeralds materialized and hovered a meter above. 

Goidel, trying to keep a poker face, acknowledges the traitor’s presence. “ What are you doing here, Feth?” To his surprise, the overly chatty Head librarian huffed a tired sigh and laid face down on the couch.

Feth- “ Just taking a break. You know, it’s actually quite tiresome keeping a beast like Ashen subdued.” He then turned his sight on his former colleague. “ Also checking in on you. Make sure you don’t go crazy or something.”

The next second Goidel jumped on his feet and instinctively got close enough to put a knife to Feth’s supposed neck. “ What the hell are you even trying to do?” All the pacing helped Goidel come to terms with one thing, if at least. Feth is, and always was, a traitor.

The fog firg looked at him with a bored expression. “ Relax, he is alive…Actually, you know that, screw it, it’s not like I can brag to anyone after all of this is done. “ He then turned around to have a clear view of his self-made drawing board in the ceiling. “So, let’s start with what I accomplished: I managed to scramble the Tuatha’s brain enough to make him think that Ashen planned to use the Union to assassinate his precious little double-crossing deity.”

His skin turned grey for a second, but turned back once he moved on from that topic.

Goidel- “... Since when can you do stuf-”, but then the librarian started to put two and two together. His periodical lapses in memory, complaints of head-aches and visions coming from the staff and, to his shock, “Blitz…”

Feth- “ Oh, you got it ? See, that’s why you are my favorite from the Union”, he then patted the stunned Goidel on the head. “ Yeah, Blitz. He was the most susceptible to my influence; amazing what working with the dark water…should I call it essence? Whatever. Yeah, I used Blitz as my starting point to see how my mist can put a drawing paper over your memories. Looks like it’s good enough to temporarily even control people.”

The mist firg then let out a tired yawn.

Feth- “ Anyhow, that’s how I used Ecne and Blitz to push Ashen closer to the city. Once the old man was right in my reach, I used all of the mist covering Caer Sidi to ‘gulp’ him and…yeah, that’s about it.”

Goidel stood silent and thought about something. “ Feth, you aren’t just an agent from Dubnos, right? But you aren’t any of their aristocrats either…so….”

Feth started a slow clap. “ Thank you for not putting me in the same bowl with those guys. No, just think of me as a piece of Dubnos itself. And I’ve been away from my home for too long, Goidel.”

A sudden realization heated Goidel’s ears- “...You can open a door to the ocean? But I thought…no, I presumed that they were opened from the other side or by accident… My bad. It does make sense that there are people trying it from this side as well.”

Feth- “ Yes, but that isn’t enough anymore. With what I’ll accomplish here today, it will be like a small quake that triggers an all consuming tsunami. Rejoice, though, Goidel because you’ll still live to see how Caer Sidi brings forth the end.”

Goidel- “ Why are you being cryptic now? I actually liked it when you couldn’t stop talking about your plans.”

Feth- “ I don’t like to brag about possible victories, only after I win do I get that right. So, for now, stay put and be safe until I’ll need you. I don’t trust my idiot fellow product to uphold his mission.”

The librarian cocked an eyebrow. “Product?”

Feth- “ Ha, no need to know more. Just be ready, you might become the proud guardian of an infuriating redhead who always has to have the last word. Hope you like the human world.”

The fog librarian then dispersed his body back into the mass of mist and left his former ally confused, but deep in thought.  

…

Perren- “ The burrow entrance to our former village. Which is connected to the underground sector.” The teacher was still writhing in pain from the headache left by the mist, but he was hellbent on joining his pupils in their foolish attempt at helping Caer Sidi. “ Before that, what did Feth do to me? Do you know?”

Ogda took a look at Lian, who was trying to keep her palms hidden and her focus exhaustingly sharp. She felt that whatever was making her feel sick had to wait. “It’s probably that.” Lian thought.

Ogda- “ His…mist; he is somehow able to cloud people’s memories and, if I am to guess, it has become much stronger recently.”

Perren- “ The dome?”, to which the water firg nodded. “ And the only thing that we have against it are Zinc, who can also protect others from the mist; Ogda and Lian because of your weird connection to him, and our only cure, little miss Mincha? “ He huffed and tried to think how they could use this little number to their advantage.

Grandpa- “ Except that we have some way to shield ourselves. Before disappearing, Ashen left a gift; he used the last of his power to create a few trinkets made from soot; earrings for our protection. We found them under his tree.”

Perren- “ Right, of course he left us some gifts. “ He chuckled, and smiled, remembering a former, boring talk with the dragon.

Ogda- “ One more thing. I think I know what Feth wants. He-”

Lian- “ He thinks I’m a human connected to something he called the Fabricator. The presumingly creator of him and Ogda. I’m guessing that he plans on contacting that being…somehow.  As for what other surprises there are in store…I think many of you noticed that I’m looking rather pale.”

Everyone nodded.

Lian- “ Before you suggest I stay back with Emile, the kids-”

Maci- “ Hey”, she quipped.

Lian- “ -saw something strange near my pact sign. Another circle, three times the size of the original one. It pulls me towards the city. I think that one is Feth’s.”

Ogda- “ So, if you get closer, you think you might feel better?”

Lian- “ Yeah…it can also help us locate him. So, how should we plan this further?”