It was late evening; the scorching afternoon sun had slipped below the horizon, leaving the sky a soft wash of violet and indigo.
The crew could be seen stalling at the end of the darkwood forest, observing the visage of the feared bridge of the south. King Julian and Osborne stepped down from the carriage to observe the bridge as well.
From their position, they could only see the beginning of the feared bridge as it was covered in a faint crimson fog that made it impossible to see past a small distance.
There was a lot of this faint crimson fog, it consumed the entirety of the bridge and the area surrounding it, cloaking both the structure and the mysteries that lie beyond the bridge.
GULP!
Members of the crew became nervous at the sight of the natural mystery.
They became really concerned about their survival.
Would they even make it past the bridge?
What kind of abnormalities would they meet while crossing?
If there were any abnormalities, would they even be able to defeat them?
Numerous questions lingered in the mind of the soldiers.
Even the hero who hadn't seen a natural mystery like this back on his homeworld, could not help but become like the rest — Pondering about his fate.
"The Bridge of the South is often called the Bridge of Oblivion. In the past, fewer than one percent of those who dared to cross it ever made it back alive. The other ninety-nine became tormented memories and grim lessons for any who still considered the attempt."
At the front of the crew, standing alongside the king, the wizard and the hero, Theobald began to address the crew.
"For the scant population that had managed to make it back alive, only half of them returned with complete sanity, the others became lunatics who could not stop speaking in strange tongues, some of them claimed they could see their dead friends and foes."
The more the captain addressed the history of the dreaded landscape, the more fear was etched on the feeble hearts of the soldiers.
Some even began having a second thought, they do not want to partake in this journey of no return.
"As for the other half that made it back completely intact, they warned about the potency of the everlasting crimson fog."
The captain paused after saying this, he turned to observe the scared expression of the soldiers and then continued.
"The everlasting crimson fog contains powerful hallucinogens that storm the mind of those who inhaled it with dreaded memories and visions.
Be it your worst nightmare, your deepest saddest event or the bright future you have planned for yourselves. The everlasting crimson fog bombards your mind with all of that.
Its only goal is to make sure you never cross the bridge."
Loud gulps of disbelief and dread escaped involuntarily from the mouth of the listeners. Even the king and the wizard had a disturbed expression etched on their faces.
"But Captain Theobald, if all these are possible and our chances of survival is this low, why then do we have to cross the bridge? Shouldn't we look for another route? Even if it is long, it would be better than crossing this bridge."
One of the concerned soldiers voiced out his worries.
Even Alister could not help but nod his head — If there was another safe route to take, it would be far better than crossing this mysterious bridge.
Theobald's gaze lingered on the concerned soldier for some time before shaking his head and revealing the sad truth.
"There are no other routes beside this bridge."
The fact bomb dampened the courage of the soldiers immediately.
"Unless you can fly or teleport, crossing the bridge is the only way to reach the other side."
Another round of nervous gulps and sighs escaped from the crew.
Alister observed the situation for some time and lifted his hand to draw the attention of everyone, especially the captain.
The captain nodded at him to speak up.
"Those survivors, did they report facing any sort of abnormalities while crossing?"
Theobald nodded his head, "They did, but the chances of encountering abnormalities while crossing are very low, chances are we might not even get to face one of them."
"Hmm."
Alister did not find the reply convincing, according to the reports and their discussion before their journey began today — they mentioned that every landmark is laced with abnormalities. Theobald even mentioned that the danger keeps increasing between each landmark.
Theobald saw his curious expression and revealed the entire truth — Apparently, the everlasting fog effect does not dwell on humans alone, it affects every creature that tries to cross it including animals and abnormalities.
The only abnormalities that dwelled at the bridge were those with a system that prevents the hallucinogenic effect of the fog.
Also, since the chances of catching prey at the bridge were very low, a lesser number of abnormalities tend to enter it.
Alister finally understood the situation and then he made a suggestion.
"If that is the case, then I know a way we can increase our chances of survival by over 60%."
"Are you for real?"
Everyone turned to look at the hero with disbelief.
"How?"
They began to wonder how he would be able to pull that off.
Even Osborne was curious, in the past, plenty of strong witches and wizards had tried to cross the bridge but never succeeded. They weren't even amongst the 1% that made it back alive.
How then would this hero lift their rate of survival?