Beneath the cold, jagged shadows of the obsidian mountains, the blood-red sea was still, until a dark mist began to move.
It crept forward slowly, almost lazily, yet with undeniable purpose. The mist wasn't drifting it was advancing. Its motion carried weight, as though something vast and sentient hid within, drawing ever closer to the five monsters that had gathered at the foot of the mountains.
The creatures faced it in uneasy silence. Their massive bodies trembled faintly, not from weakness, but from instinct. And yet, they did not flee. They stood their ground, their claws sinking into the crimson sea, their eyes locked on the encroaching haze.
Vale watched them, calm but curious. The mist fascinated him. It didn't feel like an ordinary threat, and though his instincts whispered danger, he couldn't shake the sense of… significance.
He knew it wasn't directly hostile, or at least, that's what the chained man had hinted at. And even if it was, the small metallic creatures would protect them. Still, as the mist moved, Vale felt something he hadn't in a long time unease.
Even from this great distance, it exuded an immense pressure, heavy and cold, something that pressed against the world itself. The towering monsters, beings of impossible size and power that had attacked him, now seemed almost like children in its presence.
And the mist?
It felt like the thing beneath their beds.
"Heh," Vale muttered, his eyes never leaving the dark horizon. "What exactly is that?"
He turned to the chained man, hoping for an answer, though he knew better than to expect one. The man couldn't always speak clearly, but sometimes, by chance or miracle, his words came through properly. Vale hoped this would be one of those times.
The chained man sat silently for a moment, his head bowed. His shoulders shifted slightly, as if with the weight of something old and painful. Then, he exhaled a slow sigh and looked back toward the mist.
When he spoke, his voice was soft and somber.
"A friend."
Vale blinked, startled, not only because the man's words were clear, but because of what he had said.
"A… friend?" he echoed, turning toward the masked figure. The man didn't look at him. His gaze remained fixed on the mist as it crept ever closer, his expression unreadable beneath the obsidian mask. After a long pause, he simply nodded once.
Vale didn't press further. He could tell there would be no more answers, not right now. And besides, a part of him didn't want to ask. Something deep within whispered that it was better not to know.
So he turned back to the sea and the dark horizon, watching.
That feeling in his chest grew stronger.
The chained man had once felt like a threat, something beyond human, terrifying in his restraint. But this… this was different. This wasn't a man bound by chains in a crimson wasteland. This was something else entirely.
The five monsters on the bloody sea shifted uneasily as the fog drew nearer. The green one, larger and more vibrant than the rest, lifted its head high. Its scales began to shine again, that same virulent green light pulsing from deep within.
Vale's breath caught. "Already?"
The others followed suit, one by one blue, crimson, violet, and gray lights bursting across the sea like dying stars. Each monster glowed brighter, their bodies humming with energy until the entire ocean reflected their combined brilliance.
If Vale hadn't known better, he might have thought he was witnessing gods descending from the heavens. Their radiance was awe-inspiring, majestic even.
But he did know better.
They weren't gods.
They were just monsters.
And monsters always killed what they didn't understand.
The green leader roared and released its beam, a colossal surge of emerald energy that carved through the air and slammed into the mist. The others followed instantly, unleashing their power in a symphony of destruction. The night sky turned to chaos. Beams of every color tore through the horizon, shaking the blood ocean with their fury.
But the mist…
didn't react.
There was no scream, no recoil. It simply kept coming.
Vale frowned. "No way…"
The mountains disappeared behind the oncoming fog, swallowed whole. The monsters continued their barrage, their beams cutting through the haze, but their attacks had no effect. The light vanished the moment it entered the mist, as if consumed.
The fog advanced without pause.
When it reached the edge of the battlefield, the monsters panicked. The green one roared in defiance, firing another desperate blast, but it was too late.
The mist touched them.
And when it did, it refused to let go.
One of the beasts screamed as its hind legs were caught. It thrashed, trying to pull free, but the fog dragged it backward slowly and inexorably, its claws raking trenches through the sea as it howled for help that never came.
Vale watched in silence.
"I almost feel bad for them," he murmured, his voice low. "Almost."
One by one, the other monsters tried to flee, but the mist spread too fast. It caught their limbs, their tails anything it touched was claimed. Their roars of defiance turned to screams of terror as they were pulled into the darkness.
And then… silence.
The entire world seemed to hold its breath. The blood sea stilled, and the five black suns above dimmed faintly.
Then came the cries.
A chorus of agony echoed from within the mist, unholy, animalistic, desperate. The fog lit up from within, veins of color bursting through the darkness, green, blue, red, violet, gray, all thrashing violently like trapped lightning.
It looked as though the monsters were trying to fight their way out, their beams flaring wildly from inside. But the light never escaped the fog. Each color flickered, strained, and was snuffed out one by one.
The screaming stopped.
The mist pulsed once, dark and deep, and then fell silent again.
Vale stared, his mouth slightly open. The sea of blood reflected the fog's quiet mass, unbroken and ominous.
"…They're gone," he whispered. "All of them. Just like that."
He exhaled, his breath trembling as he spoke again, softer this time.
"So that's what you meant by friend."
Just as Vale whispered those words, something happened.
A deep, tearing sound echoed from within the mist, wet, raw, and unnatural. It wasn't the sound of something breaking, but of something being ripped apart.
Vale froze. His eyes narrowed as he tried to focus on the dark fog, straining to see what was happening inside. For a long moment, the mist remained still, silent again. But then,
A colossal shadow burst out of it, crossing the blood-red ocean in an instant. The air trembled as it passed, and Vale instinctively ducked, the force of its movement cutting through the sea like a storm wind.
He turned, just in time to see the shadow fall.
The impact shook the crimson waters, sending a crimson wave rippling across the endless horizon. And as the mist's veil parted for just a heartbeat, Vale saw what it was.
An arm.
It slammed into the ocean like a meteor. Massive, green-scaled, ending in claws black as obsidian and sharp enough to tear through steel. Muscles thicker than trees rippled beneath its torn flesh, the surface still faintly glowing with that same sickly green energy.
"It's the monster's arm," Vale said, his voice barely more than a breath.
He blinked, staring in disbelief. "But why… would it throw it away?"
The arm floated far from them, yet even at this distance it looked impossibly large, large enough to crush entire ships beneath its weight. He kept staring, trying to understand, until the truth struck him. Slowly, he turned his gaze back to the mist.
It hadn't stopped moving.
It was still coming.
"Ah… I see now," Vale whispered. His expression hardened as realization settled in.
The monsters the mist had torn apart, they weren't its enemies. They weren't even its targets. They were merely pests that happened to stand in its path.
Its true destination was something else.
Something, someone, far more important.
Vale's eyes drifted toward the chained man beside him. "It's after you," he said quietly. "Just like the others."
The words carried no accusation, just a quiet certainty. After all, hadn't the chained man called it a friend? And yet, the thing that came for him was far beyond anything Vale had ever seen.
This was no simple monster.
No creature of flesh or bone.
This was a force a power that seemed to unmake the very laws of existence around it. The others had died not because they were slain, but because they had been erased. Not destroyed, not burned, not torn apart, simply removed, as though the world itself had forgotten they ever existed.
Vale swallowed hard, his throat dry. "It doesn't just kill… it undoes."
He looked at the chained man again. The figure hadn't moved, hadn't flinched. There was no sign of fear, no sign of anything at all. Beneath that obsidian mask, emotion was unreadable, yet Vale could feel something like calm radiating from him.
Finally, as the mist rolled closer, the chained man began to move.
Slowly, deliberately, he rose from where he sat. The sound of chains echoed faintly as he stood, metal shifting against stone and blood. He faced the mist head-on, unflinching, as if greeting an old companion.
Vale could feel it now, the cold edge of the mist brushing against his boots, creeping upward across his legs. It felt strange, not painful, not cold, just empty. Like sinking into still water that had no reflection.
The smaller creatures gathered tightly around his feet, their bodies trembling, eyes glowing faintly as they looked toward the oncoming darkness. They seemed tense, alert, ready for something Vale couldn't yet see.
He turned once more to the chained man, his voice low but steady.
"Hey… should I be afraid?"
The man tilted his head slightly, thinking for a moment before answering. His voice came soft but certain, his tone unwavering, even as the fog licked the air around them.
"Eh… eerh fro em," he said.
Vale didn't understand the words, not really. But something in the man's voice told him what they meant. The sound carried reassurance, confidence, even kindness.
'You don't need to be afraid.'
Vale exhaled slowly, his nerves steadying. "Right," he whispered, forcing a small, calm smile. "I'll trust you on that one."
And so, he didn't fight.
He didn't run.
He stood where he was as the mist swallowed the world around him, first his legs, then his chest, his arms, his breath. The crimson sea, the chained man, the sky of black suns, all faded into darkness.
Vale let go of his fear and closed his eyes, ready to face whatever waited on the other side of the mist.