The following morning, the island greeted them with thick fog rolling in from the sea. Visibility dropped to mere feet, and even the forest sounds were muffled, as if the world held its breath.
They moved cautiously, staying close, blades ready. The fog coiled between trees like living mist, and soon, they couldn't tell which direction they came from.
"Something's wrong," Rowan muttered. "This fog… it doesn't feel natural."
It wasn't.
That's when the whispers began.
At first, soft and harmless—like wind brushing leaves—but then came the voice. Singular. Clear.
"Darius…"
His blood ran cold.
It was Mira's voice.
Familiar. Warm. Slightly teasing, just like when she'd laughed the first day they'd shared a meal. She'd helped gather wood. Organized the village tents. Been the first to call him "my Lord" with a spark of pride in her eyes.
And now, her voice called to him from the mist.
"Darius… why didn't you come back?"
He froze in place.
Rowan grabbed his arm. "Don't listen. It's not her."
But it was. He knew her voice. Every note of it.
"Darius…" Softer now. Sadder. "You promised…"
A rustle behind them.
They turned—Aric was gone.
"Aric!" Darius snapped out of it. "Damn it—Rowan, with me!"
The forest distorted around them as they chased the fading sound of boots on wet leaves. Shadows twisted. Trees bent in impossible angles. Mira's voice followed.
"You left us…"
Faces flickered in the fog. Wide eyes. Open mouths. Burned tents. Blood.
They burst into a clearing and found Aric, sword drawn, facing a hunched, humanoid figure. It wore tattered villager robes—Mira's robes. But the face was stretched wrong, skin pale and tight over inhuman bones, mouth wide with jagged teeth.
"No," Darius growled. "You don't get to wear her face."
He lunged.
The illusion wavered under Rowan's strike, and with a roar, Darius slammed his blade into the thing's neck. It shrieked—not Mira's voice now, but something guttural, hateful—and dissolved into black ash.
The fog began to lift. Mira's voice faded like mist on a window.
Gone.
They stood in silence, surrounded by a forest that had returned to stillness.
Aric's voice broke through the quiet. "It used her. It knew her."
Darius knelt, gripping the dirt, his jaw clenched. "I left them behind. I let her die."
Rowan placed a hand on his shoulder. "We're still here. Because of you. We move forward. For her."
The guilt didn't vanish. But something inside Darius shifted. Hardened. Not into numbness—but resolve.
Mira was gone,so as the others .But thier memories would guide him now. Not break him.
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