The Tribrid

Into the fog

  Emily's POV
  We walk for another day before stopping again for the night. Marcus builds a fire while Liam goes out hunting. It's is a lot colder tonight than it was last night. I go through my bag and pull out a sweater.
  "Do you think it will snow?" I ask. I noticed dark clouds rolling in before the sun went down.
  "I'm not sure, but it feels like a possibility." Marcus says.
  "I'm glad Mia packed me some warm clothes, and I'm really glad I wore boots." I say. I hold my hands over the warm fire.
  "Liam better hurry back soon. I could eat half a cow." Marcus says. I giggle.
  "While we wait, tell me more about these animals, what were they called? Gobers, goblins."
  "Grulers. I don't know much about them other than what they look like. How are we going to get through the fog?" I ask.
  "Well I do have a few ideas on the fog, but what if we tried to channel your first vision to really see the area and the creatures?" Marcus asks.
  "How can we do that?" I ask.
  "Come here. We can focus on your vision together, it actually won't be that hard." Marcus says. I get up and sit next to him and face him. He faces me and holds out his hands. I take his hands.
  "Ok close your eyes and think back on your vision." Marcus says. I close my eyes and think about the night sky and the fog. I think about the crystals and chill in the air. It all feels so real. I move through the fog. It's quiet. I carefully make my way down into the crater to the bottom. I reach my hand into the earth and dislodge it. I feel the weight of it in my hand, the cold crystal is smooth to the touch and quite heavy. I hear movement in the woods above me. I hear their feet moving closer. I see their silhouettes, there are several of them.
  "I'm afraid." I say.
  "It's just a vision. It can't hurt you. Just hold on." Marcus say. One of the creatures jumps into the crater. I whip around to get a better look at it. I have never seen a creature like this.
  "It's big, like the size of a wolf but thin and with no fur. It walks on all fours, but has no tail. No snout or nose of any kind. Large eyes in the front of its face. And it's mouth.. It's mouth is large spanning from ear to ear adorned with large shark like teeth." I say.
  "Does it have claws? What is it doing?" Marcus asks.
  "Yes it has claws. It's watching me." The creature was just staring at me. Two more creatures come over the top into the crater. They circle me, is this my mind doing this? Why does this feel so real?
  "I want to come back." I say.
  "Ok ok take a deep breath and imagine yourself pulling up and out." He says. I try but I can't shake how real it feels.
  "It feels so real." I say. One of the creatures lunges at me. I duck out of the way, but I could feel the air rush past me.
  "E it's not real." He squeezes my hand.
  "This is real. Focus on me. I am real. I'm right here." He says. I focus on our hands touching and I'm brought back. I open my eyes and see Marcus and Liam staring at me.
  "Are you ok?" Liam asks.
  "Yeah, I don't know why it felt so real. I could feel the chill in the air. I felt the weight of the crystal in my hand." I say. I noticed I was still hold Marcus' hands and pulled mine back.
  "How peculiar. I wonder why, we've looked into your visions before." Marcus says. Liam cooks something over the fire.
  "It was so strange. And it was like the creatures knew." I say. Marcus looks at me worried, but doesn't say much after that. We eat dinner in silence and go to bed. I wake up the next morning freezing. I can't remember the last time I was this cold. I roll over and pull Liam closer to me and nestle into his chest. Liam wraps his arm around me.
  "Cold babe?" Liam's voice vibrates in his chest.
  "Yes, it's freezing." I say.
  "Maybe it's because it snowed." He says.
  "What?!" I spring up and look around. A thin sheet of snow has fallen on the ground all around us in the night. I can't remember the last time I saw snow.
  "We're going to have to layer up." Liam says.
  "I guess you were right, it did look like snow." Marcus says.
  "We should hurry up. The sooner we get there the better." Samson says. I take my sweater off quickly and add a long sleeve shirt and then throw my sweater back on. Layers it is. We get up and head out. We walk until mid day where we stop and have lunch.
  "How much further?" Marcus asks.
  "Just a few more hours." Samson says.
  "Good, because it's getting cold." I say. We eat lunch and head back out, we are so close. The sky is dark, like it could snow again. It gets darker and darker as the day wears on. After a few hours I feel a different kind of chill.
  "I think we are close." I say. We slow our approach.
  "So before we get closer let's do the spell, here." Marcus hands us each a small bag.
  "What's this?" Liam asks.
  "It's part of the spell. Hold on to these. I will be sitting back here chanting the spell. As long as I'm chanting and you have your bag, you can't be hurt." Marcus says.
  "By the fog?" I ask.
  "By anything. Now, you won't have long, the spell is extremely draining. I can only hold it for about 10 minutes, 15 minutes tops. I won't start the spell until E tells me to. Make sure you guys get in and get out. Once the spell is over, E I will need you to help me out. Any questions?" Marcus asks.
  "Is this the best magic for this? Couldn't we just go in invisible or something?" Liam asks.
  "Or what if Samson just whisks in and grabs a crystal really fast?" He adds.
  "One, we're going to need more than one crystal, we should try to grab as many as we can carry. And two we don't know much of anything about these creatures, or the fog. My plan is the safest and most foolproof, I've been thinking about this since before we left." Marcus says.
  "Fine fine. I guess we'll go with your plan. So the bags will give us like a shield of protection? Is that it? Like a wall around us?
  "Well it will completely protect you from the fog, but the creatures will still be able to touch you but shouldn't be able to cause you any physical harm. Stay close together and don't let them get too close." Marcus warns.
  Liam takes my hand and squeezes it.
  "How many crystals should we try to get?" Liam asks.
  "Well we should try to get a couple each, as long as they aren't too heavy I don't want them to slow us down if we have to get out of there fast." Samson says.
  "Let's go and get this over with." Liam says.
  "E, don't be afraid to use your magic, but do it with caution." Marcus says. I just nod and we walk deeper into the woods leaving Marcus behind. I feel the chill of the cold deepen into my bones. We are met first with a light fog.
  "Marcus, we've come to the fog, it's light but it will get thicker." I say.
  "Ok I will start the spell in five minutes, light fog shouldn't hurt you. But you will need to hurry after that."
  "We have five minutes before he starts the spell. We need to hurry." I tell the guys. The night grows dark and cold. We pause for a moment behind a fallen tree trunk and survey the area. I don't see any creatures, but I do recognize where I am. I'm standing exactly where I was in my vision. The edge of the tree line. I can't see through the thick fog but I know the crater should be about 50 feet in front of us.
  "The crater is directly in front of us. Over there about 50 feet away." I whisper pointing to the clearing where the crater is. We try to make as little noise as possible as we get closer and closer. I feel my heart pumping in my chest. My nerves are running wild and my hands are starting to sweat. We get to the crest of the crater. I look down and see the peaks of the crystals. I point without saying anything, afraid to draw attention to us. Liam nods. Samson and Liam climb down in the crater and start digging them out. I look around, this is too easy. Where are the grulers? Do they even exist? Maybe it was all a lie, like a scary story parents tell their children. Liam pulls a crystal out of the ground. That's when I hear the movement coming from all around us. Liam hands me the crystal he dug up. I hold the pinkish purple crystal, it's just as smooth as in my vision. I keep scanning the area, waiting for the creatures to appear, but nothing yet. Samson was almost done digging out another when the first creature shows itself. It was on the far end of the crater. But it didn't attack, it just stayed on the edge pacing back and forth. Then two more appear, then three more. They just keep coming. There are more than I ever expected.
  "Liam, they are here." I say in mind link. Liam stops digging and looks around.
  "What are they doing?" He asks.
  "They're just watching us. I'm not sure. But let's hurry up, and get out of here before they do anything else." I say in mind link. Liam goes back to digging and Samson pulls out a crystal. I look up at the creatures, they've stopped pacing, now they're making their way towards Liam and Samson! Not even a second later, one creature lunges for the crater and I cast a spell blasting it out of the air. It's like the creatures all at once shift their attention to me. Uh oh.
  "Guys. We need to go!" I shout. A creature lunges towards me and attempts to scratch me, but my skin is untouched. I run from the crater trying to draw the creatures away from Liam and Samson, they need to finish getting them crystals, and I think I can hold my own against them, for now at least.
  The creatures all at once cry out to one another. What are they doing? Are they communicating with each other? The crowd of grulers following me splits. Half of them run back towards the crater.
  "Liam!" I yell. The creatures swarm the crater, surrounding Liam and Samson.  I mange to blast a few of them out of the way. I see Samson climb out of the crater but Liam is no where to be found. More creatures just keep coming and coming out of the fog. There are more than I know what to do with.
  "Liam! Just leave it!" Samson shouts.
  Liam must be trying to dislodge another crystal. I blast a few more creatures out of my way. Samson is hitting them and punching them off of him. They can't hurt us but they keep trying. I'm afraid they might smother us or block us from getting out of here before Marcus' spell wears off.
  Finally I see Liam climbing out. Samson helps Liam up and they start running towards me. The creatures are running after them. Samson grabs Liam, I blink and suddenly they're right in front of me.
  "Let's go!" Samson shouts. I know he can't run with us both. So we have to hurry. He wouldn't leave one of us behind.
  We begin running back to Marcus. The creatures are snarling, snapping, and clawing all around us. I'm blasting a path in front of us. Liam and Samson are knocking the grulers back that try to attack from the sides.
  Suddenly one of the creatures jumps up and manages to tackle Samson to the ground.
  "Samson!" I shout. I cast a spell and blast the creature off of him. While I'm distracted another creature comes at me from behind and takes me down to the ground. The beast snaps and snarls in my face. I shoot a ball of light straight into its mouth. It's blasted back. Suddenly Samson is by my side helping me up.
  "Come on." He says. We try to make our way towards the tree line, but I realize I don't see Liam.
  "LIAM?!" I shout. I scan the area for any sign of him, the fog is too thick I can only see the creatures. I let out a cry of desperation, causing the ground to shake. I cast a spell shooting another ball of light into the thick of the beasts. They scatter from the light into the darkness of the fog. I see Liam on the ground trying to get up.
  "There." I point. Samson dashes in to get Liam out. Liam looks a little disoriented, but he's alive thank goddess. Samson goes to pick him up and dash back toward me, but before he can a beast takes Samson from behind and they go tumbling. Liam gets up. The beast takes a bite out of Samson's shoulder.
  "Samson!" He must have dropped his pouch.
  "No!" I shoot another ball of light, but as soon as one creature is gone, another appears taking another piece of Samson. All the creatures turn their attention towards Samson. Liam reaches me. I continue to shoot one ball of light after another, but it's doing no use. The grulers are relentless.
  "Emily, we have to go!" Liam shouts. Tears are building up in my eyes. Suddenly I feel myself losing control, I feel darkness taking me over.
  "EMILY!" Liam shouts and shakes me. I focus on him, the darkness melts away. He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me away into the forest. Tears are rolling down my cheeks as we make our way back towards Marcus.
  The fog is getting thinner and thinner the creatures are running after us again, but as soon as the fog ends the creatures stop. They snap at us a few times before turning away and running back into the thick cloud.
  "Marcus!" I shout.
  "E, are you ok?" He asks after hearing the crack in my voice. I come up to him and hug him and cry in his shoulder.
  "Where's Samson?" Marcus asks Liam. There is silence as I cry. After a moment I get myself together and pull back. I notice blood on Marcus' shirt.
  "Are you hurt?" I ask him. He looks down.
  "Emily?" He says and I look down at myself and see a claw mark on my side. I stumble back into Liam. And blackness takes me.