The Bonds of Fate

The Ebon Wolves

"Crap," Magna fretted as the fog closed in around him and Asta. He ran a hand through his hair, igniting his free hand in the process, the flames in his hand cast a reflective glow along the misty walls.

"Luna, Zora!" Asta called.

Asta attempted to take a step forward into the fog, heading towards his friends, before Magna pulled him back, shaking his head, "Don't. We don't know what sort of fog this is, we need to stay as close to each other as we can."

"Right," said Asta, pulling from his black, five-leaf grimoire the first sword it had ever bestowed upon him, the Demon-Slayer Sword. "This should be just like Sosshi village," he murmured.

"Just like Sosshi village," repeated Magna.

Lifting his sword Asta swung at the fog, carving a small path ahead of them; to their disappointment, this fog was more resilient than the mist they had encountered in Sosshi. Still, the two men walked on, their voices echoing as they called out for their friends. An eerie quiet surrounded the mist, only the sounds of their hushed breathing and their soft footsteps along the mossy forest floor could be heard.

Magna sighed. "This isn't good, we don't know where we are going, for all we know we could be walking in circles. I can't feel their magic at all in this, they may be suppressing their magic but I am not sure if they would do that while we are still separated."

Asta looked sideways at Magna, "Could this fog be keeping you from sensing them? We should have at least been able to hear them once the fog closed in around us, they weren't that far away."

"Yeah," said Magna absentmindedly, he was staring straight ahead of him, lost in thought.

Before long, the pair found themselves at the edge of a rocky spring, they hadn't heard the gentle trickling of water along its rocky shores until it unfolded before them. Trees flanked both sides of the bank, across from them they could see the bank rose a few feet from the stream before it turned into a small hill that vanished into the fog.

Magna walked over to a boulder and settled onto it. He rummaged through his pack and pulled out an empty canteen of water, opening the bottle and he down to fill it with spring water.

"Maybe we could follow this, I think I remember seeing a spring or creek near Kilwell. Luna said going through this forest was the quickest way there, so maybe if we follow the spring we could find our way out - even find Zora and Luna along the way," said Magna thoughtfully.

"Oh, I think you will find that to be quite impossible," taunted a voice.

Asta whirled around to find a tall young man standing upstream from the creek. His blond hair was slicked back from his face and tied into a tight and low ponytail. Despite the absence of a magic knight's robe, he was unmistakably one of the men who led Blane and Damion away the night before.

"Bastard," growled Magna, standing from the rock, "What the hell do you want?" A baseball bat of flame materializing in his hand.