Beyond The Fog (An Original Shortwrite)

Beyond The Fog

This was written for a writing contest with a prompt located here
http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=2956042&start=480#p106228052

Two humans cloaked in red stood on the mountainside that faced The Sea of Fog. The biting wind ripped across them but they ignored it as they stood there silently. There were rumors, whispers of a being that lived there. A being with eyes sharp as glass and pure as snow. A creature that no mortal could ever comprehend. It was said that those that lay their eyes upon Her were never sane again. That they were driven mad by the purity of Her. If it was true, how did the rumor spread? Was it an idea implanted by whoever She was, or was it a lie told to scare travelers away from something more? The two cloaked men stood there because they believed this. They stood on the edge of the mountain because wished to see the truth of this legend. They were willing to risk their sanity for the single glimpse of whatever truth rested there. To see the creature that was said to be beyond their understanding. They wished for the truth. They wished for a singular glimpse at the truth. A price that was well worth paying for knowledge.

So far, they had seen nothing. Just fog. Fog and the occasional glimpse of the rolling landscape beneath them.

“Vae?” Desino questioned after they had been there for a day, after the sun had since fallen and risen again. Vae never sat, never looked away. Desino had slept his night through and Vae had never moved from where he stood, never considered the necessity of sleep.

It was a moment before the second responded, his gaze never leaving the fog, still he did not stop searching, for he had to see, he had to know. “We are searching, Desino. Why are you speaking?”

“You are searching.” Desino corrected. “Have you considered that perhaps you are being naïve, Vae. Surely you must be seeing what is happening here.” Desino pressed and still Vae refused to look toward him.

“What I am seeing is the necessity of patience and faith, Desino. Something you appear to be lacking. It has only been a night.”

“A night in which you did not sleep, a day where you did not eat. Surely you are hungry, thirsty even.”

Vae disregarded the patronizing tone in his traveling companion’s voice. “I am all of those things and more, Desino. The difference is simply that I am choosing not to acknowledge them. I had plenty of time before our arrival to take care of those things.”

“Do you truly believe standing there will change things? We came, we saw, have you not figured this out yet? It has been a trick. A trick to guide naïve intelligent men such as ourselves to the edge of nothing.”

“If you believe this is all for nothing then you should have never come. You knew as well as I that this trip may have been all for nothing more than a trick.”

“I never said I would leave, Vae. I was simply making a suggestion. You are being blind. Both of us came to see, we agreed to it and traveled for many nights and days. What you are doing is ignorant. You are an intelligent man, a man I have looked up to for years. This is you behaving foolishly. Starving yourself will not make Her arrive sooner or later. It will simply make your time in waiting a suffering time. Simply think of this for a moment, Vae.”

Vae did think on those words. Vae was far from a fool and he was able to understand where his companion was coming from. It was a logical way to see the situation at hand and it was unfortunate. Unfortunate because he was being blind. Ignorant in his own way.

Desino watched his companion as, for the first time, his gaze left The Sea of Fog. Vae’s gaze met his own and he nodded one singular time before turning and making his way away from Desino and down the path.

Then Desino was alone and he was staring out across The Sea of Fog. It was strange, for the first time since their trip began for him to be alone. He searched the fog, the small cracks that broke through and showed the landscape beneath. She had to be there. There had to be something more. This trip could not be for nothing.

“If You exist, please show yourself to us. Do not make this trip for nothing. We know the risk. We have known that since we left home. Please show Yourself.” Desino’s words were soft, his gaze wandering through and searching for anything.

Maybe he saw something? A flicker of movement in the far distance. Or perhaps that was simply his mind placing something there that he so desperately wished for. Only time would tell the truth. It was a few minutes later that Vae returned, standing in the same place he had before. Desino quietly pulled the water skin from its place on the ground at his feet before passing it to Vae.

“One of us will need to get more.” Vae acknowledged as he took a sip from it.

“If we are careful we will not need to for two days.” Was Desino’s response, distant. Vae looked at his companion completely and found that Desino had lifted his staff from the ground and was leaning forward, using the staff to hold himself up. Vae observed the other man closely, trying to piece together the slightly distant expression on the other man’s face. What was he seeing? A startled sound escaped Desino and just as Vae opened his mouth to ask what it was he saw something. A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye coming from the fog. Vae turned his attention to the fog and saw.

Saw something so terrifyingly beautiful that in the end he would never be able to describe it with words.

Vae and Desino would never be able to describe the terrible beauty of the mighty beast that emerged from the fog. As She spoke words to them that no man would ever hear. As She blessed them with everything they had ever wanted. The legend was true, and the cost was great. No one ever saw Desino again and Vae never spoke another word. When Vae returned home, his knowledge consumed him. Slowly he drifted from his life, drifted from the material plane. Drifted until the day his mother came to find him staring lifelessly at the ceiling of their hut. His heart never stopped, his breathing never stopped, even then. He was gone to them. Though he never left. Vae was with Desino and many more who had made the journey. Vae watched his family and life move on from the immaterial place. Watched and smiled because he knew the truth. Knew everything. Those that knew became part of Her. In the end, they had received what they wanted. They had risked it all and in their minds it had been worth it in the end. They had gotten what they wished for.