Shadow Walker: The Realm of Mists

Chapter Two. A Rebirth.

-Kayley-

I felt everything I had come to know cease to exist almost instantaneously. The air dropped in temperature and thickened, making it difficult not to notice my own breath as it was caught in the cold breeze. It was almost like I was in a completely different world, although I knew that if I turned back and walked only a few paces that I'd have returned to my life. I knew that turning around would make me a coward, and give me no opportunity to show that I can survive even a situation when death is as good as imminent.

"ShadowWalker," the word danced through the air before resting on my ears ever-so-lightly. I could not determine where the voice was coming from, or whether it was purely just my imagination that I had heard it at all. I stood still, tightly clutching the hilt of my sword as a chill raced down my spine, "Two miles Northeast... follow the descending light," this time I was certain that I had-indeed- heard it.

"Why," I coughed as I inhaled a breath of the toxic air and it burned it's way down my throat, "why should I trust you?" I pushed this out of my mouth as quickly as possible, knowing that the more air I took in the quicker I would die.

"You don't have to trust me, but this is your only chance for survival. Get here quickly, and take as few breaths as possible. You have 2 hours before the toxins in the Mist start to deteriorate your brain and eat you from the inside out. When the light has passed beyond the extent of the horizon, your time has gone," the voice told me this and I gulped. I could run two miles in under 10 minutes on account of my training... but the Mist made it both hard to see and deadly to breathe.

Then I began on my way. I had to cover a terrain I was vastly unfamiliar with and try not to do the one thing I knew how to when I was born. Breathing was second-nature to me, my body needs it to survive, and now I have no choice but to suppress the urge to do so. Not to mention the fact that I could hardly see but three feet ahead of myself.

I spotted the descending light ahead; shining brightly like a beacon through the haze, and I pressed forward with a renewed determination. I need to do this. I have to do this. If I do not survive the hopes for my kingdom expanding into greatness die with me. So I trudged forward, my brain already groaning in protest at the air I was feeding it.

-an immeasurable amount of time later-

I couldn't quite tell you how long I had been travelling. Time within the Mists seemed to pass far differently than I was used to, besides the fact that my head did not want to cooperate with me. What I could tell was that the light had descended to a few millimeters above the horizon and had not gotten any bit brighter or closer than when I had started. My time was quickly running out and I had no way of knowing if I had moved from my starting point at all.

I was getting very, incredibly dizzy and the toxin made it hard for me to see straight. I needed fresh air... and fast. So I resorted to feeling in front of me with my hands and shuffling forward languidly on my feet. I blinked a few times although I was well aware that it would do me no good. I looked back up at the light, sucking in a small breath as I saw it creep a few inches below the horizon. I had a maybe a mere few minutes left and no signs of any civilization had made itself known.

I could feel my body begin to jolt as the poison sunk into my flesh, soaking my very core. I fell to my knees but refused to give up. I had to persevere for as long as I still could for I'd otherwise always remember myself as a failure. I was crawling through Mist, aware of the dirt beneath my fingertips. I kept my head held high, looking forward through eyes nearly blind. The light peaked at me with a small strip just barely above the line of the Earth, the only thing I could physically pinpoint in my sight.

This could not be the end. I was never meant to die, although the Fates could not have predicted the cruelty of even my siblings. The light was almost gone now, and the Earth beneath my fingers felt the same as it did before; as if I had not even moved an inch.