Taken by the fog

Spirit world

"Stay quiet and put until I come and get you. I managed to convince them to let you stay with me. We'll figure it out together." He whispered so quietly, I barely got it. One last look at my friends and I felt myself being dragged away to this crazy new world.

We all landed on a square. All the taken people were in a row, on our knees and facing a statue. Looking at the statue, I felt some kind of recognition. However, I don't know how or who it reminded me off. Strangely enough, the "fog town" looked like a regular town, apart from the ominous fog on the ground.
"Welcome, new inhabitants." A voice mocked. He walked up to the stage, it was the guy who I saw at the fields after the calling I got marked.

"My name is Orson and you will all be under my command. You will get tasks assigned and you will be tested on your specific quality. You will all report to me and not to anyone else. You are all assigned a buddy, he or she will keep an eye on you and help you during the daily routines. This is not a punishment, this is a gift to you. We took you away from a poisonous world and brought you to ours. You will be grateful or pay a price. Now join us in a feast while we punish an ungrateful. Before I forgot, the so called chosen one will be punished upon arrival. You interrupted our duties by catching a second chain, therefore hindering us."

I closed my eyes and took a breath before looking over to the rest of the group. No one was standing up as everyone entered a huge hall. I got up on both feet and waited for the rest to follow. There were three of us, the librarian, Elio (the man who everyone knew but not really) and me.
"I don't think it will be just detention." The librarian tried to lighten the mood. I looked over my shoulder and noticed the people behind us, they were watching us like guards or something.
"I don't think so either, guess we're about to find out." I replied lightly.

We entered the great hall and it looked like a museum. It was gorgeous but somehow it felt off. It looked like this huge church with beautiful sculptures on the sides. Long tables were placed along the walls. There were 3 in total. Two on the side and one in front. In the middle was a dance floor like a ball room, decorated by a pillory. Did I step into the Medieval or something?

Everyone at the table were staring at us.
"You may take place at the table in front." Orson commanded. As he spoke, 4 guards placed a table and chairs to extend the front table.
"First of welcome." A voice came from behind us. The three of us jumped as the man walked forward. "My name is Vaughn. I'm your boss' boss. No need to be afraid of me, I won't hurt you. Unless you give me a reason to do so. We all work together here so you will have to fit in. As you've been told, we will assign you a buddy. So here they are."
On cue, the door in the back opened and four people walked in. To my surprise I saw Jess first, followed by two people I don't recognize and Sam closed the line. I held my breath as the four people stood in front of us.
"Due to a trick of one of you." Orson glared at me. "One of you will now be useless. Jess, you can leave. Sam, you get first pick. Choose wisely." Sam nodded quickly and immediately walked towards me.
"I said choose wisely, not choose a challenge." Orson commented.
"I love a challenge." Sam replied with a smirk. He grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it lightly to comfort me. Then he gave me a light shove and we sat down at the table. Soon after the others had been assigned a buddy as well.

"Now that you are all assigned a buddy, we can continue. Bring him out." Orson ordered. A couple of guards saluted and walked towards the door. They dragged out someone with a black cap over his head and his arms bound in front of him. He was dragged to the pillory and restrained.
"Whatever they do, don't talk back at them." Sam whispered. I nodded in reply and awaited the punishing.
"Your punishment is 10 lashes, on bareback." Orson gave me a glance to tell me I am next. The man yelled every time the whip hit his back and I looked to my left when I heard someone vomiting, the librarian.

After the punishment was completed, the man was taken away to be treated for the wounds. At least they were kind enough to do that I guess. Shortly after, Orson turned and pointed to me. The same guards walked up to me and guided me towards the pillory. I laid my hands and head in the pillory and waited. Orson scoffed as he locked the wooden construction. I looked to the side and locked eyes with Vaughn to see how he would react to this. He seemed to choke on his drink and stood up so fast, his chair landed on the floor with a hard thud. The entire room looked up to him.
"Let her out!" He ordered. Orson opened his mouth to go up against Vaughn. "Now, little brother. You still answer to me, don't forget!" Orson cursed under his breath but unlocked the lock without arguing. When I stood up, I saw that Vaughn had walked up towards us.
"You're coming with me." He whispered as he dragged me along. "You too, Sam."

Vaughn took us to some sort of office in the back of the room.
"Lilith, get out! Join the festivities." Vaughn said rudely.
"No, not until you explain why you stopped her punishment but let Elian be punished for something he didn't do." The girl named Lilith squeezed her fists so hard, her knuckles turned white.
"Lilith, I did not start the punishment of Elian. Go bother Orson about it, that was his idea. I tried to talk him out of it. As for why I stopped her punishment, that's my business. I will tell you when I see fit."
"Vaughn, I thought you were the boss." Lilith challenged him.
"Listen careful baby sister. We both know Orson, once he gets the idea of punishing someone, he will. He wanted to do fifty lashes, so I took forty. I helped Elian and you out. " He lifted his shirt to show the fresh marks of the whip. "You can stop whining and go." Lilith looked at her brother with a newfound appreciation and quickly exited the room.

"Please have a seat." He gestured to the two seats in front of the desk. Before sitting himself down on the edge of the desk, he grabbed three bottles of water and handed them to us.
"Why did you do it?" I asked. Sam kicked to make me shut up.
"It's fine Sam. Both of you deserve an explanation. First of all, Orson is my younger brother and Lilith is the youngest. We coordinate the fog, with me as the leader. The fog has a special purpose and there is someone in the town who talks to us about everything. This is a town which is not visible to the normal eye so we are in sight but they can't see us." He paused for a minute to drink something. The words repeated in my mind, we are hiding in plain sight. "I stopped your punishment because you're unusual. When you looked at me, there was a silver blaze in your eyes. This might not mean anything to any of you but it does to me and my siblings."
"From the legend." I muttered. Both heads shot to mine.
"How do you know about the legend?" Vaughn asked. "Most people here don't even know about it. Just me, my siblings and the people who've been here for years."
"My friends and I researched the fog for the last 3 days. So I would come here prepared. We know it's not common to walk around with a mark and we kinda now about the legend."
Vaughn started to pace up-and-down for minutes before replying.
"Everything what I'm about to tell you, will stay in this room. Nothing will go out. It wouldn't just harm me, but the both of you as well." 

***