The chaos died down suddenly, leaving only Leon's ragged breathing competing with the thunder of his own heartbeat. He swept his gaze around him—thick red fog so dense he couldn't see beyond arm's length. No trace of Eva, Ken, or Barton anywhere.
"Eva! Ken!" he shouted, but his voice came out hoarse and cracked, swallowed by the oppressive silence that pressed in around him. The fear of silence began creeping back into his mind once again.
Then... he saw her.
The familiar silhouette of a woman standing within the fog, which seemed to thin slightly in that one spot. Long, flowing hair that he remembered perfectly...
"Mom?" Leon whispered, not believing his own eyes. How long had it been since he'd called out that word?
The shadow slowly turned. Her face remained blurred, but that faint smile at the corner of her mouth... yes, it was definitely his mother's smile.
"Leon... my boy..." The voice drifted soft but familiar through the fog.
Leon's heart lurched. Confusion, joy, and disbelief battled chaotically in his head. He tried to push those feelings down. How could this be possible? It had to be a hallucination. Old Barton had warned them...
But his legs stepped forward anyway, as if pulled by some irresistible force.
"Mom... is it really you?" he asked, voice trembling. The fog around him seemed to thin further, revealing the ruins of the small house where he'd lived as a child, before everything fell apart... before they left him behind...
His mother's figure remained standing in the same spot, that smile still gracing her face. Though blurred, it was strangely warm amidst the cold of the fog.
"Come, son... come inside the house. It's cold out here," her voice rang out again, so gentle it nearly melted the wall of ice in Leon's heart.
Hesitation was clear in his eyes. Part of his brain screamed that this was a trap, an illusion created by the fog to lure him in. But the deepest part of his heart... the part that yearned for the love and warmth that had been missing for so long... it desperately wanted to believe.
He saw the door of the house that had once been rotted and broken, now looking new again, as if time had never touched this place. Soft orange light spilled from the windows, inviting him to take shelter from the cruel world outside.
"What about Dad... where is he?" Leon asked, his voice hoarse. Memories of his father began surfacing—images both clear and blurred at the same time.
"He's waiting inside too, dear," Mother replied, her smile widening slightly. "Hurry in, Leon. We've missed you so much."
The word "missed" was like a key unlocking the most vulnerable part of him. Leon swallowed hard, stepping closer and closer to the house's door. His heart pounded so hard it felt ready to burst from his chest. The small hope he'd tried to suppress his entire life began to bloom again.
Maybe... maybe this wasn't a hallucination after all... maybe they really had come back...
He reached out his trembling hand toward the door handle, but before his fingertips could touch it...
The scene before him began to distort.
His mother's warm smile started looking rigid and wooden. Her once-gentle eyes became empty and vacant. The soft orange light from inside the house began to flicker and dim, turning into an ominous red glow.
"Mom...?" Leon froze, feeling cold dread racing down his spine.
"Come in, son..." his mother's voice remained gentle, but something was terribly wrong with it now. "It's so... 'warm' inside."
Suddenly, the door opened by itself, slowly revealing pitch-black darkness within. No light, no sound emerged from inside. Only a musty smell and the faint metallic scent of blood that hit Leon's nostrils.
His mother's figure began to fade, dissolving into the darkness of the house, leaving only a shrill, childlike giggle echoing in his head before everything went silent... frighteningly silent.
The fear of silence he'd tried to suppress came flooding back. Leon gasped for air, cold sweat beading along his hairline. He stumbled backward, confused and terrified.
No... this isn't real! he cursed inwardly, trying to call his sanity back.
It's an illusion... just an illusion created to mess with our heads... he told himself repeatedly, trying to cling to the harsh reality before him.
He gripped his spiked club tighter, sharp eyes scanning warily through the fog that remained thick around him. The silence that once filled him with dread had now become a silence pregnant with invisible threats.
Meanwhile...
Ken coughed harshly, the acrid red smoke burning his nose and throat. He was feeling his way along an old brick wall barely visible through the fog, trying to call out for Leon and Eva several times, but the only response was his own echo sounding distant and eerie.
Fuck! We're completely separated! he thought angrily, gripping his short sword firmly.
Suddenly, he bumped into something soft. Ken instinctively jumped back, preparing to strike, but then froze when he saw it was one of the younger patrol team members curled up on the ground. Eyes wide open, staring blankly at the foggy ceiling. Body ice cold... dead.
Before Ken could do anything, a tall shadow appeared in front of him with terrifying speed. Human-shaped but grotesquely distorted, with sharp thorns sprouting from its arms and legs. A pair of blood-red eyes stared at him with bloodlust.
"You...!" Ken managed to exclaim before the "thing" lunged!
At the same time...
Barton was coughing heavily as well. This fog was far more vicious than he'd estimated. It didn't just obscure vision—it affected breathing and mental state too. He was trying to gather the team members he could still contact, but it was proving extremely difficult.
"Stay alert, everyone! Don't separate!" he shouted orders, but wasn't sure if anyone could hear him.
He could sense "something" moving in the fog. It wasn't just ordinary Vineborn they'd encountered before. His old hunter's instincts were screaming warnings.
Suddenly, the scene before him began to waver. The walls of Riverbend that he knew so well appeared before him... but as they were decades ago, when he was still young and standing watching flames engulf a certain house... along with a woman's screams he'd tried to forget...
"No... not now..." Barton gritted his teeth, trying to fight the hallucinations attacking his weakened mind.
Meanwhile, Eva was running aimlessly. She was sure she'd heard Leon calling her name faintly from this direction, but when she ran toward it, she found only the emptiness of seemingly endless fog.
"Leon! Where are you!?" she shouted again, her voice beginning to shake with fear and exhaustion.
She stumbled over an unseen root and nearly fell, managing to catch herself just in time. Eva wiped the sweat from her forehead, heart pounding like it might burst.
Got to find Leon... got to find everyone... she tried to encourage herself.
Then she heard it... heavy footsteps coming from behind. Definitely not human footsteps.
Eva spun around quickly, short knife raised defensively. Her eyes widened when she saw what slowly emerged from the thick fog.
A tall, massive figure that looked human but wasn't. Skin rough and coarse like tree bark, with sharp thorns growing from its torso, arms, and legs. A pair of blood-red eyes stared at her with cold, emotionless intensity. It stood motionless there, just a few steps away, but the oppressive aura emanating from it was so heavy that Eva could barely breathe.
Is this the "Guardian" Barton mentioned? But it's nothing like a guardian at all. It's more like a demon escaped from nightmares.
Eva swallowed hard, trying to suppress the panic surging in her chest. "Who... who are you!?" she shouted, though her voice shook uncontrollably.
The Vineborn tilted its head slightly, as if considering the small creature that dared make noise before it. Then a harsh, grating voice like bark scraping against bark rose up, slow and clear but filled with malice:
"Foolish prey... from Riverbend... walking right into my hands for another taste, hmm?"
Those words froze Eva's blood. Instinct screamed at her to run, but both her legs felt leaden, as if pinned in place.
It grinned, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. "Your bodies... excellent raw material... almost enough now for my true liberation."
Before Eva could react, the Vinebone moved!
It lunged at her with unbelievable speed, the thorns on its arm slicing through the air with a terrifying whistle.
Eva raised her knife defensively on pure instinct!
*CLANG!*
Her short blade clashed hard against its thorn-covered arm, but the impact was far more than she could handle. The knife flew from her grip, disappearing into the fog.
Pain shot through her arm before all feeling disappeared...
Then she saw her own arm... floating in midair... before it fell to the ground...
Eva's scream pierced the air before being quickly swallowed by the cold laughter of the Vinebone looking down at its handiwork with satisfaction.
"Yes... your blood... so beautifully sweet..."