Nevin stayed behind in the house while the others went into the fog. They weren't hunting fades this time, only absorbing fragments. Thomas could do it while sitting on a sofa, but Bryan and Iris had to transform first. For them, stepping into the fog was the only way.
Left with nothing to do, Nevin busied himself. He swept floors, wiped down furniture, and when that wasn't enough, he wandered outside to tend the small yard. The place came with a front lawn and even a parking spot, more than he expected in a city like this.
By the time he realized it, most of the chores were done. His hands moved on their own while his mind stayed elsewhere. Is this really the life I want? Am I just the one who watches the car and cleans the house? When did I become such a coward? If I disappeared, would anyone even care? I'm with them now, but what if one day they decide I'm just dead weight?
The thought gnawed at him. And when he saw the others return later, exhausted but smiling from their time in the fog, his decision hardened.
He walked over to Thomas, sitting down beside him, searching for the right words.
"Thomas, can you help me too? I want to try transforming in the fog."
The room fell silent. All three of them turned toward him.
"Are you sure?" Thomas's voice carried weight. This wasn't something to say lightly. Entering the fog meant putting your life on the line.
Bryan opened his mouth to object, then stopped. He had done the same thing once. Who was he to talk someone else out of it?
"Yes. I've decided," Nevin said firmly.
Thomas studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. You'll come with us tomorrow. We'll do it in the morning."
The next morning, the four of them entered the fog. As always, Thomas transformed the instant the mist touched his skin, his Glint form towering over the others. Bryan and Iris needed time, waiting nearly an hour before their own transformations kicked in.
Nevin stood in the middle, trying to feel something or anything, but nothing happened. All he could notice was his heartbeat, pounding harder with every minute inside the fog.
They repeated this routine for two more days. On the third, Nevin's body finally reacted, but not in the way anyone expected.
Pain shot through him, sharp and overwhelming. He clutched his arms, trembling as his skin began to darken. It started at his hands and feet, creeping upward, slowly covering his whole body.
White paint-like markings spread across his face. Dark smudges surrounded his eyes, like smeared makeup after crying. Red coloring spread across his mouth like smeared lipstick, stretching almost to his ears. At first, he looked like a clown, but the change went further. His eyes glowed crimson. Two red horns curved from his head like a tamaraw's, each tip capped with a small bell. His teeth sharpened into jagged razors.
"He he he he…" Nevin laughed, low and twisted.
"Nevin, are you okay?" Bryan asked, already moving in close with Thomas and Iris.
"He he he he…" Nevin didn't answer. He lunged.
His claws slashed at Bryan's celestial tiger form. Bryan flinched back, wings beating as he darted upward to avoid the strike. Nevin didn't hesitate. He spun and charged straight for Iris.
"He he he he…" His laugh grew louder, echoing in the fog.
"Nevin, fight it! Don't give in!" Bryan roared. His Glint form gave his voice a booming, regal tone. He remembered this struggle. The fog forced you to face every failure, every moment of weakness. Give up, and you became a fade.
Black skin spread across Nevin's body, creeping like tar. It pulled back at times, showing he was still fighting, but the struggle was slipping fast.
"Come on!" Bryan shouted again, but Nevin didn't slow. His eyes locked on Iris, his claws raised to strike. She braced herself, uncertain if she could hold back.
Just before the blow landed, Thomas appeared at Nevin's side. His massive hand slammed into Nevin's back, launching him past Iris. Nevin smashed through a car and crashed into a restaurant, debris scattering around him.
Thomas had held back, but even a light strike from someone of his strength was devastating. For a body still caught between human and Glint, it was more than enough to knock Nevin down.
The three waited outside the restaurant. The street was lined with buildings and shops, but it was empty. No one else was around, only the fog curling between the walls.
Inside, Nevin lay sprawled across the floor. His body had skidded across the tiles, breaking a few before coming to a stop against a shattered table. The black spreading on his skin was still shifting, creeping forward then pulling back as if locked in a struggle.
In Nevin's mind it was different. He stood in a dark room, unsure how to fight the fading. He knew he needed resolve, but he had no idea how to find it. Then, after the impact from Thomas's strike, a thin crack of light opened ahead. Voices came through, Bryan, Iris, and Thomas calling his name.
He ran toward the light, but something clamped around his legs. A black sticky liquid dragged at his feet, pulling him down. The crack is narrowing, the light is dimming, and the voices are fading.
"No! No! No!" Nevin shouted, forcing his legs forward. The sticky mass stretched and snapped in places, but it clung to him harder. It wasn't just his feet anymore, thick strands coiled up his legs, wrapping around his waist and arms, trying to drag his whole body down. He pushed harder, fighting for each step. He was almost there, one step away, when the crack closed and darkness swallowed the room again.
Outside, the three waited anxiously. The silence pressed against them until the sound of falling tiles broke it. Something moved inside, but then it went quiet again.
The restaurant door creaked open.
The three stared in shock. The figure stepping out wasn't the clown-like form they had seen earlier. It looked completely different. For a moment, they even wondered if it was a new fade, but the aura told them otherwise. Fades carried a sinister presence that crawled over your skin, something Glints never had. Whatever this was, it didn't carry that aura.
"Guys, it's me," the creature said.
"Nevin?" Thomas and Bryan spoke at the same time.
"What happened to you? How did you turn into… a ball of light?" Bryan asked, squinting.
What they saw was nothing like the clown-like form from before. Instead, it looked like something out of a science fair project, a glowing sphere with energy swirling inside.
"Yes, it's me," Nevin said, his voice full of relief. "I became a wisp!"
He hovered in front of them, a glowing orb of blue light about the size of a truck wheel, maybe fifteen to seventeen inches across.
None of them could explain how this happened, but they weren't about to complain. Nevin had kept his sanity, and after what they had just witnessed, that was all that mattered.
"We need to get moving. We only have a few hours to find his grey fragment," Thomas said, cutting short the brief moment of relief.
They couldn't stay in Glint form inside the fog forever. Every few hours they were forced back to human. No one knew exactly what would happen if they pushed it too long, but the risk was clear enough. Without a grey fragment, Nevin might still end up as a fade, right after finally gaining his Glint form.
The group moved carefully, hunting fades through the fog. They found three strays in quick succession. With four of them present, even if Nevin was only observing, they had no trouble handling loners. But the fragments dropped were only pink.
They were deep in the ruined streets of Hope City, the parts left outside the safe zone. Empty blocks stretched in every direction, lined with buildings swallowed by fog. Stray fades were common here, easy enough to spot and deal with.
Then their luck shifted.
As they entered a wide alley, a group of fades passed by the far end and spotted them.
"Oops. Wrong turn…" Thomas muttered, forcing a grin as he signaled the others to move back.
But the way behind them closed just as fast. Another group blocked the other end.
Fades appeared on the roofs and leaned out from broken windows. It was an ambush. They were surrounded with no way out.
Bryan scanned the shapes closing in. Their features were similar, scaled skin gleaming under the dim light. "Those are Lizardfolk," he said grimly.
The creatures stepped closer, towering six to seven feet tall, bodies packed with muscle. Their scaled hides worked like natural armor, tails swaying behind them. Flat snouts, wide eyes, claws, and crude weapons gave them the look of humanoid geckos or monitor lizards.
Bryan's voice dropped. "Guys, I think we've run into a pack."