A lone mountain cried; what seemed like thunder echoed above its peak.
The fog-ridden lands trembled, and the shaking skies were flooded with a blue-grey hue; the should-be horizon bled the two into one, creating an endless, all-encompassing, inescapable landscape of blue-grey fog.
Nothing existed beyond the mountain, but a terrifying pressure existed within the fog.
...
On the mountain's peak, within a Human Settlement...
White sheets spread across the ground of a courtyard.
Therein lie dozens of injured people, rapidly staining the ground red.
"Young Master... Young Master, just what are we to do?"
"Oh Lord Immortal, please return to us safely!"
"Let this end. Let this end...!"
Pleas called to the air, desperation outstretched to half of the thunder above, receiving their fervour.
The other half of the thunder received their fear.
Ushering into the air their cries for guidance and salvation, the people relentlessly chanted, prayed, begged.
"Let me fight! Let me return to fight those beasts, Sun!"
"Hold... On...!"
A blonde teen stumbled to the ground, dragging down an injured, burly man with him.
His short blonde hair was dull, a portion tied back, and a green headpiece wrapped around his forehead.
"You're injured, you can't just leave!"
"Then what of my kin down below, those who still fight? What am I doing here, letting my life wither on the ground!"
'When it can be lost out there...?!'
Those unspoken words were Sun's thoughts.
He saw through the injured man's intentions; rather, he understood the man's sentiments.
"Argh!" A hoarse grunt left the injured man's mouth.
Sun had struck the back of his neck, rendering the man's body limp and sunken.
Carrying the man to a nearby, vacant sheet of white, Sun laid the body while looking at his surroundings.
'The people are in a frenzy... injured people keep coming into the courtyard, and the fog continues to rise on the mountain...
'If it wasn't for Lord Immortal...'
Casting his gaze upwards, towards the sky where the pleas and cries of many were ushered to, he couldn't help but sigh.
He, too, felt great fear during this ordeal.
The resounding thunder tearing through the air was a constant reminder of the horror surrounding them.
Even if they were to avert their gaze and cover their ears—blocking all external stimuli—they would not rid the unease in their minds.
"Just what do we do now, Li Zi?"
Letting his own quiet plea slip from his mouth, Sun turned to face the injured man.
He raised his hands and emanated a gentle green glow, shining onto the man's chest.
...
On the lower regions of this Settlement, the capable people—Guards and Warriors—all stood their ground.
Therein lies a woman dressed in yellow-gold robes, ill-fitting for battle; however, she was not unlike the few fighting.
To say that most of these people were pulled from their idle time when the first hints of fog arose would not be wrong.
"Do not relent! Prevent the fog from reaching the courtyard!"
For each thrust and slash she unleashed into the fog, there was a following whine or howl.
A blue-grey beast, similar to a wolf, pounced from the fog and onto a nearby Warrior.
With a fierce cry, the man slew the wolf, but not without bearing an injury.
His feet stumbled beneath him, and he barely caught himself before another pounced onto him.
"Fall back and let someone else take your place!"
Intervening at the last moment, the woman slams her spear down onto the beast.
Its pale blade cut deep and slammed the beast into the ground; its blue-grey form boiled due to the heat emanating from the spear's blade, and it dispersed into a plume of mist.
Together with the Warriors and Guards by her side, they faced a myriad of howls that resounded from the fog.
'...My men can barely hold up, and my kin lie injured above... If we continue like this, we will be overwhelmed...!'
With that thought, the woman spared her attention for the sky above.
There, where the thunder and shaking were most intense, she pleaded in her mind,
"Please, come back safe."
...
'Li Zi, just what do we do now?'
Sun questioned internally.
His helpless gaze looked upon the increasing number of injured people.
Shock, insanity, and all sorts of emotions were surging through them.
The iron scent wafting in the air, the thunder booming above, the situation seemed like a lost cause.
He clenched his fist tightly.
There was a helpless light in his eyes, but it gradually warmed with resolve.
For he held his faith in their protector above. The doubt which clouded his mind slowly cleared, fog in the wind, and his thoughts quickened.
He admired the strength of the people fighting; he admired the strength of the protector above.
But as he lost himself in his admiration, there still seemed to be a plume of fog lingering in the back of his mind.
It felt like envy.
"Gather your belongings!"
"We are to flee the Settlement, pick yourselves up now!"
The heavy calls shook the people—injured and uninjured—and Sun, especially.
"What is the meaning of this?! Flee the Settlement? Why? On what basis?!"
A face which Sun recognised turned towards him, and a troubled look wore his face down.
"Young Master Liming Zi ordered so... I don't know how we're supposed to flee, but we were sent to deliver the message."
"But to leave the Settlement is impossible! Why don't we just stand our ground until Lord Immortal ends the conflict above us?!"
"Sun..." Conflict arose in the tone of the man, but he resolved his voice and glare as he continued,
"You have no idea what is going on down there! If neither we, the Guards and Warriors, nor Young Master Liming Zi could hold our ground, how do you expect us to go on?!"
Those words were like cold water being dumped on Sun's head.
His fist tightened, and his gritted teeth, bare to the man before him.
But he could not refute him; he could only cast his eyes down.
But... that did not stop him.
The man sighed and tried to silently walk past Sun silently.
"Ugh...!" He fell to the ground with a breathless groan.
Sun, too, fell to the ground.
"...!"
What brought them to their knees was not themselves, but a terrifying pressure above.
The once monotone blue-grey skies lit with golden light.
Light flickered and broke through the veil above, showering gold onto the world at discordant intervals.
Mist would rapidly fill in these poked holes, withholding the light.
The two colours shook the sky and the lands below...
But as the two colours seemed to battle for dominance over the sky, a third, malevolent colour bled the world red.
...