Alessia floated through a cosmic void, infinite and inky black. She flailed, trying to orient herself. Her eyes caught the faintest glint of light. The slight warm glow turned into a tunnel.
It seemed to fill up the entire universe—
She slammed to the ground. A strong haze that choked everything surrounded her. The light changed dramatically, silhouetting her as if the sky were made of ice, refracting a cool blue hue.
Moving through the fugue, Alessia saw the rest of the team standing and trying to get their bearings.
“Welcome to the Spirit Realm,” Alessia said.
A pulsing, tentacle-like yōkai seized her. She swung her sword and chopped it off. Whenever a yōkai was slain in the Spirit Realm, it turned into smoke, joining the fog around them.
“Not as nice as I remember it,” Landar said.
“That area wasn’t corrupted.”
Everyone looked around. The fog rolled over hilly terrain—all dark and indistinguishable.
“We’ll have to find the Mad King,” Nimbus said.
“How the Hells are we gonna do that in all this damn fog?” Ex Vis said.
Alessia said, “Find the path of corruption and follow it to its source.”
Bolts of lightning crackled across the sky.
“What the Hells was that?!” Ex Vis shouted.
“Souls,” Alessia said. More screamed past them. Some were stuck and corrupted, crying out in anguish. “They’re caught between our world and The Beyond.”
Nimbus stumbled. Alessia grabbed his good arm, steadying him.
He coughed. “I’m fine.” Blood in his hand. They shared a knowing look.
Alessia forced him over her shoulder. “Here. I got you.”
Alessia thought she saw the little girl, but a wave of smoke passed, and she was gone. Alessia marched harder.
“Let’s get to the top of this hill. Maybe we can get a better view.”
The team reached the top of the hill. The fog seemed infinite. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of little lights glowed in the haze, dancing around.
“What are those lights?” Ex Vis asked.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Yōkai,” Alessia said.
“Everything is corrupted,” Landar said. “How in the thirteen hells are we gonna find the source of it?”
Nimbus struggled away from Alessia. “Let me look with my real eyes.”
He waved his hand over his face. A bright light emanated from his eyes, blowing fog away wherever he looked. “There...”
He collapsed. A path was carved ahead. The fog started to settle again, erasing it. Before they could even react, dozens of lights in the haze moved toward them.
“The yōkai see us,” Alessia warned.
“What do we do?” Korr asked.
Alessia’s breath quickened. Eyes darting. Processing. “Run.”
Korr grabbed Nimbus and threw him over his shoulder as the team sprinted forward.
Omazz guarded the portal. Undead bashed against the walls, sending out dust plumes. “I hear you, I hear you...”
She neatly laid out several wands, getting set up to defend herself. She took out her mentor’s flask and gulped from it.
The team ran. Yōkai ambushed them from the fog. They were attacked on all sides.
Ex Vis loosed magical arrow after arrow. It felt like he was firing into the darkness, but his shots always seemed to find their mark.
Korr used one axe to battle yōkai back, using his other arm to carry Nimbus.
Alessia fumbled with her journal. “Padolk! Yel-cach!”
The yōkai turned harmless, one after another. Absorbed in her journal, Alessia almost plowed right into—
The little girl. Standing as firm as a tree. “I’m always with you.”
Alessia tried to stop herself but tripped and tumbled. The little girl gracefully sidestepped, and Alessia rolled past her.
Alessia frantically searched the ground for her journal. “Where— What could’ve—“
She looked around. The fog formed a circle around her, the little girl, and dozens of angry yōkai. Her friends were nowhere to be seen.
“I control them down here,” the little girl said. She motioned her hand, and the yōkai moved in unison. Coordinated. Deadly. “I control lots of things down here.”
“Where is it? The journal.”
The little girl skipped off into the fog, but the second she started to disappear in one direction, she appeared on the opposite side.
“Stop playing around. This is serious.”
“No, this is the Spirit Realm. Nothing is serious here.” She held up the journal. “Not even dingy old books.”
“Please. I’m— Please.”
“You don’t need this down here. Just your imagination.”
She threw the journal. It landed in a stream of sludge, like toxic oil bubbling and churning. The sludge absorbed the journal, slowly swallowing it.
“No!”
Korr dragged Nimbus as he, Ex Vis, and Landar ran and fought hard. Alessia’s voice reverberated past them.
“Alessia,” Landar said.
Everyone stopped and looked around. But it was impossible to know where it had come from. More yōkai surrounded them.
Korr turned to Ex Vis. “Need a boost?”
Landar looked confused, but Ex Vis got it.
The rabbit sprinted toward Korr. Still holding Nimbus, Korr turned and knelt, creating a ramp with his body. Ex Vis climbed him. Korr stood, heaving a mighty grunt from the weight of Nimbus and the rabbit.
Ex Vis hopped off, using Korr’s power, and sailed high into the air.
He twirled, firing his bow at all the nearby yōkai. He kept twisting, seeing nothing... until, as he was coming down, in the distance—
“This way!”
“No one cares about you,” the little girl said. “Give up.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because... you. I still owe you... An...”
Apology. But she couldn’t say it. The little girl looked confused. Rattled. Alessia fought for the word.
The rest of the group shouted Alessia’s name. Their jostling equipment created a din in the fog, getting louder.
“If that’s true, then why don’t you act like it? Why don’t you love me?”
“Because...”
“Because I’m too weak.”
The little girl backed away, disappearing into the fog with the yōkai just as the rest of the group appeared.
Landar looked around. “It was her again, wasn’t it? You.”
“I lost my journal.”
“We also lost Nimbus’s path,” Ex Vis said.
Korr helped Alessia up. “Are you...”
Alessia shook her head no. Korr grimly nodded.
“But I know where to go.” She pointed to the toxic river. “We follow that.”
Yōkai lights danced in the fog around them.
“And maybe we hurry...” Ex Vis said.