Chapter 80: The Fog Island [20].

For the following couple of hours, Aldrus and the others went over their plans once again to ensure they would not forget anything crucial. Moreover, Aiden treated Aldrus’ hands and Cedric’s forehead wound; however, as time went on, those injuries did not seem to mend a bit. They came to the conclusion that, under the island’s suppressive power, their rapid natural healing properties were no longer a thing. For as long as they stayed there, they were nothing but regular, powerless kids.

That night they lay down early and tried to rest, their bodies cold and aching. The wind howled as if intending to tear apart their little safe place and claim their sorry lives. The mist filtered through the clumsily arranged planks and leaves, making it hard for them to see each other even while sticking close.

It took two hours for Aiden and Cedric to drift off, but Aldrus could not relax. For some reason, he feared the night for the first time in a long while. When he was little, he used to always need a little lamp turned on by the nightstand. As he grew older, maybe because it was embarrassing or perhaps because he did not care anymore, that quirk of his gradually faded into oblivion.

His head was stuffed full of complex thoughts and feelings, but that memory stood out from the others like a candle in the dark. He glanced beside him out of habit, hoping to see his alarm clock and the lamp there. Instead, on his left he found nothing; just two friends in a deep slumber, breathing hoarsely as if in pain. On his right, a lovely girl weeping in silence, feigning sleep.

He tried to ignore it for a minute, but eventually, he gave up. He was just about to ask her when the girl spoke first.

"You can’t sleep either, Aldrus?"

"Mmh, yeah..."

"What is it? If I may ask," she said.

Aldrus hesitated for a second but decided to let it out.

"The specter. It showed me unpleasant things."

"I see. Me too."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really, no." She paused. "Not now, at least. However... I would like to ask you a favor."

"A favor? Sure, but I don’t think there’s much I can do given what I have or where we are."

"Haha, don’t worry, it’s nothing complicated."

"Then?"

The girl fell silent as if she were rethinking her request, but in the end she asked nonetheless.

"...Could you say my name?"

Huh?

"Your name? Why? Is that really it? That’s what you wanted?"

"Yes."

"Um, alright... Uh, Alice," he said. Alice did not reply, however. He was growing uncomfortable.

"Alice? Are you okay?"

"Ah, yes. Yes, thank you. That was all; I’ll sleep now. You should rest too."

"Eh? Ah, sure... Good night, then."

"Good night."

Alice slowly turned onto her side, and not long after, he heard her breathing slow; she had fallen asleep, just like that. The girl had left him utterly confused, but Aldrus knew that, while she would not ask him for something outrageous or impossible to grant, she was not the type to ask for anything meaningless either. For whatever reason, he was certain her petition was of great significance to her, and dwelling on it was a waste of time. So, he made himself as comfortable as anyone lying on hard wood could manage and closed his eyes for the rest of the night.

Aldrus’ thought process was correct indeed. Despite the triviality of Alice’s request, the girl was just happy to know that, this time, the voice calling her name was truly and unequivocally his.

***

The next morning, the four of them were ready to leave. They were quieter than usual, for they knew this was the last time they would stop to sleep and rest. From now on, their journey would allow no pauses, no planning. Nothing. They found themselves in a race against death, and the finish line was the northeast coast.

"Well, that’s the last of this wet, disgusting meat. I should be happy, but we’re going to miss it soon, aren’t we?" Cedric said.

"That’s why we need to keep a steady pace. If we hurry, we should be there by tomorrow morning," Aiden explained.

Aldrus was finishing putting on his clothes, now half-dry.

"I honestly hope hunger is the least of our problems by then," he said.

"If that ends up not being the case, at least we have three uses of this," said Alice, fiddling with her necklace. "But we have to be watchful; if we mess up carelessly, we’ll be wasting one use."

"Then we need to stick together, linking arms—our previous formation proved useless," Aldrus added. Alice finished getting dressed and handed him his cloak back.

"Well, then. Good luck to us," Aiden mumbled.

"Good luck to us," they echoed.

With that, they gathered the essentials and stepped outside.

Much like the previous day, the storm was fierce and never-ending. The surroundings were invisible unless observed up close. The ground was treacherous, slippery and full of debris. It was flooded everywhere and the sky roared loudly, muffling any attempt at communication.

The youths moved together like a human dam, pushing through the muck with great effort. On their way they stumbled across multiple beasts ranging from Orange- to Yellow-Class, and although they managed to avoid most, some inevitably ended up engaging them in battle.

"Hold it, Cedric! I can’t see!"

"Watch out!"

"I got it! Alice, cut it!"

Aldrus, Cedric and Aiden were in the middle of a struggle as they tried to hinder a black wolf’s movements. While normally that task would not be a problem whatsoever, without their powers their strength was like that of a child in comparison to the beast’s. What was worse, the fog was so thick they were at risk of being slashed by accident if Alice was not careful.

Fortunately, the girl was able to inflict a deep cut on the wolf’s belly, which caused it to flee as it was bleeding out.

The boys fell to their knees out of breath, then stood up and regrouped so they did not get lost.

"Are you okay?!" Alice hurried over to check on them, fearing she might have harmed them.

"We’re fine. Let’s keep going."