A silver glow flowed across my skin. The painful pricking from the air disappeared, and the ominous feeling faded slightly. The smell remained though. It was ever present no matter what we tried.

A similar silver light covered my family, our wagon, and animals. Over three quarters of the soldiers were also capable of using glyphs, but they were all covered in a faint blue light. I had a small moment of pride as I noticed the energy emanating from that blue light was much weaker than the silver light my father used.

The paper in my father’s hand crumbled to dust as he placed the final protection on himself. “My protection glyph lasts four hours. To be safe, I will renew it every three. Tell me if you take any hits or if the energy seems unstable in any way. The glyph can protect you against physical damage, but it burns up the power after blocking a few blows. Do not take any chances. I can always make more glyphs, but all of you are irreplaceable.”

My mother nodded, taking his hand. “Just do not push yourself too hard. I know using this many glyphs takes its toll on your stamina.”

My dad nodded. “It is ok I can still manage more than this. Besides, I have Charly to help me when I get tired. Right son?”

“Right Dad! Just leave it to me!” Charly responded confidently, but I could see him shaking slightly despite his attempt at bravado.

As one, we turned towards the wall of mist in front of us. The thousands of faces seemed to be laughing at us, mocking our perceived safety. It was just waiting for us to make a mistake. It would only take a single moment. One slip up and it would invade our body, turning us into Demonkin.

I took a deep breath and stepped forward. Red tendrils stretched out, wrapping around me. Almost as if it was trying to pull me into its embrace. The silver light held firm. It repelled the red mist, keeping it a centimeter away from my skin.

“Works perfectly,” I said with a smile back at my dad. I ran back to him and climbed onto the wagon.

Our small army marched forward. The blue light that surrounded the soldiers and their horses seemed to waver slightly as they entered the mist. I could see the fear in their eyes as the red tendrils entangled around them.

“How long do you think their protections will last?” I asked curiously.

“An hour… maybe two if they are lucky,” my dad replied doubtfully while examining the blue energy, “This will be a hard mission for them. If we are not careful, exhaustion may be a bigger enemy than any Demonkin.”

I nodded as our wagon rumbled forward. The mist wrapped around us. Our visibility plummeted. I could barely make out the shadow of the soldier closest to us. what I could see though were the endless faces. They did not go away when we entered the mist. The faces were everywhere you looked. Some were crying. Others were laughing, but most seemed to be screaming in horror.

“What are they?” Charly asked, I could hear the fear in his voice.

“Nobody knows,” I replied, “Some people say it is the souls of those consumed by the mist. Others claim it is the hatred and pain that all Demons feel taking physical form, but I never believed any of that. I think it is just a trick the Demons use to scare us. The faces cannot hurt us. They are not alive. They just stare for a while before fading back into mist.”

“Well, it works,” Charly said, crossing his arms tightly to his chest.

I stared out at the faces in the mist. Even after all the years and thousands of battles, they still unnerved me as well.

I heard Orias curse from somewhere ahead of us in the mist. I could not see him, but the line of soldiers quickly came to stop. Our wagon rumbled a few more steps forward, and I knew why.

The road was completely covered with mutated plants as far as I could see. All of them grew taller than my waist, and most of them were covered in in sharp thorns longer than my fingers.

“Unit two, down in front,” Orias shouted, “Clear a path through this mess. Fifteen minutes then rotate to unit three.”

Ten soldiers hopped down from their horses and stood in front of the tall mess of vines with a salute. They drew their weapons and hacked at the vines. A sharp acidic smell filled the air as the first vine fell to the ground. The tangled brush shivered and suddenly came alive. The vines moved like thousands of snakes, and before I could even shout a warning, one of the vines struck out.

Fast as lightning, the vine wrapped around a soldier’s arm and pulled. The sharp thorns were stopped by his heavy armor, but the soldier was caught off balance by the sudden attack. When the vine pulled, the soldier went with it. He disappeared into the mess of vines as thousands of thorned tendrils wrapped around him.

A soldier of unit two, Ferenc, was the first to react. His blade lit up with a brilliant flame as he struck down at the vines.

A horrible ear-piercing screech rang through the air as dozens of vines were cut and burned. The vines moved to attack Ferenc, but the soldiers were prepared this time. Swords sliced through any vine that approached him.

With the surrounding soldiers acting as his vanguard, Ferenc was able to cut into the tangled mess of vines. The glint of armor was visible through the tangle, and with a few more swings the unit cut the soldier free.

The soldier panted as he was pulled free from the tangled thorns. Deep scratches and dents covered the soldier’s armor, but luckily for him, he was wearing full plate and mail. The thorns had not been able to cut him deeply, despite their power.

The biggest problem was the wavering blue light. The light was already so faint it was practically unnoticeable. It had tried to protect the soldier, but surrounded by thousands of razor-sharp thorns the energy had quickly dissipated.

“Protection Glyph now!” Orias shouted.

Another soldier hopped down from his horse, holding a piece of paper covered in runes. The paper glowed brightly before disintegrating. Once the blue light covered him again, Orias stepped up to the soldier, holding him up by the shoulders.

“Are you infected? Did the mist get to you?”

“N- No. I don’t think so,” The soldier replied, as he struggled to find his footing.

“Thank goodness,” Orias sighed in relief. He helped the soldier onto one of the empty wagons so he could recover from his injuries, before addressing the rest of the soldiers. “Do not approach the vines. Use ranged glyphs. We will burn our path forward.”

A few of the soldiers saluted and a few moments later a roaring fire filled the road. Another horrible screech cried out from the plant as it was slowly turned to ash.

I cursed as I covered my ears. “Do you want to draw every single Demonkin in the mist to us? Silence it first, then burn it.” I pointed at the source of the horrible noise. It came from a black flower near the center of the vines.

Orias looked at me for a moment, then nodded. One of the soldiers sent a wave of flames towards the flower, and the noise came to a sudden stop.

“How did you know that would silence it?” Orias asked curiously.

“You should read more,” I replied with a dismissive wave, “You will be amazed at the things people write down if you take the time to learn.”

Charly chuckled, and I heard him whisper, “Since when have you ever enjoyed reading? How many times have you actually made it through a book without falling asleep?”

“Shut up!” I growled quietly as my face turned red from embarrassment. I elbowed Charly in the side before turning back to Orias. “It is safe to assume here that if it looks pretty, it is the most dangerous place. Avoid anything with flowers and never assume a plant is just a plant.”

“Thanks for the early warning,” Orias grumbled.

I shrugged in reply. “If you wanted me to play nice, you should not have left us chained for two days. My wrists still hurt you know.”

Orias coughed a few times, unable to meet my gaze. “I… am sorry about that. It was a bit extreme, but I could not risk your parents escaping.”

“And I still hold a grudge. Do not expect any help from me. Just because my parents agreed to this does not mean I do.”

“Wren, do not be petty. We are working together now. Their survival is our survival,” My mother chastised.

“Really! You are taking his side?” I exclaimed indignantly.

“It is not about taking a side,” My mother replied, “Right now, us working together is important. Set your grudge aside for till we are out of the mist. We will both make him suffer for his actions once this mission is over.”

I saw a malicious glint in my mother’s eye and I grinned. Orias shivered as he stepped away from our wagon. “I… I think I am needed… over there,” He said before practically running away.

My mother smiled, but at the same time she looked sad. “He has not changed a bit.”

My father sighed. “We just had to run into him of all people. Do not forget he is a traitor. Whatever he was before, do not trust him to act the same if our lives are on the line. We may be working together for now, but we are not friends. Not anymore.”

My mother nodded silently. She watched Orias as he ordered his men and organized our movement forward. After a few moments, she bit her lower lip hard and looked away.

Our caravan of wagons and calvary made slow but steady progress into the mist. Every step forward was grueling. The roads were completely covered in dangerous plants that could attack at a moment’s notice, like snakes lying in wait. A few soldiers were even injured by sharp thorns, but they quickly adapted. Once the soldiers had seen how the vines reacted enough times, they began to predict how the plants would attack.

After some trial and error, the soldiers proved their status as elite. Tangled vines were cut down with ruthless efficiency. No more were injured and our speed increased. The soldiers always made sure to attack the flowers first. We were still at the edges of the mist, but we did not want to attract any attention in case a Demonkin was nearby.

Orias had the ten squads cycle through periods of work and rest, even taking action himself regularly. Despite this we were still massively behind schedule. Orias had planned for us to have reached the first village by nightfall, but as the day stretched on, everyone knew that would not happen.

The scariest part of all was behind us. The vines we cut down had already started growing again. They blocked off our path of retreat. If we wanted to go back, the only way was to cut our way through them again.

The red mist blocked out the sky, so you could not see the sun setting, but it was impossible to miss when it happened. Without the sun overhead, the bright red mist turned dark. The already limited visibility became so bad that you could not see the person standing next to you.

The only thing I could see clearly were the constantly changing faces staring down at us. The soldiers tried to start fires using the endless number of vines around them, but the vines did not burn. They were filled with an acidic smelling liquid that soaked what little burnable material existed.

Earlier in the day, a curious soldier tried to touch the liquid with his bare hand. The acid burned his fingers to the point that you could see bone. He was currently our most injured soldier, but I knew it was only a matter of time until others joined him.

Nothing about this place was habitable for humans. None of the plants were edible. No animals scurried about for us to hunt. Everything wanted to kill us. This was the Demonkin’s land now. A reminder of what the world would become if Envy’s invasion succeeded.