Dawn and the refugees wandered around for what felt like hours. They couldn't tell precisely; their sense of time was highly disturbed due to the mist and clouds obscuring the sky.
It was nearing the end of 'Late Hour' of their fifth night when the mist swallowed their group; the stars were already at their dimmest, and the mist further obstructed their vision.
After a few hours, they would likely be in the middle of 'Rising Hour' of the sixth night. This would mean that the stars would be brightening.
Losing their sense of time worried Dawn; they might be stuck in the mist for the entirety of Rising Hour, or the entire 'Early Hour' quarter after that. Entire night cycles could be lost in this mist.
Another worry of Dawn's was her impaired sense of direction.
Dawn and the fifty-or-so refugees wandered the mist, the terrain was no different from the usual root-filled soil, littered by sticks and stones. The forest surrounding them was sombre, the leaves rustling quietly sometimes, and deafeningly other times.
The world was still, yet shaking relentlessly. Dawn paced her steps, stumbling a few times here and there, and she also fell to her knees countless times. Sometimes, she had to crawl on the ground due to nausea.
Looking behind her, about thirty people followed her, they also carried the same lost expressions on their faces.
Dawn continued to walk, or move in some direction.
More time had passed again, hours? After Rising Hour was Early Hour, thereafter was 'Falling Hour' and 'Late Hour', what time was it now?. Dawn continued to move seemingly without direction, and the other refugees following her also had stumbled and fallen more often than her.
Thirty dwindled to twenty, twenty dwindled to ten.
Soon, Dawn was all alone. She turned around and nobody was there, but her mind was focused on something else. It was a faint sound in the distance; sometimes it was thundering, other times it was hushed like a whisper, but it rang in her ears constantly, like a reminder.
It held a constant position, never displaced by the mist.
It was her sole reason for moving.
Dawn turned her back to the noise and began walking her path alone.
...
Sun's vision was filled with mist.
Pushing himself off the ground, he stumbled around before finally steadying himself in place. Surrounding him was mist and fog, and close to a hundred of the refugees.
"What happened...? Dawn? Selene?" He called out their names desperately; his voice rang throughout the mist, but no one but the echo replied.
"Damn it all..."
With no other choice, he rallied the other refugees to try searching for the others. They moved without direction, simply wandering in search of something.
Sun had a weary gaze, he focused on the soil they walked over, the occasional roots that would catch their shoes, or the stones that stabbed into their soles. Glancing behind him, the refugees were weak, overwhelmed, and absentmindedly looking around; they had barely collected themselves.
Their mental states were weak, and they were further troubled in the mist. That's when something caught his eye, some of the refugees started to wander away.
Shocked and confused, Sun chased after them.
"What are you doing!? Where are you going!?"
He reached for their shoulders to pull them back, but they never spared him a glance. Pulling the first refugee back, Sun was met with unfocused eyes and a hung mouth, reaching for the second refugee revealed the same visage.
Each of them had no expression; they all wore blank faces, except for Sun, who was more frightened than bewildered.
"What... is going on...?"
What had answered him came a mere moment after; his hand was gripping an adult refugee's shoulder, and blinking in confusion revealed a thick cloud of mist in his hands.
It had a human-like figure, seemingly as if that refugee had turned into mist; Without anything solid to grasp, his hand fell slightly, and dispelled the mist it had been grabbing.
"What..."
Sun stood there, failing to understand what had just happened. He turned to look at the other refugees. Wisps of thick mist dissipated in the wind, the number of refugees had fallen, and the other absent-minded refugees disappeared as well.
Dread fell upon his face, people gone in just a blink of the eye, yet dread was overcome with other emotions; sorrow, guilt, fear; he could do nothing to stop them from disappearing. What would happen to these next refugees?
Without much thought, he pushed the remaining refugees to continue moving. Their progress was quicker, carried by Sun's relentless pushing and the dreadful feeling looming over them.
Every time he turned around, Sun would count fewer and fewer refugees among his party, sometimes watching them disappear right before his eyes.
Their group, once just shy of one hundred, dwindled quickly.
He began to shake, when had he felt so helpless before? He tried to be strong and push them forward, just for the slight chance that they might escape the mist. He tried to save the people as they wandered away, only to grab a fistful of mist in their place.
This dreaded feeling shook him intensely, bringing him to his knees.
Horror. Plight. Overwhelmed by emotions, he held himself.
Quietly sobbing on the ground.
...
The mist shone, pale light reflecting off every droplet in the air.
"Keep your eyes ahead, don't look around too much."
Selene was emitting a soft white light from her hands. She was at the lead of a small group, wandering through the mist. The light was oddly comforting; it pierced through the thickness of the mist and allowed them to see further.
Fear and worry ran through their minds, but the light diminished the severity of it all. Although it could not stop the few refugees who still disappeared.
Regardless of it all, Selene still pushed forward and dragged everyone she could. Never paying the ones they lost a second thought, she persisted relentlessly; She still had sane people she had to transport.
That isn't to say that things were easy.
Soon, the refugees no longer felt absent-minded or wandered away, but they gradually began to change. They were slowly filling with emotions; some had tears spilling from their eyes, some furrowed their brows into tight knots, some laughed with manic glee; a mixed sound of myriads of emotions filled the air.
Their numbers only increased, the sane driven mad with abnormal feelings.
"What... is going on...?"
Selene couldn't help but mutter under her breath, yet it seemed loud enough to drag all their attention to her. She met their gazes, their wild eyes, and their inhuman expressions.
She couldn't help but flinch.
A refugee with an awfully wide smile lunged at her, but it fell short and dragged itself across the ground to reach her feet. It grabbed the hem of her robes and pleaded through a hysterical voice.
"Saviour!"
He clawed at her legs, as if trying to climb her, or drag her down into his crazed embrace.
With a yelp and a few kicks, she broke free of his hold and stumbled back. Disdain and a hint of fear flashed in her eyes as she looked down upon the man, watching as that wide grin shut and revealed clenched teeth, his brow furrowed as he accused,
"Why! How could you! You are our salvation!"
A few other voices joined in the yelling.
"You can't just leave us behind, Saviour!"
Screamed the violent voice of a man.
"You left them behind! You left them to die!"
Cried the mourning tears of a woman.
"You can help us, yes? Saviour?"
Pleaded the small hands of a child.
Selene met their emotions with wide eyes, unable to retort to their accusations or answer their pleas. Instead, she stood frozen with bewilderment.
She turned to run, but a refugee jumped at her, knocking Selene to her knees. Her leg was snatched by the ankle; before she could kick herself free, another refugee ran desperately at her. Like a tide of people, the crazed and emotional refugees ran towards her. Some fell and dragged themselves forward.
They clawed and grabbed, her physique was smaller than average, so she could hardly resist. Falling over onto her stomach, she stopped expelling the white light from her hands. The world dimmed.
The writhing weight pressed against her back and legs faded, the desperate hands clinging onto her had loosened their grips, and the mix of cries and screams fell into silence.
Pushing herself up and looking behind, Selene only saw mist in the place of those refugees.
Although the marks and bruises remained, the people disappeared with the light, she was left alone.
She slowly raised herself off the ground and dismissed the thought of creating more light, and simply continued to trudge through the mist.
...
Selene had spared none of her attention to how much time had passed, it felt impossible to tell anyways. Likewise, it seemed impossible to tell where she was; all she knew was that the refugee group started at the base of their next mountain, then the fog swallowed them and somehow separated them.
Naturally, she could tell that this was caused by forces beyond her, but what could she do about it? Neither Dawn nor Sun could do anything about it, and she could barely hold this surreal power.
Whatever invaded the minds of the other refugees and turned them into mist began to creep into her mind, too.
It was disorientating, stealing her will and emotions.
The trees that seemed more clustered in this area opened into a clearing.
There, on the ground, was a lone man sobbing on his knees.
"Sun...?"