Young Writers Society

Saturn nodded. “Thank you.”

I smiled. This was fine. This was fantastic!

“Well, we’re almost there. I hope you don’t mind the trek down.” I hummed. “You’ve been carrying your friend for a while now. Hev or I could take him for a bit. To give you a break.”

"No," I said, a bit too quickly.

Nathaniel coughed. Awkwardly.

In my defense, I didn't want to be separated from my body for too long. I wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to it. I didn't have to stay in the same area as it when I was possessing someone or something else, but it was better to be with it than to not be.

"It's alright," Nathaniel said, far too poised compared to me. He gave a strained smile that somehow came off as polite. "I can carry him. I've already carried him this far."

I held up my hands. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Saturn scanned Nathaniel. “Are you injured?”

Nathaniel shook his head.

"I'm fine," he said. He actually had a slight bruise on his right thigh that I could feel whenever his pants rubbed against his skin in the wrong way, but besides that he had gotten off relatively scot-free. He was lucky. "Just a little..."

"Startled," I supplied. "I'm still wrapping my head around us being mugged."

I frowned. “It’s alright if you are. There’s more than one doctor in The Mist. And any procedure is completely free. It’s the Mist. You don’t have to be… wanting.”

Saturn patted my shoulder. “They probably know what The Mist is.”

I huffed. “Well a reminder is nice!”

A reminder was very much nice, seeing that we both had absolutely no idea what this Mist thing was. Not that they knew that, of course.

"Well," I said, taking over Nathaniel's lips before he could say anything else himself, "I do have a bruise on my leg. It doesn't hurt as much as getting mugged, but..."

I shrugged. I almost dropped my body, then, but I caught it right before it could hit the ground. I knew which injury hurt more; I had stuck around in my body for a minute before hopping over to Nathaniel's when I first got hurt.

I nodded. “Alright. I’m not too sure what we can do that, but feel free to stay as long as you need to recover. You’re both welcome.”

Saturn and Hev nodded at that.

"Thanks," I said, and left it at that. We'd be getting to this Mist soon enough, whatever that was, and then I would finally be able to get back into my body. It was annoying, having to fight Nathaniel for control right now.

(Nathaniel would have pointed out I could have stayed in my body, but that was besides the point.)

Our group finally left the city, trecking through the deforested but underdeveloped space in between. Before too long, we approached the edge of a ravine.

“Well, here we are. The main entrance.”

The entrance to The Mist was cut through the edge of the ravine. It was a path that zigzagged its way to the bottom. Smooth stone, carefully maintained.

I glanced at Nathaniel. “My apologies. It’s… a bit of a trek.”

"That's alright," Nathaniel said.

"I'm used to it," I added.

We did a lot of walking, back in our world. It had taken some time for both of us to get used to that, back when we both ended up there after Nathaniel's death and my passing on, but those days were long behind us now. A trek through this ravine would be nothing.

Of course, we didn't usually have to drag my body along with us during walks like this one, but we could manage. Nathaniel's muscles were only hating us a little bit now.

I nodded. The three of us, Saturn, Hev, and I, had made the trek in and out of The Mist dozens of times at this point. Nowhere near as much as Malvis, of course, but she was born here. She could make the trek with a broken leg. I would know, she told me she had before.

“We’ll get you some water as soon as we’re down, alright?”

I took the lead, gently traversing the stonewall way, Saturn and Hev waiting for Nathaniel to follow me. Saturn probably wanted to make sure that Nathaniel didn’t attack me from behind and Hev didn’t want to leave his side.

Nathaniel nodded. I, meanwhile, noticed that two members of our little group were sticking behind us as we followed Estella Fay. Which would have been a stupid idea, anyway, seeing that we had been promised medical help and were currently carrying an immobile body.

My wings fluttered slightly, lifting me just an inch off of the ground as I walked. “Alright. We’ll be there soon. I’ll talk to Malvis, she’s like an elder around here, and she’ll probably ask you some questions about whoever mugged you.”

Skull, Nathaniel said, suddenly remembering he could talk to me in his head when I was possessing him. We weren't actually mugged.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the same luxury Nathaniel had when it came to being able to talk in someone's head. I had to do all of my conversations out loud.

I made a hm noise that would hopefully come across as me saying I understand everything Estella Fay had said to her little group. To Nathaniel, it would hopefully come across as me having everything covered. It wouldn't be the first time I had to lie my way out of a situation. But I couldn't let Nathaniel do any of the lying—his poker face was terrible.

The five of us finally made it down the ramp. “Welcome to The Mist!”

The Mist was an interesting place to say the least. Most spread rumors of it being filthy and broken down. But it was really a beautiful place. Several languages mingled in the air, turning into a blend of so many cultures, so much life. Children played tag in the street, laughing and babbling away.

“Not much further now.”