Not the thin mist they’d grown used to—the kind that hung lazily over the streambed and curled around tents like breath on cold glass. This was something else. Heavier. Hungrier. It swallowed the camp whole before the sun had risen, coating every inch in pale-gray damp. It dulled sound. Softened light. The fencing looked like little more than shadowy spikes, and the trees just beyond faded into nothing.
Miriam was the first out of the map lean-to, boots crunching in the dew. She scanned the treeline, then raised her voice—low but clear.
“No firewood runs. Visibility’s shit. Stay close.”
Camila, crouched near the cookfire, looked up from her blade. She was threading a new grip onto the hilt of her Marine Saber. “We’ll do tight patrol loops. Fog this thick? Something could be watching.”
Raj snorted, though his hand was already resting near his own saber. “Camila, say shit like that after breakfast next time.”
She didn’t answer. Just went back to work.
Miriam walked over. “How’s your Earth magic coming?”
“Better,” Camila replied. “I can shift stone and reinforce trenches, but nothing combat-worthy yet. It’s like the more finesse I want, the harder it gets.”
“You’ll get there,” Miriam said. “We’ll need it. If this fog’s hiding something big, I’d rather have walls than hope.”
The camp moved slowly that morning. Fires were kept low, not just for heat but comfort. Smoke curled upward into the mist and vanished. Voices dropped to murmurs. Even the birds had stopped calling.
Near the clearing’s center, Ellie practiced shaping ice across a wide bark slab, her palms cool and steady. Hana sat cross-legged nearby, fingers splayed over another slab, her concentration etched into every line of her face.
“Breathe into it,” Ellie said softly. “Feel it before you shape it.”
A shimmer of frost formed, thin and fragile—but there. Hana grinned. “I felt it. That was it, right?”
Ellie nodded, then offered her a scrap of dried rabbit jerky.
“Bribery now?” Li asked, strolling up with a smirk. “What happened to artistic integrity?”
“Ice lessons for snacks,” Ellie replied. “It’s the new Cradle economy.”
“Honestly, Hana’s got more talent than I did before I bought Ice Make,” Ellie added, more serious now. “You’ve got instincts. Though you’ve got a great teacher”
“Still wouldn’t mind skipping the trial and error.” Hana smiled sheepishly. “Spellbooks are expensive though.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Yeah,” Li said, crouching beside them. “Learning Magic without simply choosing a power is definitely more of a long term pursuit. When I bought transformation magic, I just knew how to do it.”
Across the camp, near the training ring, Wren and Yusuf were in another Ten-for-Ten session. Travis knelt nearby, eyes closed, his breathing steady. His aura flickered now—not just sparks, but actual presence. Real control.
“Not bad,” Yusuf muttered. “That’s cleaner than last time.”
“He must be close to Ren” Wren said. “Another day, maybe two, and he’ll manage it maybe.”
“You think?” Yusuf turned toward her. “Wanna bet on it?”
Wren raised an eyebrow. “Sure. Loser owes... hmm…”
She reached into her coat and pulled out a long-wrapped bar.
“Chocolate?” Yusuf hissed. “Where did you get that?”
“Found it in one of the salvaged bags. Been saving it.”
“You hoarder. You were going to eat that alone?”
“Wasn’t planning to. But if I win…”
Yusuf groaned. “Fine. But if I win, I get half anyway.”
“Greedy.”
Dev stood off to the side, arms crossed, eyes focused on Jason’s stance. Reiatsu shimmered faintly around him, a hazy distortion like heat off metal. His control was still shaky, but it was there.
Jason stepped back and gestured. “Again. Keep it compressed at your core. Let it bleed out too fast, you lose pressure.”
“I feel it,” Dev said quietly. “Like it wants to break out. But I can’t shape it.”
“It’ll come,” Jason replied. “Zanpakutō needs you to meet it halfway.”
Jake stood nearby, noting every detail.
“You’re the only three with Reiatsu now” he said, tapping his pen against his notebook. “First to Shikai wins bragging rights.”
Jason raised an eyebrow. “We’re not racing.”
Jake grinned. “You are now.”
Near the southeastern fence, Alex, Matt, and Vin were laying sharpened stakes into a new trench grid, mud caking their boots.
“Still feels like overkill,” Matt said.
Vin grunted. “They came through here last time. I’ll dig till my hands fall off if it means we don’t repeat that.”
Alex kept his chakra flowing through his limbs—slow and steady, maintaining control even as they worked. His stamina had improved. He barely noticed the strain anymore.
Then Matt froze. “What was that?”
They all paused. A flicker—barely visible—through the fog at the northern edge. The mist rippled, then stilled.
“Wind?” Vin muttered.
“Maybe,” Alex said. But his hand slid to the hilt of his blade.
They dug slower after that. Eyes drifting north.
By midday, the fog had thinned slightly, but it didn’t vanish.
A strange hush still gripped the forest. It was in that quiet that David and Grace returned from a short-range hunting run with nothing but bark shavings and a bundle of withered mushrooms.
“Nothing’s moving,” Grace said. “Like the forest just…stopped.” David set the mushrooms down beside the ration tent.
“We’ve got a problem if this keeps up.” Miriam called a meeting that evening—no stew, no fanfare. Just a ring of torches around the central fire.
“This fog might be natural. Might not,” she began. “Until it’s gone, no solo trips outside the inner perimeter. No long-range scouting.”
“What's the theory?” Camila asked, crouched low.
Jake answered instead. “Could be a creature with territory, could be terrain-based. Fog like this might precede a migration—or a predator. In some worlds, it’s camouflage. Or warning.”
“And where’d you get that from,” said Callum. A middle aged business man best describes him, not a particularly active helper, but he’s taken to criticising everyone else when he gets the chance, though he’d never offer any idea of his own.
“It’s better to assume the worst” Jake shot back.
“Alright, alright. We’re treating it as threat,” Miriam said. “Grace, Alex, Raj—night watch. Camila, Wren, Yusuf—train your teams. Everyone else, be ready for early calls.”
Alex watched the fire for a long time after, one hand idly resting on the hilt of his blade. The fog drifted behind them, still thick. Still silent.
Jake’s Updated Tally:
- Naruto – 8
- One Piece – 8
- Fairy Tail – 6
- Hunter x Hunter – 5
- Bleach – 4
- One Piece – 8
Total Chosen: 31 / 86
Remaining: 55