[Eladain Moruviel]

The night passed slowly and none slept. Before dawn came, they had decided to move on again. Gilbereth packed his few belongings into his pack, strapped on his cloak, and started off with the rest of the company. The two trackers had gone on ahead to look for any signs of danger. It was about two hours later that Ihwesta and Arie found their way back to report.

“There’s nothing Ceros,” Ihwesta told the leader who looked bewilderedly at the forest floor in thought.

“Well that’s good,” Gilbereth pointed out cheerfully.

“No,” rebuked Ihwesta. “It’s not. Nothing means absolutely nothing. No spiders and orcs, yes, but none of the regular forest inhabitants either. We’ve seen a total of two squirrels. Squirrels that looked as though they weren’t that at all but more like shades of such a rodent, wandering as if lost and so thin their bones pressed up against their skin. Not even the wind dares to occupy these parts. Something’s waiting for us, I can feel it.” The trackers then dissapered back into the forest.


A little while later they returned for a second time “Anything?” the Elf Ainemetion asked. “Nothing but this fog,” Ihwesta replied without looking at him, set on reaching Ceros for the moment.
“Do you have any idea where it’s come from?” asked the leader as the oldest tracker reached him.
“I don’t think that matters,” she said tactlessly, getting edgy at the murkiness of the whole situation. “What matters is that it’s something of a legend, just like the spiders were, and it’s surrounding us quickly.” She pointed from whence she had just come and the mist was indeed creeping like a plague along the forest top and down the trunks.
“Is it alive?” asked Arie backing away as the fog began to encircle them. Ihwesta shook her head.
“No, it’s just fog. Unfortunately, it’s a kind of evil fog, shall we say? Our tracking senses won’t be much good in it. We can’t hear anything past it, nor see anything through it. We have two choices—”
“Choices that I will make,” said Ceros comfortingly. “This burden doesn’t fall upon your shoulders Ihwesta, please.” Then turning to the rest of the group he said, “We can either wait here until it passes—”
“IF it passes,” Ihwesta cut in.
“Or,” Ceros continued firmly, “we can risk moving through it, perhaps getting past the fog entirely, as long as we stay together. Are there any suggestions?”

Then the she-elf Eruwen spoke up "I’m not trying to be negative about this whole thing," she said. "But neither of the choices sound very good to me. If we stay here, then whatever’s out there will eventually find us and attack us without warning. But if we go, then there is the risk of everyone getting lost and maybe even dead. So either way, we’re done for. But if you ask me, I’d say we try and find a way out of the fog," she added in. "That way we’d at least have a chance for survival."

"Alright then, anyone else?" Ceros began turning to the remainder of the company. “ I think we should try to wait it out” Gilbereth suddenly said. “ If we try to go through it, whatever it is that’s hiding in there can pick us off one bye one.” Several others in the group murmured there agreement to this, but much to Gilbereth’s dismay it was finally decided that they would continue on into the fog.

As they walked, the fog continued to grow thicker, until Gil could hardly see five feet in front of Him. “If this continues on for much longer, we’ll have to stop weather Ceros wants to or not” He thought to himself. Then He heard it, a small rustling sound to His left, He looked at the other elf’s faces, and wasn’t if sure they had heard it also. Whatever it was out there, it didn’t sound like an animal, at least not one Gil had ever heard before “Perhaps it’s just my mind playing tricks on me” He told himself “the others don’t seem to have heard it” and so He just brushed the matter aside and continued walking.