The Fog

In the air was nothing; the ground solid but invisible, each breath releasing a cough, and the only sound being the echo of the racking coughs that shook my body. Slowly I regained sanity; the coughs lessened and the darkness soon seemed to dissipate into a gray fog thick enough to keep anything five feet from my face from being seen. Sitting up slowly I looked around and was startled by a pair glowing eyes beside me. Just as I was about to release a scream a hand covered my mouth, drawing the face closer to me to reveal my brother, Merlin.

His eyes were urgent and his frame was tense. "Shhh... be extremely quiet."

I began to wonder why he did not try to halt my coughing earlier when I then heard a sound across the distance. I closed my eyes and tried to focus in on the sound. The sounds were different then anything I had heard before. It was as if something was dragging its nails across the floor, and I could hear the sound of heavy breaths leaving humid marks as it carried on. A grumble echoed throughout wherever it is we are, but with no response the thing dragged itself away in another direction.

Merlin released his hand from my mouth with a sigh of relief. "You must be more careful, this is not a nice little Earth anymore."

"Where are we?" I asked, trying to look around, but the gray kept everything from sight. I tried to stand, but was startled by the movement a large creature in the fog, causing me to stumble back down. "What is that?" I cried, as Merlin chuckled.

"My name is Jasper, thank you very much." It said slowly in a low voice.

I stood up once more and stepped closer to the creature. Moving slowly through the fog I found a different shade of gray, with pale eyes gleaming at me. It was the old horse Merlin had ridden across the battle field. "You talk?" I asked, a little startled.

"You know, I thought I had taught you better than to dismiss talking animals." Edgar popped his head out of one of Jasper's saddlebags, and brushed out his jacket with his paws.

"Edgar!" I cried, snatching him out of the saddlebag and into a hug.

Edgar tensed for a moment, but then wrapped his short arms around me as well as he could. "I was afraid I would never see you again." Edgar whispered.

I slowly sat back down and set Edgar in front of me. "I could never abandon you, Edgar." I said softly, stroking one of his ears.

He nodded his head and wiped a few tears from his eyes. "Right. Of course." He said, clearing his throat. "So, what do we do now that we are home again?"

"Home?"

"Yes, now I know it has been a few years, and the place looks a lot different, but the horse is talking and I know how magic, or lack there of, feels, and this is Zelix." Edgar said.

"Well, what we are going to do is find Aurelius' body, and then be done with this whole mess." Merlin said hastily.

"But Merlin..." I said, standing up and touching his arm, "this is our home. We have to save it, don't we?"

"Look around you... I see nothing to save." Merlin's shoulder were slumped, and his eyes were downcast. "I am sorry you did not get to meet mom and dad."

"No, maybe they're just in hiding like before!" I cried. "You don't know anything yet! One place does not decide how the whole kingdom lives. We will save our home, and we will save Aurelius!"

"Sister..."

"She has a point, Merlin." Edgar said. "We have survived once before, surely there are others who have held out. You can at least try to save your home."