[Aiden]

Still peering into the ominous fog, Aiden pulled out both of his tonfas and held it between the hilts. As he warily swiveled his wrists for warm-up, he tilted his gaze toward Isabel. Like Aiden, the other bodyguard had a weapon in hand. Not wanting to give away their position further, he nodded vaguely at Isabel's direction and murmured, “Crap. Do you think that thing--whatever it is--is moving alone?”

The shadow's gait was awkward and Aiden was disturbed that it still kept up with them. The thing had to be some kind of predator, or it wouldn't be following them so suspiciously. He didn't want to provoke it, but he stared at it warily to let it know he was on guard. As he paced beside Isabel and the wagon, Aiden strained his ears for any kind of sound in case the thing wasn't alone.

But if it was that kind of creature, then there wouldn't be a sound, would it? He was certain that something was out there, so he sped up to alert Thomas. But before he reached the driver, a nondescript mouthful of teeth lunged forward so fiercely and quickly that Aiden yelped and stumbled backward. “There's-a-wraith!” He yelled, though from their distance, he wasn't sure if anyone other than Isabel and Tom could hear.

Fortunately, the call was echoed by Thomas and then relayed by Pria, but Aiden wasn't sure if that was good at all. As he edged toward Isabel, his cat-ears picked up sounds of alarm and the whinny of a startled horse. There were no wraiths in New Alexandria or Marport, so Aiden had no clue what to guard against other than an emotional mindcensored. And though his mind said to keep calm, he could already feel his pulse speeding.

Piper || kjherstin || dafont

[Isabel]

Issy was still on edge and continued to feel the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.

“Crap. Do you think that thing-- whatever it is--is moving alone?”

Issy looked towards Aiden for the briefest second, wanting to keep a close watch on the shadow moving behind the fog; unnatural and unrelenting, it continued to keep pace with them. “I don't think so. I may not be too familiar yet with the creatures that dwell here in Elysia, but I'm pretty sure that with it's size against our number, there must be more of them.”

Nothing more was said as soon as Aiden moved towards the front - pressumably to warn Thomas and the others - when the shadow suddenly burst through the fog, mouth agape and full of fangs.

“There's-a-wraith!”

Aiden's shout was echoed throughout, and Issy's blood suddenly turned cold. Though she had a feeling that there was more of whatever was following them, she still hoped that it was not true.

Wraiths, she heard, were creatures that fed on the fears of travelers - conjurers of illusions depicting a person's greatest fear while feeding on them until they too die a horrible death.

Issy started breaking into a cold sweat yet she stood her ground. Aiden inched closer towards her and she whispered words that were as much for her benefit as well as his. “Keep calm.”

[Official NPC]

"Keep calm" meant nothing in the wraith's world. Only stone-cold corpses could remain truly calm, and even then, when they were no longer a source of food, they had their uses.

It was slight, but already the wraith could feel their fear creeping over them like the fog had done, and it used both to increase the threat level. They weren't scared enough yet to split up and make themselves vulnerable to a more personalised attack, so it went with something general again. This time, it was a series of bursts of orange flame above the fog, meant to jump-start their adrenaline. Though soundless, the orange-red bursts reflected and bounced off the thick fog to look like a dragon breathing flame as it swooped low over their heads. Even knowing they were being stalked by a wraith, its illusions could still command their fears.

And soon after, a monoceros made entirely of shadow burst out of the fog close by one of the men on the farthest perimeter, circling him and rearing up with massive hooves. Its eyes burned the same orange-red, its long mouth dripping with blood. And as the wraith drew strength from his fear, a flock of mangy, bloodied gulls swooped down from the orange fog to harry another of the men, and shadowy vines writhed towards Aiden's feet, and the ground to Isabel's left gave a great heave as a worms and beetles wriggled out of it.

((Sorry for the delay, guys! And thanks for the poke, Joy. ))

[Aiden]

He didn't need to be told to keep calm. Afterall, he was chanting it in his head like a mantra---fat lot of help that did. Even as Aiden told himself not to panic, his sense of dread only expanded as he looked around into the mist and saw nothing. Like any predator, the wraith had hidden itself away from the view of its prey. But it was watching oh-so patiently for the wrong misstep. As a fellow predator, Aiden knew this for sure.

Columns of fire rose into the air, and Aiden flinched away. Though as he pushed against the caravan wagon to urge it ahead, he quickly realized that the fire had no roar and its light bore no heat. Someone up front yelled, and Aiden saw the merchant back away from a rearing, shadowy being. “Keep calm!” he echoed Isabel, and pushed against the nearest wagon bed. If they couldn't beat the damned thing, let alone touch it, the only option was to run.

But all thought and confidence disappeared the moment he glanced down the wagon. For when he did, he discovered the vines slithering along the ground. As one entity, it twined itself into a larger shape as it lunged past the wheels and toward Aiden's feet. The vines snaked so realistically and with so much life, as if it were pulled directly from his memory. With a yelp, Aiden leapt from the wagon and kicked at the vines. Remembering a battle from years ago, he stepped on a vine to cripple it, but his foot merely passed through and collided onto flat rock.

With a grimace, he wrenched his gaze away and glanced in the direction of his vampire-partner, willing himself to forget about the non-existent vines. “Isabel!” He called in attempt to re-direct his own attention. Realization had slowed his panic, but he still breathed heavily. His vampire co-worker was barely visible through the mist...“You alright?”

Piper || kjherstin || dafont

(())

[Official NPC]

The Therian proved too strong for the wraith's first attack, so it moved on. Already, at least one of the caravan's guards was quivering under a cart as a swarm of lampyridae crawled up his legs and beneath his trousers where his nightmares would lead them into his nose and mouth and ears. Another was doing a fair job of ignoring the cloaked vlareon at bay even as it stabbed him repeatedly with vicious, bloodied fangs the likes of which only a humanoid mind could dream up, but his whole body was shaking too much for him to steady the horses through the bog.

A figure came out of the fog, arms outstretched and reaching for her big brother. Her mouth was agape, her face horribly bruised and blood pouring from several open wounds as she stumbled toward Aiden.

[Aiden]

Images of hungry vines slithered through his mind, even as he squinted through the mist for signs of the other bodyguard. “Isabel?” Had she fallen prey to the wraith? That had to be her figure in the fog, staring out at whatever projections the wraith was playing.

A startled yelp drew Aiden's attention to the front as he started toward Isabel. As he tried to shake out of her daze, Aiden murmured, “Let's go.” Out of curiosity, however, he glanced where she'd been looking. His breath halted, and his ribs clenched painfully.

“Estelle.” He choked. She was beaten badly, and his first instinct was to find whoever'd done it and end that person. You weren't there to protect her, you fool. “Damnit, who--” he'd already taken three steps toward Estelle when something grabbed his arm, and he whirled in anger to see the solemn expression of Isabel.

With that distraction, Aiden remembered where they were, and why his sister could not possibly be with them. “Damn the creature,” he hissed. Estelle's mangled figure haunted his vision even as Aiden followed Isabel to the nearest caravan. Marla was huddled and shivering against the frame of the caravan, while Thomas stared ahead with a grim expression. The driver saw Aiden and Isabel as they approached, nodded, and urged the tarochs forward. They quickly reached the next two wagons and found Pria and her partner trying to subdue Mihael as the man scrambled toward something deep in the bogs. It took both Pria and Aiden to pull Mihael to the cart. Dodging a fist in the air, Aiden clenched the man's arm fiercely. “It's not real!”

Leaving the shaking anyeli, Aiden nodded soberly at Pria's business partner. By now, three of four wagons were clustered together, and as they reached the fourth, Aiden was reassured to hear Thomas and Marla muttering at each other, and Pria shouting loud oaths at the wraith. At least it showed that they'd recovered their sanity.

As they walked and drove, Aiden shuddered from the image of his battered sister.

Piper || kjherstin || dafont

[Official NPC]

The wraith was losing. It had already fed a little on their fear, but the group was not one to be taken unawares. While some fell to its illusions, most were at least partially aware of what was happening and resisted its efforts.

But, while it would not be feasting today as it had thought, it could still feed on the scraps they gave it. They clung to their delusions even as they shook them off, and so the wraith followed them. Now they were aware what was going on and had begun to resist, it couldn't cater to their specific fears so it went back to generalities.

Corpses followed the caravan through the mist.

[Official NPC]

The shambling corpses dissolved over and over, only to be rebuilt from soil and grass and fog that morphed up from the ground and collapsed back in an ever-flowing cycle.

Skeletal hands clawed out of the dirt, bodies dragged behind them like puppets on strings.

An obstacle course of snapping jaws with vicious and bloodied fangs opened up the earth.

Shadows skulked in the mist, red eyes setting the foggy sky on fire.

And then it started to rain, and the dirt turned to mud that clutched tight to ankles and boots as if the very earth wanted to eat the travellers whole.

[Aiden]

Urging the horses along, Aiden patted one lightly before slowly down to linger at the end of the caravan. He didn't have to slow down too much, however, because once sent into motion, the train of wagons rolled at a steady pace along the trails of the bog. As he glanced suspiciously at the surroundings, Aiden knew he wasn't the only one to leave. Shadows in the mist told him that the wraith was still out and about, and frowning, he clenched his fists and glanced toward Isabel. She was walking a few paces ahead of him, so he couldn't see her expression, but he wondered--what sort of things had she seen?

In his peripheral vision, he saw a figure stumble, and he'd almost assumed that it was one of their own when he realized, with disgust, that it was yet another illusion of the walking dead. With morbid curiosity, Aiden could not help but stare in horror at the detail of blood and gore, of flesh coming apart, and of the grimace of the walking dead. Stomach clenching, he knew he'd throw up if he kept staring. He'd seen disfigured bodies before while surveying cases in the Guard, and most memorably during the Rowan Cavern incident, but it would be a very long time before he'd ever become desensitized to such images. So with a wince, Aiden jerked his attention toward the carts up front. Speeding up, he walked alongside Isabel, and when he caught her eye, sent her a grim smile of encouragement.

Faintly, he heard a muffled sob from the wagons.

Occasionally, he heard somebody moan in fear.

When the very earth started snapping at their feet, Aiden started with a yelp, as well. The horses had been so alarmed, one of the wagons almost toppled.

Miserably, Aiden wondered if they had already been lost to the wraith. It seemed as if they have walked for days. Of course, the macabre trials did nothing to shorten the time. As he yanked his feet away from the thick mud (an illusion, as well), he brushed the dripping bangs out of his eyes and squinted ahead, hoping to see signs of the weather clearing up.

Piper || kjherstin || dafont

((I should've posted this ages ago. Sorry! >w<))

[Official NPC]

The caravan provided a steady stream of food for the wraith, enough that it could follow them beyond the boundaries of the Bogg where it was usually trapped. For hours, it clawed at their minds with horrifying images, but all too soon its generic hallucinations weren't enough to engender the kind of emotions it needed to continue following behind.

As the caravan cornered the south-eastern shore, the mist began to clear. While visibility was still restricted, it was enough to feel like there was light at the end of the tunnel. The staggering corpses and snapping mud dissolved, and with an almost audible snap the wraith's hallucinations disappeared. It was forced to flee back to the safety of the peaty Bogg, there to lie in wait for its next buffet. For its victims, with another four hundred miles to go, tonight's camp would be fraught with leftover dread, but relatively safe, at least.

((ONPC considers their part in this thread finished.))

[Aiden]

From snarling monsters to the walking undead, the wraith kept trying to come up with something to keep its victims. But those repeated illusions could draw fear for only so long, until the caravaners began to realizes the images for what they were--made of air. So they walked along grimly, some supporting each other, and others pulling the horses along. Slowly and with little notice, the fog began to fade, taking the oppressive aura with it.

Aiden hadn't even noticed that the wraith had left until nearly an hour later, when he realized that he hadn't seen anything for a long time. As the group set up camp for the night and prepared dinner, they exchanged shaky laughs and small stories. Gone were the spooky campfire-tales from the days before, as it seemed to hit too close to their setting. As the night proceeded, the travellers took turns sleeping as others stared out into the night with dread.

They arrived at Danurai in the following midday with little incident, other than a sighting of kelpie wolves. No wonder then, that when the group parked the wagons within one of the plazas, Aiden breathed out an extremely long sigh of relief. The next hour passed quickly as members of the caravan, including Aiden, hurried to unload the boxes and put their horses into the stables. When all was done, Aiden bade goodbye by shaking Erik's hand, clapping Mihael on the shoulder, and nodding once at the rest of the crew. And as he walked through town to check it out before sunset, he made sure to remember each bit of detail and character. He had no plans to return anytime soon.

((Thread complete. Thanks for the wait! ))

Piper || kjherstin || dafont