Selene rushed to Sun's side, kneeling as she shook his shoulders.
"Sun! Sun, come on! Get up, we need to move!"
His weeping didn't stop.
Selene held his shoulders tightly, still trying to get through to him.
Sun's emotions were slightly exaggerated, similar to those previous refugees.
Selene watched as Sun's face dropped into his palms.
She released her hands from his shoulders and started to summon a pale light.
The light embraced them both and chased away the thick mist surrounding them. Sun's golden hair lightened faintly, as did his skin.
Caressed by the cold light, Sun looked up from his hands, and through teary eyes, he saw his pale friend sitting before him.
"Selene!"
Gasping through his strained throat, Sun grabbed at her robe in shock.
She returned her grip to his shoulders, lightly shaking him again.
"Are you done? Get back up, can't you see around you? We have to get out of here!"
"Selene, I... I lost more of our people, Selene... A hundred people, gone, just mist in the wind..."
"..."
She calmly looked at him in the eyes, tears still trickling down his face, but his breathing slowly settled itself.
"It wasn't your fault, Sun, there's nothing you could do about it..."
"Selene... I couldn't stop them from disappearing, I couldn't..."
"What could you do? You know very well that this is something above us... There was little hope for us in the first place."
She grabbed his hands, holding her gaze in his eyes, and consoled him gently,
"If you want to make a difference, you must do it now!"
Selene stood up, still holding Sun's hands,
"You tried to help them, no?"
"The injured at the riverbank, and the people taken by the mist; you tried to help them, that's all that matters."
"Even if it didn't work, don't stop trying to help others, Sun."
"..."
"You've lost people, but you don't want to lose even more, yes? Help me find Dawn."
Sun sat there silently, stunned, before finally rising.
Wiping his tear-stained cheeks, he gave her an affirming nod and was pulled along.
Thus, they began moving again.
With her hand laid out, Selene lit up the near area surrounding, white light chasing off the mist and carving them a path.
They did not look with method, merely wandering around.
They did not know the time, it was impossible to tell.
They did not lose hope.
They hoped to find their missing friend.
...
Leather soles left deep imprints in the muddy ground.
How long has she been wandering?
Dawn couldn't answer that, it wasn't like she was keeping track of time anyway.
With such an absent-minded face, it didn't look like she was focusing on anything at all.
Although as unfocused as she looked, Dawn's body was moving with such intent.
As if rivers could not disturb her, mountains could not stop her ascent.
The mist was thick and disorientating, yet it didn't stop her.
No emotions were surging through her.
The silence and emptiness could not bother her.
Nor did the assault of winds and whispers
Without realising it, the ground fell before her, a great sea of grey reached to the horizon.
Dawn had travelled to the top of the mountain.
Looking down, she gazed upon the mist that swallowed the lands and even reached towards the skies.
Somewhere out there were faint sensations.
Calamity.
Confusion.
Defiance.
It was a mixture of pure feelings.
One of them was her father.
She was filled with awe; even if she couldn't see them, even if she could barely hear them, even if they were so far out of her reach, she could feel so much at this distance.
For the first time since entering this mist, a mixture of emotions surged throughout her.
She continued to watch towards the direction of these sensations.
...
A loud and ferocious growl shook the air.
A demonic figure stood mighty in the air, throwing down its open hands as a heavy weight fell from above.
Waves of mist crashed; it was thick enough to feel solid, slamming down like a wall of steel.
The waves pursued a ragged figure, who was like an ant in comparison, yet they effortlessly dodged the successive attacks.
The ragged figure waved their hand in retaliation.
A myriad dots of white light manifested and shot out like heavy rain, piercing the misty waves and upwards to the demonic figure.
"Oh, Immortal Defiance, your efforts are all in vain..."
It sighed with mockery, simply opening its arms and embracing the approaching lights with arrogance.
Each beam collided with a blinding flash, yet no light pierced through the demonic figure's menacing armour or robes.
Suddenly, it fell from the sky, swinging its fist like a hammer and slamming into the Immortal.
"Your end is near... and your people are soon to follow..."
It swung again and again, pummeling relentlessly into the Immortal's face and chest.
Twisting its body with fierce speed, the demonic figure smashed its fist into the Immortal, sending the ragged figure flying.
The Immortal struggled to steady themself.
Sneering in disdain, the demonic figure mocked.
"You still refuse to embrace your grave!?"
Another figure descended behind the Immortal, placing him between the misty demonic figure and a rather twisted demonic figure.
Its pitch black skin peeling off and scattering in the wind like ash, a vicious red aura pluming off its face like a flame.
"Your Star Gazing Settlement has been reduced to nothing, your people will soon fall, as will you!"
Coughing a mouthful of blood, the Immortal managed to laugh through his strained throat.
"So what if I die here now? I'll gladly dig my own grave, but I'll never step into it so easily!"
Bursting with tremendous aura, he shot to the sky with a grand presence.
He looked towards the peak of a lone mountain, through the thick mist, at the star-struck girl gazing up.
'Daughter...'
He spoke loudly in the air like the world was his audience.
"This is what it means to follow the stars! To pursue light! To defy Night's embrace!
Walk through the flames and dance on the coals!
Fly through the clouds and sing as you fall!
Swim through the abyss and laugh as you sink!
"Do we not struggle like the stars? Mired in hopelessness, we still shine so brightly!"
The two demonic figures watched as he rose higher, his voice still loud against the howling winds.
Shining gloriously, Immortal Defiance embraced the misty sky with open arms.
He recited quietly, as if speaking solely to himself.
"The Heavens and Night are indifferent, embracing death is inevitable, yet we struggle for life."
"Thus, suffering is natural, we always experience difficulties as we pursue a Way."
"Thus...!"
A golden light surged throughout him, white bled into gold as he burst out tremendously,
"To defy is to live... to defy you, Demons, is to live, to defy Night is to live.
The act of living itself is... defiance!"
A blinding light surged intensely before collapsing on itself, releasing a massive wave of golden light.
The two demonic figures shielded themselves as they were enveloped by violent shockwaves.
...
Dawn looked up, she could see it, where the mixture of sensations was swallowed by one.
A blinding light lit the world; the sea of mist was pierced by a warm, golden glow as the winds bellowed.
Despite the light intensely tearing into the thick mist and fog, it was rather gentle as it embraced her.
Then, something whispered in her ears.
"The act of dying... is to succumb. Yet, in my final moments, I continue to defy, even in death."
"Father..."
The voice was waning, quieting below a whisper, yet it still spoke in an unwavering tone.
"In my final moments, I have not regretted walking my Way, I have stuck true to my beliefs till the end."
"On the eve of my death, I see you here, looking beyond the mist. You wish to seek higher power, right?"
"You have embraced my lineage, a successor of my Way, but you must not find purpose in your end as I have."
"..."
"Continue living, my Daughter."
...