Before her tentacles crash into me, I densify the air around me creating a slab of ice from the moisture in the air. Right before the tendrils slam into my platform, I leap from the plate redirecting the angle of my descent before I pulverize the ground beneath me.

I shout after I land, "Who are you?"

She raises into the air using her slimy arms of blood as she crosses her arms. She says, "I am an apostle of The Fog. You killed my younger sister, though she was a pathetic weakling. I can feel the fog in you as well. Why do you fight us?"

I hiss my words as I say, "Your kind is a plague on this planet. I shall not sit idly by while you corrupt the land and decimate our planet's resources."

she raises an eyebrow as she says, "Look around you. There is nothing but miles and miles of rock in every direction. You humans are killing this planet. We are the cure for your infestation, but you aren't like the other mortals I've faced. You're different."

I shout, "This doesn't concern my differences. The Fog destroys all organic life. How is that saving the planet?"

She lowers herself 20 feet from me with a smooth motion as she says, "Tell me, have you ever seen The Fog morph anything else?"

I stammer, "What?! No, but I've seen the lands you cover. There is nothing left afterwards."

She taps her cheek as she says, "Did you see the wastelands before we infested them?"

I squint my eyes as I say, "...No."

She smirks as she says, "So soldier boy operates off his orders and nothing else. Did you ever even consider an alternative to thinking you are good, and we are evil?"

I hiss my words with a deep hatred, "I've seen your kind maul men and your fog destroy their skin as they die in agony. I don't need a commander's words to decide if that's evil or not."

She crosses her arms as she says, "Tell me, has the fog ever attacked a city?"

I blink several times before I say, "We have defense mechanisms versus your gas. You can't attack our cities."

She giggles before she says, "So why can your kind stop us there but not here near your precious mines and factories?"

I say, "Hmmmm. Why are you telling me this?"

She leans on one leg as she crosses her arms saying, "The Fog's within you, and you used words rather than weapons at our initial greeting."

My armor of oxygen dissipates as I stand from my crouch saying, "Obviously you don't want to figh-"

A blades of blood fly towards my neck and organs at a breakneck pace interrupting me words, but before they attempt piercing into my skin, they halt their sudden speed. The woman says, "You're quite right, though trusting your enemies is strange."

I shrug my shoulders as I say, "I'm not some battle driven maniac. I just want to return to my family while making sure they're protected. That, and showing Allure the wonders of this world."

As I say so, Allure materializes from a cloud of blue forming overhead. I scramble before I catch her in my arms. I gasp, "What happened?"

She hugs me as she says, "I think the gods blessed us."

I pull her towards me as I say, "I thought you were gone."

The ice on my skin and body lessens until I return to my now gray skinned self. My power wanes until I return to a normal human along with an overwhelming wave of exhaustion. As my knees wobble, Allure says, "We'll need to get better at that."

The Fog's apostle walks up saying, "You should be consumed by now. How did you stop the fog's contamination?"

I heave for breath as I say, "I don't know. I don't know anything anymore. This is all so crazy."

I crouch downwards before I fall backwards keeping Allure on me rather than the ground. My vision blurs as Allure says, "Uh...I had some sort of seal, and he used the fog's excess energy for unlocking it."

The apostle walks up before she taps Allure's cheek where the tattoo now glows purple. She says, "This isn't a seal. This is an energy conversion seal. It absorbs the life force of whoever falls for this siren's charms...You fought of the infection with her...Wow."

My limbs numb as I say, "Are you going to kill us now? I can't move anymore, and I'm so tired and starving. I...I don't want to fight anymore."

The apostle snaps her finger as she smiles saying, "I'll handle this for now. Just rest Pyrex. I'll make everything...better."

As hordes of monsters surround us, my vision blurs as a single thought stabs into my mind before I pass out.

I should have gotten on that scouting ship. Fuck.