With Lex’s teleportation scroll, it was easy for us to arrive at the island. The map provided coordinates for teleportation as well. As long as we didn’t teleport into a busy place like a city, there was little chance for accident.

The island was small and deserted. Except for a thick forest in the middle, all they could see was coconut trees strewn around the beach. “Let’s go,” I said.

We didn’t see the black fog, so I just choose to walk towards the forest. As we drew closer, Lex suddenly stopped us. “Something... is observing us.”

All of us paused.

Lex was most observant out of all of us, so we were more cautious as we moved. A few steps into the forest, we suddenly heard a shrill screech.

Lex quickly read a spell that protected our hearings. In front of us was a brook, surrounded by trees. There were four or five sirens around, screaming at us with their horrific face. In the middle of the brook, floating a few meters above the water surface, was some sort of shining ball.

The shining ball screamed, “help me!”

Even without it saying anything, those sirens already noticed our presence. I was irritated by their mental attack, but facing five sirens, we really couldn’t act rashly. However, before I could command to retreat, Ryden charged forward.

I widened my eyes and held back the curses I was about to spew out. Emma didn’t have such qualms and directly cursed Ryden. “Fucking reckless bastard!”

We couldn’t leave him behind, after all. “Alright, we’ll fight,” I said to the rest of them.

“Yes, Captain!”

I brandished my sword and charged forward, Wilhelm right at my heels. We entangled with the few sirens in close distance. I narrowed my eyes. The tails were particularly hard and difficult to stab, while the upper part of their bodies were their main attacking forces that I had to avoid.

I managed to struck a blow at the siren’s face, and while it was stunned, I stabbed its tail. It screeched an unholy amount of voice that polluted everyone’s ears. Thankfully, my hearing was protected by Lex’s magic, but even then, I felt like my eardrum was about to burst.

The others also managed to kill the other sirens. We regrouped by the side of the brook. “Ryden, you bastard!” Emma exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at the young man.

Ryden didn’t seem bothered. “What?”

“Charging off alone like that?” Emma looked like she was seething. Even under the dim moonlight, I could see it turn red in anger. “Can you consider us? Captain hasn’t said a word yet!”

I actually intended to have this talk with Ryden later, but since Emma had hashed everything out in front of everyone… I sighed. “Ryden, Emma’s right. This is not the first time you just go charging in first. I know you’re the vanguard, but what if there are traps or other hidden enemies whose positions, we haven’t figured out yet? You have to let our scout do his job first!”

Our scout, Wilhelm, were off to the side, avoiding conflict. When he was mentioned, he just smiled widely. “I mean, I don’t mind. Less work for me.”

Emma and I both glared at him.

Wilhelm coughed. “Yes, Ry, let me do my job first.”

Ryden frowned, then said to me, “Okay. I’ll consider it.” He then went aside to bandage his wound, ignoring Emma who was still glaring at him.

I tried to stifle my sigh, then turned to Lex. “Do you feel anything strange around here?”

Lex’s eyes were trained on the middle of the brook. I didn’t think he even listened to our earlier argument. “Yes,” he murmured. “Something is floating in the middle…”

I turned my eyes to the middle of the brook as well, but I saw nothing in particular. “What is there?”

Lex hadn’t answered yet when I heard voices from the middle of the brook. “Oh, there are people! Please, help!”

I stared vigilantly at nothing. “Who are you?”

“I’m Anthony Hinston! My father is the Margrave… Please, you have to help me!”

Lex and I looked at each other. The others, who apparently heard the voice as well, came near us. “Is that really the Margrave’s son?” Wilhelm asked curiously. “But we saw him back in the city!”

“I’m guessing,” Lex said in a low voice, “that it’s his soul. He didn’t react at all yesterday because his body has no soul.”

His assumption was proven correct when the voice that identify himself as Anthony continued, “the witch took my soul and imprisoned me in this brook! Please, I have to go back… My beautiful Ariella needs me…”

I was a bit taken aback. He wasn’t concerned about his father, or as the future margrave, his people. “Who is Ariella?” I asked.

“My lover… Can you help me? If you can’t, it’s fine! Please, go after her. She is also taken by the witch…”

I remember Margrave Hinston said he ‘fell in love with a mermaid’. This Ariella must be the mermaid? “We better release him first,” I said. “Lex, can you do it?”

Lex nodded. He read a spell that I recognized as a branch of soul spell, but since I didn’t study magic in depth, I had no idea what it was all about. In any case, from nothingness in the middle of the brook, I started to saw a ball of light that expanded and shaped itself to be human. I recognized the face as Anthony Hinston’s. “Oh… I can see myself…” He looked down at himself. “Oh, great heroes, thank you! Please, you have to save Ariella…”

This teenage boy really had a love brain. “Do you know what’s happening in the city?”

Anthony was taken aback. “What happened?”

“The sea witch has taken over Losrift!” Emma, who was impatient, said. “Your father has to stay on the outskirt to be safe. There’s also Shimhand Town, which is currently on fire. Are you sure you are not concerned at all?”

“But Ariella is in great danger!” The soul exclaimed. “The sea witch want to use her as an ingredient…”

“Okay,” I cut him off. “Go back to your body. We’ll save this mermaid of yours.”

“Thank you, great heroes,” he said, looking at me gratefully. “Further north is the witch’s lair. She imprisoned me here because she knows I’m afraid of water… but she must’ve done her horrible experiments in her lair! Please… Help her…” The voice scattered as Anthony’s soul flown away—hopefully back to his body.

“Are we really saving this mermaid?” Wilhelm asked in curiosity.

“Of course not,” I replied. “We don’t have time for that. Do you guys not feel something off?”

Ryden, who was still a bit far away and probably sulking, didn’t answer. Emma and Wilhelm looked at me in confusion. I turned to Lex, who nodded. “The black fog. I feel it near.”

“Oh, yes!” Emma and Wilhelm both looked like they just remember. “We first came here for the black fog…”

“It’s in the direction of the north,” Lex continued. “I assume it’s in the witch’s lair that Anthony said.”

“Black fog and sea witch, not a great combination,” Emma muttered. I agreed with her.

“Well, then we can see on the way if the mermaid is there or not,” Wilhelm said.

I understood his obsession with mythical beings. After all, we came from a world where it was all just stories. In this world, except wizard and witches that were abundant, the rest we only knew from books and hearsays. Still, in this situation, I couldn’t quite appreciate the chance to see myths.

Something was imminent, and it made me extremely uneasy.

We kept walking to the north of the island, going through the forest that got thicker and thicker. I didn’t bother Lex, who concentrated on our surroundings. The uneasy feeling in my gut grew even stronger, anyway, and I didn’t want to bother anyone, not to mention being bothered.

Unfortunately, our team’s hyperactive scout and rogue extraordinaire, Wilhelm, kept whittering about mermaids and sirens. “The sirens were really tough to fight,” he twittered. “I wonder if this mermaid can be dangerous too. That Hinston young lord seems like he is bewitched…”

I kept my quiet, following Lex’s footsteps. We finally arrived before a cave, half-hidden with leaves and bushes. With my fresh-out-of-school knowledge of sea witches, I knew they originated in the sea, but particularly ambitious witches would not be content with mere water magic, so they moved out of the sea. That was actually the characteristics of most wizards I came across. They were ravenous for knowledge and obsessed with magic.

As our resident mage, Lex, despite not originated from this world, shared the same characteristic. Well, in the first place, he was scholarly. He was involved in many research of his university department.

All in all, it wasn’t strange that the sea witch chose residence in a rocky cave on an island so near sea. What was strange, however, was the darkness surrounding the cave. Not inside of it, but around it.

“What?” Wilhelm murmured in amazement. Lex looked uncomfortable with the surrounding, which was what I feel as well. It was the dark fog, surrounding the cave like a planet orbiting the sun. I didn’t want to get close, at all.

Ryden, who was usually in the forefront, now dawdled behind us, seemingly having heard our complaints from earlier. “Can you feel around for magic traps, Lex?”

Lex’s face was already pale for some reason, but he nodded. “There’s nothing I won’t do for you, Captain,” he said jokingly. “You’ve saved my life.”

I would laugh out loud if not for the situation. “Don’t force yourself. I don’t need everything, just give up your body.”

With a light spell, a spell that literally summon sunlight stored somewhere, Lex parted the black fog to the entrance of the cave. It was narrow, so we entered one by one, Lex being the first and I right behind him. “This fog is very weird,” Lex said softly. “The consistency is somehow thicker than the Umbras that we usually face.”

I agreed with him. That was why I called it the dark fog, rather than dark spirits. Usually they shaped themselves in individual energies, being the remnants of the dead that got corrupted, but now the dark fog was all clumped together. Almost as if… It was the one doing the corrupting, rather than being corrupted.

I held back my shiver. Looking back, I made sure the others followed closely behind me. This place gave me chills and I didn’t want anyone lost.

This was, after all, our first official mission. The missions before, during our Academia days, were monitored by magic by our teachers, so we had a bit of a safe net. Not now, though. Now we were all on our own.

On our own.

The cave was huge, unlike how it seemed from the outside. I was almost convinced it was by magic, especially since its owner was a witch, after all. There were, however, nothing inside the big rocky cave except for a big, boiling pool of water.

Seawater, I was supposing. This place was pretty close to the seaside, being an island and all. Sea witches came from all kinds of sea creatures. Remembering the one I saw in the city, I couldn’t tell what kind she was, since she was wearing a wide gown that covered her whole lower body. Though, the face was one of humans. Lex paused at the entrance, not daring to get closer to that boil.

I am not sure if we could do anything about it though. When we entered, Lex’s apprehension made me have some reservations as well. If our most sensitive members thought it was dangerous, then it was dangerous.

I could feel the heat from my position. Why would there be a natural boiling pond inside a cave, I had no idea. However, this was a witch’s abode, so I probably shouldn’t question that. “Can we go in?” I asked Lex.

Lex scrunched his eyebrows, but slowly nodded. He waved his hand some, made a magic shield in front of us. The soil under my feet felt oddly bouncy. I thought it would be hard, since it looked like a rock.

The dark fog was nowhere to be found, which made me on my guard. Lex took some steps towards the pool, and as we got closer, I realized it wasn’t water.

It was blood. []