“Are you sure that we have to go here?” Tia refusing to step on the unbalanced dock clings to a tree Palon is trying to rip her off of.

“Tia, you know this is the only way to get him back right? We have to be here. As creepy as this place is.” 

Palon furrows his eyebrows at Tia still refusing to move. 

“Fine you can stay out here with all the spooky scary monsters which you can totally fend off all by yourself and I can go inside and make a deal.”

“You know what! I will stay out here! You go make your stupid deal!”

“Okkkk have it your way.”

Palon starts to walk towards the town in the swamp, Luga as the surrounding towns around here call it. 

“Enjoy your wet shoes!” Palon barely heard from behind him.

“Why thank you!” He screamed back.

Tia was right, the dock had holes in the wood that made it like walking through puddles. Still Luga was their only lead. When asked, locals would jump from the name Luga even being spoken. One man simply pointed to the enormous willow tree that erupted in the sky, that's the town, it's in the trees. In-escaspeable, one old man told them, should be a prison. Thoughts started to flood Palon’s mind, sure the swamp wasn’t a sight like the Mountains of Romey but it had its own weird charm to it, what could insight so much fear in an entire neighboring town? Hairs spike up on the back of Palons neck, he turns to greet nothing. Nothing but fog. He noticed the water was black, as he could see a watery reflection of himself clearly. Anxiety started gnawing in Palon, the reflection was weirdly out of place, too tall and too skinny. He continued to stare at the reflection, the reflection staring back but the feeling of neverious did not go away. Palon now understood the fear of the town. This place is just not right. Even the buildings built at the top of the tree were too tall and had sections of house that seemed like it led nowhere. Birds seemed to be the only ones to pass through those doors and windows anymore. The dock itself seemed to wiggle and thrive on its own. Palon, pushed by the fog behind him, continued in fear that it would swallow him whole. From the forest the docks it looked like a short walk but now with the fog there was no telling how far Palon really was. The towns folk that they had talked to wouldn’t even go into the forest surrounding it. 

“We’ve lost too many animals to whatever the h*** is in there,” the same man from earlier told them.

Leaning on the tree she had previously clung to, Tia was starting to get impatient. This shouldn’t be taking that long; the dock wasn’t even that long. A sigh left Tia as she approached the dock. She began running to catch up to Palon. But her sprinting in hopes to catch up to Palon soon turned into sprinting from the fog that had swallowed everything behind her. A loose wooden board trips Tia as she is swallowed by the fog. Tia slowly reoriented herself, now soaked in water. A dense figure stands out shrouded by the fog. 

“Palon! I’ve been trying to catch you. What's up with the fog?”

Palon stands lifelessly in the middle of the dock, the fog becoming even denser by the minute. Blood is soaked through Palon’s shirt. He slowly turns around, eyes torn out leaving black voidless holes. 

His voice scratchy and confused, “Tia? Is that you?”

Both from fear and shock, Tia shuts her eyes tightly, hands over her mouth trying not to make a sound. 

“Please. Help me.”

Tia peeks at him, he's wandering aimlessly, bent over, whole body drenched in blood and water.

“I need help.”

Deep breaths, it's not real. It can't be real. There's got to be some sort of trick. Tia thinks to herself.

“please.”

Palon collapses on the dock, water seeping into the bug infested wounds that have appeared through his chest. Tia approaches, weary of this entity.

She grabs his hand. 

“Oh Tia, you're so kind. Thank you.”His lifeless body surges with a new found energy, too much for his body to handle. The blinded Palon unsheets his sword. “You're too kind” Tia dodges out of the way of Palons blind attacks and swiftly pulls a dagger from her belt and stabs him in the heart. 

Palon spits up blood. “Why?”

Tia doesn’t answer but instead gives the entity a cold look and continues down the dock.

Palon smiles and fades to fog. 

The rhythmic sound of the splash of water numbed Palons mind. Doubt started seeping into his head, surely the dock was not this long. 

Maybe I should go back to Tia. This is probably going to take longer than we thought. The ropes and the water soaking into the bottoms of his shoes were the only thing that he could sense. The rhythmic feeling of scratchy rope then wood gave Palon relief. The fog continued to get denser and denser. Palon clenched the dock rope tighter, he could no longer see his own hands. 

Rope, Rope, Wood. 

Rope, Rope, Wood. 

Rope, Rope, Wood.

Splash

The sound of something falling in the water.

Palon reached behind him taking his sword out of his holster. The bugs that would not seem to shut up finally did. The sound of dripping creeped closer and closer. Palon readied himself for an attacker that he could see, one hand gripping the rope, the other his sword.

Drip

Drip

Drip

It stops.

Palon continues to hold his stance but hesitantly starts to shuffle towards his destination. Vines emerge from the water and wrap their arms like limbs around Palons feet, dragging him from the dock into the pitch black water. Palon cuts the vines, searching for the safety of the dock. Searching for something to grab onto Palon can’t find anything. More vines emerge grabbing Palon and once again pulling him to the bottom. 

“Palon?”

“Hello?”

Palon tries to scream for help but water meets his lungs. Vines cover his legs and torso creeping up on his arms. He uses his sword to again cut himself free, but they won’t cut. He tries again but the vines keep squeezing tighter and tighter and Palons out of air. One last time Palon tries to cut the vines. They don’t cut. Vines cover Palon in head to toe, yanking him to the bottom. Crack! Palon is thrown straight on top of a boulder at the bottom. Still half-conscious, Palon gasps, releasing blood into the water and letting the black goop into his lungs. 

Tia continues to run down the dock searching for her companion.
“Palon?”

“Hello?”

No one answers. Although the water weighs her shoes down, Tia runs as fast as she can to the town. Come on. Come on. Luga can’t be that far away. Tia runs face first into a small iron gate.

“Hello? Anyone there? Palon?”

The gates open on their own. “Ok this is fine, not creepy at all.” As she continues through the gate the wooden dock turns into a stone pathway surrounded by land instead of water. Fireflies begin to buzz all around Tia, illuminating the view around her. Willow trees encompass the land, hanging down moss on travelers. The fireflies travel with her as she moves, never being engulfed by the fog again. Tia continues down the pathway finally arriving at town. Buildings misshapen and overgrown with moss greet the traveler.

“Great, it's a ghost town. Hello? Luga Citizens? ANYBODY?” Only cicadas with their song answer. 

“Well at least you guys stay with me.” she nods to her flock of fireflies. Coming up to the first building Tia sees, it's made of a mixture of materials, wood, stone, algae, whatever could fit into the holes of the weary walls.

Knock knock

“Excuse me? I'm new in town, I'm looking for a conjurer?” No one answers. 

“F*** it. I'm coming in!” Tia kicks the door in. Nothing, but it had definitely been a house. 

“WHERE IS EVERYONE?” Tia shouts, leaving the house. 

“excuse me?” Tia looks around searching for the speaker.

“Down her ms.” Tia looks at her feet. A small mouse stares at her and she stares back. 

“ms. you can’t just walk around kicking houses down, that's impolite, especially considering you are a traveler.” The mouse had small glasses even though both of the frames were cracked, his clothes made of algae knitted together and his voice was surprisingly deep for such a small thing. 

Tia blurts out a nervous chuckle,“Oh… yeah. Look I'm sorry, I'm just looking for a friend. Have you seen a guy through here? He's blond, got some armour on? He's also a traveler, we just got split up.”

“no one has come through here for quite some time.”

“Oh well I've heard there is a conjurer that lives here. Is that true? Can you help me find them?”

“I… I can’t say I'm sorry.” The mouse scurries away.

“No wait! Look, I'm sorry about the door! Ok, just time to find some magical person that I don’t even know in a swamp village that is deserted. Great.”

Tia returned to the house. It was a small little shack with barely enough room for Tia herself. She bent down looking under all of the moss grown furniture to look for mice that might be more helpful then the previous. Just rocks. And a piece of paper. Tia reaches back and grabs the note and pulls it out along with clumps of moss and dust. The paper was crumbled and barely felt like it was even paper let alone any writing material. Written on it- North-East Tia. 

“What the h***. Ok yea fine ok I'll just follow the creepy letter ok.” Tia left the house putting the door back in the doorway and arriving at what appears to be the center of the town. A circle of stone that looked like it had been worn even before the moss took over. The buildings were a smidge taller and had less moss on them. Tia looked at her group of fireflies as they buzzed excitingly at her. 

“Well I'm happy you guys are excited.”

Admittedly Tia knew she didn’t know which way North East was and even if she did she didn’t know where the sun was.

“You guys happen to know which way northeast is?”

They buzzed in a little formation of an arrow pointing to the left. 

“Ah I love you guys, life savers.”

Tia continued down the path which led to the water. Unlike the water by the dock there it was clear. Tia bent down to touch it. Her hand started to blister in the diseven water. She fastly pulls her hand out. Behind her a creaking sound penetrated the calmness that had claimed Tia. Tia draws her sword and turns around. A person shrouded in dark cloth, turns and opens a hatch in a tree and beacons to follow. Tia rubs her temples letting out a sigh. 

“Ok that's fine ok.”

Tia realizing that the person is unarmed, she puts her sword back on her hip and begrudgingly follows the shadow. The figure climbs down the tree hatch, Tia copies. The person walks silently and quickly, not speaking even when Tia asks anything. The tunnel appeared to be just a conglomerate of hallways with different ladders leading up to different areas. The shadow arrives at a ladder. 

“He's waiting.” To Tia’s surprise the voice was soothing. It did not have the same gruffness that the mouse did but yet it was young. 

“Thanks.”

The figure walks away. Tia climbs up the ladder opening a hatch that has been long covered in moss and dirt. Dirt rises and covers Tia’s vision, even with the fireflies still following her. Dripping fills the sounds of the room.

Drip 

Drip

Drip

The dust settles. Water creeps down the arm of a body on the table. 

Drip

Drip

Tia hesitantly approaches the water-logged body. Palon lays on the table lifelessly covered in moss, dirt and general muck.

“Palon, are you ok?”

Tia was greeted with silence. What the heck? she pushed her sword up against his nose to see if he was still even breathing. Tia fell to her knees as the sword had fogged up. Relief flowed through her. Tia began pushing the weeds and moss off Palon looking for injuries. It was hard to tell what was water and what was blood. Cleaning him up, blood filled her hand as she touched Palon’s back. She hauled him on his side but his armour was blocking the wound. She sets him down and pulls the armour off. Once again Tia pushes him to his side, blood still trickling down his back. Tia lifted up the back of his shirt and a gash from his right shoulder to his left hip let a rapidly steady flow of blood. She ripped part of his shirt and wetted it with water from a cantante on her hip. She began to attempt to clean the wound, by the time she was done the cloth was permanently red no matter how much she tried to ring it out. She had brought a needle and thread exactly for this reason. She laced the needle with the thread and began to sew Palon back up. She had also brought bandages for this reason too. She methodically wrapped Palon’s whole chest and shoulder with them and then waited. She waited until Palon would wake, occasionally trying to wake him herself and making sure that he was still breathing. She snooped around the room they were in, bottles of unspecified liquids filled the shelves. After Tia calmed down, she could finally look at the room they were in. It was filled with bookshelves and the one table with an overhanging light. It was like a makeshift kitchen. Tia picked up one of the books and tried to read it even though it was a language unknown to her, anything to distract her.  She flipped through the book as a piece of paper just like the one from the house fell in her lap. It read North-West Tia. Great another one. Tia got a long awaited nap in before someone shook her awake. Tia tried to blink away the sleepiness.

“Tia! Wake up!”

“Palon?” Sleepiness wasn't probably anymore. “Go lay down. What happened?”

Palon stumbled back over the table. “Vine monster. And you? You don't look well, what happened to you?”

“For reference I had a fog shadow. And I actually defeated MY monster unlike you. Oh yea it was you, actually and you somehow look worse now then you did without your eyes. How did you get ripped open and just stubble your way onto a random table?”

“That I'm not sure of, this vine thing pulled me under and dragged me against the floor of a lake which had rocks everywhere and it just cut right through me. After that I went dark so I don’t even know how I got here. Did you find the necromancer? “

“No, the whole town is nonexistent. I met a mouse who was no help whatsoever and a person in a dark figure, along with these lovely little fireflies who let me see through the fog.”

The fireflies twirled around Palon as a little greeting to the new friend. Palon shooed them off, a look of seriousness coming over him. 

“Well, did you ever think to ask the only person you met in the entire town if they knew where this guy was or if this person was the guy?”

“First of all, cut the sass. I didn’t have to stitch and clean you up. Second of all, the person was a kid and I honestly thought that they were leading me to this conjurer guy because I didn’t know that you couldn’t handle some vine monster!”

“Sorry.”

“It's fine.”

Palon grunted standing up and putting his armour back on. “Well let's go find him.”

“Is your back even ok to walk around?”

“Eh I guess we’ll find out.”

Tia signs and complies,“Fine, let's just go. I found a note that says to go northwest.”

Tia grabs Palons stuff and continues out the door. Tia once again asked her fireflies which way northwest was and they pointed the way. Tia led the way and allowed for half of her fireflies to be a light for Palon who did not follow with the same closeness as they did with Tia. Palon walked hunched over trying to not move his upper body. He was actually keeping up better than Tia thought, for what he had just been through. As they continued northwest the forest got dark and denser. Tia elected that they should stay next to each other, to not get separated again. They arrived at a little shack hidden by stone. Palon shrugged and knocked on the door. “Hello? Anyone home?”

No one answered. Palon prepared to kick down the door. Tia waved her arm in front of him. “They don't like it when you kick down doors.” Tia knocks, “Hello? We promise to not kick down any more doors.” she said in a sarcastic tone. The kid from earlier opens the door.
“Oh... sorry I was joking around.” The shadow says nothing. “We are looking for a conjurer or necromancer, we really aren’t sure what to call him or if he even exists. Do you know where he is?”

“You are in him.”

Palon and Tia awkwardly smile at each other.

“I’m sorry what?” Tia questions.

Palon pauses. “I mean we’re in a swamp. Wait, what if the necromancer we’ve been looking for is the swamp?”

“What? No?”, Tia pauses,“Well, it would explain why the swamp itself attacked both of us. Wait, are you the one who has been leaving in all the directions?” 

“I am a servant to the swamp so if it tells me to then yes I’ll leave directions.”

Palon bends down to the kid. “How do we bring someone back?” 

The kid looks at Palon. He reveals his hand, pointing at him. “You can’t.” He points to Tia. “She can.” 

Tia sticks her tongue out at Palon. “Haha I can revive people.” 

Palon rolls his eyes. “Why? Why can she revive people but I can’t.”

“Probably because I could defeat my monster unlike you.” 

“She’s right.” the kids nodes.

“Ha! Told you so!”

“Whatever. So how does Tia revive people then?”

“Do you have the body?” The little boy questions.

Tia looks at Palon for an answer but she can see it written all over his face. Tia squats down to the little kid.

“No, we don’t. Is there any other way?”

“I'm afraid not. The soul has to reconnect with the body, and without the body they cannot reunite.”

Tia hangs her head. “Thank you, sorry for almost kicking your door down.”

Tia rises looking for Palon. She sees the trail of fireflies leading to Palon. She approaches him. He is just standing there looking out onto the lake that he nearly died in.

“Tia what are we even doing anymore? We keep trying and trying but we always, always get the same answer. Every time we look for a necromancer one of us always gets hurt and I'm starting to think that it's just not worth it anymore.”

“Look Palon ever since I met you you have never stopped looking for someone to help. If you don’t want to look anymore I don’t care this is your adventure, but I feel like your heart still wants it. So maybe we just take a little break, get out of this nasty nasty swamp and do something else, bar hop, go for a hike, sight see, something different. Again if you really don’t want to look anymore I'm ok with that but let's just take a break for now.” 

Palon continues staring. Tia pokes his back wound. 

“Hey ow- .”

“I did not just give you a whole speech for you to say nothing and be all depressed looking! Let's get out of the swamp, go get your wound properly treated and then we will figure out what to do next, ok?”

“Ok.”

The little kid walks the duo out. Tia looks to the door she knocked down and is relieved to see that it is still standing. They got to the gate and the kid and the fireflies stayed behind the gates. Palon continued first down the dock as Tia looked back at the kid and fireflies and waved goodbye. The kid draws his arm up and slowly waves goodbye as the fireflies swarm around the kid, their way of saying goodbye. Tia turns and catches up to Palon. Unlike the first time walking down the dock there was no fog. They silently marched away from Luga, getting to the forest and both letting out a sigh. Tia, relieved they made it out and Palon, disappointed.