In the Dark

At the noise of the morning bell, Damian groaned in his bed, loathing the start of a new day. So far, he had lived through the outpost for a little over three months now, and he could finally say that his body had undergone drastic changes in a short period of time. 

His body no longer appeared malnourished, even forming a slim well-conditioned build after long arduous days of training. 

Swiftly getting himself ready, Damian was out of his room within minutes, now strolling through the large hallways built into the impressive walls of the outpost—eventually, he found his way outside on one of many dirt paths.

On his way to the food hall, Damian calmly attempted to inspect the clouds high above, only to find a thick fog obscuring his surroundings. A few weeks ago, he could at least roughly spot the silhouette of an unending black mountain far in the distance fading into the sky above. Now the foreign fog surrounding him had grown too thick, fully encasing the world around him—leaving his vision limited to only a dozen meters.

Thoughtful about the distant mountains he could no longer see, Damian pondered about his home; the ringed city, built at the base of the mysterious black mountain.

'I wonder whatever happened to that church? At least if I ever go back, I'll probably be completely fine. In fact, I may never see that church ever again now that I've become an Imprinted. I've got better things to do than revisit that dump.'

With serene eyes, Damian met up with his close friend, Aricin. 

Over the course of his time at the outpost, he had grown rather close with quite a few of the students; Aricin being one of his closer friends.

He had even spoken to Valyn, that recruit who had destroyed him in his first duel when he arrived at the outpost. Now the two would occasionally find time to duel each other on the regular. This usually always led to a close fight between them.

Lightly waving to Aricin, the two went on to the food hall.

"Sleep well?"

"Hardly." Damian stretched.

"Yeah, not surprising considering you got beaten pretty badly by Valyn yesterday. What's your record now, 4-10?" Aricin commented.

"What the hell are these lies you're spouting? We're 7-7 right now, he just got lucky this time." Damian grimaced in return.

"Right, sure, I believe you, 100 percent." Aricin rolled his eyes.

At some point, they made it to the food hall where they sat with Mika who had already been eating.

"...What do you guys think, surely they finally announce his return today." Damian talked as they ate.

While Mika shook her head in resignation, Aricin replied, uninterested:

"Damian, this is the 23rd time you've asked this question. He's been gone for a few months now, I don't think he'll be coming back anytime soon."

Damian sighed at the response. He knew there wasn't really a point in asking such a question. Instructor Kley had now been gone for far too long for anyone to care. Although, throughout his absence, Damian couldn't help but grow uneasy at the fact that an Imprinted had left the outpost the moment a strange fog began to enshroud the land around them.

He felt strangely trapped as the hazy fog slowly began to get thicker as time went by. Today felt especially eerie as it seemed more akin to smoke than genuine mist. It also didn't help to be constantly left in the dark about these sorts of issues by the other instructors.

Finishing up their food, everyone grouped up for the morning training and announcements.

As the students gathered, most could only follow the sound of the instructor's voice as the fog had become less livable for everyone.

"Attention, we will now begin rollcall! Listen closely!" Vaileck's voice echoed across the clouded field.

A back-and-forth between Vailecks and the recruits then passed by. 

Recognizing a few names in the calls, Damian listened for their announced presence.

This continued until the roll call had paused at an unusual moment. At the loud name being called by Vailecks, there was no reply. 

At the confused atmosphere, everyone started to exchange glances with their surroundings, in search of the named individual.

Uncomfortable, Damian waited for any sort of response in a slight panic:

"...W-wait, did someone dis--

Cut off, a student suddenly claimed that the missing student was taking a sick day due to something that had happened yesterday.

At the anti-climatic event, Damian closed his eyes for a moment, grateful.

'What did I expect, it's not like something was going to happen. Everything is fine, we're all well-trained and surrounded by guarded walls. I need to get over this irrational fear I've been having.'

As the day went on, however, he struggled to shake off his unusual paranoia.

— —

Far into the day as the sun strained to brighten the land behind a sea of clouds, the shapes of two unknown figures danced within an unfathomable mist. Damian and Yulie fiercely exchanged blows with their contradicting weapons. While Damian held a dull wooden spear, Yulie effortlessly fought back using a minuscule switchblade.

Unsurprisingly, even with the advantage of distance, Damian barely managed to fend off the ferocious Imprinted.

'It's like I'm getting hit by a train! Why does she always hit so fucking hard!'

From each strike of the switchblade, he barely kept his hands from giving out as he braced for every impact.

At the sudden strike around the center of his spear, Damian quickly backed away. Given the brief space, Damian unhesitantly threw the spear with all his strength before sprinting forward to engage in hand-to-knife combat.

Contorting her body in fluid motions, Yulie dodged the flying spear before grabbing it with her empty left hand. 

Paling at the sight, Damian pressed forward, frantically dodging the striking and piercing of his own weapon as immediate karma settled in for the risk he had taken.

'How is that even fair!?'

Now faced with the bizarre cohesion of a switchblade and a spear, Damian swiftly fell to the ground after a few unpredictable hits to the ribs and face.

*Clap Clap Clap*

The sound of a single applause then broke the tense atmosphere of battle as Damian lay on the dirt, defeated.

Mika appraised the engaging performance with starry eyes while Aricin watched with a bored stare.

"Good one Damian, way to get rid of your only advantage. I mean, who in their right mind would throw away something as useful as a spear? Not only do you get distance, but also an easier chance at offense. Well done, honestly." Aricin commented, sarcastically.

"Why don't you try and fight her then!? It's like getting hit by a train! How the hell does anyone catch a spear midair?!" Damian protested his lazy scrutiny.

"I would love to, but I'm just a simple human. Who would dare to go against the might of an Imprinted without any magic?" Aricin calmly rebuked.

"Yulie, that was so cool! How are you are you able to do something like that?" Mika chimed, ignoring their quarreling scene.

Resting for a moment, Yulie faintly smiled:

"It's just a matter of practice. If you want, I can teach you anytime."

"That would be great!" Mika replied, excited.

Damian rolled his eyes at the unusually friendly conversation between the two. In the time they've hung around each other, Yulie had actually grown fond of Mika—occasionally flashing an uncharacteristic smile toward her.

'Why do they get to be all nice to each other? All I ever get is a hateful glare or disinterest. Where's my share of goodwill?'

"It's all bullshit, are these people really my friends? Maybe I should go back to cleaning churches again—ahh…those were the good ol' days." Damian grumbled aloud.

"Oh come on, you wouldn't trade us for the world," Aricin replied to his senseless rambles.

Damian glared at the blonde recruit with a spiteful smirk:

"Hah..? Name a price and I'll take any amount of money over this abusive relationship."

"Yeah, I'm sure you would. Are you gonna get up now? You haven't moved since you got hit this whole time." Aricin asked, slightly amused.

Sighing wistfully, Damian pulled himself off the ground, suddenly strolling away from the group.

"Where you heading to?" Aricin questioned.

Without looking back, Damian gestured to the empty canister of water in his hand.

"There's a building nearby that has water, I'm gonna go fill up." Damian tiredly dismissed.

"Let me go with you—ya know, to follow protocol and all that." Aricin pitched in.

"It's fine, the building is super close, I'll be back in a minute." Damian waved away the suggestion.

Leaving the ambiance of constant chatter, Damian walked along a dirt path leading to a small cubicle building that stored water. 

On his way, he scowled at the ever-present fog concealing nearly everything around him—luckily he still had the dirt path.

'Seriously, how the hell is the fog getting worse? I can't see anything.'

However, as he made his way toward the building, a sudden loud noise caught his attention.

A guttural scream from an unknown person had echoed nearby.