Chapter 1: Endless Fog

The two boys go about their daily routine.

I sat there watching slowly as the light breeze drifted through his hair. He looked wonderful, never in a million years would I have thought that we’d have a moment of solitude like this in our twisted world. But I guess… It isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. After all this time, after all we went through it was only right after all.

I slowly reached my hand out. “Let's go, Amehara.”

He did not take my hand, he simply smiled back at me and stayed put on the flower fields where we currently laid.

“Riku… you have to leave this place.” His smile greatly decreased, as it turned more serious. The once beautiful white tulips that engulfed us had turned into red spider lilies.

“Come back when you’re ready, this is my only way of telling you.”

He started to move farther away, or was it me taking steps back? I reached out my hand as a silent scream ripped through my throat.

Then there was nothing. Nothing but black.



I woke up slightly dazzled, my ear flickered slightly. I turned to my left, a messy head of black hair and two rounded fox ears was situated right next to me, fast asleep. I slowly sat up, looking outside the window, the sun was starting to show itself as the vast fog surrounding our small village within the clouds slowly dissipated. I looked at him once more. His dark lashes and thick but even eyebrows furrowed as his even breathing slowly turned less robotic. His eyes fluttered open then landed on me. His dazed fiery lava red eyes squinted slightly as a dopey smile fell upon his face.

I smiled back, my pale almost white eyes crinkling slightly. I had been awake for a few minutes by now, so I wasn’t as tired as he was.

“Mornin’ Ame, did you sleep well?” I asked, lightly while helping him sit up.

The dark haired boy, Ame, lightly yawned before nodding. “...” He hummed, his fox tails wagging a bit.

I help him walk to the small kitchen we have, as he still hasn’t gotten used to his legs yet. An accident happened a while back regarding the high levels of fog that cost us a big portion of meat on his legs. Neither of us worry however, it always grows back. It was just another perk to our non-human bodies.

It's been three years since we became trapped here. Neither of us remember what happened, neither of us want to remember. Everyday is as mundane as it gets. We wake up right as the fog clears. We eat food together as I read my spell book and Ame sketches. We go visit the neighbor, and then we go to sleep as the fog comes right back. Today was no different.

Ame sighs through his nose as he puts his pencil down and starts to reach for his handmade crutches. He wobbles slightly and I quickly get up before he shoots me a quick glare and continues to try and stand. After about 20 seconds, he manages to successfully lean against the wooden crutches and shoots a grin at me.

I smile back, sweat dropping slightly and then I grab my coat and open the door for him and quickly close it after us. I don't lock the door as there's really no reason to. Only about 20 people are left in this village, and everyone is pretty spread apart.

I quickly walk over to the edge of our village, watching as below us is a deep white and blue thick layer of clouds. As I’m sure I've stated before, our village lives in the sky. I don't know how it works, but our little island would be a fun paradise if not for the fact that there's no known way to get back. We used to have over 60 people here, but as more people started jumping over the edge or running into the fog surrounding the island at night, the less people we had. As they never came back.

I stopped my musings as Ame quietly nudged me with one of his crutches. I turn my head and I spot the petite back haired girl crouched over a sea of flowers, quietly tending to them.

“Heya chibikumo!!”

She quickly whips her head up as her different colored eyes lock onto our forms.

“Big brother Riko! Also m-my name is Mukuro! Moo-core-row!” Her eyes that were once dull not even a moment before were now full of extravagant life. I laughed at her pout. “Alright chibikumo.”

Her life was harder than ours. While we only suffered a bit from the fog, she lost her whole family to it, and now only had her great grandmother and us.

I noticed the flowers she was tending to. It seemed they had grown a little from the last time I’d seen them.

“Ah! The red spider lilies from last week right?” I asked her, while taking a seat next to her as she gently watered the plants.

“Y-yes! Also I ap-apologise for my speech about the flowers before…” She muttered softly, “I just believe the flowers allow the souls of the dead to be given one l-last wish!! Which is why they-” She quickly paused and turned red apologising again.

I patted her head as I replied back smiling with a bit of my sharp teeth, “Its okay chibikumo, I actually liked your lesson on the flowers. It was pretty insightful” She brightened instantly and picked a few flowers to make flower crowns.

“This ones for you uncle Amehara!” She smiles, and I snicker in the back as I watch the micro twitch of Ame’s brow.

“I don't think uncle Ame likes being called by his full name chibikumo.” I laughed a bit as she quickly apologised. He bowed his head so she could put the flower crown on him. He gave her an award winning grin and she beamed. I sat down to enjoy this little bit of positivity in our mundane but horrendous life. We all quickly fell asleep, and didn’t notice that the sun had gone down, signifying the descent of the floating island in the sky down to the ground, and the heavy layers of deep fog that would soon engulf the village.

This was our first mistake, our second, was even more fatal, and something I regret even to this day.

Author's Note

Ritou is a tanuki, Amehara is a kitsune and Mukuro is a Jorōgumo!