Chapter 77: The Fog Island [17].

"How are you doing, Cedric? That looks ugly," Aldrus said, pointing at his forehead.

"Not so good, to tell the truth. My head’s killing me."

"Yeah, that makes two of us."

Cedric looked at him inquisitively. "What do you mean? Are you hurt too?"

Aldrus shook his head.

"I don’t know. Aiden said it was a specter; it got in my head when we were separated. I feel terrible even though it didn’t hurt me... I think."

Cedric listened to him carefully as he explained. It was when the specter was mentioned that his eyes flickered with recognition. He realized, thanks to Aldrus’ description, that he had most likely been attacked by a specter himself and wondered if Alice had been attacked too. There was no way to be sure, but, judging by her current condition, that did not seem to be the case. There had to be other monsters lurking in the fog.

"I see. The same thing happened to me," the blond boy said simply as he carried wood over to the agreed-upon building spot.

"Wait, really?! But your wound..." Aldrus followed behind.

"Ah, I did that to myself."

Wha—? Oh...

"Huh, well, I guess that’s what it’d come down to if you were alone..." Aldrus said awkwardly.

Cedric did not answer. Instead, he calmly asked, "So, what about you? How did you manage it?"

Aldrus flinched a little.

"How did I do it, you say... Well, um, it was Aiden... I, uh, asked him to punch me in the face," Aldrus said, glancing away.

Cedric remained silent and crouched down as he worked, his back turned to Aldrus.

"So? Was it enough?" he asked in a serious tone after a while. Aldrus could not see his expression, but he sensed something was off.

"Um... Sorry, what do you mean?"

"I’m asking if just that punch was enough."

"Ah, o-of course not! I really struggled to stay conscious there, you know? I just couldn’t ask Den to hit me any more than that. You know how he is," Aldrus explained while waving his hands frantically, even though Cedric was not looking.

A few more seconds passed in silence, and Aldrus began to grow very uncomfortable until he finally heard Cedric sigh and turn around.

"Didn’t I tell you that you’re a terrible liar, Aldrus?"

Eh...

Aldrus was taken aback by those words; he had not expected anyone to notice, or, at least, not so soon. But his friend’s eyes did not lie, and he knew deep down his bluff had failed. Thus he began twirling a loose strand of his hair as he spoke with the voice and attitude of a guilty child caught being naughty. The only difference—what he had been hiding was far from a kid’s mistake.

"...You did. You did tell me," he confessed.

"Show me," Cedric demanded.

"..."

Aldrus did as he was told. He slowly opened both of his hands, revealing several shallow cuts from his fingertips down to the wrist.

"I realized I wouldn’t be able to resist on willpower alone. I woke up lost and there was no one by my side. I was... losing. I was so close to falling back into a deep slumber; nothing else came to mind. I couldn’t believe I kept getting weaker and weaker even after I had reunited with Aiden, and even after I had forced myself awake through the pain. The punch was merely what I needed to hold on a little longer. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept it hidden from you. I just didn’t want to—"

"You didn’t want to worry us. Yeah, I know. Forget it."

"Cedric..."

"It’s fine. I know you had your reasons, and I think you made the right call. At least for a while."

"What do you mean?"

"...Aldrus. We’re dying here. Whatever you did back there, I think it was worth it; you survived. But right now, at this very moment, you’re safe. You’re with us, not alone. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the day after. I don’t even know whether we’ll make it out of here or not, but now we’re together. We are a group. And if you keep harming yourself without us knowing about it, we won’t be able to tell what we did wrong if you die on us. Please think about how other people would feel if you were no longer here. Don’t dump that burden on us."

"...I understand. I’m truly sorry, Cedric. Even after you told me how you hurt yourself, I couldn’t bring myself to open up in return. I’ll tell the others, too."

The blond boy sighed again.

"If you get it, that’s fine."

"Yeah..."

"Ah, and by the way, Aldrus."

"Hm?"

"How come Aiden didn’t notice?"

"Ah, that... Well, as you can tell, this place is as muddy as it gets. The fog, the dirt, even Alice’s blood—everything here is either a good cover or nice makeup. I just made sure to keep my hands out of his sight as much as possible. It’s not like he could distinguish the filth from genuine cuts..."

"Bastard. You’re so clever and stupid at the same time." Cedric huffed, picked up more wood and walked away. As his silhouette faded, only his voice remained. "You’re coming or not? Hurry up, or the fog will swallow you!"

***

"Huff... Hey, is this enough? Will it hold?" Aldrus asked.

Cedric dropped flat on the ground, exhausted.

"I’m not sure. With this storm... Let’s just hope it doesn’t get any worse."

"Yeah... Well, rest for now. I’ll go tell Aiden and Alice that it’s done."

"Don’t get lost out there," the blond boy said, dismissing him with a wave of his hand.

Aldrus then left and, a few minutes later, he returned with Aiden and Alice.

"How... cozy?" The girl mumbled.

"If you don’t like it, go sleep outside, blondie."

Alice chuckled.

"It seems you’re doing just fine, Cedric. Thank you."

"What for?"

"For taking care of me while I was unconscious."

"Tch, whatever."

"Now, now. Please sit down; we covered the ground with leaves and branches. It’s not fancy, but it’ll keep us dry," Aldrus explained.

He and Cedric had built something close to a cocoon made out of timber. They had no way to add a proper roof, so they had chosen a place under thick trees to make up for it; those cast deep shade to help them sleep and hide, and the treetops sheltered the fragile little lean-to from the rain.

Soon, they all sat down in a circle as they had grown used to doing and rested in silence for a long time. Eventually, they stole glances at each other, and Alice found her voice first.

"So, we have important matters to discuss. Aiden," she prompted him.

"Yes. Aldrus, Cedric." Aiden looked at them. "If I’m not mistaken, we’re getting closer to the northeast coast."