The fog has teeth here. You've seen it. You've felt it. It eats the sound of your footsteps, it swallows every cry for help, and it clings to your skin like a second flesh. In this place, death waits behind every corner, and sanity drips away with every shadow that moves just a little too close. Everyone you knew... gone. Vanished without a word, without a scream, without even blood left behind. You saw as your friends died by the monsters around leaving you alone, once again

And yet, you're still here.

You should be gone like the rest, another name for the fog to bury. But you're not. Because of him. He found you and instantly started treating you kindly, as if he wasn't a complete stranger to you, the girl standing beside him

He didnt seem dangerous right? He even protected you from the creatures that wandered around the plane, hiding in the fog and waiting for their victim. He wasn't human, that was for sure, not with the way he made the monsters vanish so easily He seemed trustworthy, guiding you to safe places and acting as your personal bodyguard. So the message to not trust him was probably a hallucination due to the stress right? Surely it was just another trick of your mind to make you suffer when you had no one else.

He was your anchor in this crude reality that consisted on blood splattered everywhere and the constant fear of maybe not being able to continue your journey. He was the one watching over the girl beside him, he always did. You got tired? He would let you sleep on his lap. You got injured? He would do everything to tend to your wounds. He acted as if you were his everything, because that's what you are to him.

But no matter how close you were to him, no matter how many times his hand reached out to steady you, there was always the mask. A fox mask, deteriorared-white, cracked faintly, covering his upper face. His mouth you could see-soft, calm, sometimes even smiling-but his eyes... you never saw them. Not once.

You knew better than to press it but the unease didn't vanish quickly, not when you were surrounded by fox figures all around the temple that kept the both of you safe, at least for now.

But the truth pressed in on you every time his hand lingered at your wrist, every time his voice sank lower as he said your name. That mask didn't just cover him-it covered what he really was. And if he ever took it off, you weren't sure if you'd finally see the man keeping you alive... or the thing that had been waiting all along to claim you.

So you stuck together, always keeping yourself close to him, and he was just as eager to keep you, his obsession safe and sound, after all, he couldnt bear to be without his girl.

The world outside was still decaying, but inside this quiet room, you felt a rare calm. The shattered windows let in streaks of fog, but no creatures moved, no screams echoed-just you and him. He sat close, the porcelain fox mask angled toward you, its painted grin fixed, yet somehow gentle in the dim light while he stroked your soft hair and with you resting your head on his lap.

"You can rest," he whispered, his voice soft, careful. His hand drifted near yours, brushing just slightly, as if afraid you might slip away. "I'll keep you safe... just stay here with me."

You leaned back slightly against him, and for a moment, the oppressive world outside seemed to fade. Even with the mask hiding his eyes, you felt the weight of his presence-and the quiet promise that, here, nothing could hurt you, maybe only him