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"Stiamo andando nella direzione sbagliata," Malodore muttered. Its tail lashed slightly then stabbed awkwardly into the gravelly path, plowing a furrow behind it as Riley continued dragging it along. The entire world looked hazy - not just the fog, now, but everything. Riley, Jericho, its own arms stretched out before it. All blurring together.

You know they're doing that on purpose, don't you?

The plague doctor's head jerked up - and only then did it put on the brakes, bracing its hooves against the pathway in an attempt to stop Riley from pulling it forward any further. "Who's there?" it said, sharply.

A giggle chimed through the fog. They're going to take you away. Don't fall for their tricks. Can't you see?

A brief bolt of what felt like sanity cracked through the plague doctor's addled mind. No, no, the maps had been a hallucination. It could see that now. But... but... what of its friends? It stared at Riley and Jericho. The dragon looked normal, eyes golden as they always were, but the ithilid wasn't... no, she didn't have yellow eyes, did she? Red, sometimes. But never yellow.

"Let go of me," Malodore hissed, yanking its arms out of Riley's grasp and inching towards Jericho. "Merde, Jericho, I told you she wasn't real! She hasn't been real this entire time! Look at her eyes!" It pointed at her and ducked behind the dragon. "No wonder we've had such a hard time keeping track of reality with that... that thing here trying to influence our minds!"


((Jericho lucks out with good natural eye color, I guess. XD; Heh.))

((ooc: profile @3@ anyone willing to have Petro practically barrel into their student? XD))

Petro continued running through the fog, still carrying Astra, still trying to get away from the shadow bent on taming him. If he was with the others the shadow would leave him alone, wouldn't it? He wouldn't be hearing the voices or seeing images of his companions trampled to death, would he? He swore under his breath, he was sure he'd heard Jericho's voice from this direction. Or did it come from the other way?

"Focus, Tro, focus!" He grunted, adjusting his hold on Astra in order to smack his palm against his forehead. The movement had somehow caused his knapsack to slip off him and onto the ground, the contents spilling out into a messy heap. "Anak ng tipaklong, just what I need." he muttered, getting down to his knees to hurriedly collect everything. He was too worried to notice the amount of map pieces had grown as he slung his knapsack back on.

Is this an invitation for a ride, pony?

An icy hand fell upon Petro's shoulder but the monster boil shot to his feet, ignoring the aching of his leg, and with a roar charged ahead.

His tail was nearly limp, dragging on the ground behind him, only the tufted tip flicking side to side, or was it only bouncing off the earth beneath his feet? He was so tired, how far had he run? Surely he must have reached the lighthouse by now!

Yet when he looked up, he saw nothing, only the emptiness of the fog, only the darkness of his nightmare. He had to be nearly there, didn't he? It could only be a few steps away! And so he continued on, dragging his injured tail behind him, leaving a trail of silver in his path. The next step it would be there, it had to be, the next step.

Give in, surrender.

"NO!"

Why do you fight, you know all is lost.

He shook his head, he wouldn't give in, he wouldn't give up. He would not surrender to the fog!

Gritting his teeth, Riley had a point here, regardless if she was by chance an illusion. They needed to get to the lighthouse. It couldn't be too much farther by this point. Relaxing again, he began to move before something came rushing out of the fog towards them. Turning, ready to fight it, he just saw Petro bowl over his friend.

Cringing at the sight of that, he frowned at the horse man.

"Watch where you're going... but welcome back I guess," he said while moving over to try and help both Riley and Tro up to their feet.

"This fog.. I've really had enough of it. I don't think I've ever felt so paranoid in my life."

(( IGNORE THIS K forgot to roll ))

Riley did not even look at Malodore as it so callously spoke to her. Her hands clenched the gravel underneath it, before releasing it. She took Jericho's hand, and pulled herself up using it. At least some of them were keeping their heads, sometimes. So far, they hadn't all lost their minds at once.

It's the little victories in life she clung to now.

I understand. She nodded to Petro. Sorry I snapped. You can imagine how.. She brushed her hand in the air quickly. Troublesome all of this is. Her eyes flickered up at him for a moment, registering his question. It was almost humorous. Let me guess. You see our eyes as yellow, too?

Riley finally turned, getting one good look at Malodore. There, in the glow of it's lenses, was that ethereal yellow glow she was seeing from Petro as well. Believe me. She muttered in a growl. We're all seeing that one.

She turned back to Petro, trying not to look too sullen. Come on, let's head out. She turned and headed back down the path, passing Malodore slowly as she walked. Her eyes betrayed a sense of hurt, but her voice sounded gritty as she sent him a private thought.

You.. are so lucky I love you. She growled out angrily as she passed. I'll forgive you for thinking I'm fake. Eventually.

"I wouldn't know what my eyes look like. I don't have a mirror," Malodore said in response to the eye questions, somewhat tersely. It padded up the path after the Riley-thing, though it shook its head slightly at the faint mental touch. The hallucination had been able to talk to it in its mind too - not just the first false Riley, but the voices in the fog as well. That wasn't proof of anything.

Still, the plague doctor figured it had two choices: go in the company of... others... or get lost in the fog and end up entirely alone.

If it wasn't already alone, of course - though it was pretty sure Jericho was real, if nothing else. The boil that had knocked over the Riley-thing was unknown to the plague doctor, so it couldn't tell anything about him either way.

... Candlejack, it was tired.