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Arachne's head snapped upwards - had that been Sepheran's voice? She moved a little away from the group and shouted his name, straining to hear an answer after she did so, unaware that he was being attacked.

THUD!

Clearly not looking where you were going had its disadvantages, or maybe he had assumed the figures in front of him (familiar though they seemed) had only been illusions of the fog. Either way, it was with a resounding thud that he had crashed into something very solid, tumbling to land sprawled out on the ground.

"Owww..."

A hand went to his head, what had he hit? A rock? No, it had felt very different than a rock, it had felt...organic. What the...

"Jericho?"

His eyes focused in the haze, finally settling on the figure of the other dragon. He was back with the group? They were all alive, they hadn't killed each other? His gaze shifted from person to person uncertainly, he was certain their eyes had not looked like that before.

"Are you real?"

Draven had begun walking down the path to the lighthouse...he didn't know how long ago. One moment it seemed like it had been forever, the next, only moments. The fog was all there was. As far as he could tell, he was still on a path, though if it was the right one he wasn't sure. Sometimes, he thought he could hear other students, but he never did see any. Not at first, anyway.

He lumbered along, his flashlight of little help in the fog. He wasn't one to panic. In fact, when this started, it had almost been fun. but after a while, or perhaps no time at all (he couldn't tell), it had begun to be considerably less fun. With each moment, he felt a little bit more alone, and a little farther from making it home. As this feeling set in, he started to feel more and more unsettled. Perhaps he should have made sure to stick with a group? Not that it would have helped much, he thought, with all this fog.

There! What was that? Voices? Whispers? It had to be other students, right? He knew there were other beings on the island...but surely they wouldn't be so chatty. Draven stopped, trying to pinpoint the voices. They seemed to be coming from everywhere. The fog itself, almost.

If he could find the voices, he could find the other students. He could finally be out of this smothering fog. Over that way?

Can you see me?

The voice was odd...not like anything he'd ever heard before. Considering he lived in Halloween, that was a bit of a surprise. It could have been a student, "Who are you? Where are you?"

I can see you.

What does that mean? "Where are you?" He turned, shining he flashlight arou--wait. Where did his flashlight go?

Can you see me? I can see you.

"Who are you? Where are you?" Draven asked again. "I can't see you. Where are you?" He wanted out of this fog. The other student, if that's who it was, was not helping. Of course, if he had his flashlight--he reached for his bag, surely he'd put it in there. Only his bag wasn't there. Where...where had that gone?

Can you see me?

"No. I can't see you. Where are you? Why don't you tell me where you are?" No help. No help at all. He was here, wherever he was, without any of his supplies, lost in the fog with a student who was simply asking him stupid questions. Things...things were not fun anymore.

I can see you. You are lost. And you will never be able to find me. Or your way out. Or anything else.

"What?" That didn't make any sense. Wh-why wouldn't he be able to find his way out? There were others here. Therefor, he couldn't be that lost. "Where are you?"

No answer.

"Where are you? Who are you?"

Again no answer. The mist swirled. Draven thought he saw--was that his pack? It had to be. He walked over and picked it up. It was empty. "What? Where, how?"

Lost.

"Huh? Who are you? What do you mean? Why won't you help me?"

No answer.

What was going on? Was he being toyed with? Who was playing this game? Why did they take his stuff? Why won't they talk? Why was he here in this mist, alone? What was he doing here? Where did this mist all come from? Draven sank to his knees. What was going on? He was lost. He couldn't find what he was looking for. He couldn't see it. He couldn't find anything. He was looking for...what? The mist was here.

"I can see you," he said to the mist. That had been who was talking. Not a student. There were no more students. Just him and the mist. He sat on the ground, holding his pack. "I can see you."

The mist swirled around him. It had been here, always. He'd been here, always, too. That was the way it had alwa--what was that? There was a piece of paper. It was...it was his map piece. Right, he'd found that after...after he wasn't sure. But he'd had more of them.

The mist swirled again. There were more...more pieces. That was wrong. He'd not had that many. Where, why, what was going here? Draven reached out to grab another piece. He couldn't. He couldn't grab them. "Why?" he asked. Why couldn't he touch them? Why was he trying to grab them? Why did he want them? He couldn't remember.

He reached out again and found...what was that? Oh. It was his flashlight. Right. That helped, that helped to see things. He turned it on. It revealed nothing. Only the mist, only the pieces of the map that weren't his. No...he'd had more pieces. Where were they? Draven got to his feet, one hand clutching his bag, and the other his flashlight. He'd been collecting the pieces. He should keep trying. The map would help. It would help him find his way out of the mist. He wanted out of the mist.

Draven clutched what of his belongings he had, as he reached searched for his missing map pieces. Whenever he found a solid piece, he kept it.

((GrnGriff))

Hearing the familiar voice, Jericho looked to see that it wasn't a reaper that had attacked him. It was just Sheridan. Blinking at the other dragon, he started to try and untangle himself from him so they could both get up.

"I'd hope that I'm real," he said with a faint grin, "Glad to see you're back. But we better get moving. Don't want to get left behind."

Dusting himself off, he glanced around at the others, spotting Malodore and Riley further ahead. It looked like Mal had finally come to his senses regarding Riley. Thank Jack for that.

"That's always a good thing. I don't think I'd like being a dracolich all too much," he said. Then, remembering what he was trying to do before he was knocked over, he looked around, but saw that Mac had taken over there. Lizzy looked like she was alright at the least... though Mac's method to move Charlie was... interesting.

Nodding to Sheridan once more, he went and picked up the pace so that they wouldn't be too far behind all the rest.

"Oooh I see why you're so insistent on staying with the others. You're too weak to be on your own. You really are pathetic."

"You're lucky you don't have a face or I'd punch it in ages ago," growled Jericho under his breath.

She was far too tired to wake up, even when she was shifted around; she did, however, stayed silent for a while... Until she heard Sepheran's voice calling her name. That prompted her to groan as she hugged Mac tighter, muttering something incoherent under her breath. She was still sleeping, but it wasn't that deep a sleep; she just hadn't woken up yet because she was so worn out from before... Sometimes, she thought she could hear what the students around her were saying, but it was difficult to tell if the voices really belonged to them, or were a figment of her imagination.

"Sepheran..." She forced herself to open her eyes a crack, being awake long enough to hear Mac say something about staying behind for Sepheran. She smiled as her eyes closed again, "Thanks, puppy... Sorry... Put me down...?"

It must be tiring, having to carry her; although she appreciated it, she wasn't sure if Mac could last. Besides, if something attacks them now, she would be pretty useless... She didn't want to be left behind - it was a thought that had always scared her - but if needed...

"Down..." She muttered again, pushing against the Reaper's shoulders with what little strength she has.

Arachne looked at Mac and Elizabeth and give a short shake of her head.

'I'm staying too.' she had now heard what Mac had and balled her hands into tight fists, squinting into the fog, hoping to catch sight of the missing boil.

A quick glance at the group made Riley pause in her step, turning to watch them all warily. Why have we stopped? She asked them all at once. She hadn't heard the scuffles of battle nearby, but it wouldn't have mattered. If you're waiting for someone, they have a better chance of catching up to us if we keep moving. Staying still in one place doesn't solve anything - and it only makes us sitting targets.

The gravel at her feet shuffled lightly, disturbed by a disquieting wind. She looked down at the ground, tilting her head just slightly. The gravel she knew to be there was gone, replaced by a coarse, grainy sand. It was red, lifeless land - she knew it well. When her eyes followed the path behind her, she found all of her group standing on her home soil.

Her hand clenched tightly in Malodore's claw. I'm having a hallucination. She calmly warned it, feeling a sense of empowerment from knowing she was hallucinating, and reacting appropriately. You're all here, though. She watched Jericho step over an obstacle in the road that, to her, was invisible - and she knew that the students she saw before her were real. Only the environment was not.

She turned her head to look at Malodore, sensing nothing out of the ordinary from any of them. Even its eyes were still that odd shade of yellow. It was only their surroundings that-

A dustcloud formed several yards away. She knew that dustcloud. She knew what it meant. Her eyes remained on Malodore. I'm about to hallucinate an attack. I think.. I think if I don't watch.. The dustcloud took on a distinct shape. Mounted illithid strode through the dusty plains toward the group. She saw them through her peripheral vision, but refused to look anywhere but Malodore's eyes. Just don't let go of my hand. No matter what happens, don't-

She heard the first few screams, and she knew the students behind her were no longer real. Her eyes shut tightly, and she turned her head away. She would ride out this hallucination, this greatest of fears, and she would not let it win.

The sickening crunch of breaking bones coupled with the sweet, enticing smell of freshly unearthed brains nearly drove her mad. She could hear Jericho screaming for help behind her, and her face tightened as the sound turned to nothing more than a gurgle of blood through his throat.

Finally, the worst came. She felt the soft tugging of Malodore's hand. She heard it begging her to look, to save it. She heard it scream her name in agony. Even then, all it asked was to look at it before it died.

Her eyes remained closed. If she watched Malodore cruelly destroyed by her own kind.. she knew she would lose her mind.

Listening to it was almost doing the job on it's own.