Elemental Cats

Traveling through the fog, the only sound that Toz and the cats had heard were Toz's footsteps as he stepped on fallen branches and the rustling of leaves as he passed through the vegetation.

Not even the sounds of birds and insects existed in the silent world of isolation that was the fog. And every little sound that Toz and the cats made quickly died in the dense mist surrounding them.

So when Scrael carefully asked the others to be quiet because she heard something, they obliged. Any sound, no matter how quiet it might appear in the fog, would be far from quiet outside the fog. It also meant that the group was very close to something that might or might not be related to the source of the fog.

Being close to the next step in the mystery had the group carefully and silently follow Scrael as she led them through the fog, using her better hearing as a spirit beast at the fifth level.

And after a little while, it was clear Scrael wasn't having any auditory hallucinations as the others also began hearing the same sound. Though none of them could determine what exactly it was that they were hearing.

They had no way to determine how far away the sound was, but it was evident that only part of the sound had managed to travel all the way through the fog, reaching them. But from what they could hear, there was a lot of rumbling going on, not the kind that came after lightning, but as if someone was moving a lot of large objects or rocks and doing it haphazardly, throwing the objects all over the place.

Eventually, the group arrived close enough to where the sound originated from so that they could, with more certainty, say that it sounded like a construction site, with shouts and orders flying around, accompanied by the sounds of clashing materials.

But they still couldn't catch even a single glimpse through the fog, and it felt like they were in the middle of the sound as it echoed all around them and traveled through the fog in weird ways.

However, despite the thickness of the fog, they eventually noticed that some places were even denser than their surroundings, making it look like a solid wall of light grey fog.

Toz carefully approached one such place with his hand stretched out. And unlike the rest of the fog where his hand easily sailed through the damp air, he felt something solid resist the force of his hand.

The wall of fog budged as Toz applied more pressure on his hand, and he felt like he could push through if he tried. But he had no idea what was happening on the other side of the fog. And if it turned out to be the secret base or hideout of some criminals, he would be in big trouble if he just showed up from out of nowhere.

So instead of recklessly pushing through the barrier of fog, he asked Scrael for help since she was the strongest and had the sharpest claws. She opened a small tear in the barrier, just barely enough for Toz to peek through the barrier.

He didn't see much since the fog kept away by the barrier started streaming through the tear, filling up his view. But Toz still managed to make out large hills of dirt, rocks, and roots. He also saw a few larger wild beasts dragging carts of stones and stuff to those piles and dumping it there.

One of the beasts, that, from a distance, looked like a six-legged horse, walked close enough to the barrier for Toz to see the heavy metal collar attached to its neck, and although slight, Toz could see the glimmer of enchantments on the collar.

After Toz got a grasp of the situation, he let the others look as well. Though not for long since the tear regenerated and closed up.

From what Toz and the others had seen, they had stumbled upon a hidden excavation site manned by enslaved beasts. It didn't take a genius to guess that the beasts with thick, weighty enchanted metal collars and dead eyes weren't there of their own free will.

Toz didn't know how to proceed with the situation. An excavation of the scale they had witnessed was definitely not led or overseen by some weakling, and with the area of fog surrounding the site, it was obvious they wanted to keep things a secret. The fog was probably not the only countermeasure in place, or they hadn't seen what the fog was fully capable of.

It was highly likely that the effects from the various clouds and smokes gathered from all over the forest were stored within the fog and could be used against intruders when the disorientation wasn't enough.

Maybe trying to leave or getting close to leaving the fog would unleash its full capabilities in order to stop any witnesses from getting away and spilling the beans or revealing the excavation.

Not that Toz and the cats had any plans on retreating unless they were forced to.

With an excavation site as large as they had managed to glimpse through the tear, and with how much effort it would have taken to set up the fog barrier, there was bound to be something extremely valuable. Otherwise, why would someone go through all the trouble?

Maybe someone had discovered the traces or a map to an ancient ruin with enough proof to warrant the effort. In that case, Toz couldn't miss out on a chance to witness the ruins and whatever valuable artifacts or treasures were dug out from it.

And if the opportunity presented itself, and those treasures needed someone to take care of them properly, Toz could anonymously volunteer and relieve the person in charge of their responsibility.

Just thinking about how they had stumbled upon the possible excavation site of an ancient ruin after following a green cloud of smoke had Toz in awe at the power of coincidence.

With nothing better to do, the group settled down close enough to the barrier controlling the fog that they could take a peek at the operation of the digging whenever they wanted, and keep track of the progress.