Min was in it for the team… but it didn't matter. The others treated it as if it were a free-for-all.

She glanced at the dense wall of inky fog. In the distance were their cries, echoing through the stone archways leading up to the exit. It could've been hers. She could've been the one screaming, being maimed by the beast with no chance of ever surviving. But she played the game exactly the same as everyone else did. She either had more guts or just sheer luck. Either way, she made it to the finish line.

Every man for himself, she thought bitterly. That was what the one stranger had said. When they were sitting around the campfire, he looked upon them from the slope of his nose, the fierce reflection of flames in his eyes being enough for her to not argue. She could see the lack of empathy clear as day within his rigid, icy glare. He wasn't a team player. So she wasn't going back in for him. As for the others, she didn't even know their names. They didn't ask for hers.

Their wails merged together. The song of death.

Min sighed, knowing what awaited her beyond the fog. It felt like getting far in a game, but there was no save button. Thus, she was sentenced to performing the same laborious, strenuous, soul-sucking level, over and over and over again.

As they all perished, she claimed her mirthless triumph by stepping into the fog.

Onto the next.

Nea was abruptly summoned from her slumber by Dwight's distant shouting. She shot up and looked around frantically, running a circle around the fire before realizing they weren't there, rather somewhere in the shadows of the wilderness.

"Where are you!" She hollered while dashing into the woods in an attempt to follow where his yells were emanating from. It was so hard to see but as she drew near, it was easy to tell that he was right in front of her. Nea blindly reached forward, feeling with her hands until they landed somewhere on his upper body.

"What's wrong, what's wrong?!" The sounds of something being drug along the ground had Nea squinting downward, trying to discern what the situation was.

"Meg, it's Meg. There's something out here! Help me drag her back!" He told her between grunts and gritted teeth. Nea knelt down and fluttered her hands all over the ground, palms slamming into crunchy leaves and dirt until she felt the soft flesh of Meg's forearm. She latched on and hauled backward with all her strength. Between her and Dwight, they had Meg's body back at the campfire in no time.

Matted in Meg's hair was a thick coating of blood, oozing from a sizable gash right above her ear. Nea and Dwight let go of her limp arms, which thudded onto the dirt like she was a ragdoll. As Nea caught her breath, she absentmindedly turned around to take a tension relieving step when she was jumpscared by the appearance of a young woman just standing behind them, observing the trio casually.

"Holy shit-" Nea gasped. She slapped Dwight's shoulder with the back of her hand to get his attention. When his eyes landed on the stranger, he did a double take.

Surely it must've been their newest companion, but strangely enough they were already smothered in blood, all but the same as them. He turned around to face her fully, taking in her jet black bob and uniformed t-shirt and shorts combo. It looked like she would've just come from some sort of event if it hadn't been for the grime and blood tainting her milky skin.

"Hello." She greeted them with a severe lack of warmth.

Dwight's hand twitched, so used to waving in response to an introduction. But he didn't have the energy to perform even the most simple action. "Hey," He said. "You uh… You know what's going on here?"

The girl crossed her blood stained arms. "Uh huh."

"What's your name?" Nea asked her.

"Min," She supplied curtly.

"I'm Nea."

"I'm Dwight."

Min's eyes lowered. "Who's that?"

Dwight and Nea both looked at the unconscious girl that lied between them. "That's Meg," He told her with a wobble in his voice.

"What happened to her?" Min asked, somewhere between concern and morbid curiosity. Nea raised her brow, also wanting to know the answer, peering up at Dwight's bewildered face.

"We were looking for that door, the one you tripped over," He began, looking at Nea, "And she found it, got it open just enough to see that there was actually something down there. Light- There was light."

"What?" Nea's mouth fell open, eyes widening. Min stepped over to them, realizing that there was bombshell information being relayed.

"Then there was this weird laugh. I couldn't see anything, but I heard something hit Meg and then the door shut. That's when I started yelling and you came," He explained while glancing worriedly at Meg. She seemed to be breathing just fine, yet the hit she took to the head put her out. None of them really knew what that meant for Meg. Would she have to go injured into the next trial?

"Holy fuck, holy fuck- Is it the way out?" Nea's voice fluttered with hope as she turned, surveying the darkness as if she could somehow spot the door.

Dwight threw up his arms, "I don't know."

"Well don't you think we should go back out there?"

"I can't," He said quietly, gesturing to Meg as his voice broke. "She's hurt. I'm staying with her. We can try again after this trial."

"What if we don't survive?" Nea asked pointedly, hands on her hips.

His eyes begged her not to start a fight. "I- I don't know. Then we don't survive- Like I-" He shut his lids, took a deep breath then looked at her again. "All I'm saying is I'm staying here with Meg, I'm not stopping you from going and checking it out."

"I'll go with you," Min interjected, nodding in Nea's direction. She reached around and pulled a flashlight from the elastic band of her shorts, using it to gesture toward the darkness. "Is it in that direction?"

Dwight sighed. "Yeah, just please be careful. It's out there."

The girls absorbed his warning, feeling the tickle of anxiety branch across their chests as they walked side by side, heading for the shadows. Nea tossed a glance over her shoulder, seeing Dwight kneeling beside Meg's still body, holding her hand as he assessed the injury on her head.

They once had their brief quarrel, but Nea really hoped she was okay.

Min clicked on her flashlight. It did little to expel the darkness that surrounded them. Though it was better than nothing, aiding in at least seeing a couple feet in front of them. It'd serve as a better means of spotting danger before it got too close to them.

For the first chunk of distance they covered, there wasn't anything of interest. Small bushes of flowers, useless shrubs, a thin layer of leaves and plenty of twigs. It wasn't until something reflected the flashlight beam back at them did the pair feel excitement swell in their bellies. Built into the soil was a square shaped, metal door with a handle extended out from the top panel.

The girls approached it eagerly. Nea was the one who knelt down, wrapping her hand around the handle.

"Keep an eye out for me," She told Min, who nodded with all of her focus being present. Like a spotlight, she moved the flashlight ray back and forth, combing through the foliage for whatever had hit Meg.

Nea lifted up, hardly budging the door. "Shit," She whispered. It was heavy as Hell. Grunting, she heaved again, finally making some headway. The first thing she noticed was the previously mentioned detail, which was the bright, blue toned light that seeped from the thin opening. Nea couldn't contain herself. She dug her feet into the ground and pulled, pulled and pulled until the door was vertical, allowing her to tip it just an inch further so that when she let go it slammed into the soil.

With everything they had become accustomed to, the sight of the wide open hatch was uncanny, as was its interior. They both squinted at the light that shone from it. The first thing that caught their attention was a flight of metallic steps that lead down pretty far. On either side of the stairs were concrete walls, giving little hope for them to scope out what they were dealing with. All that could be made out was an open doorway at the base of the stairs. They'd have to venture in to figure out what was down there.

It sort of made Nea feel queasy. It didn't seem as heavenly as it did in her imagination when Dwight was describing what he saw. The stairs looked cold and sterilized, as did the bluish lights. Knowing the morbid trickery and constant taunting the realm conducted, it wouldn't surprise Nea if it was all a ruse. Maybe more pain and suffering awaited them down there.

"Well?" Min asked as she leaned toward the open hatch, staring down the flight of steps. "Are we going in?"

Nea swallowed down her anxiety. "Yeah," She rasped. Her sneakered foot went forward, stepping onto the metal frame.

Just as she did so, a tsunami of black fog rolled over the forest floor, completely drowning the hatch and all the light that had flooded out of it. Nea despairingly looked around.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," She said loudly, watching a wall of dark fog completely devour the flashlight beam that had shone between them.

Just like that, they were consumed by the fog, thrust yet again into a trial of tribulation.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hey friends, so I just wanted to tack a few things onto my continuous editing plans for this story. There's a maddening amount of moving parts throughout this story- If you could see my master document of Into the Fog, you'd think my ass should be admitted into Crotus Prenn. I have so many notes, so many things I want to mention, tons of minor details that sorta mean a lot in the grand scheme of things. So I'm gonna be doing small rewrites of scenarios here and there, such as things like missing a "skill check", ya know, like I haven't had that happen and I don't wanna randomly add that into the story now. So I'm gonna weave it into one of the earlier chapters so the characters have the knowledge of that in our current chapters. There are a few other things I haven't mentioned, like there being two exit gates, something that NEEDS to be known early on with the original squad. There's plenty more that I'll be embellishing on, but those are just some examples.

Sorry for dumping my writer's trauma on you, I just wanted to let you know because if you're not beginning the story from start to finish after these rewrites, shit may not add up like you've remembered.

That's about it. Like I always mention, thank you guys for the love. I'm seeing in the statistics tab that there's many of you from outside the US reading this story, which I just think is so cool and makes me really happy that this fanfic is reaching so many places. I really hope everyone continues to enjoy! I honestly have some really big plans for this story and it does involve a sequel revolving around some of the newest DBD characters, but it's gonna be a long time till we get there because we have quite a few trials to go before our characters can reach their endings.

Anyways, the professional yapper is signing off. I'll hit you guys with a nice long chapter soon.

Much love,

MizzTQ xxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo