As I awoke that morning, the sun was already starting to rise and peak over the tree line a few miles behind. The once dark wall of forest began to turn a jade hue as the sun stretched over top and illuminated them bringing life to the valley. I dismantled the my tent and stuffed it into my backpack as neatly as I could before rationing out my food for the day. Ahead of me was a dense and thick fog that hung over the marsh as if to protect it from the sun. I could vaguely make out the path that lay before me but it was a struggle to make out the direction in which it was heading. Nonetheless I gathered my belongings and cautiously followed it onwards. In an effort to see if I could give myself a clearer view of the direction I was going in I unlatched the small lantern that dangled at the base of my backpack and lit it with one of few matches I had left. The fog reached high above me and felt as if it was edging closer towards me and closing in on me. As I lit the lantern the flame flickered back and forth before becoming tame and dancing gracefully in the cage of the lantern. I slowly extended my arm, the lantern did little but cause the walls of the fog to glow in a radiant yellow.

I ventured onward watching my steps on what now appeared to be a slabbed footpath of sorts, it was strange to think that though the area was seemingly untouched by the industrialisation of the lands around that this footpath was placed and led right through its heart. I looked behind me and could faintly see that the sun had risen to just above the tree line and was about to make contact with its first cloud. There was a chirping sound that was followed by a whisper, but it was coming from within the depths of the fog. As quick as I thought about following the noises the thought was replaced by the importance of my journey. For what felt like hours my feet carried me onwards atop the path, here and there I took a sip of water being careful not to take too long before continuing, and again the sound of a whisper was carried to me by a light breeze, where could it have been coming from? On all sides of me there was nothing but the blanket of the mist, this time I could just about see a tall dark figure in the distance. It seemed to be stood still, as if staring back at me. In the blink of an eye it disappeared and reappeared on the opposite side of the path. I must have been dreaming, there could be no way that this was actually happening. I took another step forward, and froze. The silhouette was right there in front of me, but only for a moment. It was gone again, leaving behind a feather and a bronze coin, not one of the standard issue coins however. It was a coin of a bygone time, dating back over two hundred years to before the conflict... Though I was shaken at the appearance of this strange dark creature I was more intrigued by the objects it had left behind. I knelt and examined them closer, the coin was covered in strange markings or scratch marks, it was hard to tell due to the lack of light. And the feather was littered with the most beautiful variety of colours, ranging from crimson to navy blue, it could not have come from a creature of this age. There were stories of creatures who were covered in such feathers but none of which were around today.

Thoroughly perplexed as I was, I delicately wrapped the two in a piece of cloth I had in my bag and continued through the mist. It was only a matter of time before I was out of there. But my mind was plagued with questions and impossibilities.

I often think back to this day and regret that I did not take longer to explore beyond the path. Though it felt as if I was walking for an age, in reality it was only a short time after lighting my lantern that I was approaching the end of the path. The sun was only just above the cloud it had first made contact with. I was missing something, something was hiding there in the fog. But those questions would have to go unanswered, as for the time being, my current purpose was strictly to get to the frontier. There was a long journey ahead of me and there was no time to look back and wonder what could have been