Devil's Apocalypse

"Hmm, this is problematic." One of the mages spoke while standing a dozen metres away from where the mist began and holding something.

"Yes, it is not within our expectations." Another commented as they both observed the inside of an empty, transparent tube.

Another mage walked over and, seeing them so intently gazing at what they were holding, thought they would have something good to share. "How did it go? Have you learnt something already?" She asked while moving towards them.

"Yes, we have learnt something. This mist is a lot trickier to preserve than we first thought. Come and look at this, tell us what you see."

The female mage kept walking closer, a slightly puzzled look on her face at her colleagues' behaviour but still decided to humour them by looking into the tube, and seeing absolutely nothing. "I don't see anything."

"Exactly. That's the problem. This tube was full of lightly swirling mist not 2 minutes ago and now it's empty."

"Well, we already know that mana dissolves the mist so... maybe the seal is cracked? After all, the mana inside the container was snuffed out when it was submerged in the mist so residue left in the container wouldn't have been the cause."

"Seal's as tight as we can make it and I can't 'see' any mana inside either so, unless it's just so thin that it's invisible, the container is completely empty and, in the case of it being too thin, we can't do anything to make it better with current manufacturing methods."

"So we're stumped on ideas?" The female mage inquired with raised eyebrows while taking the container out of the other mage's hands in order to get a better look.

"Yes… it would seem so."

All three of them stood in silence, each trying to come up with a plausible solution to their conundrum. They even called over the other 3 mages that were testing the relation between mana and the mist slightly away from them in order to ask their opinions, but everyone was flummoxed.

"Then, if we have no better options, why don't we simply reverse the aim of the experiment?" The female mage suddenly asked, eliciting confused looks from her 5 other companions.

"Think about it, we have already discovered that mana and the mist, or whatever causes this mist like phenomena, seem to corrode each other upon contact, resulting in the mist being confined to this area while also preventing the mana from filling this place so, if that's the case, since we are on the mana dominant side of this not so invisible boundary then, as soon as we cross the border, the balance between the mana and mist will flip." Continued the female mage as understanding bloomed within the eyes of her colleagues.

"So essentially what your saying is, if we want to experiment on the mist without it disappearing, all we have to do is enter an environment where it doesn't disappear?" One of the 5 listening mages spoke out.

"Essentially."

If anyone from the initial exploration team had heard this suggestion, they would have immediately shut it down. But the mages were researchers, explorers, risk takers, even to the point of being labeled 'mad scientists' and didn't believe that any threat should stand in the way of their research, thus, instead of refusing the idea, they started discussing the pros and cons.

"What about the supposed 'monster' which lurks in the mist?" One of the mages asked, though not in any fearful manner, but simply in the same way one would enquire about a possible risk in a business venture.

"Well from the report we were given, they said that nothing happened for a long period after entering the mist, right? So, in that case, we just have to not enter too deep, yeah?" One of the mages suggested.

"I agree and, in the worst case, we can request a priest to come with us as their 'blessings' seem to be able to repel the mist." Replied one of the first 2 mages, who was conducting the task of extracting mist and securing it.

"It's an idea, but the priests have strange mindsets that I can't comprehend. They care nothing for progress and only do 'what their god allows them to' so the chances of them helping us are slim at best." The second of the original 2 stated.

"They are as inconceivable as those damn cultists who seem to cause nothing but problems. I still mourn Farlin, I had a relative there…"

Everyone went silent for a minute while thinking about the tragedy that was caused by the organisation now known as the 'dark cult', its name earned due to the insane and almost zealous actions of its members. While not being its official moniker, it was the one everyone knew it as.

"There are even rumours that the current circumstances were caused by them as well, those bastards should just go and die."

The group stayed silent for a bit longer before going back to the problem at hand.

"I think we should call it a day for now and reconvene in the morning after some rest and food. We might even be able to think of new ideas and we can't stay down here for much longer anyway." Someone stated, which everyone unanimously agreed on.

The group of mages packed up the simple work station they had ȧssembled and started carting everything back the way they had come while being escorted by the combatants that had gone down with them.

.

… A pair of lights manifest amongst the swirling streams, seeming to stare in the direction the mages left in before being dissolved into the mist once more...

.

Upon arriving at the base, they gave a brief report and cleaned all the equipment, which they didn't trust anyone outside of their ȧssociation touching, before eating some food and going to sleep. As the morning rolled around, no one had come up with a better solution despite their newly cleansed exhaustion so it was unanimously agreed upon by the group that they would enter the mist without going in too far in order to run some experiments.

Some of the group would also stay outside of the mist as, in the worst case scenario, it would be meaningless for all of them to die and were already grabbing the equipment they would need to run their tests. The original plan had involved them bringing the mist to the equipment but, since that didn't work, they'd simply bring the equipment to the mist.

After one more day of preparation, with the occasional glances from a few confused passerbys since they didn't notify the expedition leader about their plan, they were ready to head out.