Then it hit me, a cold rush down my spine.
Oh no.
I was supposed to show up at the academy two weeks ago. Two weeks.
My chest tightened as the realization sank in. I'd missed everything. Now I'm busted.
They'll probably reject me again. The thought gnawed at me, louder than the growl of hunger that had plagued me earlier.
I pushed my chair back and rose quickly, brushing the dust from my pants as if that would somehow erase the truth. "Hey, old man, listen. I'm grateful for the food… and the shirt, really. Thank you. But we have to go."
My voice was rougher than I meant it to be, too sharp for someone who had shown kindness, but urgency clawed at me.
I turned toward Nellie who still sat unmoving, and hadn't even touched her plate. "Come on, Nellie." I said, forcing steadiness into my tone. "Let's go."
The old man didn't argue, he didn't even look at me. He simply lowered his gaze, hands folding together in his lap, the silence around him heavier than words.
---
We left without another word as I forced myself to lead the way, though every step felt heavier than the last. Something was off. The ground was soft beneath my bare feet, uneven, almost spongy, littered with fallen branches that cracked faintly underfoot.
It didn't take long for the truth to settle in my gut like a stone – I'd taken the wrong path. My thoughts had wandered, and in my distraction I had led us straight into the woods.
Great, just perfect. Now I'm lost.
The air shifted as we went deeper. The woods thickened around us, branches overhead knotting together into a canopy that swallowed what little light remained. The sun was bleeding out somewhere far beyond, but in here it was already twilight. The trees leaned close, their shadows curling long and jagged across the ground.
This is bad. Ever seen the woods do this! Or I must be seeing things.
Behind me, Nellie followed in silence, her bare footsteps whispering against the leaves, soundless yet present, like the hush of something not quite human.
She didn't speak, didn't sigh, didn't so much as clear her throat. Just followed, a shadow that refused to fall behind.
I glanced back over my shoulder. And yeah, she was there, her gaze fixed firmly on my back, unwavering. Watching me as if she could see more than the skin and scars I carried through my shirt.
She was back to the quiet Nellie I knew – unreadable, following close, and saying nothing. Her silence pressed in until it felt like a weight on my shoulders, she was the total opposite of Van.
My thoughts drifted despite myself. Van… where are you? Are you okay? The question gnawed at me, louder than the crunch of twigs beneath my feet.
Then a strange breeze threaded its way through the trees. It slid cold across my skin, rattling the branches overhead. Leaves whispered restlessly, and the silence that followed was worse like the forest itself was holding its breath.
Is it just me… or is this place really creepy? Nah... maybe it's her silence, or it's really just these woods…
A branch snapped, and the sound cracked through the silence so sharply it rattled my chest, and for a second something almost escaped my body; a gasp, a scream, I didn't know.
Then, from ahead, a stone tumbled across the path, rolling to a stop at my feet.
"Hmm... ?!"
But no one was there when I looked ahead. The woods were empty and too still.
Nellie's head turned instantly, sharper than mine. Her eyes tracked the shadows. Between the leaves, something shifted; faint, ghostly glimmers of eyes sliding back into the dark.
A hiss slithered through the trees, followed by a low, guttural growl that seemed to crawl across the forest floor itself. The air thickened, pressing down on us.
Nellie moved without hesitation. She stepped in front of me, her bare feet brushing against the dried leaves, her shoulders straightening as her presence sharpened. The soft flicker of flame glowed at the corners of her eyes, a warning of what she was.
"Stay behind me," she muttered, voice low but edged like steel.
Seriously. Like I was some child who needed protecting. But the truth was… maybe I did. At that moment, with those unseen eyes lurking, with the hisses and growls swelling in the darkness, maybe I really did.
The air stirred again, colder this time. From the edges of the path, the shapes grew clearer: faint outlines slithering between the trees, long-limbed things that shimmered like smoke, their forms never holding steady. Their eyes glowed pale, unblinking, watching.
The woods stirred, and suddenly they came. Insects swarming as if commanded by one mind bursted from the shadows. Their wings buzzed like a thousand knives in the air, the sound shrill and suffocating as they arrowed straight toward us.
"Crimson Dance," Nellie muttered, her voice steady, and sharp, almost ritual-like.
She spread her hands outward in a wide arc, her bare arms cutting through the dim light. Fire whispered from her palms like it already knew its prey. In a breath, the air shimmered with heat.
The swarm met the flames head-on and burned, each fragile body curling instantly into black husks that fell like cinders around us. The smell of scorched chitin clung heavy in my nose.
But the forest wasn't finished with us.
From the undergrowth came the small ones. Shapes that should have been harmless but weren't. Rabbits with teeth far too long, jagged and pointing outward like ivory blades. Their mouths twitched, froth bubbling at the corners. And mice, only they weren't mice anymore. Their bodies had swelled grotesquely, twice the size of the fattest rat, eyes glinting with a hunger that didn't belong to this world.
They scurried forward, snapping, hissing, their claws scrabbling against the roots. Behind them, more insects crawled out from the cracks in the earth: creatures with too many legs, wings that twitched wetly, and shapes that seemed to shift even as I looked at them.
None of them belonged to the natural order of things. They were wrong, every detail screaming of a world that wasn't ours.
The sound of them filled the woods; squeals, chitters, the frantic thrum of wings. The place is alive, and it wants us gone.
Their bodies flickered in and out of sight, as though the woods themselves were trying to spit them out. They lunged, hunger and fury burning in their pale eyes, every movement jagged and desperate.
Nellie's fists flared with fire, the glow sharp and dangerous. She met the first one head-on, her knuckles striking like a hammer. The creature slammed into a tree trunk, the flames searing through its airy body as it shrieked into nothingness.
The second came low and fast, one of the grotesque mice, its jaws snapping, teeth jutting out at wild angles. Nellie's heel cut through the air and smashed into it. The impact rang out, and the beast gave a scream that didn't belong to anything from this world.
Before she could pivot, a third lunged at her flank. It was shaped like a larva, swollen, pale, and pulsing but its veined wings snapped furiously, dragging it forward. Nellie twisted sharply, her hair whipping with the movement, and drove her fist straight into its body. She didn't stop there, she followed it down, slamming it into the dirt. Flames roared from her hand, burning deep, her fist still lodged in its writhing form until the smell of scorched flesh filled the air.
And still more came.
The undergrowth split apart as a goblin shuffled into view, its body stunted, and short, as if the earth itself had refused to let it grow. But its face… its face was wrong: Aged, skin sagging in folds, eyes sunken, as though time had touched it too soon and left it bitter.
Nellie's expression sharpened. She drew her fire into shape, molding the flames into glinting daggers that hung in the air for a breath before she loosed them. They streaked forward, piercing the goblin with a crack of heat and force, launching it back across the ground.
Only then did she turn, her gaze settling on me, steady and cold, firelight dancing across her face.
I stood there like a statue, frozen behind her, clutching a rabbit awkwardly against my chest. My other hand absentmindedly patted its fur as though it were some harmless pet.
"Huh…?!" Nellie's voice broke through the chaos, sharp and disbelieving. She spun, her eyes narrowing at the sight of me. For a heartbeat, she just stared at my moving hand and the rabbit I clenched.
Her confusion deepened when she caught my gaze. My eyes glowed faintly, streaked with gold, and a soft golden aura shimmered upward from my body like rising smoke. It swirled in the air, delicate, and unreal.
"Are you kidding me, Ash?" she muttered, her tone edged with incredulity.
Before I could even process, she grabbed the rabbit from my arms. With a sharp spin, her weight shifted, and she hurled it against a nearby trunk. The sickening squish of its body echoed, yet instead of dying, the creature's form collapsed, then knitted itself back together. It reformed in an instant, landing on its warped legs before skittering back into the woods, vanishing into the dark.
The golden haze around me flickered and broke. My senses snapped back into reality, and I froze under Nellie's gaze. Her expression said it all: if the creatures didn't kill me, she would.
"What do you think you were doing…?" Her words dripped with restrained fury, eyes burning as though I had betrayed her.
Oh boy.
What was I doing? I had no idea. Not a single explanation came to mind.
She didn't give me the chance to answer. Her voice cut like a blade, cold and precise:
"That rabbit was trying to corrupt your soul at a high speed. It was feeding the woods your emotions and your spiritual flesh so they could evolve into spirits. And do you know what happens in return?" Her eyes sharpened, firelight flickering across her face. "You become a demon, idiot."
"Calm down, Nellie…" My hands were already raised in surrender, palms open. My voice cracked halfway between a plea and a defense. "I didn't even know I was holding it. But you do know ghosts can't corrupt my soul. Take you and Van, for example."
Nellie groaned, the sound low and sharp, as if the very comparison offended her. She didn't even bother to respond, just turned back toward the trees, eyes sweeping the shifting shadows.
"They sensed it," she said at last, her tone flat but heavy. "You carry more spiritual energy than most. That's why they came in numbers to distract me while that rabbit crept in and tried to corrupt you." The thought seemed to coil around her, and though she didn't say it aloud, I could almost feel her judgment pressing on me.
The forest around us stirred again, leaves shivering in the faint breeze. The glimmers of eyes had not vanished; they lingered in the dark, watching, waiting.
Nellie's eyes narrowed suddenly, a sharpness cutting across her face like drawn steel. "Ash," she said, her voice slicing through the quiet, "are you sure you want to keep going this way?"
The question wasn't just a warning, it felt like a challenge, heavy with the weight of what might come if I answered wrong.
Her tone told me enough: she'd noticed them too; the faint, humanoid glimmers of ghostly eyes threading between the trees. They hovered just out of reach, like predators waiting for a stumble. My chest tightened, I knew better than to call them out. Drawing attention to watchers like that would only make things worse. And I was in no condition to fight Netherkins.
So I tried to shift the mood, feigning casualness.
"Nellie, which way did you come from?" I asked, forcing a grin that didn't feel as confident as I hoped.
Her answer came almost absently. "Oh… yeah, I came by the highway." She spoke like she'd only just remembered, her tone as flat as ever.
Now she decides to talk? She'd followed me the whole way like a silent guard dog, shadowing every step without a word. Van's no different. They both just trail behind me like I've got everything figured out. Like I'm never wrong.
"So…" I sighed, scratching the back of my neck, "can you show me the way back?"
"Sure." She pivoted smoothly, her skirt brushing softly against the leaves, and gestured behind her. "Follow me."
The forest seemed to sigh with the motion, branches creaking overhead as if acknowledging the shift in direction.