Doggone Academy

I leaned against a column in the corridor crossing the estate, waiting for Liza.

I saw her at the end of the corridor, walking toward me. She was returning from her class, approaching me slowly.

Then she embraced me. We had gotten into the habit of hugging each other at some point. After sharing our warmth for a long time, she said,

“Ah, it feels like I’m alive again.”

“How was class?”

“Mmm….”

After saying so, she stayed silent for a while.

“…I love you.”

Her confession, coming out of nowhere, set my heart ablaze. But soon after, I naturally accepted her words, like the flow of the seasons. It was a sentiment I could feel through our time together and something that had already been proven through our actions.

“Yes. I love you too.”

Being able to connect with Liza was the greatest blessing of my life.

Sadly, our time together was running short.

High priests and envoys from the Pascal family were in discussions about Liza’s enrollment in the Eternia Academy. Whether she liked it or not, Liza had to go to the academy. Eternia Academy was in a distant foreign land, and her departure would mean our separation for life.

I couldn’t go to the academy. I had no talent for magic, and even if I did, I couldn’t afford the immense tuition fees.

We racked our brains trying to find a way to stay together after leaving the temple. No matter how hard we tried, no viable solution presented itself.

Liza often hugged me and burst into tears. I didn’t need to ask her why she was crying to know the reason.

One day at dawn, Liza snuck into my room, bypassing the nuns’ watch. She woke me with an excited voice.

“I saw a star falling.”

“And why’s that?”

“There is tremendous energy in the fragments of a fallen star. And there’s a herb that grows near where a star’s fragment falls, feeding off its energy. They say if you consume this herb, you can see the future. It’s written in the book of the great sage Rutavis.”

“See the… future?”

“If we could see the future, we might be able to solve the problem that’s been tormenting me. And if we sell the star fragment, we could have enough money to live together forever.”

“Finding that is impossible.”

“It’s not. I saw it fall really close by. I’ve marked the estimated location on the map. We might reach it in about a week…”

Liza spread out the map in front of me, pointing to a circle drawn in one corner. It was marked as an unexplored region. Uncharted areas were known to house unknown dangers, most notably the ‘beasts’ that lurked there.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“It doesn’t matter. There is no other way for me. You know that, right?”

Liza had already made up her mind. She spoke as if possessed, her resolve unshakable regardless of anything I could say.

We prepared to set out. I gathered all the money I’d saved from working at the workshop. We packed items necessary for camping and one of the more intimidating tools from the workshop.

It seemed like a long journey ahead. I pondered what to say to the matron, but Liza, insisting we had no time to waste, urged us to leave immediately.

“We can’t delay. Let’s leave today.”

We stuffed our backpacks with dried meat and biscuits from the temple’s storehouse and snuck out.

Then we set out in search of the star fragment.

On the first day, we walked from dawn till dusk. As we exited the outskirts of the city, night fell. To conserve our food supplies, we paid for our meal in money.

The next day, we entered the prairies. Along the way, Liza picked herbs that could aid our stamina. I kept a constant check on Liza’s condition, ready to return without hesitation if her health declined.

The following day, the rain poured down. A fierce thunderstorm lashed relentlessly, and we lost our way several times. Despite wearing robes, we were soaked through. Liza began showing signs of hypothermia, prompting us to end the day’s traveling earlier than planned.

We took refuge in a cave underneath a cliff.

Exhausted in body and mind, Liza could not concentrate, and with kindling all wet, not even magic could spark a fire.

Clad only in our undergarments, we huddled together for warmth, wrapped in waterproof fabric, and spent the night.

By morning, Liza’s body was scalding hot. She had a high fever. I managed to light a fire using branches that had dried overnight and fetched some antipyretic herbs from the forest for her.

Then I said to her,

“We can’t keep going. Let’s head back.”

“…I don’t want to.”

“Continuing in your condition is reckless.”

“No, I can make it.”

Liza stubbornly insisted.

After eating and resting a bit, we proceeded. The storm had weakened, but a misty rain still persisted. Liza frequently stumbled and fell from exhaustion while we walked. Each time, I would carry her on my back for hours.

We wandered aimlessly, unsure if we were going the right direction. Strangely, as we moved forward, I felt we were getting closer to the star fragment.

With Liza slumped on my back, she asked in a drowsy voice,

“Are we going the right way…?”

“I’ve memorized the map. Don’t worry too much.”

Liza clung more tightly to my shoulder, her anxiety unabated.

As the sun set, we camped in an abandoned cabin. We lit a fire in a dusty fireplace and had dried meat for a snack.

Liza, claiming she was cold, once again clung to me through the night. Even when sweat soaked our clothes, she didn’t let go.

We continued moving the next day, and the day after that, too.

Days went by without proper baths, and our food supplies were dwindling. Our clothes were torn and the seams frayed with barely any intact areas remaining.

Liza didn’t care whether she smelled of sweat or was dirty; she would always hug me to sleep each night. Liza always smelled nice. When I asked her why, even she seemed not to know.

Waking up, we climbed a hill that offered a view of the surroundings. Far away, a large and brilliantly blue lake was visible.

Liza said with vivacity,

“We’re on the right track. It has to be near that lake.”

I was filled with more dread than anticipation. I questioned whether the miraculous herb that allowed one to see the future truly existed and we were vulnerable to untamed beasts or creatures at any moment because we were now in an unexplored area.

My sense of apprehension was soon vindicated when we were attacked by one of those creatures.

We aimed for the lake and moved forward. It was supposed to be a straight path according to the direction we had checked beforehand, but the dense forest disoriented us and we lost our way twice.

Amidst our aimless wandering, Liza suddenly grabbed my wrist and stopped.

“Something’s wrong. I can feel magic.”

“What do you mean by ‘wrong’?”

“It’s definitely magic, but it’s not from a human source.”

Just then, the wind blew. An eerie chill accompanied the rustling of trees, their leaves swirling everywhere. It felt as if the entire forest was trembling in terror. The surroundings grew darker.

From a corner in the forest, a strange moan emerged. It was neither human nor animal nor beast—it was an instinctual realization.

Soon, something inky in figure swooped towards us from the shadows deeply cast within the wood.

Liza exclaimed,

“Wraiths… wraiths!”

I had heard about wraiths only in books or tales of adventure. Mighty heroes slaying gigantic beasts. Knights sweeping across the continent. Mercenaries leading armies that threatened empires. And invariably, those great human figures met their insubstantial and futile end at the hands of these otherworldly beings.

Liza promptly assumed a stance and began gathering magical energy for casting.

I drew the hammer I used at the workshop. There was no chance it would be effective, but I needed to stall, giving Liza time to cast her magic from the rear.

The wraith closed in on us at high speed and floated stationary a few meters away.

Hiss, ssss ssss ssss-

The wraith’s haunting moan made the hair on my body stand on end.

Draped in a dark robe, it had mummified arms and freakishly long and grotesque fingers, like spider legs—a likely three times the length of a normal human.

The wraith’s billowing hem revealed only darkness and void where its feet should be, with black smoke jetting out.

My entire body trembled just from its presence alone. I had no idea why such a fearsome entity would be here of all places.

Liza, who had gathered her power, chanted a spell, and a pumpkin-sized fireball hurtled toward the wraith.

However, the fireball simply passed through the wraith’s body and struck a tree behind it. With a loud crack, the tree split in two.

“It…passed through?”

Liza showed signs of panic and hastily chanted again.

The magical attack once again went through the wraith’s body.

The wraith didn’t respond to Liza’s assault. Instead, it stretched its hideous fingers toward me.

I stepped back, swinging the hammer around.

“Damn, get the hell away!”

The wraith remained unresponsive to my threats. We huddled like cornered mice.

As the wraith’s fingers neared my body, I swung the hammer with all my might.

Thud, and the hammer’s swing connected, sending the wraith’s arm flying. Caught off-guard by the unforeseen attack, the wraith recoiled backward.

“Run!”

I grabbed Liza’s hand and bolted. We ditched our pack and supplies just to run faster.

Not long afterward, the wind howled again and the forest convulsed. The wraith’s cries spread in all directions.

The only thing in my mind was to save Liza, even if it cost me my life.

Looking back, I saw the wraith in hot pursuit.

While running, Liza chanted and launched spheres of light behind her. These spheres of light had no effect on the wraith.

“How did you hit the wraith?”

“I don’t know! Now’s not the time to think about that!”

Gasping for breath, Liza said,

“No, we need to know. We have to try something!”

“I hit it and it worked!”

“Wraiths are impervious to physical attacks, how did you do it?”

“I don’t know!”

We were mindlessly running when we hit an uphill slope. Behind us, the wraith was rapidly catching up. Without a moment to think, we raced up the slope. Reaching the top, we had to stop—a cliff was before us.

I bit my lip. We were cornered with nowhere left to go.

The wraith, realizing we had stopped, emitted black smoke as it approached us.

It made a grotesque and chilling sound.

Standing in front of Liza, I faced the wraith with the hammer raised. As the wraith stretched its hand into me again, I swung my weapon. This time, the wraith seemed wary of the threat, flinching in reaction.

I brought the hammer down with force against the wraith’s approaching hand.

Hiss, hiss hiss hiss-

Black smoke billowed out from the wraith’s lower body. Then, that smoke enveloped and encircled me. I swung the hammer to create a gust, but it was futile.

As the smoke wrapped around me, my body was bound as if tied up.

“My body won’t move, damn it, damn it!”

“Just hold on, I’ll do something with magic…”

As I was immobilized, the wraith reached toward me, its lengthy fingers piercing right through my abdomen without giving me a chance to resist.

The most excruciating pain I had ever felt in my life spread through my waist and intestines.

“Kuhuk!”

Blood spurted from my throat.

The wraith lifted my body effortlessly into the air. I dangled helplessly, as though skewered.

It placed my body above its head, and my blood drizzled down onto the wraith’s pitch-black face. Then it twisted the hand inside me. My body gushed blood as if wrung out like pulp.

I screamed horrifically.

The wraith seemed to take pleasure in soaking up my blood.

Even in this situation, all I could think about was saving Liza. I turned my head. My vision blurred so much that I could barely see Liza. She appeared to be shouting something, but I couldn’t hear anything.

With all my remaining strength, I screamed.

Run away.

But no voice came out, only my mouth flapped uselessly.

Suddenly, the wraith’s motions halted. Something was off–the arm impaling me twitched minutely. The wraith’s body then convulsed violently and soon curled in on itself.

Screech-

Blood spewed from the wraith’s inky face. Once, twice, like sneezing, blood burst forth and it began to regurgitate all the blood it had ingested from me, as if it had drunk rotten wine.

It looked as though something was tormenting the wraith.

The wraith destorted in agony, then with a powerful swing, sent my body flying over the cliff edge.

My body arced in the sky, tumbling off the cliff.

Time seemed to move slowly.

In that moment, a flash of silver hair caught my eye.

I saw Liza reaching out from below the cliff. I stretched my hand out towards her, but we were already too far apart to reach each other.

I drank in the sight of Liza to the very end.