In the years before the decline of magic, the world was a different place. The mystical were once as common as any other and witches were at the highest points of pride, bringing both awe-inspiring fear and wonder! However, with the rise of mortal technology, this reality started to fade from them. With no more faith, the once-proud covens and the enchanted creatures it knew were forced to hideaway. Some, like the witches of Luna Nova, were able to remain somewhat notable in the modern world, with witches such as Shiny Chariot becoming public figures, But with no leylines to connect them, the forest and glades were -the creatures of myths and legends roamed soon became locked away… Until very recently, that is with the revival of Yggdrasil, the forgotten places of the world had come back to life and this is where we found the famous witches. They were participating in a field trip to the mystical forest of Myrkviðr. An enchanted dark forest that rivaled the Arcturus forest. Home to many fae and foxfire, plus other creatures, many had yet to be recorded. It proved to be an enchanting place that many young witches could explore and marvel at...
"AW! COME ON!"
Well, almost everyone…, excluding one Atsuko 'Akko' Kagari, Japanese witch born from a family with no magical heritage. During her first year at the prestigious Luna Nova, this girl whom many students and teachers alike once looked down upon due to her poor magical performance and background- had recently had a change of heart and hailed her as the hero who restored magic. -well mostly,- and what was such an illustrious and important member of the new age of magic doing? A girl who not just saved magic, but the world, opening the door for many other bright-eyed girls from non-magical backgrounds such as her to take up wands in the name of their own belief, just like her.
Sulking, she was sulking. Her skirt covered buttocks were firmly planted on a patch of damp slimy moss-covered rock, her pouting slightly pudgy face bearing a deathly glare, red beaming eyes into the skulls of her so-called 'friends' trying to stab them with her intense stare, these so-called 'Friends' who we're partnering up with every other witch, but her.
"You are all traitors! Traitors!" Whining loudly, vocals straining in her throat trying to hold back tears from this small slight against her, the other witches cringed at the piercing screech infiltrating their minds, they tried to block out the sound of Akko's voice, but it was only made worse as it was carried and amplified by the dense woods that the second year students found themselves situated in. Even the mystical inhabitants of the forest trembled at Akko's volume while the young witch's chest rose to its apex, hot jets of air bursting forth from her nostrils as arms crossed against her chest in a guarded manner.
And what had caused the upset? Well… a small error had been made on Nord's part. She had been tasked with planning, organising and finalising the student's field trip into Myrkviðr Forest. The whole exercise was meant to teach the students observational skills while also assisting in seeing how the forest had grown with the absence of witches for so long. However, The itinerary for the field trip was planned for students to pair up, rather than to remain as their usual trios, which was not a problem until several students either called in sick or had personal emergencies forcing them to cancel.
At the time Nord felt that there would be enough students still to keep everything balanced, a foresight Nord's eardrums and of several others' were paying for, as Akko was now left alone.
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Akko's eyes were wide with disbelief, gazing into the eyes of her friend, Lotte. She rose up from the damp rock, feeling a little uncomfortable as the then soaked portion of her skirt clung to her backside for a moment, where it had made contact with the moss, something she was regretting in terms of seating choices. Nevertheless, she marched forward with purpose. "How could you pick BARBARA over me!?" the young witch protested as her hands pressed into her chest. "You're MY best friend! And roommate!" she exclaimed loudly as both of her hands shot wide above her head.
"I'm sorry, Akko! But I had already promised Barbara we'd team up before we left! We wanted to use the time to go over the details of the latest Nightfall release together." Lotte defended, the poor witch almost cowering before her annoyed friend. Akko, in response to such a sight, whined audibly, her body sagging as her anger towards Lotte vanished. But the weight of disappointment still dragged her down. How could she stay mad at her! Lotte was great! But she was not the only traitor in Akko's eyes, The girl's body regained its composure and turned to the unimpressed and unintimidated purple-haired witch in question.
"What about you, Sucy!?" Akko pointed in an accusing fashion to the academy's most infamous potion brewer. Sucy didn't care and simply blew a sigh out before shrugging.
"Do you honestly think I could stand spending the entire trip with you yammering in my ear?" Sucy sneered towards her 'friend' as she stayed by her chosen partner, Constanze.
"But Constanze doesn't even SAY anything!" argued Akko, which was a bit mean. Constanze was great. But how could the two of them get along!? Let alone work together!
"I know. Making her the best partner ever. I don't bother her and she doesn't bother me. Sorted." The two 'social' witches high fived one another, making Akko deflate once more. That didn't really leave anyone else! As no doubt Amanda teamed up with Jasminka and Diana with Hannah, leaving the little witch on her own. Just as a pair of comforting hands slapped down on Akko's shoulders, causing the student to almost jump out of her skin as she turned slowly takin
a small step back to much joy, seeing it only was Prof. Du Nord. For a second Akko had been half worried a centaur had walked over to politely ask her to shut up.
"Why don't you come with me Akko?" Chariot said with an infectious motherly smile as she looked to her star pupil. "I'm sure we can enjoy each other's company and have some friendly conversation, as we explore, no?" On any other day, Akko would've jumped at the chance to spend time with her idol slash favourite teacher, but not this day.
"I would, any other day Chariot AH! I mean Prof. Du Nord, but.." Akko grimaced as her body stiffened, shoes taped together nervously, hands rolling in the air as she tried to fish for the words in her mouth.
"It be so uncool to be the one student forced to stay with the old teacher, I'm going to get laughed at" AH, sharp arrow right into her pride thought Chariot, but it took more than a small dig at her age, at least on the outside, she wasn't that old was she? Croix had always complimented on her appearance, but then again Croix complimented on everything to do with her, so maybe her chamber companion was not exactly a well-established source of critique on her appearance! Chariot mulled over in her head, clearly not letting Akko's words get to her.
"May I suggest a solution?" A calm voice carried over the growing ire and distress of the other students, the tone of which somehow both irritated and flustered Akko to no end, it was the ever so ear worming and enchanting voice of her friend slash rival, Diana Cavendish. Wait did Diana's voice cause Akko to fluster?
"Why not let Akko go with Hannah?" Diana gestured to her longtime friend and dorm-mate, who looked a little taken aback by the heiresses suggestion ready to object before Diana continued. "My record speaks for itself, I am more than capable to enter these woods alone and know what to do in case of an emergency if it were to arrive"
"HEY! NOW!" Akko loudly objected as stomping over to Diana, eyes a flare as she leaned up towards the heiresses' face, brows furrowed into a tight knot as the two eyes locked, bare inches apart from one another, they could just feel their breath tickling each other's skin causing the smaller one to fluster a bit, retreating back from her intimidating stance, Akko couldn't help it, Diana was far too beautiful to go guns blazing li-, snap out of it, your mad Akko, she barked at herself, "Why do YOU have to go on your own, why not ME, I'm not the same witch as I was at the start of the year, I WAY more than capable of looking after myself."
The statement caused a stir of silence between the students, none really willing or wanting to pick up what Akko had put down, there was no doubt that Akko's ability had improved after the events of the football war, more so, if she were ready to do things on her own, luckily Diana was more than ready to insert her viewpoint in, tactfully.
"I did not mean to imply a lack of ability Akko, only that if something unforeseen were to happen I have more experience t-" But before she could even finish, Akko cut her off again with a quick rude interruption.
"What does that have to do with it! This is one of the safest magical forests around, the teachers said so themselves before we left, isn't that right Nord" Akko snapped in the direction of her idol, who was caught off guard to be forcefully pulled into the conversation between her students as she fumbled with a reply.
"Wh-while that is True to an extent, Myrkviðr was known as a docile place, for the most part, it is also a large forest that was never completely explored and in addition, it has been some time since any witches have visited it." She tried to point out, giving herself a little pat on the back for being a good teacher as the crook of a smile appeared on the corner of her lips.
"Then if something goes wrong I will shoot up a flare with my wand" Akko informed them all turning around to address as many students as possible. "you've all seen me do it in class with no hiccups, plus I don't think we'll be straying THAT far from one another so if something does go wrong I'm sure Diana will come to save my butt" There was an uneven air to the group, what Akko was saying was not 'inaccurate', but at the same time a phrase stuck to the tip of their tongues 'But it's Akko', none of them wanted to say it, they all felt partly guilty for thinking it, well all but Sucy, she just thought that if Akko did screw up it be three times as funny after her speech.
Diana pinched the bridge of her nose, out of frustration and to hide the small blush as Akko loudly announced her assurances that she would come to her rescue. A long drawn out sigh escaped from her lips as the blonde's head fell backwards in defeat, she really, really, didn't want Akko going off on her own but she also knew there was little she could do, due to her Asian friend's stubbornness, if they were to continue this argument there was a high chance the trip would be over and then everyone would have even more reason to begrudge Akko, and she didn't want the brunette to suffer after all she had accomplished.
"Very well, if it is alright professor Du Nord, I am more than happy to see you explore by yourself" Diana's gaze turned to Chariot who with a defeated expression nodded to Akko's request ending the issue for now.
Ako cheered happily at her victory, practically fisting pumping wildly in the air as Amanda came over to insist she stop the embarrassing display due to embarrassment through association and nearly getting clocked in the nose by one of Akko's stray arms while gathered her students to explain where they'd be going from this point in the woods as well as to hand out items to document their findings and what time to meet back for lunch. The groups parted with an angry Amanda shaking her fist at Akko all the while Diana couldn't help but shake the feeling she had made a grievous miscalculation.
The deep earthly scents of the woods flew up and into the little witches' nostrils as the enchanting sound of rainfall tapped away like fingers across a desk on the surface of the forest's ever large canopy above enriching the smells and atmosphere of the woods, it was breathtaking!
Like being in an enchanted fairy tale, for the first time, Akko finally felt she was in an actual magical woods, not unlike the Arcturus forest which was dark, dank and terrifying, well from memory at least the young witch didn't really get a chance to explore the woods after she cast the world-changing spell with the Grand Triskellion and Shiny Rod. Maybe it looked like this? She wondered As her eyes adjusted to the twinkling starlight of bioluminescent plant life that provided her eyes with the light she needed to take in the enchanting scenery of Myrkviðr.
It was like a painting, the wide canopy created a dark shroud over the woods which created a perfect environment for the glowing plant life to live in, the floor was a mass carpet of moss and shrubbery, there was no path in sight, giving credence to that no one had disturbed these woods for a long time, it was mesmerizing for the young witch, she couldn't help but take in every single sight, she was so enraptured in fact it wasn't until she was a good thirty minutes into her walk that she realised two things.
One that she needed to head back and two..,
She hadn't actually taken any notes! Her mind raced at all the enchanting creatures she had passed on the way, but at no point did she stop to consider her assignment, Oh no, Diana would be all.
"Akko, how many times have I told you not to let your mind wander on crucial assignment, and here I was worried about your safety when I should have been more concerned on your grade" Akko's eyes darted about trying to find ANY magical creatures she could quickly take notes on, but as her eyes scanned the nearby area she soon found, there were none!
HOW the forest was teeming with them and now as her end draws near there are none! What! SHE WAS GOING TO FAIL HER ASSIGNMENT, Oh gosh everyone was going to laugh at her, she had assured them so proudly that she could take care of herself and what had she been doing? Skipping around and gazing at flowers! Oh god, what was she going to do now!
Just as her fears seemed true a howl stretched across the canopy, pushing past the trees like a hurricane Akko actually found herself pushed to the floor by the sheer force of the bellow of this unseen beast, it caused the young witch to curl up on the floor for a brief second until it died down. Wait, the Akko considered, this forest was filled with harmless creatures! So whatever made that sound was not only close and IT WAS SO GOING TO GET HER AN A, it sounded impressive like, A-grade impressive, Akko could barely hide her grin as she imagined her peers congratulating her on an amazing job well done, sure she might end up missing lunch but the looks on everyone's faces when she came back with this report, oh it caused her to snicker as she shot up and like most of her projects, dove in headfirst without care towards the creatures destination.
The dying embers of the beast's cry faded on the winds by the time it reached the remaining students, while many of them had frozen in place or drawn wands, ready for conflict, the majority of them relaxed a sigh of relief as its call vanished into nothing, all but two, Hannah for one. Her arm squeezed tightly, she so badly wanted to put her wand away and assure herself everything was fine but, Diana had not stowed her wand, the Heiresses eyes squinted in the direction she imagined the howl had come from.
Something was off to her, as the prestigious heir to the Cavendish house she'd done her research on these woods and as far as she was aware there were no hounds in these forests, at least any documented that she could find, so what made that noise? To try and calm herself she considered it was possibly another animal, something mimicking a hound to scare off predators, but that was impossible, it has to have heard the sound to know how to mimic it and there were none that she knew of, which possibly meant there was canine in this woods, undocumented and unluckily for them, these beasts tended to not be man's best friend, there were exceptions to the rule like the mounts of the wild hunt, but those creatures were not native to these lands so, it was best she didn't head off in that direction.
Diana sighed as she stowed her wand and turned away causing her friend sigh in relief, stowing her own wand and slowly the two walked back to the others, it was getting close to lunchtime and many of them grew hungry, Hannah was happy to see Diana relaxed, it put her heard at rest, for only but a moment as Diana stopped dead in her tracks, causing her friend to question nervously.
"Diana? What's wrong? Is it something to do with that howl we heard?" Hannah's voice shook nervously, Diana's body suddenly twisted, reorienting herself back towards the origin of that call as a singular horrid realisation crept into her mind. 'Akko was in that direction!'
WHACK, Akko as yet another branch smacked her right across the face, she felt the prickling leaves of the boney twig scratch her skin as it left scratch marks that itched her flesh, she started to wonder if this mutt was worth the trouble, scraping dirt and brambles off her uniform as her stride resumed deeper into the dark woods, all she had to do was find the dog, draw a picture of it, take a few notes and get back before she got any hungrier, which at this moment was incredibly likely, especially as her stomach whined in pain from not being fed, it was a simple plan. However, her body was done, her legs collapsed down, arms pressed to stomach as another growl escaped from her belly.
"URGH, I'm so hungry why did I skip breakfast" her words dribbled out in a moan, guessing there was no other choice. "SECRET SNACK TIME" She declared as Akko pulled her hat from her head and fished inside pulling out a chocolate bar, slowly unwrapping the foil coating she went to take a bite as her stomach growled again, her eyes rolling at her bodies inability to wait a SECOND to get food.
"Oh come on, I'm just about to feed you!" Akko declared in loud frustration, but then she heard it again.., and her whole being froze on the spot, the sound didn't come from inside her and sounded a lot more guttural than she would have liked, like a horror movie she knew where the sound came from as she slowly and painfully turned around hoping to see a husky sized animal with big blue eyes that made you want to pet it, but instead of down, her gaze shot upwards to see two round yellow eyes obscured in the lower tree branches, big spherical orbs around the size of dinner plates, the creature stepped closer, it's fur shimmering and changing as it did camouflage!
Akko fell backwards landing on her ass as nervous sweat dripped from Akko's chin as a primal fear started to scale up from the base of her spine.
"It's just a dog" Akko muttered reassuring herself, it was just a big dog, nothing in the forest could or would hurt her.
"H-hey there pooch, you scared me" The beast's eyes squinted as its fangs came into view, wet drool piled from its lips, it's natural body heat rose up as visible steam like a small smoke machine from its lips in contrast to the cold forest air, almost made it look like a hell hound as it stepped even closer and Akko in respect and not fear, crawled back fairly quickly, now able to take in the beast at full, taking into consideration Akko wondered a horrible, scary thought as her heart continued to race, eyes danced across its ever-shifting body, what if it had been following her this entire time? Would she have even known?
"Yo-you hungry puppy?" Akko asked it as its eyes flared wide and it's maw winded, Akko had to stifle a whimper from her mouth, reminding herself to remain calm, it was more scared of her. probably, then she was of it.
If she didn't act nice it was going to attack, so she just needed to stay calm and seem friendly, like with her Shiba back home! Her face twisted into a smile, nervously as Akko's bones shook from fear the girl extended her up and outwards to the jaw of the beast, chocolate in hand, probably not the best treat for dogs, but hey? It's magical, maybe it's immune to chocolate poisoning.
"H-hungry?" The beast's jaw opened, razor teeth visible and so was the back of its gullet, a horrible thought crossed the crimson eyed witches mind. Her entire body could fit in that thing's mouth, but she swallowed hard, steeling herself and stretched her arm out further towards the beast, trying to be as non-hostile as possible, but then in a quick blur, the wolf darted forth...
...there was silence, deafening silence and the splattering of something hot against her face, it felt like Akko's heart had stopped beating but it hadn't she was still alive she could feel herself moving as if she were on autopilot, her body pulling itself up from the ground and sprinting as fast she could carry herself, why? WHAT HAPPENED! SOMETHING HAPPENED!
Her heart was suddenly beating to life at triple the speed, only one time had it done so before and that was back during the missile crisis, tears were forming but she didn't know why, her mind was blanking something out from her, hiding something crucial that told the witch something was behind her, DEATH, Death was behind her, and at that realisation, she started to choke and sob, why, why had this happened, what made her realise that animal intended harm, what had it done? As her mind continued to race her foot snagged and she found herself tumbling down an incline, her body scraping and bashing into several rocks and roots on the way down before landing with a loud thud on smooth soil, it was in that moment she saw...
Her hand, or more so, lack thereof, what was once a right hand, her right hand was now nothing more than two fingers and some loose strands of muscle, but worse for her was the blood, blood leaking everywhere, like a pig at a butchers it continued to pour from her hand down her wrist and pooling onto the floor, it needed to stop quickly as she grabbed her sash from her waist and started to knot it tightly around the stump that had been her right hand, lucky for her it was the same colour she joked to herself still not quite grasping the situation.
After a nervous chuckle she started to cry and scream, first in agony then in fear, she continued to scream violently for a solid few minutes until the muscles in her neck started to strain and her throat dried out and all she was doing was wheezing as the muscles in her face stretched in pain, trying to wretch any sound from her mouth, eventually collapsing in a heap, in a moment of what she thought was rest, only for a loud monstrous shaking to alert her to the danger once more.
Akko wasted no time as she reached for her Wand with her good hand, a thought that still hurt, that she had a good hand now, no she needed to cast that aside, if only for a second and raised it skyward! Her lips parted but, no sound escaped her mouth, all that damn screaming!
Panicking the witch continued to silently scream into the air wanting a spark, a flicker of green light to appear, but nothing, the sound of her hunter grew closer, it wouldn't exactly be hard for it to track her down, she must've bled all over the damn forest!
Hoping something else got it distracted, but with another loud step told her otherwise, it was coming and it wanted to gobble her up like the little red riding idiot she was while she continued to scream wordlessly into the void. Tears formed in Akko's eyes pleading with the wand gripped tightly between her fingers, she didn't want to die here, she had done so much and she wanted to do so much more! Please, just...CAST A DAMN SPELL! PLEASE!
Diana, Amanda, Sucy and Lotte started running, other students wanted to come too, but Cavendish managed to convince them that if there was something in this forest, there might be more, so splitting up too many students would be bad, Nord had agreed with her student's assessment but at the same time she wanted to go to, Diana knew she was worried about Akko, much like her.
"Damit, I wish I had brought my broom, I could get there, see that Akko is alright and fly her back so we could tell her off sooner" Amanda shouted, as the group slid down a muddy hill and leapt across small river banks, Diana listened to Amanda's choice of words, she was trying to stay optimistic, hoping that she was wrong and this creature was in fact either far away from Akko or something docile, that's when they heard a blood-curdling scream that stopped all four of them in their tracks.
that scream.
It was Akko, they knew deep down, they had heard the girl screaming enough in their lifetimes, from falling, being chased or attacked, but nothing like this, it sounded like, like. They shared one glance and doubled their movement. They had to get there, NOW!
The forest darkened as they approached; they could hear something off in the distance it sounded like a struggle but none of the four witches could make out anything! The forest was dense and the shroud the canopy provided blackened most viability, the spirits that usually occupy the forest and provide light were absent, meaning they had to rely on lotte's lantern.
Diana glanced to the others to see if they could see anything that she couldn't, the trees they were proving to be the perfect cover for a predator, Diana didn't want to think those words but she did and the heiress hated that she did more so as Amanda's expression soured and turned to a nasty snarl, she'd seen something.
"Amanda wai-" Diana called Amanda leapt off the edge of a drop disappearing from the view of the group, who only shared one look before they dove down after her, skidding down an incline they caught sight of the American's foot colliding into the side of a large canine-like beast, impossibly large for a beast of this kind as the rebel's foot dug in and pushed into the creatures ribs with a nice healthy satisfying crunch as it toppled to its side, like a streetwise mutt the creature skidded around and brought itself quickly to its feet, catching sight of three possible new meals, it's mouth salivating, this was indeed a magical predator, Diana worried it might be a creature that didn't even need to eat for survival, one that would consume out of cruelty and greed.
"AKKO!" Lotte's tone was that of heartbreak, sending a horror running up Diana's back as her eyes locked with the beast, she didn't want to look, especially as she could see the crimson dripping from the mouth of this thing, she wanted to stay staring at it, let the anger burning inside her and unleash hell, but she couldn't help herself, glancing over and her heart shattered in an instance and she knew nothing more terrifying than the moment before her, Akko's entire right arm was ripped into ribbons, first she noticed the hand, then the forearm, followed by the upper arm, the girl must have used all her strength to try and keep this thing away from her throat, even as something was biting and eating chunks of her, Akko stayed strong.
"so if something does go wrong I'm sure Diana will come to save my butt" the memory of not long ago burned deeply into the heiress, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as her gaze steeled into a look of pure and utter hatred, Diana had been angry before, she had known the tight maddening grip of fury, but never like this, nothing so painful and visceral, she wanted this beast to die, here and now more than anything and so did her magic, feeling it boil up from the core of her being and fill every essence of her, her hair rising up like fire as it glowed from the sudden build of power.
Raising her wand, the other witches followed suit, even Lotte, sweet innocent Lotte looked as if she could kill and Sucy had a look on her that made the heiress happy she was on her side, then after a brief silence and cold staredowns, the witches started to blast at the beast, the spells shot into it hitting harder than they had ever before, each shot of their Murowa's causing devastating blasts that echoed through the trees, scattering shards of splintered wood in all directions! The beast whined loudly sending out yelps and cries but it at no point seemed to weaken firmly planted in place it's body stayed upright while taking the full might of four witches' anger infused blast, But none of them stopped. They wanted this cursed creature dead or gone.
So as a barrage of Green bolts continued to fire into the air illuminating the area as the creature continued to back paddle away, snapping and snarling at the students until it decided that this wasn't a fight worth winning and started to retreat quickly.
Akko didn't know what she saw, the last thing the witch could recall was her arm almost throat deep into the beast's mouth, it's teeth pulverising the soft tissue of her arm as bones snapped and blood poured down onto her face.
The wolf was big enough to swallow her whole, but she imagined in its sick mind it wanted her neck, to hold her life between its jaws and snap shut.., then she heard it, or at least she thought she did? Voices calling her name, trying to rouse her to consciousness, then came the loud ear-deafening explosions, but by this point, Akko didn't care, she was tired, so tired, her eyes felt heavy, her body limp. All the girl wanted was to sleep, it sounded good as forms loomed over her, a hand slapping at her cheek as the sound faded from her senses, the girl took one last look at her arm, mauled, torn and bloody…
"Oh.., that isn't good" Is all she was able to let out before the ordeal overtook her and her eyes closed shut.