SSS.Little Witch Academia

Vol. 1 Chapter 2: Decaying Spirit

Old corroded trees, he is surrounded by nothing but corroded branches, every one of them having hand-like features at the end of them, as they appear to inch closer and closer to clasp the young man's neck. This makes him spring to his feet in fear, only to realize the branches never even moved in the first place. And is now faced with another realization as he feels pain in his left leg, kneeling to reveal bruising lining his calf. Cado finds himself not only confused, but in a bit of stress about how he ended up here to begin with, and whatever this strange forest is, he needs to find Shooter and his way out of it. Before he decides to trail, Cado rummages through his pockets for anything useful and something to eat, as he usually keeps a snack or two on his person most of the time. He finds that he only has one granola bar left from yesterday, with the rest of his belongings and supplies back at his temporary home.

Cado begins to walk at a slow pace while avoiding putting too much weight on his leg, and any dangerous things that might be lurking about. Eventually, he spots an odd book laying on the ground and makes his way over to pick it up to read it, snacking on his granola bar while scrolling through its contents. This not amounting to anything as he could barely understand any of it due to its weird text, but it did provide some useful information in another way, that this was left here very recently as it seems to be in good condition. Unfortunately, he doesn't get much time to ponder on this further as a large man-eating plant looms over from behind, ready to consume him. He is barely able to get out of the way in time, throwing the book at its head, and running as fast as he can in the direction he was already headed, still holding onto his only piece of food tightly, thus also making him forget all about the pain in his leg.

We transition over to Professor Ursula preparing to leave her room for the first day of Luna Nova's new semester, exiting and bidding her familiar Alcor farewell, with it barely awake and noticing her shut the door. She goes through the halls greeting students and finally the student counseling office for the first teachers' meeting. And when the meeting ends, she follows a fellow Professor, Miss Finnelan through the halls carrying lecture books, before stopping to look out of a window for a moment. Reflecting once again on the previous day and seemingly the new destiny set in motion for that girl who found the Claiomh Solais or in other terms, the Shiny Rod. Also hoping that no one else finds themselves trapped in the Arcturus Forest for a long time when she is snapped back to reality, by Professor Finnelan calling and wondering why she fell behind, as the younger professor drowns out her worry to rejoin her colleague.

After running a long distance, Cado finally stops to catch his breath, recollecting himself and pocketing the remainder of his granola bar, now even more exhausted than he was before. The pain flaring up from the bruising once again as he recoils, taking a look at his surroundings before taking a moment to rest on a boulder. Now getting even more frustrated at his situation, not only knowing nothing about his whereabouts but also not even being able to defend himself against these weird creatures that he's never even seen before. He raises his head to the only place where he can find solace, the sky where he has spent most of his time in recent years, with Shooter. Immediately rising to his feet to continue to search for it as he will be able to escape this forest with its help.

More time passes, far past noon from the elevation of the sun, with Cado beginning to lose his drive, looking ahead to spot something quite odd for what is supposed to be an inhabitable forest. An abandoned shack clearly in bad shape with a half-torn-off roof and missing door, but perhaps something if anything could be useful inside he thinks. Slowly and carefully entering the shack unsurprisingly finds it empty, with only a desk and bed frame remaining, checking every corner of it. Eventually, he opens a drawer to finally hit a stroke of luck, an odd-looking dagger, but for some reason still looks sharp and almost brand new. And upon further inspection, has a purple hilt and a tiny skull popping out of it, and even has the faintest glow to it. Cado hesitates for a while before finally deciding to pick it up, figuring he will need this if he wants to survive.

Cado exclaims how thirsty he is now getting, as he exits the abandoned shack with the sun beginning to set, figuring he should attempt to set up a simple camp for the night, not wanting to have to traverse this forest in the first place, let alone at night. Now equipped with the means of at least defending himself, he sets out not to leave the shack too far out of sight. Gathering firewood to start a small fire outside the abandoned shack, crows with glowing blue eyes briefly stare at him perched above as he successfully starts it on his first try. Something immediately happens, tiny little ghosts emerge from the flames, and instead of it being a bright orange-yellow, it turns blue. At this point, these weird occurrences are barely phasing him anymore as he is just glad to be warm but was hoping to at least find something else to eat and some drinkable water, even with how unlikely that was. Pulling out his only and last piece of food today and staring at it intensely, stating that he has to get out here, knowing exactly what will happen if he doesn't, the blue flames from the campfire illuminating the night.

After a long day, Ursula enters her room to settle down and prepare for the next day but is interrupted by Alcor informing her through caws about having sensed something. She nervously pulls out her wand to use her projector showing a constellation map that reveals, someone else has gone to the Arcturus Forest she yells. Ursula now wondering who could have possibly gone there now, dashes over to her broom wanting to help whoever this is if needed, no matter what time of the day it is. Immediately mounting her broom outside, ascending in the sky, and setting off for the forest.

The campfire that Cado started is still going strong after so long for some reason with no additional firewood, as he is deep in thought, still trying to figure out how he ended up here. Did that light coming from under the floor have something to do with it, also remembering some details from that dream, specifically falling into some kind of portal, and was that real after all, questioning all of this. Suddenly, a monstrous roar can be heard in the distance, snapping him out of thought, making him fast-walk towards the shack, hoping that whatever is out there won't find him there. Now resting in between the bedframe trying to get some much-needed rest, he attempts to fall asleep as we see the same dagger from before attached to his belt, with the skull's eyes glowing red.