The Afterlife Academy Saga

Chapter 13

13

Breathless. Bruised. Broken. I’d never felt this little and this much at the same time. Everything hurt, everything ached. My legs screamed, my back cried, my head spun. The world was pain and pain was my new world.

White and green flecks danced in front of my eyes, assaulting my sight. There were broken twigs and branches everywhere, but mostly underneath me.

I shouldn’t complain. This weird tree-bush thing was the only reason I wasn’t turning into a gravestone.

“Thanks, tree.” I gave the unbroken trunk part a little fist bump and crawled out from under it. Pieces of bark and leaf cascaded from my clothes and fell to the flattened grass. Green streaks covered my white shirt and my tie was torn to shreds.

That was the second outfit that got ruined by all the shenanigans. If I kept going like that, I’d be out of clothes by the end of the week. I’d have to buy some new ones or face my fellow students in unbranded shirts. Now that would certainly get me bullied. Maybe not then.

“Yuck.” I spat out some tree debris and smoothed out my shirt the best I could.

When I was sure the bandage around my head was still there, I left the scene of the crime and followed the shadows away from the main building of the school.

The setting night cast a blue hue over the entire campus and made all the little lights in the Valkyrie dorm even more inviting. Behind one of those windows, there was a Dragon waiting for me, but I couldn’t go.

With all the might in the world, I squashed the temptation to just run into Ryoko’s arms and followed the small path towards the forest on the school grounds. I’d just have to pass the dorm and that would hopefully stop the tug on my heart.

“Miss Helgudóttir,” a voice suddenly said.

“Shit.” My heart jumped in my throat as I spun around. “Master Ryuga. You again.”

“I thought I’d find you here.” He stepped out from the shadow, the silver streak in his hair highlighted by the moonlight. “You’re fascinating to watch, do you know that?”

My skin prickled under his intense gaze. “You were watching me?”

“Tell me something, Miss Helgudóttir. What makes you so special?”

“What?” Every part of me screamed danger, even if I couldn’t place it. He was a professor here and the Academy was esteemed. They wouldn’t let someone nefarious teach the students, right?

“The headmistress has just arrived.”

Relief flooded me. “She has?”

“Yes. Follow me.”

I studied him. “Wait. She sent you?”

“Yes.”

“Why you?”

The silence brew between us.

“Because Brynhild refused to after…” He looked me up and down. “This.”

A lump formed in my throat. “She knows?”

“I’m afraid to tell you, but your absence wasn’t hard to notice.”

“Fair enough…” I could imagine she wasn’t too pleased with how I repaid her help, but I just had to get out of there. Nothing was going to get in the way of my duties.

Even so. If the headmistress was in, Var would have to wait. Just a little longer while I got this mark erased from my head and stopped being a walking-talking ticking time bomb of death. Surely, my classmates would appreciate me not predicting the moment they ceased to exist.

Despite my distrust of Master Ryuga, I didn’t have much choice. And he did bring me to Brynhild before, so… “Fine. Lead the way.”

“Excellent.” He grabbed me by the wrist and tugged me away from the dormitory. Was this a normal thing? And why was his skin so cold? It was nothing like the pleasant warmth I was used to from Ryoko.

Was he even a real Dragon? Were there different kinds, perhaps?

Wow, I didn’t know anything about them. I should ask my roommate about that next time I saw her.

“Hey. Where are we going?” I asked, noticing we weren’t going back to the main building as I expected. Instead, he pulled me along the other dormitories. Past the building that housed the Angels, Guardians, and the Banshees. All the way to the Shinigami residence.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“I told you. To see the headmistress.”

But why would she be in the Shinigami residence? She was a Banshee. I knew that for sure because of her oath of silence. This made no sense.

“Hey, you know what. I, umm… I forgot something in my dorm. I really need to grab it,” I said, pulling my wrist from his grip. Something was wrong, even if I couldn’t put my finger on it. I felt it in my gut, deep in my stomach. I shouldn’t be ignoring my instincts, certainly not when it came to danger.

“I’m just going to go—”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Ryuga hissed.

I ran, he clawed, I stumbled. It all happened so fast, I wasn’t sure how I ended face first into the dirt with the thin man on me. His knees on my chest, his hands pinning my arms down.

Panic flooded my senses, firing up all my defences. The wind raged in my ears as the magic came to life, ready to defend me.

“Stop struggling, you little—” His breath came out ragged and forced, somehow giving me confidence. If he was having a hard time, I was doing something right.

With everything I had, I directed all my dormant power to my chest. I was a child of the West Wind and I would never give in.

The wind cried and shrieked in my ears, whirling and raging as it came together. With every ragged breath, I drew more power in. The tension built and built, until it was too much. Until I exploded.

The tornado threw Ryuga off of me and blasted him to the other end of the grass patch. He rolled through the dirt, his limbs flailing until he came to a natural halt. He didn’t move, he didn’t breath, he hadn’t won.

But as soon as he rose from the ground, I knew something was wrong.

The wind brushed through his hair and in the starlight, I could see everything clearly. The silver streak weaved into the rest of his black hair until he was entirely white. His dark eyes shimmered menacingly, filled with a hatred unlike any I’d ever seen. His arms were rippled with scale, just like the ones I’d admired on Ryoko, but speckled with dark spots and shadows cast by the moon.

That was it. He was a Moon Dragon. He had to be. There was no other explanation for his sudden transformation.

Dark smoke curled out of his nose, almost like whiskers or tendrils of the Veil.

One moment, he was standing on the other side of the park. The next, he was right in front of me.

I felt the sting on my cheek before I heard the sound of the slap. Before the force of his assault threw me back and I crashed into the cold ground.

My entire body cried out in agony and the pain erased any courage I had left. There was just panic. Panic flooding my senses, panic corrupting my heart, panic telling me to flee. To run like I’d never run before.

Without looking back, I sprinted towards the forest. In here, he wouldn’t be able to use the power of the moon. In here, the Keeper’s mark would protect me. I just knew it. I felt it. The lines and carvings were sizzling hot, drawing me towards the trees. Promising me an escape from the wrath of the Dragon.

Spots bounced in front of my eyes, my muscles burned, my lungs were on fire. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, pounding in my ears like a drum.

I didn’t have time to look back or to wonder why he was attacking me like that. There was just fear and nothing else but fear.

Just a little further, just a little longer. Until I could hide in the safety of the trees and disappear in the shadows of the night. Until I was nothing more than a whisper and a heartbeat.

“Give it to me!” Sharp nails dug into my back, carving long wounds into the flesh. A small bump in the ground floored me and body to body, Ryuga and I tumbled through the grass.

I cried out, hit by the sudden shock of burning, excruciating pain. Blinded by the overwhelming desire to protect myself, I clawed at whatever I could hit. Hair, clothes, scales, anything that would hurt my attacker.

“I want it, I need it. I will have it!” Ryuga’s eyes glowed silver in his frantic frenzy. His mouth was foaming crazy and smoke curled out of his nostrils and ears, encouraging him, corrupting him.

“What do you want!” I shouted back, guarding my head with my arms. With every blow, his nails were ripping me further open. The ragged edges of the wounds exposed the tender flesh and bundles of nerves underneath, each attacked and assaulted by his headless rage.

“Give me the Shadow!” His eyes flashed. “Give it to me!”

This was what Brynhild was talking about when she warned me. I should’ve listened, but that didn’t matter now.

“Get off me!” With all my might, I kicked and thrashed against him, trying to free myself from his assault. My foot hit something squishy and he howled in pain, temporarily loosening his grip on me.

This was my chance!

I clawed up from the dirt and charged towards the forest. Just a little further and I’d be safe.

Panic and despair whipped me like a cruel master, driving me to run faster than I’d ever done before. I ran the legs from under my body, ignoring my burning muscles and aching limbs.

I just needed to make it. A little longer, a little closer. Almost there!

The moment I crossed the threshold of the forest, the intricate mark on my hip glowed raging hot and goosebumps rippled along my skin. The tree crowns were tightly grown together and blocked out most of the moonlight. The maze of trunks and branches weaved around me, a net of darkness that captured me. Before, the woods were my enemy, now, they were my guardian.

As I pushed deeper and deeper into the unknown, a strange calmness fell over me. I was in the Keeper’s territory and his magic would protect me. I knew it would.

His protection was carved into my skin, glowing green as it illuminated just enough for me to navigate through the trees without crashing into a low-hanging branch or trip over a bulky root. Like a compass, it guided me, deep into the heart of the forest where children got lost. Which was exactly what I needed. To get lost and never to be found by Ryuga.

And so, I let the forest swallow me. Hoping, begging, praying that it would erase me.