Doggone Academy

Vivi’s voice echoed through the gloomy wetlands. The mournful tune of a woman resonated in such a desolate place, invoking the feeling of wandering through a nightmare.

Having finished her song, Vivi looked around the now silent swamp and remarked.

“The atmosphere… seems to have changed a bit.”

“I agree.”

“Thinking of finding the god of this land ourselves… Our thoughts are not like that of others.”

“It’s just a matter of whether we meet sooner or later.”

A shadow passed briefly over her face.

Our drift was drawing closer to an end.

An end that was surely not going to be smooth, as both Damian and Vivi understood.

It could very well conclude with someone’s death.

“To suffer alongside the cursed noblewoman… you too endure hardship.”

“I’ve said it before, it was my choice. I do not intend to blame you, my Lady.”

“…”

Vivi might not have understood, but Damian knew all the complications involved when he decided to accompany her. He had no intention of blaming her for anything.

Vivi proceeded forward silently, then started muttering sorrowful lyrics once more.

Perhaps thirty minutes had passed when her voice began to shrink.

“A widow prayed to the goddess-”

[Widow…prayed…goddess.]

She suddenly stopped singing and turned to look at Damian.

“Did you hear that…?”

He had heard it too.

Somewhere, someone was mimicking Vivi’s song. It was a low, somber voice… different from an ordinary human’s.

When Vivi ceased singing, the echoing voice also stopped abruptly. There was nothing around them; just an ominous air lingered. The source of the sound was unclear.

Vivi closed her eyes tightly and then opened them, brushing away the goosebumps on her arms.

“It’s true that souls can’t escape this place. This land is dreadful.”

Then, laughter from a child echoed from behind them. Vivi jumped, startled.

There couldn’t possibly be a child in this forsaken place. It was clear there was something non-human present.

“Whatever it is, it’s certainly watching us.”

Spirits in the Sodderton Cycles played such tricks. It seemed here ghosts took their place.

“Should we continue to sing?”

Damian nodded. Vivi took a deep breath and began to sing again.

After a couple of verses, the thing once more began to imitate the song. It was still faint, low, and melancholic.

Vivi squeezed her eyes shut and finished her song.

Damian drew his wooden sword, heightening his vigilance around them.

The sky darkened though it was nearing noon. The ominous environment, atmosphere, ghostly voices, and sinister omens all combined, shrinking Vivi into herself.

Then, she stopped singing again and said.

“It whispers to me. Did you hear it this time?”

“No, I didn’t hear anything.”

“It stopped singing and told me to leave you. It’s chilling.”

“Leave me?”

“Yes. It said to leave you and come with it.”

“…Come closer to me.”

“That’s a good idea. I was just about to suggest the same.”

Vivi, who had been leading the way, closed the gap and clenched Damian’s sleeve tightly.

“I never anticipated encountering the souls of the dead so vividly. Aren’t you afraid?”

“I’ve grown accustomed to it.”

“…”

Suddenly, Vivi flinched again.

“I hear it once more.”

She turned to the right and pointed. Before them lay a foggy swamp, dark and desolate.

“There. The sound is coming from over there.”

Damian released Vivi’s grip on his sleeve and interlocked their fingers. Her hand trembled faintly.

“Are you ready?”

“…With you, I can go anywhere. Let’s proceed.”

Holding a wooden sword in one hand and Vivi in the other, they moved toward the area she indicated.

With every step, their feet sank deep into the muck, nearly to their calves.

As they pressed on, Damian too began to hear a sound.

“Uh…uh…uhhhhh.”

A long, thin wail.

Beneath the shadows of dead branches, a young boy sat crying.

Vivi’s hand trembled even more. Having been deceived by the crone before, they’d long given up the notion that any person they saw could be real.

“Uh…uh…uhhhh.”

Vivi asked,

“What are you doing here?”

The boy stopped crying abruptly and turned to look at them.

“…I want to go home, but I’m too scared to move.”

Vivi looked at Damian, questioning what to do.

He nodded, and Vivi addressed the child.

“We will take you to your home together.”

“No, leave him and come with me,” the boy insisted.

“This man is my friend. Why can’t he come?”

“I don’t like him.”

“This man will go with me.”

Upon closer inspection, they saw the boy squatting over the swamp, his feet untouched by the mire.

“If you come with him, everyone will be angry,” the boy said before abruptly standing and running into the dark wetlands, disappearing into the distance.

Vivi watched the path of the boy, knowing well that no footsteps had been left behind.

“Let’s follow.”

“…Alright.”

They moved silently, trailing after where the boy had fled.

The sky grew darker, as if an eclipse was occurring. The saying ‘swallowed by the sun’ was not merely a metaphor.

Venturing deeper, signs of human presence began to appear one by one.

A torn dress caught on a tree branch. Seeing it, Vivi clung closer to Damian.

“This dress… it’s of Imperial style. Why is it here, in such a distant foreign land?”

Further on, the remains of someone in a thick suit of armor lay dead, a long sword grasped in their hand, likely a knight.

“They are… wearing the armor of the duchy.”

In the swamp, a bone-like lotus flower rose. Skeletal remains sat, shoulder bone completely gone.

Elsewhere, another skeleton adorned with lavish accessories on the neck and fingers.

People of all kinds had died here and been left to decay.

It felt like they had entered a carnivorous plant’s trap, luring in wanderers to consume them.

“It seems we’ve come to the right place.”

“Yes, as if we’re passing through the gates of the netherworld.”

Eventually, they reached the end and found themselves before a lake.

The bottom was dyed black as if ink had been poured in.

The pungent stench assaulted their nostrils, and Vivi pinched her nose as bubbles continuously rose from below.

“…This is undoubtedly hell.”

The boy they had encountered earlier appeared on the lakeshore and shouted at them.

“You shouldn’t have brought him here.”

“…”

“Don’t bring him here. No, no, noooo!”

The boy’s yelling escalated into a piercing scream. Vivi covered her ears in shock.

“The noblewoman is our sacrifice!!”

The boy’s face began to decay and melt away, turning into smoke and vanishing. They rushed to where he had been.

What remained was the long-abandoned skeleton of a child.

Vivi’s hands shook within Damian’s grip.

“They love to startle people.”

“No, that’s not the point… Something, something is coming.”

“…?”

“I don’t know what it is… but an immense power is approaching us.”

Her body began to shake like a leaf, and her eyes lost focus. Vivi looked up at Damian and cried out urgently.

“We can’t face this. This is something beyond our capacity to deal with.”

And then the world began to darken further. Soon, utter darkness enveloped everything, not a single light shining through.

***

A small spirit appeared in Damian’s hand.

“Peep!”

Flames spewed incessantly from the spirit’s wings, the only light in the encompassing darkness.

Vivi, overly tense, began to breathe frantically, on the verge of panic.

The spirit’s light wasn’t enough. In the encroaching darkness, it was impossible to see what might strike next.

Damian murmured something, and the spirit flew from his hand, setting fire to the dead trees around them.

Soon, acrid smoke rose, and the nearby flames began to spread. Thanks to the slowly burning trees, the surroundings became visible.

“Are you alright?”

“It’s coming… I’ve never experienced such a powerful force before.”

Damian turned his eyes in the direction of Vivi’s gaze. Flames reflected off the black lake, and a massive something stirred in the rolling waves.

Suddenly, something clamped onto Vivi’s ankle.

“Ah!”

A skeletal hand burst from the ground and grasped her.

Damian immediately struck it with his wooden sword.

“What… what is this?”

The sound of bone hitting bone surrounded them.

Damian began to survey the area quickly.

The remains near the lakeshore started to rise, slowly lifting their bodies.

[Give me back my body.]

[My child starved to death.]

[I need to return to my wife.]

The skeletons, each muttering, began to encircle Damian and Vivi.

A few of them reached out lazily to grasp Vivi, but Damian swung his sword, shattering them.

He then looked back to the lake. Something huge was cutting through the water, rapidly approaching. They were in dire straits.

Before taking on that beast, dealing with the skeletons was the immediate priority.

Damian took the lead, beginning to cut down the walking dead. Their sluggish movements made them easy targets.

The problem was that, no matter how many he cut down, they kept rising from the ground.

“…Damn it.”

That’s when it happened.

Behind the path they had come, a blue light flickered. The skeletons aiming for Vivi turned to look, startled.

Soon after, a blue stag burst forth from there.

“…!”

[KOOOOH]

As the stag approached, the living skeletons shielded their faces and fled.

The stag butted into the escaping skeletons, clearing a path, and stopped in front of Damian.

Vivi’s eyes widened at the sight of the stag.

“This, this is…”

“He’s a friend who’s helping us. I’ll explain more later.”

The stag bowed down to Vivi.

“…!”

“We have no time. You need to get on.”

Damian quickly helped Vivi onto the stag’s back, then cut the intertwined rope.

She cried out.

“What are you planning to do!”

“You know the decoy strategy, my Lady. You’ve played your part as bait well, so you may go now.”

“No! You must come too. I will not allow it!”

Damian shook his head and pulled her left hand towards him, pressing his lips to her knuckles.

Her eyes widened as he slowly withdrew and looked up at her.

As the forest fire spread, its heat surged towards the sky. The scene was truly hellish, and the blood-red reflection wavered in Damian’s eyes.

His gaze was the same as when she had first encountered him in Eternia.

This man had the eyes of a madman.

“I didn’t come here to die.”

“…”

Her lips quivered.

As Damian released her hand, the stag started its run, leaving him behind.

Vivi couldn’t take her eyes off the receding figure of Damian.

Soon, a gigantic form emerged from across the lake.

A maw big enough to swallow a horse in one bite. Eyes glowing red. A long body.

It was the very image of a basilisk from the myths.

Damian faced the massive beast and began to advance slowly.

Shortly after, a brilliant white light burst forth from his body. Vivi had to shield her eyes from the dazzling brightness.