Celestial Saga: Exiled to Earth II - Chapter 7：Stage SIX

“Come back here!” The teacher shouted, running through the hallway covered in sweat. “Goddammit Van! You said we’ll ‘sneak’ out!” Freyja shouted, running for her life beside the grinning Van. “At least it’s more fun this way!” She ran even faster, almost leaving the furious Freyja behind.

On the way, Freyja met Scarlet and her friend. With an evil smirk, she grabbed Scarlet’s arm pulling her along with them. In surprise, she ended up running with them. Scarlet’s friend was left by herself. She was hesitant to go after them at first, but when she saw the furious teacher approaching, she instinctively ran to Freyja and the others.

“Why the hell am I running!?” Scarlet complained. “Because you ARE. Over here!” Van made a turn left, leading them to a bushy path. Then, Van climbed up the fence that’s on the way, and jumped to the other side. Freyja did the same. Having no other choice, Scarlet and her friend followed.

Breathing heavily, Freyja lashed out at Van for starting this entire mess. “You said you’re a ninja or something!? We’re more like reckless criminals on the run!” She shouted. “Blame your short legs! I could’ve breezed through it without you baggage following me!” Van retaliated.

“Wait! And just what the hell am I doing here!?” Scarlet broke the fight.

“Come on, admit it. You’d rather be here than in that boring class, don’t you?” Freyja taunted, and she can’t bring herself to disagree. “Well, I’m already here.” Scarlet sighed in resignation.

“What are we going to do!? They will scold us!” Scarlet’s friend joined in. They looked at each other, and laughed. “Come on, we’ll just get scolded. That’s okay!” Van grinned, holding her hand out. “I’m Van. You guys?”

“I-I’m Aya.” Scarlet’s friend bashfully shook Van’s hand. “Scarlet.” “I’m Freyja!”

“Well, great! We’re accomplices now! For starters, how about we go for an adventure?” Van, without hearing what the others had to say, headed off to the paths behind the school campus, leading to a forest. Freyja followed, but looked back. “Come on!” She urged the two, and the four of them headed to the forests.

Scarlet knew the place. She’s been passing through a part of that forest as a short-cut to her house. They wanted to go to the town proper. But after crossing an old bridge over the river, they ended up walking for an hour without seeing a trace of the path Scarlet is familiar with. Pale, she finally turned to them. “Guys,” She swallowed before continuing. “I think we’re lost.”

“We’re lost!? Aren’t you supposed to be from this area!?” Aya panicked. “I am, and I’m sure I went through the correct way!”

“We’re lost!?” Van exclaimed, with sparkling eyes. “That’s great! Right, Frey?”

Freyja was unusually quiet. All her energy and excitement suddenly disappeared since crossing the bridge. Just as soon as they did, she felt a strange presence but ignored it, trusting Scarlet’s memory instead. “Earth to Freyja!” Van snapped her out of deep thoughts. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

“Hey, don’t you think evil spirits did this?” Scarlet, apparently, is superstitious. “Then let’s just kick them evil spirits on the butt and get the hell out of here!” Van readied her fists.

“Guys, don’t you feel anything weird?” Freyja said, looking around. “You guys can see this strange thing around me, right?” She held her hand out. The white gaseous substance is leaking from her body again. The three of them nodded. “Well, no one else can see this except us. So maybe we can sense something similar? How about we look around?” They agreed, and started scouting the place.

It’s all trees and grass and bushes. Nothing special. They went forward, backward, left and right, but everything seems to be the same. It felt like they’re just walking around the same place for hours. Worse, it’s getting dark. Aya clung to Scarlet. “What if we can’t get out of here!?” Tears forming on her eyes. Scarlet remembered the old tales of her grandmother. After all, she got her superstition from her. She once told her a story about an ‘engkanto’ or a spirit who plays with people by locking them in looped places. She took out a piece of sticky paper and stuck it to one of the trees. Calling Van and Freyja, the four of them continued walking forward together. After a couple of minutes, Scarlet shrieked. They never turned back, but found the same marked tree. “Guys! We’re inside a loop, I’m sure of it!”

Freyja and Van stood back to back. The moment Scar confirmed her suspicion, the skies suddenly turned dark way faster than possible. They are now sure that something is behind this after all. A sinister presence filled the air, the trees around them started to look scary, as if possessed by evil spirits.

Freyja looked around. She vigilantly searched for anything, any clue that might help them. She’s trembling. She’s afraid. But she clenched her fists. And suddenly, a memory came to her mind in the most unexpected moment.

“Look closely Freyja, this is a Phrein.” A tall, dark skinned man with long silver hair and beautiful violet eyes glared at her. Then, another memory flashed. This time, she’s fighting a serpent like creature, with two other people she can’t remember. “Do it Freyja! Finish it!”

“I KNOW!” Freyja suddenly shouted, pulling the Swiss knife from her pocket. “I recognize this aura!” The fear in her heart turned to excitement. It felt like she suddenly solved a problem that has been bugging her for so long. Suddenly, she felt a strange bulk of sinister aura from ahead. Completely surrendering to her feelings, Freyja let her instincts lead her body, and her friends. She ran forward, in full speed, while the three followed.

Not for long, they saw a big bush covered in the same kind of gaseous substance radiating from Freyja’s body, but this time its colored dark green. Heightening their senses, Van, Scar and Aya finally noticed it. “Look, this one’s aura is green!”

“I see, so that’s why it’s hard to see this little crap. Its green everywhere dammit!” Van ran to Freyja with her fists ready for some punching. Aya and Scarlet ran to them. “So, what are we gonna do?” Aya asked.

“Destroy it, of course!” Freyja shouted, charging straight at the green aura-emitting bush with a Swiss knife. “Hell yeah we should!” Van agreed, charging bare-fisted.

But when Freyja tried to stab it, the bush suddenly jumped back, as if evading consciously. Not only that, the ground shook, and the trees around them started swaying like they’re alive too. A number of branches flew straight at Freyja’s back. Being the nearest to Freyja, Aya took her sling bag off and used it to shield Freyja. Thanks to her, Freyja was only scratched on her left cheek. Much to Aya’s surprise, her hand and her bag emitted the same faint aura, which made it sturdier than normal. She dropped the bag in surprise. “How did I do that!?”

“Ask later!” Scarlet shouted, throwing a couple of stones at the suspicious bush that seems to be running away. Similarly, the stones that she threw were covered with a faint red aura. One of them hit the bush, making a couple of its leaves flame up.

Going with the flow, Van chased after the running bush with all of her might. When she closed in the distance, she jumped onto it, pinning it down to the ground. Then, she punched it a couple of times, grabbing some branches in the process, tearing them off with all of her might. Like Aya and Scarlet, her hands were mysteriously covered in faint gray aura.

This scene felt awfully familiar to Freyja. She knows what to do. The green aura around the moving bush started to weaken. With a smirk, she charged at the bush that’s held down by Van. Instinctively holding the Swiss knife as if it was a sword, she ran towards them with all her might. Her white aura piled up, turning the small Swiss knife into a long, aura sword. Van jumped away, before she slashed the bush into two.

The bush shriveled instantly, the ground stopped shaking and the trees returned to normal. The sky however, didn’t turn any brighter. After all, it’s already night time. But, the sinister atmosphere disappeared. The four of them breathing heavily, their hearts pounding. No one spoke a word, until Van broke the silence. “We did it! Hell yeah!” She jumped in excitement. Freyja sighed, and smiled. Scarlet sighed and Aya fell on her knees in relief.

“Hey guys, not sure if you noticed it, but… we all emitted aura, didn’t we?” Freyja pointed it out. Of course, they all saw the same thing. They all can see aura, but it’s the first time Aya, Van and Scarlet saw themselves consciously emitting such amount of aura. Suddenly, they had tons of questions in their minds. But for now, they feel so exhausted, they wanted to sleep right here right now.

“It’s already seven! I’m dead!” Scarlet rushed ahead. This time, to the correct path out of the forest. Aya followed. For the last time, Freyja looked back. Van urged her to go. “Come on, we can talk tomorrow.”

“Yeah. You’re right. See you guys tomorrow.” She grinned, before following the three of them back to town.

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