The Sacred Forest I

"Wait, can't I come here?" I asked again

"Of course not. Akademiya is open to everyone." Clarice replied with her smile.

I quickly glanced at Chrono.

"Ah, wait, you said your name was Awaii, right?" Fredell asked suddenly.

"Yes?"

Fredella blinked, "Are you Mrs. Hera's daughter? She often tells her students about you."

Clarice and Chrono were immediately shocked, "What?!"

Clarice immediately brightened and approached me, "You're Awaii. Oh my! Really? I never thought I'd meet you." She grabbed both of my hands.

"What? You're Mrs. Hera's daughter?!" Chrono replied.

I looked at confusedly, "What?"

Chrono immediately got goosebumps and wanted to apologize. But he held back because of his pride.

"Sorry." He said.

I scratched my head which didn't itch, "Wait, why are you guys look really shock?"

"What? You're Mrs. Hera daughter. The daughter of the principal of this academy. Of course we are shocked." Said Fredella.

"What? For re―?" My jaw dropped before quickly returned to normal so I didn't look really dumb, "Oh well."

Clarice and Fredella smile together, "Nice to meet you!"

Clarice then said, "Awaii must be very strong huh."

"Uhh..Not really. I can't fight, and my magic can only be used when I'm injured." I explained confusedly.

"Then you must be a constellation." Fredella continued.

I then took out my hand and tried to make the star badge appear like Hera did.

But strangely nothing appeared.

"Eh? Are you trying to make your badge appear?" Clarice asked again.

I looked down in confusion, "How strange. Why didn't it appear?"

"You're probably lying. You're just an ordinary person, right? Because Mrs. Hera didn't send you to the Academy-" Chrono's words were cut off once again because Fredella stepped on Chrono's hand.

"I have magic. Just try to hurt me."

"Huh?" Fredella asked confusedly.

"I'll be fine. Just try to scratch my skin."

"Oh..sorry then." said Fredella

Fredella then took out a floating grimoire book and took out a fairly large rose stem.

The stem then moved to scratch my skin.

"Ouch." I hissed.

Blood immediately came out and in a second white fire burned my hand and healed my hand.

"See?" I pointed to them.

"How strange. An element magic but healing? I never see a mix magic like that. What kind of magic do you have?" Fredella stared curiously.

"I don't know." I said not really understanding.

"Would you like to come with us to Hutan Suci? There's an altar for fighting. Maybe we can find out what kind of power you have." Clarice suggested with spirit.

"Haha. It's best to just―ughk!" Chrono hissed because Fredella kicked his stomach.

Ah. This kid's words are really sharp. For a moment, I'm getting annoyed too.

"Hutan Suci?" I asked again.

Fredella then pointed to the top left. There was another floating land filled with a forest of giant trees with purple leaves that connected to Akademiya using stairs.

Hutan Suci was also connected to this academy via a waterfall that then flowed back to the main island below. Of course on top right of The Hutan Suci, there was a land that filled of a castle.

I can't see the castle properly but it seems like this castle has abandoned.

"That's okay.." I nodded.

"We can use Chrono's teleportation to go there directly." Fredella suggested.

Chrono replied, "Hey! Teleportation uses a lot of energy. I don't want to waste my energy just to do stupid things."

"Don't worry, you're strong." Fredella said while releasing her plant magic on Chrono.

She helped Chrono stand up and Chrono immediately patted his dirty clothes.

"Fine" replied Chrono while rolling his eyes.

Fredella and Clarice quickly held Chrono's shoulders.

"Come here, Awaii." said Clarice.

I nod then immediately held Clarice's hand.

Bzzt!

"Uwah!" I was immediately surprised when I saw that we had moved to a fairly beautiful forest.

There were many fireflies here with blue flowers that glowed like a lamp on the edge of a shallow river and turned into a waterfall when they reached the edge of the island.

Chrono quickly fell and lay exhausted on the ground.

I stared at him closely and offered my hand, "You okay?"

"This is all because of you." he said annoyed. But he still accepted my hand and sat down slowly.

"We just need to walk inside. It's not that far to go to the ruins. Later there a giant octopus monster in there. The academy students often come here to fight it." said Fredella as she walked along the rocky path into the forest.

The rocky path was a bit muddy. Luckily I was wearing boots. The other kids were wearing boots too. Or maybe these were Hera's, I just wore them.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. It felt so uncomfortable here.

"Is this a tomb? Why does it feel creepy?" I looked around in horror.

Clarice, who had been scared all this time, answered, "Yes. This place is the tomb of the members of the Violet royal family. But because of the revolution, Violet was no longer a kingdom and this place was turned into a sacred forest."

Fredella looked at Clarice who was holding her hand tightly, "If you're scared, it's okay not to come."

"No. There's Mrs. Hera's daughter. I should come to see her magic." she said while shaking.

"You don't have to be like that.." said I.

My body suddenly got goosebumps. I looked at the block-shaped tomb with a door underneath which showed a tombstone. There's a lot of translucent white balls flying around each other.

I then hugged myself to hold back the goosebumps. Fredella who noticed me then asked me, "Awaii, what happen."

"I don't know. I'm not scared but my body subconsciously got goosebumps."

Chrono then answered, "Don't worry that much. It's just a grave."

"Maybe." I swallowed my saliva and continued walking.

"Come on! Clarice!" Fredella then held Clarice's hand who seemed reluctant to come.

*

*

*

"Finally we've arrived." Fredella said.

My eyes immediately turned to the ruins in front of us. After a while of walking, we finally came to the place which we are aiming for.

Here, the giant trees no longer grew. The sunlight shone warmly on the ruins in front of us. The grass grew lushly surrounded by peonies that grew all over the ruins.

"Be careful. The ruins could fall on you." Remember Clarice who had started to return to normal.

"Are these ruins that are the remains of a god or something?" I asked looking at the ruins with terraced stairs like a colosseum made of stone.

"Yes, this is the Ruins of the Goddess of Life. It's a Goddess that worshiped by the ancient Asterian people." Fredella explained.