The trees parted slowly, revealing rooftops half-swallowed by vines.
What remained of the village sat in a sunken glade—dozens of old wooden houses and shrines, their structures worn and slouched under centuries of wind and root. Ivy strangled the lantern poles. Moss crawled up cracked stone walls. The roads were gone, replaced by overgrowth and silence.
Ren whistled low as they stepped in.
"Well," he said, arms crossed, "if I had to pick a place to get cursed by ancient forest spirits, this would be top three."
Seris scanned the village with narrowed eyes, her boots crunching gently on leaves and broken tile. "This place has been abandoned for at least a century. Maybe more."
"How can you tell?"
"The magic is gone," she said quietly. "Even the soil feels numb. No leyline. No ambient energy. Just… sleep."
They moved slowly through the overgrown path that once may have been a main road. A crumbling signpost leaned sideways, its characters half-eaten by rot.
Ren peered into the window of a nearby hut. "Hey, there's still furniture in here. It's like everyone just walked away one day and never came back."
"Or they never had the chance," Seris murmured.
That shut him up for a few seconds.
The sun began to dip below the horizon, washing the ruins in long shadows and gold.
Seris came to a stop in the center of the square—once a gathering place, now overrun with tangled roots and dry stone wells.
"We should stay here for the night," she said finally.
Ren raised a brow. "Here? Like, here-here?"
"It's safer than wandering in the dark," she said. "At least we'll have walls around us. And the ruins may confuse anyone—or anything—tracking us."
Ren rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Can't argue with logic. Also, ten out of ten for ambiance. Kind of feels like a class trip if the class was full of emotionally damaged loners."
Seris gave him a tired look. "It's not a trip. It's survival."
"...You're just mad because you didn't pack snacks."
She didn't respond.
Instead, she looked around once more, her eyes lingering on the shadows stretching just a bit too long between buildings.
"…Don't let your guard down," she said quietly. "We're being watched."
Ren blinked. "Wait, actually?"
She nodded once.
Ren straightened up, putting on a mock-serious expression. "Noted. Tension activated. Sword ready. Muscles flexed."
"You don't have a sword."
"Details."
She sighed, already regretting acknowledging him.
The last rays of sunlight disappeared behind the treetops, plunging the village into dusk.
And in that creeping silence, the ruins seemed to exhale—welcoming them back to a place long forgotten by time.
They decided split up to inspect the village before the light vanished completely.
Ren checked the half-collapsed houses, stepping over shattered wooden beams and tangled roots. Everything was old—too old. Whatever had once breathed life into this place was gone now, stripped out like a thread pulled from cloth.
No bodies. No signs of struggle.Just silence.
Seris swept her hand through the air as she moved, murmuring faint incantations to probe for lingering magical traces. Every attempt returned the same answer—nothing. No wards, no traps, not even the faintest whisper of a protective spell. It was as if the village had been erased from memory itself.
They met again near what was once a shrine, now covered in ivy and cracked from its base.
"Find anything?" Ren asked, kicking a loose stone.
Seris shook her head. "Just rot. The entire place is magically dead. Too dead. It's… strange."
Ren rubbed his neck. "You'd think there'd be, like, a clue or something. A diary. A blood smear. A haunted doll trying to stab me in my sleep."
She gave him a flat look.
He raised both hands. "What? I'm just saying—this is a suspiciously tidy abandoned village."
"I agree," she said. "Which is why we're only staying one night. We leave at first light."
Ren looked around again, then pointed toward a long, low building near the far side of the square. "That one looks intact enough. Roof's mostly there. Four walls. Less bugs, probably."
Seris nodded. "It'll do."
They entered the building carefully—an old meeting hall, maybe. Dust blanketed everything inside. Wooden beams creaked softly with the breeze. But it was stable, dry, and defensible.
Ren found a spot near the wall and dropped his pack with a groan. "Gods. My feet are plotting a rebellion."
Seris walked a slow circle of the interior, fingers glowing faintly as she cast a light ward near the entrance. Just in case.
"No signs of movement," she said. "We'll take turns keeping watch. I'll go first."
Ren yawned, already halfway curled up on the floor. "Deal. Wake me if a ghost girl shows up or the ceiling tries to eat us."
"…Don't joke," she muttered.
He peeked one eye open. "That's not a no."
She didn't answer.
Instead, she sat near the door, eyes fixed on the dark beyond the open frame. Wind rustled the leaves outside, soft and aimless.
But not empty.
And somewhere beneath the silence, something watched back while ren drifted to sleep.
Ren was back in class.
It was empty.
Rows of old desks bathed in orange glow. The sun had nearly set, bleeding amber light through the windows like a painting. Dust floated lazily in the warm air.
Ren sat upright in his chair, blinking slowly. Had he fallen asleep? The silence was too perfect. Too clean.
Something was off.
Then—he saw her.
Standing by the blackboard, barely lit by the sunset—
The girl in the white-and-red mantle.
Oversized wizard hat drooping to one side. Barely moving. Just watching him.
Ren squinted. "Huh… I don't remember dreaming about loli wizards."
She didn't respond.
Didn't blink.
Didn't seem like she even belonged there.
Her presence bent the dream at its edges, like reality was stretching just to contain her.
Ren rubbed his eyes and muttered, "Okay, but like—real talk, I wonder how Seri-chan would look in a school uniform…"
Still, no reaction from the wizard girl.
Just silence.
Then—she spoke.
A voice not quite a voice.
"You don't belong in this world."
Ren's posture straightened instinctively.
She looked around the classroom as if she was the only thing real in the entire dream.
"I can tell," she said. "So why are you here?"
Ren, ever the last idiot alive, shrugged. "Huh? If I knew, I wouldn't be dreaming about you."
Still no reaction. No smile. No annoyance.
She walked slowly to the window, the sound of her steps muted like underwater movement.
Then her voice returned—layered.
Not just one.
Ten. Maybe more. All overlapping, all speaking in unison. Deep. Hollow. Ancient. Human and not.
"That woman beside you… she is the Witch of Greed."
The classroom darkened.
"Tell us… how did she escape?"
Ren didn't speak.
"Did she break the seal herself?"The voices pulsed like a heartbeat."Or did you free her?"
A beat.
Ren didn't answer immediately. His heart was racing, but he forced a smile.
"…Look, I don't know what kind of weird club you're with, but we're just wandering around. Taking in the sights. Ghost villages. Forests. Y'know, totally normal stuff."
The girl turned toward him, staff now in her hand.
Without warning, she slammed it into the classroom floor.
And the world shattered.
Like glass breaking inward, the classroom peeled apart. Desks splintered. The sunset bled into the air. The walls fragmented like a mirror losing cohesion.
Darkness surged in from all sides.
The girl's many voices overlapped again:
"We know you lie."
Her presence towered over the ruins of the dream.
"Be honest, human. Your life is at stake. We are no joke."
Ren, floating now in the void, face lit only by her glowing staff, said the first thing that came to mind:
"Who knows—maybe we just decided to take a really weird walk—"
And then he was yanked awake.
His body jolted upright, breath catching in his throat, drenched in cold sweat.
The room was dim—dawn barely breaking through cracked wood.
And Seris was staring at him.
Dead silent. Wide awake.
"…You screamed," she said flatly.
Ren looked at her, panting. "…Was it loud?"
"Loud enough."
He swallowed, rubbing his face. "Yup. This place is definitely cursed."