Haunted Forest

Pel collected the task slip and read it again, the task was about investigating the forest nearest to the academy and for some reason, the west side of the forest was said to be haunted.

Pel searched for the meaning of haunted and could not help but roll his eyes. He never expected humans to have such a belief made out of fear of the unknown. According to them the reason for the disappearance of students who went to that area could be related to ghosts.

It was laughable, despite never seeing a got they firmly believe that it existed. After making his decision he took the task slip and went to the counter.

The girl acting as the receptionist checked out his information on the database and could not help but feel surprised but that did not stop her work.

She shook her head at Pel and said. "I cannot give you permission to take this task"

Pel frowned. "And why not?" he did not see anything wrong with the task he had selected so why was he declined?

The girl scoffed. "You're just a freshman and even though you have seven abilities, they are currently unidentified, so in simple words, you don't have the qualifications to take up this kind of task"

"What qualification do you require?" Pel asked seriously.

The girl looked at him and sighed. "Look, if you have your life so much there are better ways to end it...there is no need to do this"

Pel was speechless but then shook his head and tried to explain. "I have many ways to protect myself so you should not worry about that"

The girl stared at him for a while and then shrugged. "Suit yourself"

After that, she approved him and collected the task slip. "You have a two weeks deadline before the task goes back on the board, for your sake I hope you don't die"

Pel ignored her and walked away, he planned to finish the quest as soon as possible so he equipped his hover ring and took off.

After he left the Academy his watch beeped and he received a notification...or warning about leaving the range of the academy.

Flying to the forest took almost 35 minutes and when he arrived there were lots of students entering and exiting the forest but no one was going towards the west side and they avoided that place like a plague.

Pel ignored them and started walking in the direction everyone was trying to avoid.

"What is he doing?" one of the students stopped and stared at Pel.

"Hey look over there...that boy is going to the haunted side of the forest" another student said, drawing the attention of those that had yet to notice Pel.

"Is he crazy?"

"Maybe he doesn't value his life anymore"

"He's probably a loner that wants to hunt alone..?"

"That is rubbish, there is enough space here for him to be lonely all he wants"

Pel paid no attention to their word and kept ignoring them until a student blocked him by standing in front of him.

"Don't you know that place is haunted, why are you still going over there"

Since the student asked with good intentions, Oel did not ignore him. "Do you know what is haunting that place, have you seen it?"

The student frowned. "How am I supposed to know? those who go in there don't come out"

"Well I intend to find out" Pel declared and before the student could even comment, Pel had already entered the forest.

As Pel continued walking he did not come in contact with a single wild beast but he didn't sweat and thought of many possibilities that could hinder the beast.

He was not familiar with their intelligence level so he believed that just like the other humans the beasts were also afraid of ghosts.

The dews from the leaves were making his clothes wet and sticky and he was starting to feel disgusted but that did not stop him much, if it became unbearable he could always ditch the uniform and wear his own clothes.

Although there were no beasts, Pel felt there was something strange about the forest. He couldn't point it out but the feeling of being watched didn't go away.

Later his ears picked up sounds that weren't coming from him. Curious, he followed the sound and as he drew near he heard someone humming.

When the person came into view, Pel felt his body freeze, probably from shock or it might have been disbelief. Whatever it was, Pel could not utter any sound and just found himself staring. Even he could not explain why his body reacted like that.

The person in question still had not noticed him and continued humming while picking fruits from a tree.

Two minutes passed and things remained as they were. Finally, the person finished picking the fruits and turned around to probably return but then Pel was found out.

A short scream escaped her lips but that slight emotional disturbance caused everything within the 20-meter radius to disintegrate and Pel was sent flying.

"No..." the girl barely whispered and covered her lips while hot tears streamed from her eyes.

It happened again, because she couldn't control her stupid ability she had once again killed someone. The forest would recover in no time but that person would remain dead.

Her body shook in fright, then she hugged her knee and curled into a ball and only muffled sobs could be heard.

Why? why did it have to happen again? what did it have to be like this? why couldn't she be normal anymore? did her luck have to be so bad that anyone close to her will be doomed to death?

As her emotions spiraled out of control her body glowed even brighter and the AOE (Area Of Effect) of her ability kept expanding until she heard a groan.