Ticket to the Academy!

I followed the instructions of the shopkeeper and soon found my way through the crowded corridors of the gold-laden Main Office. The infrastructure itself was pretty large and the maze-like infrastructure was pretty confusing. It took me almost 2 hours to find the transportation area despite the clear instructions and helps from a countless passerby.

I was finally there. Just like the name suggested the transportation area consisted of various means of transportation. Countless beasts were kept in order of their use. With the land beast-like animals on the leftmost corner and huge manta rays on the rightmost.

The land beasts were of various shapes and sizes and the costs of renting any one of the beasts were written boldly in English by the entrance for everyone to see.

1 silver for a Land dragon being the cheapest since they put almost 50 people on the top of the not so secure looking benches. There was also a timetable besides this with the destinations and cheap rides in them clearly written. I looked through the list of bizarre destinations which included 'The Fluffy Planet" and one named 'Do Not Sing' among them.

Was it really the name or some badly made joke?

Soon I saw the Academy of the Undead on the list. It was leaving in about one and a half-hour. And apparently, it was free for students.

"Okay ... I love free things!" I mumbled to myself. I looked up the number beside it- A-245.

...

So similar to earth! It was just like some bus stations back on earth. Now, I just had to search for it.

The whole line named A was filled with multicoloured cute but gigantic Manta rays. They were also fixed with some external seating arrangement of various kinds. Some had an enclosed class space making it look like some spaceship, some had seats with seatbelts but no covering and some just had wooden benches, but fortunately, they had seatbelts and railing. I sighed to myself in my heart.

On my way there I had seen some of them taking off. They had a rider guiding the beast, named a beast tamer and the beast would fly off to the hole in the sky which had always been there.

The number I had was the last, so after walking for almost half an hour I finally found the A-247. It was a small baby pink coloured manta ray. Small because it was much smaller than the other ones in the line. It gave off a sense of cuteness and innocence.

I went closer to them and noticed this was the end of the line. there was nothing beyond here. That was right! Nothing!

It was the end of the cliff. There were only stars beyond here. That was when I noticed, there seemed to be some kind of bubble-like barrier in the border and this barrier was continuous. The hole in the sky was a tube-like structure extending out towards some unknown place.

So this Main office is on a flat planet or and island floating in the bubble space since I could already see some distant stars. I guess flat planets do exist, just not naturally in the space.

I threw these thoughts to the back of my mind and went towards the beast tamer who was busy tying the not so secure looking rope on the giant pink manta rays.

"Excuse me?" I asked hesitantly. The man looked back and .... continued his work.

'What a rude guy!'I thought to myself.

"I wanted to go to the academy of the undead... is this the right place?" I asked him again.

I was a teacher after all. Patience is my forte.

how else would I have gotten through the hellish time as a high school teacher who is not respected by anyone?

I pushed back my musings and concentrated on the beast tamer before me.

He appeared to be only a teenager. He had light brown coloured hair, deep green eyes and a distinct jawline turned again and then got down from the huge ladder he was standing on. He looked around and said," Who is it! Come out now! Stop playing around with me just because I am a low-level rider.!"

I see that was the reason the ride was free. the rider was a newbie and so was the beast. they were doing this for the experience just like the free internships back on earth.

There was also another thing I realised. He couldn't see me. I was invisible. I couldn't see myself. I got used to other employes able to see me so I forgot that tI was invisible from the start.

"Umm... I'm here" I said guiltily as I was standing right in front of the angry handsome boy.

The boy was visibly spooked but I have no idea how to turn visible.

"Stop it! Undo your concealment. This is rude to scare people like that or play pranks. Don't you know that?" He composed himself for a moment and said.

Looking at his stern face I hurriedly explained. "I am a ghost and I don't know how to be visible. I don't have a concealment spell, I am just ...like this."

As soon as he heard the word 'Ghost' his face turned pale and lips started to tremble. His previous stern demeanour was nowhere to be seen. I thought that ghosts were common since other employes in the Ofice didn't give much of a reaction when seeing me, why was this guy frightened?

"Are you okay?" I enquired worriedly.

"Of-fcouse" He stammered, " I am not afraid of you ghosts or any other undead. I am a brave rider of the mighty Dragon Ray after all" The forceful facade was obvious but it seemed like the man was afraid of undead in general.

But wasn't the ride to the academy of the undead? Why did he sign up for it if he was afraid of them?

Since I already had his attention I asked again, "Is this the free ride to the academy of the undead?"

"Undead??" He seemed to be lost for a moment. "Ah... yes it is. Nobody really takes the free ride anymore so it is the common free ride to most academies in the vicinity." The man explained as he seemed to have gotten over his fear a little.

"I see... so I will wait for a while?"

"Yes! You can just grab a seat.... we will depart once the appointed time comes." The man said and he ran back to his manta ray. It seems like he will keep avoiding me for the whole journey.

I floated conveniently on to the back of the manta ray. Never again will I have to take those pesky stairs. I also discovered that the benches were not so secure, the ropes looked unreliable compared to the others parked beside it. I see why people avoid free rides. It was unreliable and unsafe.

But since I had no chose nor money, I just quietly found a random seat at the back.

The seating area could accommodate unto 20 people at a time, but currently, all of them were vacant. So I sat there daydreaming about my previous life.

Time passed slowly and surely and soon the last 45 minutes of waiting were up. The man got on top of the manta ray and said, "Okay its time. It seems like you are the only passenger today."

"Wait!!!!!" A youthful sound interrupted.

Just as he was about to take off we heard this sound. When I looked over I say a group of young elves with purple skin. The group of teenagers rushed to the benches as soon as they got closer.

"It's you guys again? Okay... ready to take off?"

"Sorry about that Brother Neil, we got held up at the customs." The silver-haired purple-eyed young boy with a sunny disposition said.

"Our sister just got admitted to the academy...." The other boy said pointing to a loli beside them.

"I see... let us go to the academy of the Undead then. " He said and continued to converse with he pink manta ray.

"Dragon!!! Let's take off!"

The manta ray produced a high pitched sound and started to move forward.

"BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The manta ray beside us incinerated in deep purplish-black flames.

Everything paused for a moment. The manta ray we were riding too froze in place.

"THERES AN INVASIONNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I heard someone scream with all their might.

What kind of bad luck was this?