Chapter Text
“I’ve been having these…strange dreams lately….”
“Like…are any of them real?”
“Or not?”
She felt a gentle breeze brushing through her hair, tickling her face with a light whistling in her ears. Akko grimaced; did Sucy leave the window open again? She’s been doing that more often ever since she had discovered a new breed of mushroom thought to have been extinct for centuries, insisting the cool night air stimulated their growth. Akko didn’t know if that was true or not. In all likelihood, Sucy was just screwing with her again.
Akko reached out to pull her up her blanket…only she didn’t feel her blanket at all. In fact, she couldn’t feel her bed, either. The only thing her fingers touched was…grass?
The witch-in-training shot up into a sitting position with a startled gasp. She immediately recognized that she was in her room anymore – she wasn’t even in Luna Nova! She was in some kind of dense forest – though that was hardly helpful because literally everything in the magical world happens in a forest. Though she did notice ahead of her that there was one tree that stood over a hundred feet tall, easily dwarfing the rest of the forest. And it looked like this particular tree had been converted into a house/tower, though it looked old and dusty from lack of use.
It took Akko literally three minutes for her to realize where she was. This was the location of the Grand Triskelion – the magic seal that she and Diana broke less than four months ago! The sigil that had once been laid into the ground in front of the tree had long since faded once the magic had been released, though the remnants of Professor Croix’s psychotic machine still rested underneath the bed of grass and flowers.
But why was she here? Neither she nor Professor Chariot had felt the need to visit this place since the missile crisis. And how did she get here in the first place? Did she sleepwalk, or was this someone’s idea of a prank. Akko wouldn’t put it past Amanda.
Akko rose to her feet and looked around when she noticed movement up ahead. She narrowed her eyes and concentrated. Even from a distance, she could recognize that head of hair that strangely resembled cabbage.
“Diana?” she muttered to herself.
The prestigious top student of Luna Nova was walking up to the door to the treehouse, completely dressed in her school uniform as opposed to Akko in her sleeping shorts. Diana climbed the stairs and opened the door, letting herself inside the tree.
“Diana, wait up!” Akko called out, making a dash for her self-proclaimed rival.
But Diana didn’t look back. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her with a soft thud. That was strange, Akko thought as she crossed the patch of grass and climbed the wooden stairs. Diana typically had more of a reaction to Akko’s booming shouts; most often reprimanding her about disturbing other classes between lessons. Akko grabbed the knob, through open the door, and stepped inside to question Diana.
But her foot found no purchase, only empty space. Akko threw out her arms, swinging them around like windmills trying to regain her balance with only one foot holding her unsteadily on the threshold. Akko leaned backward, slowly beginning to regain stability, when she felt a hand shove her from behind and sent her plummeting into the black void.
Akko’s mouth was open, but no sound came out, as if she had left her voice behind at the door. The black void swiftly turning into a sea of stars that flew past her like a reverse waterfall, then quickly became an endless stretch of blue sky with a sea of clouds waiting below. She was falling from the sky!
Then again, she was kind of used to it at this point; the sky battle against the evil magic missile came to mind.
Just before she hit the clouds, Akko saw someone standing on the bed of white puffs with their hands folded in front of them, staring up at her as if she was some form of entertainment. Akko didn’t know who she was, but the strange woman practically radiated with magic. Leaves and flowers sprouted from her impossibly long green hair, which said nothing about the wooden antlers growing out of her head.
The strange woman – clearly a witch – did not reach out to save Akko, but merely offered her a soft smile before Akko fell through the clouds.
As if this dream couldn’t get any stranger, Akko suddenly found herself somewhere underwater where the only source of light came from the faint flickering glimmer reflecting from the surface above. Strangely enough, she had no trouble breathing, even as she plummeted deeper and deeper into the dark abyss and the light gradually faded into nothingness. She had no control over her body – it was like she was a puppet on a string, being pulled by someone else’s will. It reminded her an awful lot like what Croix did, and Akko had no desire to revisit that –
Slowly and with uncertainty, Akko flipped over and landed on her feet. What she landed on, she had no idea – the area was pitch-black and devoid of any sights or sound. It was like someone had completely shut off her senses. Akko unconsciously reached for her waist, only to remember that the Shiny Rod had returned to the stars four months ago. She was on her own here.
Akko took an uncertain step forward and let out a started yelp when the ground beneath her foot suddenly exploded. No, exploded wasn’t the right word. Waking up seemed more appropriate. A hurricane of leaves suddenly flew and unveiled a hidden platform. Or maybe a window? It was definitely made of stained glass, but much sturdier than the one Akko accidentally broke when she and her friends played baseball in the courtyard.
The glass showed an image of another girl Akko had never seen before. She had long black hair and looked close to a living doll wearing a metal headband around her neck with a symbol that looked like a leaf. Her eyes were closed, giving her the impression that she was sleeping. There were other people in the windows near her head, but Akko didn’t know any of them, either.
Akko just couldn’t wrap her mind around it all. First she woke up in a forest, then Diana disappeared into a hollow tree, then she fell from space into the sky, where she saw a strange woman smiling at her, and then ended underwater in this weird place.
There was only one possible conclusion:
“Lotte was right,” said Akko, nodding her head in agreement. “I never should’ve agreed to eat one of Sucy’s mushrooms, even if Barbara did bet me twenty pounds.”
“Wait, you seriously ate a weird mushroom for a bet. Talk about hardcore.”
“BWAH! Who said that?!” Akko yelped, jumping nearly a foot in the air. She started karate chopping the air wildly. “I’m warning you! I took three whole lessons of king-fu!”
“Wow, I’m shaking in my sneaker. Over here, pipsqueak.”
Akko looked around, trying to figure out where ‘here’ was. After a few more checks around the area, a tiny glowing ball of red light floated out of the darkness and glided up to her. Akko blinked, but this was honestly not the strangest thing she’s ever seen.
“Uh…hi?” said Akko awkwardly. “Um…who’re you?”
“Doesn’t matter,” the glowing ball brushed her off. Their voice was rough, yet feminine – like a Japanese delinquent. “Let me get a good look at ya.” The glowing ball circled around Akko a couple times, making soft humming noises. “Hmm…I was hoping for someone a little…taller…and stronger…and didn’t have a stupid look on their face.”
“Hey, who’re you calling a stupid face?!” snapped Akko.
“Oh boy, we’ve got our work cut out for us,” said the glowing ball. “I can’t believe we’re trusting the fate of the universe in the hands a scrawny kid. But beggers can’t be choosers.”
“Wait, what’s that about the fate of the universe?” Akko asked quickly. Saving one world was hard enough as it is.
“No time for questions,” said the glowing ball. “The door is still closed. We need to open it. Are you ready?”
“Do I have a choice?” asked Akko.
“No, but I was trying to be polite,” said the glowing ball bluntly. A beam of light suddenly shined down from the abyss, illuminating the center of the platform. “Don’t worry, this is the easy part. All you gotta do is put one foot in front of the other….”
Akko wasn’t sure what to think. The last person she trusted blindly nearly blew up the country, even if she hadn’t meant to. Still, as there was nothing but endless darkness beyond the platform, she didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Akko stepped forward until she was standing under the spotlight, holding up her hand to shield her eyes.
“Okay, I’m here,” said Akko. “Now what?”
The glowing ball didn’t answer immediately, but suddenly flew in a large circle around the platform, sprinkling little red sparkles on the glass. Suddenly like magic (which it probably was), a stone pedestal emerged from the ground. Floating above it was red shield with the Luna Nova crest on the front. It looked an awful lot like the medieval shield they used to decorate the Chamber of Time.
“Power sleeps within you.”
Another stone pedestal appeared on Akko’s opposite side, this time holding up a medieval sword that looked an awful lot like the Sword of Canopus (which they also used to decorate the Chamber of Time.)
“If you give it form….”
And a third stone pedestal appeared ahead of Akko, this one holding a…wand. Just a plain old wand. Actually, now that she got a good look at it with its scratched and slightly dented body, Akko realized that was her wand. The glowing ball stole it!
“It will give you strength…. Choose wisely.”
“Choose? That’s my wand!” said Akko outrageously, pointing at the object in question. “Did you take it while I was asleep?! Where do you get off taking someone else’s wand!?”
“Hey, this is just a figment of your subconscious reaching out across time and space,” said the glowing ball nonchalantly. “I don’t even see the same things as you. It looks like a laser gun to me.”
“Well, it’s my wand!” said Akko, stomping her foot. “Give it back!”
“All right, all aright, take it, yeesh,” said the glowing ball. If she had eyes, she’d be rolling them right now.”
Akko brushed the glowing ball aside (Hey, she can touch it!) and marched up to retrieve her wand. Feeling the slightly roughened texture of the handle was a source of comfort for Akko. She spellcraft had steadily improved since releasing the Grand Triskelion and Akko felt she could handle herself adequately with this by her side.
“Well, looks like your path is set,” said the glowing ball casually. “Now you just gotta pick something to give up in exchange.”
“Does it really matter?” asked Akko curiously.
“In the grand scheme of things, no,” said the glowing ball bluntly. “It only really matters in term of video game logic, this would just decide what your starting stats would be. But since those don’t really apply here, this is just flavor text.’
“Then I don’t really care,” said Akko, shrugging her shoulders. “Just pick one and let’s move on with their weird dream world.”
“Good choice,” said the glowing ball, and then the other two items winked out of existence. “Okay, you’ve got your magic wand and your second choice doesn’t mean shit. Time to move on to the next stage. You may wanna hold on to something, though.”
“Wait, what do you mean by – “
All of a sudden, the stone platforms went slanted and sank into the platform, startling Akko for a second time. The witch-in-training clutched her wand protectively as the entire area started to rumble like the scene from a disaster movie. The glass beneath her feet started to break away. Akko tried to flee to the middle of the platform, but it hardly did any good as there was nowhere left to run. With a terrified shriek, Akko fell for the second time that night.
Akko fell deeper and deeper into the darkness, wondering if there was even a bottom to this seemingly endless abyss. Thankfully, another platform came into view and Akko was able to flip herself forward, landing safely, albeit awkwardly, on her feet.
Akko took a moment to inspect the new stained glass, tilting her head curiously as she tried to take in the whole picture. It was young woman, possibly around Akko’s age, wearing white with sweeping orange hair flowing behind her. One thing that annoyed Akko was her gigantic bust, making Akko feel inadequate by comparison. Another noticeably feature was that this girl was also asleep like the last one.
“Hey, you made it in one piece!” the glowing ball suddenly appeared beside Akko, making her jump for a third time. “You’re doing better already.”
“No thanks to you!” shouted Akko, taking a swipe at the ball with her wand. The glowing ball effortlessly dodged. “What’s the big idea, dropping me into a bottomless pit?!”
“No, there’s definitely a bottom down there, but we’re not going to get into that,” said the glowing ball. “With that wand, you now have the power to fight. Trust me, you’re going to need it to protect yourself and your friends.”
“Protect myself?” Akko repeated, confused. “Protect myself from what?”
“From them,” said the glowing ball, floating out of Akko’s field of vision.
Akko leaned forward and narrowed her eyes, trying to peer across the platform. From the darkness, two small creatures scuffled into the light, hissing and scratching the glass beneath their claws. They only came up to Akko’s knees and had bulbous round bodies, but they also had blazing yellow eyes, twisted antenna, and a mouthful of serrated teeth. The strangest part was that their bodies looked to be composed of glowing red…threads?
They snapped their teeth in Akko’s direction, looking at her like she was their next meal.
Perhaps the strangest thing about the whole scenario was how unafraid Akko was of them.
“Aw, what are they?” Akko cooed. “They’re so adorable!”
“Wow, that’s not the reaction I was expecting,” said the glowing ball dumbfoundedly.
“I’ve faced down minotaurs, dragons, living trees, and accidentally walked in on Professor Finnelan in the bathroom,” said Akko. “Compared to that, these guys are downright cute.”
“Fair enough,” said the glowing ball. “But they’re still gonna kill you, so you may wanna dodge.”
Right on command, one of the thread monsters lunged at Akko. The witch-in-training rolled out of the way, letting the creature land where she stood previously, then gave it a good kick in the side. The thread monster flopped and started to scramble back to its feet, but Akko cast a quick spell from her wand and blasted the monster in the back of its head. It was a simple nonverbal attack spell that Akko had used frequently in the Horologium Dungeons, so it wasn’t very powerful, but it did stun the creature for a moment. Akko shot another bolt of magic at the creature’s head and watched it explode into a pile of broken string before the material evaporated into nothingness.
Akko turned her attention to the other creature, who had crawled across the platform and made a leap at the young witch. The little witch quickly raised her foot and kicked the monster's face in midair, throwing it back across the platform. Akko shot another magic bolt at the creature when it suddenly merged with the floor, rending the spell virtually useless.
“Hey, no fair, that’s cheating!” Akko complained.
“Huh, never seen that one before,” said the glowing ball, sounding impressed. “You may wanna wait until it comes back up.”
“I’ve played video games, too, you know!” snapped Akko.
Akko took several steps away from the strange thread monster as it crawled across the platform towards the little witch. Only when it was close to her did that thread creature rise from the floor and swiped at Akko with its claws. The young witch instantly cried out for a shielding spell, bouncing the monster off the shimmering barrier, and then shot off a quick succession of magic bullets that killed the creature in short order.
“Hey, not bad,” the glowing orb complimented her while Akko leaned against her knees to catch her breath. “Guess magic works more effectively on Life Fibers than a pair of scissors. Wish I had known that before.”
“What…did you call them?” Akko panted.
“You’ll know more about that later,” said the glowing ball, once again brushing the subject aside. Akko was about to complain when the orb suddenly shouted. “BEHIND YOU!”
Akko leaned her head over her shoulder just in time to see another one of the thread monsters rising from the ground behind her. The creature leapt before Akko had the chance to react and slashed its claws across her left shoulder. They tore through her night shirt sleeve and cut three marks across her skin, little trickles of blood leaking out from the wounds. The cuts weren’t deep, but they still hurt like hell.
Akko shot another magic bullet at the creature, but was angry when the monster merged with the ground again. It crawled across the platform and emerged on Akko’s left side, likely trying to take advantage of her wound. But Akko proved faster and made a slashing motion with her wand, shooting a blade of magic that sliced the thread beast in half.
She did another sweep of the area, making sure there were no other surprises waiting in the wings. Once she knew the area was secure, Akko let out a sigh of relief and stuffed her wand in her shorts pocket. She pulled up her sleeve and hissed as the cool air touched the wound, but was more perturbed that she got blood on her sleeping shirt.
“Ooh, that looks bad,” said the glowing ball, inspecting the wound. “But hey, you’re a witch! You just fix that up with a little hocus pocus.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not how magic works,” Akko grimaced. “You can’t just wave your wand and fix yourself up. You need potions and medicine. I’ll have to ask Diana for some when I get back. If I get back.”
“Well, you’re in luck!” said the glowing ball. “Because our next educational adventure has to do with exactly that. So let’s make our way to the next – “
“Oh no!” Akko interjected. “You’re not dropping me down another bottomless pit. No way, no how! I’m putting my foot down on this one!”
She stomped on the ground to emphasis her point.
“Ugh, fi-i-ine,” said glowing ball groaned, disappointed that she was throwing a teenage girl into the abyss again. “We’ll do this the boring way….”
Akko was about to ask what the ‘boring way’ was when the glowing sphere exploded, swallowing the environment in a field of blinding red light –
When the light gradually diminished and Akko rubbed the spots out of her eyes, she realized that though she was still in the endless void, the glass beneath her feet had changed again. This time it was of a young girl with golden-blonde hair tied up into two buns and two long ponytails that fluttered down to her knees. Her clothes looked reminiscent to a Japanese sailor uniform with an added golden tiara and carried a magic wand with a crescent moon head. Like all the other girls who came before her, her eyes were closed in eternal sleep.
Akko searched the area, expecting that she would be attacked by more of those strange thread creatures. Instead, she caught a glimpse of light in the corner of her eye and turned around. In the center of the platform was a giant caldron like the ones used in Professor Lukic’s classroom. Upon further examination, the cauldron was already full with a bubbling pink liquid, even though there was no fire going underneath. The cauldron must be enchanted to heat automatically, Akko thought.
The glowing red ball once again popped up in Akko’s peripheral, but the little witch was already accustomed to by now and wouldn’t be scared a fourth time.
“Since you’re a witch, you probably know what alchemy is, right?” asked the glowing ball.
“Duh, even I know about alchemy,” said Akko haughtily. “It’s when you combine a bunch of materials together to make something else. That’s Luna Nova basic 101.”
“Well, turns out alchemy is a lot more wide spread than you’d think,” said the glowing ball. “There is almost at least one alchemist in every world you’ll visit, and a bunch of these big pots scattered everywhere – “
“They’re called cauldrons,” Akko pointed out.
“Whatever, not like I can use it anyway,” said the glowing ball, scoffing. “If you find one of these cauldrons, you can use them to make a bunch of useful items, as long as you have the right materials. Though I’d recommend leaving the more complicated things to professional alchemists. If you can’t find certain materials, Alchemists will likely be selling them at their ateliers.”
“This is starting to sound like a bunch of video games mechanics,” said Akko.
“You’re just figuring that out?” said the glowing ball. It floated in a circle around the cauldron, dropping another shower of red sparkles. Four items them magically appeared floating in the air – two plants, a bottle of oil, and something Akko recognized as a shriveled Mandrake root. “Use these items to make something for those cuts of yours.”
Akko wasn’t close to the same level of alchemic talent as Sucy, but even she could manage healing salve, she thought.
There was already a wooden staff inside the cauldron which Akko used to stir the solution four times clockwise, once counterclockwise, then repeat. In between stirs, Akko added the provided ingredients one after the other – first the plants, then the Mandrake root, and two drops of oil. When the last drop hit the solution, the cauldron lit up in a shower of rainbow sparkles and exploded with a flash of light. When the light faded, Akko found herself hold a small bottle of creamy paste in one hand.
“Hey, not bad,” the glowing ball complimented. “But does it work?”
Akko rolled up her sleeve, scooping up a dollop of slave with two fingers, and smeared it on the cuts. The effects of the salve were instantaneous as her flesh sealed itself up, smooth and unblemished, and the stinging pain was replaced by cool relief.
“Wow, that worked better than I thought it would,” said Akko, impressed with her own skill. She remembered a time when she could barely make a cup of tea, let alone a magical healing solution.
“There might still be hope for you yet,” said the glowing ball, sounding more optimistic. “But the journey’s not over. There’s still one last stop to make….”
The glowing orb floated away from Akko towards the edge of the platform. When she touched the darkness beyond, a square of stained multicolored glass appeared beneath her. And then another. And then another. Soon an entire staircase of stained glass panels rose and disappeared somewhere in the depths of the abyss. Akko approached the first panel and paused, tentatively putting one foot out to make sure it could hold her weight. The glass seemed just as solid as the platform she was standing on.
“Well, not like I have anywhere else to go,” Akko told herself before running up the glass staircase, never noticing that the panels disappeared behind her, meaning she had no chance of going back.
As she ran along the glass staircase, another towering platform magically appeared out of the darkness; the panels were taking her directly to it. Upon reaching the platform, Akko looked down at the new image imprinted in the glass beneath her feet. This time it depicted a girl even younger than Akko, her golden hair flowing behind her and her white dress and sunhat billowing in an unseen wind. There were several strange monsters in the smaller windows near her head along with repeated imagery of a red-and-white ball. The little girl was fast asleep, same as every girl had had seen in this strange place.
“We’ve reached the end of the prologue,” said the glowing ball, floating around Akko’s head. “Only one last test remains. Are you ready?”
“Bring it on!” said Akko, feeling more confident since this weird dream started. “If it’s more monsters, I’ll kick their butts!”
“Love the enthusiasm,” said the glowing ball. “But you should be careful not to be blinded by your own ego, or you may become your own worst enemy.”
Akko tilted her head curiously, wondering what that comment was supposed to mean. That’s when she noticed a thread poking out from the end of her shirt sleeve – a red thread!
Suddenly, the thread stretched away from Akko and began to weave itself into shape. Hundreds and hundreds of feet of red thread spooled from Akko’s shirt (which oddly enough did not unravel), building itself into a colossal humanoid giant at least forty feet. Akko took a nervous step back, clutching her wand to her chest.
“Don’t be afraid….”
The thread formed muscle and sinew, clenching its mighty fist and stomping its pointed feet, sending a shockwave across the platform. Hundreds of loose threads waved across the expanse of its wide back, its face concealed behind a tangle mess of string with only its burning yellow eyes visible.
“Don’t forget….”
This thing was bigger than Fafnir – maybe even bigger! There was no way she was going to fight something like that! Akko made a choice to run back to the stair, only realizing at the last second that they had vanished. Any hope of escape had been snatched away.
“Hey, you’re not really going to make me fight this thing, are you?” Akko shouted to the sky.
“This is your trial,” said the glowing ball in a strangely serious tone. “You need to be prepared.”
“Prepared for what?!” Akko screamed at the orb, but received no response.
The hairs on the back of Akko’s neck stood up; the air suddenly felt charged with static. The little witch turned around toward the giant monster as it raised its clenched fist in the air, its hand crackling with electricity. Akko rolled out of the way as the monster brought its fist down, sending a shockwave of electricity that threw Akko flat on her face. Akko pushed herself up by her elbows and looked back. The giant’s fist was firmly planted on the ground, but several of those little creatures from before crawled out of its skin(?) like parasites.
Akko flipped around on her back and fired several shots of magical bullets at the monsters. While she managed to wipe out most of them with surprising aim, one of the thread beasts lunged forward and landed on her chest, punning her to the ground. The creature gnashed its teeth at her face, but Akko jabbed her wand into the back of its throat, making the creature pause in surprise. That was before Akko blasted a hole its the back of its head, scattering its red strings to the winds.
Akko scrambled to her feet as the giant pulled back its hand and stood at its full imposing height. The monster held out one hand and created a massive palm of static electricity in its open palm. The giant closed its claws into a fist, breaking the static ball into three smaller orbs that flew towards Akko. The little witch ran out of the way at first, but then noticed the balls had changed their course halfway. They were following her! Akko grounded her feet to a halt and summoned a shield spell in a moment of panic, bracing herself as the static balls crashed against the barrier. A painful tremor carried down the length of Akko’s arms as the projectiles slammed her shield, making her slide back a few inches, but she held strong.
Though that didn’t last long as the giant swung its fist into Akko’s side while she was distracted, sending her flying across the platform. She landed hard on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her lungs, and unconsciously dropped her wand. Akko gasped in horror as her wand rolled toward the edge and scrambled to save it.
“No, no, no, no!” Akko yelped, throwing herself to snatch the wand. Unfortunately, it slipped through her fingers and disappeared over the edge. “Oh, come on! You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
Akko peered over the edge as if hoping to spot her wand, but the only thing she could see was empty darkness.
Suddenly, Akko found herself being lifted off the ground as the giant wrapped its hand around her little body. Akko struggled in vein to pull herself out; the giant was too big and too strong. It stared at her with its haunting yellow eyes. Threads started to unravel from the giant’s hand and slithered around Akko like giant red snakes. They bound her limbs together and slowly began to seal her in a cocoon –
“ – don’t be afraid.”
The thread started to cover her face, making it difficult to breath. The giant stared at her with a vacant expression –
“You hold the mightiest weapon of all.”
Her vision became foggy; half her face was wrapped in red thread and steadily consuming the rest –
“So don’t forget:”
As the last of the thread swallowed her whole, Akko’s eyes rolled back and world faded into darkness –
“Only your heart…can set them free….”