With that wish of fond farewell, the students walk towards the maw of the mine, Assira leading the way with Zira cautiously tagging along behind, fingers touching. The two enter an old, rusty metal elevator with bars around it, the cage-like box slowly lowering with the sound of grinding chains and turning cogs. The two at the car watch the students descend, a pause of silence as the two descend. Then, the driver speaks.

"... Do you truly think those two will be okay, sylvie? Even if it's only hated locally and the ghost has diminished over the years, it is still strong enough to form a haunted ground... dangerous for a young man who only just awakened their aether..." the driver asks the teacher in a worried tone, whom is looking at the sky with a smile.

"... I have no doubt in my mind that they will be ok." She responds, confidently smirking. "The girl is trained well, she just needs to loosen up and get creative with that power of her's. And the boy, he's got incredible potential. He just needs to realise that..."

"You talk like you know him, you just met him after an accident." The driver comments with a slightly aggravated tone.

"I know, I can just tell. I can just tell..." the teacher replies, looking back at the coal-dust covered blackened ground of the facility.

"Besides... they have company to help, it seems..." the teacher remarks, walking away from the car and crouching a few paces away, staring at the ground.

"Wh- what do you mean? Have you found footprints?" The driver asks in an off-guard tone.

"Worse." the teacher solemnly states, moving to the side to reveal a puddle of viscous red liquid with clumps inside of it.

"Blood?!" The driver shouts, scrambling at the door to open it in a frantic hurry, concerned for the students safety until-

"-Alphabetti spaghetti!" The teacher yells in a serious, deadpan tone.

The driver stops, just... staring at Sylvie from the half-open car door, squinting expression across her face.

There is indeed a puddle of Alphabeti spaghetti in the coal dust.

While those two talk above ground, the old mine's elevator slowly descends deeper into the earth as it carries the two students into the mine, chains rattling and metal clinking. Zita and Assira stand beside each other, silent for a long duration whilst staring at the ever rising wall of dirt and stone. In the deafening silence, tensions between the two are thick enough you can cut it with a knife. Zira sweats nervously as he tries to think of something to say, the awkwardness palpable... Then, Assira lets out a sigh, then speaks.

"...how?" She asks coldly.

"...h-huh?" Zita turns to her, a little alarmed by the sudden and vague question.

"How did you... end up here, Convince Sylvie to let you tag along. She practically took you in on sight despite being just some high schooler! no- actually, something else first. how you found me. Start with that." Assira speaks with a... bitter tone, refusing eye contact, fists clenched and arms to her sides.

"R... right..." Zita gives himself some distance, looking at her with an open mouth and wide eyes, a little nervous to speak...

"It... all started on a normal day, I was at Orphee highschool and preparing for my exams. I wanted an excuse to have a break from studying when I noticed someone in a creepy black robe, walking outside the building on the side of the school flanked by a forest. I thought, I dunno, it was for a Danger and doormats game or something interesting, so thought I would see what was going on and headed outside. Then I noticed that you went deep into the forest and didn't have a uniform, so you were trespassing... so, when you entered the bunker and started chanting-" Zita says, putting his fingers on his chin until Assira interrupts him.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"A ritual, used to safely dispose of the aetherplasm. Until *you* came in." She states, tone sharp and cold as steel, causing Zita to twitch back a bit. "A highschooler, unlucky enough to spot me, decides to stalk me-" "- I- I wouldn't phrase it like-" interjects Zita quietly, Assira simply ignoring "- and interrupts the ritual, causing a blast in aetherplasm and happening to absorb it... after that, Sylvie just… lets you be taught here… and~ now you're here." She snaps, then looks away.

"...I..." Zita doesn't know what to say... he was just a highschool student, until being thrown into this scary new world of ghosts and witchcraft he didn't ask for... but, he couldn't leave that world behind. His curiosity wouldn't let him not learn about this invisible world. Wouldn't let him live in a world he could see but never know. So, all he can do is lower his head and frown. "... sorry."

The elevator lets out a bell ring as the metal bar door grinds open slowly. The two are silent once again as they step out and walk into the dark, dirt covered corridors of the mineshaft. wooden frames hold up the low ceiling in the steaming hot tunnel, muggier in the mines than they would have thought...

Back above ground, Sylvie squats over the puddle of Alphabeti spaghetti, staring down it inquisitively whilst the driver stares at her in a confused pause, before...

"... What... Do you mean there is Alphabeti spaghetti?" The driver asks, confused and dazed.

"Simple, there is Alphabeti spaghetti. Fresh Alphabeti spaghetti. This place was abandoned ages ago, and certainly not a place to spill one's can of processed slop. Especially when... c'mere a sec, take a look.

The driver exits the car and approaches the spilled spelling soup, leaning over the puddle and immediately noticing in the centre, something spelled in the letters. 2 phrases in fact:

"Are you sure you wish to do this?"

"Down the elevator, follow the tunnel."

The driver reads it out, stepping back a bit.

"That's the-"

The teacher nods. "Yup yup, same directions to the haunted grounds the students are following. Without a doubt, magic at play. Likely hunting the spirit too, so at least they're not fighting alone... with the whole soup theme, probably a professional. Someone from the-"

"the House of Baker!" The driver interrupts the teacher who clicks her fingers in response.

"Ding ding! Exactly, so they aren't fighting alone... shame they have to meet someone from there though... you know what the House is like. Let's hope they don't scare Malik."

"I... yeah, a shame." The driver says, saying as the two faculty begin to walk to the elevator.

Meanwhile, Zita and Assira shamble through the 5 foot tall tunnels of the mine, hair skimming against the dirt ceiling and walls lined with rotted support beams. Despite the distance from the sun and only candles hanging from the beams, the tunnels are freakishly warm and suffocating, like being in a sealed glass box in high noon. Zita coughs, sweats and lets out an "OW-'' as the konk sounds out when he bangs his head into a low support beam.

"Idiot, keep your head down!" Assira yells.

"Sorry, sorry- dammit, can't breathe in here-" Zita says, sweating whilst holding his head. Fortunately his head doesn't bleed, just a light bump.

"Well, we're far under the earth, of course there's no air... it's the heat that's bothering me... I reckon it has to do with the haunted grounds, a clue to the ghost behind this..." Assira informs, interrupting Zira's complaining.

"- Haunted grounds?" Zita asks, confused

"Hmph. At least you asked. It's when a certain area becomes corrupted by aetherplasm or aether, typically by ghosts haunting a certain area, but can even be instantly projected by the strongest mages or greater spirits. For the one we are facing, likely the former. if the latter was the case, we would likely be dead by now." Assira states in a matter of fact way.

"...o- oh... Great..."

*It's this or wandering what they are all your life, this or wandering what they are all your life-*

Shuffling down the tunnels of dirt, the heat gets muggier and more unbearable... that's when both of them begin noticing cracks in the dirt. The floor, the walls, all peppered with cracks filled with a black substance, causing Zita to stumble back cautiously and frantically look around at the cracks whilst doubled over in the tunnel to avoid hitting his head. Meanwhile, Assira calmly inspects them, keeping a distance a distance from the cracks.

"W- what is this stuff in the cracks?! Black goop?!-" Zita shouts whilst Assira turns to him with utter calmness.

"A projection of coal dust, constructed from aetherplasm. We've entered the haunted grounds. Be on guard for the ghost, and don't breathe this stuff in. It will vanish once we exit the haunted grounds and isn't real coal dust, but carries the same properties whilst still inside. This stuff causes black lung, and is highly explosive when airborne."

Zita tenses up upon hearing this and biting his lips, sweat rolling down his face as he nervously clenches his fist and braces to face what's at the end of the tunnel.

*... I... I need to know.*

"Oh... o-ok, I... I'm ready, I think." Speaking in a squeaky high pitched voice, motions quick and shaky.

"Better be." Assira is as calm as ever, sighing at the boy. They both carry on walking

With Assira leading the way they inch down the tunnel as the cracks grow more common. Assira made sure her palms and fingers are facing away from her and finger joints touch, meeting at the tips but not the knuckles, bent at a 90 degree angle. As they walk, finally a light shines from the end of the tunnel, Assira walking towards and through it, stepping to the side and giving Zita a full frontal view of what he had to face. He finally learned what a ghost truly could be.