Chapter 9: Chapter 9 - The Showcase

“Woah.” Kira exclaimed, and not the first time today either— It had been a constant since she stepped foot on campus really.

Sitting on stone benches with the unnatural softness of a cushion, Kira, Abby, the three Trinity sisters, and Resetta, Abby’s roommate, peered down into an arena below.

Kira was glad Abby was getting along with her roommate, though it wasn’t surprising, Abby was a lot more friendly around new people than her. That girl was able to befriend a rock if she tried hard enough.

Resseta was an interesting girl as well. She had a well trained body for someone her age, evident by her muscular frame, and tidy black hair done up in a ponytail. Words weren’t really her strongest suit, she tended to communicate through head gestures. The only words Kira got from her was when she introduced herself.

Back at their dorms, once all the girls were present, Principal Jemina had led them back to the Great Hall. They went past the looping hallway and through one of the doors going further inside, into the heart of the Great Hall; the coliseum.

In terms of coliseums, it wasn't particularly large like the Gryphon coliseum on the opposite side of Orshon, but it wasn't anything to scoff at either. The one unique part of this coliseum was the fact it was fully inside, unlike most other coliseums. The arena floor was a tiled stone, completely flat, with ten gated entrances for participants to enter from. Kira counted roughly 50 rows of seating above the grand circular arena, enough to seat a few thousand easily. She had read about the coliseum here in the Wondrous Academy from the school pamphlet, but in her time in Orshon, she had never heard about any events held in it.

“First years!” Principal Jemina's voice echoed throughout the wide dome, grabbing the attention of the thirty odd first years who were made to sit in the first row, nearest to the arena. “I won't be leaving you in suspense any longer, as for the second year and beyond who’ve decided to come… “ Kira looked behind her at the rows further up where some older students were seated. “You already know what's going to happen, so enjoy.”

“In just a moment, your seniors, the seventh years, will be showcasing what they have learned, experienced, and achieved over the course of their previous six years. All graduates must participate to pass, so take note, because by the time you know it, you'll be the ones presenting.” Principal Jemina continued. “First up, our four seventh years who have pursued knighthood. They are currently junior knights still in training for their knight exams, and they will show you the skills they’ve learned through a 2 on 2 duel!”

Principal Jemina walked to the edge of the arena, and the second she stopped, four armoured individuals burst through two opposing entrances at each other. The knights all had coloured feathered garments attached to their helmet, two blue and two red, making it easy to tell the audience who was fighting against who.

The next ten minutes was a spectacle Kira had never seen before. Rynus had taken her to events in the Gryphon Coliseum before, but not for dueling, only for sporting events. Witnessing a fight between four knights, who weren’t even fully knighted yet, was jaw dropping at the minimum. They were fast, blitzing throughout the arena, weaving in strikes and parries, all the while not slowing down one bit in their full plate armour. It wasn’t just weapon play either, these knights were students of the Wondrous Academy, of course they could also use magic. Many spells weren’t very useful against someone dressed in metal, the worst being mana blast, but certain spells like the rearrange spell and the reinforce spell were undoubtedly the most useful. They rearranged the floor tiles, creating floating platforms to jump off of, or walls to block their opponents' view. Her eyes could barely keep up with their enhanced speed, she had to focus intently on the sight before her or she’d lose track of them.

“Enough!” Principal Jemina stepped further into the center, unphased by the battle happening. The four seventh years stopped midswing as they heard her. “Thank you for your presentation, I believe you’ve shown enough, anymore and I’m afraid you four might truly injure one another. This is a friendly bout, I don’t want the first years to see bloodshed just yet.”

They nodded, took off their leather gloves, and clasped hands with each other.

“Next up, we have twelve students pursuing innate work, who’ll give a brief presentation on their findings and experience. Before they present, I’ll just mention that most students, or wizards in general, pursue innate work, so listen carefully to what they have to say.” Their Principal explained, then once again moved aside.

A swath of wizards came out onto the arena’s center, the one in the lead was a fair lady carrying a small crystal ball in her hand. She pushed magic into the ball to reinforce her voice, allowing it to spread throughout the coliseum.

“Hello everyone!” She waved, “I’m Emma, a seventh year student as you know, and I, alongside my fellow classmates here, want to share our stories about our innate work.”

“For the first years, or anyone else who hasn’t heard the term ‘innate work’ before, it means working a job where your main role is using your innate magic. This could be any job really; working on a farm, running a business, or even construction work.”

They went on for about half an hour; each student talked about what work they were doing, some struggles they ran into, their observations, and how they found things to do they found worthwhile. A lot explained that they didn’t have any passion towards any occupation going into school and even during their first two years, but after finding jobs where they could use their innate magic, they began to enjoy what they were doing. Their own magic was useful, and much more than they originally believed. It was insightful, but more so encouraging knowing that most wizards could comfortably get by relying on their innate magic in some capacity.

The next two presentations were done by individuals. One had signed a contract with a major league wizard ball team, and she talked about her journey getting there, while the other explained their transition from magical beast caretaker, which they pursued during the first few years at school, to a position working for the royal sanctuary as a groundskeeper.

“We're h-here to talk about our experience working as magic scholars.” There were two scrawny seventh years below in the arena, a girl in glasses and a boy with poofy blue hair like cotton candy. They stood awkwardly with an air of nervousness to them.

Kira couldn’t relate exactly to their predicament, she hadn't had to give a presentation in front of a hundred or so wizards before, but she could understand what they must be feeling. If she was down there… oh no, she didn’t want to think about that.

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“W-we began by working under a research facility, helping design and enchant new magics, mostly utilizing basic magic only, but we did use t-the occasional innate magic if it helped our designs.”

“Later, when we got to fifth year and had to go out and find our own work, we stumbled upon a company willing to hire us. Our new job was d-different, we were tasked with helping clients learn about their own innate magic, and teaching them how to cast or enchant these new ideas.”

The girl popped open a box near her feet and withdrew a towel from inside. “I-If anyones been inside the bathrooms yet, you might've seen these towels with your names on them.”

Kira had seen them! They were awesome!

“One of our clients' innate magic could repair small items, like broken cups or plates, but after working with him for a while, we discovered his magic could go one step beyond that. Repairing something was essentially reverting it to its previous state, so we devised an idea. After working for a few weeks together, we finally created these.” She held up the towel for all to see. “Towels that not only repair any damage done to them, to an extent, but will revert back to its dry and clean state anytime it gets wet or dirty. You will all see how useful this magic is when you never have to throw your towels in the laundry again.”

The two continued talking about their current job some more, but all in all, it was a short presentation. Surprisingly, the applause given by the audience was louder than any previous presentation, even the exhilarating knight duel at the start. This was their way of thanking those seventh years for allowing them to be just a bit lazier than before.

Then the final showcase arrived. It was another pair of students, but they were dressed in red wizard robes, denoting their position as mages in training. With a flick and swish of their wands, they both rose into the air, an arena tile floating underneath them.

“There’s one reason we choose to become mages; freedom.” One said.

“We’ve learned to fight and survive, skills that are essential if you want to live a life of your choosing.”

“You could work for the Wondrous Society like our knights, protecting the people from criminals. You could become a mercenary, working jobs as you see fit. You could adventure the world, travel to the far ends of the continent to see what’s there for yourself. Lots of mages will even transition to different jobs after getting licensed, but now with the skills to fight and survive if needed. ”

They rambled on about the benefits of becoming a mage, and while it may have lasted longer than some would have liked, Kira was enamoured the whole time. The freedom that came with it was too tempting to not think about as a potential career path. They even said once she was a mage, she could switch over to something else. Why wasn’t everybody trying to become a mage? They said it was hard work, but even if you didn’t complete the training, you’d still have learned some skills you could use towards anything else really.

With a neutral duel at the end of the presentation (a duel where only basic magic was allowed), the two junior mages exited the arena. Kira was still replaying moments from the duel just moments ago, trying to imagine herself becoming that skilled one day in the future. They threw magic around freely while weaving their reinforced bodies past mana blasts. It was almost like watching a dance.

“That’s it for the seventh year showcase, I hope you were entertained, but more importantly, I hope you’ve learned something.” The Principal announced, “It's nearing dusk, so I suggest you all head back to your dorms for some shuteye. It's been a long day for some of you. You're all free until Monday, so go have some fun before it’s too late.” She strode off.

A flurry of footsteps echoed out as students began to get up and leave the coliseum. Not in any rush, the six girls eventually found their way out of the Great Hall and onto the outside paths, heading back to their dorm. They talked about the presentation to one another: what they found interesting, or what was kind of boring. They all unanimously agreed that the wizard ball student's presentation was the worst, she had just talked about how great she was the whole time practically.

“Hey, wait up girls!” A boy called out to them from behind.

They all stopped and turned. A handsome boy with smooth silky silver hair and a playful smirk on his face, strutted towards them after gaining their attention. He bowed towards them and said, “My fair ladies, you can call me Marcus. I'm from the Lock Household. Could I be graced with your lovely names?”

“Stop being weird Marcus.” Helina replied with a face palm. “Sorry guys, this is an old childhood friend of ours. He’s weird, so you can just ignore him if you want. He's harmless.”

“Cruel as ever Helina.” Marcus said, “Your sisters aren’t like this, are you sure you're their sibling?”

Helina rolled her eyes.

“Hello Marcus, how are you?” Yuli came over and gave him a light hug.

“Very well now, your kindness is why you're my favourite sister.”

“I was going to give you a hug as well, but if i'm not your favorite sister…” Vea crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“You can have two favourites, though three’s a little far.” Marcus joked and embraced Vea gently. “Now your three friends here, could you introduce us, Vea?”

“Sure.” Vea came behind Kira and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “This is our roommate, Kira! Kira, this is Marcus.”

Kira shyly waved to him. Meeting girls was one thing, but she had no experience dealing with boys her age.

“This is Kira’s friend, Abby, and her roommate, Resetta.”

“Hello Marcus, I like your hair!” Abby cheerfully greeted him. On the other side of the spectrum, Resetta simply nodded.

“Thank you very much Abby, I'll take your compliment straight to my heart.” Marcus held a hand over his chest. “As much as I'd love to stay and chat with you lovely ladies, I don't want to keep you from returning to your dorms any longer, you must all be tired. But before you go, I have a message to deliver. Tomorrow at one in the afternoon, the boys are going to meet up in the Common Center for a meet and greet. All first years are invited, so if you six could ask the other girls for us, that would be fantastic.”

“A meet and greet!? Awesome!” Abby exclaimed, “I’ll ask everyone I can!”

“Fantastic! Well then, I hope you ladies have a swell night, I’ll be off.” Marcus departed with another bow.

Abby grabbed Kira’s hand, “Wow, I can’t wait to meet everyone tomorrow! Oh, you should show everyone Caspian, they would love him!”

“Er, I should be able to go, but I gotta talk to Rynus about something first.” Kira sighed.

“Hm, what do you need to talk about?

Kira looked around her, the Trinity sisters were practically skipping ahead of them, trying to keep up with Resseta’s long strides.

“Something about my lineage. Helina was saying it’s… special I guess, and I should talk to Rynus about it.” Kira lowered her voice as she explained.

“Your lineage? Like the fact you’re from the noble house of Thorn?

“What!” Kira shouted, having to wave off the Trinity sisters staring back at her wondering why she had yelled. “I’m from a noble household?” She whisper-yelled.

“Yup, not only that— wait you don’t know this? I thought you knew.”

“Not at all!” Kira buried her face in her hands. “Why does it seem like everyone knows except for me.”

“The Thorn household is special, I mean, there hasn’t been a new Thorn wizard in centuries. Your master is also pretty well known, and your grandmaster… well, she is even more well known, though not for the best reasons.”

“My grandmaster? I don’t even… I’ve never…” Kira was lost for words.

An arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her in for a side hug. “It’s okay, you're meeting Rynus tomorrow right? Tell him to tell you everything, and if he doesn’t, then I’ll go beat up for you!”

Giggling, Kira’s dreary mood lifted. “Mm, sure.”

“Come on, let’s head back.” Abby pulled her along, trying to catch up with the Trinity sisters and Resseta who had slowed down for them. “Though I’m surprised he hasn’t explained anything to you before. It’s pretty important information.”

Kira shrugged. She made sure that he told her everything she needed to know tomorrow, or she’d scare him with Abby’s warning to beat him up.