Fun and Magic

Chapter 2

"Hello. I am Darius Quickstorm, one of your potential teachers from Golden Rose Academy." He smiled. "We have quite a lot of people here today." That was true, there were hundreds if not thousands of 15 and 16 year old kids all lined up in the brick path leading to the stage for the chance to attend Golden Rose Academy, the greatest school this continent had to offer. So much so that Darius could just barely see the end of the crowd of people.

He, of course, noticed that everybody seemed out of breath. 'Did someone here release some of their aura?' He and the other teachers had only left the teacher's building from within the campus, so unfortunately, they were outside of the range the aura would hit and couldn't tell who would do so. Maybe one of the princes or princesses? Maybe the one from the Solara kingdom, Seraphina Sunbeam? She did have a fierce nature after all, but when he finally saw her, she was panting just as much as the others , having a distrusting face to one of the other students.... Huh? Who could even make her, with her high magical potential and aura, fall like that? He would normally try to speculate or get to the bottom of it, but he had a speech to do. He just hopes whoever had that much aura would pass the entrance exam, because they would have a lot of potential to be one of the top students in the history of the school.

"As you all know, we can't just let anybody into this academy, so you will first have to take the entrance exam you all have heard rumors about. Miss Stardust?" A woman in black robes and purplish hair walked right beside him, opening a book as black and gold tendrils began to spread all along the line, hitting the chests of the adolescents. Soon enough, a black mark appeared right under their wrists on the palm side of their hand and it displayed: 'Points: 0'. Darius grinned. "It wouldn't make much sense for you all to do the traditional physical and magical tests to get in, so we decided on a practical exam. The 'points' mentioned on your wrists will automatically update when you get started and the basis of this exam is very simple. It will be a free-for-all. Every single one of you here will be teleported to a random part of this forest and will need to do two things. Get at least one point and do not get eliminated." The bearded man said.

"Do not worry about holding back on one another, even if you are fatally wounded to where you would normally be killed, you will be transported right back here as if nothing happened. So you can be chopped, stabbed, bludgeoned, burned, drowned, any death you can think of, and you'll end up here, just fine. Of course, you won't be accepted into this school if you are eliminated though." He said, looking down at all of them. "Make groups if you wish, all that matters if you all individually have one point listed on your wrists. When one of you defeats another and they end up back here, you will gain a point. This competition will only take place over the course of half an hour, so make the most of it and get your points as quickly as you can. That is all, and good luck!" Without a moment's waste, gold light surrounded each teenager there and when it disappeared again, they were transported to some random part of the forest.

Lumis smirked as he looked around to see where he was. The forest was interesting to say the least. There were sections in the forest with completely different environments, and there had to be tons of different sections in the very vast forest. He doubted even he could run through the entire forest in the time they had. Maybe just a quarter of the forest would be possible. Right now he was in a section that had the illusion of being under the night sky even though it was still just before noon. He actually rather enjoyed this type of area a lot, jumping up and swinging on one of the branches of the giant trees that shrouded the area. He stared at his wrist for a split second while holding onto a branch with his other hand. . He hummed as he decided to set a goal for himself. "70. 70 students should be obtainable." should be an easy goal for me to achieve." He said, jumping and swinging as the back of his coat flapped behind him. It didn't take him long to see a couple of people group together, two orcs to work as the tanks with their high physical strength as they held a battle axe and a giant hammer, three elves to work as both attacks and supporters with their immense magic power.and a human with a large shield and a large build to focus on pure protection of the group. Overall, a good idea, a group would increase the odds of them succeeding. Unfortunately for them, it wouldn't be enough to defeat them. While he could use aura to make unable to move, that would be much too easy. "Six people seems like a good start." The group heard his voice, looking around until seeing him up from before. An elf gasped, seeming to have recognized Lumis from his confrontation with the blonde human, Percival. Even she felt intimidated by Percival's aura, and he outdid it, several, maybe a hundred times over. "It's him...!"

Lumis smirked as he jumped down. "It seems I have made a good first impression." His hood fell off from his head showing off his flowy hair and eyes with diamond-shaped pupils as he seemed confident he intertwined his hands and cracked his fingers. "Unfortunately for you guys, you'll have to go home and tell your families about me. Don't worry, I'll give you an autograph once I officially graduate." He winked. In any other setting he'd be seen as a charming man, but in the setting they were in, it seemed very intimidating instead. An orc seemed to get roused by his words. "Don't fuck with me!" A visible strain was on the orc's neck when he raised his ax and charged to swing at Lumis. "No! One of the elves shouted before Lumis jumped up, landing on his head before it was sent straight towards the ground at a rapid pace, which would smash someone's head in and a gold light enveloped him. Lumis stared at his palm, looking as the number ticked from 0 to 1. "Whoa, so it does work." He smirked. "Great. Well, I'll try to remember your faces." The human put his guard up and a shield-like barrier in front of him to protect the group. "What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, Lumis became a blur and appeared right behind the entire group. "Do remind me a few years if I was the one who eliminated you, that might jog my memory." Before one of the elves could prepare a spell to attack him, a blade of visible wind cut through the entire group and even a few trees that ended up toppling over as gold light enveloped them. He looked at his wrist as the number ticked up one by one, now reading 5. Lumis hummed as he was about to go on his way until an orange view enveloped himself in the dark land. The smile on his face grew wider. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Princess Seraphina, to what do I owe the honor of meeting you?" The princess was wearing armor belonging to a light metal with orange cloth matching with it. Seraphina was much less enthusiastic as she actually looked at him in contempt. Lumis didn't seem to mind. "Well, I can only assume you don't want a friendly chat anytime with me soon, do you?" A sense of tension in the air, but it seemed like Lumis wasn't intimidated, at all. Even if the princess was currently already one of the strongest the human kingdom had to offer so far.

Word Count: 1378

Finished 2.28.24