As a trio, we walked through the spacious stone corridors of the school. The halls were abuzz; people chatted about their lives and studies. Occasional rudeness was directed towards us, though mainly me.
Our destination was the school belltower. The trouble was that none of us knew how to get there. “Maybe this way?” I said as I led the others through a more secluded passageway. While moving, I noticed so many hidden areas within the campus. Going through an archway could lead you to a secret flower garden. Hopping a fence could land you in a miniature park. I then spotted an alleyway going through buildings, but it was dark and dingy. “Should we go through there?” I asked. I could see the belltower in the distance.
Penrin warned, “Areas like that are where delinquent students go to do naughty things.”
That caught my attention. “What kind of naughty things?”
Newmill’s ears perked up. “Yeah, what exactly do they do?” He was curious too.
“I’m sure you can imagine for yourselves. I can already envision students down that alleyway breaking the rules of this school. What’s worse is that they’re willing to do it in public places like this. Shame on them.”
I gulped. My mind was racing with thoughts of what went on down that alley. “A-aren’t they afraid they’ll get caught?” I stuttered.
“If they do get caught, they just force whoever catches them to join in. They don’t care if it’s student or teacher.”
Newmill’s face was beet red. “Maybe we should go and take a look,” he suggested. “To make sure that nothing bad is happening.”
Penrin and I looked at him suspiciously. He obviously had ulterior motives in mind, but we didn’t press him on it.
Then, all three of us heard a woman loudly say from beyond the alley, “We can’t finish unless we find one more person to do this with!”
Newmill hurried into the alley without an explanation. Penrin and I followed behind. “What are you doing Newmill?” Penrin asked.
I had a pretty good idea as to what he was doing but I wanted to stop him still. The three of us made it to the end of the alleyway and saw what was happening. Two people had finished each other off, while others watched from the side.
“Just as I thought,” said Penrin. “Prohibited duelling.”
Two students had just completed a battle and knocked each other unconscious. They were encased in a shimmering bubble. Two teams stood outside the bubble and bickered. “It’s a draw, so this isn’t settled. Put up another person to fight”
“I told you, we don’t have another mage ready.”
I was beginning to piece together what was happening. This group of people found an isolated area of the school and set up an unpermitted fighting ring to settle a dispute. I looked at Newmill. He seemed to be a little disappointed.
“I hate students that break the rules.” Penrin was clearly displeased with what was occurring, but she wasn’t in a rush to go snitch either.
What drew my attention was the girl at the heart of the conflict. I recognised her; it was Eppy. She was the fire mage who smoked indoors. It had been a while since I saw her. I walked out from the edge of the alley and greeted her. “Hey, long time no see, big sis.”
The group of angry students all turned their attention to my interruption. Eppy was especially furious, and when she heard me, her anger only grew. “Not this again! I am not your sister, kid!”
I wasn’t one to drop a joke just because it wasn’t funny. “So sis, what’s all the commotion about?”
Eppy looked as if she wanted to protest more but decided against it. “We’re having a contest to decide who’s better: mages or fighters. We’ve had multiple 1v1 battles so far, but the score is tied. We need another mage to join our side.” For a moment, she had an irritated look on her face but then quickly became expectant. “Wait, what level are you, kid?”
“I’m level 19,” I answered.
Eppy clapped her hands together. “Perfect! You can join our side and fight for us.”
I looked at the opposing team. It was full of muscly fighter-types. Each one of them could tear me apart with a flick of their wrist. “But I’m not even a mage,” I uttered as an excuse to avoid fighting.
“Ahh, that doesn’t matter. As long as you win, the mage team will be victorious.”
Didn’t it defeat the whole purpose of the contest if the deciding participant was not a mage or fighter? I got the suspicion that these people no longer cared about proving their side to be superior. After battling, they had lost interest in the starting premise and just wanted victory for themselves.
I personally did not want any part of this.
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