Lixarts Academy: First Year

The next few days were all a blur, coming and going in an instant.

I couldn’t really remember anything else and I haven’t been able to get any details out of anyone about what happened with Glen and that whole situation that went down.

Oh well. I’m not really too worried about it at this point in time but there is this festival kind of thing I’ve been hearing about called Enchantopia. I’ve heard of the name but that’s about it.

My childhood wasn’t the best.

“Hey, Aura,” I turned to my left and she was sitting there with her head down, her back heaving up and down as she slept like she was in her room.

I poked her in the side and she jolted up.

“What the hell, dude?” She said, eyes barely opened.

“I wanna know more about Enchantopia,” I told her.

“What? I thought everyone knew about it.”

“I’m from way out, it never really got talked about out there.”

“Alright so Enchantopia is like a sports festival. Most of the contests or games there are things like Capture The Flag, Terrain War, things like that. That’s not what everyone looks for though, the highlight of the night are the Duels which is, well, a duel between one student and another. And uh… most games are scored off of points and the criteria for each one is very different so that’ll be explained at Enchantopia but that’s about it. I’m going back to sleep,” she yawned and laid her head back down, this time she was snoring louder than earlier.

“It’s also between different schools,” a girl turned around and added before turning back around.

She smiled before turning back around to listen to the lecture.

After hearing about Enchantopia, I was visibly excited. All I knew was that it was growing closer.

This whole school year has been a massive shitshow, at least I made some cool friends.

The bell rang.

Aura and I met up with Rose and continued on to our classes.

“So guys, when is Enchantopia?” I asked them.

“Huh? Enchantopia’s in like two days? You didn’t know?” Rose answered.

“I don’t know how many times I have to say this..”

“That you’re not from around here?” Aura scooted in between us.

“Exactly.”

“But EVERYONE knows about it, it’s a little strange that you don’t.”

While it was certainly strange, my old family wasn’t exactly up to date on events that happened in the real world as we struggled to even survive for the longest time. I guess it must’ve slipped Mom and Dad’s mind though to tell me about it.

Mom and Dad, my REAL parents, had a defective son who showed no real signs of developing any mana or any magic at all.

I don’t blame them for leaving me.

Oh, that’s right, you didn’t know that. I’m adopted. The parents that I live with right now are my adoptive parents. My biological parents were abusive, cruel, harsh, they blamed me for what’s wrong with their lives.

They loved me one moment then abused me the next. Eventually, I managed to run away from that life and made it to the local Police Station. They took one look at my black eye, my malnourished body, my pale skin, greasy hair, and the odor wafted in alongside me.

They asked me where my parents lived and I took them there. The police walked down into the basement and saw chains and a bowl of dog food. The police wrapped the cuffs around their wrists but the thing that struck me was that they seemed happy. They seemed happy to be away from me.

They treated me like an animal and I never want to be in that situation ever again.

“Earth to Dominick!” Rose waved her hands in front of me while she leaned her head in front of mine.

“Yeah?” I asked.

Her azure eyes held me in a trance as she continued staring at me.

“We asked if you’re participating,” Aura said, walking in front of us.

“Of course I am,” I replied, enthusiastically.

“See, Aura, I told you,” Rose said, running up next to Aura.

“Well, I’m still not going to. I will cheer you guys on from the crowd though.”

“You’re so mean.”

The next day flew by and suddenly, it was the day of Enchantopia. I was a little nervous as we walked into the school. The bulletin board had been posted for sign up. There was a side note.

“NOTE: IF YOU SIGN UP, PLEASE HEAD TO THE GYM”

We were the first ones here. We signed our names on it and went on our way. The crowd behind us began running, much like a stampede.

We ran out of there too before we got trampled to death.

“Peace, Aura,” I said to Aura.

“Bye, Aura!” Rose shouted then proceeded to run over and hug her.

“Don’t lose,” she gave us these parting words as she headed to her class.

“How’s Aura gonna come see us if classes are still going on?” I asked Rose.

“They’re going to be gathered into busses and they’ll be in the section reserved for

Lixarts Academy.”

“Oh, so like a field trip?”

“Exactly.”

“Alright, let’s head over to the gym.”

We made our way over to the gym to be met up with a cluster of teachers and the Vice Principal.

“You must be Rose?” A woman called over to her. The woman looked to be in about her

20s, she wore high heels that clacked on the ground as she made her way over here. She had long brunette hair that reached the crevice of her onyx black dress. Her eyes were that of a hazel complexion. She was a very beautiful woman by all standards.

“Who are you? I’m sorry if that came out rude,” she apologized.

“No worries, I’m Ms. Baxter, I taught your mom in highschool,” she responded.

So she’s in her 40s, wow.

“You taught her?”

She chuckled, understanding the situation.

“I’m older than I look, Rose, I talk with your mom from time to time. I was hoping to have the honor of teaching you but I guess not. Maybe next year,” she stared at Rose, “you look just like her.”

She walked away after that statement.

Me and Rose looked at each other, confused.

“PLEASE SEPARATE INTO THE EVENTS YOU WILL BE PARTICIPATING IN BY ALPHABETICAL ORDER! THANK YOU!”

All of the students started shuffling around into their respective groups.

Obviously, we’re more than welcome to participate in more than one event but whichever events come first are the ones you lined up with. Let’s say, for example, you signed up for Terrain War and Capture the Flag, you’d be going to the CTF group because that event is before Terrain War. Understand?

“Dom!”

I looked behind me and saw Josh lined up in the 1v1 group beside me. I moved to the back of the line next to him.

“What’s up, Josh?”

“Nothing much, I’m just here cause my parents forced me to,” he sighed.

“What about you?” He inquired.

“Oh, it’s just something I felt like I needed to do,” I said, staring off.

“Make yourself known and all that?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“I respect it.”

After waiting for forever, the faculty led us outside to the lines of buses that waited outside. There were a lot of us coming along but this is kinda overboard. We were led onto our bus and seated in our assigned seating which they decided just by pairing two people, the one in front and the one behind them in the line which means Josh and I sat next to each other.

“So what about your ability? I thought you wanted to keep that hidden?”

“I’m not too worried about it since I’m pretty sure the Shadows know about it anyway so there’s no point in hiding it,” I responded.

“Yeah but what if they don’t? Cause didn’t you guys kill all of the ones who attacked you guys?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess I probably shouldn’t then.”

“That’s probably for the best.”

The students behind us grew louder as we drove down the road. I put my head against the window and fell asleep.

“Dominick, please be careful,” a familiar voice muttered.

It sounded like Aura.

When did she say that?

I jolted awake in the middle of my thought process by Josh shaking me around.

“We’re here. Looked like you were having a nice dream.”

“Yeah, the best,” I said, sarcastically.

We followed behind the teacher and students in a line, surrounded by large groups of other students from other schools. The arena stood like a giant, towering over the rest of the buildings. You could hear the people screaming from out here at the parking lot. The aroma of various foods filled my nostrils as we walked past the vendors to get to the entrance.

We stopped as our teacher put up her hand to signal us to stop. A person in a bright yellow vest stopped us.

“Class?” He asked, firmly.

“Lixarts Academy, First Year Class,” she handed him a piece of paper.

He flipped it around, inspecting it thoroughly.

“Right this way.”

He led us over to a locker room. We sat down and waited as they filled out name tags and handed them to us.

“Mrs. Elles, how long will this take?” A student asked.

“Well that would depend on which event you chose.”

“Huh?” Another student added.

“The events all have different times, look at the paper I’m about to give you.” Mrs Elles handed them out to all of the students present.

Enchantopia is 3 days long? Seriously?

“Why are the breaks longer on Day 1 and 2 than Day 3?” A student had their hand raised, asking Ms Elles.

“I’m not too sure, I think they said it had something to do with the time restrictions. Everyone will most likely show up later during Day 2 and the entire day 3 for the duos and singles bracket, the 2v2s have more people participating, because, well you know why,” she held up 2 fingers on her one hand and 1 on the other.

“Good thing I’m not in the singles one,” a group of students started murmuring behind me.

Josh walked up to me. He tapped me on the shoulder.

“You hear that the singles tourney is gonna be a lot harder this year?” He asked me.

“Dude, I haven’t heard anything about Enchantopia until a few days ago,” I responded.

“Where have you been your whole life?”

I looked up to the ceiling; the world of the past pouring into my brain.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said to him before sitting down.

All of the classes gathered in the hallways and our teachers gave us a pep talk.

My heart started beating faster as the nervousness started to settle in or was it excitement?

I wasn’t too sure. Probably both.

Mrs Elles concluded her really short pep talk and sent us out there. The light blinded all of us for a second. Once our eyes got adjusted, it was a lot. Confetti flew in from the sky, as the jumbotron zoomed in on us leaving the tunnel. The stands were completely filled.

I couldn’t see an empty seat anywhere. We all walked forward to the middle of the stadium.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ARE YOU READY FOR ENCHANTOPIA?!” A loud man shouted from the booth at the top of the stadium.

A cheer, so loud I had to cover up my ears, erupted from the crowd. Everyone of the students looked around, some in awe and some in fear.

Honestly, I’ve never been around this many people before. My eyes darted around and they landed on my parents, Aura, and Aura’s parents cheering next to each other. My eyes locked with Aura’s for a second too long, she smiled and gave me a thumbs up. My heart started beating faster, butterflies filled my stomach. I shook my head and focused on the task at hand. I put my hands behind me, against the bottom of my back and faced forward. Josh, who stood next to me, was already doing that.

“Aren’t you excited?” Rose tapped my shoulder.

“Honestly, no,” I answered.

The announcer continued to explain the rules and the rest of the students were in a mixed state of awe and anxiety. He pointed towards the jumbotron which had a detailed layout of the events for the 2 days that were filled till 7 and 8 pm.

The words “TERRAIN WAR” and “SINGLES BRACKET” along with anything else labeled single were bulging out more than the other events, as those were the events everyone had either come to witness or to participate in.

“WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, LET ENCHANTOPIA BEGIN!”

The festival grounds buzzed with anticipation. Suddenly a brilliant orange energy swirled around in the air; running rampant until it coalesced into the form of a mighty crimson dragon. Its body was composed of energy and smoke; the dragon flew around in the air, its rogue luminous scales reflecting the sun’s light as if it were a real dragon. It moved gracefully yet powerfully in the air, commanding the air with its wingbeat.

Its eyes glowed an emerald green as it moved to the middle of the air and sat there for a second. It reared its head upwards and roared. An effulgent flame erupted from its mouth before disappearing into the air. The dragon marked the beginning of the festival. The cheers filled the stadium once more.

We walked back into the tunnel and into the locker room.

“Okay, Capture The Flag participants please line up at the door.” Mrs. Elles instructed.

Rose and a few other students lined up behind Mrs. Elles. Our teacher turned to look at us.

“I trust you will make it to your assigned seating in the stands?”

The students and I nodded in unison, walking out of the locker room behind them.

We made it to the seats with Mrs. Elles labeled on the back of the seat. and sat down. As you would expect, Josh sat next to me as they began announcing the schools participating. There were a LOT of schools participating. The heavy favorite to win this one was Ravenwood Academy, a school famous for their triumphant performance in Enchantopia.

I read a pamphlet that was laid in the cupholder of the seat.

“AND NOW, INTROOOOOOODUCING, LIXARTS ACADEMY!!”