Lixarts Academy: First Year

The alarm resonated in the hallway as more intruders had begun to pour in from each entrance that they could find. Right now, there’s about 75 hooded guys. Students had begun to run to the nearest safety room while some strayed off the path.

Me, Rose, and Aura had remained hidden in the classroom until the halls were clear.

“Hey, Dominick,” Aura whispered, “is the coast clear?”

“You want me to check?” I asked, with a shocked expression, “I could get killed!”

“I haven’t heard any footsteps for a while. I think we should be good,” Aura explained.

“Then you’re coming with me,” I said, grabbing her arm.

“Like hell I am!” she shouted in a hushed tone.

She attempted to pull away but I kept dragging her to the door. I opened it with my free hand and stepped out into the hallway. I looked in every direction. I poked my head in the classroom.

“Hey, Rose, the coast is clear,” I said to her. She was still trembling. Rose looked at me with teary eyes.

“Is it alright if I stay here?” She asked me.

“Probably not. They might come back and we gotta get out of here. I wonder if we can leave through the window?” I said, questioningly.

I looked out the window and the entire courtyard was filled with mysterious figures in black robes.

“Nope. Come on, Rose. We gotta get outta here,” I said, holding out my hand.

She stared at my hand for what felt like hours until she finally grabbed it. I pulled her up and told her to follow behind me.

“Keep an eye out behind us,” I said to Aura and Rose.

“Alright,” Aura replied, scanning back and forth while remaining behind me and holding Rose’s hand.

Rose’s shaking began to calm down as we made our way to the spell corridor. The hallways were black, illuminated by the red alarms that were constantly sounding off. We looked around frantically to find anyone who could help us while also making our way to the staircase.

“I saw some kids over here,” Aura said, causing us to stop in our tracks and go into the janitor’s closet.

It was a tight fit but we weren’t noticed by the people walking around. We looked around and ushered out. The hallways became more and more dangerous as other figures flooded in. We left the janitor’s closet and made it to the upstairs library after walking and hiding for a while. Rose and Aura walked in first and I entered behind them, surveying the area to make sure we weren’t followed.

“What are we gonna do?” Rose said, her voice shaky.

“I think we’re gonna have to fight our way out of this one. The Magic Defense Force isn’t gonna be here for a while and they won’t be able to enter inside the school immediately,” I said, facing her.

“I’m with Dom on this one,” Aura said, grabbing Rose’s shoulder.

“Well, right now, fighting won’t do us much good,” Rose replied, grabbing and holding Aura’s hand which seemed to calm her down, “We can’t take them all on. I’m pretty sure Mr. Lainhart is out there looking for us right now too,” she stated, now calmed down.

“You’re right. I have no idea what to do from here,” I responded.

“What if we just wait here-?” Aura was interrupted as we spotted figures walking by with a large number of students subdued by magic chains.

Reality sunk in for me and Aura. We wore dim expressions as we realized how bad this situation truly was.

I sat there for a moment, contemplating whether this was life or death for me. For all of us.

I never told my Mom or Dad goodbye this morning. I never got to…

Wait. This isn’t who I am.

What the fuck am I doing thinking thoughts like this?

I stood up and grabbed Rose and Aura’s hand.

“I have an idea, follow me,” I said, before they asked me any questions.

I ran out of the library, gathering the attention of the figures who were standing outside. They gave chase as we sprinted to the gymnasium.

They started casting spells. Time seemed to get slower and the hall began to feel as if it had grown longer. The debris flew off of the wall and the ground as we narrowly escaped and made it into the gymnasium. Rose ran over to the console and changed the settings. The 3 of us ran into the teleporter as they followed us onto them.

We landed in snow, the cold leaving us brittle and vulnerable. Aura used her Griffin to start a fire for us to warm up around.

“We’re fucked, enemies are approaching us and they’ll probably be here soon so what’s the plan, Dom?” Aura said, expectantly.

“Right now, all we can do is try to turn this situation in our favor,” I expressed.

“And how the hell are we supposed to do that?” Aura responded, annoyed.

“All we can do right now is figure out what advantages we have against them then use those in a fight and win,” I looked at them and shrugged.

“But we’ve never been in a situation like this. These guys seem expertly trained,” Rose said, looking dejected.

"It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice here," I replied, pointing towards the

enemies closing in on us from the hills.

“I know. You’re right,” Rose responded.

“I’ll trap most of them in my spell and fight the ones I got in it while you guys fight the ones that weren’t caught,” I looked at them, “but we stay here, meaning we fight in the cold.”

“That’s fine with us,” Aura said.

“Me too,” I reassured.

“Let’s do this, I guess…” Rose said, sighing.

The enemies were almost in our faces now, they were approaching us rapidly.

“It’s been 3 weeks and it's been non stop fighting..” Rose grumbled. She wasn’t as shaken as before.

We split up. I went to the west while they went east. I lagged behind a little bit to lure most of them in the effective radius of my spell.

After a few seconds, most of them were with me. In total, there are 20 enemies. I had to face 12 enemies by myself while they would face the remaining 8.

“SURRENDER NOW! WE OUTNUMBER YOU!”

“Maybe but look,” I pointed to the ground.

“Colosseum Of The Damned.”

A loud ear splitting noise occurred throughout the air as Dominick summoned his signature spell, one that me and Rose had gotten familiar with since he had beat the breaks off of us in that same building.

“ROSE, WE’RE GOING TO HAVE SPLIT THEM UP!” I yelled at her, as we proceeded to run away from each other to give us space so as to not hit each other with our magic.

“LOOKS LIKE THEY HAD THE SAME IDEA!” Rose replied, pointing towards the guys running towards us.

“COMPANION MAGIC: GRIFFIN!” A circle of bright orange flames appeared as a Griffin appeared next to her. It wasn’t a large Griffin, it must’ve been a cub or slightly older. However, Griffins are very strong from a young age.

“SPIRIT MAGIC: INFERNO VARIATION!” I chanted, following Rose’s lead. There was nothing we could do. All we could do is fight and hope for the best. A fire crown materialized on my head as my body began to glow a vibrant orange.

Me and Rose looked at each other and nodded. We charged towards the bad guys. I couldn’t help but grin. I’m slowly becoming more and more like Dominick.

“HELL’S PUNISHMENT!” Indigo beams appeared above his shoulders and below his arms. They propelled towards me at rapid speeds.

“BLAZE CANNON!” I put my hands out together.

A large brilliant beam of fire shot out, causing both of our spells to fizzle out.

“ENHANCEMENT MAGIC!” Two of them shouted in unison.

They had begun to charge towards me while the other two supported them from the back.

“FLAME SWORD!”

A large two handed sword suddenly showed up in my hands. The blade seemed to emanate heat waves as the air looked distorted around it.

“COME ON!” I yelled, while gripping the sword. I began to charge at them.

After mere seconds, we came face to face. The closer we got, the better for me. The one in the back couldn’t attack me while his friends were here fighting because he could hit them as a result.

They both began charging up heavy punches, each on both sides. The one to my left was closer so I lifted up my sword and swung it down. I looked down, my stomach churning as his hand detached from his body and fell to the ground. Blood spurted everywhere. My face harbored a disgusted expression. My hands began shaking as the man started screaming, holding where his hand used to be.

“Was that… me?” I thought to myself.

I was brought back to reality as the other punch landed into my stomach. I puked as his fist made contact. I jumped backwards.

“Fuck, that hurt!” I shouted, holding my stomach.

“ROSE! WE FORGOT THE NULLIFIER SETTING!” I yelled over to her.

“YEAH, I KNOW!” She blocked an attack and hopped backwards.

“SHOULD WE TELL DOMINICK?!” She shouted, questioningly.

I looked over and heard yelling. I smirked and shook my head side to side. I took a deep breath and gripped the handle even tighter.

I closed my eyes.

“INFERNO VARIATION: INFERNAL RUSH!”

My body began to move on its own. It felt like I was watching someone else control my every little movement and I could only watch helplessly. My body moved faster than ever, as if I was floating across the ground. The damage they had done to me was great but I couldn’t feel it. My body had entered a state of anger. A stage where I will do anything in my power to cut those down who stand before me. These two are the only people who get me. The only ones I can trust. I will do anything for Rose. Dominick’s cool, I guess.

My senses had returned. My body was bruised and my hands covered in blood. I looked down to see two lifeless corpses. I looked at my hands and towards Rose. She was fighting off opponents of her own. I had lost the other guy who was supporting them. I got up to run. My body collapsed as the damage was too much for me to handle.

(Now: Rose)

“AURA!” I yelled, as she collapsed to the ground.

The 3 that I was fighting was too much for me to handle on my own. I’ve never received any training for my magic in any form of combat. My parents didn’t want me to rely on it too much and they didn’t treat me with the same favoritism as my younger sister so all of the training that I should’ve gotten went to her.

“GRIFFIN: FIREBALL!”

My spirit, a young Griffin, shot a fireball towards the hooded figures that were enclosing in towards me.

“FLOOD!”

A bounteous amount of water flooded out towards me as the fireball fizzled out. I have no defense against water magic with this spirit.

“VULCAN SPIRIT: MAGMA BREATH!”

The magma and water met together in between us. It began to bubble. The bubbles were a black and tangerine color, they had a texture that looked like slime.

“BIND!”

I heard a voice behind me. I was distracted by the other one that I forgot about him. Chains shot out from behind me and restricted my arms and legs.

“HYDRO-HAMMER!”

A giant hammer made of water appeared above my head. I looked up as it was crashing down. Time began to stop. I closed my eyes. My life had begun to flash before my eyes. I’ve never even had a boyfriend! I HAVEN’T GONE ON DATES! It’s just now that I’m realizing that my whole life, I’ve been guarded. I haven’t been able to let anyone in besides Aura. I’ve been rejected by people I love so I thought that it wouldn’t hurt if I rejected the ones who claimed they love me. Now, I’m not even sure.

Why am I talking about this when I’m about to die? I’m not too sure. I feel like I’m going to die. I’m gonna die with all of these regrets.

“REFLECT!”

Mr. Lainhart summoned a mirror which caused the hammer to bounce away from me.

“STRIKE!”

Josh appeared from behind Mr. Lainhart. A storm cloud took shape above the Chain user and struck him down. Mr. Lainhart had taken down the Ocean user with ease. It wasn’t a fair fight at all. These goons probably don’t stand a chance against the faculty here.

“Rose, are you okay?” Mr. Lainhart came over to me.

“I can’t walk. I must’ve used a lot more mana than I thought,” I responded, weakly.

He came over to me and propped me up on his shoulder.

“You guys are in trouble once this is over,” he said, supporting me as we walked over to Aura.

“Josh, can you get her?” Mr Lainhart asked.

“On it,” he replied, propping up Aura on his shoulder.

“Why are you here, Josh?” I asked.

“Mr. Lainhart asked for volunteers to help search for you guys once he came back to the class,” he replied.

“The alarms started going off when I was washing my hands. I rushed back to the class as soon as they went off. I did a head count and found out you 3 were missing. Speaking of which… is that Dominick’s doing?” He pointed toward the Colosseum.