Magiana Imperial Academy - Volume 1: Path to Greatness

September came to a close and October had begun. It was getting cooler, the days were getting shorter and the leaves were beginning to change colors and litter the campus grounds. Life at M.I.A was much calmer, with the first-years having gotten used to the school for the most part. The anniversary competition was going smooth as well. The majority of the points came from correct answers in classes. There was yet to be an incident in which someone lost points for their house.

Early on in September, tryouts started for various sports. House Sloane became a bit less crowded with practices and the games on the weekends.

All of Phillip’s Caster Magic classes until then had followed the same formula: learn about a spell for a few days and then try to cast it. Starting with the fireball Professor Windsor showed them on the day of the tour, they branched out to things like breaking down rocks or bricks into sand and reforming it into shapes like spikes and forming ice from thin air.

On a particular day, the class was told that they’d be doing something different.

“Now, Caster Magic is used almost universally used for combat, but one of its most important applications is healing.” There were some excited murmurs, which he quickly hushed. “Like all other Caster Magic, it’s as simple as imagining its effects taking place. Within reason, that is. Don’t try healing someone on the brink of death if you’re just a beginner. You won’t be doing them much good.”

Somebody raised their hand, and the professor called on them. “Since today’s lesson is on healing magic, wouldn’t that mean that someone is going to have to get hurt?”

Instead of answering with words, he drew the broadsword he constantly carried around and made a sizable cut on his palm. Blood began to trickle out of it. The class looked on, dumbstruck.

“Well, would you like to be the first to try and heal me?”

Hesitantly, the person who asked the question got up and walked over to Professor Windsor. They took his hand and closed their eyes. After some time, there was a light across the cut and it vanished. He wiped the blood off of his hand and showed it to the class.

“Just like that!” He happily announced. “Who would like to try next?”

Most of them were uncomfortable with Professor Windsor slicing his hand open with each new trial, even though it was obvious he could heal himself if they failed. Nonetheless, they went up and mended his wound.

Of all of the people in the class, Victoria healed the cut the fastest, looking quite proud of herself as she strutted back to her seat. By contrast, Miles took the longest. He had a strained look on his face while he worked. Francisca, Dominique’s twin who was in House Crowlin, worked almost as fast as Victoria; it was easily the fastest she had cast something since the beginning of the year.

Phillip was one of the last people to go. He walked up to the Professor and took his hand. His hand was warm, as was the blood, which he accidentally touched with his thumb. He didn’t close his eyes while he cast, believing that he didn’t need to. He imagined the cut on the Professor’s hand disappearing and a few moments later it closed up. Smiling to himself, Phillip returned to his seat.

When class finally ended, there were only one or two people who failed to mend the cut. They seemed disappointed in themselves, but were reassured by their friends. Phillip cheered up Miles who, despite succeeding, seemed upset.

The class that Phillip and Miles had right before lunch was math, and they had a test. This wasn’t new; they had already taken a few since the start of the year. What was new was the loss of points in the anniversary competition; it was the first time it happened.

The teacher, a stern man by the name of Earle Draut, had just finished passing out the tests and told the students to begin working. Pacing up and down the columns, he surprised everyone by suddenly telling them to stop their work.

He was looming over a member of House Lychester, who looked up at him innocently.

“Is there something wrong, sir?”

“Hand on desk, please.”

They did as he said, their palm on the desk. He took their hand and looked at a collection of messily written formulas.

“How cliche.” He said. The student didn’t look too upset about being caught cheating. “Well, according to the rules, this is worth a few points. Doing whatever it takes to get what you want would include cheating, after all. Five points to House Lychester.” There were angry comments from the Sloanes as well as cheers from the Lychesters, which he quickly put an end to. “But you still cheated, which is against the rules. Twenty-five points from House Lychester.” The cheers and angry comments continued, but who was giving them had switched. “If anyone else thought that they could cheat the system, come clean now; you won’t be punished.”

A few of the other Lychesters held up their hands. Professor Draut walked over to his desk and took out a small bottle of baking soda and a wand. He went to each of the students and sprinkled a bit on their palms saying, “Erase”. The writing on their hands vanished. When he was done, he told everyone to continue working on their test.

Phillip and Miles walked into the locker room with the rest of the boys in their gym class. Phillip opened his locker to retrieve his gym clothes. Inside of the locker (large enough for him to stand in comfortably) was what looked like a suit of armor. The light armor, which was in the colors of House Sloane’s flag, was accompanied by a helmet. Both had a red jewel on them; over the heart on the armor and the forehead on the helmet.

“Finally!” Miles cried. Many of the other boys did as well.

“Finally? What’re you talking about?”

Miles looked totally shocked at Phillip’s ignorance. He chuckled and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Phil, Phil… how do they keep you entertained up in that castle of yours?”

“So, what’re we doing?”

“We’re playing Magi Marauders today!” He exclaimed, taking the armor out of his locker. “Awesome!”

Miles didn’t tell Phillip what Magi Marauders was, but it was clearly a very popular sport. In fact, Phillip could’ve sworn he heard the name before, and recently. It must’ve been during the announcements for the sports tryouts. One that required armor, as well. Phillip reached into his locker for the armor, growing more and more excited about what they’d be doing that day.

Out on the field, everyone in class was wearing the same armor. It didn’t look like there was any distinction between armor for the boys and girls. Some of them were wearing the helmets, which covered their entire heads except for their jaw (for some reason). Standing with Coach Frazier were two upperclassmen. One of them was Isaiah, and the other, while a stranger, was wearing armor the same color as everyone in House Lychester. They were both holding their helmets and had golden spaulders on their right shoulders. Black cases were slung over their shoulders.

“Alright, kids, you know what we’re doing today, right?!” Coach Frazier seemed just as excited as the others.

The crowd roared the name of the game. The likes of Phillip were only following the others.

“That’s right!” He looked over at a much smaller building which was used to hold equipment. “I’ll be heading over there. Goude, Makarov, they’re in your hands!”

“Sure thing, coach!” Called Makarov. “Alright, runts-”

“Makarov, please refrain from calling them that.”

“Well, kinda are the runts in this situation. They’re the smallest people here, after all. And it’s not like I mean anything by it.”

Isaiah sighed. “I apologize for him, everyone. He tends to do what he wants.”

“Back on topic!” Makarov cried. “This is probably a stupid question, but who here doesn’t know the rules to Magi Marauders?”

Of the twenty eight in the class, ten hands went up. Makarov was taken aback by the number. Isaiah just looked on, still wearing the friendly expression he always did.

“Okay, I wasn’t expecting that. So, how should we explain things? The Arms, magic, and then the actual rules?” He counted on his fingers as he consulted Isaiah.

“I think that’d be best. Alright everyone, we’re going to explain the rules. I know most of you already know, and it might seem like a lot to you who don’t, but please bear with us. To begin, Magi Marauders is a team sport that’s centered around the use of magic.”

Makarov pounded his chest. “This armor is enchanted; it makes the hits you take hurt a lot less. That, and during the game, they keep track of your hit points. You run out of hit points, you’re out, pretty simple. But if you’re out for good or not depends on the type of game.” He pointed at the two jewels. “These are your vital points. Your heart and your head. Get hit there, one hit knock out so be careful.”

Isaiah laid the case down on the grass and opened it. He took out a mechanized sword with a gleaming metal blade.

“This is an Arm.”

“So that’s what that class full of weapons was for?” Phillip asked.

“Yeah. ‘Arm’ is just a term for a magic weapon. It originally applied only to normal weapons that were enchanted, but now mechanized ones like these are common.”

Makarov continued to explain. “In Magi Marauders, people tend to use Caster Magic, but if you want to use Substance Magic, that’s perfectly fine. The same goes for potions. I think people can use Mass Casting and Ritual Magic, but that takes too long.”

Isaiah took something resembling an ammo belt out of the case. Instead of bullets, it held vials of all different colors. Most of them were green.

“You can bring up to three potions with you, not counting the healing potion you start off with. If you want to have four healing potions, you can-”

“Two maximum.”

“What?”

“You can only have up to two healing potions, Makarov.”

Isaiah began handing out the green potions to everyone. Phillip noticed that there was something sticking out of the side of his armor which the vial fit in.

“Oh. so that’s why we’ve never went up against a team with twenty-eight healing potions?”

“That’d be correct. Moving on, there are some restricted potions. Invisibility potions and poison for example. To be more accurate, you can bring poison, but you can’t try to poison one of your opponents. If you wanted something that caused damage over time, you’d need to use Substance Magic. I believe that Professor Acre’s mentioned something about that kind of magic?”

Some of the people who were taking her class confirmed his suspicion.

“That’s good. So, you guys understand up to now?” They nodded. “Then let’s talk a bit about the game types. The two most common types of play are Capture the Flag and Manhunt. Capture the Flag is pretty self explanatory; get the opposing team’s flag and bring it back to your side. If you run out of hit points, you just sit out for a few minutes. In Manhunt, the whole point of the game is to eliminate all of the other team’s players. No time out here. One chance and then you’re done.”

“And that’s Magi Marauders.” Makarov said. “We’ll be playing the length of the track and field, but there are games that are played in arenas the size of the entire campus!”

The group began talking excitedly, looking around the school’s expansive grounds. Makarov gave Coach Frazier a thumbs up. He and Isaiah then split the class into teams of seven. Miles and Dominique were on Phillip’s team while Luna and Trevor were going to be playing alongside Reginald. From what Phillip saw while they waited, one of the few people Reginald treated as an equal was Luna; the two were just chatting as any pair of friends would.

A few minutes later, the lights on the ground surrounding the track and field glowed. Beams of light shot up from them and formed a large dome shape which was a blinding white. No one could see what was inside of it.

“So, that’s where we’re playing?” Phillip asked.

“Yeah.” Miles cracked his knuckles. “I’m getting all kinds of excited! Let’s go, guys!”

“Don’t blindly charge in.” Dominique quickly said. “We don’t know if we’re playing first.” At that moment, Makarov called for Phillip’s team to approach the dome. “Now you can go.”

Isaiah walked with them to one end of the dome while Makarov led Reginald’s team to the other end.

“We’re playing Capture the Flag. Normally, these games go on for an hour or two, but we only have about twenty-five minutes. The other teams have to play.”

“What happens if no one’s got the flag by then?”

“Well, if no one’s got the flag, the team with the most active members wins. If someone has the flag - even if they just grabbed it - they’re closer to getting the flag across the line, so their team wins.”

They passed through the white light and walked into what looked like a tropical jungle. There were tall evergreen trees forming a canopy overhead, allowing only a small amount of sunlight through. The sounds of insects and birds could be heard all around them.

“Whoa…” Miles, like the others, was looking around, wide-eyed.

“Are there actual animals in here?” Dominique asked.

“Well, they’d be holograms,” Isaiah said, putting on his helmet. The others followed his lead. “But yeah, there are some animals around. They won’t pay attention to you, though; they’re just there for scenery.”

A large ‘30’ appeared in the sky and began counting down.

“Two forwards, two midfielders, two defense and a flagkeeper. That’s the recommended formation for Capture the Flag. I’ll stay back and help guard the flag. The rest of you move up a bit and decide what position you’ll play while you’re at it.”

“I call forward!” Miles shouted, running off.

The others dashed off after him; all of them except for a single girl.

“You’re staying with me?”

She nodded. “If the point of the game is to capture the other team’s flag, the more defense the better.”

Mies, Phillip, Dominique and some of the others had began jumping around in the trees, finding it rather easy to move around. As they moved, some of them stopped, declaring the position they’d be playing. By the time that the only positions yet to be declared were the forwards, those three and another boy were the only ones who continued to advance.

“So, what’s our plan?” Phillip called.

“I say that we send someone ahead,” Dominique began. “And when they see the defense or the flag itself they tell us so we can divide and conquer.”

Miles smiled. “Sounds like a p-”

“Out of the way, loser!”

Reginald and some of his teammates, led by Makarov, passed by the four, also jumping through the trees. Reginald used Miles as a platform to boost himself, pushing Miles to the floor below.

Phillip stopped and went down to check on him. The fourth boy told Dominique that he’d act as the scout and go ahead. She stopped and joined the other two.

“That jerk!” Miles fixed his helmet, which was shifted by Reginald’s boot. “When I get my hands on him…”

“Let’s just focus on getting the flag, okay?” Phillip extended a hand.

“Thanks. After that wonderful experience, should we just stick to the ground?” He looked at Dominique, hoping that she had another plan.

“It wouldn’t be smart if the others were hiding in trees; they’d be able to catch us off guard. But the flag will still be on the ground.”

“We won’t need to be on the ground until we’re actually near the flag, though, right?”

“You’re right about that.” She crossed her arms. “We should stay in the trees until we get near the flag. Then we split up. If you want to stay in the trees, stay in the trees. I, for one, will get on the ground. They’ll be forced to split their attention between two different enemy forces, which just might be a great boon.”

“Boon, eh? Fond of smart words, aren’t you?” Miles began climbing again. “Let’s get going guys! The more time we waste strategizing the more time we give that punk to snatch our flag!”

They followed him and continued travelling. They didn’t meet anyone for a few minutes; friend nor foe.

“Hold on!” Dominique called. “There’s something wrong.”

“And what would that be?” Asked Miles, hanging from a vine.

“She’s right.” Phillip looked around.

Just like they first entered the dome, there were only the sounds of wildlife. Nothing indicated that there might be humans traversing the canopy.

“What do you think happened?” Miles asked, swinging back and forth.

“I don’t know.” The vital point over Phillip’s heart flashed.

The same happened to the other two. A hologram appeared, showing the faces of everyone on their team. The scout’s face was darkened and a timer was over it, counting down from five minutes.

“So that’s it. They must’ve left most of their team around the flag. He got a bit too close and they ganged up on him.”

“That would explain why we haven’t run into anyone after so long. They’re all clustered around the flag. So now what do we do? My divide and conquer strategy might still work, but…”

“Hey,” Miles was swinging from vine to vine like some sort of monkey. “How about we just rush in? Like you said, they have to split their focus, and if one of us gets in trouble, the other two are right there!”

“Come on, Miles, that won’t work! There are three of us and like five of them!”

“It might work.”

Miles stopped and looked at Dominique, slightly bewildered. “Really?”

“If we play our cards right. Listen closely, you two.”

Luna was standing in front of the blue and gold flag with three of her teammates standing guard. There had been little activity as of late. There was one person on the opposing team who got close, but they made quick work of him.

“You think Regi and the others are alright?”

“They’ll be fine; they’ve got Makarov with them! He told us that the thing on his shoulder meant he was a team captain, after all.”

“Yeah, but that Isaiah guy is too, then. He had one of them.”

“Enough small talk. We need to focus.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

They stood in silence, listening for any sign of movement. After a few minutes, they heard rustling in the trees and became more alert. Miles flew over them, having propelled himself from one of the vines.

“Hey there, guys!” He landed with a roll just behind the flag. Phillip came right after him.

“After them!”

Miles made is if he were going to grab it, but a fireball formed right between them. The three chased the two, who went back into the trees, swinging once more.

Luna was now alone, but she turned back to the area Miles and Phillip came from.

“That was a little risky, wasn’t it? What if one of them stayed behind?”

“Then I’d have two of you to deal with.” Dominique said, coming out from behind one of the trees. “Very unlikely that I’d succeed, but worth a try.”

“How’d you come up with this plan?”

“They - Miles, at least - covers more space by swinging then jumping on the branches. They should be able to stay ahead of your teammates.”

“And if my teammates catch on?”

“They’ll probably start swinging too and catch up.” She began walking towards Luna and the flag. “But I’ll have the flag by then, so there’s no need to worry.”

“You seem awful confident.” Luna grabbed onto the flagpole as Dominique began dashing at her.

Dominique reached into the vial holder at her side and dug her hand into the ground as Luna began generating a strong gust of wind. Holding onto the flagpole, Luna wasn’t affected by the wind at all.

“You were this close to getting the flag.” Luna said, smirking.

Dominique smirked right back at her. “I’ll have you know, I’m taking potions at the moment!” She had to yell to be heard over the wind. “And our most recent assignment? Poison.”

She chucked the vial of green liquid at Luna, who let go of the flagpole to avoid getting splashed. Dominique dashed over to the flag and grabbed it from to the pole. Luna pursued, but Dominique turned, throwing another vile at her. Luna ducked to avoid it and watched her opponent disappear into the trees.

It was while she watched that she realized she was tricked.

“Poison? We can’t use poison on the opponent; that’s against the rules!”

Looking at a withered plant that was drenched with the liquid, she saw it rebloom in a matter of seconds. Chuckling, Luna sat on the ground, leaning against the flagpole.

“The flag can only get back if Regi and the others find her.” She whispered. “If they don’t… good game, guys.”

A few minutes later, A message appeared high in the sky reading, “RED TEAM WINS!” The rest of Luna’s team returned to the flagpole, some more upset than others.

“Luna, what happened? Asked one of the guards. “How’d they get the flag?”

“A clever bit of deception.” She said. “I’ll have to be more careful next time.”

“You guys enjoyed yourselves, right?” Makarov asked as he and the other two returned. “Personally, I think that Manhunt is a lot more fun. The five of you were just standing around for most of the time, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like we didn’t do anything. We got to go on a little chase through the trees. Fun, wasn’t it, guys?”

As they walked out of the arena, they took off their helmets, taking in the fresh air. They made their way to the bleachers, where the other teams waited. Isaiah and Makarov went right back into the arena for the next match.

“I can’t believe it worked!” Miles exclaimed.

“Yeah, I was a little on the edge about the whole thing,” Phillip said. “But it worked out in the end. Are you guys actually working on poison, though?”

“It wouldn’t matter if they were.” Luna joined the three, followed by Reginald and Trevor, who sat with his fellow Sloanes. “You remember the rules about poison, right?”

“You can’t use it on other players.” Trevor told them. “And we aren’t, by the way.”

“So she shows you a green vial, tells you it’s poison and you fall for it?” Reginald let out an exasperated sigh. “I wouldn’t expect for you to fall for something like that, Luna.”

“It’s my first time playing the game, Regi, give me a break.”

“And you two,” Reginald was looking at Miles and Phillip. “Playing bait, eh? I wouldn’t expect the prince to do something like that. Seems… beneath you, doesn’t it?”

“We won, so I don’t care.”

“Oh, yeah! How’s your face doing? Our armor is supposed to protect us, but I doubt it felt food getting stomped on!” He tried not to laugh, but failed; Luna had to elbow him to get him to stop.

Miles was glaring at him, but cracked a smile as he watched Reginald rub his side after getting elbowed.

“Yeah, it sure didn’t feel good. But don’t worry. I’ll get you back one of these days.”

“I’d like to see you try. I heard you were swinging around like some sort of monkey, by the way. I don’t think you’ll be able to get the better of me. But hey,” He began towards his team again. “There are some pretty smart monkeys out there!”

“I can’t wait to mop the floor with him when we get to Manhunt.” Miles said bitterly. “How do you deal with him?”

“He’s only like this with kids from the other houses. I guess I’m immune because of that. Talk to you guys later.”