The Awards Ceremony

Aayla stood with Jacki and the other Halcyon students in the middle of campus. The display screens showed a stage blocked by luxurious curtains. The students buzzed with excitement. Who was going to be the next president? Who were this year's top rankings? Which professors schemed their way to the top?

They could hardly wait! Fortunately, they didn't need to wait for much longer. The curtains slowly lifted up to the applause of the onlookers. Only the headmaster, deputy headmasters and the high-ranking Student Council members stood on the stage.

The headmaster didn't delay and immediately started the ceremony. There were tens of awards to give out that night. Each time the crowd cheered and screamed with delight. Daren proudly took the top spot for his year, despite Vanessa's harassment.

Aayla's excitement quickly faded away. The sheer number of awards was way too many! Why not just announce the biggest ones and hand out the smaller ones before the ceremony? She didn't know why the other students remained so excited.

When she stepped back to stretch a little bit, she noticed the extra security guards had slipped away. A small patrol dashed by, but the students didn't seem aware of their presence. She wormed her way back into the crowd to find Jacki.

"Do you know what's going on with the extra security guards? They're all gone."

"They're gone?"

Jacki looked around just as another patrol dashed by.

"That's the second one I've seen running in that direction in the last few minutes."

"Really? That's strange. They're heading towards the edge of campus. The stage should be over there."

Jacki tugged on the sleeves of the Halcyon fourth years and whispered into their ears. They frowned and pulled the younger students out of the crowd.

"She's right, the security guards are gone. When did they leave?"

"Look! There's another patrol over there! Something's going on. There's no way that the patrol would be moving so fast otherwise."

"Sir Forolan is getting an award on the edge of campus that they're running towards. The strongest wizards on campus are gathered there. Should we stay or check on him?"

"Uh, no they're not."

Aayla checked the screen again. Her eyes shook. The Student Council was still there, but a couple of the deputy headmasters had vanished.

"When did that happen? Something's definitely wrong. Let's go check on the situation."

"Agreed. Second-years, take the first years back to the residence halls and stay there. Third-years, you're coming with us."

Several students noticed the Halcyon students leaving. Fearing that they missed some important message, they pulled their friends out of the crowd to follow. Before anyone could leave, a loud explosion bellowed in the distance.

The sky above them cracked like glass before it burst into shards of light. A cold wind blew as the sky returned to normal. The students froze in place.

"Did the protective barrier just break?"

"I… I think so."

"But how? That's impossible."

More explosions were heard off in the distance. The display screens went dark. The faces of the fourth-years darkened. This was not good. They were all in danger, and should get away from this open area where they were sitting ducks.

In an instant, strange lines lit up beneath their feet. Many students puzzled over them and bent down to take a look. They began to stretch out over the entire plaza. Aayla had a bad feeling about them.

"Get out of the plaza! NOW!"

Students began to panic as they pushed each other aside to outrun the expanding magic formation. It stopped at the edge of the plaza, then flashed with a bright light. When it cleared, all of the students inside were gone.

The Halcyon students and those who followed them out early were lucky. The rest, not so much. They had disappeared along with the bright lights on the ground. A fourth-year bent down to examine the scorch marks on the ground.

"The space element? Did the formation cast a teleportation spell?"

"This was a mass kidnapping. This formation has the True Order written all over it. Void take their souls. They've been rumored to be kidnapping people for months."

"Change of plans. All Halcyon students stick together now. Let's go find the rest of our team and the head faculty at the stage. Watch out for anything strange on the ground!"

The group quickly started running towards the stage area. Screams and the sounds of battle got louder and started coming form all around them. Some of the display screens had scorch marks on the ground around them, while others did not. Clearly, their plaza wasn't the only target.

Other students ran for cover, screaming about intruders. They refused to stop and answer any questions.

"Darn it. People are losing their minds now. What level of agents infiltrated to cause so much chaos?"

"The more important question is how many. They've got to have at least one at the headmaster's level. Then one or two each per deputy headmaster plus extra for the higher ups of the added security. To silently set up so many teleportation formations undetected, a decent sized force of rather skilled agents must be running around somewhere."

"Then where are they?"

The students continued forward until they could see the charred remains of trees and buildings in front of them. They quickly hid in the ruins of one of those buildings. The battle seemed to have moved on, but they could still feel the remnant mana emanating from the scorch marks on the ground.

One of the third-years summoned a small, transparent figure which zoomed off into the distance. When it came back a few minutes later, the third-year frowned.

"The entire area around the stage is wrecked, but someone is maintaining a barrier around it. The barrier has an obscuring effect, so I don't know who's inside. The True Order has surrounded it, but security has surrounded them. A couple more of the deputy headmasters are missing."

"What about any bodies?"

"No students, but a couple of staff, faculty and security. Fortunately, none of the bodies look like the missing deputy headmasters."

"Maybe their off fighting somewhere?"

"Probably. My elemental can't track anyone. The mana is too mixed and disrupted."

The third- and fourth-years silently talked among themselves. The first- and second-years nervously shuffled their feet while they waited.

"What do we do now? Do we still keep moving forward?"

"No, that battle is too intense for us since we need to keep you lower years safe. We need to fall back somewhere, but with the barrier down something might be wrong with the entire defense system."

The group fell into silence. Aayla thought for a moment. The residence hall was on a completely independent system, right?

"What about the Nafriton Residence Hall? It's got walls, irritable gremlins and an artifact spirit. The main campus was built completely separate from it, so the residence hall's defense systems should be all right."

"It's better than nothing. Let's go."

The group silently turned around and reluctantly left. The battle faded into the background. When they passed through central campus, the screams and explosions returned. Before they could choose another route, someone noticed them.

"GET DOWN!"

Aayla was pushed to the ground as something flew above their heads and smashed into the ground. A hooded wizard appeared in front of them, and two behind them. A suffocating pressure descended on the group.

The fourth-years began to sweat. These guys were way out of their league. None of them wanted to risk getting into a fight. The students slowly backed into a side pathway. Like tigers stalking their prey, the hooded wizards steadily followed behind them.

Forced further into central campus, the students fled from their pursuers. Whenever they turned a corner, a cloaked figure would appear right in front of them. Whenever they came to an intersection, the students would be surrounded.

Desperation mounted as the screams and sounds of battle got louder. Each time, the students barely managed to escape. They should have long been captured by now, but the hooded wizards did nothing but follow. Their pursuers were clearly toying with them.

The students grew tired from running. Just as they were about to give out, one saw a slightly opened door. A hand stuck itself out from behind it and waved. The group immediately ran for the door and locked themselves inside the building.

The building faintly hummed and its walls glowed with a golden hue once the door was locked. They all collapsed on the ground. The hooded figures stood outside at a distance. Eventually, they walked off one by one.

A sense of dread built up in her mind as Aayla glanced through the windows. The hooded wizards toyed with them the entire time. Yet, they just let them run to safety just like that? Something was very wrong. Aayla wanted to check if the doors and windows would let them out, but that idea was shot down. That could turn off the defenses of the building.

They were trapped for now.