Let the games commence!

The days passed by in a blur as each morning on the days that lead to the event, you wake up to the nightmares of the previous night. Nox's words weren't straightforward, and they had a deeper meaning you can't quite understand, but you don't know whether you should be glad or afraid that the other person within you is equally afraid of something you don't know.

Despite your obvious dilemma, you didn't have time to dwell on your inner crisis, because the week of the Inter-school Elemental Competition has arrived. You were all in the mess hall, a breakfast feast has just been spread, and the arrival of the neighbouring schools will soon make their way inside the school for an introduction.

Through the windows, figures loomed from up above, giant owls flew along with their riders. Each owl carried a single student on its back, fifteen students, and the headmaster, totaling sixteen owls. The students from Ardenlinton Academy of Mystic Arts were the first to arrive, led by their headmaster Lord Argon Levain. Lord Argon was a duke, his family was one of the founding fathers of the Ardenlinton Academy.

Headmistress Felstead and Professor Fulton greeted them outside. One by one they unmounted their owls, "Students of Ardenlinton Academy of Mystic Arts, we welcome you to Senka Luna Academy of Magic." the headmistress greeted.

Lord Argon walked toward where the headmistress and the professor stood, greeting them with a respectful bow, "Thank you for welcoming us to your wonderful school," he replied, motioning to the fifteen students who will be participating in the events.

"It is our great honor Lord Argon, please come in, we'll have the staff take care of your luggage, we prepared a banquette," the headmistress motioned them to enter ahead, "The Dark Oaks Academy has yet to arrive, alas it is my duty to greet them when they do, but I will leave you to the good hands of Professor Fulton," she said.

The lord and the students complied and went in ahead, and not soon after the students from Dark Oaks Academy arrived in their carriages, pulled by Treants. Treants are creatures of the forest that resembles that of a walking tree.

The carriages are made of the Treants themselves, their vines and branches intertwined and overlapped forming a dome that shaped itself into the carriages. There were five carries in total, four students per carriage, and the other one was solely meant for their headmaster, Lord Hawksley Griffith.

"Welcome students and headmaster of Dark Oaks Academy of Magic, we welcome you to Senka Luna Academy," headmistress Felstead greeted once more.

Lord Hawksley was eccentric, he was grinning from ear to ear, scanning the school in all its glory, "Headmistress Felstead, yes, yes, thank you so much for hosting this year's events, we are glad to be here!" he replied excitedly.

The students, however, didn't match his enthusiasm, "Well, it's our greatest pleasure, please, the others are waiting. We've prepared a banquette and a feast to welcome you all, shall we?" she welcomed, and the rest followed her inside.

***

Inside the mess hall, it was a chorus of gossiping and chittering over the arrival of the neighbouring schools, "I did a bit of research about the Kingdom of Ravaryn over the week, and I found out that the pureblooded Ravaryans are all blond-headed!" Damara shared enthusiastically, making you imagine a whole kingdom filled with blond-haired people.

"Why do you think that is?" Sitara asked, incredulously.

"It said that apparently, it's a genetic trait from the founding race." she scooted over, almost leaning on the food on the table, "It said that their blood came from a fallen angel who fell in love with the very first woman who gave birth to the very first Ravaryan," she said, her eyes wide and filled with thrill.

Sitara rolled her eyes, "Oh so, you're telling me that every person who is blond-headed is related to each other?" she asked dubiously.

Damara pouted at Sitara, crossing her arms, "It's true, according to my research that is," she replied.

"Technically, the fact that they may be related in some way or another is a completely sound argument according to genetics, however, I don't think angels are involved," you explained, half siding with Damara, and half correcting her in some areas of her argument.

Just as she was about to rebut, the large double doors of the mess hall opened, revealing the students and headmaster of Ardenlinton Academy of Mystic Arts. Everyone stopped to look at them, they walked in and strode with confidence as they held their heads high. Their uniforms were composed of a white blazer and pants, a royal blue button-up shirt tucked inside a warm midnight blue vest, and the golden seal of their school embedded on their chests.

Damara wasn't kidding, because most of the students had golden-blond hair. One of them even winked at you when they passed your table, making you look away in embarrassment.

Not long after, the students from the other school made their entrance, along with Headmistress Felstead. Unlike the previous students who boasted confidence, these students were in awe of their scenery, even waving excitedly around the room, feeling like a celebrity.

If the students were quirky, the headmaster was even more so. He stood five feet flat, covered in a feather coat of different colours. He was waving, smiling, and greeting each student he passed by as if he was running for mayor. His eccentricity made you smile at how much a breath of fresh air he was compared to the other headmaster.

When they arrived in front, Headmistress Felstead took a step forward to the podium, conveniently placed there by her, "Greetings my students of Senka Luna Academy, we have received the honour of being the representative host for this year's Annual Inter-school Elemental Competition. And as the hosts, you are expected to perform and act accordingly, let us show our guests well-deserved hospitality."

"I welcome you the representatives of Ardenlinton School of Mystic Arts, and their glorified headmaster, Lord Argon Levain!" the headmistress announced. Lord Argon banged his staff on the floor three times, before four students stepped forward, one of them being the boy who winked at you.

Each of them gave a display of their respective elemental abilities. A figure of a goblet pouring out endless water from the water elemental, two rock golems from the earth elemental, a figure of a dragon breathing fire from the boy who is now staring at you with a grin, and a small tornado from the air elemental. And with that, their performance was done and a round of applause erupted from the room.

"I have been training them to be only the best, and I just hope that the other representatives can be a proper challenge," Lord Levain commented arrogantly, earning a few glares and huffs from the students of Dark Oak.

This time, the eccentric headmaster of Dark Oaks stepped in front, "Now let's give a warm welcome to students of Dark Oaks School of Magic, and their wonderful headmaster, Lord Hawksley Griffith!" and with that, their performance began.

Lord Hawksley blew out into his palm, and suddenly a gust of air blew across the room, carrying out leaves, and one of them fell in front of you. You picked it up, and with closer inspection, the veins of the leaves were glowing a golden spark, it resembled a lightning strike.

Unlike Ardenltinton who only had four representatives, all of Dark Oak's students stepped forward. They huddled up in 4 groups, with three groups of four and a group of three. As they combined their abilities together, they put up an even greater display of magic.

The earth elementals conjured up a fountain in the middle of the hall, and the water elementals made water come out, the air elementals lifting the water high up in the air and suddenly made it rain, pouring water all over the mess hall, but then one by one, the drops of water began to ascend, and each drop floated back up and paused mid-air as if time had stopped until it started to boil.

And you've noticed that it was the fire elementals who did this. Each water droplet dispersed in the air as they evaporated, and afterward, a gust of wind went across the room, drying everything and everyone that got wet from the earlier rain. And with that, the students of Dark Oak concluded their performance.

Everyone stood in awe of the performance, cheering and applauding. It was simple and yet it took all of their abilities to perform the act, it was a performance that didn't solely rely on one or two people, but as a team, which represented the theme and point of the competition.

"That was a beautiful display, but we aren't done yet," a glint of enthusiasm showed in the headmistress' eyes as she said, "This wouldn't be over without of course our own introduction, I present you the students and representatives of this years Inter-school Elemental Competition, representing our very own Senka Luna Academy of Magic!" and with that, everyone's eyes were on the doors that opened dramatically.

It revealed the students of the Elementals school division. Everyone cheered louder than before, they wore their complete uniforms along with their cloak that had their Elemental emblem embellished on it. You noticed Caelum with them, with his usual blank face but this time, there was an air of confidence and pride that radiated around him, making you smile.

They stopped in the middle of the hall as they began their performance. They also divided themselves into their respective elements, and the next thing they displayed was far greater than the previous ones.

First, the wind elementals conjured a large tornado that flew up to the ceiling, next the fire elementals injected flames inside as the tornado spun, fire mixed within it. Slowly, the water elementals injected water into the tornado, and instead of combining it with the flames, it rotated in alternate positions, like twirling different colours of sugar for cotton candy, and lastly, the earth elementals made a giant golem, and with the help of the wind elementals, they made it look as if the golem was twirling the tornado in its palms.

And afterward, all the elements within the tornado collapsed amongst each other. Until it dispersed slowly, leaving the whole room baffled. Headmistress Felstead went in front of them and as they all took a bow together, only then did the whole room erupt in a bout of cheering, shouts, and applause from all the students, even the ones from Dark Oaks and Ardenlinton seemed impressed.

It just shows that as an individual you are capable of something great that others may not be, but if you combine each of your abilities, then you will be able to become and achieve something far greater.

***

After the performances, each of the students took a seat at their respective tables, "Now then, I shall now lay down the rules of the games. The competition happens for three days and is divided into three categories: the duel, the team tower, and the elemental performance." headmistress Felstead stated, she's now standing at the podium.

"On the first day, we have the duels and five students will represent each school on the roster. There will be a preliminary eliminating round which will leave only eight students left, and then on to the next round which will leave four students left which will compete for the final round, where the remaining two students will compete for the title of Champion," she announced, making everyone cheer.

"The second day will be the team tower, and as the name suggests, it's a tower game but not what you imagine. The earth elementals will be building a tower, it does not matter how tall, wide, or thick it is, as long as the tower is still standing even after the bombardment of other players. The other elements will be tasked to either defend their tower or attack the other team's tower. The team whose tower is left standing wins."

"And the last event is the Elemental Performance. The earlier introduction is only a small taste of the true event on the third day, where the students are expected to use their ingenuity, creativity, and ability to create a performance that has never been seen before. And on the evening of the third day, we will have a ball to celebrate the outstanding performances of our students and guests. And with that, we wish you luck, and let the games commence!"