Except for the impression she got from Anderson about the future of Brakket Academy. With the publicity from the event, their days of free scholarships were likely over. Especially if they won a good amount of the events, or possibly the entire contest. Hunting for new students wouldn’t be necessary if they started getting genuine applications.
“Advertisements will be ending in sixty seconds,” Hank said. “Let’s take our seats.”
Together, they moved to a wooden deck that had recently been constructed just inside the Infinite Courtyard. A large square of wood with no walls and no roof, lit by several standing columns of light. Magical lights, of course.
A good segment of the Infinite Courtyard had been lit up with larger versions of the lights just behind the deck, staving off the darkness of the soon to be setting sun while giving a lovely view of the forest. The television company had been somewhat upset that the first event would be occurring at night. At least until Anderson brought in an enchanter to touch up the camera lenses.
They now functioned about as well in the dark of night as they did during a sunny day.
Opposite the lit forest was a bank of cameras and monitors. At the moment, most of the monitors were blank. Two showed two different angles of Zoe and the set she stood on. The rest would be showing feed from the drones once they were out and in the air.
Currently, one had an advertisement of a soft drink playing. Not being a connoisseur of television, Zoe couldn’t be sure if the tagline ‘It’s just like magic!’ was normal or specifically designed for the event.
Hank took a seat on a large couch. More of a bench, really. While it had a back, it was so low that it might as well not be there at all.
At least the padding was decent.
Zoe took a seat on the angled bench opposite Hank, crossing her legs and resting her hands in her lap.
Between the two couches was a small table. A number of refreshments had been laid out along with two full pitchers of water, though Zoe—and presumably Hank—had been asked to avoid partaking of much of it before the event started as the cameras would be focused entirely on them.
“Ready?”
“I suppose. Just try not to ask too many questions that aren’t on the script,” Zoe said with a slight smile.
“No promises.” His chuckle cut off part way as he pressed his hand to his ear.
“And welcome back to Brakket Magical Academy. To those of you just joining us, I’m here with Zoe Baxter, a professor of magical theory here at the academy. She will be joining me in commentary once the event gets underway, lending her knowledge and expertise in the ways of magic to enhance your enjoyment of the event.”
“Thank you Hank.”
“Now, I’m sure that many people have questions. Especially questions regarding just what it is you do here.”
“Brakket Magical Academy is, as the name suggests, a school for magic. Specifically thaumaturgy.”
“And for our viewers, just what is thaumaturgy?”
“The manipulation of what are commonly referred to as the classical elements. Air, earth, fire, and water. There are a number of other options one might pursue with thaumaturgy. However, the events of tonight will most likely only involve elemental thaumaturgy.”
Then there were the two girls with Elysium Order magic, assuming Eva hadn’t been exaggerating. Though Zoe didn’t know if they had actually been selected as their school’s representatives for the first event.
“Is that dangerous?” Hank asked.
“Learning and using it? Not particularly. Like most everything in the world, it can be used for harm. Just as a hammer can be used for constructing a building or striking someone, magic can be used for good or ill.”
Reaching out to the short coffee table, Zoe picked up a plate after sliding the crumb cakes off onto one of the other plates. She was messing up the visual aesthetics of the set, but hopefully they wouldn’t mind. Something that she couldn’t help but notice were the monitors displaying back what was being recorded. They were carefully following her movements, obviously expecting some sort of show.
“By focusing air into a tight razor and propelling it forward,” she said as she drew her wand, “a cutting edge can be made.”
With a flick of her wrist, the plate split cleanly in two. One side fell down to her lap while the other remained held in her hand. She offered it to Hank who turned it over in his hands for a moment, staring with wide eyes for almost a full minute. He jerked slightly. Zoe caught a slight noise with her enhanced ears, someone over his ear piece was saying something.
