The television switched from an advertisement to a live camera out in the plaza between the dormitories, performing a slow sweep of the buildings and fountain. It faded back into their little platform, prompting Hank to begin speaking.
“And welcome back. I’m here with Zoe Baxter, professor of magical theory here at Brakket Magical Academy. The contest of magical showmanship between academies is about to begin. First, why don’t we go over the event as a whole. Zoe?”
“Five schools are participating in this year’s event. It is a fairly standard tournament to pit the schools against one another and give the winner… well, bragging rights mostly. Winning is generally seen as a sign that your school has a high quality learning environment and professors. The event is essentially a practical test in the students’ usage of magic.
“Today, each of the five schools were asked to select three of their ten participants. These three will be unable to participate in the next event. They do not know what either event consists of, so putting all their best students in the first event could be a needless risk or an excellent tactical decision.
“The winners of today’s event will receive foreknowledge regarding the second event in addition to the victory itself, which will count towards being the overall winner of the tournament.”
The televisions displaying the live footage changed, turning into a view from an overhead drone as it slowly sweeped over a group of students. Their gray-blue uniforms instantly identified them to Zoe, even without needing the text that appeared at the bottom of the screen.
“Faultline School for the Magically Adept participated in last year’s tournament. Well known for being a highly disciplined academy, their students took the tournament by storm and won decisively.”
The camera panned over each of the three students walking out of the dueling hall. Each wore a large, high-peaked cap on their head. That combined with their sleek uniforms made them look like they were straight from a mundane military academy.
A name appeared along with each person, but Zoe decided not to comment on the individual level unless Hank made a motion to do so. She honestly didn’t know enough about the foreign students to speak on them for any length of time. Not to mention the fact that without names on the screen, it was doubtful that anyone besides their mothers would recognize them. Identical uniforms. Identical hats. Even identical hairstyles.
She could, however, speak generally.
“All ten of their students are in their sixth year of schooling, making them the oldest students able to participate.”
“The older they are, the more unique magic they can learn, right?”
“Indeed. Though only fielding three students at the moment, I expect to see all four elements of magic used between them. They may offer us some excellent uses of less common magic as well. Order shields and perhaps even short-range blinking.”
As she finished speaking, the drone flew off towards another group of students walking out of the dueling hall.
“Isomer Holy Academy,” Zoe said, identifying the pure white uniforms before the name could appear on the screen. “A school primarily operated by members of the Elysium Order, a group dedicated to hunting down undead such as zombies and animated skeletons.”
Hank made a slight choking noise but didn’t actually manage to get any real words out.
So Zoe just went on talking.
“I don’t imagine that they will be facing many challenges along those lines as raising the undead is typically grounds for having a bounty placed on your head. Not to mention that it is a fairly tasteless act.”
“I can imagine,” Hank said, looking a little green around the gills.
“The Nod Complex for the Supernatural is one of the few magical academies to enroll non-human students, along with Brakket Academy. I should mention for your viewers’ sakes that the other academies are generally not racist against non-humans. Most non-humans have their own unique brand of magic they practice, leading to a lack of applicants. The Nod Complex has spent a great deal of money designing their facility with unique infrastructure required to support beings of other races.”
Hank stared at the screen for a moment before reading something off a smaller display hidden among the refreshments on the table.
“Caithe,” he said slowly. “The one in the middle. I don’t mean to be rude, but is she made of plants or merely wearing them as decoration?”
Zoe leaned forwards slightly, watching the larger camera. As it switched off the vampire and on to the pale-green skinned woman, she nodded her head. “A dryad,” she said. “The white leaves making up her hair are indeed part of her, though I’m not sure about the cattails. They may be purely for decoration.
