The Angel of the Owl House
Season 2: The Human Realm
Chapter 14: Enter the Gates of HECK
Exactly one week had passed since Hunter and Lucy's encounter with the Rebels in Cartilia, and the defeat of Hettie Cutburn. It had also been 3 days since Coven Day, and the live destruction of her petrified form. Ever since then, there was a horrible tension hanging over the castle and the other Coven Heads… seeing one of their own, traitor or not, being petrified and destroyed had made everyone wary, and the scouts and other castle personnel had taken to creeping about quietly, barely speaking a word. The Coven Heads had come for a few meetings, as Belos demanded constant updates on whatever he had each one doing, and they always arrived with grim faces and left even grimmer.
Belos himself was becoming colder, stricter, and less forgiving with each passing day, not helped by the fact his odd corruption was flaring up more and more without Palisman to soothe it. The fits had been getting worse, and many scouts who served around him had more scars to prove it. Lucy had managed to convince her Uncle to use Abomaton MK I's for his needs in place of scouts, since they could easily be replaced. This spared the scouts, but forced Lucy to keep buying more Abomatons from the thoroughly unpleasant and smug Odalia Blight. Belos had taken to chewing on woodchips made from the Palistrom Wood they'd confiscated from Terra Snapdragon; it seemed to take the edge off his condition, and combining that with a potion that Head Witch Vitimir derived from Palistrom Sap seemed to be almost as good as eating live Palisman. Both tasted foul however, and Belos' mood was just as foul as a result, and so Lucy had been too afraid to ask him about her father and his bloodline, so she still had no idea why Hettie had tried to kill her.
Hunter and Lucy were also finding themselves being split up a lot. The attempt on Lucy's life had made Belos paranoid, and he was once again confining her to the castle more and more, only letting her leave when Head Witch Osran asked to take her to his Coven HQ for lessons. On the reverse side, Belos' worsening condition and obsession with doing some strange work on the Portal had made him reclusive and so many of his duties were passed onto Hunter, keeping the boy very busy. Despite the added stress, Hunter actually thrived and frequently spoke for the Emperor in meetings with the Coven Heads… who weren't exactly thrilled about answering to a child. Darius was especially giving him a hard time whenever Hunter started acting like the Emperor did.
It was now Sunday, and another meeting of the Coven Heads was due to start any minute. Belos scheduled Sunday meetings for the afternoon, since he always sequestered himself on Sunday mornings so he could "Hear the gospel of the Titan".
Hunter walked into the throne room with Lucy not far behind him, and immediately took his place at his Uncle's right hand, while his sister took her place at his left. Hunter smiled upon seeing her; while she wasn't in a great mood thanks to being kept in the castle, her wings had regained a bit of their silvery shine and her lethargy had lessened, much to his relief. Belos greeted them both only with a subtle nod, while Hunter noticed Osran giving Lucy a polite smile too, which she returned. Soon, all the Coven Heads were present, including Healer Dorothea, who'd been named the new Head Witch of the Healing Coven following Hettie's betrayal. The woman always looked terrified in the Emperor's presence… unsurprising given how her predecessor was dealt with.
The meeting began as always with a brief recap from each Coven Head regarding their activities; Darius was still working on reverse engineering the Abomaton MK II's so they could be replicated, while working to advance the Abomaton MK I's. Severin was focusing on recruitment, and serving as the main representative of the Emperor's Coven within the neutral zone of Bonesborough. Eberwolf was keeping the beasts of the Isles under control, and overseeing the hunt for any fugitives outside the neutral zone. Mason was overseeing the reconstruction of areas damaged in fighting with the rebels, as well as the completion of the Unity Plaza up near the Titan's Head. Dorothea, new to her role, was simply getting adjusted to being Coven Head and managing all the hospitals on the Isles. Adrian was hard at work managing the Emperor's propaganda, as well as the various spies in areas where the CATTs and other smaller rebel groups had been causing trouble. Osran had largely been training Lucy in Oracle Magic, while also acting as the head of surveillance. Vitimir had been hard at work on remaking some potion that the CATTs had destroyed so he'd done little, but his Potions Coven was keeping the Emperor's Coven stocked with potions and explosives, so Belos made no complaints. Then there was Terra… who hadn't shown up for the meeting, or most other meetings either. She'd become a recluse since the attack on Spriggan Manor and had only shown up at the castle when Belos demanded her presence. She'd worn a veil to that meeting and looked sickly, making Hunter think the woman wasn't long for the world. To this meeting she'd sent one of her creepy Plant Scouts, who'd blandly reported that the Plant Coven was continuing their work to cultivate herbs for the other covens and keep the Isles' forests, jungles, and swamps under control.
Once they were all done, Belos (who now rarely wore his mask after Coven Day) smiled benevolently.
"You've all been doing well. The Day of Unity is fast approaching, and my work on adjusting the portal for our purposes is also going well. We will soon be ready; the only missing piece is our Rebellious Angel." Belos said.
"With your permission Sire, perhaps I could help?" Adrian asked; "I'm sure a little mesmerism would lure her out of Bonesborough, where I can catch her and bring her to you."
"Your loyalty is appreciated, Adrian. But I have my own plans, which I shall reveal in due time." Belos smiled; "Luz Noceda will come to heel. My only worry is how much suffering she'll bring onto herself before that. In the mean time, are there any other important things you wish to report?"
Hunter perked up, seeing his chance. "Yes, Emperor Belos. I would like to request that the Silver Sentinel be released from the castle so she can assist me with my efforts to recruit the youth of the Boiling Isles. I believe that having an Angel support me will massively increase my success."
Lucy smiled a little, even as she felt sorry for her brother. Just last Friday, their Uncle had been busy and asked Hunter to lead the Coven Heads in a recruitment meeting. Hunter had been proud and eager to show off his new cloak, which he'd stitched the old Golden Guard Sigil into (poorly). However the Coven Heads hadn't taken him seriously and decided to postpone the meeting despite his objections, and Darius had been rather harsh when Hunter objected. He'd taken Hunter's new cloak and claimed he didn't deserve to where the sigil worn by his old friend and mentor. In an attempt to prove he was worthy, Hunter had gone in disguise to both Glandus and St. Epiderm in hopes of recruiting strong students to the cause… it had been a dismal failure. The Glandus students had taken his recruitment attempts as a challenge, and since he was a "new kid", they tried to establish his place in the pecking order, which resulted in Hunter having to duel his way out of the school. Then at St. Epiderm, the rich and noble students had scoffed and said there was no point, since they all had cushy positions in their parents' covens all lined up for them, and the scholarship students had refused to rock the boat and "rise above their station" by joining the Emperor's Coven.
The result was a depressed Hunter, a lack of recruits, and a disappointed Emperor.
But his idea to add Lucy to his recruitment efforts had merit AND would get her out of the castle! It was a win-win!
Belos was not convinced however; "My Sentinel has other duties. She has already suffered an assassination attempt and must continue her training with Head Witch Osran. An Angel capable of Oracle Magic is unusual, and I will not have that potential squandered. Besides, if Luz really cannot be brought to heel, then your sister must be trained until she is strong enough to take Luz's place in the Day of Unity."
Hunter bit his lip and Lucy tried not to look too disappointed. However, they received help from a rather unexpected person.
"My Emperor, if I may…" Darius began, stepping forward; "Why not have the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel run tomorrow's "Helping Enhance Coven Know-How" event? It's usually run by Terra, but with her health declining, we've been debating who among the Coven Heads should take over instead. It's a good chance to recruit young witches and demons into the coven, and it's held in Manubrium so it's safe and secure. Plus Osran could always assist them so as not to derail the Sentinel's training."
Hunter gaped, not expecting help from Darius of all people, while Lucy looked hopefully at her Uncle. Osran also stepped forward; "I believe this is a good idea, Emperor Belos. I've been meaning to ask you for permission to take the Sentinel out of the castle. She needs to practice using her magic in a place she is less familiar with, so she can better train her scrying abilities."
Belos stroked his chin and glanced back and forth at his young Elites. Both were looking hopeful, and they had been fulfilling their duties effectively… and the last thing he needed was to give them a reason to go into a rebellious phase when the Day of Unity was just under a month away.
"Very well. Hunter, Lucy; you will both report to the Manubrium Covention Centre tomorrow so you can manage the HECK event. I understand Terra has made it something of an inter-school competition? The Grand Prize this year will be a place in my coven. Bring me some strong recruits… and if those recruits should be from Hexside, then I'll want to see them personally. We can always use more spies inside Bonesborough." Belos decreed.
The two teens were ecstatic and barely stopped themselves from cheering. "We won't disappoint you!" they said together, both bowing to their Uncle. Belos brought the meeting to an end a short time later, and the Coven Heads departed. Hunter tried to speak to Darius to thank him, but the man had dismissed him casually by claiming to have work to do. Lucy's attempt to talk to Osran had gone better, with the old man smiling and patting the girl's hand.
"I'm happy to assist, my dear. I won't be in Manubrium tomorrow, so you can consider it self-study. Do try to enjoy yourself too though; I cannot see what lies beyond the Day of Unity, but it will be a major change. Enjoy the life you currently have while it lasts." Osran smiled, before walking off.
Lucy wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she didn't cared; she was just too happy to be spending a day out of the castle again!
"Tomorrow is going to be great!" Hunter grinned, throwing an arm around his little sister's shoulder; "I'll show Uncle AND Darius that I can recruit the best and brightest that the Isles has to offer!"
[Meanwhile]
Unbeknownst to the Elites, HECK was also being discussed within Bonesborough. However it was of no interest to the CATTs (who'd never attack an event for school children); rather being a concern for the teachers of Hexside, who had of course been invited to send a team of students to compete. Since Hexside was officially neutral, there was no danger and the teachers really did want to send students to win Blue Ribbons for the prestige of the school, but therein lay the problem… a lot of their best students were members of the CATTs. HECK had ten main events, one for each of the Main Covens and each rewarded with a coveted Blue Ribbon. A Hexside student winning a Blue Ribbon was basically a declaration of how good Hexside was (and that student's teacher in particular). Logically, this meant they wanted to send their best students in each track, but they were limited to sending a maximum of five, so now the Hexside teachers were stuck trying to figure out which students could go without being wanted.
"So realistically, the ideal team to send would be Luz Noceda, Viney Leonis, Jerbo Nelumbo, Barcus, and Matt Tholomule. They cover all nine tracks between them." Professor Lavestra, the Illusion Teacher pointed out.
"But we obviously can't send Luz, seeing as she's the most wanted person in the history of the Isles." Principal Bump pointed out. "We also can't send Barcus thanks to that mess with Vitimir a few weeks back, and Councilman Nelumbo has already refused to let Jerbo take part in the event when I suggested it to him. He's afraid of sending his son out the Neutral Zone."
"Mr. Tholomule won't be able to attend either." Construction Professor Freed said with a heavy sigh; "His whole family caught the Fire Flu. He's been out of school since Thursday to help take care of them, but that ended with him catching it himself and there's no way he'll recover in time for tomorrow."
The teachers all groaned; that left only Viney as one of their Top Multi-Trackers. She'd easily sweep the Healing and Beast-Keeping events, and probably do pretty well in the Bard event too from Professor Beat's bragging, but that wasn't enough for Hexside! They wanted to win the majority of events at least!
"Do we have any other Multi-Trackers that are high in their class rankings?" Bump asked exasperatedly.
They were largely met with shakes of the head. The best Multi-Trackers besides the ones already unavailable were Amity Blight, who'd be in too much danger as the girlfriend of the Isles' most wanted person, Boscha Alembic who was also wanted by the Emperor's Coven, and Emira Blight, who could be safe but would only help them win the Illusion Event.
As they all wracked their brains, Professor Hermanculus raised his short arm. "I have a suggestion. What about our new Flyer Derby Team? Viney Leonis is already a member, as is Emira Blight. Plus it contains Willow Park, Gus Porter, and Skara Cadence; the top students in the school in Plants, Illusions, and Bardic magic respectively. With them and Viney, with Emira as a back up Healer and Illusionist, we're bound to win at least half of the events."
That was met with surprise from the other teachers, who hadn't expected Hermanculus to speak in support of either Willow or her team. The Friday that just passed had been the day of the school Club Fair, and Willow had tried to found Hexside's first official Flyer Derby Team. Hermanculus (being admittedly petty) had initially refused to allow its formation under the excuse that Willow was a quitter for abandoning his class. But she'd surprised him by rising to his challenge, putting together a successful team, and actually managing to defeat his own in an exhibition match. It had been close, but they'd won fair and square and won Hermanculus' begrudging respect. He now served as the club supervisor for them, and had offered his services as a coach too.
"I'm surprised at you Hermanculus. I see your recent loss has humbled you a bit." Bump grinned.
"Oh shove it, Hiernomyus! I can admit defeat! Besides, these students are all skilled and none have active bounties, since Miss Park's was rescinded. They have skill and teamwork, so they could win the Emperor's Coven event too. They're our best bet." Hermanculus yelled, hiding his embarrassment with his temper.
Bump nodded and looked to his fellow teachers to see what they thought. They all agreed it was a good idea, and Professor Lavestra (as Vice-Principal) volunteered to escort them to the event the next day. With that decided, Bump called each of the students' families (grateful that Alador's new signal tower now meant he could reach them on Digale Island) and asked them for permission, and each one agreed. Hexside now had its representatives for HECK!
[The Next Day]
Willow and her Team stood outside Hexside along with Professor Lavestra as they said their goodbyes to their friends, who sadly couldn't come to watch the events. The school day had ended (HECK was after school so the students didn't miss a day of learning), so their friends were seeing them off before going home themselves.
"Good luck guys! Kick butt for Hexside!" Luz cheered.
"You got it, Luz!" Gus grinned, the two exchanging silly finger guns.
"We'll be cheering you on from home. Luz and I are getting back to work on the portal! We've finally gathered most of the materials after all!" Amity added with a smile.
"No kidding! Eda's weird doomsday shed full of junk has actually turned out useful!" Skara added, before looking to Viney; "Glandus and St. Epiderm look down on Bards, so we'll take home that Blue Ribbon easy!"
Viney grinned; "You got it! Are you helping out with the portal too, Boscha?"
The three eyed girl nodded; "Yeah. Titan knows I have to make sure Luz and Amity stay focused and don't start making kissy faces." she said, gesturing over to the two.
"Pfft, if Skara wasn't going with Willow, it'd be her and Boscha that'd be too busy making kissy faces to be of any help." Amity muttered as Luz giggled.
Boscha scoffed and ignored them, then spoke to Willow instead; "You're the Captain of your own team now. That means you're officially in the big leagues now. I've been bringing home Grudgby Trophies since I joined the Banshees; let's see if you can match that with Blue Ribbons." she said, smirking challengingly.
Willow smirked back; "You're on, Boscha. We'll win today's big event, just you wait and see!"
"You go, Captain!" Emira cheered with a big grin. She hadn't expected to be invited to join Willow's Flyer Derby team, but her Viney had apparently recommended her when Willow had been desperate for a fifth member and Emira had jumped at the chance to spend more time with her girlfriend. Who'd have thought all those flying dates on the back of Puddles would work out in such a weird way?
"You rock, Sis! Show the Isles what the New and Improved Blight family are good for!" Edric cheered.
"Do your best! Show those St. Epiderm jerks what you're made of, Viney!" Jerbo also cheered, stood beside Edric.
"And the Glandus ones too. I predict success!" Barcus woofed.
Cat, Amelia, Bo, Jeb, and Rogier all gave their well wishes to Skara and Willow too, hugging the girls and wishing them luck.
At that moment, Gus's scroll appeared and he smiled upon seeing a Penstagram post from Matt; "Matt says good luck too, and apologises for not being here to see us off sooner. He also says that Steve almost burned the house down with a sneeze, so it looks like they're both still pretty sick with the Fire Flu."
Luz shuddered; "I'm glad I didn't catch that back during that Titan Trapper mess."
"Can't you sneeze fire anyway if you want?" Boscha asked with a raised eyebrow.
Luz responded by sticking out her tongue and making the fire glyph appear on it, allowing her to shoot a short stream of fire into the air. Professor Lavestra looked ready to scold her, but then Luz applied some other elements to change the colours of the flames, and soon the words "GO HEXSIDE!" were glowing above Luz's head in a mix of red, blue, green, gold, and silver flames.
Professor Lavestra had to at least applaud the showmanship. "Alright, we need to get going. It's a short flight to Manubrium but I don't want to be late! Everyone onto the School Bus."
Willow and her team nodded and obediently boarded the bus, which Luz discovered was actually more like a Dragon Boat. It was an enchanted Viking-style Long Boat with six draconic legs holding it up, a head and tail carved onto the ends, and a pair of draconic wings for flying. Luz had no idea why such a thing was called a bus, but she wasn't going to question it and instead just waved and cheered as the team boarded and Professor Lavestra took a hold of the boat's reigns, before steering the boat into the sky like it was a horse.
Just as the Professor said, the flight to Manubrium was a short one and they soon found themselves landing in the capital city and disembarking outside the city's Covention centre, which was a lot bigger and grander than the one in Bonesborough. Several other school buses had landed around the area too; far more than the Hexoleos had expected.
"Wait, how many schools are taking part on this? I thought it was just Hexside, Glandus, and St. Epiderm." Gus commented.
Professor Lavestra shook her head; "No, all schools are invited, including the smaller speciality schools. Not everyone can afford St. Epiderm, nor do they want to send their children to a school as combative as Glandus. However Hexside has a limit on how many students it can accept each semester so we don't end up overcrowded, and we give priority to Bonesborough residents. As such, other schools have cropped up around the Isles."
She pointed to one school where the students wore purple, desert-style uniforms with coloured armbands to denote their track; "Those students are from Pamilen, an Oracle Specialist School in Palm Stings." she then pointed to another set of students, who wore dark green uniforms trimmed in coloured fur based on their tracks; "And they are from the Phalagia College of Herbalists, and they specialise in Plant and Potions magic."
Willow remembered visiting the place once when her Papa took her on a day trip to Phalagia, over in the Swampy Toes; it had been a nice, but kind of run-down place. The Hexoleos looked around at all of the different schools with interest, wondering if they'd be challenging rivals. However Professor Lavestra didn't seem too interested in them. The three-eyed witch said; "Those schools are small and not very well funded. It's sad to say, but the students there will either end up running small family businesses, or becoming the rank and file of the various Covens. Most would be lucky to even join one of the Main 10, and will likely settle for the smaller secondary covens."
Emira hummed casually; "So they're not gonna be a challenge?"
"Probably not, especially if in any event outside their speciality. Pamilen will likely only do well in the Oracle Event, whilst big schools like St. Epiderm will stand out in all events, even though St. Epiderm specialises in Healing Magic." Lavestra explained.
"Bah, we'll show those snooty brats what real Healing Magic is, right Emi?" Viney asked, putting an arm around Emira's waist. The Blight Girl blushed and smiled flirtatiously in return.
"You know it, Kitten. Do you think we'll run into your cousin?"
"Nah, she's not a stuck up noble and there's no way St. Epiderm would send anyone else!"
While Emira and Viney were shamelessly flirting, Professor Lavestra went to get the students signed in for the event and collect their visitors badges, leaving Willow, Gus, and Skara to look around the outside of the Covention Centre and look at the other teams. The trio didn't know if they should feel disappointed or relieved at the lack of challenge, on top of feeling sorry for the smaller schools. Most of the students looked happy and optimistic, likely just glad to be taking part and having fun while visiting the capital, but Skara could tell that none of them looked to be fired up and aiming to win.
"If Boscha were here, she'd be mad. Most of the other students have already decided they're going to lose." Skara sighed.
Gus shrugged; "Well at least they seem happy rather than bitter. If they're not worried about winning, they'll probably enjoy the show a lot more."
"That's true." Willow said, pulling out a leaflet on the event that Principal Bump had given her. "It says that HECK stands for "Helping Enhance Coven Know-How" and is supposed to be a way for students to show off what they've learned in the various Coven Tracks, while also showing off for recruiters. But according to this, it was originally the IFWOT which stood for "Instructing Future Witches of Tomorrow." It used to be more like a training seminar of some kind… but it still had events and Blue Ribbons."
Skara snorted at the name; "IFWOT? That sounds even dumber than HECK! At least HECK is good for dumb puns like "We're in HECK!" or "Having a HECK of a time!" y'know?"
"Oh please don't make puns! I got stuck watching Luz, King, and Edric make dumb puns all day Saturday when they came to Dad's workshop for portal junk." Emira groaned, walking over to join the others.
"The new name is definitely cooler sounding, though I'm less eager about what it actually stands for. Why'd the name change?" Viney asked, before leaning forward and whispering; "Is it something Belos did to make his Coven System sound cooler?"
Willow giggled; "That sounds like something Eda would say."
She then turned back to the leaflet for an actual answer to Viney's question. As she was reading, Professor Lavestra returned and handed each of them a little blue disk to put on their uniforms, which signified them as competitors in the events and listed their names. She then led them into the Covention itself, where Willow was briefly distracted from her reading to gasp at the place with her teammates.
Unlike the Bonesborough Covention Centre, the Manubrium one was much larger and circular instead of rectangular, making it look like a giant domed colosseum. The inside had been divided into twelve wedges and a large circular area in the dead centre of the open space. One of the wedges was the entrance, while the one directly opposite it was a rest area with food and refreshments. The remaining ten wedges were each dedicated to a specific Coven Event, with Abominations, Beast-Keeping, Bardic, Construction, and Healing to their right, and Plants, Potions, Oracle, Illusions, and the Emperor's Coven to their left. The centre area was largely just an open plaza, though a stage had been set up there for announcements and the opening ceremony. The teachers were all herding their students into this central plaza, while Coven Scouts were all over the place. The actual events seemed to be managed mostly by representatives from the Covens themselves, but a few (like the Plant Coven and Healing Coven) were staffed almost solely by scouts, with only a few members of the respective Covens being present. From what little the Hexside Team could see of the events being prepared, it looked like it was be wild! Heck, there was a whole mini-wilderness constructed in for the Beast Keeping Event!
"Whoa… I can't wait to see what's gonna happen! This is gonna be awesome!" Gus said excitedly.
"It looks like we're on time too. The hosts are about to take the stage." Lavestra commented, seeing some people in white cloaks climbing onto the stage, which was decorated with a massive banner proclaiming "HECK!"
Willow ignored this for a moment and went back to her reading until the opening ceremony actually started, though she soon paled and pulled her teammates closer to her with some vines. "Guys, we might have a major problem!"
"What is it?" Gus asked.
"According to this, the reason the name was changed to HECK is because of Terra Snapdragon… who has hosted the event almost every year since!" Willow explained frantically.
Her teammates all paled; if Terra was hosting the event, she'd definitely see Willow! The CATTs had no idea why she'd not spoken up to ensure Willow's bounty wasn't rescinded, but a popular theory was that Terra wanted to get revenge personally! If that was true and she was here, Willow was in grave danger!
"We need to get Willow out of here! This isn't some important mission; it's a game! We can't risk her!" Skara said urgently, looking ready to grab the confused Professor Lavestra and explain the situation.
Before she could however, a silencing spell was cast over all the students, ensuring they stayed quiet as the Opening Ceremony officially began. The Hexside Team turned to look at the stage and saw two people in white cloaks and hoods, which were surprisingly short for Coven Scouts. The two looked up and revealed their identical gold and silver helmets, making the young CATTs gasp silently, with Willow mouthing "You've got to be kidding me!"
The Golden Guard summoned his staff (disguised as always) in a flash of lightning, while the Silver Sentinel's staff rose out of the shadows beside her. The two then threw off their cloaks and their helmets vanished in a flash of gold and silver light, revealing Hunter and Lucy in their true forms, including the latter's silver wings. The two then crossed staves and held them high, conjuring a golden crystal ball. Hunter then conjured a golden illusion of the Emperor himself, while Lucy released Shade from his stone and ordered him into the ball, which glowed a brilliant purple. All shadows touched by the purple light were suddenly sucked into a black orb in Lucy's hand, before the orb combined with the golden illusion of Belos, which Hunter and Lucy reshaped together with the shadows into a black and gold illusion of the Titan (though noticeably skinnier and scarier than how Luz had described him to her friends). The Titan illusion then let the golden crystal ball float between its hands, before lifting it high above its head as Hunter and Lucy caused the ball to let out light in the nine hues of the nine primary types of Magic. The illusion was then sucked into the crystal ball, which shattered into gold and silver glitter, marking an end to the brief show.
The silencing spell was dropped, allowing the students to erupt in noisy cheers while Hunter and Lucy took a bow. Gus cheered and applauded with all he had, and even cast an illusion of a rose that was tossed at the pair's feet. Lucy saw this and made eye contact with him, smiling brilliantly as she resisted the urge to wave at him. Gus was briefly struck by that smile; he'd seen Luz wear a similar smile many times, but it had never looked so… innocently adorable? Maybe it was just because Lucy was younger.
The rest of the team had clapped too, with varying levels of enthusiasm, and after seeing the rose, Hunter looked at them too. He made eye contact with Willow, remembering their brief joint adventure up on the Knee a week ago, but she responded by glowering at him, and he frowned himself, though there didn't seem to be much beyond mild resignation in either of their eyes. For Hunter, this was replaced by enthusiasm as he turned his attention back to the crowd itself.
"Welcome, Students and Teachers of the Boiling Isles! I am the Golden Guard, and my partner here is the Silver Sentinel! We will be your co-Head Proctors this afternoon! We hope you all enjoyed our little opening show! We felt it served as a good way to get your attention and show the kinds of skills that await you at the pinnacle of the Coven System; The Emperor's Coven!"
The Coven Scouts around the Covention centre raised their fists and gave a short cheer, before Hunter continued his speech; "This is our first year hosting the HECK, but with Head Witch Snapdragon still suffering poor health, the Emperor himself decided that we'd be the best people to help host this event! Now for those who didn't read the program, here is what we've got planned for the day; we have ten different events based around the Ten Primary Covens, and each school will be allowed to select up to two students to take part in each one. The student that wins the event will be rewarded with a Blue Ribbon for them and their school! However don't fret; each Coven has also set up smaller events and distractions to both entertain and give you a better idea of the magic used in that coven. You never know, you may learn some new magic and change which coven you're aiming for!"
There was some murmurs and excited whisperings, especially from the smaller schools. This was likely going to be their best way to study high quality magic outside of their schools' specialities! The Hexside Team were curious too, wondering what mini-activities had been planned for their own specialities. It could even be a good chance for them to pick up a few small spells from the other types, which especially excited Viney and Emira.
Hunter then spoke again to finish his speech; "Everybody do your best today, for the school team that wins the most Blue Ribbons will receive a grand prize that'll make you the envy of the entire Isles! With that, I officially declare HECK… OPEN!"
He raised his staff and then slammed the bottom down against the floor, creating an explosion of lightning which burst into golden confetti-like particles. Hunter was met with more cheers from his audience, while the Hexside Team politely applauded. The boy smirked slightly as he made eye contact with Willow again, and she rolled her eyes in response, but smirked as well when she turned away to head to the first event. Now that she knew Terra wasn't going to pop up and cause problems, Willow and her team felt a lot more relaxed.
Professor Lavestra herded the team over to the rest area to give them the plan; "Right, the scheduled times for each Coven Event are listed in the program. Does anyone other than Willow have theirs?"
The rest of the team pulled theirs out, making the teacher smile; "Excellent! Now I'll allow you all to split up and explore the event to your hearts' content, but we should decide who will take part in which events first. Remember, two people can join each one."
"Emi and I will naturally handle Healing." Viney said, "I'll also take Beast-Keeping."
"I'll try out Beast-Keeping too." Skara decided, "Then you and I can also dominate the Bard Event!"
"Gus and I can do Illusions." Emira smiled, "I could also do Oracle. I'm no expert, but I did inherit a little bit of ability from Odalia."
Gus nodded; "I can try Oracle too. My Dad's an Oracle, so I know a few tricks. What about you, Willow? Besides Plants of course."
Willow thought about it for a moment, then said; "I can probably do Plants, Potions, and the Emperor's Coven event. But that leaves Construction without anyone in it, and I need a partner for Potions and the Emperor's Coven. Plants too, though I'm not worried about that one."
"I'll team up with you for Potions." Emira decided; "Edric's pretty into them, so I know a thing or two."
"I can handle Construction. I don't think I'll win, but I have spent enough time with Matt to have an idea of how it works." Gus offered.
"Then I'll team with Gus for Construction too. I'm far from an expert, but I did sit in on a few classes back when I was using the Room of Shortcuts in the Detention Track." Viney said. "I can also team up with you for Plants, Willow. Doubt I'll be much help, but I also doubt you'd need it."
"Which leaves everyone doing at least three events except me, so I'll pick up the slack and team up with you for the Emperor's Coven event, Willow!" Skara grinned; "My Dad is a Coven Head! If anyone's got a chance there, it's me! Besides, Bard and Plant Magic are two that are great at imitating other types!"
"That sounds good to me. But what about Abominations?" Gus asked, looking to Willow.
Willow immediately excused herself from that one; "Sorry, but even if I was in that class for a long time, I was terrible at it! I'm the worst option."
"Emira, do you think you can give it a try? You're Dad's an abomination genius after all." Viney pointed out.
Emira grimaced; "I'll try, but don't expect too much from me. Amity got all the Abomination talent among us siblings."
"If you're doing Abominations, then let me do Potions. I learned a lot from Boscha after all, and I have the Sonic Alchemy trick." Skara volunteered. Emira didn't argue; that left her with four events instead of five, which suited her greatly.
That still left them with one person still needed for the Abomination event, but none of the team were eager. Abominations was a tough form of magic to use without proper instruction, and the only one who had any was Willow, who'd been awful at it. She was only one step ahead of Luz, who couldn't use it at all! The other three members of the team were probably equally skilled in it; Viney knew a little thanks to Jerbo, Gus could mimic Luz's Abominable Snowmen with his ice and water magic, and Skara's mother was in the Abominations Coven, and had tried to push her into that track when she was still in her life. Ultimately, Gus bit the bullet and volunteered.
"It may not be perfect, but the Abominable Snowmen spell should be enough to at least keep us from losing horribly." he said.
With that decided, everyone was in agreement and split up to begin heading to whichever of their events came first, while Professor Lavestra decided to simply go to whichever event was currently being held so she could cheer for her school team.
The first event was the Healing Coven Event, so it was Viney and Emira who walked with their teacher to the proper section of the Covention Centre. The Healing Coven had decked out their entire area to look like a hospital ward, with an operating theatre in the back and several booths designed to look like small clinics towards the entrance to the area. The booths held the smaller activities, which looked to be gamified biology lessons. One was a quiz where an Illusionist would make themselves look like they had some kind of horrible illness or injury, and the students had to correctly identify the problem based on the symptoms. A similar game beside it instead had the observing Healer inform the students of the condition the illusionist was faking, and asked them to suggest a treatment, with correct guesses dispelling the illusion, and incorrect guesses making the illusionist show what that treatment would actually do to them, often with gross or silly results. Other games, like hitting the correct body part of a mannequin with a spell were also being held, along with practical applications where Healers would teach minor healing spells to any willing student and let them practice on special mannequins known as Medical Flesh Golems; dolls made from cultivated tissue that basically functioned like a less morbid cadaver.
When Viney and Emira arrived at the event itself, they found themselves listening to the shameless bragging of two uptight St. Epiderm students.
"Naturally we'll be taking this ribbon with ease!" one of them boasted; he appeared to be an Elephant Biped Demon.
"Of course! St. Epiderm specialises in Healing Magic and we're the best in the school at it! As if we'd ever lose! The rest of you peasants might as well go home!" added his partner; a regular witch who'd caked her face in make up that included an unsettling amount of gold glitter. It wouldn't have surprised Viney if the glitter was from real gold!
"Dang rich people…" she muttered, feeling her mood souring… at least until Emira reached up and began gently scratching the back of Viney's head, right beneath her ponytail. That had the grumpy girl melting and purring in seconds.
The proctor for the Healing Event, a Rabbit Biped Demon dressed in the garb of a Combat Healer, approached the participating students and smiled. "Good afternoon, I am Healer Lapin and I'll be managing this event. The rules are simple; Medical Flesh Golems with varying injuries will appear on the beds around the ward and you are to treat them as quickly and effectively as you can. When a golem registers that it is in perfect condition, it will vanish. If a patient is incurable, you must tag them with these stamps."
He made a spell circle and summoned a small stamp in front of each participant. Viney looked at it and saw it was a black hand stamp. "Stamped Golems will vanish, but only correctly stamped ones will be added to your score. Medicine cabinets around the room contain cures that can be used if Healing Magic alone is not enough, and the Operating Theatre is open if you need to perform surgery on the patient. Whoever successfully cures the most patients in the space of ten minutes wins. Are you ready?"
Viney and Emira looked fired up, as did the cocky St. Epiderm duo and the grumpy looking Glandus kids. The other participants looked mostly eager to get going, though a few seemed down in the dumps.
"Begin!"
The next ten minutes flew by faster than Viney and Emira could ever have expected. They both ran to the closest patients and got to work, and it soon became clear that Viney was in her element! Using Healing Magic on herself to reinforce the muscles in her legs and let her move faster, she began racing back and forth between beds, fixing the dolls as quickly as she could. With her sharp eyes (made sharper with a little Beast-Keeping Magic), she diagnosed the common problems even before she reached the beds with those dolls, and fixed them up in a flash with simple healing spells; a quick numbing spell for the pain, then a spell to mend flesh or set a bone before knitting it back together. When she got dolls with sicknesses, she puzzled through what all the symptoms meant, then hurried to grab the correct medicine from the cabinets, though not before casting a few spells to help relieve the patient's symptoms. It wasn't enough to just cure them; she treated each doll like a real person who was suffering. She was slow to use her Black Stamp too, but a few dolls were simply too far gone for anything she did, forcing her to make them vanish. Then there were the ones who needed surgery; taking a doll from the frantic ward into the operating theatre was like moving into a different world in which all sound was muted. Only the St. Epiderm kids were using it, since the other students didn't have the confidence, and they were being completely silent and focused.
Viney may not like them, but she could appreciate their skills.
Emira was taking a much more slapdash approach, using her stamp readily. She picked a hospital bed near a medicine cabinet and stayed there, fixing whatever problems she could. If she couldn't do enough for the doll, she'd stamp it to make it vanish and make a new one appear. It didn't earn her any points of course, but it meant she didn't have to run around and it kept her from wasting time on patients she wasn't skilled enough to help. She'd only been formally studying Healing Magic for a few weeks after all!
The ten minutes expired and all the dolls disappeared as the observing Healers applauded and called the participants back over to Healer Lapin.
"Very well done, everyone!" Healer Lapin smiled happily; "You all did incredible! Every student managed to fix up at least five patients, which is wonderful! And most of you weren't too liberal with your stamps!"
He gave a little wink at Emira as he said that, making her chuckle nervously and causing Viney to giggle at her and lean over to kiss her cheek.
"Now, we're on a tight schedule today so let's get to the award ceremony! Our winner, with 74 patients healed, which is more than 7 patients per minute, is none over than… Hexside's Viney Leonis!"
Viney immediately let out a proud victory cry, before Emira grabbed her shoulders, whipped her around and kissed her fully on the lips. Professor Lavestra cheered happily, and the other students either applauded or glared angrily (no prizes for guessing which ones!)
Healer Lapin then walked over and handed Viney a Blue Ribbon with the Sigil of the Healing Coven in the centre, along with his congratulations and a personal message.
"I've worked with your mother, Meesha Leonis, back when I studied at the hospital in Bonesborough. She was a speed demon when it came to healing too! You're also the only student who didn't lose any points for harming your patient! Your mother will be very proud." he said.
Viney beamed at that and thanked the man for his kindness. However she didn't have time to rest on her laurels; she was taking part in the Beast-Keeping, Bard, and Plant Events too, and they were all back to back! That meant doing four events with barely fifteen minutes break between each! At least her specialities were the first two, so she'd be fresh and ready!
Emira, as an older student, was also handling four of the ten events, but her next event wasn't until the Illusion Event with Gus, so she decided to follow her girlfriend to watch her in the Beast-Keeping Event. The Beast-Keeping portion of the Covention Centre had been transformed into a miniature wilderness, which mostly consisted of a forest and an artificial mountainous area full of crags and short peaks. The only open space was the entrance area where the other activities had been set up, and even they had been turned into an almost-farm like area. The left side activity stalls were basically a glorified petting zoo, where students could get a good look at some different creatures and play with them a little (it was one of the more popular activities from what Viney could see). The right side was for more hands on activities, with Beast-Keepers keeping several docile animals in pens and teaching willing students a few spells to control the beasts and make them do some simple tricks or tasks. The beasts themselves didn't seem too bothered by it all, and looked to be having their own fun by messing with a few of the less confident students, to the exasperation of their keepers. It was at one of these pens that Viney and Emira found Skara, who was leading a pair of Tarantula Monkeys through a ballroom dance using Bardic Magic to sooth the ornery primates and compel them to dance together.
"Having fun?" Viney asked with a smirk.
"Naturally!" Skara grinned. She then noticed the Blue Ribbon on Viney's uniform and grinned wider; "Great! One ribbon down! Ready to get a second one?"
"You know it! Say goodbye to your new friends and we'll get going." the older girl said as Emira giggled at the dancing monkeys.
Skara obeyed and petted them, before joining Viney and Emira. The duo then left Emira to watch the event as they went to join the participants gathering at the edge of the faux-wilderness. Several large pens had been set up along the edge, but they were noticeably empty, while a gruff looking man from the Beast-Keeping Coven, whom was covered in scars, was stood with his arms crossed beside them, idly watching the participants assembling in front of him. Aside from perhaps a smaller school Viney hadn't heard of before, there wasn't actually a school that specialised in Beast-Keeping magic like St. Epiderm did with Healing or Hexside did with Abominations, but that didn't stop the Glandus students from looking confident. They didn't boast like the St. Epiderm students had, but they smirked condescendingly at everyone around them, their impressive brawn intimidating many of the younger students. Viney wasn't impressed though; her Mom was buffer than both and routinely showed her love by playfully rough-housing with her daughter, so these kids were nothing for her to be intimidated by.
Once everyone was gathered, the grumpy looking proctor uncrossed his arms and introduced himself; "Alright New Blood, I'm Keeper Roar. No, it's not my real name and no, I'm not going to tell you my real name. Now listen up; I'm going to give each of you a short list of five different creatures and you're going to go into the simulated wilderness behind me and find them, then bring them back. First one back gets more points. Don't rush in and act dumb though; these beasts have been trained by me personally so they won't kill or maim you, but that doesn't make them domesticated. Get hurt by them and you lose points. Hurt them and you lose a lot of points. Get them into their pens with both of you happy and whole, and you'll get the max points. But if you manage to, Titan-forbid, kill one of these beasts… consider yourself disqualified. And soon to be hospitalised."
Everyone gulped as the fierce man glared at them, then cast a spell that sent little origami birds from his pocket to each participant, with these birds unfolding into their lists of required beasts. Who got which list was random, but each was written to be as balanced as possible; three relatively easy beasts and two tougher ones. Viney read the list and was completely unconcerned; she was familiar with them thanks to classes and working with her Mom, so this would be a piece of cake! Skara was less confident, but she was sure she could tame the beasts… if she could correctly identify them.
"Alright, you've got 20 minutes! Now get going!" Keeper Roar, well, roared as he sent them all into the wilderness.
Viney immediately used some Beast-Keeping Magic to quiet her footsteps and cover her scent as she darted into the trees, letting her Cait Sith tail uncurl from inside her uniform. It helped keep her balanced as she ran with her torso close to the ground so she could look for tracks. She decided to go for the tougher beasts first; one was a breed of Lesser Dragon known Frilled Ember Drake, which was a very distant cousin to the Supreme Grade Fire Drake. This beast looked more like a traditional drake, being a four-legged wingless dragon, only with a prominent neck frill which functioned like extendable solar panels to gather sunlight and turn it into heat for its signature ember attacks. Such a beast wouldn't linger in a wooded area, so Viney quickly made her way to the craggy part of the wilderness and cast a spell on herself, giving her the heat vision powers of many common Demon Reptiles. This let her see the patches of stone that had heated up from the beast's foot steps, allowing her to swiftly follow its trail and find it snacking on some meat hidden away for it in a crevice between two rocks. The Ember Drake saw her and began charging a fireball, but with leopard-like speed, Viney darted at it and immediately leapt onto its back, using her tail to keep its snout shut while using one arm to hold its neck and the other to gently pet the dark red hair that lined its spine. That calmed the Ember Drake, allowing Viney to release its neck, then begin gently scratching the red scales of its back and the tan yellow scales of its underbelly and throat. Within minutes, the Ember Drake was wagging its tail like a puppy, and Viney was able to use some conjured bandages to make some makeshift reins and ride the Drake back to its pen.
The next difficult beast was only a little tougher; it was a Suiko, which was a more vicious and wild cousin to the Kappas. They had humanoid bodies similar in size and stature to a teenage witch, and were covered in tough scales. They were also foul-tempered beasts with sharp claws on their webbed hands and feet, and even finger-like claws on their knees, as well as tiger-like faces with equally tiger-like teeth. They preferred aquatic areas, where they'd catch unaware swimmers to devour them, so Viney began scouring the forest for a stream or pond. She found one fairly quickly by enhancing her hearing to listen for the sound of water, and arrived in time to find the Suiko scaring off a student from an unknown school. There were two of them and they both looked in a foul mood, with one having a cut on its face, likely from the student it just chased off. Viney dealt with it by summoning her Mandolin and clumsily playing a soothing song to keep the two Suiko relaxed while she approached and healed the injured one's wound. Once she'd done that, it was just a matter of gently taking the healed Suiko's hand and walking it back to its pen without angering it again.
It was an insanely easy event after that; Viney's last three targets were a Marrdreg, a Tarantula Monkey, and Giant Punk Ant, all of which Viney was able to track down and tame without much difficulty. The Marrdreg followed her obediently after she'd managed to touch its underbelly, the Tarantula Monkey happy sat on her shoulder after she'd found a fruit it liked, and the Giant Punk Ant followed after the little bundle of herbs that Viney found and tied to her tail like a lure. However as easy as it was, Viney was still surprised to find that she wasn't the first person to complete her list. One of the Glandus kids had beaten her to it, making her worry she'd lost the ribbon… at least until she saw the condition of some of the beasts the Glandus kid had brought back. It looked like he'd beaten them up and dragged them back the hard way, and any trace of cockiness or smugness over getting back first had been wiped away by Keeper Roar giving him the mother of all dressing downs.
Viney volunteered to help heal any wounds the beasts had sustained, and Keeper Roar happily accepted. This gave Viney something to do in the last five minutes before the 20 minute timer ran out. In that time, the other Glandus student and one of the St. Epiderm students completed their lists too, but no one else was able to do it in time, including Skara. The Bard girl had made a good effort though, and returned with two of her easier catches (a species of Petty Dragon known as a Winged Gecko, and a Two-Tailed Fox) as well as just barely wrangling in one of her harder catches before the finishing bell (a giant Centipede Demon known as a Skitter Hook).
Keeper Roar carefully examined every animal, then whistled sharply, summoning those that had escaped their hunters back to the pens, where he examined them too. Once he was done, he summoned the Blue Ribbon and unceremoniously handed it to Viney.
"Viney Leonis of Hexside wins. She came back second, but she and all her beasts were in perfect condition, so she gets the most points." Keeper Roar announced.
"B-But she's a Healer! She could have-" the Glandus Student who'd finished first tried to protest, but Roar glared him into silence.
He then turned to his beasts and yelled; "Sound off if you landed a blow on this girl!" he was met by silence from the beasts, before yelling again; "Now sound off if this girl hit you!" again, there was silence.
Roar turned back to the participants; "Any more arguments, Whelps?"
For a third time, he was met by silence. With a grunt he waved his hand at them; "Then get going. I've got to get these guys back to their homes."
With that sudden dismissal, the students wandered off. Viney and Skara headed back to where Emira and Lavestra were waiting for them, the latter congratulating the former.
"Good job, Viney! That's two ribbons just for you! If we keep this up, we'll sweep the competition!" Skara grinned.
"You didn't do badly yourself! Catching a Skitter Hook is not easy! You definitely lucked out on the Winged Gecko though; they're considered Petty Dragons for a reason!" Viney laughed, right before Emira captured her in a big kiss.
"Well done, Kitten! You were incredible out there! I think some of those beasties wanted to go home with you!" Emira beamed.
"I wish! A pet Ember Drake would be awesome! Too bad they don't do well with water so I couldn't bring it on Mom's boat. Anyway, Skara and I need to go to the Bard Event next!" Viney said.
Professor Lavestra looked at her Watch Demon; "You've got fifteen minutes before that event starts, so why don't you take a break."
"Great idea! I'm taking you to get a drink and a snack!" Emira declared, before dragging the other girl off, her tail still swishing back and forth happily. This left Skara alone with Professor Lavestra.
"Feeling confident for the next event, Skara?" the teacher asked as they began walking.
Skara stuck her nose in her air and laughed haughtily; "Of course! I'm the daughter of the Coven Head! I couldn't show my face back home if I lost here! Especially to St. Epiderm and Glandus! Raine and Matt told me those schools really look down on Bards, so I'm gonna blow them out of the water!"
Professor Lavestra certainly appreciated the girl's confidence, though she could tell Skara was more nervous than she was letting on. After all, losing here really would be embarrassing for the girl. Putting the very idea of that happening out of her mind, Lavestra walked with Skara to the Bard portion of the Covention Centre. It was decorated a lot more reasonably compared to the other areas they'd seen so far, but it was also a lot fancier; having been designed based on a Concert Hall. The entire area had been made to look like a miniature orchestra and concert stage, with expensive dark wood panelling and gold filigree that formed patterns resembling sheet music. Even the stalls with the activities looked fancy, having been designed to look like the private boxes used by rich people in theatres. The demonstration stalls were full of different instruments that the students could try out, while the activity stalls had Bards willing to teach students how to play a bit of those instruments, as well as how to turn regular music into Bardic Magic. It irked Skara a bit to see that there weren't as many students in these mini lessons as there had been at the last event.
The pale haired girl put that out of her mind too, and focused instead on the task at hand. She walked down to the orchestra pit of the stage, where the participants were due to gather. A Bard she didn't recognise (likely to avoid bias towards her) was standing quietly at the conductor's podium, while a table with four empty seats had been set up beside him. There was nothing on the stage itself besides a microphone and some speakers, making Skara wonder just what she'd have to do. She looked at her fellow competitors and frowned; none looked fired up or gunning to win… a victory here would feel less impactful without real competition!
Sadly, by the time all the participants arrived (including Viney, who had a few new lip marks on her cheeks and neck, to her embarrassment), it didn't look like that competition had shown up. Not a single student was wearing uniforms with the red of the bard track… The previous events had people from outside that event's coven and track, but they still had at least a few people from that track too! But the Bard Coven Event had Skara and Viney alone.
Skara clenched her fists; fine, if the other schools weren't willing to send a single Bard to HECK, she'd blow them all out of the water and show them what a real Bard could do!
Once all the participants had gathered, the Proctor stepped forward and introduced himself; "I am Conductor Tenor and I will be overseeing this event, as well as one of the five judges. Allow me to introduce the others."
Four people emerged from behind an illusion, suddenly filling the seats beside Tenor. Viney recognised all of them; Healer Lapin, Keeper Roar, and the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel. Since the former two had finished proctoring their own events, and the latter two were the co-hosts, they must have been asked to judge this contest alongside Conductor Tenor. Lucy smiled politely at Skara, while Hunter eyed her slightly suspiciously but otherwise kept his expression neutral.
"This event will be simple. You will each step onto the stage and perform a single Bardic song lasting no longer than one minute. You will then be given a point score out of 20 by each of the five judges, for a maximum of 100 points. Your score will be determined by both your skill in music and the effects of the spell you cast. Instrument choice will have no bearing on your score, so there is no need to play multiple instruments or try to play your most complicated one. Does everyone understand?"
Skara and Viney both nodded, while the other participants murmured their agreement. There was no set order for the performances, so Skara decided she would go last so she knew what her competition would be. There was some hesitation on who would go first, but eventually the Elephant Demon from St. Epiderm stepped forward with a grumbled; "Let's get this over with…"
He took the stage and used his own trunk to trumpet out a passable tune which had the effect of firing concussive blasts at some mannequins that had been set up on stage, blasting them to smithereens. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either, and the judges reflected that with scores in the 8-12 range, giving the boy a final score of 54 out of 100. Skara was unimpressed, but the other participants actually looked to be amazed by such a simple song! They'd learn true skill soon enough.
And so Skara sat through about twenty other performances with instruments varying from triangles to pianos to cellos, spells from simple levitation to colour changing to minor elemental manipulation, and skill levels from actually pretty decent to ear-bleeding inducing awful. The highest score gained so far was 74 by a student from one of the smaller schools who'd clearly been put in piano lessons of some kind as a child.
When it was Viney's turn, she summoned her Mandolin and began playing a pretty good variant of the song Skara had once used to move people to her will while escaping the Greater Basilisk all those months ago. It was called a Dancing Ditty and had all the mannequins begin doing a merry jig with each other; the sort that one would expect from the deck of a ship in some pirate movie. It seemed to impress the judges too, though to Skara's trained ear, there were a few wrong notes and some slightly off timing. Still, for a student who'd only been playing for a few months, Viney was pretty good! She earned a score of 70, putting her in second place.
"Well, it looks like I'll be the bronze medal of this event." Viney said to Skara as she got off the stage; "Now go and dazzle them!"
Skara smirked, "Naturally! Sit back and enjoy the show."
The girl marched onto the stage and gave the judges and her audience a short bow, then immediately set herself apart by summoning Melody, her Cricket Palisman, instead of an instrument. With a single spell, Melody was transformed into a silver and red cricket themed harp, which Skara then began to play. The song she played was hauntingly beautiful, but it wasn't just the quality of her playing that amazed the judges, but the spell woven into it.
Skara was playing the Melody of Mesmerising, a song that basically functioned like a wide area illusion spell. The instant Skara started playing, magic spread from her harp to the air around her, forming a sphere of gold and red that expanded to coat the entire stage and the audience watching her too. The sphere created an illusion within it, replacing the stage with a resplendent ballroom of white marble and gold filigree. The audience then watched as Skara seemed to rise onto a podium, her uniform replaced by a beautiful red dress, as hundreds of illusory people appeared and began to ballroom dance to her tune. Each person was wearing a different suit or dress, and all had different masquerade masks on too, much to the amazement of the audience. Creating so many different details with a single spell was incredibly difficult and required incredible control and visualisation (though Skara was cheating slightly by instead recreating a memory from a real ball she'd been to years ago). Then at the halfway mark of her performance, Skara suddenly seemed to rise into the air, her dress turning white and her pale hair turning even paler as six angelic wings spread from her back. The dancers all had their clothes and hair turn white too, and each person grew a pair of angel wings and continued their dance into the sky, their masks turning gold. The judges and audience all gasped in amazement as the angels danced, and Viney grinned as she noticed two particular angels happened to look just like Luz and Amity (though the Luz illusion only had one pair of wings).
When the song ended, Skara floated back down to where she'd originally stood and took a bow, while all her illusory dancers did the same, before the entire illusion shattered into golden light. It was the best performance Skara could give in the space of one minute and with only one magical song, but it had been more than enough. She drank in the looks of admiration from the other students, including the St. Epiderm and Glandus kids who looked either amazed or begrudgingly impressed.
To no one's surprise, Skara won the event and the Blue Ribbon with a score of 98, having received perfect scores from Healer Lapin, Keeper Roar, and oddly enough, Hunter. She'd received 19s out of 20 from Tenor and Lucy though, which didn't surprise her; Tenor was a bard and would have known her performance wasn't totally perfect, while Lucy likely had the same ear for music that Luz did, being an Angel.
Still, it was a proud Skara who stepped out of the Bard Zone wearing Hexside's third Blue Ribbon.
"That was incredible, Skara! You could have won the Illusion Event with that one too!" Viney praised.
"But if I did that then Gus and your "Emi" wouldn't get a chance to shine! We can't all be so amazingly multi-talented." Skara said haughtily, playing up her snooty attitude to make Viney smirk.
"Well excuse me, Princess." Viney said, before both girls giggled.
Professor Lavestra gave her compliments to Skara as well, as well as praising Viney for doing so well. As it turned out, when it came to music, passion was as important as experience! After that, the next event was the Plant Event, so Viney began heading there to meet up with Willow, while Skara decided to take a break and tour the other Coven Zones, since she didn't have another event to take part in until the Emperor's Coven event, which was the last one of the day. Viney had asked if she wanted to come watch the Plant Event, but the girl had scoffed.
"Watching a competition isn't much fun when you know who's going to win." Skara had replied, before wandering off. Viney definitely couldn't argue with that as she and Professor Lavestra headed for the Plant Zone. She was only taking part due to each school needing two participants per event, so she had no expectations of beating the likes of Willow or actual trained Plant Witches, but seeing as she'd already won two ribbons for Hexside, she had no problem playing second fiddle to her teammates for a bit.
They arrived to find the Plant Zone looking exactly as one would expect; a verdant paradise of plants of all kinds. There was a forest section towards the back, similar to the Beast-Keeping Zone, but most of the zone was a pleasant meadow filled with plots of different kinds of flowers, including a few conspicuous flowerbeds that were full of a myriad of different plants; some small and delicate, some large and imposing, and even a few that moved like beasts. A lot were flowers Viney had only heard of, and even more were ones she'd never even known existed! She did notice that many flowers and flowerbeds had green rings of magic around them, likely to keep them docile. The booths and stalls set up for other students to enjoy also followed the usual theme, with one side being for demonstrations and the other for some hands on experiences. The demonstrations were a lot like the ones at the Beast-Keeping Zone, only with the students getting to touch and smell different plants, and in a few cases even taste fruits or vegetables from them. The hands-on displays were full of people teaching students various cultivating and manipulating spells.
However as Viney watched these mini-classes, she noticed something odd… they were all staffed by the Emperor's Coven, not the Plant Coven. After noticing that, Viney looked around and saw that only a small handful of Plant Coven Scouts could be found in the area, tending to the plants but not interacting with anyone, while the Emperor's Coven Scouts handled the students and their teachers. Viney knew about Terra's twisted treatment of her Coven thanks to Willow, but why were there so few of them at today's event? Come to think of it, Terra had been supposed to host too, but had missed it due to sickness according to the Golden Guard.
"Thinking about the coven members?"
Viney blinked and turned around to see Willow beside her, looking just as concerned as she was. "Yeah. It's a little weird, don't you think? I mean it works out for you, but still…" Viney frowned.
"When I noticed too I asked around with some of the other students here, and apparently most of the Plant Coven members stationed at Spriggan Manor have become recluses along with Snapdragon. She only leaves when the Emperor orders her to now." Willow said.
"Wow, did you, Eda, and Raine traumatise her that badly?" Viney asked.
Willow shook her head; "I don't think so… something is fishy about this. I think she's planning something big… Raine said she wasn't the kind of woman to let things go."
"I'll keep a close eye on the Plant Scouts, just in case they try anything funny. You focus on getting the Blue Ribbon, Captain." Viney said.
Willow grinned and the two girls went to join the other participants in the event while keeping an eye on the Plant Scouts. However, unbeknownst to them, someone was keeping an eye on them too.
Hunter had been observing each event from a discreet distance (save for his time judging the Bard Event) and he'd been paying special attention to the Hexside Students, all of whom were known friends of Luz and very likely members of the CATTs too. There was no proof in most cases besides the original report of Willow assisting the Owl Lady in raiding Spriggan Manor, and Emira's involvement in the sabotage at Blight Industries, but the former had been given an alibi and the latter had technically acted out against her mother and not the Empire as a whole… though Hunter had no doubts both were CATTs. In addition to watching them, Hunter also had access to their school records, as every participating student of HECK had their records sent to the event by their schools, so potential recruiters had a better idea of their skill levels, and Hunter had found the Hexside team's records to be… interesting.
They were sporadic and showed some strange things that would have been red flags under normal circumstances, but when each spent so much time with Angels and Wild Witches, their eccentricities seemed obvious.
Keeping his distance from both the students and the creepy Plant Scouts, Hunter watched as the Plant Event began, proctored by one of his own scouts. The scout randomly pointed each student to one of the flowerbeds full of different kinds of plant, then addressed them properly.
"Welcome to the Plant Event, students. We are here today to test your ability to identify, grow, and properly care for the numerous varieties of flora native to the Boiling Isles and the rest of the Demon Realm beyond it. Your task is simple; look at your flowerbeds."
The students obeyed, and then after ten seconds, the scout snapped his fingers and all the plants inside them disappeared in a puff of cyan smoke, revealed to be an illusion. All that was left was a plot of plain soil.
"I hope you remembered which plants you saw, because your task will be to grow them. You have 20 minutes to use Plant Magic to replicate the flowerbeds you were assigned to. Improvements can be made for bonus points, so long as your plot contains all the flowers you originally saw inside them. If you require seeds, you can find them in the forest or other gardens, though damaging other plants will see your score diminished. With that said, your time starts… now!"
Hunter watched with a small grin as the students all began running about, trying to find seeds for the plants they remembered. He felt sorry for them; he appreciated plants and had a love for trees and their thick, powerful forms, but he could never be a Plant Witch. Flowers tended to all look alike to him, and he wasn't so good at telling them apart by smell either. Then again, he wasn't even that good with trees! The only one he always recognised was Palistrom, which gave off a homey smell to him. He suspected it was due to association with his uncle and the Palismen he ate, but Belos smelled more like rot beneath a thick coating of incense.
"I wonder if my parents worked with Palistrom wood." Hunter thought, reaching into his pocket and lightly stroking Flapjack's head. "It would be Wild Magic… but I kind of like the idea. Carving living beasts from wood sounds incredible! I wonder if I'll be able to try it for myself one day… maybe once we're all Angels and Wild Magic is gone! Then there'd be no danger."
Flapjack tweeted quietly; "You should try it sooner rather than later, Hunter. It's your life, not your Uncle's. Live it how you please."
Hunter grimaced; Flap was a good friend, but his rascally streak extended to trying to convince Hunter to rebel against Belos in small ways, which was kind of counterproductive to his current goal of making the man proud!
Ignoring his friend, Hunter watched the Plant Event more closely, and was surprised to see one student who wasn't rushing about. Willow Park of Hexside, whom Hunter had met face to face just a week ago, was walking almost casually back out of the forest, carrying with her a few seeds. There was nowhere near enough to replicate her given flowerbed… was she planning to grow them in batches? Despite himself, Hunter found himself watching Willow almost exclusively as she carefully planted her gathered seeds, then used her plant magic to grow them as if she was coaxing some kind of small animal out of the ground. Her olive green eyes shone as her fingers weaved spell circles that helped the plants along. Her peach lips were pulled up into a gentle smile as she occasionally paused, checking how each plant was growing before continuing the process, occasionally withering them back to a smaller size before starting again. She looked utterly enthralled and loving as she worked with her plants, acting almost as if they were her own children. She wasn't just popping them out of the ground like many others were, but was instead growing them stage by stage and ensuring they were in perfect health. She freely touched and caressed even the dangerous plants, using some green magic to keep them calm and docile as she worked.
Hunter had never seen anything like it, but the twenty minutes seemed to fly by as he watched Willow work, totalling fixated on her. He would never admit it, but he squeaked a little at one point, when Willow pulled up her sleeves to show her thick and muscular arms. Shaking that thought off, he then noticed that Willow had grown a lot more flowers than the seeds she'd gathered earlier… had she conjured seeds with raw magic? If so, that was an impressive feat that showed a great deal of skill in Plant Magic, and a remarkable amount of refinement in her general magic use.
Before Hunter knew it, the Scout proctoring the event announced the end of the twenty minutes, snapping the boy's attention away from Willow and her little garden. He looked around at the others and found that while many were impressive, none looked as good or as complete as Willow's. Even Willow's own teammate, Viney Leonis, had barely managed anything approaching Willow's skill. Viney had managed to find and grow a lot of the easier plants in her flowerbed, and she was clearly in the top half of the group (beating out all other non-plant track students), but she wasn't in the top quarter. Hunter watched the proctor judge the flowerbeds, then just as he'd expected, the man handed Willow a Blue Ribbon.
"The winner of the Plant Event is Hexside's Willow Park! Congratulations!"
Willow smiled gratefully, but Hunter could see she wasn't surprised or relieved; she'd expected to win. That showed confidence, without any of the smugness that came with arrogance. He watched as Willow received the congratulations from her teammate and her teacher, before the trio left the Plant Zone with Hexside's fourth Blue Ribbon in a row. Hunter could see some resentment from the St. Epiderm and Glandus students too, but ignored them in favour of subtly following the Hexside trio and listening to what they had to say.
"So, I'm off to the Illusion Event next! Gotta cheer on Emi!" Viney said. "Are you gonna come too?"
"I'll pass for the moment. Those Plant Scouts have me freaked out. I'm going to get a drink, but wish Gus and Emira good luck from me!" Willow asked.
Viney agreed, and Professor Lavestra added; "You've got three events before you need to perform again, so rest up! At this rate, Hexside really will sweep this event! That'll make Principal Bump happy!"
"And show Professor Hermanculus that our Flyer Derby Team is good even off the pitch!" Willow said, pumping her fist.
Lavestra smirked; "Well you certainly proved him wrong on the pitch! He couldn't decide if he was angry or amazed after losing to you!"
Hunter's eyes widened; so the Hexside Team were just Willow's Flyer Derby Team? And they'd beaten one of their own teachers!? Hunter didn't know if he should be impressed or horrified by them outdoing an authority figure! Still, between what he'd seen and heard, and what he'd read in Willow's file, the Golden Guard was now determined to have a little word with Miss Park.
He waited until she separated from her friend and teacher, then followed her to the rest area and watched as she grabbed a drink from one of the snack tables. The girl took a sip and grimaced, making Hunter chuckle; the HECK committee was funded by the Emperor's Coven but it was low priority, so a lot of the snacks and drinks were off-brand and kinda sucked. Feeling it was a nice thing to do and might loosen the girl's lips a little, Hunter went and grabbed a couple of higher quality drinks from the rest area for the Coven Personnel, then came back to join Willow.
"Hey there, Miss Park. Fancy meeting you here." Hunter greeted, offering Willow the drink.
The girl's eyes widened slightly, and Hunter was briefly caught off guard by how they sparkled in the light passing through her glasses, before the girl frowned at him.
"The Golden Guard. What do you want?" Willow asked suspiciously, not taking the drink.
"Relax, I just want to talk. You've caught my interest, so I thought I'd ask you a few things." Hunter shrugged, before pushing the drink a little closer to Willow; "Here, a peace offering. It's better than the garbage they're serving here."
Willow took the cup but didn't drink any; "Right. If you're trying to bribe me into revealing all the "nefarious" activities that Luz is up to, then don't waste you're time. Even if I knew anything, I wouldn't rat out my friend."
Hunter smirked and leaned against the wall beside her; "Relax, I'm not planning anything like that. I wasn't going to ask about Luz or the CATTs anyway, though I'm sure you know more than you'd admit." he said, taking a sip of his own drink; "No, I was serious before; you've caught my interest so I want to know a little more about you."
Willow raised an eyebrow, then smirked teasingly; "Oh really? Does that line usually work when picking up girls?"
"W-What!? That's not what I'm doing!" Hunter spluttered, almost choking on his drink.
"Are you sure?" Willow asked, an infuriating smile still on her face; "Because you were watching me pretty intensely in that last event."
Hunter cursed; so she'd noticed! By the Titan, she probably thought he was a creep!
"L-Look, that wasn't why I'm interested in you! N-Not that you aren't kinda interesting in that way, but it's not what I wanted to talk about!" Hunter stuttered out.
Willow blinked and felt her cheeks redden slightly; she wondered if Hunter realised that he'd essentially just said he did find her interesting as a girl? She shook her head and took a sip of the drink he gave her, savouring the delicious flavour. Well if Hunter didn't realise, Willow wasn't going to point it out! Still, now she did feel a little warmed to him and he wasn't really a bad guy, he just had the world's worst uncle, so Willow decided to throw him a bone.
"Fine, your offering bought you a few minutes, so ask what you wanted to ask." Willow said imperiously, mimicking Hunter's usual demanding tone.
Hunter relaxed and smiled brightly, like a relieved puppy dog. Willow had to avert her eyes lest her face redden again.
"Great! It's actually you and your team I wanted to ask about! You see, I read all your school files after I saw you at the opening ceremony!" Hunter said, summoning Flapjack into his staff mode so he could summon a short stack of five files. Each file had one of the Hexside Team's names on it, as well as a picture of them. Willow cringed when she caught sight of her own; it was taken back when she entered the High School class, so she still had shorter hair, the pink uniform of the abomination track, and a nervous smile on a face splattered with purple goo. She looked a mess, and Willow hated remembering how awful she'd felt back then.
"The thing I'm most curious about is why the five of you were selected. I overhead that you're a Flyer Derby team or something like that, but that doesn't really answer why you'd be chosen. Of course, I know that many of Hexside's most powerful students probably couldn't come on account of them being in the CATTs, but it still begs the question; why you? Especially when…" Hunter trailed off, seemingly thinking better of what he was about to say.
Willow frowned; "Especially when… what?"
"W-Well like I said, I read your records. They're sporadic to say the least." Hunter replied, nervous that he'd offended the girl. She didn't look angry though, so he powered on, picking up the first file; "Viney Leonis, Daughter of Valtora Leonis of the Beast-Keeping Coven and Meesha Leonis of the Healing Coven. Transferred from St. Epiderm in Kindergarten, where she had a record of being accused of numerous pranks and misdeeds, though she was never punished. She ended up getting in trouble frequently for being involved in mixing magic, before the official Multi-Track program was instituted and has since maintained the top grades on the healing and beast-keeping tracks amongst all students of Hexside."
Willow scowled; "Viney's a good person and the best Healer and Beast-Keeper in the school. She earned those two Blue Ribbons fair and square."
"I'm not accusing her of cheating, I swear." Hunter assured her, before going to the next file; "Augustus Porter, Son of Perry Porter of the Oracle Coven. Skipped ahead two years due to exemplary grades in both Illusions and General Studies. Heads the Human Appreciation Society."
"He prefers Gus." Willow said.
Hunter nodded as he went to the next file; "I recall. Emira Blight, Daughter of Alador Blight, formerly of the Abomination Coven and current wanted rebel, and Odalia Blight of the Oracle Coven. She has a fairly mixed record; tied top of her class in the illusion track with her brother, but has numerous tardies and unauthorised absences, as well as a laundry list of disciplinary reports for pranks and other mischief. Recently started multi-tracking in Healing."
"Emira was kind of a last minute pick for my team. Viney asked that I give her a shot and she proved to be a skilled flyer." Willow shrugged.
Hunter had no comments there, so went on to the penultimate file; "Skara Cadence, Daughter of Head Witch Severin Cadence of the Bard Coven, and Amaranth Secuna of the Abomination Coven. Top student in the bard track and previously a member of the Hexside Grudgby Team; the Banshees, which she still plays for as an occasional substitute. Also has a fairly short disciplinary record mostly revolved around her involvement with Boscha Alembic and various bullying incidents and school-wide pranks. The prototypical lackey to the school bully."
"Hey!" Willow snapped; "Skara's done a lot to turn herself around! She screwed up, but she also made amends! I won't let you insult her!"
The boy put his hands up; "Whoa there, I'm not done. Skara's files note a marked improvement in her behaviour and disposition in recent months… starting with the arrival of a certain new student."
Willow's eyes narrowed as Hunter moved to the final file, and she knew very well what she was about to hear. "Your file. Or as I've taken to calling it; "A Tale of Two Willows". It's quite a remarkable read." he began, before opening the file; "Willow Park, Daughter of Gilbert Park of the Construction Coven, and Harvey Park of the Abomination Coven. Formally in the abomination track, which you entered after leaving kindergarten. You had the worst grades in the school when it came to abominations, even among the lower years, and you received frequent bullying. Your general education scores were also middling; barely enough to keep you from repeating a year or being shunted into a remedial class. This is the file of a girl going nowhere in life, and being pretty miserable at the same time."