"Greetings everyone. We thank you for coming to the Laertes welcoming ball."
'As if it was an option.'
A hunched over old man dressed in a black robe greeted us. Upon close inspection one could see he had a long white beard that he couldn't quite hide with his robe.
'Is that..is that the headmaster?'
I was ready to pay my full attention to the man in front of us when Alan called me out of my thoughts.
"Dirius. Since it's already starting I'll make this quick. Trust your instinct, don't lose your cool and do NOT move alone."
'What's starting, what is he talking about.'
I had no idea what Alan's word meant but I committed it to heart nonetheless. Given the funny feeling I had since the start of the ball and the sketchy attire of the Headmaster; I could infer that his words will probably me a massive help.
"Leon, let's stick together for this, whatever this is."
"As much as I dislike the idea of listening to you, you're right. We're clearly going to need teamwork if it's bad enough for Alan to get serious."
Amidst all of this, Camille had yet to say a word, she seemed to have something running through her mind that took her full attention. Though, having done this before her information could prove to be vital. Now was not the time to be worried about her reaction to my probing.
"Camille. Is 'this' why you didn't want me drinking?"
"...Yes."
"Then can you tell me what exactly 'this' is?" her face contorted slightly, as if she were battling on whether to tell me or not. seeing this, I reaffirmed my words.
"Please."
"Oh alright. Every year, the new batch of second years are forcibly teleported into the Aldia forest for a 'special initiation' of sorts."
"And, the goal of this initiation?"
"It's to—"
"And with that being said, we will now move the second years over for a separate event."
The headmaster's loud voice drowned out what Camille had been telling me. 'Damn it I forgot he was still talking.'
Not leaving me any more time for contemplation the lights again went out, as did my consciousness.
***
"Dirius."
'Ten more minutes please.'
"Dirius wake up."
'C'mon leave me alone.'
*FWIP
"OW FUCK I'M UP!"
"About time."
Greeting me out of my beauty sleep was a familiar silver hair looking down on me. 'How nice of Leon to wake me up.'
"So are we in the forest right now?"
Leon deadpanned, clearly not eager for my sarcasm right now. Looking around my surroundings it wasn't hard to tell that I wasn't at the academy anymore, I was just trying to lighten the mood a little.
It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the forest, but when it did I noticed Camille was already up, leaning against a tree.
"So what now?" Leon questioned, I would have answered if I knew, but it was clear he was addressing the only person here who would know about our situation.
Scoffing slightly Camille looked at him.
"We get out? Duh."
"And how do we do that? Do you know a path or something?" knowing these two personalities wouldn't mesh well, I interjected.
"Aldia is a living forest you idiot. There aren't any set paths since it changes every hour."
Hearing this I became silent.
Obviously there was no way the Academy would just leave students stranded here, otherwise Camille wouldn't be here right now. It was safe to say that she didn't get out either though, else she wouldn't be repeating the second year.
Given the situation I could only assume that this was a special exam conducted each year to determine whether a student was ready for their second year or not.
Alan said we'd need teammates, that means that there had to be something in the forest that made it impossible to clear solo. Something was gnawing at my mind though.
"How did we even get here by the way?"
This time Leon answered my question.
"The head master specializes in spacial magic"
It made sense. To be the headmaster of a magic academy like Laertes he had to be strong. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous, spacial magic was probably extremely useful.
"Done thinking princess? It's time to move."
"Right." I nodded.
Staying in the same spot wouldn't get us out of the forest, and I had yet to know if we had a time limit or not. Or worse, there could be monsters in this forest.
Leon refrained from using his light magic for this very reason. It would be extremely problematic for us to draw unwanted attention right now.
.
.
As we walked through the forest the cold night's breeze and atmosphere left me with a slight tremor, and my lungs became slightly pained from the chilled air.
I had chosen to arm myself with a large branch I found while walking, given that I still don't know how to use magic.
Slip
'EW EW EW EW EW WHAT THE FUCK EW.'
"EW!"
Making a misstep I slipped on a rock and fell into the soft mud that was the floor. I got goosebumps at the idea of the local microorganisms having a party on my body.
"Pfft. Way to go clutz ahahaa!" my eyebrow twitched.
"Not funny! Help me out of this shit now!"
"HAHAHA!"
'Fuck. I looked like an idiot in front of the hoes.'
Resignedly sighing, I lifted myself off the ground and tried to dust myself off.
"Can one of you two douse me in water with your magic?"
Camille was more than willing to use her magic on me seeing she immediately drenched me eliciting a tremble through my body.
"T-Thanks. N-Now wind magic."
***
On the bright side, I was clean and dry. Unfortunately...the cost of that was my remaining warmth and unwanted attention.
Clck Crack**
Hearing the sudden noise Camille and Leon readied themselves, I on the other hand, prepared to whack whatever it was with my big stick.
"Are you a person!?" Given the fact that whatever it was, already knew our location. It didn't hurt to identify if it were a person or not.
"Are you stupid? Shut up." Camille angrily whispered to me while glaring.
"Think about it Camille. If it were a monster we lose nothing since it already knows where we are."
She grew silent at my words.
"Y-Yes, I'm a person!" A timid voice called out from the bushes.
"Alexia?"