Winds of Magic Chapter 11

 

Chapter 11

The next day dawned without fanfare. I prepared at 5 am and was at the auxiliary clubhouse by 5:45 am. Alice was already there.

“You’re here,” she said. “I was half expecting you to not come in early and use some excuse or another.”

Over the next fifteen minutes the rest of the club came in.

“Today we are going to prepare for auditions,” said Alice. “Gump, get everything set up. Traxton, go over the list of applicants. Robert, I need you on keel for the game this Saturday.”

The members of the corps scrambled. I approached Alice. “I want to watch the actual team auditions,” I said. “Will I have time?”

“You’re going to be the chief judge,” said Alice. “There is some overlap between our two audition schedules, but the chance is high you’ll get to watch your friends’ audition for the curling team. I know she’s the reason why you’re here in the first place.”

“I just started with this game,” I said. “How do you expect me to judge properly?”

Alice poked me with a pencil. “You know your stuff. That’s all that you need. You don’t need to know the intricacies of the game in order to see who can build a good pillar.”

“I suppose,” I said. “I’ll keep an eye out.”

At eight exactly the auditions started.

“Number one, Banard Tompson,” said a male student with long hair and a rock band tee shirt. He went to the extruder and created a passable, but unexemplary, pillar out of pure rock substrate.

“Seven on the execution, five on the composition, and a six on the code’s design,” I said, not loud enough for the student to hear.

“You grade harsh,” said Alice, though I could see her notes were about the same.

We went through about twenty other audition candidates. We had two spaces to fill, so we’d have to whittle them down quite a bit. When everyone had been through the wringer we tallied up the scores and chose two people to be the new members of the auxiliary core. Jim Baker, a third year; and Hellen Jenny, a second-year. Both were Firsts.

Jim walked into the room after being selected for the team. He looked at me and made a sour face. “Why is a Third the captain of the curling auxiliaries?”

“Hey,” Alice said. “He’s your captain. I won’t tolerate disrespect towards him.” She snapped her fingers. “I have half a mind to kick you out and replace you with one of your competitors.”

“Sorry,” said Jim, hanging his head, though he still looked as if he didn’t like the situation.

Hellen didn’t mention anything and didn’t seem to be perturbed by my status.

We got to work teaching the new students how to play, which I had just learned how to do a day ago. Even so my previous knowledge about magic fabrication gave me all the basics I needed to create a good pillar.

Then it was time for me to watch Rei’s audition. I excused myself from the room and took the elevator to the curling ring. When I stepped out they were in the middle of an audition.

A red-haired girl was casting fireballs at six pillars in the ring. She wasn’t doing too well, as far as I could tell. She only managed to destroy one pillar before running out of steam.

Two more people tried out before I got to see Rei perform. She held out her hand and cracked open three pillars instantly. They shattered, sending shards of material flying into the magic barrier surrounding the ring. Each impact reverberated with a blue tinge as the barrier stopped the shrapnel.

Rei cast an ice bludgeon and smashed the fourth pillar. Then she froze the fifth pillar so fast that it snapped. She sent a blast of air at the last pillar and ripped it from its foundation. After she finished, she bowed at the judges.

“Good, good,” said the middle judge. “Next.”

Rei left the ring and waved at me. I approached her and we met in the seats. She sat down and I sat down next to her.

“With a show like that,” I said, “They would be stupid not to take you.”

“Ahaha, I hope so,” said Rei. “I did my best.”

The auditions took about another hour and then were over. The audition judges conferred for fifteen minutes and then announced the results.

“Rei Ward,” was the first name they called.

Rei grinned. We high-fived. “I’m on the team!” she said.

“Now you have to work your way up,” I said.

Rei’s grin widened. “I can do that whenever. For now, let’s celebrate.”

“Practice starts immediately,” said the judges after announcing the other two names.

I stood up. “I’ll be watching your games,” I said, “But I have a lot of other things to attend to.”

I returned to the auxiliary clubhouse and talked to Alice. “I need to do some work for the student council,” I said. “Do you need me for anything?”

“Not at the moment,” said Alice. “We’re training the newbies but I can handle that.”

I smiled and turned around to leave the building.

“One thing, though,” said Alice. “I expect to sit down with you and have a serious conversation soon.”

“I won’t complain,” I said, turning back around for a moment. “Just set the time.” Then I left the building.

I walked across campus to the student council room. Illya and Roy were already there.

“Rei discovered something during her research,” said Illya, sitting behind her computer. “Forthier’s Club’s president is a third year Second named Vip Char. The strangest thing is that we can’t find an ounce of dirt on this guy. He’s a perfect honor student without a single mark on his record. He’s on track to graduate suma cum laude.” Illya pointed to me. “Your mission is to find him and figure out why Forthier’s Club exists. I can’t go because he’ll know we’re on to him. Neither can Rei or any other members. But it’s not publicly known yet that you’re on the council. He’ll be willing to talk to you.” Illya handed me a deck of cards from a popular trading card game, Brilliance. “Vip enjoys Brilliance. Use this as a way to break the ice with him.”

“I’ll do my research,” I said. I already knew how to play Brilliance but it had been a while so I needed to brush up on the game. I took the deck.

“Vip’s schedule carries him to the cafeteria at eleven. I think if you hurry you can make it.” Illya handed me a picture. “This is him. Be careful, we don’t know what he’s capable of or who he’s allied with.” 

Vip was a Korean student with bad acne scarring and glasses. He looked, by all accounts, like a totally normal nerd who was about as dangerous as a rabbit. I slid the photo into my pocket and left the student council room. Sitting down on a bench, I looked up everything I needed to know to be current on the Brilliance metagame. It took me about fifteen minutes with magically accelerated information processing.

I discovered an interesting tidbit. Vip ran a Brilliance TCG channel named VIPBrilliance. He had about ten thousand subscribers and uploaded weekly. I watched a few of his videos and then stood up.

I walked across campus to the cafeteria. Surveying the crowd, I moved carefully across the floor. Vip was sequestered away in a corner eating his lunch and doing something on his laptop.

I thought for a minute about how to approach him. I decided that being bold was the best way to advance.

I sat down across from Vip, slamming my Brilliance deck on the table. “I heard you play Brilliance,” I said.

Vip looked up from his computer. “Um, I’m eating,” he said.

“You’re Vip from VIPBrilliance, right?” I said.

Vip’s countenance immediately softened. “Yeah, I am,” he said. He scratched the back of his neck. “I’m not used to being recognized.”

“You’re criminally under-subbed,” I said. I flicked my Brilliance deck. “This is a mono-red aggro deck. Battlestar ruins, to be exact.”

“Ah, that one’s really good in the meta right now,” said Vip. “Are you running Clearwater Scion?”

“Of course,” I said.

Vip reached for my deck. “May I?” he said.

“You may,” I said, pushing the deck towards him.

Vip took the deck and disassembled it with a calculated energy. In two minutes he had every card laid out in front of him.

“Ah, good,” said Vip. “Looks like a pretty standard Battlestar Ruins build.” He shuffled the cards back into deck form.

“Want to play a game?” I said.

“Sure,” said Vip. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a deck box. “Since your deck is built for the current format I’ll play my current deck.” He shuffled the deck with an expert hand and handed it to me to cut.

I shuffled my deck and handed it to Vip. We both cut our decks.

The first game was, as I imagined, a total victory for Vip. During the second game I decided to start probing.

“Do you belong to any clubs?” I said.

Vip’s face twitched for a split second, and then he regained composure. “I destroy your Blink Moth,” he said, and then he rubbed his chin. “Well, I wouldn’t call it a club exactly,” he said.

He was silent while we played another couple of turns.

“Yeah, it’s just a place where I can hang out with friends,” Vip finally said.

“Do you think I could join?” I said.

Vip was silent again. “Maybe,” he said. “It depends on what you think about what we’re trying to do.”

“And that is?” I said.

Vip frowned. “Don’t tell this to anyone, but we’re trying to save the world.”

I raised my eyebrows and acted surprised. “What does that mean?” I said.

“It means that we’re on a super important mission,” said Vip. “The apocalypse is coming and we’re going to stop it.”

“How?” I said.

Vip narrowed his eyes. “Come with me,” he said. He stood up and tossed the rest of his meal away and returned the plates.

I followed him across campus until we came to an old section of the school that followed a different build style. Vip unlocked a hidden side door and ushered me in.

A long hall greeted me, empty and poorly lit. Vip walked past several doors and then stopped in front of one. He knocked.

“Pearl?” said someone behind the door.

“Boor,” said Vip.

The door unlocked. Vip pulled me in. There were three other people in the room, surrounding what appeared to be an ancient magic circle.

“Hey, who’s this?” said one of the students.

“He’s a friend,” said Vip.

“York,” I said. “Nice to meet you.”

I shook hands with the three students. It was then that I noticed a peculiar object on the counter, surrounded by clutter. I walked towards it. Just before touching it, Vip pushed me back.

“Don’t,” said Vip. “That’s our sacrifice.

My hunch was right. Tally was inside that device.

“Where did you get it?” I said.

“It was given to us by a sponsor,” said Vip. “Please don’t touch it. It’s necessary for what we’re about to do.”

“How much longer until you’re ready?” I said.

“Two weeks,” said Vip. “When the stars align. That’s when we’ll bring back the protector.”

I was silent. “Thanks,” I said, “But I’m already on the curling auxiliary team. I don’t think I can help you guys. I know I was the one who wanted to join but I’ve reconsidered.”

“It’s fine,” said Vip. “If you ever change your mind we’re here.”

I stepped out of the room and back into the hall.