Wizard and Witches: Griffith Academy

Tournament: Stage One

Later that night, Naomi woke up from her sleep because of a nightmare. She couldn’t remember the details of the dream, but it made her wide awake and sweating profusely. She glanced toward Lisa’s bed, who seemed to be just fine and still fast asleep.

While waiting until she felt sleepy again, Naomi decided to look outside the window. A full moon accompanied by the glowing leaves was, without a doubt, one of the best sights she had for a long time. Naomi took her phone from the table to take a picture to show Lisa later. After that, she put back her phone.

She was just enjoying the cold night wind when suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She instantly turned around, ready to throw her water balls, only to find Fox standing right in the middle of the room.

“Fox?! What the hell?!” Naomi yelled as the water balls she made dissipate.

“Sorry. Didn’t know you are still awake,” Fox said as he casually walked toward Lisa with his signature vial in one of his hands.

“What the hell do you want coming to our room this late?” Naomi walked up to Lisa’s bed. 

Fox ignored her. He sat beside Lisa then slowly poured a drink into Lisa’s mouth, making sure she wouldn’t choke.

“A little help. Lisa won’t recover in time,” Fox put the empty bottle in his pocket.

 “Eh? Is she going to be okay?” Naomi started to get worried.

 “She will be fine, don’t worry. It’s just a bit of a boost. Now, I suggest you sleep. We will continue training tomorrow,” Fox said before disappearing without waiting for Naomi’s response.

 “... That guy is starting to get on my nerve,” she said, though she did as he told her to.

Naomi rolled around her bed. It somehow felt rougher than she remembered. And… wet? Naomi’s body immediately jerked up, afraid she had done something embarrassing on her bed. But she did not. And she was not wearing her pajamas. Nor was she in her room.

She was sitting on the ground, inside of what looked like a labyrinth. Its corridors walls were made out of bushes, and its floor was made out of dirt. The sky above was dark, but somehow the path was still lit up without any lighting around. It was most likely because the bushes themselves lit the hall, the same way the trees lit the road when it became dark.

Then she noticed Lisa lying not far from her; her clothes were changed into the same jumpsuit.

“Lisa!” Naomi called as she rushed toward her friend. It took a couple of rough shakings, but she eventually woke up.

“Uh… what is it...?” Lisa yawned as she sat up. Then she looked around.

“W-Where are we?”

“No idea. I don’t remember the Academy has any place like this,” Naomi helped Lisa to stand.

A familiar voice boomed from the sky.

“Welcome to the first stage of the tournament! We apologize for the surprise to the contestants, but it adds some spice to the tournament. Do not worry; everything was handled automatically by androids, so your secrets are safe! Now, this stage is simple. Every contestant must work together with the person they woke up with to get out of the labyrinth.”

“But... There is a twist!”

“If you can escape with the artifact hidden inside the labyrinth, then you will get special treatment for the next stage!”

“Like on the elimination stage, you are not allowed to m**m or even kill other contestants. Also, you are not allowed to traverse above the bushes. And I wouldn’t recommend forcing your way through them. The thorns are very sharp, and you can’t destroy them since they are protected with magic. And with that, I think we could begin! ”

Labyrinth? Naomi thought to herself. The Academy kept making Noami amazed. With all that it already had, they were still able to cram in the maze somewhere. Or maybe they weren’t at the Academy anymore. Who knew.

“Good luck!” and with that, all the cheering sound disappeared. All that’s left was the sound of grasshoppers and other bugs.

“This is not going to be hard,” Lisa said as she used her power to part the walls.

“Whoa! You can do that?!”

“I guess so. C’mon, I can hear them whispering the location.” Lisa rushed through the hole.

“Eh… them?” Naomi followed close. She was wondering whether her friend started going crazy.

“The plants. I can hear them,” Lisa couldn’t hear them before with all the commotion. But, with that gone and being surrounded by plants, she could hear it clear as day in her head. Lisa remembered something similar had happened a long time ago. But only now could she fully hear the silky smooth and quiet voices of the plants. 

As the two made their way through the walls, they could hear explosions and scream from somewhere in the labyrinth. It must be pretty chaotic wherever it came from.

“Do you think... Nova is going to be okay?”

“I’m sure he will. He is the leader of the Protectors. Now, come on. We need to get to the Artifact before anyone else.”

The fact they knew where the Artifact and exit was and that they could go through the walls really put them above all of the other contestants. In just a couple of minutes, they reached a small clearing with a platform in the middle. A small pyramid miniature made out of shiny gold was placed on top of it.

“Fox, are you sure about this?” asked the seer. The two watched along with the rest of the Academy through the colossal screen floating above the arena, showing everything the contestants did. Stage one was indeed still at the Academy and even inside the stadium. The reason it all fit was that the labyrinth and the contestants’ size were shrunken.

“About Lisa? I guess it is kind of cheating. But then again, four contestants pass without doing anything on the last stage,”  Fox said nonchalantly. He still remembered clearly that day how four people passed the elimination without doing much. He wasn’t pissed really, it was the opposite. They took full advantage of their power in the chaos of battle. They had no other way to win other than to do that.

The seer sighed. “Nova should enforce some more rules. Look how much advantage she had over the other!”

“Now, I don’t think so. I think it would limit the contestants’ creativity. We had enough rules enforced. Just trust me on this one.”

“Fine. I hope you’re right with this one.”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to be so quick.” a voice was heard on the other side of the clearing. A voice Naomi wanted to listen to the least right now. She was worried about him, but the last thing she wanted was to meet him. 

Nova, along with the black-haired girl, walked out from one of the corridors on the other side of the clearing.

“How about you? You seem fast on finding this place,” Lisa asked.

“Petra did all the work. And like you, Lisa, she knows this maze-like the back of her hand now.”

“So, you guys want to do this the hard way or the easy way?” Petra asked.

“You mean we have to fight you for the artifact?” Naomi asked.

“Of course. Scared?” Petra grinned, confident she would win the fight even if Nova stayed back.

“But... Well, you are the first one who got here. I think-”

“Nova! We are not giving it away!” Petra hit the blond protector on the head.

Seeing an opportunity, Lisa created some vines around the pedestal and threw the pyramid to herself. The lack of pressure on the pedestal triggered something, but nobody noticed the sounds. Petra tried to cut off her vines as it was throwing, but Naomi managed to cover the vines just in time with water. With the Artifact was safely in her hand, Lisa opened up a hole in the wall and pulled Naomi through it. She barely closed the bushes back before Petra’s shadow could follow them.

They could hear a growling sound from where Nova and Petra were, but they were not staying around to find out what kind of creature it was.

“Three pairs have come out of the maze! Only three pairs are left, and the last one would be disqualified!” said the voice above their head.

Naomi and Lisa rushed through the walls. Then, after a couple of minutes, they ran out of the labyrinth through the exit. Naomi was shocked when she found out that they were in the arena and that their size was shrunk.

Nova and Petra appeared not long after them, then some pair who Naomi didn’t know. The couple with invisibility power was the last and was disqualified. Unfortunately, their ability wasn’t much of use inside of the labyrinth.

“That concludes the first stage! There will be the second stage in two days, so all contestants need to get ready. Well, except for Naomi and Lisa! Because they bravely saved the Artifact from its guardian, they don’t have to participate in the next stage!”

“I can’t believe you even consider giving them the pyramid.”

“W-What? They got there faster than us, fair and square!”

“...  I hate you so much. I will be waiting for you at the base, sir,” Petra said before disappearing into the shadows. Her warning sent a shiver down Nova’s spine and made him feel like something was stuck in his throat.

“Whoa... That’s cool,” Naomi commented.

“Is she going to be okay?” Lisa asked.

“Y-Yea, this is nothing unusual from her. Setting that aside, let’s walk you two back to the dorm. You must be tired.”

“You just don’t want to meet Petra again,” Lisa said with a grin.

“N-No?! I’m just making sure our new students are not getting lost on their way back!”

Naomi couldn’t help but laugh.

Nova told them about all the things waiting in the labyrinth on their way back to the dorm. A giant sphinx. A grizzly bear. A Cerberus. All courtesy of Fox. 

“Wait, a sphinx?” Lisa asked.

“Yea. Oh, I forgot you guys don’t know about it. Well, it's one of many magical creatures humans think to be a myth but are actually real.”

“So since Cerberus is real, does hell also exist? What about demons? and the devil?”

“Don’t ask me! Ask Fox where he got them!” Nova said hurriedly to stop Lisa from asking more questions he couldn’t possibly answer. It wasn’t him that summoned all those creatures.

“Ah, right...” Lisa said before grinning nervously.

Naomi felt a bit disappointed she couldn’t meet those creatures in person. Maybe one day, she would ask Fox to see them herself.

Nova said goodnight to them in front of the dorm and left. As soon as the two walked into their room, they slumped down on their respective bed and fell asleep. As much as they wanted to do anything besides that, their body refused and just started shutting down for a good rest.