Laura was about to leave the table after finishing her meal when the minute hand struck twelve. The euphonious, relaxing sound of wind chimes began to resonate throughout the school, signifying the end of the lunch period. All across the dining hall, leftover food began to disappear, followed by the tableware. Without warning, scarlet red mist manifested out of nowhere, engulfing the students of Class A and forcibly drawing each of them into a large oval dimensional portal.
Upon regaining her mobility, she immediately examined her surroundings and found herself in the presence of a lady dressed in a garnet red Gothic corset dress, embedded with delicate ruffle trims. The lady took a quick glance at her class before folding her hands, which were concealed by a fine pair of obsidian gloves.
“If you are still in a state of shock from the experience of being sucked into a vortex, I would recommend you return back to the normal self as soon as possible because I will only be mentioning this once. Alright, allow me to introduce myself. I am Miss Belladonna, named after
Atropa belladonna, a herbaceous plant that bears venomous berries, and the pedagogue who will be grading your class for Application of Practical and Theoretical Knowledge (APTK). Regrettably, the school administration has decided that there will be no formal lessons for this subject so you shall be evaluated purely based on your performance in Capture the Flag sessions, official interclass and interschool tournaments and quests that bring you beyond the four walls of this academy. To those who have yet to notice, your performance today in Capture the Flag will of course be factored into your final grade.”
I would not have expected anything less of an academy perceived to be the envy of the educational world within the magical community, to come up with the idea of including a graded assignment in the first day of school, Laura thought.
“As this is your time participating in Capture the Flag, all of you shall receive a
simplified map, proudly sponsored by Maelstrom Printing Facilities. Subsequently, only the losing group will have access to the map. A brief summary of the map is as follows, each team will begin the match standing next to the flag they are responsible of protecting. Within the one hundred meter radius of each flag is rough grassland littered with trees every here and there. Moving on, the brown area represents the timber bridge connecting the grasslands to the heavily forested miniature floating isle with an enormous pagoda at the centre. Word of advice, try not to fall off the bridge, mainly because being swept around by gushing waves is not exactly the best experience for a student. The objective is to carry the flag of the opposing team back to the original position of the flag you are supposed to protect. To "disable" your opponent, simply place both hands on his or her shoulders and my magic will immobilize that person and teleport him/her to the pagoda. To "save" your teammate, head to the pagoda and do the exact same action. As long as you do not cross the boundary line which has been marked by runes or commit lethal blows and maiming, everything else is fair game. That shall be all the information made available to you before the match.”
With a snap of fingers, two portals appeared, with each leading to the pocket dimension created by Miss Belladonna. Before departing, her final words were “Since there is a recent shift in education policy to have more focus on student empowerment, Deviant and Velvet, the both of you will be the team leaders for this match so go ahead and pick your teammates. The both of you will be partially responsible for the success or failure of your team so all the best! I will be watching.”
