A Fantasy Foursome

The day of the final was finally upon the triop and while we hadn't done nearly as much training as the previous two semesters, I still had the utmost faith in them. In recent days, we had spent enough time studying that every time I closed my eyes, I saw M.O.P.O.M. and magical theories that I'd never imagined adding to the world. Aside from Aesandoral, who continued to struggle keeping up with the increasingly complicated course load, I believed they'd pass both tests. But, luckily for them, the written test wasn't until the afternoon, with their day starting once again on the ragtag field for the combat challenge.

Having heard of a change in how combat exams were now open to both student spectators and members of magical guilds looking to poach the best and brightest, I had decided to take my time arriving. The way I saw it, the triop would have more than enough pressure without me being front and centre, cheering them on. With a plan of taking my seat somewhere near the back, away from the eyes of everyone who knew me as Goalkeeper, I sauntered my way across campus. After all, from what the triop told me, they weren't set to go on until the fifth or sixth slot anyway, so I had time.

That was when it happened.

“Ishara,” Rionriv's panicked voice spoke into the back of my mind. “We need you on the ragtag field, fast!”

The sound of fear in her voice sent my heart racing, as my own anxiety settled into my chest. With a pulse of magic to my feet, I launched myself towards the sports fields where the test was set to occur.

“On my way!” I replied with a touch of my temple. “What happened? What's going on?”

“It’s Aes," Sharzin replied now. "We don't know what's happening. We need your magic.”

Without further questions, I increased my speed. Using the recently gained knowledge of controlled magical distribution, an ability I had mastered thanks to the last week of studying, I pushed microbursts of energy out with every step. Instead of burning through my arcane reserves, I channelled power to the points of my feet that I used to push off, efficiently maximizing my acceleration. Twice as fast and burning half as much magic, I raced through the campus as quickly as Rionriv's chain lightning steps, all the while wondering if maybe Al'magi wasn’t a sham after all.

I arrived at the ragtag field in record time, setting my gaze upon the hundreds of students and adults alike waiting patiently for the stadium to open. Not interested in paying admission, I used the nearby buildings to launch myself higher and higher above the crowd until I had finally reached an altitude that would allow me to clear the stadium walls. At that height, as I leapt over the nosebleed seating and began to descend towards the grassy pitch, I could see them. There, standing at the center of the arena, were all three of my party members. Completely unscathed.

“Hey, what the hells?” I grumbled, landing beside the trio before throwing my arms up in a mildly furious manner. “Didn’t you ever learn not to cry wolf?”

“No,” Rionriv replied sharply before handing something over to me. “Now listen, Iz. Do you trust me?”

Taking my eyes off her, I inspected the object in her hand. It was a round glass bottle small enough to fit in her open palm. Atop it, a stained cork held back a pale blue liquid that slowly sloshed within.

“Right now?" I replied, begrudgingly taking the bottle from her hold. "Not so much, actually.”

“Well, please put your trust in me." She implored, stepping up to wrap her hands around mine and the bottle. "Like the trust we gave you last year. When we kneel, drink this potion.”

"Why? What is going on?"

At that moment, double doors swung open, revealing the elevator-like portals hiding within. After only a few seconds, students and guild members began to flood into the stadium, excitedly taking up the best seats in preparation for the upcoming spectacle. Hoots and hollers echoed loudly within minutes as the live studio audience turned their attention towards us.

“It's a surprise,” Aesandoral said excitedly. "Trust us, Iz! Please."

I looked at her, confused and overwhelmed, as the crowd's cheers grew more intense and energized by the second. But they did nothing for the knot that had suddenly formed in my gut. There was something about being on the other end of a secret that I didn't enjoy. About being out of the loop and everyone asking for my blind support.

Gods, has this been what it's felt like for them? My mind raced as I looked to the crowd and back to the triop.

“Surprise, what?!” I yelled back to them over the crowd. “Hey, so, will someone explain what’s going on?”

“Fine!” Rionriv snapped, glancing over her shoulder towards a private viewing box before meeting my gaze once more. "So, remember that time you gave us that special way to pass the final?"

“Do I remember pretty much exactly one year ago? Yeah, I’ve got an idea.”

“Well, over the last few months I’ve been reading through all the rules, and I found one that allows triops to form a group of four, a tetrad. There has only ever been one, from the days of the founding. But it means that you can join us, Iz. Officially.”

I watched as the nervous look on Rionriv's face softened into a smile. As though all the secrecy and stress she had been feeling melted away at the big reveal. And as she watched me, waiting for a reply, I could see the same look in the others' smiles.

Suddenly, everything started to make sense. The secrets they had been keeping. How they had kept me in the dark. They were preparing a surprise for me. Something that would unite our group in a way we hadn't yet been. And while I didn't know what a tetrad was or that there could be more than three people in a group, the world had done it once before, meaning that it could work.

My heart began to race as I fought the urge to vomit and flee. As much as I appreciated their kindness and the thought of us joining together as a cohesive group, this moment felt like a recurring nightmare I had experienced throughout my academic career. It felt as though I had woken up late for a test I didn’t study for. The only difference was that I wasn’t naked this time, which was a small but acceptable victory.

“Thanks, but, umm, I don’t want to go to school...” I protested, even though minutes before I had been thinking about how beneficial magical academia could be. "I don't want to spend all my time studying."

“But you already do so much studying!" Rionriv fired back at me. "You might as well get credit like the rest of us. Ishara, please. It would mean so much to me...to us.”

"Yeah, Iz." Aesandoral stepped closer to me, taking my free, trembling hand in hers. "I'd love to have classes with you. I think it would be a lot less boring!"

"What Ri said," Sharzin added. "You're doing the work, dummy. Get the credit."

“It’s a matter of principle." I continued, slipping my hand from both of the sisters' grips as I stepped back in preparation to flee. "Tahvin spent twenty of his thirty-five years alive in school for nothing. Only to still have nothing he wanted to do at the end of it. It was a waste of time and money. I don’t want this life bogged down by that same mindset.”

"We're not asking you to do twenty-five years, geezer." Sharzin huffed. "One and a half, max."

"No."

The three stood there at the centre of the pitch, quietly looking at me as the crowd continued to fill the stands. With a shift of my head towards the onlookers, I watched as they came in fast and took their seats. The entire stadium was already almost full and likely would be standing room only within minutes.

“You want the truth, Ishara,” Rionriv hissed as she stepped closer, revealing the tears in her eyes as she poked a finger to my chest. "Fine!"

I felt my racing heart stop as I looked back at her, noticing the pain in her expression. The pain of someone who poured their heart and soul into something. A girl who wanted to put together a secret gift only to have it immediately rejected by the recipient. A look that made me feel like a terrible person.

“I did this because I really wanted you to be a part of our triop." She continued, stepping even closer, her face inches from mine. "I want you to be an actual member. One of us. One with us. I-I just—being in a triop isn’t just school or-or a special title that demands more money. It’s a connection tha-that I can’t explain. A connection that I don't even think you, author, can understand. A bond that you can’t ever begin to understand until you have it. Until you experience it."

"Ri, I—" I started only to have her hold her finger to my lips.

"Iz, the feeling I experienced the day that my mark revealed itself. The day all three of us came together. It was such a special moment. One I'll never forget. You feel it here—"

Rionriv lowered her hand, placing it over my heart. Her grasp gently tightened around the fabric of my shirt as she grabbed at my chest. The tears in her eyes had finally burst, becoming streams that raced down her cheeks as she continued.

"Please, Iz. Please. I want you to experience this. With me. With us. We want you to join us. We want you in our group. Not just adventuring with us. We want you to be one of us. So please. Please, Iz. Trust me—”

"Welcome...Welcome!" The familiar voice of Dean Jack Atlas bellowed as the crowd began to quiet down. "Welcome to the first public Al'magi Combat Trial..."

"Iz, please." Aesandoral approached my side, gently tugging at my sleeve. "Say yes?"

"Yeah, dummy." Sharzin stepped up and punched my hip. "Don't be dumb."

"I—"

"You just have to drink the potion at the end," Rionriv whispered as she leaned in towards my ear. "We will do the rest. Okay?"

That was when I felt her lips touch the edge of my ear, placing a soft kiss to the side of my head. The feeling sent a chill down my spine, warming my cheeks as I watched her slowly back away. But before I could say anything more, the moment was interrupted.

“Triop Rionriv Singlemoon, Aesandoral Thantossa, and Sharzin Thistlewillow, are you prepared for your test?”

“Per the old customs, we beseech you, hear us!” Rionriv announced to the stadium as she turned from me and towards the distant proctor's box. “My triop has agreed to Article Nineteen of The Al’magi Magnus Codex.”

“What?! That’s—hmm,” Atlas initially protested before becoming quiet. "One moment."

As a hushed discussion amongst the teachers overseeing the test commenced and murmurs spread through the crowd, the triop stepped into line before me. With glances at each other, they nodded, each taking their own moment to whisper something and then look towards the teachers. Finally, after a minute of discussion, all attention turned back towards them.

“For this," Atlas continued. "You must first beseech the Dean of each faculty and—”

In response, before Atlas could even finish his statement, Rionriv withdrew something from her bag. I eyed the glittering jewelry that was a fistful of golden necklaces. Throwing them onto the field, she motioned to the teachers.

“In accordance with the rules, I have collected no less than eight talismans of the faculty, proving their acceptance.”

The crowd's murmurs erupted into full-blown conversations that were interspersed with scattered hoots and hollers. Meanwhile, with a glimmer of magic, the jewelry floated up to the proctor's box, where the teachers continued with their hushed conversation. As they did, I pressed a hand to my temple.

“So, can you tell me now if this is why you’ve all been so secretive?” I asked, looking between my three companions. “Collecting these talismans?”

“Yeah,” Aesandoral's cool voice answered in the back of my mind. “We had to fight several types of enemies over a three-hour window with the Deans observing. They were determining if we had enough group cohesion to incorporate a fourth.”

"It was more complicated than that." Rionriv continued after her sister. "There were other trials too, but yes. Sorry for being so secretive, Iz."

"Eh, it's fair," I answered with a soft smirk, rubbing at my chest as relief filled me. "I've kept my secrets too."

“Triop,” Atlas’s voice boomed once more and after a brief pause, he spoke begrudgingly. “Recite the Arcanum Votum.”

The triop quickly moved from their lineup into a formation. With their backs to me, they created a triangle not dissimilar to our crocmaw strategy. Eying them closely, I eventually shifted my gaze outward, looking around at the awestruck crowd in the moments before I heard Aesandoral’s voice boom.

“I call upon the Ancient Founders.” She spoke, pulling an arrow from her quiver and holding it high. "Observe my strength. Adis. Volta. Kaireen..."

I listened as she announced an unfamiliar incantation to the world before kneeling to the grass and stabbing her arrow into the ground. With that, the earth quaked, nearly knocking me from my feet as a pulse of magic radiated out from the archer. Fissures formed, racing forward as they altered the landscape, splitting the field before her into three separate sections.

Holy shit! I thought, observing as the ground eventually stopped quaking and the field settled into its new shape. How did she—

“I call upon the Current Faculty.” Sharzin now cried out from beside me, before her voice became distant. “Observe my wits.”

“Aah! I’ve been wounded!” Atlas suddenly cried out.

Looking back to the proctor's box, I could see Sharzin now standing beside the Dean. After using one of her crossbow bolts to scratch the side of his face, drawing out a thin line of red, she jumped from the tower where the teachers sat. The crowd released a collective gasp as she disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared at my side. In an instant, the Sharzin that had been standing beside me disappeared, and her actual form replaced her, kneeling and stabbing the slightly bloodied arrow into the ground. 

"Cannez. Doluan. Zephrim..." She began to chant before calling forth a sigil. 

Activating the runes, a twenty-foot image of Sharzin appeared over top of our group. With a glance up at it, I watched as the towering cloaked figure matched Sharzin's posture. It mirrored her as she raised her hands and double-birded the audience. While I was almost positive this wasn't what Rionriv had hoped she would do, her action was met by rowdy laughter from the stands.

“I call upon the Future Mages.” Rionriv’s voice boomed louder than the stadium's occupants, her words a rolling thunder as dark clouds formed above us. “Observe my power. Darus. Kaun. Lieghnin...”

The longer she chanted, the more the wind began to pick up and tussle my hair. Through the gusts and howl of a forming storm, I felt raindrops begin to fall until, without warning, it came. Lightning struck the field time and time again in a rapid succession. Within seconds, the pitch was pockmarked with dozens of small craters from Rionriv’s elemental fury. 

As the roaring crowd burst into screams in response to the lightning, I watched as the teachers neared the edge of the field, quickly triggering a thin veil of light over the stands. Like a soap bubble forming atop a bucket, a shield to protect the students from accidental misfires had taken form. But it wouldn't need to be in place long, as after a moment more, the lightning dissipated, and the smoke and dust cleared.

“Observe,” The triop cried out in unison, their heads down to the ground, facing away from me. “Our Triop! Observe our Tetrad! Colluum. Xthoic. Aereen!”