The Battle of the Houses: Magic, Music and Mayhem

Jay was ecstatic, the bounce in his step noticeable from miles away. It was the day! Finally, the last Math lesson. The subject Jay despised with every inch of his soul. It wasn't the last day of school yet, but due to their not having maths on Friday, they would have to wait another three entire months before they had to see that old wrinkly face again, and Jay couldn't keep his happiness from surfacing as a huge grin spanning his entire face.

Except now it was math class, and Jay was bored out of his mind.

Professor Staller, or as many of the students often opted to call him "Professor Shorter" due to his low height, was blabbering on about how their inability to solve calculus would be detrimental to their adult life. Despite his best attempts and the copious amounts of coffee he had consumed, Jay was getting rather drowsy, and the low, humming voice of Staller wasn't helping, only serving as a lullaby, plunging him deeper into his comatose state. His eyes saw no more, sleep overtaking him.

"Jay," Jay heard Nick's recognizable voice. Jay cursed in his mind. He'd fallen asleep in the middle of the match! He opened his eyes, shaking off his drowsiness, the last dregs of memory from his dream of being a normal High School student disappearing from his mind. He looked in front of him, at the battle taking place. Aaron Rith, his house's lead fighter, battling against Simone Lin Lis, the leader of Glowfern house. Simone was rapidly scribbling on her paper, before she turned it around, a musical composition visible on it. At once, the musical notes began to glow with a mystical, yellow light, as a loud screech was heard through the air. Jay's hands instinctually moved to his ears, which he pressed in tightly in a feeble attempt to drown out the deafening noise. Aaron, on the other hand, seemed totally unimpressed, his features relaxing in a bored stare.

"Really? I was expecting something more from-"

But then his eyes went wide, and he took a defensive stand, placing one foot way in front of the other and his hands close to his chest, while shifting his balance to the tips of his feet, hoping for a quick escape. He had been the first one to notice, naturally, but more and more people started to understand what was wrong.

The notes had started to move around on the piece of paper they were on. The color had started to change, moving away from the beautiful yellow and becoming a dark green. By the time they were done moving, they had shifted into a triangular pattern. Jay felt a shiver run through his body at the immense amount of energy gathered at the spot.

Simone tapped the back of the paper and on the third tap, she moved her hand straight through the paper, but when her hand emerged on the other side, it was not alone, but holding a peculiar-looking staff.

The staff looked to be made of copper, with small details made of iron. One end was spear-like. It looked to be made of multiple segments, which formed a spherical shape with a sharp end, seemingly able to open up. On the other end, there were multiple holes, one on the tip and a number of other ones along the side, giving it the appearance of a flute. The weapon, overall, looked like a very unsuccessful attempt at merging a medieval spear with a flute, but instead of laughing at it or ridiculing her, Aaron made a growl-like sound.

"Is that the game you wish to play? Very well, I will humor you", before he lifted an arm and a triangle appeared on his side, which he plunged his hand into, dragging out a blood-red trident and swinging it rapidly with one hand. Without a warning, he tightened his grip on it and dashed forward, stabbing Simone in the neck, She let out a muffled scream, blood filling her lungs and oozing out. Aaron had a manic look in his eye, until a loud bang was heard and Simone disappeared, instead appearing above him, not hurt in the slightest, hitting him in the head with the ball part of her spear.

Aaron fell to the ground, hurt, but not unconscious. He grunted in pain and his instinct of forming an abjuration spell kicked in a little late, as he created a shield where Simone once was. "An illusion..." He grumbled as he looked at her weapon which had its segments now parted, opening it up and allowing it to work as a musical instrument.

She scoffed and turned her back to him before looking at the crowd, her features tensed in an expression of disgust. "I'm disappointed in myself for ever thinking this could be a fair fight." She was obviously being theatrical, perhaps trying to get the crowd on her side, but she did seem to honestly believe the battle to be over.

She also seemed to be quite surprised when she felt her feet leave the ground, as Aaron threw his trident at her, which hit her in the collar, something that would have been fatal if not for a referee's intervention, causing her to instead be pushed out of bounds and disqualified, much to her despair. Some in the audience tried to protest, but they were all quickly silenced. The battle was very anticlimactic, but the referee's word was absolute, much to Jay's dismay.

With that, his Sunday was over...

,,, and it was time for class.

Editor's note

Just as a little explanation of how magic works in this universe, in order to manifest magical effects, one needs to use symbols of power, which are different for each type of magic. More specifically, they are as follows:

Conjuration: Geometrical shapes 

Illusion: Musical notes 

Enchantment: Runes 

Abjuration: Chemical symbols (Used depending on the tensile strengths needed, etc.) Transmutation: Ritualistic chalk runes 

Evocation: Holy items, cursed items or other powerful magical artifacts 

Divination: Astrological signs 

Necromancy: Symbols of Death (Skulls, Corpses)

I'd like to thank anyone who actually made it this far. This was meant to be an entire story, but I don't know if I have the time and willpower for that, so it all depends on the comments. Anyone is free to take this opening to be their own seeing as I don't know if I'll continue it, just tell me in the comments and give me credit in the story.

That is all.

-John