Spasstag 2, Sixth Lunar Disappearance, 50 CE | Hexside School of Magic and Demonics
"Okay, kiddo, are you ready for your placement exam?" Eda asked. She and Luz were currently hiding in the left wing of the stage of the Paranormatorium at Hexside. On the other side of the curtain, Principal Bump sat at the ready, waiting for Luz to begin.
"Yup!" Luz replied. "I've got my glyphs, my backup glyphs, my backup backup glyphs, my backup backup backup – "
Eda laughed and snorted. "Alright, alright. I get it." She then took on a more serious tone. "You're gonna do great, kid. I just know that you're gonna blow Bumpy-poo's socks off. Now, are ya ready?"
"Yeah!" Luz replied excitedly.
"That's what I like to hear. Go knock 'em dead, kiddo!" Eda said, giving Luz a quick hug of encouragement.
Approaching the curtains, Luz took a deep breath. "Let's do this," she said to herself, before running through the curtains and onto the stage.
"Hi, Principal Bump," the basilisk said meekly.
"Hello, Miss Noceda," Bump replied. "Now, are you going to show me the spells you know, or are you going to keep me waiting like you have for the past quarter-hour. I do have a school to run, you know."
"Sorry, sorry," Luz apologized. Reaching into her fanny pack, she pulled out a plant glyph. "So, umm, this is my plant glyph."
Tapping the glyph, a sunflower emerged from the note card, going from shoot to a fully-fledged flower in seconds. Bump nodded his head and made a quick scribble on his sheet.
"Well, that's one spell. What's the other?" the principal asked.
"Right. Umm, well… I've also got a handy-dandy light glyph," Luz said. Pulling out a light glyph, the girl tapped it, only for the spell to be way more powerful than she expected.
"Oh sweet Titan!" Luz covered her eyes and stumbled away from the surprise flash-bang. If she was better coordinated, she most likely would not have tripped over her own two feet, but that was not the case. As Luz fell, she watched in slow motion as the backup glyphs (and backup backup glyphs and backup backup backup glyphs) tumbled out of her fanny pack and landed on the stage, all of them right where she was about to land.
Landing on the stage with an audible OOF , Luz felt all of the glyphs activate. As the surrounding area momentarily turned into the world's brightest and blandest light show, dozens of vines sprouted from the glyphs and covered the fallen girl. Crawling out of the garden of vines, Luz tore herself free. Slowly getting to her feet, she cracked her neck before dusting a few stray flowers off her shirt and picking more of the stragglers out from her fanny pack.
"I still pass, right?" the basilisk asked Principal Bump, hopeful that the mess she caused didn't disqualify her outright.
"Yes, you do," Bump answered, walking over and handing her a pamphlet describing all the great tracks she could join. "Luz Noceda, I now welcome you as a member of the student body of Hexside School of Magic and Demonics."
Gehetag 3, Sixth Lunar Disappearance, 50 CE | Hexside School of Magic and Demonics
As Eda Luz flew to Hexside for Luz's first day of school, the Owl Lady was busy giving some last-minute advice to the basilisk. Some of it was good:
"Your locker will eat you if given the chance."
"Trouble guards won't always be there to save you, so you might have to fight other students."
"That said, don't drain a student of their magic just because they called you names."
Some of it was questionable at best, though:
"The quickest way to get out of an assignment you forgot to do is to say that your palisman ate it."
"The detention pit's favorite flavor of gelatin is spicy eyeballs."
"To assert dominance, punch the first kid you see right in the schnoz."
As Owlbert touched down at Hexside, Luz quickly hopped off the palisman, but Eda stopped her before she could head off to school. "One last thing, kid. Do you remember how to get to my shortcut room?"
Luz nodded. "Uh huh, I draw that keyhole thingy and push it in to get in the room."
Eda smiled and ruffled the girl's hair. "Good. If you ever get lost, overwhelmed, just want some alone time, whatever, go there."
"Got it," Luz nodded once and gave a thumbs up. As she turned to head off (for real this time), Eda stopped her once more.
"What, no goodbye?" the Owl Lady said.
Rolling her eyes, Luz ran up to the old witch and gave her a side hug, before the Owl Lady turned it into a full one. "You're gonna do great, kid. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, and if they do then I want you to kick their butt."
"Thanks, Eda," Luz said softly before breaking free from her mentor's embrace and finally walking off to officially join Hexside.
While the basilisk moseyed down the path towards her new school, she pondered what classes she would be taking on the Beast Keeping track. Would she be getting up close and personal with all sorts of cute and creepy creatures, or would it be more like a ton of lectures with no actual animals? Those thoughts went by the wayside when she saw her friends lounging around the front steps of the school.
"Hi, Gus! Hey, Willow!" Luz called out to the two witches, running to catch up with them.
"Hello there, fellow classmate," Willow said with a knowing wink.
"Congrats, Luz!" Gus added. Spinning up a spell circle, YOU'LL GET IT NEXT TIMEappeared in shimmering blue text. Upon noticing his mistake, the illusionist quickly dispelled the message, not missing the glare that Willow was giving him. "Whoops, sorry. Wanted to make sure I had all my bases covered."
"So," Willow started, hoping to distract Luz, "are you ready to become a full-fledged student here at Hexside?"
"I can't wait," Luz replied, barely holding back a squeal of excitement. "It's gonna be so awesome!" Pausing to steel herself, the basilisk then walked towards the large double doors that opened to Hexside proper. "Whelp, I've gotta go confront the big boss man about picking a track, so catch you guys on the flip side!"
"Good luck!" Willow encouraged her friend.
"You've got this!" Gus said, and he spun up another message, this time reading WE'RE CROW-CALLING ABOUT YOUR RATWORM'S EXTENDED WARRANTY. As Willow leveled another glare at the boy, he quickly got rid of the illusion. "I'll just… uh.. stop doing that."
Stepping into Principal Bump's office, Luz saw that the headmaster of Hexside was busy watching some news report on a crystal ball. The CB showed numerous witches, all of them in various states of consciousness strewn about on the ground, with most sharing unhealthily palid skin. Noticing the arrival of his newest student, Bump quickly shut the CB off before storing it away on the shelf to his side.
"Ahh, Miss Noceda, just the student I was looking for," Bump started, his tone a bit too cheery for Luz's liking.
"Heya, Princy B. Is it cool if I call you that?" Luz asked in a similarly upbeat manner, firing finger guns in his direction.
"No," Bump responded flatly. "Now, on to the matter at hand. Or, really, two matters."
Luz cocked an eyebrow before responding slowly. "Okay?"
"Firstly," Bump started before clearing his throat and leaning over his desk, taking on a hushed voice. "Were you the one who attacked Glandus?"
"What." Luz gave the older witch a blank stare. Was that Glandus that she'd seen on the CB? She probably didn't recognize it given that she'd only been there once before.
"I won't rat you out to the Emperor's Coven, if that's what scares you," Bump continued.
"I think there's been a misunderstanding," Luz replied. "The last time I was at Glandus was for the grudgby game. I don't have a grudge or anything against them."
It was Bump's turn to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Oh, really? Well, that is certainly a development. I thought you had attacked them as revenge for losing the grudgby game."
"Mr. Bump, I don't even remember where Glandus is," Luz said.
After leaning back in his chair, Bump spoke again. "Well, in that case my apologies for levying such an accusation against you. So, have you determined what track you would like to join?"
"Yup!" Luz responded. "I want to join the Beast Keeping track."
Nodding in approval, Bump spun a quick spell circle, and Luz watched as the white sleeves and leggings of her uniform shifted to match the burnt orange of the Beast Keeping track. Reaching into a cabinet under his desk, Bump pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Luz. "Here is your class schedule. I suggest you hurry along, as your first class starts in…" Bump looked at his CB to check the time, "15 minutes."
"That's cool and all," Luz said as she still had a question that she wanted answered, "but what are we gonna do about my cover story of a messed up bile sac?"
"I'll have that taken care of," Bump replied. "You'll get all the accommodations that you need. I won't have you failing a class just because you can't cast a spell circle."
Luz nodded. "Awesome. Thanks, Princy B!"
Bump opened his mouth to tell the basilisk not to call him that. However, by the time that he thought to do that, the girl had already run off. Sighing, the principal decided that now was a better time than ever to ensure that the entire school was in tip-top shape for the Inspector from the Emperor's Coven.
Looking down at her schedule, Luz saw that the courses she would be taking were an interesting selection, to say the least.
Beastly Biology – Room 205 – Ms. Cassie Nascimento – 9:00-9:45
Caring for Mythical Creatures – Hexside Fields – Mr. Reb Livingstone – 10:00-10:45 – Class shared w/ Healing Track
Boiling Isles Fauna – Hexside Fields – Mr. Skullcrusher, Jr. – 11:00-11:45 – Class shared w/ Plant Track
Lunch – 12:00-12:45
Demon Wrangling 101 – Room 207 – Ms. D.D. Yearling – 1:00-1:45
Undead Beasts and You – Room 314 – Mx. Callum Tierheiler – 2:00-2:45
Dead Beasts and You – Room 315 – Mr. Acheron Bestatter – 3:00-3:45
Well, at least she knew when lunch was. Now she just needed to figure out where all the other classes were. Looking to see if there were any signs to point her in the right direction, she saw none. Darn. Whelp, time to see how friendly a random student is.
Approaching another student dressed in the orange of the Beast Keeping track, Luz introduced herself. "Hi. Umm, so I'm a new student here, and I'm looking for room 205. Where is that, exactly?"
"205 is down the north-east wing, past the second bank of lockers," the student responded, pointing in the direction of the mentioned wing of the school. "Are you going there for Beastly Bio?"
"Yeah. I've got it with Ms. Nascimento first thing," Luz said.
The other student whistled. "Dang, you're lucky. I'm stuck with Bestatter, and he can't teach bio to save his life."
Luz recognized the name. "I've got Bestatter for Dead Beasts and You. Is he good in that class?"
The other student just shrugged. "I dunno, pretty sure it's his first semester teaching the class."
Luz sucked in a sharp breath. "That's… great." (It was not, in fact, great.) "Well, thanks for the directions."
"No problem," the other student replied.
Rounding the atrium, Luz walked over to the wing that the student had mentioned and past the first two sets of lockers. Yup, that was room 205, all right. Just in case Luz wasn't sure she was at the right place, a plaque next to the classroom door said 205 on it.
Entering the room, Luz saw that about half of the seats had already been filled. Was there assigned seating in this class? She should probably ask, as she didn't want to accidentally sit in someone else's spot. Approaching Ms. Nascimento's desk, she waited for the teacher to acknowledge her.
Looking up, Ms. Nascimento met Luz's gaze and smiled. "Well, I haven't seen you before. Are you Luz Noceda by chance?"
"Yup, that's me," the basilisk said in affirmation.
"Great. This class is very much theory-based," Ms. Nascimento explained, "so your bile sac… situation won't present much of an issue."
"Oh, sweet!" Luz replied, before remembering why she came up here in the first place. "By the way, is there a seating chart or anything that I have to follow?"
"Nope, you can sit wherever. Just try not to be too disruptive, please," the teacher answered.
"You've got it, teach," Luz responded before going to claim a seat. Eventually settling on an open chair in the middle of the room, the basilisk readied herself for class.
In Luz's opinion, her first class period had gone well. Ms. Nascimento's "lecture" was mainly just ice-breakers and introductions for all the new students. There wasn't much real content about the biology of beast demons, which kinda bummed Luz out. It seemed like a cool topic. However, Ms. Nascimento did let everyone leave class a few minutes early, so that was nice. Currently, Luz was trying to figure out where "Hexside Fields" was, but to no avail.
And then the bell screamed. In seconds, the relative quiet of the halls turned to pandemonium. As a mass of students filled the halls, Luz felt herself get swept up in the wave of witches and demons moving from one class to another. Nope, there were way too many people! Everything was so loud, and Luz couldn't even hear herself think. She needed to get out of here!
Breaking free from the crowd of students, Luz scrambled into an empty classroom. Grabbing a stray piece of chalk, the basilisk quickly sketched out the keyhole symbol that would lead to Eda's room of shortcuts. Pushing the square symbol, the chalkboard folded in on itself, opening a hole in the board that Luz could just barely fit through.
Grabbing onto the lower edge of the hole, Luz hoisted herself into the hallway that led to the room. Once she was fully in the hall, she turned around to see if there was a handle or anything that she had to pull to close the room off to the outside world, but there wasn't anything. Letting out a sigh of relief that she was free from the chaos of the halls, she turned back around to explore the room of shortcuts. That was, until she found herself face-to-face with a spell circle aimed right at her.
"You've got ten seconds to explain how you found this place, or this is the last room you'll ever see alive."