2 Chapter 2: Let's See Who Gets the Last Laugh

On the other side of the land laid the Academy of Magic. Here, witches and wizards of different shapes and sizes come to study and hone their crafts. It's architecture resembled a combination between a castle and a fortress; heavily guarded while still retaining its beautiful structure. Surrounding it was a moat echanted to drown any intruder that attempts to get inside of the school. They had some "incindents" with the students getting dragged in it but they managed to fix the problem. The school's towers varied by height ranging from three-stories up to ten. Every single one of them served a different purpose. Either it be for the simplest of magic or the deadliest, they all had their importance.

At the courtyard, a competition was being held for the students. The head professors decided to make their students' year-end project a competition measuring how well they have mastered their skills. Of course, everyone did outstandingly well. Some notable acts include a mage that could turn bubbles into realistic fire-breathing dragons, a druid making a whole forest with animals of different species out of thin air, a sorcerer bringing the dead back to life to put on an amazing dancing show and many more. But the most amazing mage that eventually won the competition was a woman named Eudora. From the start, she already mastered her skill in manipulating electricity, even the oldest professors in the school were shocked by her talent. Through the years she has been studying at the academy (and with the help of her tutor Gord) , she has challenged and defeated everyone in the objective to claim herself the most powerful witch.

Everyone cheered as Eudora was deemed the champion. One of the professors handed Gord a gold medal which had the school's crest carved into it along with her name on the bottom. He adorned the medal unto Eudora, "Congratulations", he said proudly.

"As expected", Eudora remarked.

Gord snickered, "Of course."

Both looked at each other and shook hands. They were not much of the expressive type but both learned to understand what each other felt.

As the day turned into night, everyone went back home to rest up. Eudora had no home to return to when the school would end so she usually spends her nights outside the school grounds where Gord sleeps as well. The school offered her several times to sleep with the students at their dorms but everytime she refused. She explained that she rarely gets along with anybody and if she does she tends to like it better to have a room where it's always quiet. Gord, being her mentor, offered his spare quarters for her to sleep in. Of course, she agreed thinking that she could get the peace and quiet she was looking for outside the woods.

It was still early in the night where it was dark but there was still a hint of light from the sun casted onto the sky. You could still see the flickering of the lanterns inside and outside of the campus meaning that people were still awake. From the nearby town downhill, you can barely hear mumbled speech and laughter coming from the townsfolk.

Eudora decided to take an evening walk to relax from the event that happened earlier. Gord was already asleep so she didn't bother to tell him, she wasn't going far anyways. She carefully slipped on her coat and gently closed the door of the house. Outside of the house was a trail. It forked somewhere deep inside the woods, into two. Between the two paths was a wooden pole with two signages. One was pointing to the left. Written on it was "Old Town". The other one pointed to the right that said "Woods." Eudora casually strolled to the right path and continued her walk.

It wasn't too dark in the forest. They weren't many trees to block out the moonlight plus there were lanterns stationed every meter or so so you wouldn't get lost along the way. Even so the trees were gigantic. They were at least a thousand years old. Their branches stretched a meter apart from one another bearing small delicious fruit that the locals called "Shadowlicks." They could only ripen when hidden from the sunlight and are most flavorful when eaten at night. Eudora wasn't fond of them very much but she does occasionally eat them when served in the cafeteria.

As she got deeper in the forest, the noise of the town got quieter and quieter until it was just the sound of the wind that she could hear. She heard hoots from an owl up on the trees, the chirps of the crickets, as well as the rustling of the leaves - peace.

"Time to head back home," she said to herself.

It was getting late and it was getting pretty dark. She was suppose to turn around and leave when she heard a branch break nearby a patch of bushes. She didn't mind it at first but she suddenly was alerted when she heard multiple branches breaking accompanied by footsteps.

"Show yourself!" she shouted.

There was no reply. She couldn't hear the footsteps anymore. At that moment there was nothing making sound like as if everything hid from something. It was quiet for a minute - too quiet. She then heard a low growl coming from both her sides. There emerged two bipedal creatures. Their fur was white dirtied from the natural causes in the woods. It looked like they had no eyes from how long the fur looked. They were hungry for prey and they had their minds set on her. Eudora chuckled. She took a stance where both of her hands were facing both of the creatures.

They howled.

"Come on, boys" Eudora gestured to one of the beasts.

In a second, one of the creatures pounced at Eudora bearing it's claws along with its sharp teeth. Eudora acted quickly with a strong stun that made the monster collapse and whimper. The other one took its chance and slashed her right arm. She screamed as it's claws bore in her flesh. Eudora shouted, giving the beast a hard thunderbolt to the face burning its flesh and fur. She was bleeding alot but quite not done. The other monster regained its strength and tried to slash her back but she quickly dodged and struck it with two bolts. It took the hits and stood its ground. The other one was getting up, now angrier than before. Its face was all burnt up exposing a big portion of its skull. Both charged at Eudora. She was weakened and couldn't move her right arm. She wasn't about to give up though. She stook her hands towards the beasts and shouted with all her might. Her eyes glowed blue, there was thunder brewing from the sky, then suddenly a giant thunderbolt struck her head hitting the two creatures blasting them dead.

After a moment, she fell down on her knees and clenched her injured arm. She was breathing heavily. The two creatures' white fur were turned into a smokey-black color. There bodies were smoking and lifeless. She got herself together and stood up. She started going back when she heard a growl behind her. She turned around to look but she was too late. Another one of the creatures pounced up to get her. She couldn't raise her arm in time but a bright beam of light followed by a loud bang of a cannon, shot the beast away saving her life. The beam was so strong it left a giant hole in its chest. Its body convulsed until it limped dead. Her body was still in a state of shock in what happened when she heard a woman's voice behind her, "You're welcome."

She turned to find a young woman with blonde hair with her cannon on her side still smoking from the recent attack.

"Perfect timing as always, Layla" , Eudora smirked

"Of course," she chuckled, extending out a hand, "Now let's get you to Gord."