The Winter Break Job

Ramona grabbed a drink and a couple of snacks from the table before she plopped down on an elegant couch.

"The snacks here are really good. You should try some Aayla. The Polar Forest Company imports them directly from Sarrasak."

"Polar Forest Company? As in the Polar Forest Auction House?"

"Correct. The Polar Forest Company is the parent company of several auction houses throughout the north. The Polar Forest Auction House is their original location. Right now, we're in the back of that building in the section for guests with long term sourcing contracts.

Nafriton has been working with the company for ages now. They're a bunch of greedy, dramatic jerks but the products and services are good. As long as you negotiate properly, otherwise they'll just rip you off."

Aayla sat down on the edge of a seat while Ramona happily bit into a pastry. While the room was a bit cramped, it was clean, brightly lit and furnished with some very expensive looking items. She uncomfortably shifted on her seat while the clock on the wall ticked away.

Soon, a rotund man with a bubbly personality entered the room with several papers in his hands. He enthusiastically shook Ramona's hand.

"Deputy Headmaster Heston, it's so wonderful to see you again! How's the headmaster doing these days? Keeping the university safe hasn't been easy during the last semester. We have some new security features if you're interested. The absolute latest and best from Sarrasak. I'll even give you a discount since Nafriton is a long-term client. Keeping the students safe is priority number one, of course."

"Not today. I'll let Deputy Downer know. The headmaster is doing well, and sends his regards."

"Excellent, excellent. Here are all of the orders scheduled for delivery today. Due to some staffing issues, I'm afraid that we'll have to deliver them over three days. Unless you would like to hire some outside transporters?"

"That won't be necessary. The headmaster would prefer to leave our orders in your capable hands. Security reasons, of course."

The manager nodded cheerfully then patiently waited as Ramona read through the documents. After about an hour, all of the papers were signed. Ramona handed over a tiny slip of paper to the manager.

"As usual, the money will be available through the Forest Waypoint bank. Here's the check for the second payment. The headmaster will hand over the third upon delivery of the orders."

"Many thanks, Deputy Heston. I must say, the university is ordering some special items this time. If I may be so bold, is the university expanding its class repertoire?"

Ramona lightly smiled and ignored his inquisitive gaze. "Something like that. Nothing's set in stone yet."

"Well, good luck then. If you need any support, the Polar Forest Company would love to lend its support."

"For a nominal fee, of course?"

The manager chuckled. "Naturally."

With their work finished, the manager escorted Ramona and Aayla back to the entrance and bid them farewell. As the door closed behind them, Aayla discovered that they were in a completely different alley than where they entered.

"Huh? This doesn't look like where we entered."

"Nope. The building is magic. All of the larger clients enter and exit from different places for safety reasons."

"What did the manager mean by 'special' items?"

Ramona chuckled. "I can't talk about that here. The investigation about 'that place' that Downer and I have been working on is complete. Let's just say that you have a new job over winter break."

Aayla's heart dropped. That doesn't sound appealing. As she thought, nothing good ever happens in Forest Waypoint.

**********

Back at the university, Headmaster Marin, Deputy Downer and several other staff members were waiting at Nafriton Residence Hall. The headmaster and Deputy Downer sat in the lounge while the staff members frantically ran about the residence hall. Strange symbols were painted on all of the windows. Aayla recognized them as magic formations, but she had no idea what they meant.

"Good afternoon, Deputy Heston. How was your trip to Forest Waypoint?"

"It went almost as well as it could have, headmaster. The Polar Forest Company has everything that we requested, but they will deliver it over a three-day period. Apparently, there's some staffing issues."

"That's fine as long as they aren't outsourcing the delivery job. When will the specialty items arrive?"

"By the afternoon two days from now."

"Good," the headmaster nodded his head before he turned towards Aayla with a smile. "So, you brought your goddaughter with you. Deputy Downer and I were wondering where she went. We have a little job for her to do over the break."

A shiver crawled up Aayla's back. She had a sneaking suspicion that this 'little job' was what Ramona mentioned earlier. Aayla had a horrible feeling about this job.

"I've finished reading the report from you and Deputy Downer about the maze in the rear courtyard. Regaining control over this artifact is our top priority now that the students and most of the rats are away. Unfortunately, ever since [that idiot] –" the headmaster's expression stiffened for an instant "– somehow misplaced the manuals and keys for the old campus and shut it down the faculty has lost control over it. Which brings us to our current situation."

The headmaster and deputies looked towards Aayla. She sighed internally. She knew that going to Forest Waypoint was a bad idea. Look at what happened! As soon as she got back, something troublesome and probably life threatening occurred. Was it too much to ask for a peaceful school life in another world?

"I'm probably not going to like this, but what's our current situation?"

The headmaster tapped on the parchment on the table. Lines appeared on the paper, as if drawn by an invisible hand. A vague outline appeared of a giant maze filled with smoke surrounding an inner courtyard with a central building.

"Since ancient times, various types of trials have been created to test and educate young wizards. The most wealthy and powerful organizations would create special large-scale artifacts to create simulated environments. Most would be simple tests confined to a small area. Only the peak of those wealthy organizations would have complex trials that encompassed a large area.

"The first headmaster for whom our university was named was one of the few unaffiliated wizards who could create such an artifact. Not just for simple trials, but for complex ones as well. According to legend, the founder created a maze type trial grounds on the original campus."

Aayla nodded. She had heard about it during her history lesson. Tellan history was divided into two major eras: Ancient and Modern. The Modern Era started over two thousand years ago with the signing of The Treaty, which established peace between all nations. Most of Ancient History was lost due to the Great Disaster, a cataclysmic event fifty thousand years ago that nearly drove all life to extinction on Tellus.

Human civilization was completely reset and almost all knowledge was lost. That includes complex magical theories and methods. For example, creating complex trial grounds. However, the founder of Nafriton University sparked life into the research of magic and ancient artifacts. After his death, Nafriton began to lose its competitive edge, mostly due to a certain unmentionable former headmaster.

Though still the international gold standard for magical education, Nafriton is losing ground to its foreign rivals. Several of them even have their own trial grounds formed by ancient artifacts conquered by their respective nations. Nafriton has built its own and supplements its trials with innovative exams and teaching. However, that can't match up to the effects of an ancient trial ground.

"The rear gardens are most likely the lost trial grounds. How they could have been lost in first place is utterly ridiculous! That lousy –"

"HEADMASTER! Not in public." Deputy Downer tilted his head towards Aayla.

Headmaster Marin coughed before he continued. "The capture and revival of the rear gardens is absolutely imperative. There's one major problem. None of the faculty can enter without triggering any security measures. This could kill all who enter and force us to severely damage the trial grounds to keep it contained.

However, we can send in students without issue. The trial grounds will simply test them as normal."

Aayla pointed to herself. "That's why you need me? What about Daren? He did a lot of research about it."

"Yes, that's why we need you. Unfortunately, Daren is not suitable. He's more research oriented, and to be frank he is far to valuable to lose in case something happens. On the other hand, you accidentally entered while you were still recovering from your medical condition and came out alive."

"I'd like to interject that my condition was present since birth and technically isn't solved yet."

"You seem to be doing just fine under Deputy Heston's guidance. Besides, as Deputy Heston's goddaughter you will have a suitable excuse to stay on campus over the break. Just treat this as a magical training exercise."

The final point left unsaid was that they could trust Aayla since Deputy Heston would ensure her silence about the matter until the trial grounds could be revealed to the public.