Training Exercise

"Good morning, guys." Lanius yawned as he sat down on an exposed root. Standing near him were Lisa and Zane.

"Morning."

"Good morning."

It was shortly after sunrise, and they were in the forest, waiting for the other Mage squad to appear so they could start the training exercise.

They heard some rustling, and from the side Vincent appeared along with a woman and 3 students.

"So this is Mage Squad 6." The woman crossed her arms. She had long red hair and green eyes, and wore a leather jacket.

"Guys, today we'll be working with Mage Squad 2." Vincent walked over to his students. "This is Cynthia, their master, and from left to right, that's Sally, Firenze, and George. I've already introduced us to them." 

Looking at Mage Squad 2, Zane recognized the red haired boy he briefly interacted with during the entrance test. 

'These guys again…' Firenze thought as he looked at Mage Squad 6. 'That monster, the girl that's always with the monster, and that weird guy.' 

"Why is the Firenze guy looking at me like that?" Zane spoke to his teammates as he observed the other two with Firenze.

On Firenze's left stood a girl with green hair in pigtails and gray eyes, wearing a brown coat. 

On his right stood a boy with black hair in a beanie. He also had black eyes with heavy eyebags and wore a thick gray hoodie.

"He probably thinks you're special, too." Lisa let out a small snicker as Zane rolled his eyes.

"Listen up, squads." Cynthia and Vincent moved to the middle, getting the two groups' attention. "Today's training exercise is gonna be a nice game of capture the flag."

"Oh, we're just gonna play a game?" Zane tilted his head.

"No more games…" Lisa mumbled. After a week at the game room, she decided never to play competitive games against Zane ever again. He won every time!

"Can we use our spells?" Lanius asked eagerly.

"Yes, you are allowed to use everything in your Arsenal to capture the enemy flag." Vincent nodded. "You two squads will take opposite ends of the forest, one will stay to guard the flag while the other two will steal the enemy's flag."

"You guys can go all out, if you're in danger or are about to get hit by a lethal spell, we will intervene. There will be 3 rounds." Cynthia spoke before looking at Vincent and smiling.

Meeting her gaze, the edges of Vincent's lips turned upwards. "If any squad wins all 3 rounds, they will be rewarded by being permitted to go on a mission after additional training." 

Both squads immediately perked up. Going out in the field was what being a Mage was all about! Completing missions and building a reputation was the easiest way to rise the ranks!

A fire of determination burned in Firenze's eyes. He looked at George, his squadmate in the beanie.

"If we win that mission, it becomes far easier to achieve our goals." 

The two boys nodded at each other, while Sally stood next to them with a serious look on her face. 

Similarly, Zane also vowed to win that mission. Not only were the training sessions god-awful boring, but he too wanted to rise the ranks. The sooner he could become an independent Mage, the sooner he could actually start making big moves against the kingdom.

"That caught your interest, huh?" Cynthia laughed. "Then get going! Your flags are already set up, you have 5 minutes to decide who stays behind!" 

The two squads immediately scrambled away to find their bases before the game started. Mage Squad 6 ran around frantically until they found their flag. It was a blue flag sticking out of a hole in a tree trunk with the number 6 on it.

"Listen you two, we only have about a minute before the game starts, so you two are gonna take Mage Squad 2's flag while I stay here and defend ours." Lisa ordered the two boys, taking spot by the flag tree.

"But I'm the weakest!" Zane complained. He really didn't want to put too much effort into acting average over the course of 3 rounds.

"No complaints!" Lisa blocked their faces with a finger. "I have the best mana control out of our squad. I can easily set up traps and be able to defend from attackers. Now get moving!"

"Come on, Zane." Lanius patted Zane's shoulder as the two began to run away, looking for the enemy flag. "We NEED to win these 3 rounds!"

"Yeah yeah."

Ready to fight, they ran deeper into the forest, looking for an enemy flag.

******

"Okay, I'm all set here. You two get that flag." 

Sitting in the branch of a tall tree was George, overlooking a mound of dirt that had a small red flag with the number 2 stuck into it. It wasn't easily visible, but there were small blue spores of mana in the air, acting as a sort of alarm.

"Alright. Let's go Sally." Firenze turned and leaped upwards, running across the trees while Sally stayed on the ground. He shouted one last reminder at her before running faster. "No holding back!"

Sally simply nodded without responding, her eyes beginning to glow bright gray.

******

In a clearing near the capture the flag game, Cynthia and Vincent were sitting on lawn chairs. Cynthia was sipping a colorful drink through a straw and wearing sunglasses while Vincent sat up straight with crossed arms, staring intensely at the forest.

"What's got you all wound up?" She asked him.

"I would tell you but it's classified. By order of the Headmaster."

"Classified?" Her interest piqued, Cynthia pushed up her sunglasses. "Hmm. Is it about the Syne kid? What is it like having him as a student, anyway? I'm surprised you can control yourself around him."

For a split second, Vincent recalled a memory of a burning village with the bloody corpses of his family members, followed by an image of a small child standing in the middle of a crowd, crying as he saw his parents were no longer moving as they swung from ropes. Vincent shook his head and let out a deep breath.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Cynthia grimaced.

"It's fine. To answer your question, he hasn't given me a reason to believe he is like his parents so far, along with special circumstances he is involved in."

"Oh? Is there something special about him?"

"That's what the Headmaster and I are trying to find out." Vincent switched the direction of his gaze as he could sense the two Mage Squads meeting. "Just tell me if you sense any dark energy or anything even remotely similar to it appearing in the area."

At the mention of dark energy, Cynthia's expression changed, turning serious. From Vincent's words alone she could tell the importance of the "special circumstances" involving Zane Syne. She wondered what the hell was so important about the kid that made it classified?

"Alright then." She said, finishing her drink and turning to the forest as well.