Melly watched as the head mage and Clemiticus rambled on about possibilities of Theas unique conjuring skill. She had never seen an enthusiastic duo so excited over the endless possibilities of killing a plant with a stick.

“Where there’s one plant monster, there’s always another!” the head mage informed them. “Maybe she could conjure a mega cage made of wooden swords and a firing mechanism to capture or kill many at once!”

“Yeah, she could!” Clemiticus replied. “Or a spinning top that could do some quality weed whacking!”

“SHE - is standing right here!” Thea shouted, protesting. “Stop talking like I’m not here!”

Melly placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, then shot a sharp look at the two fanboys. They paused their ramblings just in time to see the anger in Melly’s eyes.

“Thanks, M.” Thea said. “I feared we never would shut them up.”

With Clemiticus snapping out of his potential power fantasy, he gave Thea a remorseful look.

Before he could utter an apology, the door to the white room blew open, delivering a whooshing current of air that carried far too much perfume. It was followed by the shrieking sound of a disgruntled youth who was flapping his brown robes.

“Here’s your damn sample!” the young mage shouted.

Melly recognised the mage instantly. It was the arrogant man child from the magical book fight the night before. She searched her memory thinking, What’s his name again?

“Oh junior!” Jim said cheerfully. “Right on time!”

The young mage was holding an iron bound cage with another plant monster inside. This one was still alive and currently trying its best to pry the bars open.

“Wait. What happened to yours?” Junior demanded as he spotted their plant's corpse on the table.

Together, they glanced between the two monsters and then towards Thea.

Clemiticus instinctively stood in front of the girl and puffed up his chest.

“What’s it to you?” Clem said with a smirk.

Melly eyed the bard with suspicion. He was scheming again.

The young mage’s face went red as he glowered at the obnoxious bard before him.

“Your impudence is ill becoming!” Junior said. “Do you even know who I am?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care!” Clemiticus replied swiftly.

“Gah!” Through gritted teeth Junior spat out the words, “We have been trying to kill these damn things all damned night! Not a single one has died. We have another thirty-four blasted flowers downstairs.”

Clemiticus looked over at their deceased ‘sample’ then gave the youth a confident smile.

Turning to Jim Clemiticus asked, “I take it these buggers are a threat. Like to king and country or something like that…”

The head mage nodded.

“And there would be a hefty reward for anyone who finds the solution. Loot wise!”

“YES! DAMN YOU!” Junior shouted.

Clemiticus chuckled. The man child’s tantrum clearly amused him.

Blood pumped into every vessel in Junior’s head. His rage was so visible it made him look like a ripe turnip.

“Well, we win, you lose,” Clemiticus goaded.

Junior shrieked with an uncontrollable rage.

“STUPID MAN DUMB PLANT KILL YOU HOW WE NO WIN!”

Melly, Clemiticus, Thea, Derrick, Dog and Jim all stared at Junior utterly bewildered.

“What?” they all asked together.

Junior jabbed a finger at Clemiticus. “MAGIC! DUEL!”

Clemiticus grinned in excitement. “Ooh that’s sounds fun!”

Junior dropped the plant monster cage shrieking like a banshee, “DOWN SUN!”

“Do you mean sundown?” asked Clemiticus.

“REEEE!”

Junior ran from the room while screeching. His voice slowly fading as the magic hallway he ran down magically moved away. The white room fell into silence except for the plant monster who was still gnawing at the bars of its cage. They all stared at each other in confusion, then burst out laughing.

“What the heck was that?” Thea said through gasps.

“I don’t know!” Melly replied breathlessly.

Derrick slapped Clemiticus across the back and was grinning broadly, while Jim was fighting hard to contain his mirth.

“I shouldn’t laugh at one of my students, but that guy's a unique case.” Jim said.

“Wait.” Clemiticus spoke, cutting the snickering short. “I don’t know any magic.”

Jim examined the bard, concern now colouring his expression.

“Quickly back to my room.” said Jim. He quickly lifted the monster and placed it beside its deceased twin.

“I may be able to teach you one spell quickly.” Jim continued as he ushered them through the magic door back towards his office. “Junior may be a little shit but he’s quite the skilled magician.”

“So, what you 're saying is that Clemiticus is screwed?” Thea asked.

“No, no, no! He may be alright. We just need to see if he has any ability for magic. If in the event he shows no signs of magic, then yes, he would be what you called…”

“Screwed.” Thea offered.

“Yes, that.”

Melly rolled her eyes and slapped the bard on the shoulder.

“With your overpowered luck stat, I wouldn’t be surprised that you would be a grand wizard or something!”

Clemiticus rubbed his hands together eagerly.

“My gamer senses are tingling!”

“Oh, lets be quick. Sundown is in just over an hour.” said Jim, while pulling a book from under his desk.

The cover on which read:

The basics of teaching magic very quickly in case of life-or-death situations: Duel edition.

“That’s oddly specific!” Melly said in protest, eyeing the tome with doubt.

Jim waved his hand, warding off her objections and opened the book.

“This is the circumstantial enchantment book.” Jim explained. “A swanky tome I picked up a while back. It changes title and contents depending on what I currently need.”

“Now that’s overpowered.” Commented Thea.

“Saves a lot of time. Believe you me!” The head mage gestured towards the stacks of personal book around the office. “It draws selected information from my personal collection and details the needed spells in here.”

“Clemiticus…” Melly said in awe. “Your luck is seriously busted!”

He shrugged and gave her a goofy grin.

Jim then produced a black candlestick and placed it upright on his deck.

Click.

The mage’s fingers snapped and a spart of magic filled the room, lighting the candle in a flash.

“Ooh fancy!” Thea said.

“Ok Clem, blow out this candle. The smoke trail after the flames go out will determine the type and strength of your magic.”

“Yeah?”

“Hurry lad. You don’t have the time.” Derrick said.

Clemiticus winced, then approached the candle. He pursed his lips then blew out the candle.

They all watched as the flame vanished only to be replaced with a thin trail of smoke. The fumes were orange and held a distinctive strawberry odour.

“How unfortunate. Your magic is not very strong, I’m afraid.” Jim said, sounding disappointed. “This will be difficult for you, son.”

“Well, I can always level up my magic!” he said undeterred.

Jim looked at the optimistic bard sceptically, then turned his attention towards his overtly helpful book. The pages of the book dissolved in a blur as he rifled through the chapters, then halted at a certain section.

“Orange smoke means you’re an augmenter,” Jim said. “And the smell means you can cast visual and audible magics.”

“Well, I am a bard.”

Clemiticus moved next to the experience caster and looked at the open book.

“There!” Jim said, pointing at a particular section.

Clemiticuses' eyes widened as he read the spell before him. Looking up he shot his fellow party members a confident grin. It was the same expression he always had whenever he had come up with something very ‘Clemiticus like’.

Melly watched as the sun slowly wandered over the horizon. They all stood on the grass outside in a large circle. The smell of pitch filled the air as a dozen torches lit the temporary arena.

Junior had his arm crossed, looking both angry and confident while staring at his opponent. A posse of pupils who doubled as a cheering squad were behind Junior, calling out complementary words of encouragement.

“You got this Junior!” one said.

“Your magic is so strong. No one can mess with you!” said another.

Melly wondered what kind of power the young mage lorded over the plebeians. It must be blackmail she decided, turning her attention to her lucky fool of a friend.

Clemiticus was currently stretching his legs, paying as much attention as he could to his hip joints as possible. At least he had no short supply of Courage. That was a guarantee. When it came to life or death, the bizarre bard never took the situation seriously.

“You!” Junior shouted.

“It’s Clemiticus.” Thea said.

“Yes. You Clemiticus—Shall die!” Junior said with a dramatic performance. His cronies all clapped with overenthusiastic praise.

Clemiticus looked up from his stretching and got into a fighting stance.

“Okay!” Jim announced. “Before the fight starts, let us create a wide barrier to protect the rest of the students and school from what ever spell that is cast during the duel!”

A pink orb of energy flashed into existence and grew into a dome covering the space around the two duellers. Junior looked almost hungry to fight, while Clemiticus looked intrigued.

“Commence!” Jim shouted.

Instantly, Junior collected power in his hands, creating a ball of fire.

“Fire ball!” Junior chanted, then flung his arms out. The spell flew straight at Clemiticus, roaring as it went.

With a quick flop, Clemiticus fell from the ferocious flame and danced around the edge of the duelling arena.

Junior snarled and collected more magic around him. This time, the air cooled as icy tendrils of magic pooled around the young mage. A long icicle materialised before Junior who shot it directly towards Clemiticuses’ head.

Smack!

The bard deflected the oncoming projectile with the back of his guitar just in time. He had ripped the instrument from his pocket, shattering the ice into a million shards.

“Nice shot!” Clemiticus said, turning the guitar over readying himself for his first musical number.

Junior didn’t wait for whatever the bard was about to play. He instantly held out his hands towards the ground and commanded the magic in the earth to obey.

“Rock and earth come to me and destroy my enemy!” junior shouted.

A large section of the lawn ripped open as a sea of earth floated above the ground. The rocks and soil collected into a thick ball and rose higher into the sky. All the while the magic condensed and strengthen the boulder.

Clemiticus strummed the guitar in the E major chord, then sung.

“The buffs of the Bard go Up and Up!”

“Up and up?” asked Melly.

“Up and up!” repeated Clemiticus.

A yellow glow surrounded the fighting fiddler, lending him an unknown strength.

Junior's earth ball shot towards Clemiticus striking him in the chest. The bard flew back and yelled in surprise as the magic exploded in all directions. It was a direct hit.

Melly watched, concerned, as Clemiticus stumbled to get to his feet without his guitar.

The crowd gasped as Junior’s cheer squad applauded.

“Cast your damn spell you idiot!” Melly shouted.