I know what you’re thinking: Mackie Jade, your favorite color is orange? No way, Me too!!! , or more importantly, Wait, there’s a training island now? You gotta be kidding me.

Well, sorry. It’s always fun to leave you on a cliffhanger.

I happened to be wondering those things too! So was literally everyone else in the room. Loud murmurs spread throughout the crowd like wildfire.

“Is that the one from the lake?!” A student cried out. “The one with the literal battlefield!?”

A symphony of panicked shouts and fearful cries erupted.

Suddenly, a thunderous clap echoed through the room and sent everyone into deathly silence.

Principal Sagewing’s tired voice rang through the crowd. “The world you all are about to see doesn’t just have oh-so-bubbly-potions and twinkly-magic-spells. The magical world has many dimensions, and not all of them are friendly. Spells can teach you to turn things into different colors, but turning some cannibalistic monster green won’t save you from death.

Plus, you’ve all had plenty of rest. This kind of training is routine for real witches and wizards. A practice session won’t hurt, and if it does… Well, not everyone is powerful.”

Moxie frowned and looked at my completely confused face. “We should go,” she spoke over the distraught murmurs.

I raised my eyebrows in thought. My defeat was certain and imminent.

I’ve never excelled in any type of sport, and I’ve never been considered “talented and gifted.” I lacked mastery in both physical and mental power. Also, I’ve never touched a sword in my entire life, other than the fake plastic ones that only small children play with.

I’m probably one of the not-powerful witches that Principal Sagewing mentioned.

Coward. This is a brand new life, a place that is cosmic dimensions away Teresa. Yet you are still an underdog. Don’t even think about learning magic when you can’t even swing around a sharp metal stick.

Without warning, I heard an echo of Teresa’s disgustingly triumphant cackle.

Rage simmered in my blood. Shut up, I replied, forcing thoughts of Teresa and failure to the back of my mind. Voice in my head though she may be, I would show Teresa everything I had for my own sake and my parents’ sake.

Moxie paused at my hesitation. “Mackie. You got this. I know you’re doubting yourself because it’s new. But, I believe in you.” Her smile was from ear to ear.

A wall of sheer, cold determination steeled my back.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I told Moxie, my spirits rising. “I’m excited.”

Wails were starting to arise again from the mass of people.

Others looked more apprehensive, many sporting fear-stricken expressions. “We haven’t even been taught anything yet! You want us to die out there?” One of the new students cried angrily.

“None of you are obliged to go, of course!” Principal Sagewing called over the sea of students freaking out. “It is optimal for all witches to be skilled in physical combat, but it may not be so for all!”

“In that case,” she paused, “it’ll be natural selection.”

Sharply, the principal drew in a hand as students exploded in colorful panic, anger, fear, terror, and from some, eagerness.

All sounds shut off at once.

“No talking while I’m talking,” the principal stated. “Magical implementations of protection will be there to prevent any form of injury. You won’t get hurt. Now, whether you want to become stronger, it is your choice.”

Around me, the volume of the panic faded slowly into soft mumbles.

I was going to prove Teresa wrong. I was going to prove that little voice in my head wrong.

I straightened with excitement and looked over to Amber, who was frozen in shock. She turned her head to me robotically.

“Are...are you serious?” Amber asked no one in particular. She was just as scared as many others were, although her hand was clasped around her sword.

Max laughed. “Of course! Let’s go!” He turned and sprinted away with a group of students who seemed just as thrilled as he was, leaving us behind without a thought.

Sighing at the rapidly vanishing silhouettes in the distance, Amber looked me in the eyes. “Mackie… you wanna give this a go?”

“I’ll race you there.” I said, with as much confidence as I could muster, even though my heart was drumming like bongos.

We streamed out of the building with the rest of the students.

The training island, apparently, was this piece of land in the middle of what was called Glowfly Lake.

According to Max, there are secret bunkers underneath it, battlefields, mazes, and an archery range, along with a bowling alley (don’t ask me what that’s doing there). Most of the island is dedicated to combat training with our weapons and magic.

Glowfly Lake looked like a normal lake, but was much more glorious than that. The water constantly reflected the expanse of blue sky and clouds overhead. The water itself was a glittery fabric, somehow carrying a magical spark in its waves. Willow trees dotted the landscape around the lake, casting their flowing branches into the soft wind that tickled the back of my neck.

And there were the glowing dragonflies; the reason why this place was named Glowfly Lake. The little insects buzzed about with narrow, shiny wings, sketching mysterious patterns in their flight. They carried a sense of tranquility with them, soothing my mind as I walked by. It would have been the best place to relax if a battlefield didn’t lie in the center.

We were led over the water- literally over the water. With some type of magical spell placed on our legs, (I gotta learn this ASAP) I was walking on top of the water. It felt weird, really. The water was squishy and cool under my feet as if it was jelly, and I watched in amazement as the shimmer in the water flicked around in a luminous dance.

Noises rose unbidden from the island as we drew closer… the sounds of fighting. Clashes of metal clinged over the cries of rage and exhilaration. It felt like I was hearing a reenactment of medieval times.

I looked up from the shimmering water and the free-flowing willows.

Oh my.

It was like an actual war was raging on the island. Students were no longer just students. They were fit into battle armor… to fight. Rocks and half broken buildings provided cover and space for snipers. Open space without grass served as a gladiator ring for close-range fighters.

Oh, it was on.

Amber scooted closer to me. Her quiet enthusiasm had begun to die down seeing how brutally the other students fought each other.

Clashes of brilliant magic sent fireworks sailing through the sky. Every student fought with unearthly grace, as if dancing a peculiar form of ballet as they swung their blades again and again.

The counselor that led us there waved his hand lightly, and I felt a force that I now recognized as… magic. Another orb, like the one that gave us our swords, appeared in front of the group. This time, it just dropped a few shields and basic armor sets on the ground.

The rush of power wasn’t there this time.

I sighed inwardly. That previous gust of strength was tantalizingly out of reach. I didn’t understand why I wanted it so badly, but my instincts told me that I had to feel it again.

Everyone dashed forward to grab gear, almost trampling me in the process. I shook myself out of my trance and quickly snatched a silver chestplate and a steel shield. No need to weigh myself down, I supposed. There was nothing else to grab anyway.

“Alright newbies! Remember one thing, alright? Battles can really mess with the mind, so I will say this ahead of time: No one gets hurt here! You are equipped with an automatic magic shield that teleports you away as soon as it registers any damage you receive! You will be relocated to a safe zone, so don’t worry about getting injured or injuring others. Don’t hold back!” The counselor shouted, a smirk drawn over his face. “Ready?”

No, of course not, I thought, suddenly gripped by doubt. Less than a day ago, I was going to be shipped off to some weird boarding school, but no. It turns out that I get abducted and thrown into a magical witch academy. I get here on a flying train, and the school is fancier than the QUEEN OF ENGLAND’S DWELLING. Actually, would it be more accurate to call the school a city? I sleep at this modern “Hogwarts-like place”, and wake up the next day to learn that I am a witch. Right after that, I get a sword made from my soul or something called Moonshine, and now, I am basically about to fight a war.

“Actually, I don’t care if you’re ready. Real wars don’t care either. Now go!” The counselor pushed us forward with a staggering wave of force.

“New wave incoming! Everybody in formation!” I heard a familiar voice as I stumbled gracelessly into the field. It was Brianna yelling orders to her team. She had a blue flag sticking out over her left shoulder. There were kids with blue flags and kids with yellow flags.

Ah, I see. Teams then.

“WHAT SIDE ARE WE ON?!” I yelled at Moxie, who had somehow appeared next to me. I had to WORK MY VOCAL CORDS over the noise.

Moxie had her hands on fire.

I couldn’t even pause to gape-

An arrow sizzled past my left arm.

“CAREFUL! WE’RE ON OUR OWN TEAM, OKAY!” She yelled back. “THIS IS A WAR GAME! WHOEVER DEFEATS THE REST , MEANING THE BLUE TEAM AND THE YELLOW TEAM IN OUR CASE, WINS. NOW, WHO WANTS TO JOIN MY TEAM????”

“I DO!!!” Amber and I yelled in unison.

Moxie, although small, carried a sense of leadership within her. For some reason, I felt an unconditioned trust toward that little girl.

“ME TOO!” Max called to us as he leaped over an ice-covered branch.

“COOL! WHAT’S OUR TEAM COLOR GOING TO BE? MACKIE, WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?” Moxie yelled. She squeaked as she deflected a sudden spear of ice with her flaming hands.

“ORANGE!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

An explosion of colors turned the ground near me to mashed potatoes.

“THEN THAT’S IT! INTEGRATING TEAM ORANGE!!!!”

With that, orange flags appeared on our shoulders.

Moxie dashed into the battle with Max alongside her. Amber and I stared after our teammates for a few seconds, before sharply nodding at each other and charging into the fray.

Moxie’s hands lit up like burning coals, a fireball exploding from her palm. A wave of splintering heat warmed my face as she directed it at a couple of warring students. In one fluid movement, she had called up another scorching ball of light, this time sniping a boy who was trying to take down the frozen-in-fear Amber.

Amber let out a shriek as she ducked on instinct, the fireball singing her hair slightly and effectively hitting its target. The boy vanished with a surprised shout.

Moxie shot a flurry of brilliant fireballs until she reached a large boulder at the edge of the field. Amber and I followed closely behind her, with Max sprinting towards us after taking out a girl from the blue team. Our team huddled behind the large rock in silence, panting softly and trying to catch our breaths.

A sudden shine from Moxie’s shoulder flag sent both Amber and I scrambling.

“Everytime the flag on my shoulder glows, it means someone has joined our team.” Moxie laughed at us as she risked a glance over our coverage.

“Moxie, I honestly wouldn’t know what to do without you,” Amber squeaked awkwardly as she swung her sword around to accustom herself to the weight. I nodded in agreement. The girl’s strength amazed me. I hadn’t even made a move before she had taken down several older students on her own.

Max rolled his eyes, giving us a deadpan look. His grip on his sword was more natural, and stronger. Annoyingly so.

I poked my head out slowly from behind the giant stone lump we were crouching behind, and surveyed the field.

The blue and yellow teams were in a skirmish, and only a few students wore orange flags from my line of vision. According to my knowledge of this magical world and what I have seen with my own eyes, this was serious.

This wasn’t the small bouts of power that Ming and Gwen were throwing around on stage. We were actually going to fight each other. The brawl was intense, projectiles and literal people flying everywhere. I winced as another student flew past the rock before disappearing into sparkles, retracting my head before any stray projectiles could hit me. That was probably why most of Orange was in hiding for now.

“Here… so, my mother once told me a certain strategy,” Moxie had her eyes closed, and her brows furrowed, as another glow lit her flag. Her eyes snapped open, shining brightly with an idea. “The gist of it was to wait for our enemies to destroy each other. Right now, they are already fighting.” She looked at all of us carefully before speaking. “Here’s the plan. We wait for them to lose almost all of their fighters on each team. When their army is down to about ten witches each, they’ll both be tired and too worn out to fight another team at full power. They don’t know yet… but we’re coming. They won’t look at Orange’s arrival as a big deal since we are laying low for now.”

I nodded. “I see. Everyone better stay put for now.”

I peeked out from the boulder again to see approximately twenty people clashing. The group that we arrived at the island with mostly joined the fighting teams, especially blue, which is what I’m assuming to be the stronger team.

I shrunk back and fiddled with my gear, making sure it felt comfortable enough to move around in. I made a few practice slashes in the air with Moonshine, trying to get used to the feeling of a sword. Amber and Max looked just as new to this as I was, but Max seemed to know the basics of swordplay.

I closed my eyes, trying to recall the cool moves from movie characters, game characters…

I slashed forward diagonally once, jumped back, and spun around with another arching swing of Moonshine. Two more cuts in the shape of an X.

Moxie gaped at me. “Mackie, are you positive you’re not a ninja?”

“Wha?” I stepped back. “I’m just trying to copy what I see on TV. Don’t all superheroes or whatever fight like this?” I asked, looking back to Amber and Max.

“I don’t watch TV. Not one bit.” Amber muttered.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Amber didn’t seem like that much of a bookworm…

“I’m not a swordsman, but Mackie, your attacks aren’t half bad...except they look as if they’d hit like wet noodles,” Max joked, flicking the hilt of his sword at me. “I can knock your kneecaps out with ease.”

“Oh? You and your little screwdriver?” I asked him, flinging a harder swing towards him.

We stayed where we were, lancing at each other with joking blows for a few hours, (Or maybe it was only a few minutes, I’m really impatient) until each opposing team was significantly decreased to a fatigued ragtag group of ten or so people.

Boom. Team Supa-Dupa-Orange popped up.

“Team Orange! Let’s rock the skies!” Moxie cried as she brought her hands above her head. Several students revealed themselves from their hiding places, brandishing their own weapons and rushing to engage the remnants of the enemy teams.

A brilliant flower of white-hot flames blossomed in Moxie’s palms as she leaped over the boulder. Gwen, the leader of Team Yellow, screamed in shock as she threw herself to the right. Brianna gaped as terror pulled her face into a screech, the fireball flying closer and closer… and the leader of Team Blue zoomed away just in time with a sharp cry of fear.

I shook my wrist and gripped Moonshine firmly with one hand. The silvery blade glinted in the glossy sunlight. A sense of pride and eagerness swallowed my common sense as I sprinted towards the middle of the field, not sure where I was needed.

Teresa’s laugh flickered again.

Well, it certainly wasn’t going to stop me from wrecking as many people on this battlefield as possible. I raised my sword directly in front of my torso, hoisted my shield, and darted straight into the fight with Amber keeping pace with me and Max yelling a battle cry.

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble.

I whirled backwards and saw the cause of the continuous earthquake. A girl was sprinting towards me with glowing feet, each step rocking the entire earth.

As her sword came crashing down, I raised my shield.

The impact knocked my shoulders, but it did not seem strong.

She was tired.

The girl’s bright green eyes were shadowed with exhaustion. Her hair was a frizzled mess that stuck up in awkward spots around her forehead.

She swung again, but I raised Moonshine against my side.

Her blade slid vertically off mine, but was instantly back for another blow.

I ducked to the right and threw a quick swing, although I missed by miles.

An abrupt wave of water came crashing down from above. The water ripped her off the ground and tossed her into the air. She crashed down and evaporated in sparkles.

“Hey, wake up!” The caster of the water called. “Watch where your sword is going!”

“Sorry!” I called back, embarrassment crawling up my face.

“Not bad of a blow, just hit your target!” The girl disappeared into the fray.

Tiny pride prickled at my shame. My blow had been labeled, “not bad.”

To be honest, I felt bad. Their team was doing quite well, only to have a brand new team of fresh fighters join the brawl.

Max rushed over to a boy who had passed out cold as soon as he laid eyes on him.

“Uh,” Max stared at the limp boy, who started to snore. He sighed and lowered his sword. “Maybe next time,” he said as he dashed towards another person who was about to meet their untimely “death.”

Amber, on the other hand, was struggling to deflect attacks from a fellow witch who was not as exhausted as the rest of her team. Before I could help Amber, another teammate sporting an orange flag lightly slashed the witch in the back and she disappeared, the Orange team member standing in her place and lightly high fiving my friend.

I was psyching myself up to head into the center of all the chaos, when I ran into one of my (least) favorite people.

Hello.

To Gwen.