The following day started off the same as the day before. The only difference this morning was that the school was abuzz with the latest news reports on the goblins. They had been classified as a level two threat due to the large numbers that they had been spotted in. The students were busy discussing how many goblins must have been killed already by the Exorcists. Some were throwing out theories on why the goblins were mobilizing in such large numbers, most of the time they stayed in small family based tribes. Luna did her best to ignore the excited conversations all around her and focused instead on reviewing her assigned reading for history class.
"Did you hear the news?" Mary's voice interrupted her and Luna looked up from the textbook with an annoyed look.
"If it's about the goblins I don't care."
"Oh come on, how cool would it be to fight off some goblins?" Mary started punching and kicking the air in a poor imitation of martial arts.
"Goblins can be pretty nasty. You know what Ms. Franco taught us about them."
"Yeah but we're not little kids anymore, we're adult mages and we could totally take them on."
"Hell yeah we could!" A young man's voice joined in with Mary and Luna glanced up to see Jack O'Rielly standing before her. He was flexing his muscles with an arrogant look plastered across his face.
"Even someone as weird as you could take them." Jack pointed at Luna and flashed her a smile before he turned his attention fully to Mary. He was obviously flirting with her and trying to show off, which interested Luna even less than the goblins.
"You can form arrows from pure energy and fire them from a bow right?" Mary looked excited as she bounced up and down, from her perspective Jack was a catch. Luna thought Jack was a cocky idiot and had zero feelings for him.
She got up and left Mary talking with him, she had better things to do with her time. She made her way to the classroom and found her seat, Mr. Thompson was waiting for the last few stragglers to make it in so she buried her head again in the history textbook.
***
"Alright class, that's going to do it for today. Don't forget that tomorrow is our first exam, make sure you study chapters one through three on Mesopotamia, Sumeria, and ancient Egypt." Mr. Thompson finished writing on the chalkboard, while facing the class with a cheerful smile the announcement speakers suddenly kicked on.
"Attention all students, this is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Please find a secure place to hide immediately. All mage educators and staff are to report to the Headmaster's office immediately. We are under attack, I repeat we are under attack!"
Luna looked up in suspicion and disbelief, under attack how? Not only was the city protected against monster invasions by magical wards but the school was also heavily defended as well. What was strong enough to push through magical barriers?
While Luna was lost in contemplation her fellow classmates erupted into sheer panic. They flooded out into the hall while Mr. Thompson urged them to stay put. None of her classmates were mages and they didn't stand a chance against any monster of any calibre.
"Ms. Occulta please remain in your seat!" Mr. Thompson was trying his best to maintain order and Luna felt slightly bad for ignoring him.
She sprinted out into the hall eager to find Mary in this sea of chaos.
"Mary!" She called out while pushing her way through the crowd. People were flooding towards the magical study based classrooms, they must have figured that the best place to be where was the mages spent most of their time. Luna didn't disagree with that.
"Luna!" Mary called out, waving frantically from in front of the enchantment classroom.
Luna forced her way to Mary and grabbed her hand, "c'mon we need to get back inside that classroom."
Mary didn't argue as Luna dragged her back inside of Ms. Worth's classroom. The place was filled with crystals, metals, odd shaped tools, incense, and various ingredients that looked similar to what an alchemist would keep in their cupboard. There were also a dozen other people taking shelter, some had flipped their desks over and were huddled behind them for cover.
"Where is Ms. Worth?" One of the students asked peering nervously over the desk.
"They called all the mage teachers to the Headmaster's office you dolt," another student replied sharply.
"What's the plan?" Mary asked while looking at Luna with wide eyes. Luna didn't know how to tell her that there was no plan. At least not one that involved them leaving this room.
"Are there any enchantments in her that can be used as weapons?" Luna asked peering around. She could feel the ambient magical energies radiating off the various items on display but none of them felt particularly powerful.
"No, enchantments can enhance weapons and other items but we haven't gotten that far yet, we just started our studies. All we have are stamina boosting coins and some feathers that can write for us to help with note taking."
Luna sighed heavily at that, "okay then we block that door and sit tight."
Luna set to work moving desks and chairs in front of the door. Mary along with some of the other students pitched in. In a matter of moments they had successfully barred the door. Feeling a sense of relief the students sat down and rested with their backs against the stone walls. Luna and Mary chose a spot farther away from everyone else in a corner of the room. For once the other students weren't ignoring her. It made her feel good despite the dire circumstances they found themselves in.
"How long do you think we'll have to sit here?" Mary asked in a soft voice, despite her earlier excitement Luna could hear the fear coloring her words.
"Probably not long. The teachers should be able to handle whatever it is."
"I hope so." Mary grabbed Luna's hand, Luna gave her a small comforting squeeze in return.
The sound of blasts and thunder reached their ears and the floor vibrated beneath them. They were on the second level still, by the sounds of it the fighting was taking place on the first level.
Some of the students started to feel less nervous and the tension left their bodies as they listened closely to the sounds of spells being thrown around. Some were even smiling in relief. Luna didn't share their optimism. Not knowing what exactly was attacking the school, Luna had no frame of reference in which to judge the teachers power levels. Like everyone else, Luna was aware of the levels of threat that monsters represented based on their own powers and abilities. Level 3 monsters were not common while levels 1 and 2 were.
What Luna wasn't saying out loud was that if something was strong enough to break through so many magical barriers, then she had little hope that the teachers would be enough to stop it.
The sound of something, many somethings, pounding at the classroom door snapped her out of her thoughts. Mary stiffened and the rest of the students shrank as much as they could, trying to make themselves smaller. Luna's heart was racing as the pounding continued. It sounded like many small fists beating against the wooden door. Something spoke in a language Luna couldn't understand but the voice sounded harsh, guttural, and angry.
"It's okay everyone, we blocked the door really well so they can't—"
The sound of splintering wood and the laughter of several horrible voices interrupted Mary's sentence. Luna squeezed her hand even more tightly, feeling like her heart was going to explode out of her chest at any moment.
Dozens of small green faces quickly appeared as sharp iron axes hacked away at the door, clearing space for goblins to rush in and attack. Their eyes were beady, black, and full of hunger. Yellowed razor sharp teeth grinned at the huddled students. Luna was in disbelief, how had goblins managed to break in? They were notorious for being cruel, simple minded, and singular in their purpose. They loved human flesh but they were also incredibly weak when it came to magic.
"Impossible," one of the students muttered as the goblins continued to push their way through. Luna agreed with him, this didn't make sense.
"What do we do?" Mary asked her as the students huddled closer to each other. Luna didn't have an answer. None of the mages in this classroom were combat oriented, they were all enchantment focused and useless in a straight up fight.
Luna got up and quickly ran to the window, she saw more goblins pouring into the school. It was literally a small army of them and to her dismay, they were up too high to simply jump for it. Even if they survived the fall, the horde below them would be on them in mere seconds.
A scream from behind her broke her thoughts, whipping around she saw that they had completely broken through and were advancing on them. They were heading straight towards Mary, a dozen of them wielding their iron axes with clear malice.
Fear filled Luna as she realized they were out of time with no options available to them. Smoke curled up from her skin as heat rose like a fiery serpent within. It started in the pit of her stomach, working its way up as it sought a release. Anger mixed with the fear causing something to shift within her muscles.
The first goblin stretched long, sickly green fingers towards Mary with the intent to grab her by the hair. Before the goblin's fingers could even touch a single red curl on her head a fist slammed into his jaw.
Luna had sprung across the room with eyes that had turned as black as night. She felt weightless as she moved towards the beasts threatening her only friend's life. As her fist connected there was a loud cracking sound and the goblin's head jerked sharply back. It felt to the ground lifeless with an obviously broken neck.
Luna stood there trying to get herself under control but it was no use. The fear, anxiety, and anger were too much. Her curse or possession, whichever it was, was taking control. She felt powerless to stop it. Mary gasped as she saw Luna's eyes but instead of running away, she scooted closer to her. This only emboldened Luna further but the goblins were simply too stupid to understand the danger they had walked into.
They surged forward as one group, axes raised without a second thought. As if on autopilot, Luna raised a single pale hand, palm towards the oncoming monsters. There was a loud boom that shook the stone walls and floor followed by a blast of scorching fire.
Flames hotter than a normal fire engulfed the goblins who began to scream in their strange language. The smell of sulphur lingered in the air as the fire consumed everything it touched. The screams of the dying goblins filled Luna with a sense of happiness, her mouth formed a wicked grin as her conscious mind faded away. Her last thought before everything went dark was, "I hope whatever is taking over my body doesn't hurt anyone else."