“Incalescent firebox?”

Someone answered in search of approval. The group of friends all looked at each other and then simply shrugged in agreement. It was not recommended to stay outside with the Pleurothallidinae and dungeon of Ingress so nearby, which meant that places to gather as a group were quite limited. Students couldn’t be at school without the supervision of a teacher which is why Mrs. Liederkranz’s ‘party central’ was so popular. With the school no longer available, options were extremely limited but one place that was always open was the town hall with the incalescent firebox. Many cities in Bemean had the luxury of having a single Incalescent firebox. The firebox was a cube roughly the size of an adult male’s body, it was a tool used by the ancient civilization and was successfully replicated a few years ago by the Toil initiative, a highly advanced research institute specializing in the reverse engineering of ancient technologies. It wasn’t an ideal gathering spot since it was always crowded full of people watching whatever was being broadcasted through the firebox.

Today was especially full since the firebox was broadcasting the latest play by Poetaster. But no one could go home after what they witnessed, they desperately needed to talk about what the events that had unfolded in that simple classroom. Besides, the play should have finished by the time they arrived and so it wouldn’t be crowded for too long.

The students had just arrived at the town hall and were surprised that even still from outside they could hear the rapturous cheers and exclamations from within. It was so energetic that it even managed to stop the students from discussing the pink organism while they found out the cause of cheer. Once the door opened, the true scale of the auditory force could be felt. One could not help but get caught up in the excitement.

“Wait a second, is that?”

The short brunette loudly questioned as she pointed to the firebox. On the firebox, in its rough black and white, there was a moving image of Poetaster standing before whatever device was used to capture the many images. Poetaster was excitedly displaying to the world watching: a glowing parchment. The color of the parchment could not be discerned because of the black and white imaging, but it was unmistakably similar.

Maladroit walked over to the nearest cheering person and tugged at their sleeve.

“What is happening?”

“Poetaster just got invited to the tournament!”

“What?”

“That’s right, the sixth centennial tournament is going to start next month!”

Maladroit walked back to her friends confused with all the information she was bombarded with. Did her art teacher, the band coach, just get invited to the most acclaimed and prestigious combat tournament in the world?

“hey guys…”

The short brunette confusedly called.

“… is our teacher a badass?”

The day continued with constant talk about the tournament and who else was confirmed to be invited. The firebox aflame the whole time with updates and news. The place was exploding with vigor and excitement when a massive bell began to ring. The meaty sound could be easily heard through the entirety of the town and easily punctured the rapturous cacophony in the town hall. The bell signaled a state of emergency, a mokoi was probably running wild somewhere outside of town. The town gates would be closed and no one could leave the town but life remained mostly unimpeded by this usual interruption. The brunette turned to her friends.

“Why do they even need to lockdown for a few mokoi. They should just send out Mrs. Liederkranz to wipe them out in an instant.”

“A tournament invitee versus some random mokoi, it wouldn’t even be a stain on the floor.”

“This is Liederkranz were talking about, she would probably kill it by inducing a panic attack via oral presentation.”

The kids laughed as they joked and bragged at the triviality a mokoi now posed to the town; meanwhile, rumors were spreading of the ‘mokoi’ situation finally arrived to the children. Maladroit was the first to hear some of the adults concerned whispers and the smile on her face quickly dampened.

“Guys, I think this lockdown might be serious.”

“What could a mokoi do against a tournament invitee?”

“Actually, they’re saying that it was a monster not a mokoi.”

“What’s the difference?”

The group all laughed at that comment but Maladroit did not take part.

“This isn’t funny. They’re saying this monster flattened the forest.”

It took a moment for anyone to respond to that. The sheer strangeness of the sentence made it difficult for any of the friends to formulate a follow up query. As usual the brunette took charge and was the first to reply.

“What do you mean?”

“They’re saying it flattened the forest.”

“Like they knocked down all the trees?”

“No, it’s flattened! All the trees, all the hills, its just one flat plain for as far as the eye can see.”

“How flat are we talking here? Is it flatter than your bugle playing?”

“Is it flatter than Principle Funster’s jokes?”

“It couldn’t be as flat as Vanilla’s chest could it?”

Vanilla turned to her friend in dumbfounded insult. The brunette struggled to reply through her laugh.

“No, no, nothing can be that flat.”

Vanilla let out an annoyed huff as she quickly berated the group

“You’re all horrible people, the forest is gone!”

The brunette gave Vanilla a dismissive wave as she spoke.

“I bet Mrs. Liederkranz could flatten all of Bemean in an instant if she wanted. A lumberjack army means nothing to her.”

“They think it was done by just one monster.”

Before they could finish wondering whether their town would be the next geographical disappearance the bell struck again signifying the curfew warning. As they were used to doing every night they immediately ended their conversation waved goodbye and went home. The houses were restless, the students were filled with a mix of concern and excitement, confidence and fear. Oblivious to the plight of the town time passed and morning came. To the surprise of many parents their children were incredibly excited to go to school, they had many questions for Mrs. Liederkranz but they also felt more comfortable being by her side.

Mrs. Liederkranz noticed that her class was strangely full today, it was more than full, it was far above capacity. There were many students that she had never even taught before in her class.

“Seems like many of you watched the firebox last night.”

She stated with a light chuckle. As soon as her sentence finished, the room exploded in chatter with many students asking questions while others turned to their friends to fill them in.

“Why weren’t you announced as a confirmed contestant last night?”

One of the questions somehow managed to quiet the crowd.

“Because I haven’t told anyone about it.”

The class immediately returned to its explosion of sound. Many students unbelievably surprised to hear the confirmation that she was invited, some astounded that she hasn’t told everyone under the morning star about it.

“But why?”

“Because I wasn’t planning on accepting the invitation.”

The teacher seemed to be the only one remotely calm in the room. Her reaction could not have been anymore different than that of Poetaster.

“I’m just a teacher.”

“My mom said you were a soldier in the second human-mokoi war.”

“But I’m not a soldier anymore, I’m a proud teacher and coach to what will soon be the best band team of Bemean, Nay, best in all of Trammel.”

And as seemed to be the pattern of the day, once Mrs. Liederkranz finished speaking, the class exploded in conversation. Everyone had come to this room to see a legendary tournament contestant that had been in hiding right under their noses this whole time; they didn’t come here to see just another teacher teaching another boring subject.

“You have to join the tournament. Represent your country, be a symbol for the next generation, don’t you teachers love garbage like that?”

All the band kids in the room knew that Mrs. Liederkranz was weak to the weaponizing of her students.

“Yeah, make us proud.”

“Make sure to mention us in your winning speech.”

“Get Poetaster’s autograph for us.”

“No get the Hero of New Heirisson conquest’s autograph!”

“Get both!”

She felt many of the children’s demands had less than pure intentions, but the resounding sentiment still overcame her. She was always a sucker for patriotism and representing her country. The fame and exhilaration were addicting. In all honesty she sort of looked forward to meeting the captain and the rest of Murugan squad again, she would love to catch up with Sapphic. She could even reconvene with some of the Savior members, Doyen, Ken, and Jocund would definitely have been invited, maybe even Iatric would be there. The musical cacophony of pleading children was drowned out of her mind. She reached into the drawer of her desk and pulled out the glowing parchment reading it through again. She looked up to the crowd of people, amongst them were all of her band kids looking at her with expectant eyes of awe and admiration.

“Mrs. Liederkranz we all love and believe in you!”

Maladroit exclaimed, her voice piercing through the thunderous crowd. Mrs. Liederkranz looked back down at the glowing parchment and read it once more, this time aloud.

You have been invited to

The Tournament

You are The Band