“Ugh,” I said. I opened my eyes blearily, staring at the plain white ceiling. Everything strangely appeared tinted purple. I sat up slowly and looked down at myself.

“Again,” I groaned. Just like before, I had become Aida. I took a deep breath, trying to relax myself. Once I had, my body shifted back to normal. I checked the clock and calendar.

“What!” I shouted. I remembered that the day that the darksoul stuff had happened was a Monday. The calendar showed it was the Tuesday afterward.

“I slept for a day!” I shouted. I sighed and then got dressed. Then I went to my class, where I knew I had to tell my friends about Aida.

. . . . . . .

“Hey, guys,” I said, sitting down in my seat.

“Hey, Kanata,” Shun said. “Where were you?”

“We were all worried about you,” Arya said. “What happened?”

“Remember what Mrs. Flarine told us about darksouls?” I asked Arya.

“Oh, no,” she said. “It happened, didn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It did.”

“What happened?” Fei asked, joining us. Nexus was right behind her.

“I became a darksoul,” I told them.

“Huh?” Shun said.

“What’s that?” Fei said.

“I know,” Nexus said. “My brother was one, but it drove him crazy. He died two years ago.”

“Jeez,” I said. “That’s depressing.”

“I guess so,” Nexus said. “But I’ve kinda gotten over it by now.”

“So what is a darksoul, anyways?” Fei asked. I settled down while Arya explained it to the rest of the group.

“Dang,” Shun said. “That’s kinda cool, but also sad for you.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “It doesn’t hurt or anything. It’s just a little hard to try and change back sometimes.”

“Can we see it?” Ariel asked, hopping onto Shun’s desk.

“Not right now,” I said. “I’ll show you at lunch or something.”

Then Mrs. Sandi walked in through the door.

“Good morning, students,” She said. “Now, I’m sure you all know about the update to this world’s system that occurred recently.”

“Yes,” Everyone said.

“There was an update?” I whispered to Shun. 

“Yeah,” He responded. “I think while you were asleep.”

“Oh,” I said. I opened up the panel and skimmed through what was there while Mrs. Sandi talked.

“Now, while you all may think we will work on the new skills,” Mrs. Sandi said, “We will not.” Several students groaned. “Instead, we will focus on how to use detection magic.”

“I have set up a large arena with many obstacles,” she continued. “It will have several monsters in it as well. After teaching you how to use detection magic, I will split you into teams for a Rexgame.”

“Rexgame?” someone asked.

“Yes, a Rexgame,” Mrs. Sandi said. “Each person wears a form-fitting magical suit that covers most of their body. The different teams have different colors. Your team tries to grab an opposing team's flag and carry it back to their main base. Any team whose flag is taken to another team's base is out.”

“Literally capture the flag,” I said to Fei. She chuckled and nodded.

“If your health drops below 100, you will magically be teleported out of the arena,” Mrs. Sandi continued. "You will have a choice between using a bow and arrow, a spear, or a sword."

“What does the winning team get?” Fyr asked.

“The winning team all get 50 skill points,” Mrs. Sandi answered, “And the people on the winning team who survive until the end get 25 more.”

“Awesome,” I heard someone say to someone else.

“And now, before we start, we have to learn the detection and hiding spells,” Mrs. Sandi said. “I want to see all of you using them. So, first you…”

. . . . . . .

“Everyone ready?” Mathew asked.

“Yeah,” We all said.

“Alright,” he said. He pressed the button on the wall, letting Mrs. Sandi know that our team, the blue team, was ready to go. After a few more seconds of waiting, her voice came from above, made louder through magic.

“All right, students,” she said. “You all are ready, so get ready to go. And remember, under no circumstances are you to injure one of your classmates. Go!” As she said the last word, the large metal door blocking the way into the arena lifted.

“Wahoo!” Mathew said, dashing out toward the closest opposing team's base. Shun and I followed. We cloaked ourselves with the spell. Shun paused a third of the way there. I paused at the two thirds mark. Mathew dashed up, jumped over two people, grabbed the flag and ran back to me.

The opposing team used a detection spell to show where he was, but it was too late. He threw the flag to me and dashed in another direction.

I turned and ran the flag to Shun before taking off in another direction. He dashed to our main base, utilizing one of the newer skills, [Dash].

I laughed to myself, seeing the panicked and shocked expressions of the other team.

. . . Twenty-five minutes later . . .

“And that’s game!” Mrs. Sandi said. “The win goes to team blue!”

“Let’s go!” I said. “Wahoo!”

“That was a close game,” Shun said.

“Yeah,” I said. “It came down to Gabriel and Mathew.”

“I am too good at this game,” Mathew said, appearing in the room as well.

“Alright, students. Back to the classroom,” Mrs. Sandi said, opening a portal back to the classroom. As we went through, the weapons disapeared and the suits were replaced with our clothes.

We went to our seats, waiting for Mrs. Sandi. When at last she got to the front of the classroom, she opened her mouth as if to say something. She was interrupted by the sound of an explosion.

And then another.

And another.

A fourth, this one much closer to the classroom than the others.

And then the room exploded.