She blew her will into the bugle, releasing a melodic tune, admittedly not quite in sync with the accompanying drums and marching feet. She and her crowd followed along with the hypnotic jumps and swirls of the baton at the head of the troupe, which was led by a tall and slender woman. Despite her rapid approach towards forty, the woman still appeared young and just as vigorous as the children behind her. Distracted by the swinging baton ahead of her, the girl didn''t notice the stone underfoot, which promptly halted her march mid-stride, sending her plummeting face-first into the mud.


    A few of her marching friends nearly tripped themselves as they stopped before their fallen comrade. The entire troupe ceased playing as many looked back to the familiar interruption. The woman at the head of the group caught her flying baton and walked back to the girl lying in the mud.


    "I''m sorry, Ms. Liederkranz, I wasn''t paying attention and I…"


    The girl meandered sadly. She didn''t want to disappoint the whole troupe again, and she especially didn''t want to disappoint Ms. Liederkranz.


    Ms. Liederkranz squatted down next to the girl, picked up her bugle, and helped her back to her feet. She began speaking while wiping the mud off of the girl''s bugle. "Don''t worry about it. We were playing pretty awfully anyway. "


    "WHAT!?" the troupe shouted back with a couple of grumbles and sighs. A few people turned to those standing next to them and joked soft words of agreement. The sudden rowdiness merely caused Ms. Liederkranz to heartily laugh at her excitable students. The girl, still caked in mud, looked up to her teacher. She truly did look younger than her age; she was particularly beautiful when she laughed as she did now.


    "It just means we will have to try again from the start, and you can try not to fall this time." She spoke with a brimming grin, using her index finger to wipe some mud from the girl''s eyes before turning towards the front of the invigorated crowd. "Okay, one, two," and the music began thumping away again.


    They continued to play and practice joyfully, laughing and joking with one another as their teacher subtly influenced their play towards a careful mastery of their tools for another hour until, finally, practice had finished. Ms. Liederkranz led the troupe back toward the building where they had just spent most of the day.


    Bemean was lucky that it contained the most remnants of the ancient civilization within its borders, combined with the relative peace and tranquility allotted to the country by its distance from the Mokoi badlands meant the people of Bemean had the closest relationship to the ancient civilization. They often lived and worked in many of the old structures still standing. The building they walked towards was long and short. The country''s great wealth allowed for the repair of this building so that it could once again be used for its theorized original purpose: educating the next generation.


    The class finally arrived at the school. The large halls would have been utterly empty if not for the troupe moving through. There usually weren''t classes today, so the only people left in the school were diligent teachers and students performing extracurricular activities like the troupe. Ms. Liederkranz led the group into her classroom, where the students quickly put away their costumes and instruments before gathering around their instructor, who passed around drinks and snacks.


    The children all broke off into their own little cliques and talked amongst each other as children always do. The teacher joyfully watched on, admiring the innocent glee of her students, sometimes with a slight sadness or regret, it would seem. Occasionally, some students would confront her in need of help for some subjects and sometimes just to talk. She seemed to be closer to the other students than many of the school''s other teachers. The bugle player had left to wash herself from the mud but returned to the bustle of the class soon after.


    She sat down next to a group of girls who were giggling as they teased one of their friends about a boy that they seemed adamant not to talk about. One of the girls, a short brunette, was the first to address the poor bugle player whose face was still damp from washing. "Oh, hey, Maladroit, what happened to your face? I was kind of liking what you did to it. I don''t know why; you just seemed to really stand out."


    The girl who was being teased before Maladroit arrived was happy to shift the conversation. "Must have been your hair."


    "That must have been it. Did you do something to your hair?"


    "Oh, shut up." Maladroit smiled as she sat down with her laughing friends. Maladroit asked her brunette friend. "Why are you even here? You''re not in band."


    "Half the people here aren''t in band. This is just party central, isn''t that right, Ms. Liederkranz?"


    "WOOH!" The teacher threw a fist in the air as she shouted before returning to the student she was conversing with.


    Maladroit looked around the room and recognized many faces she was sure weren''t part of the band. "You''re right. When did this happen? How did I never notice?"


    "Probably because you''re always too busy pining over Ms. Liederkranz."


    Maladroit angrily shushed at her friend, giving her a subtle shove. "SHUT UP! What if she hears you?"


    The group of girls all laughed, and a few glanced back to see if the teacher was listening. The girl being teased before Maladroit arrived grew a mischievous grin before speaking. "How about this, I''ll ask Feller out if you tell Ms. Liederkranz you like her."


    "No way, not happening."


    "YES!! You have to. Come on, do it for Vanilla. Vanilla and Feller."


    "Yeah, do it for me and Feller." Vanilla laughed. Maladroit''s face lit up in a bright red that reached up to her ears.


    The whole group began chanting together. "Come on, do it! Do it!""


    You don''t have to tell her you want her babies. Just be like, ''Hey hot stuff, I like you.''"


    "No! It''s not like that!" The group of friends erupted into such a commotion that they began to draw the attention of other groups.


    "If it''s not like that, then it will be easy to say, right?"


    Finally, Ms. Liederkranz, having noticed the growing clamour from the girls pressuring one of the others into something, decided to step in. "Is everything alright, girls?"


    The whole group immediately went silent as they glanced back and forth between Maladroit and the teacher; Cheshire grins covered their faces as Ms. Liederkranz got up from her chair and approached the group. Maladroit looked back to her professor, face as red as a beet. Her mouth rested half agape for a while, but eventually, she decided to swallow her pride in hopes of suffocating the butterflies swarming her stomach. "Ms. Liederkranz…"


    "Yes?" the teacher asked, patiently waiting for her student to continue with whatever she was going to say.


    She stuttered with great difficulty. "Ms. Liederkranz, I-"


    Maladroit was suddenly interrupted by the loud chime of a bell that originated from seemingly nowhere. Behind the teacher, a pink rhombus grew out of thin air. A sudden burst of movement exploded as a bunch of students jumped back, screaming, startled by the sudden object miraculously appearing. The pink rhombus did not hold its shape for very long. Its body would reject any stable state, it would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with only one limb, an arm outstretched towards the teacher.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    One of the students jumped atop their desk in a panic and threw their half-finished juice box at the creature''s head while they shouted, "WHAT IS THAT!!"


    Ms. Liederkranz turned to face the pink organism and was about to scold the students for their rude gesture but was halted by the pink beings'' lack of response. The teacher''s gaze then fell to the hand outstretched toward her and the glowing parchment that rested in its grip. With a slow, cautious movement, she took the parchment and curiously read its contents.


    Ms. Liederkranz let out a light chuckle as she finished reading, "Thank you, umm… Mx.? But this is not for me."


    The pink organism once again began to morph and transform, continuously changing shape until, finally, it was just a rhombus that simply shrunk out of existence.


    Ms. Liederkranz looked at the parchment again, reading it thoroughly. She then rolled the parchment back up, returned to her desk, and stuffed it in one of the drawers. While this whole ordeal occurred, the students merely watched everything unfold in absolute stunned silence. Once the drawer was closed, Ms. Liederkranz spoke up nonchalantly. "So Maladroit, you wanted to say something?"


    One of the students quickly jumped in. "No, no, you do not just sweep that under the rug… or into the desk. What the hell was that!?"


    "You''re right. I should probably address this properly. I apologize to everyone, but I will have to close up early today. You''ll need to find somewhere else to hang out." Many students tried to dispute this with their teacher, but she dodged any explanation and guided everyone out of the room. "Well, what do we do now?"


    Someone answered in search of approval. "Incalescent firebox?" The group of friends 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 was why Ms. 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 a ways 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 the events which had unfolded in that simple classroom. Besides, the play should have finished by the time they arrived, and so it shouldn''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 sought 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.


    The short brunette loudly questioned as she pointed to the firebox. "Wait a second, is that?" On the firebox, in its rough black and white, was a moving image of Poetaster standing upon his stage in Egress. Poetaster was excitedly displaying to the world watching: a glowing parchment. The colour 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 will 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 world''s most acclaimed and prestigious combat tournament?


    "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 verve and excitement when a massive bell began to toll. The meaty sound could be easily heard throughout the town and easily punctured through the rapturous cacophony in the town hall. The bell signalled 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 mainly remained unimpeded by the not uncomon interruption.


    The brunette turned to her friends. "Why do they even need to lockdown for a few mokoi? They should just send out Ms. 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 we are 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, rumours spreading of the ''mokoi'' situation finally arrived to the children.


    Maladroit was the first to hear some of the adults'' concerned whispers, and her smile 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. 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 does THAT 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, it''s 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 waved dismissively at Vanilla as she spoke. "I bet Ms. 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, and 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 Ms. Liederkranz, but they also felt safer being by her side.


    Ms. Liederkranz noticed that her class was strangely full today—more than full; it was far above capacity. There were many students 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 vying to ask their questions and others turning to their friends to fill them in.


    One of the questions somehow managed to quiet the crowd. "Why weren''t you announced as a confirmed contestant last night?"


    "Because I haven''t told anyone about it."


    The class immediately returned to its explosion of sound. Many students were unbelievably surprised to hear the confirmation that she was, in fact, invited, and some others were astounded that she hadn''t told everyone under the day 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 any more 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."


    As seemed to be the pattern of the day, once Ms. Liederkranz finished speaking, the class exploded in conversation. Everyone had come to this room to see a legendary Tournament contestant who had been 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 Ms. 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 thought it would be nice to meet 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, though it would be strange to hang out with Iatric again without Forgo 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 and she read through it one more time. She looked up at the crowd of people; amongst them were all of her band kids looking at her with expectant eyes of awe and admiration.


    Maladroit exclaimed, her voice piercing through the thunderous crowd."Ms. Liederkranz, we love and believe in you!"


    Ms. 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"