"Glad to see the place is still standing." The sun reflected off of Sophia's golden hair as it bounced with every step she took toward Hecate Academy. To the mortal eye, there was nothing here but trees and dirt, but with a wave of her hand, the illusion of nonexistence melted away from Sophia's eyes. The Head Mistress walked up to the large, magickally endowed gate protecting Hecate's border and placed her index finer on the lock. "Hecate, Mother of Witches, please grant me your power." A familiar surge of energy ran throughout her body and a silvery black spark flew from Sophia's finger tip and the gates swung open. "Thanks Mom."
She wore a pleasant smile and a sexy black dress that clung tightly to her curves as she strode across the Academy lawn. She sighed deeply, stressful thoughts swirling like a violent maelstrom in the back of her mind. She had been forced to travel away from the academy to discuss several incredibly large issues with the Counsel of Magick. One of which, the very recent murder of Merlin, her mentor of several centuries, was very close to her heart. The Sons of Eden were gaining power, reach, and becoming increasingly aggressive within the last couple of months. Frankly, it had always been concerning and a problem, but once they killed Merlin, Sophia vowed that she'd take them all down. One by one if necessary. Sure, revenge was petty, but the Head Mistress knew it would feel glorious.
She had allowed the students to take a one week intermission between their classes. She figured that they needed a break, even if they had only been about three months into the school year. Now, she believed some changes were needed to be made to the academy to keep it safe. The illusions and wards surrounding it would need to be fortified every week instead of every month. More creatures would need to be recruited to protect the grounds and twice as much crème needed to be offered to the Fay in Goodfellow's forest in exchange for them to lead humans away from the school. Sophia sighed. There really was a lot to do.
'Do you want me to notify the teachers?' A raspy voice came from Sophia's side. She looked to see the large, dark furred form of Delphi. The Great Dane paced along side her, but looked around, as if she was looking for something. Sophia pursed her lips. "Hmm... I really should speak to them." She whistled, several large ravens flew out from several nearby trees. Sophia smiled. These birds were a of her own magickal dabbling and they possessed the ability to relay various messages between people. They flapped in the air near her face, cawing in anticipation for an order. "Would you be dears and tell my teachers that I've returned? And to come meet me in my office? All of them, please." The birds nodded and went away to find their targets.
"Now then." Sophia said, turning towards her familiar. "How about we plan a ball?" 'A ball?' The dog sounded skeptical. "Yes, it's been far too long since we've had a proper ball. It's absolutely dreadful. And we haven't had a tournament yet this year! We need to ignite that fire within our students and competition tends to do that." Delphi sighed and looked at her paws. 'If that's what you think.' Her master laughed. "You'll see, Darling. They need to be prepared for what I believe is coming."