Tomas jerked awake, then settled back.

Ah, Sixday.

Half an hour later, he woke again, stretched, and rose. He fetched a steaming cup of breakfast blend from his maker and sat in his favorite chair, simply enjoying the moment. Life was stressful. He had come to cherish little moments like this. He might contact his fiancée and arrange a get-together, but that could wait. For the number of years they’d been betrothed, the relationship was very comfortable.

He glanced through his reports. One of the dorms had arranged permission to employ a new game for a day of hallway tag. The events the kids set up were usually overly elaborate and tended to favor the instigators, but if the Guardians hadn’t flagged any issues, it was probably harmless fun. Maybe he’d check it out.

At that point, breakfast arrived and once the server had left, he fetched his purloined bacon platter and sat down to eat. All-in-all, a quite acceptable start to the day.

Once he was done, refreshed, and dressed, he decided to wander out and see what the students were up to. Perhaps they’d need a judge or something.

He opened his door and stepped into the quiet corridor of the Magister’s quarters. No-one was about yet. Sixdays were for relaxing and marshaling resources for the rest of the week.

As Tomas neared the common area of the College, he could hear the sounds of boisterousness. It appeared that the game involved a lot of yelling. He contemplated turning around and returning to the quiet of his chambers, but his curiosity won out.

Nearing the main corridors, he could see activity ahead. Quite a number of yellow blobs drifted through the air while students ran back and forth, themselves liberally plastered with yellow. He brilliantly deduced some connection, then continued on and stepped into utter bedlam.

He made a mighty leap backward to avoid one of the yellow blobs as a, “Watch out! Oops, sorry sir!” rang out before the noise level rose to muffle any coherency.

Tomas was about to unload on the students for desecrating College property, when he noticed that the globs faded out when they ran into a wall, leaving no mark. On the other hand, they left a bright yellow splat when they hit a student.

Right on the hour, a bong rang out. Everyone stopped running and stood, looking at figures that appeared above their heads. There were cheers and groans, then all the yellow faded away. New numbers replaced the old ones and started counting down.

There was a mad scramble for cover, and when the count reached zero, the blobs began flying again.

Tomas retreated a step or two to get out of the main line of fire. He wondered how many students were involved in the game. From what he could see, it appeared to be very popular.

With no intention of putting his eminent self into any position where he would be covered in yellow, he invoked one of his secondary abilities. Although not a strong practitioner, he had some ability to plane walk, which allowed him to phase slightly out of the current reality. This effectively hid him from most observers. His high level of control would allow the blobs and people to pass right through him, but not make it too difficult to stay on top of the floors. As the spell took hold, he noticed a magical dampening had been enabled here and probably throughout most of the College. It would mute any spells the students cast. Fortunately, being a Magister exempted him from the limit.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Walking through the corridors toward the main areas, he watched as local skirmishes broke out everywhere. People were shooting an endless supply of blobs at each other while they dodged and used chairs and dinner trays as shields. He made a mental note to check that everything was returned when the game was over.

For the most part, the participants played in an every-man-for-yourself mode. Occasionally, he would see a group form into a phalanx where some maintained a shield wall while others cast yellow blobs. These groups tended to plow through the singletons, although he witnessed a few ambushes where it all devolved into a swirling mess where no-one was left unscathed.

He had a thought and made a slight detour to the dorm where the seniors were housed. As he approached, it became apparent they were prepared; a wall constructed of tables turned on their sides reached from floor to ceiling. He peeked past the barrier to see several students partaking of a dignified tea while discussing trivialities. When the occasional yellow blob found a gap, those in its path would casually duck aside to let it pass, heaping derision on any who spilled their tea.

Tomas continued on. Passing the small dining room, he noted it was packed with students tanking up for the battles. Wondering why they weren’t using the large dining room, he decided to investigate.

At that moment, Tenthé zoomed by, dodging and weaving so quickly that he was almost untrackable. Amusingly, instead of being untouched, he was absolutely covered in yellow. Probably he’d been somewhere where there were so many blobs that moving fast was actually a detriment. His laughter implied he was having a good time. Maybe he had set himself the goal of being the one painted with the most yellow. If so, he was doing well.

Tomas turned the corner and stood for a moment, watching the entry to the main dining room. The doors were open wide, with a steady stream of students passing through in both directions. Tomas followed a group in.

The entire chamber had been emptied of furniture and was filled with hyperactive teenagers trying to capture a golden globe placed in the center of the floor. Everyone was shooting at each other and there appeared to be traps where people were either stuck in place or sprayed with yellow.

Tomas watched and noted when a student tried to grab the globe, it would fade out and their hands would pass right through. After observing for a while, he decided that only someone with no yellow on them at all would be successful. Currently, Tomas couldn’t see anyone who would meet that criterion.

Suddenly, a group of students rushed in through the main doors and quickly formed a crooked line through the room, then a very small girl was passed hand-over-hand toward the center where the last person tossed her at the globe. It nearly worked, but the throw was a little short and the girl fell on a trap that spewed yellow blobs, covering her from head to toe.

At that point, things devolved into chaos again. Tomas studied the traps. They had been layered quite intelligently. It wasn’t a puzzle someone could just brute force and run past. Apparently, it was necessary to figure out the best path, which explained the crooked line that the group using the thrown girl method had formed.

Tomas would have to find out who’d set this up; they showed a lot of talent. He left the dining room and stood outside in the hallway. After a moment, he noticed a fair number of students going toward the dorms. He followed them to a lounge that was, if he wasn’t mistaken, the one near Tenthé’s room.

There was a long line leading to a booth selling de-yellowing tokens, ten for a penny. Very enterprising.

He wandered around for an hour or so, observing. Everyone appeared to be having a good time. Maybe there were a few grudge shootouts, but even they seemed fair. Tomas eventually concluded that this game definitely had some practical application and might be something the College did on a regular basis.

After returning to his chambers, he checked the reports from the Guardians. There were incidents, but nothing too much out of the ordinary for a Sixday.

Tomas contemplated getting his own copy of the game. It would certainly make meetings with certain Magisters more interesting.

He sighed. One could dream.