What awaited the ambitious students of Umbra Academy beyond the oculus of the Headmaster's portal?
It was certainly no volcano plunging them into their imminent demise, however tempting that may be. There were a few regulations even the Headmaster had to follow and murdering the majority of the campus' student population was one of them. The fines alone would leave her subsisting on cup noddles for the better part of the millennium.
What awaited them was a night sky cut to ribbons before the arraying of phosphorescent lights rising from a decidedly eccentric city. The air was dry and the wind carrying a chill through the bones of the more brazenly dressed, faint grains of sand carried upon it's caress. This arid landscape was tamed beneath concrete and construction, water pumped from deep below to sustain ostentatious water works in defiance of the natural climate.
Most bizarre of all were the replicas of famed world landmarks in the distance, their forms luminescent in the dark. A great tower of interlocking metal struts rising from a base of four to a single peak. A sphinx molded after the original sandstone marvel. An imitation of Roman villa.
For anyone not born in Hell, it should have been readily apparent where they landed.
"Ahem." The Headmaster emerged from behind them, followed swiftly by the arm of her demon which dropped a saliva coated Maricola onto the unforgiving sidewalk before hastily retreating back to the academy grounds. "Viva Las Vegas."
"Now then, you all are free to roam about and do as you wish. No, I will not be providing you money for the casinos, find that yourself. You are all perfectly capable of lying, cheating, and stealing your way to some decent entertainment. I shall contact you when it is time to return, so enjoy yourselves to the fullest....Oh, and Ms. Endemia? No outbreaks infectiousness enough to cripple the entire city, thank you very much."
With a snap the portal closed shut behind her, and the Headmaster transfigured herself a fanny pack and straw hat to better blend in with the usual bustle of tourists destined to tour the Strip. Whatever the students got up to was none of her business for the near future.
Chevaleresse,
Fetzen,
Neziul,
Villamvihar,
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mickilennial,
shylarah
