Silver that pulsed faintly with unseen power. The floors shifted texture between soft-grained marble and sothing warr, almost like flesh. Occasionally, I passed murals that moved when I wasn’t looking directly at them.
The aide stopped before a tall wooden door frad by thin blue flas that didn’t burn.
He pressed a palm to a sigil, and it hissed open.
This is a very special place that was given," he said quietly, eyes still averted. "For you."
"You think?"
He swallowed. "Good night."
The door slid shut behind .
Inside, the room was too silent. Too still. Like it had been waiting for soone.
A bed of floating glass hovered near a wide circular window that stared out into open night and three moons. All in different phases.
The air slled like cedar and ozone. There was no fireplace, yet I felt warmth. And yet... sothing itched under my skin. Still. I was too tired to care. I just needed so, no a very long rest...
I peeled off the spare tunic soone had given and climbed into the bed, muscles screaming with every movent. As soon as I lay back, the bed molded itself to , like mory foam with its own mind.
I closed my eyes.
I shouldn’t have.
The Dream
The world cracked.
One mont I was weightless, breath slowing...
And the next, I stood in a forest of bones, the sky above a swirl of bleeding stars. Silver mist clung to the roots, and from sowhere nearby ca the sound of a lullaby sung backwards.
I wasn’t in my body. Or maybe I was.
But my hands were covered in blood.
I turned.
She stood there.
The woman who looked like . Sa jaw. Sa scar on her brow. Sa silver in the left eye.
But she felt so wrong.
Her smile was stretched too wide. Her eyes glowed red from the inside. Her hair fell around her shoulders like liquid shadow, and her skin seed... burned. Charred in cracks that bled gold light.
"You don’t belong here," she said softly.
Her voice layered over mine. Like an echo made of venom.
I took a step back.
She mirrored it.
Then she scread.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!"
She lunged.
I tried to move, but my limbs turned heavy. She slamd into , knocking into a field of ash. Her hands went for my throat, claws lengthening like knives.
I punched her across the face.
But she only laughed.
"You’re the mistake," she hissed, blood running down her jaw. "You think you’re real? You’re the shadow. I’m the fla."
I shifted.
Or tried to.
My wolf ca up inside but she was already there, too. Twisting, snarling, wearing my form like a stolen coat.
She ripped through .
I scread.
And woke—
Reality
—gasping, sitting bolt upright in the hovering bed, sweat slicking my skin.
The room pulsed once with low blue light.
I looked down.
There were claw marks scorched into the glass walls.
My claws.
But I hadn’t shifted.
Had I?
I pressed a hand to my chest, heart racing. The dream felt too real. I could still hear her voice.
"Die."
I got out of bed slowly, unsteady, and walked to the mirror.
My reflection stared back.
Except... for a fraction of a second... she smiled when I didn’t.
I didn’t sleep again.
After the dream, I couldn’t even close my eyes without hearing that voice.
Die. Die. Die.
Every ti I blinked, I saw her face lunging toward . Saw my own claws flashing, my own blood staining the ground. I’d checked the mirror five tis. I looked normal. But I didn’t feel normal.
My body was humming like a charged wire. As if sothing inside had been cracked open and hadn’t sealed shut again.
Whatever that dream was... it had stayed in my head.
I curled up on the floating glass bed, knees to my chest, eyes wide in the darkness. The room never fully went black — the soft blue sigils etched into the walls pulsed quietly, like a heartbeat.
My wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin, agitated.
She didn’t like this place. Neither did I.
But we were here now.
And the sun was rising.
Too fast.
The sky outside the curved window turned pale gold, the edge of the third moon dipping below the horizon like it was embarrassed to still be there. Bells rang out in soft tones — not tal, more like hollow crystal — echoing across the academy.
A gentle knock tapped on the door.
I stood, already dressed.
The door slid open on its own this ti. The sa aide stood there, back stiff, eyes downcast. He didn’t look like he’d slept either.
"Lady Valeen asked that you be brought to Orientation Hall," he said. "The other new recruits are already gathered."
Other recruits.
Other Students.
Magical creatures from this world. Born with abilities, trained in runes and rituals since childhood. I was sothing else entirely. A wolf pulled from another realm, flung into this one through a dying portal, shaped by hunger and betrayal.
But the aide didn’t know that.
None of them did.
As we walked through the corridors, I caught glimpses of the others through open archways and long glass-paneled walls. Students dressed in sleek uniforms of shimring dark blue and black — so with horns or wings or glowing sigils on their skin. Magic pulsed in the air like electricity, but none of them seed to notice .
No whispers.
No wide-eyed stares.
They didn’t know.
They hadn’t seen what happened when the recruiter’s test exploded from touching . Hadn’t felt the blast of raw, unasured power that cracked the sky open.
I was just another new face.
And for now, that was good.
Let them think I was normal. I really really didn’t want any form of attention.
The doors to the Orientation Hall opened with a soft whoosh.
It was massive, all pale stone and glimring archways, with a high dod ceiling.
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