Lydia watched the rather wide back of the red-haired woman she was following. The woman was quite plump around certain areas and from this woman She had hoped for a better life and everything, but now her patience was thinning out and her hope had transformed into extreme annoyance.
It's been thirty fucking minutes?? How long does she want to keep going??
She heaved the loudest, most dramatic sigh of her life and stopped walking altogether, clutching the strap of her bag like it had personally offended her.
"So where exactly are we going…?"
The woman stopped immediately and turned fully to face her. Her expression wasn't irritated. If anything, it was patient. Almost as if she was amused. Apparently, she found Lydia's distress funny.
"To the Academy," she replied simply, perhaps fishing for a reaction and she got it!
Lydia gestured wildly at the trees. "Does this look like somewhere an academy should be?"
The woman smiled faintly. "You're asking the right questions. That's good."
Lydia grunted aggressively "That's not an answer."
"You'll get answers," she said, walking back toward Lydia instead of away from her. "Just not all at once. If I overwhelm you now, you'll stop listening."
Lydia narrowed her eyes. "Try me."
The woman studied her for a second, then nodded giving up on her chase
. "Fair. Walk with me."
They resumed moving.
"A couple thousand years ago," the woman began conversationally, "humanity experienced its first contact with non-human species. Not myths and Not folklore Real beings. Magical beasts. Creatures that existed long before humans wrote stories about them."
Lydia frowned obviously not buying it but she decided to play along anyway
"You mean like werewolves and stuff?"
"Yes. And many you've never heard of."
She blinked, irritated. "And they just… live here? On earth?"
"They always did. Humans were simply too blind, too primitive, or too dismissive to notice..not until the encounter years back ofcourse."
Lydia swallowed she was starting to buy it... somewhat. "So what does that have to do with me?"
The woman glanced at her. "You tell me. Did you ever feel… off? Different? Like your body was waiting for something you couldn't name?"
Lydia didn't answer...Because yes she always did... coupled with her uncles abuse and an underlying sense of something she couldn't explain...the answer was yes!
The woman nodded like the silence was confirmation.
"Bale Academy exists for monsters of every kind. Full-blooded. Half-blooded. Ancient lineages. Rare species. Creatures who cannot live safely in the human world without training or control."
"Monsters," Lydia repeated slowly.
"Yes," the woman said gently. "And you are one of them."
Lydia opened her mouth to argue.... because what does she mean?!...But before she could
The woman stepped forward and pulled aside a thick curtain of leaves.
And Lydia forgot how to breathe, because what she laid her eyes on was nothing short of a miracle ... because Beyond the forest wasn't forest.
It was a vast campus that looked like castles had grown from the earth itself. Towers stretched high into the night sky, windows glowing gold and blue like bottled starlight. Floating lamps drifted lazily over stone paths. People presumably, Students moved everywhere—walking, hovering, gliding, crawling.
Sound hit her next immediately..Laughter. Voice and the raw existence of the supernatural standing right Infront of her.
"This," the woman said softly beside her, "is Bale Academy."
Lydia stepped forward without realizing she had moved.
"A barrier hides this place from the human world," the woman continued. "Only those meant to see it ever do."
Her voice had lost the teasing edge. It was warmer now. Informative and Careful.
"Tomorrow morning, you'll take a Monster Evaluation Test. It reveals exactly what you are and how powerful your lineage is. After that, the academy assigns your classes and training."
Lydia's throat felt dry. "So you don't know what I am?"
The woman shook her head. "No. And that's the interesting part."
They began walking down the slope toward the school.
Students passed them.
A towering white-furred creature lumbered by.
"That's a yeti," the woman said casually.
A boy with cat ears sat on a fountain edge.
"Feline type." she said with a stern repulsed tone that made Lydia catch her dislike for cats... perhaps she was of a dog breed? Or a werewolf?
Something green and scaled trudged past with a backpack.
"Alligator bloodline."
A tall figure wrapped in gold linen drifted across the path without touching the ground.
"Pharaoh lineage. Very old species."
Lydia's head kept turning.
Her brain couldn't keep up! All these things all these creatures? They do exist.
"This school," the woman added, "is for all monsters. Not just demi-humans. Some here are more beast than human. Some are not human at all."
That sentence settled heavily in Lydia's chest.
If the woman actually meant what she was thinking then it meant that she had to watch out for people.
They reached the main path when the woman lifted a small device to her ear.
"She's here. Send her."
A pause, send what?
Then she lowered her hand and smiled faintly at Lydia. "Your roommate is coming to get you. She'll show you the dorms and explain the rest better than I can."
"Why?"
"Because she's your age. And she remembers what this felt like."
Lydia turned...And nearly screamed.
A girl stood there. Or floated.
Her edges were faintly blurred, her body slightly transparent. Her hair hung in soft curls around her shoulders, and her skin—what Lydia could see of it—was a deep dark tone that shimmered faintly in the light.
She grinned widely.
"Hi!"
Lydia stared in disbelief
"Ghost," the girl said cheerfully. "Don't faint."
Lydia blinked twice. " what's Your name?" she didn't know why that was the question she asked.
"Phantasia. Because I'm a phantom," she said proudly.
Lydia paused.
Then nodded slowly. "That makes sense"
Phantasia beamed. "You're my roommate....Lydia right? C'mon, I'll show you around."
Lydia looked back at the red-haired woman for an intervention the woman smiled at her Reassuringly.
"You'll be fine, Lydia. I promise."
And Lydia, for some reason, believed her.
She turned and followed Phantasia.
They walked along the stone paths as students passed them in every direction.
A yeti. A horned girl. A boy whose eyes glowed. Someone with scales. Someone with wings.
Lydia's staring got worse by the second.
Phantasia leaned closer and muttered,
"Don't stare too much girl, you might catch a fade."
Lydia immediately snapped her head forward. "Sorry."
Phantasia laughed. "First day. You get a pass."
She moved quickly, her excitement spilling into every step as she guided Lydia through the winding corridors that branched away from the central grounds. She pointed at everything with the enthusiasm of someone who had once been new here and never quite lost the wonder of it.
"That hall leads to the combat arena. You'll hear screaming from there sometimes...don't panic, it's usually training. The cafeteria is down that spiral staircase, and if you ever see steam coming out of the vents, it means the dragon students are cooking again...they are always chaotic"
Lydia listened, but not entirely. Her eyes were busy doing their own work, taking in tails that brushed against uniforms, claws that clicked softly on stone floors, antlers narrowly missing chandeliers, wings folding and unfolding with casual familiarity. This place did not hide what it was, It wore it openly abd Lydia was happy about that.
They turned a narrow corner between two stone arches that leaned toward each other like old friends.
And Lydia walked straight into someone.
Her shoulder hit a solid chest. The force knocked the small bag from her grip and her things spilled across the floor—clothes, photographs, a comb, a folded shirt tumbling out in disarray.
"Oh—sorry!" she said immediately, dropping to her knees to gather them.
Silence followed.
Then a voice above her, calm and edged with something unpleasant spoke
"Sorry for yourself."
Lydia paused mid-reach.
She looked up to see who it was...he was tall in a way that felt attention seeking. Still and unfoundly Composed. His dark hair framed a face that was too sharp to be called handsome in a soft way. His eyes were fixed on her, not with anger, but with scrutiny—as though she were something placed under a lens for inspection.
He took a slow, unimpressed look at her.
"What even are you?" he asked. "Because you don't have it."
Lydia frowned. "Have what…?"
"A scent," he replied flatly. "Every creature has one."
The words were not loud, but they carried. A few students nearby slowed their steps. A cat-eared girl pretended not to stare. A broad gorilla boy openly did.
Before Lydia could respond, Phantasia slipped between them.
"She's just arrived!"
His gaze shifted briefly to Phantasia, then back to Lydia.
"Oh? A demi-human?"
"Yes, and what about it, nostrils?" Phantasia shot back.
A collective gasp fluttered through the corridor.
Phantasia stiffened almost immediately after saying it.
"Oh no. We gotta go, Lydia."
She grabbed Lydia's wrist and pulled her up before she could say anything else because Lydia inturn was brewing her own clap back.
"Sorry for that, senior!" Phantasia added quickly as they hurried away.
Lydia allowed herself to be dragged, but her head turned back once, catching the way he still stood there, watching her...not offended, not angry and she wondered why she was the one being watched and not the girl who had insulted him.
She was interested.
"Who even is that?" Lydia muttered, irritation simmering under her skin. "Because I swear if this place allows fighting—"
"Girl, that's Sorren," Phantasia whispered. "One of the Virren serpent twins."
Lydia scoffed. "Ha. Serpent. How convenient."
Because why not? She wondered who the virren twins were but decided not to ask about it anyway.
Phantasia did not slow down as she resumed leading the way toward the dormitories, but her tone dropped.
"You don't talk to Sorren like that and walk away peacefully. So let's just be grateful I'm already dead."
Lydia smiled, she hadn't considered that Phantasia was once alive ..
By the time they reached the dorm building covered in ivy and glowing lanterns, Lydia felt like her brain had been shaken loose inside her skull.
Inside, the halls were warm and softly lit.
Phantasia pushed open a door.
"This is us."
Two beds. Two desks. Two wardrobes. A wide window spilling moonlight across the floor.
Lydia walked in slowly.
Everything felt too real and Too quiet after everything outside and she appreciated the tranquility.
She moved to one corner without speaking, dropped her bag, and let her belongings fall around her feet carelessly.
She didn't arrange anything.
She just stood there for savoring the moment.
Tomorrow, they would tell her what she was.