They Call It an Academy. I Call It a Lawsuit Waiting to Happen

The carriage moved as if the wind itself carried it.

It didn't rattle. It didn't creak. It didn't even feel like it touched the ground.

Instead, it glided, weightless, across the roads, cutting through the landscape like a blade through silk. Every so often, the world outside would shift in a blink, a blur of green replaced by rolling hills, then rivers, then endless stretches of golden plains. The horizon bent strangely, folding into itself before snapping into clarity, as if the carriage weren't just traveling forward, but slipping through the very fabric of space. Villages flickered past in the span of heartbeats. A river that should've taken an hour to cross disappeared behind us in seconds. At one point, I swore we had sped through a forest without disturbing a single leaf.

Just days ago, I had never stepped foot outside my village. Now, I was sitting in a noble's enchanted carriage, racing toward the greatest magical academy in existence.

I leaned against the window and sighed.

Pain still lingered in my ribs, a dull, throbbing reminder that I shouldn't be here. I shifted, pressing a hand against my side. The healers had done their job, but I could still feel the phantom ache of every strike Elias had landed. The weight of every moment I had been overpowered. The sheer exhaustion of throwing everything I had at someone who barely had to try.

I had lost that fight.

I should have lost that fight.

And yet…somehow, against every logical outcome, I had won.

A bitter laugh bubbled in my throat.

Was it skill? No. Strength? Definitely not.

Luck.

It had to be luck. The same thing that had always brought me misfortune, had, for once, worked in my favor.

But why now?

And why did Elias look at me like he had seen something impossible?

The carriage slowed, not naturally, but all at once. The shift was abrupt, unnatural, like the momentum had been severed mid-motion. The air grew still. The world felt wrong, like I had just stepped off a ledge I hadn't seen.

My fingers twitched against the seat.

Something was about to happen.

Then, the door opened.

I stepped out and froze.

Arcanis wasn't here.

Not yet.

What lay before me was a passage, a gateway that separated the mundane world from the Academy's hidden domain.

The arrival platform stretched out before me, impossibly vast, a colossal disc of floating stone suspended in midair by forces unseen. Its surface shimmered with embedded sigils, pulsing faintly like the breathing of a sleeping giant. Above, the sky was no mere sky. Gone were the soft blues of day or the velvety blacks of night. Instead, an endless expanse of swirling silver light loomed overhead, shifting in great arcs, forming celestial runes too massive to comprehend.

And beyond, at the very end of the plateau was a gate.

No simple archway. No door.

A construct so vast it could have been the bones of an eldritch entity, towering into the heavens, its marble-white frame veined with glowing orichalcum filigree. The runes carved into its foundation pulsed in complex, shifting patterns.

A group of students soared in on great-winged phoenixes, their flames scattering embers into the air. Others emerged from shimmering, open portals, stepping through with practiced ease. A boy descended from the sky, standing atop a floating, rune-inscribed disk as if he were riding the air itself. A girl strode past me, her cloak billowing as the very shadows around her seemed to bend and ripple. Each entrance was grand, powerful, an unspoken declaration of their worth.

I took a deep breath, and then I stepped out of a noble's carriage, bearing the crest of House Aurellian.

Their gazes landed on me, the nobody dressed in borrowed clothes, stepping out of a transport meant for someone of status. Some stared in curiosity, others in mild surprise. A few in disdain. The weight of their judgment pressed against my spine, but I forced my nerves down.

I met their gazes, forcing down my nerves.

For once, I allowed myself a shred of confidence.

I had survived worse. I had fought a noble heir and lived.

What could possibly go wrong?

A sharp step forward.

A sudden shift beneath my foot.

A flicker of blue light.

Then, without warning.... The world collapsed.

I barely had time to register the glowing circle beneath me before I was gone.

****

Heat.

Blistering, choking heat.

I crashed onto jagged stone, the impact sending pain jolting through my spine. The ground beneath me was searing, radiating a stifling, unbearable warmth that clawed at my skin. The air was thick, too thick, suffocating with the acrid scent of ash and brimstone.

A deep, resonant growl rumbled through the cavern, so low I felt it in my bones.

Something shifted in the darkness.

My breath caught in my throat.

Coiled between pillars of molten rock, nestled atop a hoard of gold that shimmered with reflected firelight, was a dragon.

A DRAGON.

Its body was a shifting, sinuous mass of obsidian-black scales, each one like forged battleplate, ridged and razor-edged, but pulsing beneath with molten veins of red-gold light, as if fire itself bled through its skin. When it moved, those fissures of living flame brightened, flashing between the gaps of its armored hide. Its limbs were massive, ending in talons the length of swords, each curved into a reaper's scythe. Its wings, folded but vast, stretched like a storm on the horizon, their membranous expanse webbed with veins of molten gold, flickering as if reality itself burned around them.

The cavern trembled beneath its weight. Its eyes locked onto me.

Twin pools of searing amber, burning with something far worse than rage.

Amusement.

There was a long, horrible silence.

Then, very slowly, the dragon began to rise.

One enormous claw shifted forward, talons scraping against the stone like grinding tectonic plates. Muscles coiled beneath its obsidian armor, rippling with raw, predatory power. A great, shuddering exhale escaped its cavernous maw, sending waves of scorching heat rolling across the chamber.

I didn't think.

I ran.

Scrambling across the cavern floor, heart pounding, lungs burning, desperate for any exit, any escape,

A rush of scalding wind surged behind me.

The dragon inhaled.

The air itself collapsed inward, pulled into the black abyss of its yawning maw. The walls trembled. The ground cracked beneath its feet. Flames coiled in its throat, molten gold surging along the ridges of its spine as it prepared to unleash a firestorm that would end me before I could take another breath.

The moment the fire burst forth, the air around me shattered in a violent rush of energy. A burst of light, seized me mid-step. The heat vanished. The dragon's roar warped, twisting into something distant, disconnected, like a voice from another world,

I stumbled, nearly collapsing, my legs barely holding me upright as cool air rushed back into my lungs. The burning stone beneath my feet was gone, replaced by the smooth, rune-inscribed platform of the arrival gate.

I gasped, hands on my knees, chest heaving.

Before me was an instructor, arms crossed, looking profoundly unimpressed.

They sighed. "Try not to fall into active teleportation circles next time."

I wheezed. "...Noted."

Laughter rippled through the students watching. Some were openly smirking. Others whispered among themselves, throwing glances my way.

So much for a confident entrance.

Ignoring the lingering humiliation, I turned to face the gates of Arcanis, just to forget how to breathe.

The ivory-and-orichalcum monolith loomed above, stretching so high it seemed to scrape the heavens. Beyond it, the academy unfurled as a declaration of supremacy. Titanic spires of crystal and dark onyx stretched into the skies, their peaks vanishing into the clouds, their bases resting on islands of stone that floated as if gravity had no say here. Bridges of polished obsidian and luminous silver arced between them, unsupported yet unwavering, as though held aloft by sheer will. Some structures stood still. Others drifted, adjusting their positions as if responding to unseen commands.

Winding paths led through hanging gardens, where trees bore glowing fruit and leaves whispered secrets in forgotten tongues. Fountains spilled liquid luminescence into basins that reflected no sky, only endless constellations. Rivers ignored gravity entirely, curling through the air like ribbons of glass before emptying into hovering basins of gemstone and steel. The academy didn't just bend the laws of the world. It rewrote them.

A flutter of movement from behind me.

I barely had time to react before my summoning letter slipped free from my bag, hovering in place like a feather caught in a breeze.

Ink seared itself onto the parchment in elegant, fluid strokes.

"You are finally here, you absolute pain."

And then, with casual cruelty, it burst into flames.

I blinked, watching the last of the ashes vanish into nothing.

"Now it burns," I muttered.

The entrance rippled with energy, while students passed through in steady waves. Some strode forward with the grace of royalty, their steps measured, their expressions unreadable. Others hesitated, their gazes roaming across the breathtaking scenery, as if struggling to believe this place truly existed.

I took a slow, measured breath.

I had arrived.

Even if the universe had tried its best to kill me on the way.

Straightening my back, I stepped forward.

And with that, I entered Arcanis.