"Mia?"

"Hmm?" The blonde replied, lost in thought.

Mia had finally laid down waiting for her guide, her arms behind her head. She was staring at the ceiling for a good twenty minutes to try to clear her mind and apprehend the new surprises that awaited her. She needed to stay calm. She was at least relieved to see that the notion of time seemed the same in this world and hers.

When the young woman that called her name approached her, the blonde jumped. She hadn't even heard her enter.

By getting up to sit down, Mia was able to detail the newcomer. She had shoulder-length red hair slicked back in a ponytail, emerald green eyes, small freckles scattered across her face, thin smiling lips, and a short five-foot-five.

No wings, no red eyes, no fangs or other oddities. On the contrary, everything about her breathed security, gentleness, and confidence. She was the first person she met here who looked human like her, instantly creating a feeling of closeness between the two women. Therefore, Mia liked her immediately.

"My name is Arry. I'm going to show you around and try to teach you everything you need to know to live comfortably among us while you're here."

Arry punctuated her words with a welcoming smile and gestured energetically to invite her to exit the room.

Before Mia could even get up, a huge ball of fur leaped up on the bed and stared down at her, sniffing at her, its piercing, inquisitive eyes fixed on her face. She immediately cringed and swallowed hard when she saw that she was in front of a very large dog that looked very much like a wolf. Suffice to say that she was not very reassured.

"Oz! Get down, you're scaring her!" Arry shouted with a laugh.

After a last proper sniffle, he snorted and his paws found their way back to the ground, next to the redhead. She put her two hands on the animal's cheeks and moved them to annoy him. He quickly freed himself from her grip and sneezed, looking annoyed.

"Excuse me. I forgot to introduce you to Oz. He likes being the center of attention, don't you, Oz?" she threw at the animal in a mocking tone.

"Is he a werewolf?" Mia inquired, confused, but reassured that he hadn't come specifically to attack her.

"Oh no," she chuckled. "Just a slightly grumpy wolf. He's my totem animal," Arry asserted as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

Every time someone answered her questions, it only created more in her mind. She felt like a newborn discovering her surroundings for the first time, totally lost in this vast unknown reality that seemed so obvious and logical to the people who introduced themselves to her, but she was certainly eager to learn about everything.

"Totem? I don't know anything about your world, you know..." she grumbled, trying to remain polite.

"Excuse me, this is a little bit awkward for us too since everything seems perfectly normal to us... I guess you've already been told that we are magical beings. This magic also affects animals, tamed or wild. It's a fairly rare phenomenon, but it happens that an animal and a magician bond. It's quite complex to explain but... imagine two minds becoming one. Of course, we set limits, otherwise, it would be unbearable. If we want to, we can communicate through our minds, feel each other's sensations and emotions, and our life expectancy is shared. We are tougher to kill, but when one dies, the other dies too."

Mia nodded, thinking about what the young woman had just explained to her. She had often seen this kind of bond in fantastic books or series and had often dreamed of bonding with an animal... She was almost envious of it. Perhaps she could also have this experience in this world?

But her pragmatic mind couldn't help but remind her that depending on the life of an animal, no matter how fierce and intelligent, would eventually become a burden and not a benefit to her. She could not bring herself to calmly entrust the fate of her life in the hands of a living being who was not herself.

"Anyway, let's go. It's already ten o'clock, and I'd like to show you around before it's time to eat. If you have any other questions, we'll discuss them along the way."

The two young women and the wolf left the room to cross a long corridor dotted with wooden doors on each side. For a school, she was amazed at the number of rooms available in what seemed like a mini-hospital, far larger than her school's infirmaries on Earth.

This observation left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. Supply and demand. If there were so many rooms, it was because there were a lot of wounded students. The tournaments that Vassili had spoken to her about no longer seemed as harmless and good-natured as he claimed them to be.

Of course, he's minimizing it, she thought, he doesn't want me to panic. Well, you failed at that task Mister vampire.

The blonde and her guide quickly passed the hall of the infirmary that Mia did not have the opportunity to observe much further because of the hurried pace of the redhead. All she had had time to see was a large wooden room from floor to ceiling composed of a few tables and chairs of the same material, giving a very cozy atmosphere to the hall which also seemed to be used as a rest room.

Indeed, some fairies – whom she recognized by their wings – were talking quietly among themselves around a cup of some beverage resembling tea and some biscuits.

The healers watched her discreetly as she passed, and some even allowed themselves to greet her with a smile. At least they seemed to react friendly to her presence. The infirmary would therefore be a refuge of choice for the young human if the other students were to be... less benevolent.

Leaving the infirmary, the cozy atmosphere disappeared in favor of cold and impersonal stones. The long hallways of gray brick were deserted, making the place even more sinister than it was. The structure looked more like a maze than a school, Mia noticed as she looked around. All the hallways and all the doors looked like, so she would have quickly gotten lost without her guide. Only small signs next to the heavy wooden doors informed her of the purpose of the rooms beyond them. They were mostly simple classrooms.

"At this hour, the majority of students are in class, that's why the school seems so empty. You'll quickly find that it's a real anthill when we have free time," Arry explained as she walked."How many of you... study here?"

"Hm... I couldn't give you the exact number, but it must be around two thousand."

"That much ?" Mia exclaimed, stunned.

"The Arena is the only university of its kind for hundreds of miles around. As it brings together all the races, the number of students is pretty high yeah."

Shivers raced up her spine as the thought of being lost among hundreds of inhospitable creatures crept into her mind. Was she truly going to be able to live here without risking death around every corner? Her, the helpless little human, against beings with fangs, claws, and magic? She shook her head mechanically to clear her mind off her fears, not wishing to feed her anguish.

Never show that you're scared, she told herself.