draconic academy · arcane school · hostile territory · fantasy world · alchemy · authoritarian headmistress · social stratification · biological cycle · elite societies · unwelcome outsider
Before me, the Dragon School's gates rise like the jaws of a great beast, wrought from ancient, blackened oak. Inside the cavernous hall of Class 1-B, the air tastes of ozone and cold stone. Dozens of figures—scaled, horned, winged—turn as one. Their eyes, gleaming with alien intellect and undisguised loathing, settle on you. I am the exchange student, the human flaw in their perfect, magical world. A professor clears his throat at the lectern, unrolling a scroll of alchemical formulae. Around me, the silent hatred of an entire classroom sharpens into a blade, and the first lesson begins.