It was another half-hour later when the commencement finally ended, and people were back out in the front parking lot as friends and family wished their children goodbye and good luck. There were tearful and bittersweet farewells all around.Luckily, Beau and Toby weren’t that dramatic.“I’m sure you guys don’t need me to say it, but you guys will do just fine here,” Beau said as they, along with Joe, reached the Alicorn.Rafe rolled his eyes, smirking at him. “Don’t jinx it, old man.”Beau reached over and ruffled his hair. “That’s more of your thing, imp. Keep an eye on this one for me, cherub.”Andre saluted with an amused grin as he watched the blond swat at the lycan. “That’s my job.”“How about a hug?” Toby came over and enveloped the two boys in his arms without giving them a second, crushing them both to him. “I feel like a mom dropping her babies off at preschool. You, too, Joe. Bring it in.”Joe blinked in surprise before shrugging and inserting himself into the group hug. B

They had walked into pandemonium.Like most parties, it was loud, the deafening beat of the music shaking the entire basement, which was as wide and long as a supermarket. The goers were already at it, dancing, drinking, and making a fool of themselves without a care in the world. It was madness under the colorful strobe lights.However, the most outrageous thing that entrapped the first-years wasn’t the sheer chaos, but the blatant debauchery happening right in front of them. On one side, a lizard girl lay on a table with only two legs, kept balanced by a shirtless, massively built gray-skinned guy as he leaned close and snorted some purple, grainy substance from her stomach. On another end, a couple of humanoid female twins knelt before a groaning tiger shifter, lapping and bobbing at his naked, striped crotch. Some ways past that were several chimeras sharing a gravity bong while watching hardcore porn on a dusty flat screen.“What the hell did we just walk into?” Joe gaped, his ja

There was something… cold hovering nearby. A pair of menacing, black orbs – he could not see, but he could just tell – stared down at him with all the hunger and malevolence that could only be mustered from such an otherworldly creature. The freezing, ghastly wisps of power whipped across his face, and its icepick fingers trailed down like a razor across his cheek.His skin crawled, and he struggled to move, but it was as if he was a block of ice himself. A trail of frost slowly traced a path down from his cheek to a vein in his neck. The tiniest prick made him squirm before-Rafe’s eyes shot open before he darted up in a cold sweat. “Huh? What the f-”His shaky breathing was the only thing he heard within his dorm room as he frantically searched through the darkness, looking for what he thought was an intruder. Another worrisome thought entered his head and made his face drain of color, then nearly gave himself whiplash when he snapped to the right to inspect the bed several feet awa

The next class was back in indoors, though, it wasn’t located in the main building this time. The first-years traveled to a greenhouse dome, not too far from the gardens.Rafe grinned down at Andre. “You owe me a hundred bucks if I fall asl-l”Before he could finish that statement, however, the room began to distort the second they took a step in. The colors of the real world evaporated into darkness before orbs of light dotted the blacked-out canvas. Three-dimensional spheres of different sizes zipped into existence.Planets and stars.The group of first-years gasped, heads twirling about as panic began to arise among them.“The fuck’s happening?” the blond superhuman spun around, fists tensed as if waiting for something for someone to suddenly attack them.“W-We’re in space!” Joe yelled, and somehow despite being in a vacuum, his voice echoed.Daeran flinched as he gazed nervously out into the void. “Something’s coming.”As if on cue, a bright light flashed before them. The illumina

The intensity of the beatdown with Zoel seemed to have simmered considerably as the four first-years sat at a round table in Dalhia Diner and stuffed themselves with their most exquisite meals. Just a couple of taps and swipes on their WardNav and they had all kinds of strange-looking food on plates before them brought by a waiter or waitress, but the oddity of it all didn’t matter when the first bite made them chow down for more.“I had no idea wolves were strong like that, man!” Joe wondered aloud. “I thought they had to transform into their big, scary beast forms first.”He turned to Andre for confirmation, who just shrugged while he ate.“Really, it’s just bonus power.”“Makes me wonder how strong the rest of the Argo guys are.”Rafe had the same daunting thought circling inside his head as well. Instead of speculating on such stress, he asked, “The hell was in that bag that jackass needed to beat the shit out of us so bad for? Makes me wish I lasered the thing instead.”“It smell