After dinner was over, they’re led, surprisingly, out the back of the building, past a large courtyard, and down the center of three paths. He follows close to Baekhyun as instructed, observing the grounds as their walk curves sharply along the edge of a cliff. Kyungsoo stifles a gasp when they crest the hill. Before them is a small island, on which rested seven identical buildings in a neat U-shape with a water fountain in the middle. The island hung in mid-air, tethered to the main island by a narrow old hanging bridge fashioned seemingly out of enormous, braided tree roots emerging from underneath the floating mass. On their side of the bridge stood an enormous statue of a horned lion resting on all fours.

“It’s a unicorn!” gasps one of the First years behind him.

Some of the older kids giggle in response and a tall boy with a silver badge on his sweater spins around to find the one who spoke. “He is not ,” he proclaims, bristling at the idea, “He’s a xiezhi!”

Another boy coughs behind him and nudges him with their foot. The prefect glances back and his mouth forms an ‘o’ shape briefly before he turns back to the First Years. “I mean, he’s a haetae,” he corrects himself brusquely. The sun was setting, and it was hard to tell his face, but the silver badge must mean he was the prefect Baekhyun was talking about earlier, Yifan. “What kind of backwoods, podunk place are you from that you don’t know a mythical lion when you see one?”

The ground shakes as the giant statue comes to life and straightens up, filling the air with the sound of grinding rocks as it rears up to its front paws. “New children,” it blares in a loud, gritty voice. Some of the First years cower and make nervous noises, clinging to each other in a little herd. “It is a new year already?” the stone beast asks sleepily, if a rock could sound sleepy.

The prefect steps closer to it and pats its foreleg. He is tall, probably the tallest out of their entire House, and he doesn’t even come up to the creature’s knee. Yifan speaks to it in a language Kyungsoo doesn’t understand and it lets out a chuckle that rumbles the ground. “So little,” it adds, looking over the newcomers. Behind him, Kyungsoo feels Jongin gripping the back of his sweater tightly.

“He came from Guandong,” Yifan explains to the First years. “So technically he’s a xiezhi, but—”

“Dōngsānshěng,” the lion corrects, “if we’re going to be technical.”

Kyungsoo winces as the lion’s lips pull up into a cheeky smile, sounding like nails on a chalkboard as the rocks grind against each other.

Yifan drops his hand, stepping away in pretend annoyance. “It hasn’t been called that in the last century or so,” he huffs haughtily before focusing back on the First years. “But anyway …this is our House mascot—”

“Protector,” the haetae interjects.

“Our House protector, Fu,” Yifan grinds out, side-eyeing the haetae again, “who happens to be our mascot, and basically, don’t try to sneak your friends into the dorms, or he’ll eat them.” He smirks at the horrified looks from the First years and pauses a moment to bask in it before continuing. “Anyway, to get into our dorms, you have to face Fu. All new students have to introduce themselves right now so he can know your name and your scent. Everyone else can go in and get ready for bed.”

Baekhyun elbows him. “Go. Hurry,” he mouths as the line starts shuffling forward.

Kyungsoo stares at the giant lion and gulps nervously. No one else was approaching it, and Yifan has started sweeping his hands and clapping encouragingly, trying to get them to step up. He could feel Jongin’s hand trembling against his lower back. The older students have already gotten a quarter of the way across the bridge and Baekhyun is almost to the haetae, shooting furtive glances back.

“Should we go?” comes a nervous whisper behind him.

He’s so tempted to beg Jongin to go first, but between the confusion earlier and him being older, that is not an option. Inhaling a deep, albeit shaky, breath and steeling his nerves, Kyungsoo takes a cautious step forward, and another, and another. His eyes stay locked on the haetae’s, who seems much more interested in stretching its paws out than observing the new students. He practically has to drag Jongin along behind him.

The haetae finally notices his approach, and tucks its claws away to smile down at the two frightened children. “Hello,” it purrs out in a low, gravelly voice.

“H-hello…” Kyungsoo manages to squeak out, pushing Jongin’s fist off of his sweater and feeling the fabric snap back loosely. “M-my… name- my name…” The lion remains frozen in amusement, like the statue that it is, waiting patiently. He swallows and squeezes his eyes shut for a second before trying again. “M-my name… is D-do Kyungsoo. I am a S-second… year.”

“Hello, Do Kyungsoo,” the haetae says plainly. It doesn’t seem interested in any followup questions.

He goes to follow after Baekhyun, but Jongin snatches the tail of his sweater again and holds it in a deathgrip. “MynameisKimJongin,” he rushes out in a squeak, and Kyungsoo catches something about “First” and “ear” before Jongin flattens himself against Kyungsoo’s back, trying to appear small before the lion.

“Hello, Kim Jongin,” the statue greets, and then more loud rocks grind as its lips pull back up into another grin. He looks quite pleased with himself.

There’s only a sliver left of the setting sun on the opposite side of the horizon when they join Baekhyun. He has that Cheshire cat smile on his face again, whirling around as they step toward him, and walking over to the edge of the cliff without a word.

“You could have elaborated on lion statue,” Kyungsoo grumbles, although he regrets it almost immediately. He can’t make friends if he goes and snaps at them immediately after. Jongin finally lets go of his sweater again, and he works on rearranging it as they trail after Baekhyun. At least right now, there’s a glimmer of hope.

“It would’ve ruined the initiation,” Baekhyun says, shrugging a shoulder as he rocks back and forth on his feet, standing uncomfortably close to the edge. “You guys ready?”

“...For?” Kyungsoo asks.

“So I’m gonna jump, and you guys are going to follow me exactly, okay?”

“What?” Kyungsoo says, glancing over to Jongin to confirm he had heard Baekhyun correctly. Apparently, he did. “No!”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun,” Baekhyun says, tilting his head back to smirk at them, eyes glittering.

“I don’t want to jump!” Jongin says, stepping closer to Kyungsoo again.

Baekhyun turns around fully this time. “Fine,” he says, “Go back to the dorm then. I’m gonna go see a pixie.” And then he’s decided the conversation has ended. He faces the cliff again, takes a couple steps back, and then dashes forward with no hesitation, leaping at the last second over the edge.

Kyungsoo’s reflexes make him launch toward Baekhyun to grab him, despite him being nearly three meters away. His shout dies as tree roots reach out and wrap around Baekhyun, lifting him up over their heads, and then vanishing a moment later. Silence fills the air. Eventually, seconds or minutes later, he turns to find Jongin reflecting his bewildered look back at him. “What just happened?” he asks.

Jongin looks like he’s ready to cry. “...Should we follow him?” he asks several seconds later in a small voice.

He’s tempted,