Seungwan sits on a rickety tram surrounded by several other humans her age, and at each stop someone is called off.

Every few minutes Seungwan views this departure through the window, and she worries she’ll be the last to be called. Each person called off is given a companion to guide them, she’s gathered. When the tram went through the industrial centres, they were greeted by someone of the ‘core’ race - stocky, mineral beings born from geodes. The tram had raced through the mountains, too, and this time wolflings were the companion of choice. For the last hour or so they’ve been travelling through the woodlands. No one’s been called off in this area yet, so she doesn’t know which companion to expect. Anxiety - and slight hunger – burbles in her stomach.

Seungwan is eighteen now, meaning her parents have sent her to study in Serica, the nation’s Great City. And for human students, this tram is the only way to get there.

The floor begins to hiss and spit as a figure stood by the rail grows nearer, until everyone grinds to a halt. The tram operator at the front shuts off the electricity and fumbles for a piece of parchment, glancing at it for a moment before calling out the next name.

“Son Seungwan, you’re up.” He delivers it as a slow groan, but Seungwan still jumps at it.

She wants to study the face of her companion through the window, but they’re facing away from the tram. She guesses it’s some type of elf by the ears poking obviously through their hair, which makes sense in the woodlands. Reassuring herself, she throws her little bag over one shoulder, and wraps her hand around her tatted suitcase handle.

“Miss,” the groan interjects whilst he points a sweaty finger at her suitcase. “Large luggage will be taken care of.”

Seungwan casts a face of confusion, but says nothing. Perhaps it’s inappropriate to drag her suitcase through the woods, and the Academy’s just that hospitable. The suitcase is abandoned where she was sitting but she keeps her backpack.

She thanks the operator – who doesn’t acknowledge this – and steps off onto the soil, where there’s a crunch of leaves beneath her soles. Her elven companion’s ears perk up, and they turn around to study her.

“Hello, I’m Joohyun,” the woman smiles slightly. Her skin is luminescent and her features are delicately refined, characteristics of a pure-born Altmer, otherwise known as a high elf.

Seungwan’s never seen one in person - her town was pretty much only populated by humans and Bosmer, a more humble and rugged kind of wood elf. But Joohyun is the magical kind she’s read about in novels, and has always been instructed by her father to treat them with utmost respect if she ever meets one.

She bows her head a little as the tram electronically gurgles behind her, her hair blowing as it whisks away. “It’s an honour to meet you. I’m Son Seungwan.”

Joohyun’s untouchable demeanour cracks and she laughs. “No need to bow, I’m here to assist you. Altmer are native to the city, so get used to our faces.”

Seungwan’s a little dumbfounded. “But there are so many myths about being disrespectful to high elves. Like,” the intimidation makes her fumble with her words, “Couldn’t you just set me on fire on the spot?” Altmer have an unbeatable ability with magic which even the most elite human fears. Joohyun scans her with an unreadable face.

“It gets boring after the first few times.” Joohyun then replies, soullessly.

At this, Seungwan’s about to respond but she can’t. She gasps like the air’s been knocked out of her lungs and suddenly wants to get back on that sweaty tram.

“I’m just joking,” says Joohyun through a smirk, so Seungwan laughs with embarrassment.

They’ve been standing around not doing much for too long, it feels, so they analyse the journey they have to make towards the city in the distance. Joohyun wedges the heel of her boot further up the hill, adding quietly, “I only did that once.”

Seungwan now realises why she was told not to take her suitcase. The hill is far steeper than it appears amongst the trees, and the terrain switches between rocks that she snags her feet on, and mulch-covered potholes where she loses her footing. The whistling air starts to make her ears sting and each step she takes must be carefully chosen. Focusing exclusively on studying throughout adolescence has made Seungwan out of practice when it comes to climbing skills.

The two have walked in complete silence until the rough path they follow splits into two directions, and Joohyun speaks in near-whisper.

“This path is for me,” she nods to the left, then points to the right, “and that one is for you.”

Nauseating fear grows inside Seungwan at the idea of travelling on alone, especially because she trusted Joohyun to zap off any danger using magic.

“Why?” asks Seungwan with widening eyes, “Aren’t we both going to the same place?”

“If I see you, I’ll explain.” Joohyun’s yellow eyes flash back, and Seungwan wonders where she’s even going. She may have only known her for an hour, but it’s daunting to go to the Great City without her now she knows just how different it all is.

“I almost forgot,” Joohyun says in a sort-of laugh, and outstretches her hands. Her fingers curl majestically, and as she moves her hands apart Seungwan realises she’s used some sort of spell. Hovering there is some sort of wrist watch, and Joohyun plucks it out of the air. Seungwan studies it; it’s slightly copper-toned and glints in the light.

“This is called an eMissary. It’s like a messaging contraption, and also helps you keep time and complete tasks. Your pin is 0221.” When it’s handed to her, Seungwan snaps it over her wrist without thinking. Joohyun’s eyes flash out once more, this time with concern. “Oh – and once it’s on, you can’t take it off.”

Seungwan tugs at the sides of the eMissary, and it’s true – it feels as though it’s welded to her skin. She looks up the path she has to take and her heart sinks. Then she looks back over to Joohyun, who’s mysteriously already made quite a way up her own path.

“Joohyun,” Seungwan calls, and the Altmer pauses and turns. “How long of a journey is it?”

The wind is picking up more heavily, but it doesn’t seem to touch Joohyun – her platinum hair stays neatly tucked behind her ears. She thinks for a moment, and then replies ominously.

“Depends on you.”

“Depends on me?” Seungwan’s mind feels like a blank slate, “What does that mean?” When she turns back, Joohyun has completely disappeared from view. After standing in confusion for a while the chilly wind begins to hurt on her face, so she snaps out of her daze. She studies her new wrist device with curiosity and types in her pin with cold fingers.

An electronic voice yelps at her from her wrist. “Son Seungwan, division: human, setup: undetermined. ‘Log in’ complete.”

This is followed by a soft click from her eMissary that echoes, and at the base of the screen a microphone symbol has faded in. It’s flashing from red to white, asking her to test it out.

She taps it hesitantly and lifts the watch closer to her face. “Hello?”

“Good afternoon,” it instantly chimes, “Please enter a command.”

It strikes Seungwan that she has absolutely no idea how to use this thing, and the fact that the device said ‘afternoon’ means it’s later than she thought. She figures she might as well start on her path.

“Nevermind,” she mutter, and to her amazement the eMissary shuts itself off.

Stepping quickly for lost time, the path continues to seem a bit treacherous. Trees begin to even stand in the way of it, meaning she has to carefully sense and calculate which direction to turn. Seungwan moves so quickly that all she can hear is the quick rustle of leaves against her arms and hair.

Experiencing such a blur, Seungwan fails to realise when the danger of this journey becomes significantly greater – some creatures are beginning to populate the forest. Crawling things, like large beetles, aren’t so obvious when they scuttle over her feet. But it’s the howling things that place her back into reality. She stops for a second to make sure she heard the sound right, and the howl repeats itself.

“,” Seungwan breathes haggardly as she notices shapes amongst the trees, and there’s only a select few species whose eyes can glow like that. Of ing course, the forests are filled with wolves.

Seungwan fills up to with panic but thinks to herself that at least they’re not werewolves, and considers what to do next. It seems they’re just howling to each other and aren’t eyeing her up – yet. Their bodies don’t appear tense, she hears no growls, but her time to deliberate it probably getting increasingly slimmer.

All she can focus on is how she could escape them, but only if she doesn’t make a single sound. Instead of crunching on the mulched up leaves littering the ground, she has to look for different surfaces. Carefully, she places her feet on logs and treestumps, balancing over them like a tight rope.

Her backpack straps are beginning to loosen, but it manages to hang on her arms.

Once she feels she’s created enough distance, she jumps off her wooden stepping stones and runs for it. Every muscle is engaged and she’s beginning to taste blood. Just as she might give out, she manages to approach a slight clearing - the rows of trees veer off revealing a more open space of land.

Treading ahead, she lets herself breathe properly again. It’s only when she swallows that she’s aware of how coarse feels, how there’s a rumble in her stomach. The edge of this space is lined with a fence and signposts which hints that she’s definitely nearing civilisation, and at this moment she couldn’t feel more relieved. She pays attention to birdsong in the air, and from that sound singling out the very faint beeps and grinding gears of bustle in the Great City.

But she was treading too haphazardly and should’ve paid more attention to the ground, not the fences, because right in the centre of the clearing lies a huge brown bear.

This shock is the most extreme Seungwan has consciously felt. The rest of the memories she stores with this level of fear are repressed. But Seungwan is living this shocking memory out; it is her shocking present. On this horrendous journey through the woods, here she stands feet away from the final boss.

It could be asleep – she’s not sure, but it does look like it’s made itself a blanket out of autumnal leaves. Making a lucky guess that it is in fact asleep, she darts for the fence with whatever energy she has left. Without wasting a moment, she flips herself over the metal fence, but not without making a resounding clanking sound.

With this vibrating through its system, the bear wakes with a jolt. It begins to circle the area to pinpoint Seungwan’s whereabouts, but halts when it steps on something painful. Seungwan furrows her brows and studies this - there are large twigs scattered through the leaves that are sharpened into points. It looks like she could cut her hand just by touching them.

“That’s odd,” Seungwan thinks, but she has no time to sit around. She’s not completely safe, but at least she’s over the fence. Exhaling deeply, she pats herself down.

It’s only then that Seungwan realises that there aren’t any familiar straps over her shoulders. Panicked, she rustles her hands through the leafy dirt around her, hoping they only just slipped off. She feels close to nausea. A few meters away, on the other side of the fence, sits her dropped backpack.

That backpack has all of her essentials from home in it. There’s absolutely nothing she can do, she has to go back to retrieve it. Feeling unbearably stupid, she places herself back into the pressure ground and lunges for her bag. She retrieves it with ease, but the bear has most certainly noticed her now.

Her fight or flight response goes into overdrive, terror drumming against her skull. With each step in takes towards her, she considers her options.

Flight, it has to be flight. She can’t kill this creature before she’s even reached the Academy. But when she sends signals to her legs to work, they’re completely exhausted. She trips, painfully, and desperately crawls backwards.

Fight. It’s becoming more and more tempting. Those sharpened sticks make perfect weapons, and the nearest one is a couple of arms’ widths away, if she could only reach it. How will she attack? How is she being pushed to do something she’d never do?

In seconds, the bear has gained on her to a point of no escape. With a thud to her back, Seungwan realises she’s up against the fence. Cornered. This is the end. If she doesn’t die from being mauled from a bear, she might die from anxiety.

Its wet, large, black nose is inches away from her face and she’s completely frozen. Closing her eyes, she submits herself to the inevitable, sending love to her family and Sooyoung.

But there’s a long pause. There’s no horrific agony and no sound. Instead, her arm flinches at something that feels soft, causing her to look down. To her unbelieving eyes, the bear has ducked its head under her arm. It wants her to pat its head.

It was completely harmless?

With a shaking hand, she hesitates at a and it grunts in approval. She scratches it behind the ear, and its leg shakes out of pleasure. She laughs, and it’s very nearly a cry. She really can’t believe this is happening a few seconds after accepting her brutal murder.

“Well done,” comes a soft, clear voice, and the sound of a gate being unlatched. To her right, in all her Altmer glory, stands Joohyun. “You just completed your initiation, and you did fantastically well.”

Seungwan studies her, completely numb. shapes the word ‘initiation’, totally dumbfounded by Joohyun’s cool demeanour.

“Every student gets a random initiation path based on where they were picked up. They’re a good indicator of what career role you should pick, but that can be explained later,” Joohyun has been looking mysteriously off to the side, but turns towards Seungwan with a cunning smile, “All you need to know is that I’m not sure you’re made out to be a soldier.”

“But you said I did well?”

“Oh no, you still did,” Joohyun nods calmly, “You used intellect instead of violence. You’d be surprised by how many people really harm these predators we put up.”

Seungwan witnesses Joohyun use elven magic to bring one of the sharpened sticks into her hand, and in one gory second, she sends it straight through the bear’s stomach.

It’s a whole new nightmare. “Oh my god!” Seungwan shrieks, horrified by the bloody image in front of her, “I didn’t ask for a demonstration!”

“This is demonstrating something else,” Joohyun responds peacefully, which seems so unsuitable. But with a snap of her fingers, the bear is rid of all injuries, completely docile. “Look – they’re just simulations.”

Joohyun snaps her fingers once more and the bear becomes transparent, slowly fading into the air. Seungwan grits her teeth. Everything she just had to go through was remarkably engineered.

“But it felt so real…” she stammers, remembering the texture of the bear’s coat between her fingers. She turns to Joohyun with watery eyes, “And the wolves?”

At this, Joohyun’s face tightens. “Those were actually real,” she confesses, and she can’t quite look at Seungwan directly, “they weren’t supposed to be there.”

A/N: Hello! Thank you for reading this first proper chapter! I originally planned to meet Seulgi (I promise she's the love interest) in this chapter but I wanted to introduce the Great City first, which I'll leave for the next one. Can you guess what mythical race she'll be? I've been shaping out my ideas of this futuristic/fantasy world for a while because I really want this to be an enjoyable read. Please let me know what you thought ♥