Already this was grander than anything Chanyeol could have imagined and he had only been on the grounds for about five minutes.

He had pretty much only seen the courtyard, which had a huge fountain in the middle that was pretty to look at, but made Chanyeol instinctually avoid it. He absolutely hated water. Fire and water just didn’t mix. He was now in the large lobby of the main building on campus – an open concept room with lots of glass windows and pieces of coloured stone decorating the floor. Chanyeol couldn’t see what the mosaic was of with all of the people that were currently standing on it, but it was probably beautiful. He was amazed, but honestly, it didn’t take a lot to impress the young phoenix.

Golden eyes alight with wonder, Chanyeol couldn’t stop moving – turning this way and that in order to see everything he could. It was as if he still couldn’t believe that he was going to be living on this campus from now on and he needed to absorb as much of its splendour as he could in that moment.

Exodus Academy certainly looked as prestigious as its reputation made it out to be. It was the only institution of its kind – offering up specialized training and teaching to students of the supernatural and magical variety. It allowed creatures like Chanyeol to learn about the history of their species, as well as other species – something that he wouldn’t normally be able to do since phoenixes were primarily solitary creatures. This academy would also allow Chanyeol to safely practice his powers and shapeshifting abilities. That was the main reason he had enrolled.

According to the older phoenix who had recommended the school to Chanyeol, Exodus was established by a very powerful warlock, who the students referred to as Headmaster Sun. Chanyeol didn’t know an awful lot about him, but he was held in high regard in these parts. Since the building of the academy, creatures of all kinds were becoming more tolerant towards each other and were more effectively integrating themselves into the ever growing human population. The phoenix would join them once he had learned all that he could.

But for now, Chanyeol would attend classes with a whole variety of other creatures and train with other fire using beings. He was giddy from the mere thought.

“Welcome to Exodus Academy!”

Startled out of his daydreaming, Chanyeol looked towards the woman seated behind a small table. While being distracted by the décor, he had made it to the front of the line for new students. If he had to guess, Chanyeol would say the woman was an elf of some sort. Pointed ears were peeking out from beneath long blonde hair, a signature for the species.

Within the large lobby, students were lining up to receive their class and dorm information. New and old students of all species were mingling within the marble room, the excitement and nervousness almost tangible.

“Can I get your name and species?”

Chanyeol gave her the necessary information and was handed his schedule, a map, his dorm key and a small folder full of brochures that were advertising clubs and events happening on campus. The young phoenix had so much to consider he felt a little overwhelmed. This was entirely a new experience for him.

Turning away from the table to allow the next person to move up, Chanyeol suddenly collided with another body and being the very ungraceful bird that he was, he dragged the other person to the decorated floor with him.

The stranger he had crashed into let out a rather colourful expletive and Chanyeol scrambled to detangle himself from the other male. Once kneeling next to him, Chanyeol bowed, apologizing profusely.

The stranger settled two very irritated red eyes on the young phoenix. He was dressed in a rather expensive looking suit and even had a small pocket square. “Do you not watch where you walk?” he snapped, flashing two pearly white fangs as he scowled.

A vampire, Chanyeol’s mind immediately supplied, a little hesitant in that classification. He recognized the signature crimson irises and sharp canines key to the species, but this guy’s skin was rather tanned for a vampire. Perhaps he was something else?

“I’m really sorry,” the phoenix said in a rush, getting to his feet and immediately holding out a hand to help up the other male. “I’m not used to crowds.”

The vampire huffed but accepted the hand, pulling himself up with Chanyeol’s help. “Clearly.”

Chanyeol held fast to the other male’s hand, turning the helpful grip into a handshake. “I’m Chanyeol. I’m a phoenix and a new student here. It’s nice to meet you.”

The vampire seemed to have been caught off guard by the phoenix’s sudden introduction for he just stared at the taller, red-headed male for a long moment. He didn’t even try to pull his hand away from Chanyeol’s excessive handshake.

“You’re a vampire, right?” Chanyeol prompted when the other seemed to be at a loss for words. He didn’t want to lose this opportunity to make a new friend, even if that friend was made after falling to the floor.

The vampire seemed to recover, smoothly tugging his hand out of the phoenix’s grip and making sure he still had all of his belongings. With the other male checking over the folder in his hand, Chanyeol was reminded of his own folder and looked down to see if he had dropped anything. Sure enough half of the brochures he had been given were strewn across the purple and black stones. As per usual, he had made a mess.

Chanyeol dutifully crouched down to pick them up, mumbling excuse me’s every so often as people moved around, stepping on some of the papers in the crowded room. He almost got his hand stepped on by a hoof once or twice. By the time he had finished getting everything back in order and was upright again, the vampire was gone. Frustrated with being ignored and still not wanting to let a potential friend go – he had never met a vampire before either – Chanyeol scanned the room for a head of white hair. It was fortunate that he was so much taller than most of the people in the vicinity.

The vampire could move quickly but the bundles of other students within the room slowed him down quite a bit. Chanyeol caught sight of him heading towards the large floor to ceiling windows that made up one wall of the lobby. The phoenix moved in that direction, narrowly missing another collision with a centaur as he twisted around other students, eager to catch up to his target.

“You never answered my question!” Chanyeol called as a way of getting the vampire’s attention.

It was successful for the white-haired male did turn towards the phoenix when he spoke. A look of annoyance crossed the other male’s handsome features when he realized who it was, but he did stay in place this time at least.

“My name is Kai.” The lack of denying Chanyeol’s previous observation probably meant that he was indeed a vampire.

A wide smile stretched across the phoenix’s face in response. Finally they were getting somewhere. “Are you a new student too?”

This question was met with just a nod.

“Do you want to explore with me?” Chanyeol asked, gesturing to everything around him with large hand motions. “There’s so much to see. We could go to the dorms, or we could go check out the training grounds, or we could go get something to eat at the cafeteria?”

He spoke in a rush, listing off everything that came to mind in a long continuous sentence. He was afraid his new friend would run off again if he didn’t talk fast enough.

It wasn’t every day that Chanyeol got to interact this much with another being, so he was a little excited to hold onto the first person he could find. The phoenix had also never met a vampire before and had only heard a few stories about the influential pure blood vampire families. He wondered what class his new friend was a part of. Actually, Chanyeol wondered a lot of things, but he figured starting out with something simple like walking around campus would be better than firing a barrage of questions at the other male.

Everything else would come with time. Chanyeol had many, many days to get to know his new friend and to make more friends.

Some chapters will be shorter and some will be longer. Please vote in the poll below to help decide where our pair will go next. Your choice will decide who of the gang they will come across first. 

Thank you for reading and I hope you continue on this interactive journey with me!