Two worlds divided

Chapter 4

Miranda chuckled as she walked into her corridor, she waved at her neighbors and went down the stairs. She had woken up with a hangover, a headache, and, for some reason, cuddling a teddy bear. She treated her head with far too much aspirin before she noticed the email. The email had her in some sort of stupor.

She hadn't expected to be offered the job, much less a tour of the campus. She would be able to see her future classroom, the food areas, the dorms, her room, and the courtyard... which would all be full of monsters. Oh God, well, she couldn't turn back after saying yes, and saying that later that day did work with her schedule.

She was going to complete her regular Friday morning errands, mainly getting food in her fridge, before heading off to the school in her softest outfit. If the monsters didn't kill her, the outfits and acting certainly would. She was going to have to act nice and sweet day in and day out with those horrid beasts. She was going to have to be good, she was going to have to be civil... she was dreading it.

She was dreading it even more now that she was actually in the school. She was walking through the Administration building; and was currently standing in the main entrance waiting for the deputy. Nylon, or whatever her name was, she couldn't understand her thick Welsh accent. The woman worked in a school in Gloucestershire but sounded like she was from Swansea, somehow this was one of the only schools she had been to with a Welsh member of staff; this place was just strange.

She stood there for all of a few moments before a puff of mist appeared and out stepped a woman. She gave her a sweet smile and offered her hand. "Hello, I'm Deputy Nyx Grimes, I teach Magical Creatures Studies here at Draconia School of Creatures."

Miranda chuckled. "Isn't that just Biology? Or are there creatures that have gone extinct and such?"

Nyx seemed to perk up at the attention. "Oh! Well, the course discusses literature mostly, human literature, and how creatures are portrayed in it. We discuss some creatures that have gone extinct due to humans, we discuss how you have some creatures in your folklore that don't actually exist, and last, but not least, we discuss our biology and the differences between creatures."

The auburn smiled. "That sounds like a class I would enjoy, I have been quite curious about the difference between our literature and your literature. I am quite the nerd when it comes to books. If you don't mind me prying... what creatures have gone extinct due to humans, I am ever so curious."

The dark-skinned woman smiled as they began to walk. "Well, unicorns are endangered, as well as pegasi, Leprechauns have been gone a good while thanks to the Irish, there are only a few phoenixes left, dragons were hunted to extinction, trolls are now underground, griffin numbers are down and gnomes were a strange target for humans. Those are the ones I can list off the top of my head."

The two women left the building and soon Miranda took in the other buildings on campus. They all had an older feeling to them, much like Oxford or Cambridge University, with brown walls and pointed roofs. They were all placed in a square shape to surround the main courtyard, with a path to the side for student accommodations, and a separate building for the teachers. The paths were all cobblestone, they all looked surprisingly well-kept, with no vines or rogue grass touching them, making them clear in the grass.

She had looked at their, surprisingly well-kept and organised, website, so she was able to tell most buildings apart. They were separated into lecture halls, eating areas, recreational areas, sports areas, and administration halls. It was all structurally sound, gorgeously gothic looking, and was a sight to behold. Especially with the collection of students that Miranda could see.

She saw students with wings flying above with books in hand or a laptop, she saw a grand fountain in the middle of the freshly mowed grass that had students with scales reclining, she saw groups of students of all kinds of monsters relaxing, chatting, reading, typing... it was strangely fascinating watching all these bloodthirsty beasts acting like... regular old university students.