The first week at the University passed in a blur, getting used to the time difference, planning a year’s curriculum with little to no preparation time, and getting to know his students filled his days almost to bursting. Nearly every day he would remain in his class after the bell rang for anyone who might need a little extra help and there was never a day that some of his students didn’t make use of the opportunity. Sometimes it was for homework or help on an upcoming test but more often it was sheer curiosity that kept them coming back… sharing their people’s histories and cultures… and asking about his. More and more, he wanted to find a way where he could let them show off their pride of whom they are.

It was during one of these talks that something strange happened. Brea Keener, the class banshee, stayed after class. Normally the girl kept to herself, dressing in black, generally emo style clothing but as the class filed out she sat there at her desk, unmoving. A couple of the girls noticed as they were getting up to leave and paused.

“Brea? You doing okay over there.”

The girl didn’t answer, instead, her head lolled back, boneless as she stared at the ceiling. All color drained from her eyes and her body tensed like electricity was running through it. Her mouth opened, wider than it should have been able to, and from somewhere deep inside, a voice echoed.

Dark wings block out the sun.

The head burns alone in her room

A storm approached on the wind

Bringing with it, for all of us, doom.

Her body fell forward onto the desk… like a puppet after having its strings cut. Cherri, the pink slime girl, from the class rushed to her side.

“Aw sweetie… ya’ll okay? Looks like it happened again.” She patted Brea’s cheek as the girl started coming around. “There ya go girl…”

Brea’s eyes refocused as she was helped to sit up better. Shaking her head to clear it from whatever just happened. “Crud… I say anything that made sense this time at least?”

“Afraid not, wings and doom… nothing real definitive.”

“What was that, Brea?” Dana stood up, looking at them, worry clear on his face.

“Yeah, teach…” Brea waved him off, seeming tired. “Happens sometimes… prophecy runs in my family. Nothing to worry too much about.”

“Yeah…” Cherri grins cheerfully. “You would be surprised how many things she says that just end up relating to her favorite TV shows. Probably nothing worth fretting over.”

The banshee got to her feet, blushing in embarrassment as she picked up her bag. “We are working on controlling it but no such luck so far. Just wish it wouldn’t pick the worst times to show up, though this one at least wasn’t at a party. Or a date.” She bristled slightly as she slung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door. She had only made it halfway when the entire building shook with a distant explosion. Running out of the classroom people were moving around in the halls… no one knowing quite what was going on.

Dana ran with the few girls left after class and exited the building just in time to see a massive dragon fly by overhead. A loud cry sounded throughout the campus as it flew past them. In the distance, a column of smoke rose into the air. A girl came running up to them, it was Jett, a vampire in the class… dressed as always in the very pinnacle of style even with the panicked look on her face.

“The library just… exploded!” She looked over her shoulder at the rising smoke. “Are we being attacked?” In the time he had been here, Jett seldom showed much emotion but here, her fear was evident, almost palpable.

People were running towards them, fleeing whatever had happened at the library, and for a long second Dana panicked… what could he do as just a human? That thought didn’t last long, as his resolve came back to him in full force. He turned to the small group of students with him.

“Cherri, find the President, she’ll know what to do about this. The rest of you, get someplace safe.” With that said he took off at a run towards the smoke in the distance. He didn’t look behind him as he ran so he didn’t see Brea and Jett following after him as fast as they could go.

The library was a mess, stone walls toppled over with smoldering books on the ground. In the middle of it all was the dragon. With a swipe of its claw, another of the library walls toppled, falling very close to the form of a girl lying on the ground unmoving. He could see other students, trying to get out of the way as the creature seemed to rampage amongst the building’s ruins. Dana charged right in, jumping over a flaming pile of books as he headed for the downed student. Reaching her, he grabbed her off the ground, hoisting her into a fireman’s carry, and froze.

The dragon had noticed him and was moving in front of him, golden eyes glittering in the firelight as it moved among the rubble. His breath caught at the sheer size of the beast but he couldn’t help noticing there weren’t any signs of fury in those eyes. Tentatively he took a step back, trying to get some distance between him and the lizard… the student over his shoulders shifted, groaning in pain. He took another step and the dragon charged.

He ran for his life, feeling the creature right behind him… then a whooshing sound broke through the air behind him. Two arrows bounced off the hard scales of the dragon’s face. It roared, more in annoyance than anything, turning to see Meira stood not far away, bow at the ready. The look on her face was cold and warlike as the wind blew her hair around behind her. He heard another scream as the ground behind him tore itself apart separating him from the dragon’s charge.

“Go teach go!” Brea yelled, screaming again to distract the dragon. Even Jett had pulled out a pitch-dark scythe of some kind, holding it at the ready as she helped other students get clear of the rubble. Dana saw the injured being gathered around a woman off to the side, her hands glowing green as she moved from girl to girl and he changed his path to head towards her. The dragon, meanwhile, took another few attempts at following him but Brea’s screams and Meira’s arrows prevented it from being able to go more than a step in any direction. Putting the student down, Dana turned back to the commotion, just as the dragon lifted off the ground with a powerful flap of its wings, taking off skyward.

He bent down to check the student he had carried and found her face to be a mismatched patchwork of different colored skin. Every part of her that was visible seemed to belong to a different person. The soft green glow enveloped her and her eyes blinked open.

“She’ll be fine, Mr. Wilde… just needs some time.” The woman healing people patted his shoulder. “Druid magic might not be able to pull off miracles but it will be enough to keep the injured stable until more healers can make it.” He recognized her as one of the teachers he had met during his first days here but for the life of him, her name eluded him.

“What the hell were you thinking Wilde?” Meira stormed up from behind him. “That dragon could have burned you to a crisp if it wanted…you have to be more careful if you are going to survive here, you know.”

“I think it was brave…” Jett said, coming over to them with an almost timid voice. “He ran right in after that girl.”

Dana stood up, the adrenaline fading in his system a bit. “Yeah… I didn’t really think beforehand.” He looked over what used to be the library. “Why didn’t the dragon roast me… like you say? Did it cause the fires and run out? Questions for later, we should make sure there aren’t any more injured inside.”

Everyone there started moving through the area, looking for any signs of people trapped and helping any out they found. A lot of students had been in the library using their free period for research… Thankfully no one was hurt too badly in the chaos. Eventually, Cherri caught up with them, the normally bubbly slime girl seeming drawn and her color more pale than usual.

“What did the President say?”

“Nothing…” Cherri’s voice was quiet… “The President’s office was on fire… hotter than any fire any of us ever seen. Everything inside was gone… even her. If wards hadn’t been put in place knowing she was a phoenix the whole building mighta’ gone up.”

Meira lowered her head, taking the news in quietly. “It’s fine… she’ll be back in a few days but she won’t be able to be President anymore. She’ll be a brand new person, practically a kid.” She turned, seeing most of the people in the library needing help had gotten it or were in the process, and with another quiet nod, walked away.

* * *

She hadn’t made it very far before Dana came jogging up behind her.

“I’m sorry about your friend, Meira.” He reached out to her, touching her shoulder gently. A gesture she almost immediately shook off.

“Like I said… she’ll be back before we can miss her.”

“But she won’t be the same person you knew. In every sense that matters you still lost a good friend and it’s not worth downplaying it.”

“It… it just gets tiring, you know. We elves live so damn long it just feels like everyone leaves too soon.” She turned to him, the barest hint of a tear at the corner of her eye that she refused to let fall. “Might as well not even get to know you… you’ll be dust in the ground before I even hit middle age. Sometimes I… sometimes it just makes too much sense why most elves live among only other elves.”

“In that case, I guess I’ll just have to never die. That way you have an excuse to get to know me.” He smiled, trying to be disarming.

“Funny Wilde… just pop down the store and pick up your standard immortality kit?” He could see the smallest tremor in her jaw. This woman who was so much larger than life itself, suddenly seemed so small and frail.

“After the things I have seen since meeting you, don’t tell me it’s not possible. And if it is possible, I’ll find out how.”

“You promise?” She watched him intently, looking for all the world like a little girl asking to be kept safe from the world. “You promise you won’t leave me?”

Dana nodded, quietly moving to her and hugging her. “I swear it, Meira. If it is at all possible, I will find a way not to leave you alone.” She nodded against his chest, her arms going around his waist. At that moment, Dana wished he never had to move again… he wanted to live in that small moment of peace with just the two of them. But it was never meant to last.

“Then stop doing stupid things like running at dragons!” She slapped both her palms against his chest, pushing him back a step. “I don’t care how brave or noble or any other crap it is… all of that is worth squat if you’re dead. You’re human, no protections, no weapons… leave the fighting to others.”

“That… that I can’t promise you. It might have been stupid but I would do it again. I didn’t even know until too late but two of my students… kids themselves, ran after me to try and keep me safe.” He looked down at the ground, taking a breath. “I want to be able to give them the same. I want them to be able to come to me for help and know that I can give it to them. I want to learn how to fight, Meira… or magic… or both… I just don’t want to be the one on the field everyone is worried about if this kind of thing is going to keep happening.”

“Do you even have any experience fighting?”

“I boxed for two years in college… never competed but was in plenty of fights.” He shrugged, he kept up with some of the practice even now, if nothing more than to keep in shape.

“I guess it’s better than nothing… show me then. We can figure out just how much work you need from there.” Dana nodded, unbuttoning his shirt and taking it off. Meira’s eyes widened as she saw his chest and arms for the first time. There were lean muscles that tensed subtly with every move he made. She couldn’t help but let out a whistle. “Now I know why all the girls are fawning over you… not nice keeping secrets.”

“What is that all about anyway? All the girls in class keep flirting with me, some rather heavily, and from what people seem to say that’s expected.”

“Of course…” Meira grinned slyly. “Take any of the girls up on their offers, stud?”

“NO! Teachers and students just… no.” He jumped up and down a few times, getting himself warmed up.

“Ah… your human sense of what is right coming out again. Why don’t teachers get with students in the human world.”

“Huh? Well…” Dana thought a moment. “Most times the students are too young, underage… it’s not something that’s acceptable.”

“I know a lot of the girls that ended up in your classroom… Jett… the vampire that came out to the library with you had her two-hundredth birthday not too long ago. I’m pretty sure the youngest student you have in your class is twenty. An adult even by most human standards.” She took a few steps around him, her movements every step the predator about to take down its prey.

“It’s not just the age… teachers are authority figures… the power differential there is too lopsided.” He fell back into a defensive stance, hands up to guard… muscles going back into old patterns instinctively.

“Power differential? Gotta be a human thing… any succubus at this school could take your soul, drain your body dry, and imprison your spirit in another plane. A shifter could reduce you to a loose meat sandwich in the blink of an eye. You can give them a bad grade that might get them scolded by their parents. Who do you think has the power in that relationship?”

He dropped his guard just a fraction of an inch as he heard what she was saying. She wasn’t entirely wrong but it still felt strange thinking about anyone in his class as anything but a student. He looked back at Meira just in time to jerk his head out of the way of her fist. He stumbled sideways, recovering his footing but she was already charging her shoulder into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. He clutched at his midsection as he fell to the grassy ground.

“First lesson,” Meira said, standing over him as he held out a hand to help him up, any trace of vulnerability he saw earlier long gone behind her icy gaze. “Your boxing was a sport… it had rules. Combat doesn’t. Let’s go again.”

He got to his feet, a little embarrassed she blindsided him so easily but returned to his defensive stance, his eyes not leaving hers. “So in this world relations are a little more lax than back home?”

“It’s just on a case-by-case basis more than generalities. Magic changes too many situations to have a one-size-fits-all solution.” *She came at him a little more traditionally, jabbing some quick strikes at him that he knocked away.

“But why is everyone seemingly interested in me?”

“Besides the novelty of a human? There aren’t a lot of available men in many cryptid communities. Outside the vampires and lycans that reproduce asexually, the men are usually the ones getting killed by hunters. Nearly all the creatures here can be described as human mixed with something else… human is just the universal factor. And you are the only one here…” She swung at him a little wildly, and Dana managed to duck in under her guard almost scoring a punch on her chin. She just grinned almost crazily as she danced away from his fist. “Not worried about hitting a lady, I see.”

“Why? Is one showing up after we finish here?” He grinned evilly as she attacked with renewed vigor.

The two of them ended up sparring there until the sun went down. Sitting by a tree under the stars afterwards they shared a bottle of wine he retrieved as she told him all about her friend Eterna.