Artemis went into the dining hall with the crowd and found a seat. In every seat was a tray with the food of that day. A transparent board was floating in front of her. Artemis guessed that was the menu. There were a lot of options. She chose Spaghetti with orange juice. When she finished eating, she walked with Iris back to their cottage. A cottage was a place where two roommates lived with each other. The students could choose their roommates as long as they are the same gender. Their cottages got bigger as they progressed through the years. In every cottage was a bed for the dragon or the egg. The cottages were arranged in a circle around a lake. The bigger the cottages, the farther they are from the lake. There’s a pathway leading to the academy. All around it were trees so it looked like a forest. Off to the distance, Artemis could see a tower with phoenixes circling around it. They had been flown here by them because the academy is miles away from any human population. The phoenixes were hidden of course. A spell had been cast so that no families who didn't receive the letter from the academy wouldn’t be able to see it.

She and Iris chose a cottage and went inside. Inside was a bunk bed and two desks. Opposite from that were two closets. In the middle of the room were two things that looked curiously like a dog bed but smaller and much fluffier. Artemis put her egg inside of it. Underneath all of this was a comfy dark green rug.

“Wow, can I have the top bunk, please, please? squealed Iris.

“Alright, then I’ll take the desk closest to the bed” answered Artemis excitedly. She walked over to her desk and found a timetable on top of it.

“Hey Iris, come look at your timetable.” she said. Iris walked over to the desk next to her.

“I think we’re in the same class except for “Hatching time”” Artemis said

“Yeah, it’s because your dragon egg’s rarity is Red while mine is Purple. Different rarities have different hatching times. But our rarities are right next to each other so that’s why we’re in the same class. There are two White classes, one Green, one Blue, and there’s our class. Also, I bought some board games, do you want to play with me?”

“Okay” answered Artemis absentmindedly, taking in all the information.

Iris pulled out a board that looked like a chess board. “Do you want to be black or white”

“White” said Artemis, now very focused. The character pieces looked weird so she peered at it. They were dragons! But there aren’t any colors, just shapes without faces or details.

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“These are the cards, they will be distributed randomly. Each person will have ten cards. Each dragon on each card has different abilities. But it’s like real life so you can learn with it too. This is why I know so much about dragons. It’s my favorite game.” explained Iris

“Cool.” said Artemis as Iris played out ten cards to each of them. Her dragons looked good enough, but for some weird reasons, Iris was smiling evilly. They played for a while until Iris pulled out a card that was supposedly the reason why she had looked so smug. So because of that, Artemis lost and Iris won. It was nearly dusk and they decided to have a look at the lake after they looked at their timetables.

“Tonight, we’re having the first lesson,” said Iris.

“Yeah, it’s “Egg care”” answered Artemis

“Well, there’s one weird thing though” said Iris

“What?” asked Artemis

“I don’t see any pillows or blankets on our beds” answered Iris

Suddenly, they heard leaves crackling outside their cottage. Artemis ran to the door and flung it open. Outside was a bunch of small dragons that had blankets and pillows on their backs.

“Sorry” yelled a voice. They turned and saw a group of people running toward them. They looked a year older than Artemis and Iris.

“Our dragons like to slunk away and play pranks on people.” explained a panting boy.

“That’s okay, as long as they don’t do it too often.” said Iris

“They’re so cute” squealed Artemis, bending down to touch the dragons.

“Yep, sure, but we should take back our blankets and pillows from these fluffy thieves” joked Iris. She lifted their blankets off the dragon’s back and went back inside their cottage.

“You guys are one year older than us, right?” asked Artemis, turning back to the group of people.

“Yeah, I’m Noah.” answered the boy who had explained to them about the dragons.

“Well, see you later Noah.” said Artemis and she went back inside her cottage.

“We should get going to our first lesson,” said Iris after they had finished setting up their bed.

“Yeah, what should we bring?”

“Probably just our eggs. There’s a shock-proof backpack in each of our closets.” answered Iris.

“Sure,” said Artemis. She opened her closest door and surprisingly found not only a backpack but also a lot of clothes hanging on the rack. They looked as though they all fit her. It was perfect for autumn which was the school starting season. “What are you doing, it’s time to go?” asked Iris impatiently.

“Oh, nothing. I just didn’t think there would be clothes all ready for us.” answered Artemis quickly. She picked up her backpack and closed the closet door. Then she put her egg that was nestling comfortably in the small bed inside the pack.

“I’m done,” said Artemis, standing up.

“Alright, let’s go” agreed Iris. She turned off the light as they both headed out of the door and ran down the pathway to the school.