I stepped into the giant room of my third class. The building was a giant terrarium. There were vibrant plants all around, with a stream running through one part that led to a small lake. There were many trees of many different kinds, with at least a hundred different animals all over the place.

“Wow,” I said. “This place is beautiful!”

“It is,” Arya said. “It’s like a better version of the greenhouse at the old school.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Hello there!” A woman said, stepping out of the foliage. She had clothing in many shades of green and a pair of large sunglasses perched on her forehead. “How wonderful that you’ve chosen this class! Come, come.” She walked over to the one area that wasn’t wild. We followed her to an open space with stone tiles and tables all over. The many chairs were scattered haphazardly around the tables. I sat down in one, with Arya next to me.

There were already a few students there, but they didn’t talk to us yet. I waited with Arya for everyone else, looking around at all the many creatures. Several brightly colored songbirds flitted past, squeaking like mice. A large, six-limbed cat slowly moved through the upper part of the trees, slowly stalking what appeared to be a spider.

Eventually, all the students had gotten to the classroom and sat down.

Mrs. Flarine then explained that the day will be a relatively easy introduction to Magical Creature Care. She told us that we would have a partner and then would together explore the area, noting down things of importance or interest.

Arya and I chose to be partners, and together we went into the southern part of the atrium. However, after a few minutes, we encountered a strange creature lying on the ground.

It was vaguely humanoid, but it had a long tail and what looked like a second pair of arms as well. It was curled up and lying on the ground.

I hurried back to find Mrs. Flarine to tell her what we had found. She was talking with another student, so I waited patiently until she was done. I walked up to her.

“Yes, dear,” she said. “What can I help you with?”

“My partner and I found an odd creature,” I said. “It looks almost like a human, but it has other parts of its body that don’t match.”

“Hmm,” Mrs. Flarine said. “Why don’t you show me where it is.”

“Okay, I said. I led her to where me and Arya had found the creature.

“Oh,” Mrs. Flarine said. “This is a special case. Have you heard of a darksoul?”

“Kind of, yeah,” I said. “Aren’t those the ones where it’s usually a normal person but sometimes they are a creature?”

“Close enough,” Mrs. Flarine said. “Well, in this case, the person went mad and lost themselves to their darksoul side.”

“That’s so sad,” Arya said.

“Yes, it kind of is,” Mrs. Flarine said. “And it usually doesn’t leave its den, so it’s unusual for it to be this far away.”

“What should we do?” I asked.

“We need to try and get it back to its den,” Mrs. Flarine said. “There it will be safe.”

“Look!” Arya said. “It’s injured!”

“Oh no!” I said. “Maybe it was attacked and dragged over here!”

“Hmm.” Mrs. Flarine said. She knelt to examine the darksoul. “Yes, that is most likely the case. Here, help me pick it up.”

I bent down to pick up the darksoul, but the moment I touched it, its eyes opened as it screeched. I tried to back away, but before I was out of its range it swung its tail around and sliced the blade-like tip across my upper arm. I gasped at the sudden pain and fell backward.

“Kanata!” Arya said. “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” I said. I looked up to see the darksoul scurry away through the underbrush.

“Oh no,” Mrs. Flarine said. “We need to get you to the infirmary, ASAP.”

“I’m fine,” I protested. “Really!”

“No, you’re not,” Mrs. Flarine said. “Do you know how darksouls are created?”

“No,” I said. “But what does that have to do with-”

“Darksouls are created from a darksoul being exposed to a normal person,” Mrs. Flarine said. “There’s about a 30% chance for you unless you have an allergy to frogfruit.”

“And if I do?” I asked.

“You’re three times more likely, so about 90% chance,” Mrs. Flarine said.

“I’m allergic to frogfruit,” Arya said.

“Well, let’s be thankful it wasn’t you who got scratched,” Mrs. Flarine said. “And what about you, Kanata?”

“I don’t think I am,” I said. “I’ve never had one though.”

“Well, now we hope,” Mrs. Flarine said. “Arya, take Kanata back to the desks and wait until I get back.”

“Okay,” Arya said. She helped me get up and together we walked to the desks. I sat down in my chair and waited. After a minute, Mrs. Flarine came back with another student.

“Kia, can you take Kanata to the infirmary?” Mrs. Flarine asked.

“Yeah,” the girl, who I assumed was Kia, said.

“Good, thank you,” Mrs. Flarine said. She then hurried back to another student.

“I hope you’ll be okay,” Arya said to me.

“I hope so too,” I said. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you later,” Arya said. Then Kia led me to the infirmary, where the nurse used some magic to heal my cut before sending me to my room to rest.

“Are you sure I can’t just go back to class?” I asked.

“Yes,” the nurse said. “With your situation, you need to rest.”

“Fine,” I said. I walked back to my room before lying down on my bed. I laid there, thinking, until the comfort of dreams drew me into its world.

I slowly opened my eyes into a dream. I was still tired, which was odd. I yelped, seeing something in the dream. It was avaguely familiar creature. It looked almost human, but several things about it disproved that.

For one thing, instead of hair, it had what looked almost like the tentacles of a squid, with two longer ones in the back. Its whole body was variations of a purplish color, and its eyes were like that of a snake’s. It had two long tails connected to the base of its spine and claws on its fingers and toes. Two short, straight horns sprouted from its head. It also seemed to wear form-fitting clothes around its upper body and waist.

“What are you?” I asked it. It tilted its head, peering at me. “Do you understand me?” It hopped forward, crawling closer to me.

“Hello?” I said. Then I felt within me a feeling that whatever this thing was, it wouldn’t cause intentional harm to me. “Do you talk?” I said.

Then I was shoved out of the dream and into the real world. I sat up quickly and looked around. Nothing was there.

An odd feeling crept over me. I looked down at myself to see my skin a purple color and sharp claws on my hands. I went to stand up but I fell onto my hands and feet. My hair felt different, so I looked at it. What I saw looked just like what I had seen in my dream.

I sighed inwardly, trying to adjust to the way I moved in this form. I scrambled behind my bed when I heard the door open.

I froze, ready for anything. Soft footsteps entered the carpeted room, walking toward the bed I was hiding behind. I squeezed myself underneath the bed, and just in time. The other person came around the bed and would have seen me if I hadn’t moved.

I took the opportunity to try and sneak out the door, but halfway there the person turned my way. Their eyes were a startling blood red and their skin was extremely pale.

“What are you?” The person asked. They slowly approached me, holding out a hand. I backed away slowly until I bumped into a wall. I tried to say “Go away!” but all that came out of my mouth was a short hiss.

“There, there,” The person said. “I won’t hurt you. Have you seen a girl with red hair anytime recently?” I realized that this person was looking for me but they hadn’t recognized me in this form. The person was almost on top of me by now, and I was becoming very agitated.

Calm down! I tried to tell myself. I jumped at the person, landing on top of them and holding their arms down. I hissed, angrily.

The other person uttered a single word, and a blast of energy threw my body into the wall. I slid to the floor and slumped over. I tried to get up, but I grabbed control and forced myself to slump over again.

Pretend like you’re unconscious, I thought to myself. She’ll leave me alone. 

“Stupid creature,” The person said, dusting their fancy clothes off. “You’re no match for a vampire.” With that, she left the room.

I listened to her receding footsteps until I couldn’t before getting up. I breathed in and out, trying to calm myself. After a little while, I succeeded and returned to normal.

“I need to rest more now,” I said, crawling back into my bed and falling asleep instantaneously.