The crowd of mythical beasts in this realm stared wide-eyed at the man before them, knowing that fate had finally caught up to them. His hair was purely black, no sign of dark brown except for the subtle shine of the dimly lit sky, presenting him with an ethereal presence but reality truly sets in once you meet his gaze. His prominent red eyes looked similar to monsters but they held something different—dangerous. Meanwhile, his sclera that was supposed to be white had been corrupted with a black ink that matched his hair, making his irises seem brighter and more noticeable.

“Universe number 23,563…” he murmured, spinal cords ripping through the flesh on his lower back and branching out like tentacles. They looked as hard as diamond but moved freely like the elegant waves of an ocean. They were designed like a human’s spine, each bone segment allowing it to bend in any way possible. Each segment also held sharp bone spikes that curved inward, able to be used as hooks to easily stab into a victim’s body but much harder to be pulled out. “I hope you have what I’ve been searching for.”

One orc hesitantly turned on his heels and shifted away before beginning to push past the crowd and run as fast as he could. “I-It’s the Dimension Breaker!” he shrieked, every word being heavily breathed out with each step. “RUN!!”

Although running from the Dimension Breaker had been proven meaningless many times, it was the natural instinct of all creatures to flee from danger. And even as everyone scrambled away from the man, his spinal cord tails traveled at an infinite length to pierce the monsters through their cores, each core located in a different place based on the species. For example, an orc’s core is located in their chest while an ogre’s is in their stomach.

After hours of bloodshed, the Dimension Breaker had snapped the neck of the final beast. He slumped down onto a moderate sized rock that worked as a perfect seat to stare into the night sky. “Still haven’t found the one,” he murmured, his tails crawling back into his flesh as his sclera turned back into their usual white color and his hair had grown an underside of white.

But as he sat idly on that rock and unconsciously contemplated his life, he wondered, “what’s the point of living… if I’ve only sought to be slaughtered?”

• • • • • •

“Mister Vassilakis,” a young man called while standing in front of a fairly old man stationed at a brown hardwood desk, “these are the files for the new participants for this year’s entrance exam.”

The two men wore professional uniforms made up of a black suit with gold accents, a white shirt underneath and black pleated pants that offered both comfort and formality to the school’s environment. Although the old man had his eyes closed, he still seemed very much aware of his surroundings. He eyed down the three yellow file folders the young man had placed down and read their labels: Division 1, Division 2, and Division 3.

“Are you a new hire, young man? Remind me what your name is,” he asked with an additional command, “this old man isn’t very caught up with the recent trends,” he added humorously.

“Theo Kouris, Mister Vassilakis,” he stated firmly, “I’m with the command team that’s assisting with the exams.”

“Kouris, hm? Please, call me Vass. I’m sure you know who I am. Continue.”

“Right. Thank you, Mister Vass.” Theo cleared his throat before giving out the news. He opened the file labeled “Division 1” and flipped to a boy named Acheron Akabane. His description was blank and so was his backstory. Family, none. Address, none. Everything was blank except for his affinity, species and gender. Of course, his photo was there so his appearance was confirmed; black hair with a white underside that goes just above his eyebrows and eyes with the same color as the blood vessels in his sclera. “We have no information on this boy. We went so far as to get a separate team to question him but he gave very evasive answers. When we let him go, we did a background check on him through several means but haven’t found anything.”

Vass looked down at the paper with his brows frowned in curiosity. “So he’s a complete mystery?” he inquired, but didn’t look up from the paper. “Acheron Akabane…”

“That’s right. What should we do with him, Mister Vass? The exam team has decided to let you make the final call. You’re the director after all.”

“Of course, of course,” he chuckled through his nose and smirked at the paper before finally looking back up at Theo. “Let him in. I’d like to see what this boy has to offer.”

“Understood, sir. I’ll relay this back to the exam team.”

• • • • • •

This world is dark and covered in black mountains that look like glaciers, moon blue sand that mirrors the night sky and dark water that’s glittered with stars. The mountains create a giant crown of walls with a medieval yet otherworldly castle in the middle. The mountains slowly become smaller on both sides until they drag into the floor when it reaches the front of the castle, only making the crown a semicircle.

Furthermore, the same young man is sitting on the tallest mountain located on the very back of the castle. He’s sitting on a ledge with his legs dangling over the edge and his eyes gazed upon the lively civilization below him. That young man is me.

I’ve killed many creatures, destroyed many worlds, and shattered plenty of universes. However, there was one that should never be touched. The Milky Way galaxy, or more specifically, Earth. This planet is home to the most abstract species: humans. They’re the reason the Milky Way has yet to be annihilated. Because of humans, there is an unspoken rule throughout the multiverse, saying that no one is allowed to destroy the Milky Way galaxy.

While most planets have beasts who only act on primal instinct and rage, humans do not. They have a large class of so-called “emotions” that are chosen upon different events. On Earth, their species is at the top of the food chain even though there are animals much more vicious than they are. The only reason they are alive is because of their advanced weaponry and hunting skills. Their kind is impressive and I’d like to learn about them.

This is what the books told me at least. Ones that I’ve scavenged from random planets, they’ve all said the same things. The knowledge we have about Earth is almost as much as they know about us—none. This world is a mystery and I want to find out more.

Before setting off to Earth, I did some background research. This is what I’ve gathered: the planet is much smaller than most even though it holds some of the most intriguing species. Additionally, 80% of their surface is covered in water and they orbit a large star called Sun—or the sun; still haven’t really gotten that down. Moving on, the largest nation is named Avalon and it is home to the greatest sorcerers of their kind.

They also have a school for young sorcerers that I have signed up for. This also works in my favor since I already have the body of a human in their young adult years.

“Aizen, I’m back,” I called as I ventured into a spacious dark cavern with an ominous mist coming just above my ankles. “I won’t be here for long though. I’m going out on another trip.”

From the very back of the cave, two yellow eyes shined through the fog and a large black dragon slithered into view. His body was clad in pitch black scales but strangely reflected the moonlight that leaked into the cavern through the small cracks in the ceiling, and as he crawled closer, his claws dragged against the ground and echoed throughout the cave.

Aizen is an abyssal dragon, the strongest species of dragons in the Underworld and he is also my friend. He comes from the region called “The Void,” where every species of dragons live and call home. There, he is the strongest dragon and is known throughout the regions as The God of The Void.

“Where are you going this time, Acheron?” his voice came through the large teeth lining his lips as he gazed down at me.

“The planet of humans: Earth.”

“Earth?” his ears pointed upward and his eyes widened with interest. “Let me come with you!” he roared, “I’ll take on an animal form and stay hidden by your side!”

“Alright, relax. You can come if you want. And why not just use a human form? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

“I am a dragon that walks on all fours and flies with wings. Do you think I’ll be able to walk with any humanoid creature?”

• • • • • •

“Are these all of the participants for Division 1, Naomi?” Theo asked his team. He stood beside a girl with glasses and brown hair. She was looking up at the giant monitor screen attached to the wall with the information of all 25 participants. There was another monitor on the right of hers that was being controlled by a man. His screen showcased the cameras that pointed at all the participants who were standing idly on a field with fake grass and a 400 meter track. On the left of hers was another monitor controlled by someone else. Theirs remained temporarily empty for future use.

“Nope, I’m only counting 24. Who’s missing, Elijah?” the girl asked as she turned to the man on her right.

“The one with no background,” he replied, “Acheron Akabane.”

Suddenly, the fence door pushed open and Acheron made his way onto the turf with a strange black baby fox on his right shoulder. “You know you’re the reason we’re late, right?” he said, but his mouth didn’t move somehow.

“You woke up way earlier than I expected!” Aizen growled back, “plus, we had to stop for this telepathy spell and you made me skip breakfast so I had to chase down a fly-bunny!”

Acheron just rolled his eyes and joined the rest of the group. “So these are humans? Lots of them have different shades of brown. Isn’t that weird?”

“I guess it’ll help them differentiate themselves. They know who’s who,” Aizen shrugged. 

Naomi tapped on the microphone in front of her to get a sound test before clearing her throat and talking into it. “Welcome, welcome, everyone! I’m sure you all know why you’re here today but for those who don’t, this is the yearly entrance exam for the greatest sorcerer camp in all of Avalon! Academia Auroria!”

“This year we have a lot of challengers but only a select few of you will be able to pass and begin your study in this wonderful camp! I hope you’ve all gotten to know each other well because we’ll be skipping icebreakers and going straight into the fitness test!”