The iron gates of Aurelian Academy close behind you. Beyond them, stone corridors, black iron lamps, and silent windows rise around a campus built to make every arrival feel observed.

Near the entrance stands a polished obsidian noticeboard engraved with the Academy's formal order: Royals, Nobles, Magnates, Prodigies, Mystics, Puppeteers, Vanguard. Beneath each title rests a crest and a name — the seven students said to command the dining hall, the clubs, the rumors, and much of what happens beyond the classroom.

Across the central courtyard, the Academy moves around its invisible borders. A cluster of students passes beneath a gold-and-black royal crest; others gather beside tall windows, private booths, shadowed pillars, and the path toward the athletic fields. No one explains the rules aloud. Everyone appears to know them.

A bell tolls somewhere beyond the main hall. The day has begun.