The first day of February. The air in the Academy was permeated with anticipation and the scent of fresh snow—which, for some reason, wasn't actually falling.

  And then they arrived. Not in a carriage like ordinary mortals, but astride griffins. The landing was, to put it mildly, epic: a cloud of dust, feathers, and top-tier swearing that could be heard even before their talons touched the ground.

  "ANNA! I told you this was a bad idea!" Alphus roared, trying to untangle the reins.

  "OH, STOP GRUMBLING!" Anna countered, leaping off her beast. "You were having fun yourself until we started going into a tailspin!"

  I couldn't help myself and shouted across the entire courtyard: "ANNA! ALPHUS!"

  They turned in sync, wide smiles blossoming on their faces. They ran toward us, and the classic whirlwind of greetings began.

  "Hi, Greg!" Anna waved. "Hi, Alexia, Lianel!"

  Alphus gave us a dignified nod, adjusting his impeccably white collar, which had miraculously stayed clean during the flight.

  "Meet the crew," I said, pointing to my new companions. "This is Alastia. This is the Dragonkin. And this is Anna. And this 'cloud' over here—that’s Alphus."

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  "A cloud?" Alastia looked my roommate over with interest.

  "Don't listen to him!" Alphus protested, turning red. "My name is Alphus."

  He extended a hand to the Dragonkin, who shook it with a look as if he were testing the structural integrity of an aristocrat's bones.

  Meanwhile, Lianel and Anna froze, facing each other. They didn't hug. They evaluated. Like two seasoned duelists sizing up their chances in the ring. The air between them practically crackled.

  "Alright," I clapped my hands. "Enough with the staring contests. Let’s give you a tour of this madhouse."

  We walked across the campus, and I began my "tour guide" lecture: "Over there is the First Building—it’s boring, stays on the ground. That building is the dormitory, where the floors occasionally go on vacation. Those floating behemoths are the Third and Fourth Buildings. The Fifth is that one over there, sitting at a forty-five-degree angle—a paradise for people who like falling over on flat ground. There’s a Sixth one too, but not even the building itself knows where it is."

  Kael joined us, and our group turned into a full-blown crowd. Old friends, new friends... my entire world, previously scattered across different lands, had suddenly converged at a single point.

  We headed out to a wide field behind the Academy where the grass was a suspicious shade of blue, spread out a massive blanket, and dumped a mountain of food onto it.

  We sat in a circle. The silence lasted exactly five seconds before everyone started talking at once. There was so much to tell...

  I lay on the edge of the blanket, chewing on a pastry and watching this gathering. Princesses, mages, dragonkins, "clouds"...

  "Well," I thought. "It seems this series is getting a bit crowded. Author, are you sure we have enough food for everyone?"

  But inside, it felt... warm. For the first time in a long while, I didn't feel like a "void." I felt like part of something noisy, silly, and absolutely alive.