Chapter Text
The carriage didn’t glide to a stop so much as it shuddered, wheels grinding against old stone like it resented the destination.
Cinder Dreadwell lifted her gaze from the book she was reading, looking out through the small carriage window she could finally catch of glimpse of what would be her home for the next few months.
Night Raven College loomed like an accusation.
A black castle with spires that stabbed at the sky. The air itself seemed heavier here, not in the way Roseveil’s did, but in a way where you can already tell that things wouldn’t go smoothly. From what she had gathered from Undina, Night Raven College was a four-year academy on the Isle of Sages—prestigious, infamous, and exactly the kind of place people talked about.
Cinder’s fingers tightened around the cover of her book, finally she shuts it with a sharp snap.
She had won a raffle. One of the so called ‘lucky’ few who get to participate in this exchange program.
The whole thing was unnecessary in her opinion, though she wasn’t the only one who got sent to another school it still felt like she got the short end of the stick here.
A Roseveil University second-year—Cinder Dreadwell, heiress to Dreadwell & Co., daughter of a family whose work was meticulous, unnerving, and perfection—sent to an all-boys school across the sea.
It was absurd.
And the fact that her stomach had been twisting for the past hour was—of course—none of anyone’s business.
She inhaled slowly, smoothed her expression into something calm and composed, and stepped down from the carriage like she wasn’t stepping into a den of wolves.
The moment her shoes met the stone, she felt it.
Eyes.
Cinder kept her posture straight and her chin level as she walked onto the grounds.
‘If you look like you belong, they won’t question you’. She told to herself.
It worked at Roseveil.
It had to work here.
Halfway to the main entrance, a voice cut through the murmurs—bright, casual, irritatingly unbothered.
“Hey! You must be the transfer from that fancy school, right?”
A teen with wild ginger hair and a heart painted over his eye waved at her like they were old friends. Beside him stood another teen with blue hair and a spade marking over the opposite eye, already looking like he regretted being seen with the first.
Cinder stopped. Measured. Bowed—precise, polite, trained.
“I am. Well met.”
The ginger boy waved her off as if she’d offered him a napkin at dinner. It took everything in her power to not say anything at the dismissal.
“Geez, no need to bow like that. You’re like Housewarden Riddle.”
He said the name like it was a curse and a punchline at the same time. The blue-haired boy elbowed him sharply.
“Shut up, dude!”
“Relax, I was joking.”
Cinder kept her face neutral, but inside her thoughts flicked like a metronome.
The ginger grinned and gestured to himself with the confidence of someone who’d never once worried about disappointing anyone.
“Name’s Ace. And this guy’s Deuce.”
Deuce nodded, as if apologizing for Ace’s existence.
Then two more approached: a human girl, long brown hair tied into a ponytail, with an open, steady smile ,and overall ordinary looking—with a small beast-creature with blue flames at his ears and a three-forked tail, looking ready to bite the world just for being in his line of sight.
Ace pointed. “And those two are Yuu and Grim. Headmaster assigned us to show you around and take you to the mirror thingy for sorting.”
“Dark mirror ,” Deuce added, because apparently he couldn’t go five minutes without making Deuce’s eye twitch.
Yuu stepped forward, bright and kind.
“Hi! It’s nice to meet you.”
Grim huffed. “Hmph. I’m Grim, the greatest magician you’ll ever meet.”
Cinder adjusted the angle of her gaze, letting it land on each of them in turn like she was inspecting brushwork.
“I see .” Her voice remained calm. “Well then, I am ready when you are”
They started walking. Yuu fell into step easily, besides Cinder, though said teen didn’t acknowledge her.
“The Dark Mirror sorts students into their dorms,” Yuu explained. “It can see your soul.”
Perfect, Cinder thought, with a private, humorless flicker.
Along the way, small talk attempted to happen—Ace throwing comments like rocks, Deuce trying to smooth them over, Grim bragging like it was oxygen, Yuu quietly steering things back into something normal.
Cinder answered politely, briefly. Not cold, not warm—controlled.
Halfway there, Yuu glanced back.
“Wait… you never told us your name.”
Cinder paused, genuinely startled-though not outwardly shown-she’d managed to get that far without offering it.
“I apologize.” She dipped her head. “Cinder Dreadwell. Second-year of Roseveil Academy.”
Yuu smiled. “Nice to meet you, Cinder.”
“Well met again.”
The Dark Mirror awaited inside—a heavy presence at the far end of a ceremonial space that felt like it had been designed to make students small. Headmaster Crowley stood nearby, beaming too brightly and shifting his weight like he was trying to out-smile his own nervousness.
Cinder had been warned.
Unreliable, her headmistress had said, in the tone people used when “unreliable” meant “do not let this man handle anything important if you value your future.”
Crowley noticed her and spread his arms.
“Welcome to Night Raven College!”
Cinder bowed again—correct depth, correct angle, correct duration.
“Thank you for having me, Headmaster Crowley. It is an honor to study here and broaden my horizons.”
Crowley looked delighted by her polish, a man so easily blinded.
“Excellent! Excellent! Now, stand before the Dark Mirror, if you please.”
Cinder stepped forward.
The mirror’s pale mask appeared—featureless and looming. A ripple of cold ran up her spine, not from fear exactly.
This is the kind of magic that doesn’t care what you want.
A low, booming voice rolled through the room.
“State your name.”
Cinder kept her voice steady.
“Cinder Dreadwell.”
Silence thickened as if the mirror was tasting the shape of her.
Then—
“Your essence is complex. Your spirit is determined. Your intellect is sharp, a thirst for the unknown and unconventional .”
A pause, like a blade of a guillotine held above the neck.
“Ignihyde.”