"The competition this years onward will be ruthless, the Amblecrown and the Hindergrass are out for blood, the houses are divided and united in two, and the Royals and Nobles walk in gangs."
He stopped before we could cross the ten feet tall arched double doors of the academy after we walked though the long marble bridge that passed over the 'pit', a really high fall from here to what's down there, which I know because I jumped once, in my last time in here, but I have wings, so, that's that; and we all stopped with him, looking at him.
"Davon Wintermere Von Hyden is the strongest, he's the Crowned Prince of their house, the top 1, they've all been here for two years, they will stay for the next three, he's ruthless, and he is even more lethal than his dad was a long time ago when he was here, he is the head of Poisontail. Isaac, his brother, comes next, he is ruthless too, but he's more cold-headed than his brother, not that much, but compared to how Davon is, and how nasty he can be, he's a lot less intense, but he's a force to he reckoned with on his own, and he's the head of Windspear."
"Silas Amblecrown, the Crowned Prince of the Amblecrown House, is the head of Nightwing, they used to be known as the kindest in a way, but now they became ruthless to go against Poisontail and Windspear, and he's a nasty one, he's engaged to the Hindergrass Crowned Princess because their family wants to unite forces and bring Royalty back to balance, he's a hybrid too, his mother was a Princess from Whitfield, the strong of the Whit Clan, and he's a vampire/archangel of eight wings, but as a hybrid, he can hide the wings. He's top 4."
"Now, his fiance, the top 2 of the academy, is Desdemona Hindergrass, Crowned Princess, and elven and also a hybrid, but of bat-wolf, so, yes, nasty girl she is. She is the most ruthless female in here, right now, and she's out for blood, she's the Queen of the school, though some would put Celeste Natheridge in that spot, she certainly is the ruby of Davon's group and the second strongest female here. Either way, Desdemona is dangerous, and she's the head of Mantisclaw. Silas has a brother called Salazar who's nearly as strong as he is, and Desdemona has a brother called Cain who is a force to be reckoned with and top 6."
"Top 5 is taken by Perseus, the strongest noble in here, a Ravenhorn to the bone, he's always around Davon, his mom is of a clan of poison dragons, so, the guy is a hybrid also, and of bat-wolf with poison dragon, which is a horrifying combination, and he's the only noble to be strongest than a Royal, and his paternal cousin at that, though they absolutely hate each other, since his loyalty lies on Wintermere Von Hyden House," he took a deep breath. "I used to hate demons," Markus passed his hand over his silky hair, his nails perfectly polished mud green, "Alamea changed my mind, so, this is as far as I can help you."
"So, aunt Alamea make a good difference here?" Kat asked.
"Oh, kid, she did. More than she must have understood back then, she was a free spirit, I never thought a demon could be free-spirited like that, but she was full of life, and she put your race in a different point of view for us. She didn't seem to care about anything, not about the dangers here, not about the side-eyes, the racists, the rudeness, or anything bad at all, she just came here, enjoyed every bit of it, and went back. It was... refreshing, she was a lot different from her mom, who seemed to hate everything and everyone."
"Free-spirited and full of life?" Alec asked and I cursed him.
In my mind, obviously, because he's doing on purpose.
"She was adventurous, in fact, she was reckless," he giggled. "She made this her playground, and she wandered where not even we do, she had no inhibitions whatsoever, if she was curious about something, she would go there and satiate that curiousity, even if that meant doing something stupidly dangerous. Like," he pointed down, "jumping from the bridge and down the Cliff of Death we're are standing above, to wander the Caves of Whispers, which is basically a haunted place where lots of faes were tortured and murdered millennials ago, by a psychopath Master of VHA."
"Nobody goes there, at all, we are sensitive to the magical realm around us, we feel everything, and we can feel their tortured souls down there, in pain and agony, so, it's strongly avoided, not even the Headmaster or even the Librarian go there. And then came that she-demon, who took all of us by a storm, and she just climbed the edges of the bridge and jumped, and she didn't even call out her wings. If she did, she did it so far we couldn't see, and then she flew back here hours later, unscathed, and not looking haunted at all."
"You do know we are from Hell, right?" Maddie chuckled. "Lyssa here," she pointed to me, "used Tartarus as her playground, so did her mom, and her mom before there. We didn't go there, but she was just... interested in it and bored. I don't think this cliff is much for people like us, or like her and her mom, who went as far as to bath on Styx river and come out in one piece, and refreshed. You know what the Styx river is in Hell?"
"Tartarus? As in The Tartarus?" He froze haunted. "Of the legends?"
"Yep," we all chanted.
"And you swam on the Styx river? Of lost souls?"
"I'm a demon," I said like it's nothing, because to me it ain't.
"No wonder she was that reckless," he squeaked, paler.
"The water of the Styx is good for the skin," I said, tilting my head and showing him my face, as spotless as a baby's. "It may be a big deal for you here, but not for us there. I mean, Tartarus is, yes, in a certain way, but we ain't got bright things to do there like you do here. We don't even got a sun," I mocked, the word bright and nice for us are meaningless. "Hell isn't build for the weak, and when you are strong enough to live there, not many things scare you."
"Is that why you and your mom are and were nearly ashen pale compared to your siblings? Was it the river?" He asked, really curious, but how would I know?
"You could say that," I rolled my shoulders.
Sigh, "Alright, we've chit-chatted more than I should have. Now," with a wave of magic from his hand, he opened the doors, "let your guaranteed five years in here, begin. Welcome, and see you later!" Then, he used magic to push all of us inside, and then the doors closed.
Soon a fairy I don't know, with black skin, hot pink hair in a pixie cut, and bright pink and green wings appeared, her clothes pink and green, an obvious sign of which house she is from, Mantisclaw. Not that her bright wings didn't make that obvious.
"Welcome to VHA, demons," she beamed with an eccentric tone to her voice. "This is the start of your five years in the Fae Kingdom of Nyx, so, embrace our culture and take the best out of your exchanging program." Then she tilted her chin down, "We won't stop you, if you run away on the day of going back, because our land is better than Hell. Many have," she winked and straightened her face again. "First, I'll get you cleaned up on our spatial med-wing, because you could bring unknown sickness to us. Don't feel offended, it's protocol."
Before any of us could say shit, she was already opening a portal to that annoying place I've been in twice, and threw us in with magic.
But she did it in a way we would all be sent to different rooms, just like always, and nobody talked to us, they just left us in a painfully-bright white room, alone, and the magic of it began to do its job, stripping us and starting the rough cleaning, as if we were wild animals. And even though I've been through this before, I don't hate it less, it's a horrible experience, they handle us like animals to slaughter, cleaning us like would would a chicken before eating it.