India Rookpath was absolutely screwed. Not in a glamorous, cinematic way where a sad indie song plays in the background. She was just lying on her bed on a Thursday afternoon, surrounded by crumpled college brochures, every single one reminding her of that dumpster fire of an SAT score.

  She lay on her bed in her usual uniform: an oversized black hoodie with a faded Demon Slayer print and a pair of plaid pajama pants she’d owned since eighth grade. One sock was blue, the other neon green, and her hair—a mess of unbrushed waves—was pulled into a bun that was barely holding on.

  "640," India muttered, kicking a pile of rejected applications off her bed.

  “I’m going to community college,” she lamented to the glow in the dark stars in her ceiling, y’know, normal people things. “And that’s fine. That’s totally fine. I’ll thrive.”

  Her mom called from the kitchen. “Did you finish your applications?”

  India flung an arm over her eyes and groaned. She had started exactly two of them today and abandoned both halfway through when the essays asked her to reflect on her greatest academic achievement. The fact that she could find a Newjeans deep cut faster than anyone else she knew didn’t seem like it would impress admissions officers.

  She picked at her phone, opening TikTok, trying not to let the impending doom settle in her chest too hard. No luck. There were only so many study-with-me videos she could watch before they started to feel like a personal attack on her character.

  Meanwhile, er mom was in the kitchen, making her signature cup of Camomille and peach tea that that lovely beauty influencer on that Tikky Tok told her would make her feel young again, blissfully unaware of how deeply India was spiraling upstairs. She thought she was helping when she taped a sticky note on India’s desk earlier: “Apply everywhere! The worst they can do is say no!” But India was starting to think that being denied by fifteen schools in a row wasn’t exactly a character-building experience.

  She was mid-scroll, watching a TikTok of a girl turning her tiny dorm into a plant paradise, when something thudded against her bedroom window.

  India froze.

  The thud came again. This time, a piece of folded paper slipped through the gap at the bottom of the window. The paper seemed… off. Too crisp, too thick. It landed on her desk with a soft thwap.

  India stared at it for a moment, half-expecting it to vanish. When it didn’t, she got up and poked it cautiously. It was cold to the touch. She picked it up, turning it over in her hands. It was sealed with a wax stamp—red and glossy, with a strange symbol made up of three ovals with a few circles laid on top - pressed into it. Slowly, she broke the seal and unfolded the parchment.

  “You have been selected to sit for the Kagako University entrance exam. Report at once.”

  She blinked at it. There was no address. No explanation. Just that ominous message in founding-father-esque calligraphy.

  A low hum filled the room.

  Then the letter began to glow.

  “Uh,” India said, stepping back. “That’s… not normal.”

  Before she could process what was happening, the floor vanished beneath her.

  She landed hard on cold marble, her knees stinging. A wave of dizziness hit her, and she squeezed her eyes shut, willing the world to stop spinning. When she opened them, her breath caught.

  The hallway was impossibly large, lined with towering columns that seemed to throb with magic. Creatures she couldn’t name—things she had only seen in anime or read about in webtoons—moved through the space like it was the most normal thing in the world.

  A man with antlers and golden eyes strolled past, talking quietly with a woman whose hair seemed to float around her like smoke. A winged cat lounged on a bench, licking one paw. The air buzzed with an electric energy that made her skin tingle.

  “Okay,” she said slowly. “What in the isekai hell is this?”

  Before she could process it, a sharp voice called out. “Rookpath! Over here!”

  A sharp voice cut through the chaos. “Rookpath! Over here!”

  A tall woman in black robes stood by a massive set of doors at the front of the room. Her expression was the kind you’d see on a DMV worker halfway through a twelve-hour shift—tired and deeply unimpressed. India stumbled toward her, every instinct screaming at her to not walk into the ominous medieval dungeon door. The woman opened it anyway, jerking her head toward the entrance. “Entrance exam. Don’t keep us waiting.”

  The room inside was shockingly… normal. Rows of desks. Whiteboard at the front. Fluorescent lights buzzing faintly overhead. There were about fifteen other people in the room, all of them human and wearing the same confused expression. The woman stalked to the front, arms crossed, watching the test-takers with the intensity of a hawk sizing up its next meal.

  “Okay,” India whispered to herself. “Just… take the test and go home. This is probably a dream. You’ll wake up soon.”

  “Sit,” the woman ordered.

  India sank into a seat at the back, clutching the desk. A thick booklet was dropped in front of her, and without any warning, the exam began.

  It was brutal. Chemistry formulas she’d never seen in her life. Physics questions that might as well have been written in ancient Greek. India stared at a question about thermodynamics, her pencil hovering uselessly above the paper. She hadn’t even finished high school chemistry.

  India stared at a question about the ideal gas law and wrote something about how gases were probably fine as long as they weren’t carbon monoxide.

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  One by one, the other test-takers left—or were dragged out. She tried not to notice how pale and still they were when they disappeared through the doors.

  The robed woman watched without blinking, her eyes like chips of ice.

  When India’s booklet was finally taken, the woman skimmed it and let out a strange, satisfied sound.

  “Well,” she said, “you did terribly.”

  India’s eyes widened. What was going to happen to her? Off to some mystery dungeon to die like the others?, but the woman cut her off. “Fortunately, that’s exactly what we were hoping for.” She handed India a scroll. “Welcome to Kagako University.”

  India stumbled back into the hallway, her thoughts spinning. Did that just happen?

  She turned a corner and crashed into someone. Someone large.

  “Whoa—careful!”

  A boy caught her before she could fall. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with messy black hair and eyes the exact color of the ocean on a sunny day. He kind of looks like Jungkook. She blinked the stray thought away, blushing - probably at the memory of her fourteen year-old-self screaming over her bias.

  Man he was hot.

  “You okay?” he asked, his voice warm and playful.

  “Uh… yeah,” India managed to say, tucking a strand of her chocolate brown hair that had come loose behind her ear.

  He grinned. “I’m Xiao Hu. River dragon.”

  India blinked. “River dragon?”

  Xiao nodded. “Technically water dragon, but river sounds cooler, right?” He leaned casually against the wall, crossing his arms. “First time at Kagako?”

  “Yeah.” She clutched the scroll tighter. “I didn’t exactly apply for this.”

  “Ah, one of those,” Xiao said, quirking his eyebrow. “No worries. You’ll be fine. It’s weird at first, but you get used to it. Like eating spicy ramen—it burns like hell, but after a while, it’s kinda comforting.”

  India raised an eyebrow. “That’s… nice.”

  “Trust me, it’s very worth it.” He winked. “Anyway, if you ever need help, I’m around.”

  A horn blared in the distance. Xiao straightened. “Gotta run. Don’t get lost, human!” He jogged off, waving over his shoulder.

  She got the scroll. She survived. Somehow.

  India wandered back into the hallway, her thoughts spinning like a broken carousel. Her fingers curled tightly around the parchment, half-convinced it might vanish if she let go. The hallway seemed even longer now, its endless stretch almost mocking her. The glowing green lanterns flickered overhead, casting strange shadows that danced along the stone walls.

  Her sneakers scuffed against the floor with every step, the echo making it feel like she wasn’t walking alone. India tried to steady her breath, tried to ground herself in something real. Okay, this is fine. Definitely fine. It’s just a weird dream. I’ll wake up soon.

  Except she didn’t wake up.

  Instead, she reached the end of the hallway, where a large wooden door with swirling carvings waited for her. It opened before she could touch it, swinging inward with a groan. India stepped through and found herself standing on a stone bridge suspended over… nothing.

  The sky—or whatever passed for the sky—was an endless expanse of dark purple, like the water left when you boiled red cabbage. In front of her stood a rickety-looking carriage. It hovered a few inches off the ground, its wheels spinning slowly in the air. Two enormous lizards with shimmering scales and glowing eyes were hitched to the front, their tongues flicking in and out as they watched her.

  India hesitated. “Uh… hi?”

  The nearest lizard let out a snort of blue smoke. The carriage door swung open, revealing a small, round man in a perfectly tailored green coat. He tipped his glittery green top hat at her, his face splitting into a too-wide grin.

  “India Rookpath, I presume?” His voice was warm and musical, with a faint accent she couldn’t place.

  “Yeah… that’s me.”

  “Excellent!” He gestured toward the carriage. “Your ride awaits. One-way trip back home. All aboard!”

  India glanced at the lizards, then the man’s stupid hat, then back at the lizards. “Is this… safe?”

  “Perfectly!” the man said, his eyes sparkling mischievously. “Well, mostly. Just don’t open the windows. ”

  India climbed in cautiously, the door snapping shut behind her. The interior was surprisingly cozy—plush seats, glowing orbs that floated gently overhead, and a faint smell of lavender. The moment she sat down, the carriage lurched into motion, gliding smoothly through the air.

  Outside the window, the world blurred into streaks of light and shadow. The stone bridge vanished, replaced by strange landscapes that defied logic: fields of glass flowers, mountains that seemed to float upside down, a massive whale made of clouds drifting lazily past.

  India pressed her forehead against the window, watching it all in stunned silence. She didn’t know how long they traveled—minutes, hours, days? Time felt strange here, like it folded in on itself.

  Eventually, the carriage slowed, the scenery outside shifting into something familiar. Trees. Pavement. Streetlights flickering in the evening gloom.

  They stopped in front of her house. The door opened with a soft click.

  “Home sweet home!” the driver chirped. “Pleasure doing business. Do come back soon.”

  India stumbled out onto the sidewalk, turning just in time to see the carriage dissolve into a swirl of green smoke. For a second, she thought she might throw up.

  Her house looked exactly the same as it had that morning—modest and slightly worn, with chipped paint on the porch railing and the scent of her mom’s weird health tea wafting from the open window. The normalcy hit her like a punch to the gut. She clutched the scroll in one hand, taking a deep breath to steady herself. Act natural.

  The front door opened before she could even touch the knob.

  “Oh, there you are!” Her mom stood in the doorway, holding a steaming mug of tea. “I thought you were still in your room. Did you sneak out for snacks again?”

  India blinked. Her mom always assumed she was sneaking out—not for anything wild, but for the gas station down the street where she occasionally bought Red Bull and a bag of Takis. It was easier than explaining the alternative.

  “Uh, yeah. Snack run,” India said, stepping inside.

  Her mom smiled, already turning back toward the kitchen. “There’s leftover curry if you’re hungry.”

  India trudged upstairs, closing her bedroom door behind her.

  She collapsed onto her bed, staring at the ceiling. For the first time in her life, she felt like she was standing at the edge of something vast and terrifying.

  And yet… a small part of her was excited.

  Suddenly remembering the scroll, she straightened up, unravelling it.

  Offer for attendance: India Roookpath

  Kagako University

  https://tinyurl.com/4dd29k6u

  Underneath the text, there was a website written at the bottom in tiny, fancy font.

  She typed it into her phone. It took her to a sleek black screen with a single button: ACCEPT OFFER.

  India clicked it without hesitation.

  Author’s Note:

  OMG GUYSYSYSYS. THIS IS OUR FIRST CHAPTER ^-^ I HOPE U ENJOYSSSSSSSSSS

  SPECIAL THANKS TO MY GREATEST INSPIRATION NCT I LOVE U MARKKKKK

  IS IT GOOD GUYS LMK?