Asthia stepped through the magic portal, her acceptance letter in hand. The red-skinned dracon waited for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the change of scenery. It had been the middle of the day in her desert homeland, where the sun beat down constantly. As she had traveled thousands of miles in an instant, it was now nighttime. Looking ahead of her, she saw a large set of buildings apparently made from stone, although the dark of the night rendered many details obscure. Above her shone a brilliant night sky, one very different from the stars in the dracon lands. This was not only a testament to the different part of the planet she now stood on, but a shift in the fabric of reality in the area. Many of the stars overhead were overlapped with those of the night sky in the material plane, while many of the brightest and most exotic stars were clearly visible from another plane, one in which the stars twinkled brightly and visibly in a broad variety of colors, with deep blues and pure whites predominating.

It had not been an easy journey. Asthia had traveled from her family's estate to the city of Naugoa, a journey of over a thousand kilometers. From there, she had to wait two days while she arranged for that city's mages to open a portal for her. She would take a return portal back once she used a scroll's sending spell to contact them, as both trips had already been paid for. Walking towards the buildings, Asthia felt rich grass under her clawed, pale feet. It was a welcome feeling, one all too rare in the rocks and sands of her homeland. As she approached the Crescent Academy, the draconess beheld Lake Crescent, a rich blue body of water in its eponymous shape.

Although she couldn't feel any magic coming from either the school or lake directly, her instincts as a sorceress told her that magic permeated this entire vicinity. It was an unusual feeling, like a warm, reassuring hum, difficult to describe for one who wasn't able to feel it. Still carrying a backpack and bag, Asthia finally reached the front of the school. She had hoped it wasn't too late in the day to enter, and from the looks of things, it wasn't. The lights were still on, the vast stone doors of the school were creaked open a bit, and overhead, she saw the silhouette of a draconic figure, wings and all. This last fact would have worried her immensely, if not for the fact that the master of the school was himself a dragon. 

She paused for a moment, thinking she saw some other figures approaching out of the darkness leading up to the school gates.