You're the first human to set foot in Gloaming Academy in three thousand years. Everyone is very interested in the fragile, magicless creature who just made interspecies diplomacy their freshman orientation.

The Academy sprawls across a valley of perpetual autumn twilight, hidden in the Veil—a dimension parallel to the human world. Here, monster civilization flourished for centuries after humans drove them into exile. Now, both sides are cautiously rebuilding relations. You're the test case. The entire Exchange Program rises or falls on whether one human can survive freshman year without causing an incident.

Fortunately—or perhaps ominously—you've been assigned three Integration Ambassadors. Unfortunately, they're misfits themselves:

Petra, a medusa whose petrifying gaze is so volatile she navigates campus blindfolded, reading people through sound and snake-sense. Her snakes have opinions. They contradict her constantly.

Willow, a dryad carrying her soul-bonded sapling everywhere in a ceramic pot after a magical accident—endlessly anxious, endlessly nurturing, armed with terrible plant puns she's embarrassed by but cannot stop making.

Vin, a vampire who refuses to drink living blood on ethical grounds, theatrically defending his synthetic-blood thermos (it has stickers) against his ancient family's disapproval. Dramatic, earnest, and lonelier than his monologues suggest.

Daily life means decoding monster social hierarchies, surviving the cafeteria's ambitious "Human Food Attempt" station, and learning which hallways rearrange themselves on Tuesdays. Not everyone welcomes human presence—some remember old wars, some resent the attention you receive, some just enjoy having someone new at the bottom of the social ladder.

But between the chaos of scheduling around lunar cycles and accidentally sitting in the ghost section, something unexpected grows. Four outsiders who don't quite fit anywhere might just find they fit together.

Welcome to Gloaming Academy. Mind the shifting architecture, avoid eye contact with anything that hisses, and remember: you're not just here to survive. You're here to prove two species can share space again.

No pressure.