"Rising heat"

Raena listened intently as he spoke, realizing that the main reason for the academy was more than just celestial coexistence with demons and other beings, and she became even more curious as to what else it was about.

The young man's speech was brief, and he appeared to come from a noble demon family. After he finished speaking, the teachers dismissed them and they went around the academy to look around because there were a lot of new students starting at the beginning of a new term.

Raena noticed a few girls looking at her as she walked through the academy's hallways.

"Who is that?" One of them asked.

"I'm not sure, but look at her hair; it's strange; I've never seen hair quite like that," Raena sighed as she bumped into someone and realized it was the same girl from earlier.

"We can't keep running into each other like this, you're new here, my name is Kyla, what's yours?" The girl asked.

"My name is Raena, I am sorry," She responded and the girl chuckled.

"Don't worry, you don't need to apologize, I heard what they said, fortunately not because you're the same age means you have to be in the same class," Kyla sighed, and Raena smiled slightly.

"Raena, you draw attention to yourself on the first day, don't let anyone bully you, I may sound tough, but I am not, this academy is not that different from other schools with bullies, be careful," Kyla warned as Raena looked around her.

"Thank you, Kyla but I won't let anyone bully me, that's not why I am here," She said and the girl smiled at her.

"That's more like it, you're in your third year, right? Starting now?" Kyla inquired.

"Yeah and it's my first time here, what year are you?" Raena asked.

"I passed my previous classes so now I am a third year, we have a lot to do, I don't know if you understood earlier, but in order to be assigned your first rank here and get assigned into your classes, like they do every new term, you have to do a few things, once you reach the right age, they allow you to summon your most powerful familiar of your age which is now for us, whatever it may be," She responded as Raena stared at her.

"So all newcomers must take the test, and regardless of age, you can be placed in one class?" Raena inquired.

"Exactly, but don't worry, most of the time you always end up with those your age because the younger ones need to learn a lot of things, they hardly try, and little do they know, there is a setback that they don't take seriously," She responded.

"They didn't say all of this at the ceremony but did say more will be explained in the classes, I can guess why though, so what's the setback?" Raena asked as they went and sat down by a bench in the hallway and Kyla sighed.

"Not because you gain a rank means you can't lose it; if you break certain rules in this academy, you lose a rank; if you fail one class more than once, depending on which and what the reason is, you can even be expelled from here; certain rules are simply too strict but..." She responded as a girl with the tail of a fox passed by them and Raena stared at it before lowering her head.

"But it had to be enforced because of the type of being at the academy, I don't only see demons, but also celestial and somewhat normal types of being with magical power, I saw a fox a minute ago," Raena said and Kyla chuckled.

"Damn, you observe pretty well, Raena, but you are right on point with this, things here are not normal, not for beings like us, we have to fight our way up or don't as long as you don't fail, you can slowly move, I am in no hurry, oh, your first class schedule will be sent to you, we have a week or two before getting officially assigned to one class where we receive certain training or where we fail and fall back or get punishment," Kyla replied and Raena smiled at her.

"I understand so far, but if I'm correct, climbing the ranks can help you gain things, and I still have a lot to learn about these things, don't I?" Raena inquired, and Kyla smiled as her short brown hair blew up with a gust of wind, brushing against her fair skin.

"Yes to both," she replied, "we all have a lot more to learn, this is just getting started."

"If you're wondering what, a race is about to begin; it's a new term for everyone," The young man who delivered the speech said, and they all looked at him, before he looked down at Raena's feet, which were braced against his shoe.

"Sorry," She replied, moving her feet away from him.

"It's fine, it's just shoes, there, you're new so I'll tell you, the heat within the academy and the world will soon start to rise, it will be fun to watch but, climbing the ranks won't be easy and a lot wants to do it for many reasons, be careful," He said as Kyla stared at him, her eyes shaking, and he walked away.

The guy was tall, had brown hair in a small ponytail, green eyes, was slim, and had fair skin.

"Who is he?" Raena inquired.

"He comes from one of our strongest families, Astrun Irzos; he just joined and is in his third year; I wonder how far up the ranking he will go, a lot of things are going to star since a lot of strong beings have now joined, it is scary," She responded and Raena's eyes narrowed.

The girl now understood that moving up the ranks was necessary for success within the academy, but what Astrun said about the heat rising bothered her, and she planned to ask the person who took her in what he meant by that but when she was ready since she had much more to learn and was completely new to everything.