The college cafeteria buzzed with energy, a mix of burnt toast, coffee, and the chatter of students crisscrossing the room. I slid into the booth across from Theo and Lucy, balancing my tray.
Theo was already staring at his scrambled eggs with mock despair. "I can't believe it," he groaned. "I lost again."
"Another random online chess match?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It wasn't a real loss!" he said, waving his fork. "The pieces were conspiring. I swear it."
Lucy snorted without even looking up from her smoothie. "Or maybe you just suck," she said casually, one leg crossed over the edge of the booth. She had that calm, independent air about her that made her almost untouchable.
I noticed the tiny twitch in her jaw when she laughed at Theo. Subtle. She didn't want me to see it, but I did. That was my little skill, noticing the emotions people try to hide. A forced laugh, a quick smile, a shadow of anxiety behind bravado, I could sense it. It wasn't magic, just careful observation.
"You two are ridiculous," I said, smiling. "Anyway, did you hear about that myth the campus tour guide mentioned last week?"
Theo's eyes lit up. "The hidden academy? The one no one's ever found? I read about it online! They say it recruits students with potential, special skills, things you're naturally good at. And it reaches you through your dreams."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Please. It's just a story people tell to scare students and indulge freshmen".
I shrugged. "Maybe. But some parts are detailed. The academy shows up for certain people only, and the dreams leave clues, little tests."
Theo leaned forward, fingers steepled like he was plotting on a chessboard. "Dreams, puzzles, patterns, it makes sense. Only the right students are noticed. And I think it has to do with what you're good at."
Lucy smirked. "We're only having those dreams because we fill our minds with this stuff, consciously or unconsciously."
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After breakfast, we wandered the campus for a while, making our way to the library. I had a few classes later, and Lucy had a sports practice session. Theo went for a chess club meeting in one of the lounges.
By mid-afternoon, I was finally back in my dorm room. Posters of moons and forests decorated the walls. I dropped my backpack, flopped onto my bed, and tried to shake off the lingering curiosity from earlier. Something about the myth was tugging at me, but I distracted myself with a movie on my laptop. Half-watching, half-thinking about classes, I eventually drifted off to dreamland.
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I found myself in a forest illuminated in the starry sky and silver moonlight. The air shimmered like liquid, and faint threads of color floated in the space around me. Sadness was pale blue, fear jagged black shapes while joy was gentle gold colour. The threads twisted and moved, like invisible people walking through my world.
I walked forward and noticed faint glowing paths weaving among the threads. They seemed to guide me somewhere, leading toward a clearing that pulsed softly, almost calling to me. A voice whispered, not loud, not demanding, but clear, "You are being watched. You are noticed. Follow the path."
It wasn't instructions, not exactly, just an invitation. My heart raced as I walked forward, and I woke up with the image still clinging to my mind.
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The next morning, we met in the student lounge, sunlight slanting through the tall windows and catching dust motes in the air. Coffee in hand, I sank into the worn leather chair across from Theo and Lucy, trying to shake off the lingering fog of sleep.
"I had a dream," I said, my voice quiet at first, almost hesitant. "It was, strange. Like the forest I walked through was alive. But not just alive. I could feel everyone's emotions, even people I didn't know. Colours of sadness, fear, joy, they moved, guiding me somewhere. And there was a path glowing faintly under the moon. Something told me to follow it."
Theo's eyes lit up, wide and sparkling. "Mine too! It was a labyrinth, or maybe a chessboard? Platforms floating in midair, moving pieces, puzzles I had to solve. I don't know, I felt like it was testing me, seeing if I could figure it out."
Lucy sipped her smoothie slowly, calm and composed, her posture relaxed as if the conversation was trivial. "I had a dream too," she said casually, shrugging. "Running, climbing, jumping across cliffs and streams. Felt strong and fast. But honestly? I don't see why we're talking about this so seriously. It's just a myth, stories like this exist because people like to imagine mysteries, nothing more."
I glanced at her, trying to read the faintest hint of doubt, but there wasn't any. Lucy's expression was firm, certain. She wasn't dismissing the dreams out of fear or uncertainty; she genuinely trusted that it was all just stories, nothing real. Even so, I could feel the pull from my own dream, the glowing path, the colours of emotion, it hadn't left me.
Theo leaned back, hands clasped behind his head. "You feel it too, don't you?" he asked quietly, eyes focused on me. "Something's out there, waiting. I can't explain it, but I know it's real."
I nodded slowly, stomach tightening. "Yeah. It feels…alive. Like it's watching, but not in a scary way. More like it's waiting for us to notice. Like we're supposed to do something. But what?"
Lucy shook her head lightly, unconcerned. "Or maybe it isn't waiting at all," she said smoothly. "Maybe it's just a story we've all heard. We think it matters because we imagine it does. There's no need to overthink it."
I looked at both of them, then out the window at the campus grounds bathed in morning light. Students rushed past with laptops and textbooks in hand. And yet, the memory of the dream tugged at me, a faint voice clouding my mind, whispering that it meant more than Lucy would allow herself to believe.
Low-key excitement ran through me, mixed with unease. Theo's excitement made my chest tighten even more. We didn't know what we were stepping into, what was waiting for us, or how much danger it might hold. But Lucy's calm certainty, her belief that it was just a myth, added a strange kind of anchor. She wasn't panicked, she wasn't imagining patterns in every shadow, she trusted reality as she knew it.
Theo leaned forward, eyes gleaming. "We should pay attention. Look for clues, anything. There's a reason this is happening, and I think we're supposed to find it - together."
Lucy gave a small, casual nod. "Fine. But I'm telling you right now, I'm not worried about it, myths are myths. If it turns out to be something, great. If not, well, life goes on."
I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the unknown settle around us. Whatever was coming, whatever this academy was, we were on the edge of it now. And for the first time, I realized just how different our lives could become.
Something was waiting for us. I didn't know what it was, or if it was even real, but the feeling wouldn't leave me alone. It wasn't some sudden revelation or a dramatic calling, just a quiet awareness, the same way you feel someone's eyes on you even when you can't prove it - deliberate, curious, maybe dangerous, maybe nothing at all.
Lucy's confidence that it was all just a myth should've settled me, it usually did. She believed what she believed with her whole chest, no hesitation, no second-guessing. And part of me should rely on that steadiness. But the dreams lingered anyway, stubborn and insistent, like they were waiting for me to make sense of them.
Theo caught my eye, the excitement still buzzing under his skin. And I knew, he felt the pull too.
Even if Lucy dismissed it, even if she trusted the world to stay ordinary, I could tell that wasn't going to be enough for us, not forever. Curiosity had already hooked its fingers into me, into him. Sooner or later, it would drag us forward, myth or not.