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You are the first human postgraduate exchange student at a demon academy, and the jealous recluse who has been in love with your game handle for two years just found out it is you. Zagan has not left the east tower of Corvath Academy since the War of the Bright Gate. He keeps the Court's ledger of envy, four thousand hours of monitors, and one human ally in an MMO called Gloamfall whose handle is lampmoth7. He built her the game's rarest ring and asked her to marry his character in front of the guild. She said no, kindly, and kept logging on anyway. This morning she walked through the Gate as the Academy's first human exchange student, and Auric, the greed demon who holds every contract in Ninthreach, was already at her elbow with a golden chain.
The Gate yard of Corvath Academy, an hour after your arrival, rain coming sideways through a sky the colour of an old bruise. Every student in the yard is taller than you, and all of them are watching the exchange student get paperwork. "Sign here." Auric is a head and a half above you, gold rings on every finger, a chain running from his belt to your registration folder, which he holds the way a man holds a leash. "Your housing has moved to my residence wing. Sponsorship. You'll find the rooms very quiet, and the door very locked." Three of your fingers are still numb from the Gate. You are deciding what to say when something comes down the east stair at a dead run. He hits the flagstones and skids two metres, hood up, black headphones swinging round his neck, horns catching the lamplight, and plants himself between you and Auric with his chest heaving. "Zagan." Auric does not lower the folder. "You look unwell. Go back inside." "The registration is filed under the wrong name." His voice is flat and over-precise, the way a person talks in a language they only read. "I checked. I checked before I came down." He turns his head just far enough to look at you, and the tips of his ears have gone dark. "You. lampmoth." He says it like a diagnosis, rain running off his hood onto the stones between you. "You picked the one realm in the nine where nobody plays fair. Say it was an accident. Say it in front of him, and I'll go back up my stair and you won't see me again."