The campus gates looked smaller than I remembered but somehow brighter.
The morning sun washed over the path, scattered with fallen leaves and voices—students rushing with coffee, music spilling from open windows, and laughter that lingered longer than time in other worlds ever did.
"This," I said, hands tucked in my pockets, "is where everything starts."
Behind me, Yue Xiang studied the surrounding buildings like she was tracing constellations in brick. Lin Xueyin blinked at passing bicycles with the same calm curiosity she used on storms. Lei Mira just smirked as wind from a nearby train whipped her hair loose.
"So this is your temple of learning?" Mira asked.
I chuckled. "More like a war zone with books."
Professor Thronewood was standing at the entrance to the engineering department, clipboard in hand, hair tousled as ever.
He saw me and froze mid‑sentence while lecturing a group of interns.
"Mukul? You actually came back! And you brought…" He trailed off as the three behind me stepped into the sunlight.
"Professor, these are my friends—Yue Xiang, Lin Xueyin, and Lei Mira."
Yue Xiang offered a handshake with perfect diplomacy. "I'm Dr Xiang," she said with that poise that never left her. "I'll be helping at your astronomy lab as a guest researcher."
"Oh—oh, of course," he stammered and then nodded at her like a man meeting a celebrity. "You must be the postdoc Arina emailed me about."
Arina's digital voice pinged quietly from my pocket: "Cover story activated."
Lin Xueyin's turn came next. She bowed slightly, earnest but elegant. "I study marine biotechnology and polar climate stability," she said in careful English. "I was hoping to collaborate with Professor Graves on his ice‑core analysis."
The professor beamed. "Excellent! We don't get many environmentalists in this department. Welcome aboard."
Mira was last. She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets and flashed an unapologetically confident grin. "Lei Mira. Mechanical systems major. I specialise in energy engineering and 'minor explosions,'" she added under her breath.
The professor squinted. "Did you say—"
"Minor," I cut in quickly. "She means minor adjustments to pressure systems."
He hummed suspiciously but took her hand anyway. "Well, any student of Mukul's is welcome here. Just try not to blow anything up."
Mira snorted. "No promises."
Once the introductions were done, he showed us around the campus.
Nothing had changed—the same chalkboards, the same fish pond outside the library, and the same students who looked half‑asleep until the first cup of coffee.
To the three from another world, however, everything was magic.
Yue Xiang marvelled at the solar panels. "They absorb the sun's light freely without asking the heavens for permission," she said. "Mortals stole the language of stars and wrote it in glass."
Lin Xueyin paused to touch a dripping faucet, holding the water in her palm as it froze for a second before she let it melt again. "Even here, ice listens to me," she mused. "It knows home when it feels heart."
"Don't draw attention," I warned. "Magic's off limits in public."
Mira rolled her eyes and plugged a wire into a robotic arm outside the lab. The arm jerked, blinked twice, and then saluted her. She grinned. "See? Technology is just slow magic."
The professor gawped. "How—how did you—?"
"Talent," Mira said smoothly, unplugging the cable.
By the end of the tour, we stood in front of the main lab building—our new workspace. It was old but sturdy, where machines and ideas coexisted like awkward roommates.
"You'll all begin classes tomorrow," Professor Thronewood said. "Mukul, your mentorship still stands—so supervise where needed. I'll leave you three to settle in."
As he left, Arina pinged from my watch. "Identity integration confirmed. Local databases synchronised. No anomalies detected."
"Good," I whispered. "Let's keep it that way."
Yue Xiang approached me. "Your professor has a gentle aura—like a moon that we can warm without burning."
"Exactly," I said quietly. "Which is why he must never know who we really are."
She nodded once, understanding without further words.
That evening in our shared apartment off campus, Earth started teaching them its first lessons.
Lin Xueyin was watching cooking videos with puzzled fascination. "So they mix spices to create elemental flavour?"
Mira was rebuilding the toaster because it "lacked ambition."
Yue Xiang sat beside the window, writing notes in English on a tablet Arina gave her. She looked so peaceful under Earth's sunset that for a moment, I forgot she was once a celestial archmage.
"This world is noisy," she said softly, "but I like how it breathes. No divinity, yet so much life."
"Welcome to my chaos," I said, sitting beside her. "Homework, deadlines, wifi issues—these are our monsters now."
Yue Xiang laughed, a light, clear sound I didn't expect. "I suppose even mortals have battles worth fighting."
As night settled, the city outside sparkled. All three of them stood on the balcony together, gazing at the lights below.
Lei Mira spoke first, her voice quiet. "So this is your mission—connect worlds that forgot each other."
I nodded. "I just never imagined it would start with a university ID card."
Lin Xueyin smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Then we study the rules of your world and rewrite them, one act of learning at a time."
Arina's voice floated through the room, soft and certain. "Affirmative. Mission log: Integration successful. Power quantum stable. Harmony ongoing."
Mira raised a mug of coffee she'd somehow perfected on her first try. "To Earth," she declared. "The only world where gods take lectures and fail math exams."
We laughed together, the sound spilling into the city's hum.
And for the first time since crossing galaxies, the mission to unite worlds felt less like a duty and more like a life worth living.