Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, the morning sun lit up a small island city. Surrounding a simple airport, stood circles of red roofs, cut apart by thin, winding streets. Here and there, rose a green hill, housing a plethora of trees from all over Earth, as well as some more unique growths from elsewhere.


    At its northern end, the island stretched into a wider circle, housing a large, castle-like university building, with green tiles. As opposed to the red of the bricks throughout most of the town, the castle was made from simple grey stone, with no seams.


    The idyllic morning got interrupted by something most people on this side of the planet could see. A massive space-ship, rivalling the moon size, left a rift in space and stopped right over the tiny town.


    The mobile space station, consisted of a large cage, within which orbited itself the habitat and a smaller - about a third of the habitat - engine section, resembling the back of a pure-black squid with golden solar sails at its sides.


    A small fleet of ships of various shapes and sizes streamed out of the bottom of the habitat and headed towards the planet''s surface. The twenty larger and about a hundred tiny vessels stopped just over the island and waited for a response from its inhabitants.


    It''s cargo offloaded, the space station shot black beams from the edges of its cage and forced open a rift in space. Then, without any further ado, it entered and disappeared as if it has never been there.


    A circle of mages on board complained about the primitive new worlds and their lack of measures against gravity influencing vessels. They were sure to demand extra compensation for their efforts.


    Wania stretched and looked up at the sky. From where he stood just before his dormitory, he could study a white and blue teapot, hanging just over the building. He scratched his head and left towards the university.


    After about ten minutes he met with Sophia''s uncle, just leaving his house. The man took a moment to study the space-crafts in the sky and sighed. "It''s good to see we got someone from the central empires, but I can''t say I missed their sense of humour."


    "The teapot?" the boy asked and exchanged a handshake with the man.


    "Yes, the teapot," Howard answered and walked off, talking over his shoulder, "They always try to fit the stereotypes of the local populace, but it''s like a matter of honour for them, to get things slightly wrong."


    "What about the others?" Wania searched the sky and finally picked a golden orb, about twice the size of the teapot. "The gold one for example?"


    "They''re from the relative neighbourhood, just one cluster over. They''ve only awakened about a thousand years ago and aren''t among the most talented, so they''d just gotten their first few gods." The older creature laughed. "Pretentious pricks, but we needed someone to handle the more mundane subjects."


    "Not talented?" the boy asked for clarification and caught up to the man with a few quick steps.


    "They only had about a thousand people awaken in the third wave, I''m not sure if they even had a first wave bloodline." Howard shrugged and looked around, before pointing towards a cluster of twenty tiny ships, resembling wooden cigars with antennas. "These ones are from the same cluster, had a population of about ten million people and all of them went through awakening."


    Wania nodded and continued asking about the various vessels.


    "Finally, the ones in those matte-black ships, also come from the Centre. We help them sometimes with ventures to the ruins between their empires, so some old friends might be among them." Howard''s eyes lingered on a canoe decorated with silver wings, so thin you could see through them. The ship had a slightly chromatic shin across other dimensions, implying it was used in the archaeological trips into the black-hole clusters. Maybe it''s crew was among the few that survived witnessing his father. The Elder One shivered and opened the ornate castle gate.


    The rest of the family, as well as the two stray humans, sat around a hastily prepared round table. Wania sat down next to Sophia and Howard took his place at the seat of honour.


    Opposite the eldritch children, Kaida observed the magically inclined human try to charge his tablet with a low current of electricity flowing from his hands. On the other side of the man in the navy blue suit, the janitor nervously twiddled with his blue overalls, doing his best not to look at the humanoid creatures sitting next to him.


    "Should we invite our guests in?" Howard turned to Marika.


    "Did you bring out some land for them to land on?" Impatience glimmered in the woman''s eyes as she conjured a projection of the local area. "They can of course, just leave their ships floating, but what sort of hosts would that make us?"


    "Oh... of course." The man focused inward, his skin taking on a green colour and becoming translucent.


    On the tephian deities map, a flat wall rose out of the water, surrounding the entire island. The massive structure looked a little organic as if someone cut open a giant green squid and carved a depiction of the great battle against it, into its skin.


    Stairs rose out of the water and walkways hanging in the air shifted from another dimension, providing the outsiders with a direct path towards the castle.


    The ships flew over to the wall, the teapot and canoes landing closest to the castle, followed by the golden orb, every other ship simply finding the spot closest to where they were hovering. A veritable horde of more and less humanoid creatures left their vessels and made their way towards their hosts.


    The weaker aliens looked up to the sky, as some jets reached the island, but the mortal toys were ignored by most.


    Along the way, most of the host split to go down into the streets, looking for appropriate quarters for their masters and bosses. The university was reached by the twenty who would become teachers of the facility.


    The doors opened on their own, revealing to the aliens, an odd group. Two human teenagers, wearing black tracksuits, causally gossiped, without looking up to greet the guests. Opposite them, a teen girl in white canvas pants and a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves was making an about thirty man ignore the newcomers, while he showed her paltry magic tricks. Next to them, a janitor also sat at the table and glued his eyes to his knees.


    Between those two groups, sat two women, one in a yellow robe and the other in a yellow miko outfit. Next to them, closer to the janitor, sat a man in a deep-green suit, on a throne-like chair, with tiny depictions of draconic squids posing over his head.


    The three stood up and the man spoke. "Welcome! Some of you might be wondering, why we decided to hire such esteemed individuals like yourselves, to an infantile world like this one. I will answer that and any other questions you might have over the course of the day."


    The first to step inside and take their sits, were a rainbow coloured fur-covered snake with four arms, dressed in the top of a grey space-suit and a humanoid pillar of smoke with a small aurora over its head.


    As soon as those two sat down, a tall, flat-faced bipedal buck, wearing a robe of liquid gold hurried to sit right beside them.


    Next, three rather similar to each other, human-like demons, wearing crimson suits, sat opposite the buck and simultaneously put their briefcases on the table.


    A floating being made up of white rings and eyes, consolidated its form into an almost human, elongated shape and sat beside the demon. It was followed by a treant, wearing a dress made out of autumn leaves, who without shifting in size, had its place stretched and twisted between dimensions, so as not to tower over the others at the table.


    After it, a group of humans with various shades of blue, red or green skin sat in the open sits.


    The last one, was a single, large, translucent eyeball, hovering over a curtain of black cloth. It sat beside Kaida and smaller eyes flowed out of its cloth, each pointed towards a different person at the table, except the girl.


    The rainbow snake furrowed it''s brow slightly when it looked at the mortal and seemed to realise something. "I see one answer already. The girl seems to have awakened an interesting bloodline."


    The eye searched around and formed a spell, creating a more fleshy, small eyeball and pointed it towards the empty chair next to it. All of its eyes momentarily squinted in joy, with ethereal eyelids. A mental squelch informed everyone at the table, that the eye was no longer worried and it didn''t care about any other details. It asked where it''s classroom would be situated and Marika led a couple of her tendrils, through other dimensions to show it the way.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The being left, trembling in joy, but let it''s material eyeball stay, to continue observing the rare creature.


    Wania chuckled when his niece poked the side of the eye. He looked to his new neighbour and grew rather disappointed when it was just a discoloured human, in some sort of futuristic black suit.


    The alien noticed the teenagers reaction and unravelled its left hand into thin, red strings. The alien''s other neighbour, shifted its hair into cat-ears, while its irises grew. It pinched itself with its claws and returned to a more human appearance. It heard of the things the locals conjured and did not wish for a rumour that would lead the students to fetishise it.


    The red alien turned towards it and smiled kindly. "Have you just returned from a lengthy hunt? I am Nauvoulimus by the way."


    Wania turned away from the gossip between teachers and looked around the table. The pug-like buck was looking at Howard in a funny way and seemed to be getting impatient. The teen shrugged, wondering why the alien''s empire decided to send someone weaker than himself to be a teacher. Also, why such a weak being was so arrogant. It wasn''t a mortal that has never heard of the mysteries of the universe after all.


    The boy swallowed some saliva, as he thought that he''s never eaten any deer.


    As a ten or so minutes later, meals were brought over to the table, by faceless butlers, the buck finally exploded and stood up, interrupting the chatter of the other teachers.


    "The esteemed member of the Divine Arsh''hashis Empire might have the grace to put up with this farce and compliment your barely passable bloodline, but I will be leaving together with him as soon as this is over!" The deer bowed its head to its neighbours and continued, "What madness led you to believe five mortals awakening in this backwater would suffice to invite such talented teachers to waste their time on mortal students."


    The demons didn''t conceal their laughter, while the Elder Ones laughed without restraint with their other forms, across different dimensions.


    Howard let a shadow of his true form slip, barely visible to magically trained eyes. "I am uncertain where you found the other three, but the two are not here to convince anyone on why this school is a worthwhile endeavour. They simply happened to be here."


    The monster of the depths reined in his temper and in his easier for the mind, human form continued. "This Earth has a thousand first wave awakened and proportionally more second and third. The latter hasn''t even begun yet, so we can''t be certain what the final numbers will be."


    Howard smiled. "I should also warn you, not to try and speak on behalf of your betters. Some of us might be old enough to easily forgive the transgressions of immortals... or less, but not all of us are so kind."


    The snake spread its lips and hissed happily. "This time he certainly got lucky, my friend with whom I gambled for this position, has a taste for non-spiritual flesh."


    "But since we were made to move on to business early, I''d like to ask about this university. It seems a little unfinished." The snake waved its hand towards the lack of walls or floors inside in the building.


    "We thought it would be best to wait for all of you to come and give us some feedback on designing the facilities." Howard looked up in thought. "I''m afraid my kind has little experience in teaching mortals, or designing anything that would be appropriate for them." The man massaged his hands together. "On that note, on your way here, you certainly noticed, the town is rather uniform. Feel free to submit some designs to me, so I may rebuild the districts, unless you''d like to share the burden."


    "The Consortium can write their contracts with my friend here, " the Elder One gestured towards Marika. "She will be taking care of legal matters."


    "My office will be ready by tomorrow, so invite you to return here in the morning." The woman spread her lips in a predatory smile. "The janitor will show you the way."


    The human bent his back lower and began trying to stare holes in his knees. Two of the demons nodded their heads and began eating, planning how to prepare for the negotiations. The third one opened its suitcase and fished out a leathery parchment, describing the Masters in Yellow.


    Ignoring the still standing deer, the treant joined the conversation. "Would it be acceptable to raise a third section of the island, where I may grow a forest?"


    "Certainly, it will be waiting for you in the east, once the meal is over." Howard''s eyes shone green. The humans circling the island outside, received a yet new shock, as it grew by about thirty percent. A flat of oil-covered fish corpses raised out of water.


    The buck finally sat down and tried to snack on the plate of fruits he was offered, but somehow, he could not swallow anything.


    The questions paused, as the group of the human-looking aliens began discussing between each other.


    Wania grew interested in the smoke creature, as its selves in other dimensions began stirring and shifting. When some of them began yelling unheard obscenities, the being raised its aurora. "My friend, may I request some of the brew I heard about?"


    "Sadly, we don''t have much with us here." At Howard''s words, the other-selves of the smoke began to rage and panic, only seen by the multi-dimensional Elder Ones. "Do not fret, you can find as much as you need, up, on the Moon. The shaman who makes it lives there with some of the more ancient among us."


    "I am grateful." The smoke stood up. "I will discuss my role here at a later date, for now, please excuse me." The being knocked on the air behind it, cracking space and stepped back. Swiftly, the cracks healed themselves and the signs of magic were gone.


    "What do you think they''re gonna teach?" Sophia whispered to Wania and sipped her hot toddy. "The smoke should be obvious with some spacial stuff." She quickly followed up.


    "The snake will probably head a department, I don''t think she''d bother teaching beginners." The boy thought out loud and looked around the table. "The holy one will probably deal with faith-related stuff, right?"


    "Could also be a combat instructor. Don''t you think the demons would do better, teaching about the deals gods have to make with their flock?" The girl countered and pointed her fork at Wania''s plate. "Will you eat that?"


    "Of course I will." The Crawling One shoved an entire steak into his maw. "I..." he paused to swallow. "I don''t know much about the faith stuff honestly."


    "Oh yeah, your family is not that big on cults. Except for your sister I guess." Sophia nodded. "Any clues about the human-looking ones?"


    The string person beside Wania joined in, "Will you two be among the students as well?"


    Wania nodded his head, "Yeah, I think we were planned to be the right age for university the moment all this happened." He waved his hand around, splashing a bit of sauce, from the knife he was still holding.


    "Well then, I hope to see you during my runic courses." The teacher smiled and shifted the colours of the strings making up its body, becoming covered in runic tattoos.


    "Maybe... I hoped to take part in some more mundane subjects." The boy complained. "I guess those will be with the deer?"


    "Yeah... it''s gonna be hard to focus during his lectures, maybe I will bring snacks, to take my mind of his tender body." Sophia wiped her lips with a handkerchief and filled her mouth with a spoon of caviar.


    Wania turned one of his other-selves heads towards her and whispered, "I don''t think he can see the other sides, so you know... we could..."


    The young woman''s shadow brightened up, taking on a green tint. "Think Kiada would want to come with us? I will ask her tonight."


    Finally, the humanoids reached some sort of agreement and a pair of a silver and dark purple aliens stood up. "First we would like to know, how we should refer to you..." They bowed towards Howard.


    "I will hold the position of the director or vice-director here, so ''director'' will be fine." The man clarified the question he felt coming. "If one of the older ones will wish to hold a position here, I will have to step down from the director''s position. I will still have one''s responsibilities though."


    "Then, director, would it be alright if we requested a fourth section of the island to be raised?" The dark purple one asked and the silver one continued, "We''d hope to set up a district for embassies and similar facilities."


    "I see no issue with that, you will find it opposite the forest section." The deep one acquiesced. Small strings of mana touched his mind and he turned his head towards the snake.


    "Howard, would you mind if I formed my quarters behind the university? A simple orb or two." The woman bared her teeth in a smile.


    "As long as it will be proper central architecture and you will help me place mine next to it. As the director, I will need to have the more impressive home, but I fear without help it will lack the sense, mortals need." Howard sighed, imagining a space house from an old, human cartoon.


    "Of course, it will be my place of rest. You understand that I will need to build proper embassies around this world, will that be a problem?" She waved three of her arms in a complicated series of gestures, only appropriate for conversations in the older tongues.


    "I expected them, so no objections on that front." The Deep One happily agreed, feeling a weight drop from his shoulders.


    <hr>


    The president of the United States did not have a good night. For almost twenty-four hours now, aliens walked his planet and no one could figure out what they wanted from humans. After building a European looking town in the middle of the Atlantic, they just stayed there. It was as if the opinions of the locals, did not matter to them at all.


    First various celebrities, from actors to well-known businessmen, spontaneously began performing magical feats, now the aliens. As things were going, tomorrow it''d turn out the world was run by some ancient cult from the depths of the ocean.


    The middle-aged man was woken from his musings, by the secretary entering the office. "Mr President, Sir! The aliens made contact!"


    The man sat up straight and gestured for the other to continue. "So, one of the human-looking ones caught one of our planes..."


    "How does a person catch a plane?" The president frowned confused.


    "With their hands, Mr President, Sir!" The secretary walked up to the president and offered him a tablet. "Here is the video the pilot''s camera caught."


    The plane was doing its circle around the growing island, observing the new buildings rasing around it, as a group of aliens floated in the air, arguing over something. Suddenly, one of them broke off from the group and flew towards the plane.


    The pilot tried to steer away, but the red figure stopped right in front of the cockpit and spread its hands into a swarm of strings. The plane stopped.


    The red man smiled and formed words in English with a thick cord, coming out of its neck. "Let your superiors know, we prepared space for their embassies."


    The alien let go of the plane and the aircraft shot forward. The pilot struggling to regain control of it.


    "He caught it." The president massaged his forehead and took a deep breath. "I will offer a statement to the nation in fifteen minutes. Bring me everyone, except for Michael. Have him designate an ambassador and have them fly to that island within the hour. We will be the first to make contact!"


    <hr>


    Almost a thousand confused high school students, from all over the world, stood in the middle of a field of dead fish. Above and around them, were the aliens.


    Some of the teenagers looked around, while most of them retched their stomachs out.


    A tall, lightly tanned, giant of a man walked over to the teens and boomed in a kind voice, "Come children! The city proper smells much better."


    Against their better judgment, all of the children followed.