I stepped off of the bus, holding the strap of my backpack with one hand and lugging my suitcase with the other. Setting my case down, I reached into my satchel and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper. It was my first day on campus and I was excited to be moving into my new dorm.
As a the son of two mundies, mundane people with no magical abilities or known heritage, I was the first member of my family to attend Stonewood, and I was stoked to learn all about magic and the magical world that unbeknownst to mundie society, coexisted alongside it. I’d always thought that magic and fantasy races were made up; that secret magic schools were just something from Harry Potter and it’s knockoffs; but when I’d found out that such things were real, it had excited me. I was a big fantasy buff so how could I not be when I learnt that things like elves and centaurs and vampires and so forth actually existed?
I looked around as the bus pulled off, surprised at how…normal…the place looked. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting, but it wasn’t something that could’ve passed for any regular university in Britain. The handful of other students that had also gotten off the bus went off on their various ways while I was caught up in my contemplation, leaving me to find my way on my own. Checking the map in my hand I set off.
As I walked down the pavement I noticed my assessment of mundanity had been in error. Here and there there were signs that creatures other than humans also inhabited this place, such as road signs with mythical creatures on them where normally there would be humans, or road crossings and paths sized for diminutive creatures.
Rounding a corner I came in sight of the dorms, a tall block of flats with a border of neatly mown lawn. As my case was starting to feel heavy, I decided to take a shortcut across the grass, cutting off the corner rather than staying on the pavement.
As I hurried across the grass I failed to notice the ring of mushrooms, the sort known in folklore as a Fairy Ring, sprouting from it until it was too late. I tripped just before the ring and fell face first into the centre of it. The ground rushed up at me, but my fall felt like it slowed as I fell, and my feet left the ground while my bags slipped off my shoulders. The sensation of my clothes growing baggier came over me as I fell to the point where it felt as if I was draped in a tent by the time I face planted into the ground.
With a groan I tried to pick myself up, but a wave of dizziness came over me and my arms gave out. As unconsciousness took me i once more face planted into the ground.
I awoke to find myself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling and just lay there, trying to collect my thoughts.
“Doctor,” said an unfamiliar voice. I looked over to see a woman in a nurse’s uniform looking away from me. “The patient is awake.” She turned back to me and smiled. “The Doctor will be with you shortly.
A minute later he appeared, a stern looking elf in a white coat. If it hadn’t been for the long pointed ears and gold-green long hair, I would’ve mistaken him for a mundie doctor.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, checking a clipboard he took from the foot of my bed.
“Disorientated,” I admitted. “Where am I?”
“The university infirmary,” he replied, scribbling notes on my charts, “You’re a touch unlucky to have wound up here on the day you moved in to your dorm.”
“How-“ I started to ask, then realised it must’ve been obvious from my suitcase. Shaking my head I instead asked “What happened?”
The Doctor and nurse shared a look. Clearing his throat the elf replied “You stepped inside a Fairy Ring - well, fell in, but it’s must the same thing - and were cursed.”
It took me a second to process what he’d just said. “Cursed? What does that mean?” The Doctor and nurse shared another glance and it was at that point something clicked about why I was feeling disorientated. From my perspective the two were giants, as was the room around me.
“I think it’s best if we just showed you,” grimaced the elf. As I got unsteadily to my feet, the nurse produced a mirror and held it up in front of me.
“I’m a…” a gasped.
“That’s right,” nodded the doctor “You’re a…