College Quad

The flagstones stretch from Professor Chronotis’ doorstep to the distant gates of the college, their worn surfaces still damp from the afternoon drizzle. The grey sky presses low over the open space, its light filtering through gnarled branches of skeletal trees that seem to lean inward despite the lack of wind. Flanking walkways of arched corridors and lecture halls form a silent ring around the open ground, their mullioned windows reflecting the muted colours of stone and sky. The scent of wet flagstones and distant woodsmoke clings to the air, mingling with the faint metallic tang of old civilisation. This is no grand courtyard—it is a passage, a threshold between the ordinary routines of the college and the extraordinary risks that lie just beyond the professor’s unassuming door.