Commander Jean Assono relished his time on stage. He had waited for the chance to do the welcome speech for the recruits at the academy this year, pulling quite the strings to get there, but as he looked at the students watching him; equally intrigued, awed, and fearful, he knew it was worth it.

His speech had been going just according to plan. He had wowed the students mystifying the academy for their young minds.

They looked at him in awe, wishing to be him. It had been so great up until he spotted Jason, Jason Rofana. Jason was the spitting image of everything the academy hated, and Jean had spent not a small amount of his time trying to get him expelled.

Yet, there he stood in the crowd, not expelled. Their gazes met for a moment before Jason backed down. Jean smiled, that was at least some recompense, Jason was a coward, always backing down from fights.

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How Jean longed to catch Jason red-handed. He urged him to do something wrong, wiggle a finger, eat more than was required, anything at all that would serve as an excuse for Jean to petition the shadow for Jason’s dismissal. Yet, just as always, Jason backed down. Jean sighed turning his attention back to the crowd, “You shall be tested.” His gaze swept through the crowd once more before he dismounted the stage.

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The night wound down after Jean speech, a few stories were exchanged by the older students, who relished the attention they received from the first years. The more savvy students, Jason included retired early to their dorms, the first day in the academy was going to be incredibly challenging even for the older students, best be rested.