Every morning, Dante is woken up by the soft patter of the shower as Julz prepares for class. It’s quite a soothing sound, and often reminds Dante of the few times it’s rained in Vi. He’s only ever heard it twice, the first time was as a kid when it came in the middle of the night, during his bedtime. He remembers how desperately he wanted to sit at the window and watch the droplets until the sun rose, but he couldn’t help falling asleep to nature's lullaby.
“So I had this crazy dream last night,” Julz grins excitedly, drying her hair as she steps out of the shower with only a towel in hand. “The Academy recalled all the soldiers beyond the wall and revealed that they had turned the whole city into a spaceship to take us all to a different world,”
“Sounds like a pretty good plan,” Dante mumbles as he sits up.
“How long do you think it would take us to find one?” She asks as she starts getting dressed in uniform.
“I don’t know,” Dante shrugs, stepping out of bed and dropping to the floor to do push-ups. “All I know is that those worlds are really far away. What’s to say the Krix wouldn’t just follow us,”
“Hmm,” Julz sighs, “I hadn’t thought of that,”
“Did they follow in your dream?”
“I don’t know,” She says, glancing at the ceiling, “I don’t think the dream went on long enough for me to find out,”
“Maybe you didn’t find out because the Krix blew you all out of orbit,” Dante chuckles as he hops back up to his feet.
“Oh no!” She blurts out laughing, “Packing the entire population into a confined space would be so stupid,”
“Literally a pack of sardines in a giant tin can.” Dante giggles, stepping into the shower.
“WHAT THE HELL?!?!” Tiffany yells from the shared space.
“Ugh, again?” Julz sighs.
“What happened?” Dante asks from the shower.
Julz peels open the door to Dante’s room to see the circular dinner table and Tiffany, rummaging through the fridge in the kitchen.
“Where is it?” Tiffany grunts as she keeps searching in desperation.
“What are you looking for?” Julz asks.
“Did you eat it?” Tiffany spins to face Julz with rage-filled eyes.
“Uhh- no?” Julz nearly swallows her words.
“MICH!! WHERE THE HELL IS MY YOGURT?!”
“It’s too early for this,” Kassian mumbles as he steps out of his room, fully dressed in uniform.
Tiffany marches over to Mich’s room where she kicks his door in and charges for his shower the moment she hears it running. At this point, Dante’s fully dressed and joining the others in the shared space with his flask in hand.
“Boil some water for me too,” Dante asks Kassian as he fills up the kettle.
“What the hell are you doing in my room?!” Mich panics.
“Where is my yoghurt?!” Tiffany yells.
“Does anyone know what the first period is today?” Thando asks, rubbing her eyes as she steps out of Kassian's room in her pyjamas.
“What yoghurt?”
“How haven’t you learnt the schedule yet?” Julz squints.
“Don’t play dumb with me!”
“It’s too early for me to start remembering things,” She sighs.
“Ow! I didn't touch it, I promise!”
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“I’ll be honest with you guys… I ate the yoghurt this time,” Pete says.
"Mich is going to be pissed," Kassian chuckles.
"Wait till she finds the packaging," Pete winks.
The clock in the shared space rings throughout the area to alert everyone of the first period in five minutes. Dante quickly stirs the coffee in his flask and joins everyone in grabbing their backpacks from their rooms before making their way downstairs.
"What the fuck is this?" Tiffany yells before a loud thump can be heard from Mich's room.
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"Focus Dante!" Yells Sir Tristan from the stands of the sim, "Your timing is atrocious!"
The arena whirls to life and a handful of moving targets float at a high speed throughout the arena whilst three drones with laser rifles float idle for the countdown.
"Again!" The lecturer orders.
A large five appears in the middle of the arena as Dante jostles his foot to get a good grip on the wooden floor that's been simulated. A beep echoes throughout the arena before the number starts counting down.
"Third time's the charm," Mich chuckles from the stands.
The timer hits zero, and the drones immediately disperse and open fire at Dante, who splits his energy ball into three shields.
"Isolate your targets!" Sir Tristan calls out.
Dante identifies a target approaching his right-hand side and merges two of the shields into one as he rotates his body to face the target, and hurls the third shield as a disc towards it.
_TARGETS REMAINING: ⅘
Dante calls the energy disc back and merges it into his shield before using the wall of defence to reposition and isolate the next target. He sends two blades of energy from his shield, at where the target is and will be- one of them hits, and the target dissipates.
_TARGETS REMAINING: ⅗
"Your versatility is your strength," Sir Tristan says. "You need to think outside the box,"
Two of the drones dash forward, swinging around his shield. Dante momentarily panics and dives behind his defence before the barrage of beams hit the ground where he stood.
"Nope," Sir Tristan shakes his head as the third drone swings behind Dante.
Dante turns his head to expand his shield, but he is too slow. The entire arena flashes red as a laser collides with Dante's shoulder.
_TEST: HIGH-STRESS COMBAT (Fourth Tier)
_STATUS: FAILED
_TARGETS REMAINING: ⅗
_COMBAT DURATION: 0 min 49 sec
"You see," Sir Tristan shrugs, "None of you are ready for this test yet,"
"So this is the standard for becoming Fourth Tier?” Julz asks.
"No, this is only the high-stress, combat test. It specializes in challenging your ability to balance defence and offence simultaneously. Each tier has five specialized tests that require a one hundred percent pass rate," Sir Tristan responds.
"Seems impossible," Kassian shrugs.
"Well, it isn't." Sir Tristan says, "You all just suck,"
"Harsh," Tiffany scoffs.
"A Fourth Tier Zo'an could kill you in combat without breaking a sweat- Their understanding of their abilities is far more refined than yours," The lecturer explains, "Comparatively, a Third Tier Zo'an could do the same to a Fourth Tier, and so on."
"Show us, Sir," Thando calls out as she twirls her braids.
The class slowly starts chanting for Sir Tristan to 'Show Us'. As their tempo and loudness begins to rise, Sir Tristan raises a hand- immediately silencing the class- and shakes his head, "Unfortunately, that is not the protocol,"
The whole class sighs in disappointment.
"Maybe Sir is out of practice," Mich jests, prompting a few snickers from classmates.
Sir Tristan chuckles and points at Mich, "I will keep your words in mind during the next duel test,"
"There's just so much to focus on," Dante says, still playing back the test in his mind- all forty-nine seconds of it. "It felt like the drones got more active with each target I hit,"
"That is correct," Sir Tristan nods, "The drones increase in difficulty. There is a good reason there has never been a student who has graduated beyond a score of zero point five," He explains, "You lack combat experience,"
"Then what's the point of the Academy?" Tiffany rolls her eyes.
"To train you on how to survive and navigate the battlefield," Sir Tristan says. "Do you know why I chose to teach at the Academy?" He asks.
The class murmurs subtly, some of the students sighing because they've heard the story before whilst others shake their heads in anticipation.
"Beyond the wall, death is more common than life. The majority of Zo'an die once they reach the Third Tier, and after I had attained Third Tier myself, and survived long enough to watch many of my comrades die. I realized that my purpose wasn't to become Zo'an, like a typical graduate of the Academy. Instead, I decided to use my knowledge to teach the generations to come. The way you use that brain of yours is the only thing that will keep you alive out there,"
"Sir, what do you mean 'become Zo'an'? You were already a Zo'an," Asks Dante.
"You'll learn what it truly means to become Zo'an once you graduate," He responds.