Chapter 3: 3 Choosing Students

I arrived at the gymnasium at exactly seven fifty-five, a small backpack along with me. The gymnasium was full already with the other first-year students, identifiable by the bronze pins on their purple and green uniforms. I got a few odd looks, but nothing more. I was sure most of them were too excited or worried to come as late as I did, but to me it just seemed inefficient to come more than five minutes early.

Brax was talking to a group of others that looked uncomfortable in their uniforms, picking at the hems of the sleeves or trying to flatten out the slightly poofy skirts. He gave me a scowl and turned his back.

That didn’t bother me as the guy had pushed me the night before. It wouldn’t be beneficial for me to be with someone who acted on their emotions so much.

I moved to one of the corners of the gymnasium where there weren’t any other students. I didn’t feel comfortable just standing in the middle of the room with my back to a bunch of other people.

How people could just walk up to someone they didn’t even know the name of and start talking to them was a foreign concept to me. It was an odd dichotomy for me, on the one hand I too wanted to be a part of a group of like minded individuals, that way I would not feel so alone.

On the other hand for what reason would I talk to someone that I did not know unless it was either to sate a curiosity or to get something from them.

I began to analyze the people in the large room. There seemed to be just over a hundred of us, I would count to check once I finished my initial inspection. The ratio of Solarians to Empyreans was around five to one. Which mirrored state statistics, that meant that there didn’t seem to be a disparity when accepting students, or that one had a higher aptitude either.

There only seemed to be two people that were either immigrants or parents were immigrants of the Glass Kingdom, their dark brown skin making them stand out.

Then there was a single girl from the Bronze Federation, her skin was an almost reddish brown, tanner than Empyreans or Solarians naturally but lighter than anyone from the Glass Kingdom. I began to get a full tally on the people inside when a hush fell over the room.

At first I thought that a teacher had finally arrived, but instead most of the kids were looking at the door we had all walked through.

Walking in was a girl that was several inches shorter than the second shortest girl in the room, with straight black hair that reached the back of her knees. I couldn’t see her face because for some odd reason she had an umbrella open. That was until she closed it.

My body stiffened in a jolt of panic. Her skin was white, not like an Empyrean or a pale Solarian, no it was as white as chalk or milk, almost reflective. Her void black eyes were just a bit too big to be human, and her earlobes were bigger as well, reaching to the curve of her jaw. I focused on her hair and saw that it too was thicker than a humans.

The terrifying part was what covered the small bit of visible flesh on her body. Stygoscript, in geometric patterns covered her face, neck and hands with black lines. I could see scars bisecting the lines in several places.

The kids closest to her backed away, scared that she would suddenly go feral and attack one of them. A good assumption if not for the impeccable clothing and shoes.

She was a Skulker, or perhaps it would be correct so say she had been a Skulker. She turned, causing a few people to flinch, and walked towards me.

No not towards me, towards the corner next to me. She met my gaze as if expecting me to run away like everyone else. I hardly noticed her surprise. My mind was too busy churning.

There had never been a case of a Skulker beating the curse that was placed on their kind, at least not as far as I knew.

Before they had been Skulkers they had been known as The Children of the Sun, a completely different race to humans, said to have had skin as yellow as sunlight and hair a deep purple. That was until the Empire had dealt with them.

Now they were treated as over sized pests or a disease. Every once in a while there would be an outbreak, and a village or two would get annihilated, and the Skulkers would be culled or go back into hiding within their holes.

The girl had her back to the corner of the room, scanning her eyes over the dozens of kids still looking at her in interest and fear, then she looked at me.

We both just stared at each other for what had to be a couple of minutes, in which I noticed that the tips of her fingers were not white but instead an off yellow and the ends of her hair were purplish instead of jet black.

It was as though the color had bled off her which from historical records was the case, the history of the Children of the Sun was very intriguing. We continued to stare until I remembered that it was rude to stare, but my mind was too busy thinking for me to speak to her so I just nodded at her.

She nodded back, expressionless, and opened her umbrella, she let it go as low as possible so her face was obscured once more. Murmurs echoed out through the gymnasium as everyone talked about the Skulker girl. Honestly I was surprised no one had attacked her out of fear, or ran out of the gymnasium.

My fingers itched and for once I actually wanted to talk to someone out of my own volition, but another hush came over the room.

A middle aged Solarian woman walked up stage, her hair was a light blue with streaks of gray and had dull orange eyes like bronze. She had the frame of someone that didn’t eat enough, and her tanned severe face looked ghoulish because of it.

Coming up behind her was the huge muscular guy that I had met yesterday followed by three more adults. He waved to everyone in the crowd with a smile.

The woman stopped at the podium in the front of the stage and stared silently over them for a few moments.

"Every class of this academy starts off the same, but they do not end the same. Sometimes there is only a single Dreamer that will finish after three years, sometimes there can be thirty, or even none. But there is one thing that happens with every class, death. It is a real possibility for each of you, and only those that understand that will be able to make something of themselves here.”

Her voice was crisp and clear, catching their focus like tinder catches the sparks of a flint and steel.

“Each of you likely grew up feeling out of place, special, maybe even gifted, or perhaps shunned. The world is different in your eyes, your goals were greater, you were something more.”

The words were derisive, shaming them for the thought.

“It is bullshit, very rarely does someone feel as though they fit in perfectly. Everyone has dreams of grandeur, glory, power, anything that makes you feel like more than you are now. The difference between you and them is your personality is more suited to making you reach for such goals, to become a Dreamer. You were not destined to bring your dreams to reality, you must strive to make them a reality.”

“Now then, this is your final chance to leave free of consequence. After this you will be put on a list of those trained in the ways of a Dreamer, there is no escape from our eyes then.”

That had not been in the book I had read.

“As per usual none wish-”

A girl quickly escaped out of the room, the doors banging shut behind her.

Silence permeated the room.

“I’ll be honest, that has never happened before,” the woman said with a bit of humor. “Well she was obviously a smart girl. Could Miss Cystella, Mister Marollo Dark and Lady Heidi Brightstrike please come to the stage.”

The Skulker girl walked past me and to the stage. Joining her were two others, one a Solarian boy of average height and grey-blond hair with incredibly thick glasses and the other a Solarian girl that was almost as short as the Skulker girl, her bright golden hair in a short bob. The boy looked a bit nervous, the Skulker girl looked like a macabre doll, and the other girl looked excited, bouncing on her toes with a small smile.

“These three are the honor students of this year, what that means is that they already have some modicum of control of their Dreamer abilities. Should you be placed in a class with them, try not to live in their shadow, but also make sure to keep your eyes on them.”

“I am Principal Elfer, and now you will be placed into your classes by the teachers behind me.”

Then she just walked off the stage. The two Solarian scholarship students looked around as if wondering if they should get off stage, and the Skulker girl just walked off without asking.

“Hey hey, come back up, you three will be the first ones picked,” the large Mr. Rider said walking forward.

The girl reluctantly got back on stage next to the others. The four teachers walked forward until they stood some distance from one another at the front of the platform.

The furthest one on the right was a willowy woman not unlike the principal, but midnight black skin and bright green eyes, her ears, curly teal blue hair, and clothing had several finely shaped pieces of glass and silver in them, and while her clothing was thick with some furs and wool it was still in the robed style of the Glass Kingdom. I believed they were called galabiya’s.

Then there was a man as tall as Mr. Rider, but very lean, with black hair and skin that looked like a reddish brown with dark blue eyes. His uncovered arms showed tattoos that reached down to his fingers.

The third was the muscular Mr. Rider, who still wore the sleeveless shirt and baggy pants with sneakers.

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The last was a woman who only seemed to be five or so years older than the students. She was Solarian with pink hair and brown eyes. She wore pants with suspenders and a white collared shirt, on her body were several guns no doubt fueled by Sun Stones, powder weapons had become illegal not long following the Empire’s fall. There was even a rifle strapped to her back.

“New students, we will now begin the selection process for your classes,” the willowy dark skinned woman announced.

I wondered how they would decide who went where. They said selection process so it wouldn’t be something like alphabetical order, it had a chance to be decided by gender. There were two male and two female teachers, but it wouldn’t be much of a selection process then. Another personality test like the one they had taken to be accepted?

She turned her head and looked at the three scholarship students. She lifted her finger and pointed at the Solarian girl.

“You,” she said.

Her accent was thick, but I could still understand her easily.

“Me?” the girl asked, confused.

“Come here.”

The girl walked over to the teacher, who had yet to introduce herself. The teacher grabbed the girl's shoulder and moved her to where she stood behind the teacher.

“Stand there,” the woman said, then turned back to face the front.

“You,” the tattooed man said, pointing to the Skulker girl.

The girl looked at him with a questioning gaze.

“Stand behind me.”

She moved and stood behind the teacher just like the first girl had.

“Damn, ok you come on over,” Mr. Rider said to the final scholarship student.

The boy walked behind the teacher, and disappeared because of the teacher's huge frame.

“Of course the new girl doesn’t get a good one,” the pink haired teacher pouted. “Uhm, well I guess you over there then.”

She pointed to someone in the crowd that I couldn’t see.

“Excuse me?”

“Well come up here already, we don’t have all day.”

A girl walked up stage and with the pink haired teachers urging, stood behind the gunslinger.

“You, come on up,” The first teacher said.

This time the student pointed to didn’t say anything and just walked up.

“You.”

Another student.

“You.”

Another.

“You.”

They weren’t being tested; they were being picked seemingly at random based on whatever reason the teachers had to pick them. As though this was a school yard game and the captains were choosing their favorites first. The scholarship students were the obviously athletic ones and the rest were whoever they thought might do well, or just at random.

I counted the ticks on my watch to time the amount of time it took for each teacher to choose a student. My eyes closed as I concentrated on keeping track of the noises from both my watch and the professors above.

The first teacher took anywhere from three to seven seconds, meaning she was deliberate.

The second took one second every time, meaning he was choosing at random.

The third was two to four, meaning he was choosing who he liked, but was not particularly picky.

The fourth was anywhere from one to eleven, perhaps making a list in her head and choosing them in order, or maybe she was panicking and that was affecting her speed. She was apparently new so that was a good possibility.

“You.”

One second again.

“You.”

Someone wasn’t paying attention, the second teacher spoke twice.

“You!”

Oh, I was the one not paying attention.

I opened my eyes to see the second teacher glaring at me.

“Hurry up.”

I walked at my normal pace to the stage and went up the stairs. From here I could see paint sectioning off the stage into four parts, where the students that were already chosen were standing behind their respective teachers.

I noticed that Brax was also in the second teachers group. When I stopped near him the other boy grimaced as though I smelled. I knew I didn't. I cleaned myself as soon as I awoke, and unless I was excessively sweaty I would naturally smell like vanilla. When I was younger I did a test with other students to determine that.

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