The Dean

A few hours later, nightfall descended upon their city, and Hearth was left in bed with Terra next to him. Soon, he heard the sound of rainfall outside his window, and thunder roared in the sky. Unlike some of the more prosperous provinces of the empire that could control their atmosphere, they were unable to. As a general rule of thumb, the farther a region was from the core of the Federation, the more likely they are to be poor if said province had something unique or was an important trade location.

The rainfall starting to become a downpour spurred him to go deeper within his thoughts. His life had been entirely different than most children's, physically and mentally. He and Terra were born as twins, but his mother noticed an oddity in her children. They mimicked each other's actions and were highly uncoordinated. It wasn't until one event that made his mother realize that her children were one person.

Hearth felt it was an impossible situation to try and describe to someone else, nor did he think he ever could. It was like trying to wiggle one toe with your foot without moving your other toes multiplying that difficulty by a 100 times. It wasn't until he had reached the age of 8 that he was capable enough to organize his mental capabilities beyond that of a retard. His predicament led to his mother deciding to homeschool him for his younger childhood until he was in a condition where he could handle other children and school. After he reached 9 years old, he finally figured out that he could function better by focusing on just 1 body.

To him, it became an entirely different world to move around without falling flat on his face. Over time as he got better with encouragement from his mother, he started training as Terra. At first, it was like he was back where he was at the beginning, but as he practiced more, he overcame his obstacle. It was an incredibly rough process that took 2 years, and he still has issues with it. When speaking as Terra and Hearth close by, he's often said something he meant to convey as Hearth, only for it to come out of Terra's mouth. That issue has created some very awkward moments, to say the least.

He rolled onto his side, where he felt a slight chain tug at him. The thin holo chain connected his hand and Terra's, preventing them from moving away from each other. They needed to have this connection. Otherwise, it would be impossible for them to sleep.

He didn't know why, but Hearth quickly learned that trying to have 1 person sleep or being away from each other while they slept created extreme anxiety in his mental functions. He couldn't describe how it was to be seeing each other's dreams, and it was impossible to ignore. It was horrifying, and every time he attempted to sleep away from each other, he would wake up almost having a panic attack.

His mother tried to research why they had this issue, but there was only so much she could do, considering that there was 0 research on a person born with 2 bodies. The family had no choice but to accept the reality that the 2 siblings would have to share the same room.

Growing up, he was used to it, but as the 2 became older, questions arose in his mind about how he would deal with relationships.

How would he ever convince a girlfriend that he had sleeping issues and that they would have to share the same sleeping quarters with his sister or vice versa?

"Mmm," Hearth sighed. He pulled up the sleeping injection through his virtual connection and set a timer to inject him and Terra simultaneously. The physical portion of the exam was tomorrow, and he needed both his bodies to be in peak condition, especially Terra's. It was also vital that they both fall asleep at relatively the same time; otherwise, he would experience 'that' issue when attempting to sleep. His eyes drifted towards the timer that slowly counted down and softly spoke the numbers out loud, "3, 2, 1, and 0."

A chemical immediately released into both his bodies, and heavy drowsiness quickly took over. Within a minute, their eyes slowly shut, and they fell into dreamland.

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(Mob Character A): "I'm excited to see the 2 beauties of the school face off in the exam. How about you?"

(Mob Character B): "Watching 2 queens fight will always be a great show."

Located farther away from the academy building was a vast open plot of land that size meant to accommodate the 10's of thousands of students attending the academy. The entire field of land had been converted into the physical exam course, and a mind-boggling number of students could be seen talking amongst themselves while they waited for the examiners.

Almost every student, especially the seniors, felt highly nervous. For seniors, this was one of the most critical moments of their life. Although the knowledge part of the exam was also significant, the knowledge part was easy compared to the physical section. As long as you scored at least 65% on the exam, it was good enough for most higher education institutions; the grade you received on your physical was the most important. Knowledge and intelligence had their own places where people could achieve success, but for an outback system like theirs, they typically valued strength over their intellect. They require significantly wealthy backgrounds to afford them, and jobs in those fields were less respected in their system. Many students attending the academy came from poorer backgrounds, and their outback system valued strength over academic areas. This resulted in many students of poorer backgrounds wanting to do well in the physical exam to obtain a chance to be considered by exploration guilds, mercenaries, and the like.

The Juniors and other non-seniors classes also treated the exam with attention and nervousness. Although they didn't have to go through the same ordeal as the seniors, their rankings and access to resources determined their future within the academy.

Of course, the students of wealthier backgrounds, like Scarlet, Hearth, Terra, and Dillimore, were aiming much higher than most other students. Another vital part of the exam is that the academy held 5 galactic sector spots. These spots, if awarded, would give the person a chance to compete in the much larger galactic tournament. A series of games lead to much larger events where students can fight for the opportunity of attending the grand academy of Pandora. It was this opportunity that Hearth was aiming for. He hoped that by being able to participate in the academy, he not only could see the universe but also unravel the mystery behind the abnormal condition that he was born with.

However, he had to push those feelings down. That was something way down the road, and he still had to focus on passing this exam before even considering Pandora.

While he was dreaming of big goals, Terra finally entered the site, drawing attention immediately to her. The academy had some other great students, but nothing came in comparison between the shadow of the "ice queen" and "fire queen." They were the school favorites, and their rivalry created a fun, competitive atmosphere among the academy students, but some people took it too far.

"My queen, please douse the fire beauty with your ice, and overcome their tyranny!" A man shouted while wearing a Terra fan club shirt.

"Don't let those peasants deface you, my queen, and put those infidels in their place!"

A man shouted from Scarlet's side, similarly wearing a Fanclub shirt of Scarlet.

Hearth cringed. He couldn't comprehend how these people became such zealots of the two women. Scarlet is at least somewhat sociable but still acts like a petty bi*ch, and the way he acts with Terra is like a total ice queen.

He eventually concluded that it had to do with brawns for brains mixed with a combination of thinking with your pen*s.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Bang!" A bell rang across the entire field, silencing the students from speaking. The clanging noise of the bell continued for a minute until the noise finally stopped. A figure appeared at the top of the highest structure on the exam field, establishing himself, and started speaking, "Greetings, students. My name is Lyon, and I am the Dean of this academy."

Shocked gasps arose from the crowds of students. Lyon was considered a legendary figure of the Federation, yet for some odd reason, he resided over an academy in the middle of nowhere. His presence was actually the only reason their province had any real influence. He also rarely appeared in the public eye and has had almost 0 interactions with students despite being the academy's Dean for nearly 200 years. It's so odd that most people presume that he used the position as an excuse for retirement and to avoid the paparazzi unwilling to make the trek to their system.

Lyon continued, "I will keep my speech short and simple. I want to remind the students participating today, especially seniors, that no matter your performance today, there will always be more opportunities if you search for them. I will not deny that the higher your performance is, the more likely you are to advance higher in society. However, you shouldn't treat today like life and death. You should try your best, but remember that even if you're not satisfied with your result today, it's important to remember not to lose passion. As you all likely know my story, I failed my first test making me one of the worst students in my academy. Yet, I refused to be discouraged and fought for another chance to gain admission into Pandora. Standing before you today, I wish you all success, but I also want to remind you that the results you receive today may not reflect who you become in the future. Good luck on your tests, and I hope all of you give a good showing to your parents, teachers, and mentors."

Rounds of applause erupted around the academy, and visitors watched from a zoned-off spectator area. Terra was similarly clapping along, and when Lyon finished his final sentence, she looked towards the spectator zone. It didn't take long for her to notice a sea of men and women in suits in an area of the top row waving signs. Standing in front of her people was her mother cheering enthusiastically while behind her, their people held up letter signs and waved Terra and Hearth's name around.

Terra's cheeks flushed in embarrassment; on the one hand, she wanted to hide from her mother's craziness, while on the other hand, she felt warm from her mother's enthusiasm.

Terra's and Hearth's fists clenched in readiness for the event. Although she knew their life would be set out to have no problems due to her mother's wealth, she desired more. Not only to explore and experience the universe but also to hopefully unravel her mysterious condition.

To be able to accomplish this goal, it would be a long road to fight to attend Pandora, and it all started with acing this competition first.