Cyrus Solaris
Today was the Rift Final Exam. It was my last chance to secure the path to my goal. There was no room for failure.
The academy prepared five rifts for us first-years to take our final exam in. Each rift would have ten clusters entering to complete the exam, along with two teachers from the academy.
I looked at my communicator, and it was time for me to head to the teleportation terminal.
My cluster was assigned to an astral project from the test isle, while others were being transported to other locations.
When I stepped out of the crappy dorm room, I saw the tension etched across everyone's faces as they made their way toward the cosmic bridge. They looked like soldiers marching off to war.
They had no idea what they were walking into. They were lucky these rifts weren't active.
I walked across the bridge by myself, letting the cool breeze pass as I made my way to the teleportation terminal.
When I approached the large, concave silver dome, I found my pace slowing and my hands beginning to shake as the empty pit in my stomach grew.
You got this, Cy.
When I walked in, there was a sea of black: students dressed in specially made, form-fitting combat suits laced with thin threads of celestium, so that when astral projecting, our astral forms would have a little extra utility inside the rift.
I had no idea how it actually worked.
I scanned the room, and I saw Voen and Nerena waiting to the right of the teleportation pad.
Voen fidgeted with his flute, and Nerena gave me a subtle nod.
"Are we the first ones here?" I asked them both.
"Sora went to grab our fill-in for Mira. She should be back any moment. As for Jace, I have no clue, but one can assume he's making his way here." Nerena said.
"I talked to him this morning; he said there was one thing he had to do before coming over," Voen said, now counting seed pellets from one of his pouches.
"He better," I said, looking at the time on the communicator.
A few moments passed before I saw Sora, and a tall, lean kid with bronze skin, shaggy blonde hair, and brown eyes walking beside her.
That's what a second year looks like? How did he fail last year?
"Hey, everyone, this is Simon, our fill-in armament tech," Sora said, gesturing to him.
"Hi," All three of us said in unison.
Simon gave a slight nod.
"Thank you, guys, for welcoming me into your group. I've been working extremely hard this past year, and I'm confident we should be able to pass this without any problems."
Voen's head slowly lifted, one eyebrow arched, before he went back to counting.
"Well, that's good to hear. Is everyone ready to go?" I asked, stepping onto the teleportation pad.
"Where is my brother?"
The three of us looked at her and shrugged.
She let out a sigh.
"Whatever, let's just go."
Once we all stood on the teleportation pad, a blinding light engulfed us, disorienting the rest of my senses until we appeared on the test isle.
When we arrived, the same geodesic tents from our field trip were already set up. I turned to Simon and saw him practically glowing with excitement, like a kid who had just been told he could have anything in a toy store.
"You good?" Voen asked him
Simon quickly snapped out of whatever he was feeling and rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, it's just so much nicer compared to the Isle the second years have."
"What it's like over there, none of the teachers actually tell us?"
Simon's face grew cold and stern.
"It's like an apocalypse ran through there. That's as far as I would like to say."
You know what? I really need to make sure we pass. I don't want to experience whatever broke this guy.
Our group made our way to our tent. At the entrance, there was a large dimensional storage separated into six sections.
The instructions were for us to place our instruments and any other items we wanted the professors to transport into the rift using their astral forges.
We did as instructed. But I caught Sora looking up into the sky.
He'd better show up; I would hate to be disqualified before we even started.
Then our communicators dinged. It was a message from the staff:
You may enter your tents and begin preparations for astral projection.
A proctor will come around to make sure everyone is accounted for. If everyone assigned to your cluster is not present, your cluster will not be permitted to take the final exam.
My pulse raced.
"So, where is our concordant?" Simon asked, stepping through the tent's entrance.
"He's fashionably late… Often." Voen said, sitting in a reclined seat inside the tent.
"As long as he shows up, I guess," Simon said, sitting in his seat.
Voen looked at Sora, and her hair was frizzing out of control.
Should I say something? No, it's not my place to.
Then I felt a mass approaching our tent.
"Anyone got any ideas? A proctor is close."
Everyone except Nerena had a panicked look on their faces.
"I got it."
All of her tentacles rose from her spine as she spat a ball of ink from her mouth. She began molding it into Jace's likeness, and the more cosmic energy she poured into it, the more lifelike it became.
"They're around the corner; you don't have much time!"
Nerena used one of her tentacles to wave me off as she placed the ink copy of Jace on the last recliner inside the tent.
As she finished, the proctor came into the room.
My chest was thumping.
No way an experienced starbound would fall for this.
The proctor started a roll call, his eyes never leaving the tablet, and asked for everyone to speak their full names,
We're screwed.
Everyone said their names until it was time for Mirage Jace.
There was a long pause.
So silent you could hear a pin drop.
"Jace Brontarion, are you here?"
My eyes darted around to everyone. But when I got to Voen, he just gave me a quick wink.
"Jace Brontarion here, sir," Voen said, perfectly mimicking Jace's voice, while somehow Nerena controlled the mouth of the mirage to move at the same time.
Since when could he do that?
"Very well, may the high pantheons bless you all," the proctor said, walking out of our tent.
The entrance closed; we all let out a deep breath, following it with a hearty laugh.
"Quick thinking, you two," Sora said.
"No problem. But are we really gonna do this without Jace?" Voen asked.
"It appears we are gonna have to."
Everyone gave a silent nod, and we all began to astral project.
Outside my physical body, I saw a river of students, led by a proctor, floating towards the rift entrance.
In the daylight, the indigo and translucent rift exterior floated low above the grassy and rocky plains of the Xhatal outskirts.
The same rift I chased that creature to.
My astral body was already flickering.
This isn't good.
The closer I got to the entrance, the more my body began to remember that night, how I felt weak and hopeless as something tried to pull me in, only to reject me for some unknown reason.
Something was off about this rift, and I tried to compare it to the first one I did back in the Valador region. It never felt like this. Back then, I was ready and determined to get the job done.
Now, I'm wondering if I had what it took to survive what might be inside there.
When we reached the portal entrance, a teacher in their astral projection form floated nearby, providing instructions to students before they entered the portal.
That teacher was Professor Thorne. One of the head teachers of House Obalex, and someone who wanted me expelled.
"Professor," I called, now that it was my cluster's turn to enter the rift.
"Yes?"
"Is it possible to get a different rift?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"No."
"But I really don't think we should go in there."
"I don't care what you think. You shouldn't even be here. So either you will perform the exam in this rift, or you will fail." Professor Thonre said as her cosmic energy surged.
"Fine. But can someone do one more sweep of the rift?"
"No, this portal is perfectly fine. Many scout parties have gone through it and assure it is as safe as can be," the professor said, gesturing for us to enter the rift.
Nerena and I locked eyes, and I felt we knew exactly what the other was thinking.
They didn't do a good enough job.