The Academy

Chapter 1

It was the same dream Nick always had. He was floating through the darkness, the glow of distant stars illuminating the empty abyss of space. Though he should have been scared, panicked perhaps, he felt calm, accepting what was to come next. He knew this darkness...and he knew what would come next.

As if on cue, a small light began to glow before him, and the space around it began to warp. Nick watched, still fascinated at an occurrence he had dreamt for over a month.

The light was ghostly, and didn't maintain a single color for long, but Nick knew its shape like he knew his own mind. It was the size of a small child, floating just as he was in the weightless dark, and now he saw it looked at him with eyes that shone with intelligence. The light had taken its shape.

Two ghostly wings stretched from a reptilian back, and a long tail swished behind it, as if it could not be kept still. Its face was snakelike, and when it opened its mouth, he could see dangerous looking teeth, though Nick wondered how effective they would be given the ethereal nature of the creature before him.

"Nick," a voice whispered in his head. It was the creature.

"Nick" it said again, more urgently this time.

He moved his arms, trying to draw closer to the creature, curious as to what it wanted.

"Nick!" A female voice rang out, pulling him from his dream, the creature's image fading away, leaving only a sense of longing.

"Ugh, what Becca?" He asked his sister, keeping his eyes closed as he knew she was bound to turn his rooms light.

"Mom told me to wake you, she wants you up and ready for today." Her response was curt, and while Nick had his eyes closed, he knew exactly how what she was doing.

She was standing by his door, blonde hair tied in a ponytail, blue eyes creased with amusement. One hand on her hip, the other supporting her as she leaned into the doorway, foot preparing to tap impatiently if Nick didn't begin to move. This was not the first time his sister had been asked to wake him up.

"I'm up, I'm up, leave me alone so I can get dressed." It was a lame excuse and he knew it. The truth was, he had actually fallen asleep in his clothes during the night, a habit he had developed given his tendency to stay up long through the night.

"Fine, but mom won't be happy if you don't hurry." Becca replied.

"And mom won't be happy if I tell her you were the reason I couldn't hurry up." He retorted, knowing that would wipe the smile off his twin's face.

He waited a few moments for the sound of the door sliding shut to signal her exit, and then sat up, rubbing the final moments of sleep from his eyes as he did.

"System, what is today's date?" He asked the rooms monitor. Its plasma face read 0800.

"Today is Thursday, August 17th, 3352." A metallic female voice replied. Nick's sense of urgency increased as he remembered just how important this day was.

August 17th was the day of the colony wide exam for all teenagers who turned 17th during the year. The test would determine the future of each and every person who took it. If someone did poorly on the exam, they would be sent away from the colony, to work in the labor camps on various colonized planets. The Combined Coalition for the Unified People, or CCUP for short, had no need for those who could not help mankind progress.