Prologue:
One Hour Ago
If he blew up the pool on the upper level would this one flood?
What kind of moron built a pool on the top floor anyway?
Was that cadet bleeding?
Kelevra cocked his head, allowing his gaze to rest on the blonde female for a second longer before he scowled and glanced away.
Nope. Not bleeding.
Boring.
Boring.
Boring.
“Pretend to find this interesting,” a gruff voice to his left leaned in and suggested. The highest member in his Retinue and closest confidant was standing at his side, eyes glued to the scene before them. Madden Odell was the same age, and yet far better at acting the part of dignified royalty.
At least when the lights were on.
Kelevra shifted his weight and sighed dramatically. “Why are we even here again?”
“Because it’s part of the program,” Madden replied, voice low so their Active, the trainer in charge of the sophomore class who was nearby, wouldn’t overhear. “We need to mentor in order to graduate in the fall.”
“Boring.” All of this was tedious and uneventful. Kelevra honestly wondered why either of them even bothered. It wasn’t like their futures were on the line like the rest of the idiots surrounding them.
Kelevra Diar was an Imperial Prince, he bowed to no one—not even his two older siblings—and as such, his trajectory was set. He might not make it to the throne, which was perfectly fine by him anyway, but he’d get close. Close enough that not a damn soul in this entire building or on the whole campus would dare flunk him for refusing to participate in anything.
As a part of his Retinue, Madden could make the same claim. His life had been tied to Kel’s since they’d been children, and nothing short of a serious betrayal or death would sever that bond, which meant where the Imperial Prince went, he went too.
“It’s almost over,” Madden reassured, motioning with his chin toward the two-way glass everyone was staring out of.
Below them, an obstacle course had been set up, a complex maze of sorts created to appear like the innards of a cluttered warehouse. Holographic “bad guys” appeared at random, sometimes flickering around corners of stacked boxes, other times simply flashing into existence in what had been empty space prior.
The sophomore class consisted of thirty students, all carefully selected from others of their age group to partake in this advanced grouping. They were known as A-4 or A-8 or some other bullshit Kel hadn’t bothered remembering. None of them mattered enough for him to bother.
None of them were even remotely interesting.
“Just more sheep,” he mumbled to himself, crossing his arms as he pretended to scan the bland faces as the cadets rushed about the room, fake blasters held aloft.
They’d been instructed to make their way through the previous room first, which had focused on physical strength and prowess. Kelevra hadn’t bothered watching that part, waiting in this room for the final results so he could be on his merry way as soon as possible.
Seven cadets had entered this area already, their fake weapons programmed to act like the real deal, only with censors instead of bullets. They’d be scored on who passed the finish line first and who hit the most targets. Everyone, no matter their placement, would be assigned a mentor from Kel’s class, the senior group F-12, but the top three would be given those of the highest ranking.
Unfortunately, Kelevra was one of them. He’d kept his top score because it’d helped pass the time. Not so he could one day be subjected to this nonsense and forced to become a glorified babysitter to some brown-nosing wannabe.
And whoever won this completion would be just that, he could already tell by how intensely they all swarmed about, so focused on the closed door at the other end, below the floor where Kel and the others stood watching. That was the big finish line.
A fucking door.
How blasé.
“They’re soldiers,” Madden said.
“They’re—” He’d been about to say obsolete, but then something interesting happened, and he was so caught off guard, he actually forgot all about the conversation. Certain that he was mistaken, like with the blood earlier, he let his gaze settle on one of the cadets, watching more closely as the man darted around a plastic table and dove beneath a wooden beam.
