5:15 PM, 25th of December, 1728

  After an uneventful day of work, Alexander was nearly jumping out of his seat, ready to attend the campus and see his enrollment completed. Although the meeting he had had the day before revealed to him unbelievably important information, he worried about its continuation. A hole was sitting in his stomach at the mere thought that he would need to share more about himself, about his personal life, and about what events led up to the death of Aisha.

  Without changing out of his work clothes, deeming a suit presentable enough, Alexander made his way to the campus.

  Fewer students dotted the ground compared to the day before, leaving Alexander to wonder if classes end for the day at around four o’clock.

  The door to the headmaster's office was closed upon his arrival, so he raised his hand to knock. Before his fist even made contact with the wood, the door opened, the headmaster staring at Alexander, who stood awkwardly with his fist in the air.

  “I see that you made it.”

  He didn’t respond, only giving a curt nod.

  “Unfortunately for me, I’m very short on spare time today, so we’ll have to save our talk for another day.”

  The weight in his stomach lifted, and the anxiety filling his mind did too.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  She smiled, “Didn’t I tell you that I know when others lie to me? Anyway, let’s get to it.”

  After looking him up and down, taking in the sight of his suit, she continued, “I appreciate your attempt to look presentable, but we will provide you with our own uniform. Here, come in.”

  She stood to the side, waiting for him to enter before closing the door behind him and moving to sit across from him at her desk.

  “Before I’m able to decide what classes we will be assigning to you, I first need you to fill out an aptitude test we’ve put together.”

  “Aptitude? I can’t just take the classes I want?”

  “Well, under normal circumstances, you would take the basic arithmetic classes to begin with, in conjunction with a few on Authority. In your case, and cases with other students who don't begin their education with us, we need to perform a test to see where you excel and where you don’t. After you complete the test, you can decide which classes you’d like to take, yes, but only as long as you have met the standards of their prerequisites, understood?”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  He nodded, “Yeah, I get it. So, when will I be taking this test? Should I study?”

  She smiled, tilting her head back, a small look of disbelief displayed on her face.

  “No, no, no.” She sat back up, picking up a packet of paper on her desk and placing it in front of Alexander, the packet landing with a loud plop.

  “You’ll be starting it now. It’s an aptitude test; there’s no studying for this, it’s simply what you do and don’t know, Alexander.”

  The empty feeling in his stomach returned, though less intense, and moreso a simple sign of anxiety.

  The headmaster stood and walked towards the door, turning her head back to him as she opened it.

  “And no funny business, just fill out what you know, and don’t try anything sketchy for what you don’t.”

  As she began leaving the room, Alexander realized something.

  “Could I get a pen, Miss, uh...” He stopped, realizing he still didn’t know her name.

  “Oh, it’s Althea. And yeah, just use one of mine. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. I trust that you’ll have completed the test by then.”

  The door closed, and the room fell silent. He looked down at the thick stack of papers laid out in front of him, calming his breath and deciding to focus on it. This was the start of what he needed to do, just the beginning, but an important stepping stone to learning the truth.

  The test was unbelievably thorough, with only a few, but difficult questions pertaining to each subject. Some of them were so simple that Alexander was tempted to consider them common sense, while others delved into subjects he hadn’t even considered to exist.

  The easiest of the subjects were both mathematics and logic-based questions, something Alexander felt he excelled at during his time attending school under the dome.

  On the other hand, there were questions on Authorities and their nuances.

  He felt like a toddler trying to learn how to walk, seeing others so obviously aware of how to do it, but being unable to understand it himself.

  Only an hour had passed before he completed the booklet, and, other than the subjects he felt he had no chance of understanding as of current, he believed he did rather well.

  In fear that leaving the room might disqualify the last hour of work, Alexander opted to simply sit by the window, watching the few students that remained outside under the dark sky.

  After a while, the door to the room opened again, and he looked on as Althea entered, seemingly surprised at the sight of him being done with the test.

  “Finished already? You didn’t go and cheat, now did you?”

  Alexander stood upon her entrance. “No, I didn’t. I have a feeling that all the challenging questions were the ones that I have no knowledge of, so everything else I answered was pretty simple.”

  She picked up the booklet, skimming through the pages and reading his answers, her eyes narrowing as she did.

  “No, these should all be rather challenging. It seems you just excel in the subjects you’re aware of. Neither of us should be surprised at your lack of knowledge on Authorities, though. I think we both expected that.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Either way, this is good information. It seems all you really need to worry about is your knowledge on Authorities. You’re busy during the morning, right? I think we have a few night classes available, lucky for you. If you’re able, I can throw you in one starting tomorrow.”

  She handed him a stack of clothing, presumably his uniform, as well as a small folded piece of paper.

  “I should be available, yes.”

  “Good. That piece of paper has your class on Authorities. We can fit in some more as well, but I knew you would need that one to start. It starts at six, come see me before then so we can choose them out.”

  Alexander smiled, feeling accomplished. “I appreciate all your help, thank you.”

  “Don’t forget, this isn’t for free.”