Hal was sitting by his window, fingers drumming restlessly on the table beside his laptop. The sun had barely climbed over the rooftops, casting long shadows into his shabby apartment. A mug of coffee sat untouched, steam curling lazily into the air.
He had taken the Liberator Academy entrance test nearly four weeks ago. He wasn't stressed—just annoyed by the wait. Hal was an organized person, someone who liked to plan ahead. If he had failed, he figured it would be better to know now so he could move on and set his sights on something else.
A sudden sound interrupted the silence—a notification. An email.
It was from HighGuard.
He opened it quickly, betraying his impatience. The subject line read: Hal Brenn. "How laughable," he muttered. "My first name sounds like a cigarette brand, and my last name's a supermarket chain." Still, he kept reading.
We would like to start this email with our sincerest congratulations. You have passed the first phase of the entry exam with an impressive score of 80/100 on the physical test and 90/100 on the decision-making test. You have proven yourself worthy. In two weeks, we expect you at the Academy for the second and final phase of testing, which will determine your class.
Please bring your luggage, as all candidates will be housed in HighGuard dormitories from that point on. A Trein ticket to the Academy Continent has been included.
Thank you for your time—and good luck.
He leaned back in his chair. "Well… to think I got accepted. Took them long enough. Must've been a lot of applicants."