Asher's eyes fluttered open to the world, but this time he did not awaken within a white, four-walled chamber, nor within some grand hall.
He emerged in midair.
The wind roared in his ears as he plummeted from the sky, the force of his descent whipping his purple hair and tugging violently at his clothes while gravity dragged him mercilessly downward.
His sharp gaze swept across the vast expanse around him, searching for fellow candidates plummeting alongside, but none were to be found.
It seemed they had been scattered across great distances.
Tilting his head downward, Asher beheld the sight below, a sprawling canopy of green stretching endlessly, jagged mountains rising proudly in the distance, and here and there the shimmering glimmer of lakes breaking the wilderness.
'Isn't this Star Academy far too cruel?' he thought with a sigh.
