“… Nowadays, we call these animals, Mutors. In the past, they hunted us to near extinction. But over time we turned the tables and now they are the endangered species.” Miss Maire was giving us a brief history of Mutors. “Though they were constantly evolving and new ones are being born as we speak.”

When the great crash happened a hundred years ago, humans weren’t the only things that mutated. Animals, bacteria, and even viruses mutated: Some animals became friendlier while others, not so much. The ones that became hostile and attacked humans were dubbed as Mutors. 

These Mutors really liked to feast on human meat. Of course, we returned the favor by hunting them to extinction but that was a different story.

“In order to maintain balance our specialized program, the program for explorers had been created. Now, though the program only made it here only three years ago, do note that it was first popularized thirty years ago in Canada….”

Didn’t expect my birthplace to come up like that. 

She went on about explorers. Basically, this was a government job quite like the army. Except, this job-focused more on exploration than killing. The main job of an explorer was to report the sighting of a Mutor to the army. Of course, this had its risks but the rewards were also lucrative: Fame, glory, and above all – money.

Becoming an Explorer was my dream. I’d met two explorers before and they’d saved my life. Ever since then, it’d been my dream. Making money was also one of my dreams, so this kind of worked for me in more than one way.

“How pointless.” A hushed whisper! The voice came from directly behind me.

I didn’t need to look behind to know that this voice belonged to Marg. Of course, I didn’t have the luxury or the desire to correct her. After all, everyone had their own sense of worth. 

Our peace and quiet depended on explorers, so of course, they weren’t pointless. But that was just my opinion and I knew not many shared my views. 

“I’m sure many of you wish to become explorers but you can’t take the test before graduation. And only the top twenty percent would graduate, so I’d say study hard.” Miss Maire’s attitude changed a little and her smile was nowhere to be seen. “Now then brats. Now that all that crap is over. I’d like to reintroduce myself.” And then all of a sudden her attitude took a hundred and eighty degrees turn. 

All our attention was on Miss Maire. Did I mishear something? Did all of us mishear it? 

I sure hope so. 

A wicked smile replaced the calm kind smile that was on her face all this time. It was like she was a different person. “I’m Maire Gargina, and the woman you’ve been talking to was Maire Incarcia, my other half. I’ve been charged with your sorry asses for an entire year. I don’t care if you were the biggest fish in your puny village or something. In here, you are all the same. If you can’t do anything to my standards, then I’d send you home packing, long before you can even dream of the exams.” She gazed at our reactions and smiled to herself. “My other half would make temporary rankings of you and give you the details later. But for now, I need all your losers to make sure you don’t disappoint me.”

So basically this woman had two personalities?

I didn’t like the attitude, but I didn’t mind either. The less completion for me, the better. I already knew what I was doing and I already knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But that didn’t stop me from dreaming and that sure hell won’t stop me from trying.

If only twenty percent would graduate, then I’d just had to make sure I was among them.

“What are you smirking at brat!?” Miss Maire looked at me.

I gulped and so did the students around me. “No-not-” 

Before I could even say something, she pointed her finger at me and a moment later, Marg started to float. “Don’t go thinking everything will be alright, just because you’re some hot shot’s daughter.” Miss Maire’s eyes gleamed in a fiery light.

I didn’t know why, but I sighed in relief. I could say the same for the kids around me, sadly not for Marg.

Marg kept floating and the class resumed. 

The second half of the class felt like it went on forever. The whole class was too quiet. 

But eventually, it ended and Marg came down, sat on her seat, and just stared at the bench. She was quiet, too quiet.

***

We had about ten minutes before the next class.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” She didn’t look me in the eye and the conversation just died.

So I turned around and surveyed the surroundings. Yet again, it looked like people were paying too much attention to me.

“So, why am I famous again?” I asked myself.

It really wasn’t that much of a big deal but people were glaring too much at me. It just made me feel a little uncomfortable. 

“My sister is supposed to be one of the lightsaber club’s aces. So when you fought her without a sword and didn’t get hurt, people assumed you were quite strong.” Marg spoke reluctantly. She didn’t want to talk about her family.

“I’m pretty sure, people didn’t just get jealous of that and that’s why they’re glaring at me like that. Right?” It seemed ridiculous but there was a chance.

“Yes and no.” She looked straight into my eyes. “There’s a rumor that Eve likes you. Hence the jealousy from the boys.” Marg said it with a straight face. “And I’m sure the girls are looking at you with different intentions.”

It wasn’t all that bad news. But I still didn’t want to be famous. I had no desire to. “Well, it’s just a rumor. And it’s not like this is a movie anyway. ” I turned again. This just seemed more and more stupid. 

Marg didn’t reply and just went about her things.

The next class began and I learned some biology. Who knew plants needed three different colored lights to produce food?

***

After three classes, lunch break was announced and the classroom nearly halved. 

I still had half of the juice remaining, so it wasn’t a big deal. Besides, I didn’t have much money, to begin with.

I did have enough to eat lunch but since I was destined to spend them on chocolate milk and bread, I didn’t bother spending them on anything else. 

Marg stood up and left. She didn’t even talk to me on her own accord. Actually, now that I thought about it, she didn’t talk with anyone. 

“Spoiled, isn’t she?” A skinny guy approached me. He was tanned and looked awfully skinny. I didn’t like that condescending smirk.

“You are?”

He made a small bow. What was he, a royalty or something? “Robert. I’m your classmate,” he said, proudly.

Yeah, no shit. 

“Apparently, that’s apparent. Or are you trying to act funny? Because if you are, that’s not funny.” I did chuckle though for different reasons.

“You don’t hold anything back do you?” He flinched a step backward. His tiger-like round ears twitched a little. This was the first time I saw those kinds of ears in over a year now.

“Why should I?”

The guy chuckled. “Anyway, you’re going to check out the club later, right?”

“Not really interested. I’ve better things to do.” Why would I voluntarily blow up a whole section of the town anyway?

Besides, I probably knew more sword skills than anyone else here anyway. 

How I knew them, I wasn’t sure off. My grandfather had taught me things but I didn’t really remember much about him. Maybe I was too small at the time?

But I was certain, my skills were good enough as they were. Sometimes I got a bit too cocky, but oh well. That was just a personal problem anyway. 

“Too bad. With your skills, things would have been different.”

“Well don’t overestimate me from rumors.”

“I was there last night. So-” SO he knew if I could fight or not.

“So don’t overestimate me from just your own memory either.” Of course, it didn’t matter to me.

“Selfish, aren’t you?” He chuckled some more. I didn’t know why but I got the feeling this guy hated me or something. 

The bell rang before he could say anything else. 

He looked out the window. “We’ll see ya in the field.”

“Yeah.”

I actually hadn’t seen this guy at the assessment either. Or it could have been possible that I just missed him. I didn’t care though.

The first half of the classes were supposed to be just lectures but the second half of the classes were all physical classes. I had a tough time ahead of me, but at least I’d get things done. And perhaps even learn new things. 

“By the way? You sure you don’t want to take part? I mean they have this huge cash prize.” The guy was serious. And for some reason he wanted me to take part. Wait, or was it that he wanted to fight me?

But I was definitely excited now.” Tell me more!” I grabbed his shoulder. Maybe blowing up a city or two wouldn’t be that bad, right?