Omniscern is derived from the word omniscient, which means all knowing.

We're a nation built on knowledge. That's why the motto is Knowledge is Power.

It's inscribed on the bullet train station wall, carved into the stone.

That's the only stone wall there is, though. All the other ones are sleek and clean and white.

I wondered about Earth too. The planet that our species originated from. Stone is a rare commodity to come these days, and it originates from there.

No, we do not live on Earth, despite the fact that our planet's sky is blue like Earth's.

On Earth, the sky is blue because of the oceans that were reflected by it. We don't have an ocean on Riono.

I glance down towards the city. The bullet train station is high off the ground, giving me a nice view of Feroline. The difference between the view from my room and the view here are the plants.

Well, on Riono, they're machines that suck out the carbon dioxide from the air. According to the History district, that's how Earth lost all its life. We were irresponsible with our carbon emissions and destroyed the world with it.

It was only due to luck that our best scientists managed to locate a planet with viable conditions, and transferred the majority of the population there.

Now, Riono is part of a 3 planet chain that orbits two stars. Earth only orbited one, called the Sun. Our two sols are called Lux and Fos, light in both Latin and Greek respectively.

The trees are glassy and smooth, leaves held in shape. Never in my eighteen years of life have I seen a tree with rough bark, or their leaves sway in the wind like those in the books. The same goes for bushes, topiaries, flowers... so on.

I want to see a snowy mountain someday too, or deep green grassy valleys. Maybe glaciers..

We only have plateaus, canyons, and large lakes, but no ocean.

Earth's surface was 70% water. Or more.

Grass is also pretty hard to come by. It's to the point where our food farms are the most protected place on all of the Triad, because in the past, our food was diminished due to climate change, an aftereffect of immense carbon emissions.

Don't worry, there's still animals. Small things like squirrels, bugs, mice, the occasional dog or cat. But huge beasts like lions, tigers, bears.....

They're about as real as dragons.

I would've joined the History faction.. But-

No. Math. Math has to be the one for me.

The bullet train arrives, dashing the rest of my thoughts away. Like everything else, it is white, and it travels through a transparent tunnel that overlooks the city. A bright sign on its side has its route: Cinemark Ave.

I get on the train, scan my bus pass, and continue staring out the window.

Time travel isn't possible yet, but if I had the chance....

I'd go back 150 years. See how everything changed. How everything was. What was Earth's landscape like? How hot was the atmosphere, if they only had one star? And the cities....

In books, there were always so many types. Slums, high tech, suburban.

Omniscern is just a textbook city. Tall buildings, advertisements everywhere. Maybe like Earth's New York, but cleaner.

It's funny, because Omniscern is my reality, and New York is the textbook city.

The train begins to speed up, traveling through its set path. It only takes a few minutes to reach my stop.

I get off the station and get on a rental bike to school. Summerstern is my dream, but I go to Amzallag Institute. Today will be my last day.

You see, we have school all year round, with three day weekends. You can enroll into any school so long as you fit the age requirement. This means that there are constantly new students coming and going, and the entire school system is self-paced. What classes you choose will help decide your future.

I make it to the Amzallag's Courtyard twenty minutes before class starts. I would prefer to go to the library, where it's quiet and peaceful, but a hurtling storm named Ceres gets to me first.

She's pretty, auburn hair and all, but the same can not be said about her personality. "Varolen, how come you didn't respond to my text?"

"I got carried away studying." Not really a lie.

"For what?"

"My Test. It's today."

"Nice, now can you help me?"

I don't have the energy to get annoyed as I sit down on the side of a cement planter, tree overhead proving shade. "Just hurry up."

"Okay, okay-" Ceres pulls up a document on her tablet and shows it to me. Due to her privacy screen, all I see is blackness.

"Turn on broadcast mode."

"Alright, sheesh..." A 3D hologram is created, with the document.

Vaguely, I register the page count. 32. "You need help with all of this?"

"No, no, just these pages..." Ceres scrolls down so the screen is fixed on an uncompleted math problem. She sets the broadcast on freeze mode, which causes the problem to be stuck on the hologram. On her tablet, she pulls up a freedraw board covered with calculations.

I don't even try to comprehend what the hell she did. I don't care. "Factor the ones in the parentheses first. Then you subtract that from the part with the exponents, and carry that over before you add and divide them."

"Wait, repeat that?"

"Factor the numbers in the parentheses."

"Uh... okay... but why?"

Some small part of me wants to slap her. The only reason I don't is because she's one of few friends I have. "Because they're in parentheses. PEMDAS."

"Okay." Ceres adds a few calculations to her freeboard. "Then what?"

"Subtract this part," I point to the second part of the equation," from the part you just factored."

"Is that even correct?"

"Just go ask Professor Starlin if you're not sure." I begin walking away, but of course someone else enters the courtyard, sees me, and comes over.

"Var, didn't you see my messages?" Relorel asks, hazel eyes furious.

"I went to bed early. Sorry, Rel." I did try to shove as much sincerity as I could into my voice, but I guess it didn't pass Rel's internal check because he starts going on a tirade that I don't bother to listen to.

I have a Test to pass. I can't deal with them now.

Mercifully, I'm saved by the bell. A message pops up on our tablets, including Ceres's frozen holograph.

Students of Amzallag Institute, please report to class now.

As if in sync, we all get up and go to our designated first periods.

Ria finds me in the halls that are... you guessed it, white. I turn away, knowing what she'll ask.

Instead, she surprises me. Her gray eyes glitter as she says," Happy birthday!"

"Thanks...." I manage.

"Excited for the test?"

"Not really..." I fix my gaze on the tiles of the school. The entire city floor is tiled too. Any dirt that pokes out is a fiery orange.

"Don't worry about the test, you'll definitely get a good score!"

I can hear the envy dripping from the statement. Ria originated from a family in the high 60's in the Intelligence Test. Getting closer to me means an advantage for her.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Professor. Ollyat waves me into their class as I enter. As per usual, it's filled with clean white desks with small black under cabinets for textbook storage, should we ever request one.

My teacher notices the look on my face and smiles reassuringly. "Try to relax, Varolen."

"That's so much easier said than done!"

They chuckle. "Knowing you, you've been studying all day and night for this day."

"Who wouldn't?"

The nice thing about Professor Ollyat is that they won't take any sarcasm as offense. He believes respect is meant to be earned, which is more than I can say for some of the other teachers. That doesn't mean he'll take an insult meekly though.

The marine creatures on the walls wave as I enter. The holograms in this classroom might've been a bit much, but it made Terrestrial History so much more interesting.

Blue and white mix to create the illusion of crashing waves, something we would never see on Riona.

The bell rings, and its effect is immediate. Professor Ollyat gestures for everyone to sit down. Once everyone is seated, he begins his morning routine. "Good morning, class. I hope you finished that reading assignment...?"

Everyone nods in unison. Professor Ollyat is one of the more lenient teachers, making their class one of the easier ones compared to its counterparts.

"Wonderful. Please note we do have a quiz tomorrow, so study for that! Did anything interesting happen yet?"

No one replies to that.

"No? I see. This day has yet to wow you." Professor Ollyat glances around the class. "We'll give the tardy ones a few more minutes to arrive. Meanwhile.... Let's give a round of applause to the Testers today! Skylar and Varolen!"

Cue the applause. We do this everyday. It's just.... It's never been my name that Professor Ollyat has called.

I'm half convinced that Omniscern's government decided to make Testing Time sometime in the afternoon to torture us, because it's difficult to sit through all my classes with that looming over my head.

Professor Tyler is as strict as usual, Professor Starlin no clearer in her lectures than she was before, Professor Ignar still yelling at us to do our windsprints is no deviation from her usual routine.

Lastly, I make it through Communications with Professor Yter when the bell dismisses us.

The two sols hang high in the sky when Skylar and I go to Feroline's central hall for testing. We're not really friends, but neither of us really want to walk alone down the tiled streets as we await our fate.

Skylar has fluffy brown hair that reminds me of the fur on dogs, freckles sprinkled across his face. His skin is a pale olive complexion. Like me, he's dressed in his blue and white Amzallag uniform.

We walk in silence before Skylar asks," What do you think is gonna happen when we finish?"

"We get assigned our districts, jobs-"

"Not the generic stuff. Where do you see yourself tomorrow?"

"Oh." He meant that. Right. "Uh... Math district hopefully? You?"

"Probably the same..."

"Why are we walking anyway? We should've gotten onto a bus or something at least-"

"Because none of us wants to get to the main chamber yet?"

"Uh-"

"If you wanted to go yourself, you could have." Skylar closes his gold eyes for a brief moment. "I feel like I'm going to screw up something so badly it's irreversible."

"Honestly, same. Did you get any ideas on what the Test this year is going to be?"

The Intelligence Test is an ever changing phenomenon. The baseline description is the same, but the details of it are different. Last year, it was a simulated defusal mission. The year before, it was a competition.

Skylar shook his head, defeated. "No idea...."

"I guess we'll see, then."

We arrive in front of the large white Capitol building, domed ceiling with thick pillars. The windows on the upper floors are decorated with mosaic art, where the ones on the first are plain sheets of glass.

"You first," Skylar says, opening the door.

Curse chivalry.

I walk in, greeted by the sight of the receptionist desk line. The only other people in the room are those that work there. Skylar and I are the only Testers today.

My stomach turns on itself as we approach the desk on the far left. The receptionist looks up, dressed in a crisp blue suit. An earphone wire trails out of it, connected to the earphone in said person's ear.

"Hi," I say, my voice cracking. I force myself to calm down, to ignore my jittery nerves. "We're here for Testing?"

"Names?"

"Valoren Myrk."

The receptionist types something on their computer and nods. She turns to Skylar next. "And you?"

"Skylar Peroal."

The receptionist pulls up two forms after confirming that both of us were cleared to take the Test. "Please fill these out as honestly as possible. We understand that often, one's mental state will influence the end score. All information you give us on the survey is confidential. I'm sure you understand."

The survey gets sent into my inbox as she says this.

"Once you finish, simply click submit. Your proctor will be ready for you."

"Thank you," Skylar replies for both of us.

We settle down on the red plush chairs lining one of the windows. Skylar and I sit with a single chair between us.

I skipped the survey's introduction, given that the receptionist just gave us the same information.

The first few questions are easy to answer. Name, Date of Birth, Family History, Health History.

The fifth question is when I have to start really think about my responses.

"How would you describe your relationship with your parents? Please select on the scale."

Under that question are five dots. On one end, it is labeled "One, they aren't in your life.", and "Five, they are the best people you have in your life."

My dad is a 1.5, and my mom would be a 4.6, but they don't do decimals on that scale. Also, there's only one scale for both parents. I pick the happy medium, 3.

2.5 would be more accurate, but eh.

Under that question is one that says," Please explain your answer in the space below."

I stare at the question for a long moment. These questions aren't exactly optional...

I type ,"My dad yells at me for the dumbest things, and my mom tries her best to compensate for it." Good enough.

The question after that one says," Is there anything that you are afraid of your parents finding out?"

To my temporary relief, it's a yes or no question. The next isn't a follow up either.

The next one says,"How would you describe the relationship you have with your friends? Select on the scale below."

These questions are starting to raise the hairs on my necks. Why are they so... personal?

I select 2, then move on. I answer the follow up question with "They are all annoying."

At this point, I can't really consider them friends. I'm better off without them.

The question that really pisses me off is this one,"'How would you describe your current mental state? Again, be as honest as possible so we can correctly evaluate your Test results."

I don't want to talk about this at all, let alone tell some random stranger about my struggles.

I can't even skip the question either.

I glance at Skylar briefly, wondering if he's finished. If he noticed me looking at all, he doesn't show. The bar on his screen shows that he's 90% done.

I'm at 82%.

I select... two on the scale. When it asks me to explain my answer, I simply write," I'm tired."

And I click over to the next question as fast as I can.

"What do you want to do after you receive your score?"

With what, my life?

Honestly, I have no idea.

I enter," Be happy" and answer the rest of the questions. You don't need to see those, reader.

When I look up again, Skylar eyes me with a concerned gaze. "You alright?"

"Fine."

I didn't realize my fists were clenched. Ah, well. A survey... can do that to you sometimes...

"Ma'am, we've finished our surveys," Skylar says. It occurs to me that he could've left me here, but no, he didn't.

He was probably just scared, I think indifferently. Scared to go alone.

"Great!" the receptionist replies cheerfully. "Please proceed to the room on your right."

A door that I could've sworn wasn't there earlier appears on our right.

"Thanks," Skylar adds. He glances back at me again. "You sure you're fine?"

I shake myself hard. "Yes. Please stop asking me."

Skylar flinches. "Sorry."

It's not your fault, part of me wants to say. The other part of me can't get my mouth to open.

As soon as we step past the threshold, the world shifts.

All the sterile pale blue furnishings that had been in the room warp into shades of green and gray. When everything is clear, Skylar and I stand in front of a cobblestone wall flecked with moss.

Somewhere behind us, I hear rustling and quiet growling.

Oh yeah, did I mention that you could die during the Test?