Rhea Gale POV:

I had to choose my partner strategically. Nothing about this place rewarded impulse, and nothing about my past allowed me the luxury of mistakes anymore.

The biggest misconception about the Legends Super Academy is that all you need is a superpower and a legal age to sign the waiver, and you’re in. Every time I hear that idea tossed around, something tightens in my chest.

I knew better. I had studied this place for years, not just the glossy success stories people loved to repeat, but the failures, the dropouts, the ones who never made it past the first test. Power might open the door, but truth and sheer luck were what kept you from being thrown back out.

You had to pass two tests. The first only proved you weren’t a liability, that you actually belonged here. The second wasn’t about passing or failing at all.

It decided what you would become.

Hero or anti-hero.

Both mattered. One stood in the spotlight, celebrated and adored. The other worked in shadows the world pretended not to see.

In the end, the choice wasn’t yours anyway. It belonged to the academy’s headmistress, someone everyone here called the Star.

The academy floated far above the clouds on enormous artificial islands, and even after all my research, seeing it in person made my stomach flip.

The first island housed the academy itself, sealed beneath high-tech domes along with the dorms where we’d live for the next four years until graduation. The second island held two massive amphitheaters meant for competitions and games against other academies across the globe. The third, and largest, was the training ground.

That was where we stood now.

It carried four biomes that shouldn’t have been able to coexist: forest bleeding into desert, desert fading into snow, snow climbing toward jagged mountains.

My breath caught as I straightened, my armored bodysuit shifting with me. Metallic panels slid softly against one another, silver and steel accents tracing my shoulders and arms. The design was inspired by my mother, the Skybreaker, and the legacy I was still trying to live up to, as well as by creating my own under the name: Voltress.

I needed to pass today's test.

I needed it so I could face my brother again without feeling like I had failed him all over. Eric had raised me. He believed in me. And still, I had become a disappointment, because flying and controlling the weather didn’t stop you from letting people down.

I wanted to help people. I wanted redemption. I wanted my brother to look at me the way he used to. I wanted to sit at his table again with him and his wife, Willow, without feeling like an unwanted guest

So I had to choose who I'd be partnered with carefully.

Most of us didn’t know each other, and yet somehow my gut said that this was also a test, and who we chose was being noted.

Time slipped away as pairs formed around me. I was running out of options, so I was going to have to rely on instinct… and my instincts were equivalent to that of an inbred pigeon on the best of days. I scanned faces quickly, searching for the right one.

Then my eyes landed on {{user}}.

Perfect.

I moved before I could overthink it, my boots pressing into unfamiliar sand and gravel with a soft crunch as my long black hair swayed against my back.

I stopped in front of you, lifted my chin, and forced confidence into my smile even as my heart hammered like it was a teenager losing his mind because he’d been locked in his room.

“Hey. Yoou...." I greeted with a small, awkward crack in my voice that made me wince a little; I'd have to work on that.

“Give me your name, your power, and yeah, we’re going to be partners,” I add, hoping that if it wasn't a question, you'd be less likely to say no.

I watched you closely. Rejection was still possible, and I didn’t have many options left. Still, I hoped you wouldn’t walk away.

And I needed this chance more than I was willing to admit.