Countless kids surrounded Astra, their expressions confused, as they stood around and waited inside a humongous flat area that was encircled by walls protected in a strange shimmering barrier. Above it were long rows that held a buzzing audience made up of what appeared to be the academy’s students. The roar and thunder that came from their cheers was enough to make Astra dizzy; it felt like the very ground beneath him was shaking from the force.

  “Put on a good show, freshies!” they’d shout while munching on assorted snacks. Astra didn’t quite know how to react, for though he had gotten used to busy crowds while at the capital of Tauramere, never did he expect to be suddenly elevated to such a stage. The boy could try counting all day, and he’d never come close to the number of expecting eyes peering at him now.

  Astra had to admit, he felt a bit shy. Thankfully the pressure wasn’t too daunting thanks to the fact that he was but just one applicant out of many, many more. His country butt stuck out like a sore rear amongst the fancily dressed children whose faces he’d ordinarily never have the chance to see. There were those dressed in big poofy coats that resembled a lion’s mane, long white silken cloths that covered their entire body and face, colorful dresses and shirts made of refined coral, and Astra even spotted a few sand-colored cloaks.

  They were all so different in appearances from the people back at his home planet, but even so the boy was ecstatic as one could be. Just by standing here he was learning more in a few minutes than what he’d likely achieve in years running the farm. He didn’t want to be disrespectful and ogle them too much, though, so he started walking and tried to find his new friend, Colette. Her hair was very recognizable so he didn’t think he’d have any trouble at first, but after searching for a while he realized that there was just… too many. Too many heads bobbing up and down and constantly moving.

  Astra was taller than the average kid, thanks to his hard workin’ and healthy farmers’ diet, but it didn’t help him much with how squished against each other everyone was. The colors and the view sort of blended in a chaotic jumble, until all he could see was a shifting, blurry mass.

  In the end, he had to give up. More and more applicants were filling into the stadium, and, while the area itself seemed just as big as a city like Boulderbrigg, in the distance a bright red line blocked the kids from going past a certain point, forcing them to make room. Astra was worried that he might bump into someone and offend them. Fortunately his fears soon died down as the people popping out of the wrinkle gradually began to lessen, and upon the final applicant it disappeared entirely, leaving the gathering to raise their heads as a voice boomed from above and echoed all across the space.

  Fireworks exploded in the air. Bright flashing lights darted around in messy beams and rays. At the very top, high above the audience and the test takers, a lift slowly descended while carrying quite possibly the flashiest man Astra had ever seen in his life. Every surface of his body was covered in gold, jewels, glittering rings that dazzled so bright the boy had to look away or risk being blinded by it, and it was particularly odd because he wasn’t even wearing a shirt! Just a pair of baggy black trousers and rhinestone-studded sunglasses which the man wore accompanied by a slicked-back white mohawk. Astra’s jaw dropped in surprise. Who knew there was such an eccentric person in the world?

  “EXCELSIOOOOOOOOR!” the man roared with every morsel of his being. The audience immediately stood up, hooting and hollering as an electric mood surged amongst them all. “Aw c’mon, now. I know y’all can do better than that! Let’s hear it. Let’s SCREAM for all the cosmos to hear! When I say ‘go’, you say…?”

  “Excelsior!”

  “Louder, folks. Even louder! Go…?”

  “EXCELSIOR!”

  The man whipped his hair around and posed as if the entire universe was watching him. “THAT’S what I like to hear! Can’t start a ceremony without a little flair, after all. But welcome, welcome! Boys and girls, gents and ladies, it is my greatest honor to serve as today’s emcee, master of ceremony, for Excelsior Academy’s DEATH GAMES! Haha, just kidding, but as you’ll soon see that might not be too far off. I’m your host for the evening, Vox ‘Riot’ Mob, straight from the Sagittarius Tourney Major, so let’s have a rocking, blasting, one supernova of a time!”

  The audience pumped their fists and cheered, stomping their feet while the so-called emcee, Vox, turned toward the baffled applicants below. “You see that, kids? Today you’re the main stars of the show! We’re rolling live, so put on your best smiles and get ready to go all out, ‘cuz in this test… once you’re cut, you’re gone for good. Let me break the rules down for ya.”

  Mister Riot raised his finger and then dramatically pointed above. From way out in the sky, a shower of stardust soon plunged into the stadium, joining together and transforming the once-bland environment into a dazzling display. Buildings were constructed out of thin air. The earth split apart into gaping ravines. From every corner to the farthest stretch, numerous different landscapes were forcibly combined in a deranged mish-mash of the worst elements nature had to offer. Poor Astra felt sensory overload from the sheer mayhem of it all.

  “Last year, I’ve been told the academy stranded their applicants at a barren moon and had them fight it out battle royale style for a full week, but let’s be honest. None of us have time for that! So this year Excelsior’s hired me to oversee a much more thrilling trial: the biggest, boldest, most daring obstacle course this side of the galaxy! Let’s call it… Interstellar Wipeout!”

  As if on cue, a miniature rocket was fired into the air and then exploded in little streams of ribbons and glitter that spelled out the exam’s official title, Interstellar Wipeout.

  By this point the applicants were utterly terrified. Everything happened so fast, so quickly, that they could scarcely comprehend it all, yet regardless of how bizarre and how bewildering it was to suddenly be thrust into the spotlight, Mister Riot the emcee bulldozed right on through and gave them not a moment to think.

  “The rules are simple: Just make it to the finish line in one piece! Of course, we can’t make this too easy, so along the way are three main sections you’ll have to overcome. Each one’s filled with their own unique hazards, traps, and perils—oh my! You better watch out for those, because if you take a large enough hit… you’ll be transported out of the test, and ELIMINATED! Don’t bother trying to cheat. The academy’s teachers and staff will be monitoring every little speck of the site. Got that? Good! Then start running, because your test starts… NOW!”

  After a loud bang, the red line disappeared. The applicants were still struggling to digest all the information told; some had only just entered the stadium before Mister Riot began speaking, so now they were left a bumbling mess as they stood around and panicked—except for one.

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  There was one person who, the moment the test began, bolted forward in a determined dash. A boy. He didn’t hesitate nor seemed lost on where to go, as if he had already known what would happen beforehand. But that wasn’t what drew Astra’s attention. Rather… it was his presence, and a peculiar familiarity.

  At first glance there wasn’t much to his appearance that stood out. Unlike the nobles and their elaborate attire, he hid his body under a worn, ragged cloak. He had blonde hair which was trimmed so short he was almost bald, and his expression, although Astra could only see it for a moment as he passed by, was emotionless. Like all of this was just bland to him, boring.

  It was the first time Astra saw him, and yet he couldn’t shake off this nagging feeling in his heart that somehow, somewhere, they had already met. But that couldn’t be right. Astra’s memory was as good as can be. Surely he’d remember seeing someone like the blonde-haired boy, unless… what he looked like now was different than before.

  Back then, under the advent of the Constellar Rain, a certain child wearing an obsidian crown saved Astra from his meteoric pursuer. He wore a cloak dark as twilight, had long flowing black hair which sparkled in little flicks of cosmic dust. It was as if he were a personification of space itself—someone born, raised, and guided to be its champion.

  When Astra saw the blonde-haired boy now, he was reminded of that chance encounter. And the miracle which stoked his dream, the ideal hero he wished to become.

  It was him. Astra was certain, without a shadow of a doubt. That boy so far ahead of the others was his savior.

  “Well? What’re you waiting for!?” Mister Riot the emcee shouted. “There’s a time limit! One hour! Get to the finish line in one hour or you’re TOAST!”

  The frozen kids, after being goaded by the announcer, gradually began to stumble forward one by one, their hesitant steps quickly breaking out into a full on sprint as they mindlessly followed the front. Astra didn’t waste any time as well. But unlike his fellow applicants, he was spurred on for a different reason.

  Astra had to reach him, his hero. He wanted to know more about him. Why was he here at the academy? Why did he ask about Emily’s safety? And most importantly of all… whether he’d like to be Astra’s friend.

  And so the country boy took off, running as fast as his feet could muster. It was disorienting. It was exciting. Exhilaration climbed up from Astra’s lungs as he zoomed onward and passed the others. Whether it was a stroke of luck or the musings of fate, the academy chose the one test that Astra could excel in, one where all he had to do, really, was run. Astra was no stranger to it. He had climbed the treacherous, craggy cliffs of the Foggy Mountains. He had swung across the forests and trees near his farm. For a boy like him, who once had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do but play where thrived the thickest of nature, surely an obstacle course wouldn’t be difficult at all!

  Indeed, that’s what Astra had thought… until a giant sawblade came swinging right in front of his face. The person ahead of him didn’t even have time to yelp. The tiny, whirling edge dug deep into their flesh and bisected them from the head down in half, or at least that’s what would have happened if it weren’t for the sticker’s safety mechanism activating. Instead they warped away at the last second—safe, but also disqualified.

  Astra hiccuped.

  “Ooh, our first casualty of the day! That’s why I warned you. Make some noise for the poor soul, everyone, and for the many more to come… because the first major section of Interstellar Wipeout is the Ancient Ruins of Latchjaw! The fine relic hunters of Excelsior’s faculty were so kind as to develop this DEADLY, DASTARDLY, and downright DESPICABLE recreation of the tombs found buried deep in the deserts of Gul’nautakelos. Mind your step, haha!”

  Dilapidated structures and sharp bronze tiles littered Astra’s surroundings. Everywhere around him, participants were taken out by the hundreds, either struck by a rain of arrows fired from what should’ve been just a normal wall or by falling to their doom into a nasty pit filled with spikes. Horrifying mechanical constructs, traps designed out of a pure, sadistic malice, threatened to skewer the boy at every twist and corner, but nonetheless Astra persevered and tried to focus the best he could.

  Were they activated at random? What led certain hazards to attack and not others? It was admittedly quite difficult to think while constantly being assaulted, but danger had a funny way of motivating people. Astra couldn’t depend solely on his instincts forever; there was still a great big stretch of the ruins left to cross. It was in times like these that he recalled the lessons of his parents.

  As his momma once said, “Stardew, it might not seem like much, but a feller can learn a lot just by watchin’ folk. How they swing their hoe, or how they walk while balancin’ a mighty big load of crates. If ya look close and study those small but useful details, it’ll make yer life a lot easier. Some things can’t be taught just by talking after all.”

  Astra followed those words of wisdom now and watched the stride of those ahead of him, trying to find any clues on what might be setting off the traps. And indeed, after witnessing someone step on a slightly discolored brick, the bottom subtly sunk in before causing an arrow to shoot out from the side, piercing (not really) their head. Astra lowered his head and mourned the fallen applicant, while also thanking them for exposing the ruin’s true nature.

  Everything was connected in an intricate series of triggers and releases. The ruin wasn’t alive, after all. It couldn’t tell where to spring its traps and where the people inside were at any given moment, unless informed through other, more hidden, factors. Once Astra realized this he scanned the entire area and paid special attention not to step or to come close to anything that seemed suspicious, whether it be a hidden wire, a weird tile, or rocks loosely scattered to hide a hidden switch underneath.

  From then on, Astra was able to avoid regularly brushing against death (exaggerated) and ran the rest of the way in a much less anxious mood. The others weren’t quite so fortunate though. One girl in particular behind him seemed to be setting off every trap possible. Every one. Astra didn’t know whether to be impressed or astounded. She managed to plow through them all with only brute force and enraged, guttural screams, kind of like the ones he’d hear from the goats back at the farm. The girl even kind of resembled one, especially in her eyes. There was a madness and a fury to them that’d make even the scariest of beasts shiver.

  “This… damn… stupid… AGH!” she shouted, climbing out of a pitfall. “This ain’t it, seriously. Why’s a school making us go through this fricking deathtrap? Screw this! SCREW THIS ALL!”

  The girl twitched erratically, almost frothing from the mouth out of frustration, and then she dug her heels into the ground before muttering a few words under her breath. Astra couldn’t quite tell what she was saying; but after a moment, he felt a shiver down his spine, and when he looked back a pair of curly horns began to grow out of her head.

  Astra barely managed to jump out of the way, before she charged forward and headbutted everything in her path. Arrows couldn’t scratch her. When a sawblade came swinging down, she pulverized it into little metal pieces and pushed on ahead. Some people couldn’t avoid her in time and were scooped right up, before being roughly tossed to the side like a sack of tater tots. The force from impact was enough to activate their sticker’s warp; and just like that, they were eliminated. If Astra had tried to dodge even a second later… he shuddered at the thought.

  After the goat-like girl’s rampage, though, the rest of his trip through the ruins went rather smoothly. Eventually Astra reached what appeared to be the end of the first section. The bronze decorations and traps disappeared, making way for a wholly new environment. A more fiery one.

  For right before Astra now was a volcano, one that was actively spitting chunks of lava.