My room in the academy was similar to the one I left back home. The cold light of the moons’ reflections scattered around the empty walls, allowing me to see around. I was sitting on the side of my low, wooden bed, looking at the emptiness of the space around me and thinking. No matter what I did, next year the young Sabar would’ve taken the fight and that would’ve been the perfect time for the Rok’yas to target him. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t concerned by the Rok’yas threats at all, he was an emotional and predictable being that I could fight with my eyes closed. But that threat combined with the Priestess’ premonition worried me. 

I let my head backwards, my silver hair followed the movement of my body, sliding towards my neck. My elbows rested on the mattress, supporting me, while I blankly stared at the ceiling, unable to understand my own thoughts. Why did I care so much? I kept asking myself the same thing. Maybe it was the sheer curiosity of finding out what was so special about the Sabar family to let my father get his guard down. Maybe it was fear in case the young Sabar would tell everyone my secret. Or maybe, I did like the attention he was giving me and somehow that made me care. I wasn’t ruling out any possibility. 

I slowly closed my eyes, letting my thoughts follow the rhythm of my breathing. I let my foot rest near my body while the rest of me, slowly fell into a sense of calmness. Until, without even realizing, everything turned back and I fell asleep.

_____

The next days were uneventful and predictable. No matter how much I hated admitting it, VTR’s climate was way too warm for what I was used to, so I finally gave in and turned on my temperature manipulator. The white bracelet rested underneath my clothes and it created a bubble of cool air all around my body. It felt like I was finally breathing again.

 I spent the nights studying alien cultures and languages to make sure that no matter what, I would’ve never struggled at school. If I was a regular Gliesek citizen, my grades wouldn’t have mattered but being the only son and heir of the duke meant that people had great expectations on me. After I finished studying all the books of that year, I finally decided to leave my room and visit the library to seek clarity. 

The building was a bit farther from the dorms. In true VTR spirit, the whole library was overly-decorated with marbles, flowers and paintings. Books were scattered all around, while some lines of benches could be seen between the big jungle of words. At the entrance, a big globe representing this planet was floating, all around it smaller planets representing the other members of the empire were circling it. I couldn’t help but look for Gliese, when, instead, I found Earth right there in front of me. I lowered myself to take a closer look. I had never been on Earth, nor had I ever been interested in visiting it. The climate seemed continental, with a few oceans and a lot of greenery. It looked like a nice planet, no wonder my father was interested in humans. 

“Is that where you’re from?”

A delicate voice asked from behind me. Her voice was so low,  almost like a whisper.

I turned around and quickly turned into a big bow.

“Oh come on, we’re not in the palace now.”

“You know that my duty is to serve you, your majesty.”

“You may come up.”

I followed her order and raised myself. She was standing right in front of me, with a deep smile. Her skin was as radiant as ever, a deep bluish color that gleamed with the light of the suns’ rays. Her hair was long, resting in her back with two braids framing her face, while her big, black eyes were looking straight at me.

“You look even taller now that we’re on the same ground.” She continued “It must be your Gliesek genes.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Just call me Exa.”

I couldn’t do that and she knew it. Calling the Princess, the only daughter of the Emperor, with her first name was the greatest disrespect we could give to this galaxy’s government. Yet I couldn’t not follow an order so I lowered my head in silent disagreement.

“So…” she said while glimpsing at the planet behind me “is that where you’re from?”

“Yes. It’s where my mother was born.” I replied while facing the globe.

“What an interesting mix! Human and Gliesek. A slave and a warrior. Interesting!”

She said while taking my hand. I quickly faced her with distress when I noticed behind her, the Rok’yas and his friends entering the building.

The Princess leaned forward winking and whispered “I heard that you don’t like that cheater either, neither do it. Let’s team up and take him down.”

I raised my eyes to look at him again when our eyes met. He seemed confused, almost scared to see me. That’s when I noticed that the Princess was still there, giggling and holding my hand. I lightly smiled, her plan seemed to have effect.