They soon began to murmur.
"But, that's so sad, he had such a nice face after all."
"No, wait, even though his face hasn't changed at all, his face is somehow even more cuter than before.. weird."
"I.. I am Nathan.. but.." He trailed off, as he didn't know what to say at the moment and was afraid of fumbling over his own words.
"Hm, then Nathan, if you have indeed not changed, you must get up, or else you will be disqualified and won't count, as a qualifier and as a new student."
A tall, muscular man who wore a suit in his late thirties stepped out from the large gathering of people and spoke out.
"We shall talk about what just happened later on, but for now, you must refrain from dirtying your reputation as you are now a student of our academy."
"But, I don't.. I don't know where I am! I think.. I think I lost my memory!"
"Hm. If you really lost your memory.. then I shall tell you. It's the fifth year in the [56th Stargazing Galactic Era]. Right now, in your perspective, you've qualified for a school that was in the top ranks, an intergalactic academy."
"..If that's true.. then I think.. that rift sent me into a whole different world..."
"But, instructor! He's a lunatic and he's probably lying, why would you tell him basic information that everybody already knows?"
The others agreed, they seemed to have some type of grudge against him.
Nathan wondered what kind of reputation he had in this place for them to act like this towards him.
"Hm, who knows? He probably isn't lying to us, playing a prank on others isn't worth failing the qualifications to enter the academy, after all."
They were discussing things that were foreign to Nathan, but through those discussions, he was slowly building up an idea of what this place could be.
"This is most definitely not a dream, so, my only guess would be that this could be an another world, or even, another universe."
He saw his white, silky hair flowing downwards onto the floor, and he was confused and slightly distressed, why did he have white hair, and why was it so long..? Was it because his alternate self had this kind of hair?
"If I did actually dievback on Earth, possessing my alternate self isn't actually a bad thing for me, but, why don't I at least have some memories of this place though?"
Another person older than the rest, who seemed to be another one of those instructors, walked towards the center of the crowd, and faced the crowds of people chattering amongst themselves.
"The ones supervising the test, including the principal, have stated that due to Nathan's unique circumstances, he has still indeed passed the qualifications, while looking past the interruption."
They started to complain, and those complaints were, of course, directed towards Nathan.
Nathan couldn't focus on the instructor's voice any longer, for he had finally realised his current situation, and was definitely afraid.
The crowd was led away, and Nathan finally got the opportunity to get up from the ground.
He was left all alone, and he took a second to take a look at his body.
Unlike his real self back on Earth, this body was actually quite muscular, and his features were complemented nicely, and, he had a pale complexion, unlike back on Earth, where he had a tan complexion.
"Is this really my alternate self..? It's completely different from my actual self!"
He heard a shout, and he saw someone come running back, and it seemed like they were coming back for him.
"Nathan..!"
"Huh? Do they know me?"
They stopped once at got close, and approached him quite quickly, but also cautiously, as if she wasn't truly sure if
Nathan was truly Nathan anymore.
Just then, he realised something about her.
"Is that.. you, Luna?"
At that very moment, Nathan remembered something back on Earth.
He had accidentally stumbled upon a "secret society" online, and all they believed that there was actually an infinite multiverse of parallel universes, and his universe was just one of them.
To many, it truly was a strange, yet fascinating concept, and to him, he of course, believed it to be false.
Even if someone were to travel thousands of years into the future, humanity would barely be able to fathom the potential existence of other universes parallel to their own.
Billions of universes upon universes, possibly infinite, and each and every one of them even more unique and intriguing than the last, all existing within a infinite amount of space. The multiverse.
There are almost no words that can be used to describe it.
This is exactly the reason why when Nathan got a good look at that girl who was running directly towards him, he was torn between being surprised and being shocked.
"Is that.. is that you, Luna?!"
"So you are Nathan!" She sighed, "You made me worried!"
Luna, was Nathan's good friend back on Earth. She was reliable, smart and beautiful, and one of his only true friends.
"What happened? Why am I here?! No.. why are you here..?!" He rushed her with questions, as he needed answers, right now.
"…? Did you.. really lose your memory? But you still remember me, right?"
"I don't remember anything."
"Then, let's return from the [C-2 Virtual World], and I'll explain everything then."
"No.. I really need an explanation, now." He demanded.
She seemed to be slightly taken back by his fierce response, but only for a moment.
"You.. then fine! You're my long-time friend and we've known each other for a really long time. You said you wanted to join this academy, so you took me along with you and so we could both get qualified, and luckily, we did."
"Since you were last to try the test to qualify, I was anxious to the point that I was about to burst!"
Nathan was sure that this Luna was definitely not the Luna he knew, but they were almost identical, both in personality and appearance.
Long, flowing dark hair, blue eyes, unmatched beauty..
"Huh..?!? Ackk!" He nearly gave himself and Luna a heart attack as he choked on air.
"Nathan! You scared me!"
"Wait.. I have a question, are you.. still.. actually Nathan..? Or.."
"Yes."
"Okay.. then, let's exit."
"Two Individuals Have Left Alexander Howard's Man-made Holographical Simulation {C1X-10} - Simulation Has Ended."
Everything around themselves started to dissipate, and it was replaced with a quite large room with a very futuristic atmosphere.
The walls and ceiling of the room seemed to have been made of a strange, unique looking metal, and for Nathan, everything seemed really, really advanced, and behind them was a machine that looked so peculiar he couldn't tell what it was at all.
"Woah..!" He said, amazed at the structure of the room.
"…So, you really forgot mostly everything?"
"Yeah, I guess so." He replied, examining all the advanced machinery in this place.
"Then, I guess for now I'll only tell you about what's most important."
"From what you've told me before this… you've only ever seen your birth parents when you were really young, as they.. abandoned you, as soon as they found out you were born with a disability that stops you from accessing your inner core energies."
"Abandonment.. it seems my alternate self had it far worse than me.. but how close was he was to Luna for him to share such information.."
"That disability is what also makes a person's mental state unstable, and you did a lot of things that got you in trouble, which eventually led to you getting named as a raving lunatic, but those were just rumours, you weren't like that at all."
"Not only that, our birth planet that we were both born on is caught in-between the conflict between the Jade Celestial Alliance's Grand Ruler, and the Planet of Steel and Machinery."
"I suspect that was the very reason you were so adamant about trying to become qualified and enter this academy in the first place."
"Huh.."
"Honestly, I'm not sure how things ended up like this, but there's nothing that we can do, unless we were to get stronger and prove to others that we aren't pushovers."
She sighed, and Nathan empathised with her.
"Do you.. believe me?"
"Of course."
After he said that, they both stayed silent, even though he knew just as well as her that right now, their situation was bad.
"…! Anyway, I guess I should show you to your room, right..?"
"Oh, yep.."
They left the room, and she slowly guided him towards his room, while they both received strange and disturbed stares from their peers.
One of them in particular was giving the both of them a nasty look, he looked vicious, and he had short, jet-black hair, as well as bright red eyes.
He also noticed that most of them were wearing grey blue coloured robes, which seemed simple but also acted as their uniform.
They made it to his room and entered, and somehow, it was much simpler than he'd imagined, besides all the technological stuff that were clearly scattered across the room.
"I'll see you later."
"Bye.."
As soon as the door closed, he threw himself onto the bed, overwhelmed by everything that happened just now.
"This is far too real to be a dream, so, I guess I actually did enter an alternate universe of sorts, and somehow, from what I can tell, I possessed one of my alternate selves."
"…"
"The only reason I can guess that his happened, was because of that rift. If I didn't escape from that void, then.."
"I need to focus on how I'm going to survive in this place."
"For now, I guess I'll just sleep for a bit, I am pretty tired."
He lied down on the bed, and prepared to sleep.
However, he found himself unable to sleep because of how panicked he was ever since he got into this wild and incomprehensible situation.