Nial probably hated her, or so Kit thought. She believed she knew why but what tortured her was that she could never know for sure. Why had he suddenly abandoned their friendship and cut off their connection, was that all it was worth to him. They had known each other since before their artistic abilities got officially classified. When they first met if either of them decided to tap into the fourth dimension it would be possible, but it would require a great deal of effort to do so.

  Even so, however, when their 3rd level 2nd year class really got to know each other there was a clear leader emerging from the group. His name was Nial Rockford, and the reason was simple, his brother. You see Nial’s brother was well known as one of the world’s few Trio level artists. To give context it should be stated that in order to even rise above duo you needed to do one of two things. First was kill a higher-level artist, and in doing so, take their mana or in other words the energy they use to tap into the fourth dimension, a large quantity of which would be dispelled upon the artist’s death. Second, was a rarer measure, to be imbued with the power to rise a tier by The Org. However, this was typically done for only the most promising cadets of the academy or licensed artists in non-Combatant fields who receive widespread recognition for their feats.

  The problem with this second method was that it would cost an amount of energy that could be used to power the city of New York for 3 years. This being the case Nial’s brother had chosen the former method of ascending. It was from the two events, the first in which he moved up to duo during his time in the Academy, and the next in which he moved up to Trio after graduating that Nial’s brother became a legend amongst the cadets.

  Through sheer wit and bravery, he was able to overcome two higher level rogues and ascend to become a higher-level artist himself. He was the type of artist every sixteen-year-old cadet in that classroom wanted to be.

  Needless to say, when they all heard that that famous artist’s little brother was their very classmate, their expectations sored through the roof. And when Nial was met with the burden of these young cadet’s expectations, he delivered. Practicals, writing it didn’t matter, Nial could do it all.

  Rankings were typically only used in 4th level academies to prevent excessive competition among children, but somehow, everyone implicitly new Nial was number one. It wasn’t as though it was his powers themselves that made Nial so superior, they were on the same level as all the other kids. No, it was the knowledge and tact with which he used them that made Nial above average, a knowledge and tact he no doubt gained from his brother.

  Kit still clearly remembered a time when she was struggling to use her powers due to their complicated nature. When Nial approached her to help her out he didn’t just try to make her brute force her way into evolving her powers outright like the teachers had done. Instead, he taught her an easier and more creative way to use her ability. A way that, provided her with the method she needed to make her ability combat viable.

  When asked about how he came up with such a smart way to use an ability that wasn’t even his he gladly attributed it to his brother. His brother had coincidentally fought a rogue earlier that month with a similar artistic ability to Kit’s. Upon recognizing the uncanny similarity to his brother and informing him about Kit’s problem, Nial’s brother easily reverse engineered a solution from the method he used to take down the rogue.

  It wasn’t just Kit either, Nial was willing to help anybody who came to him, passing on the credit to his brother every time. Eventually there would be a see of 3rd levlers not from Nial and Kit’s class but the whole school looking for advice from the wise sage known as Nial’s older brother.

  At one-point Nial even came to Kit and told her that she may be the only person he consistently talked to that didn’t feel the need to bring up his brother at every opportunity. From that moment on the two grew closer, it wasn’t as though they knew each other for very long, but they knew each other, and they were comfortable in each other’s presence.

  Who was Nial Rockford? Who was Kit Wingate? If you asked the two maybe they wouldn’t even be able to give you a satisfactory answer, but if you asked whether the two were good friends they would probably say yes in a hundred parallel universes. Or so Kit thought.

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  You see there was one key to becoming a more talented artist without outright raising your tier and that was to use your artistic ability. The reason why this was so hard though was because for lower tier artists to tap into their ability it took a great deal of effort. Most of the training that occurred at the Uno tier was simply finding the easiest way to make use of their ability.

  So, then what of Kit who had been the first to be taught by Nial the way around her ability’s complication? Well in the months that followed her growth rate, to put it mildly exploded. All of a sudden there was no cadet within their 3rd level academy to rival her. Not even Nial.

  Her suspicions came in when people started to notice the connection between Nial and Kit and began approaching him to find out its nature. The guys especially seemed enthusiastic to find out they weren’t dating. Nial would always do the same things he did with his brother, he would greet them with big smiles, sing her praises and promise to put in a good word and never follow up.

  She thought the same reason he was so comfortable in her presence was becoming the same reason he wanted to be in her presence less and less. Nial was a nice guy, he wouldn’t just tell her to her face that the reason he was uncomfortable with her was because she was popular, something he knew she had no control over. But Kit couldn’t just come out and ask if he didn’t like her because he was being overshadowed by her presence.

  And so, the two were at a stalemate. Instead choosing to fight the battle to keep their friendship they chose to walk their separate ways. When Kit finally looked up to see how far their friendship had fallen, she had no clue on how to pull it back together. So, she started back from step one.

  Rather than giving some grand apologetic gesture she approached him in the hallway and asked if he wanted to hang out. However, what she didn’t anticipate is that just the mere act of doing this would attract all the eyes in their vicinity due to her newfound fame.

  “Is that Kit?”

  “Are she and Nial dating?”

  “No way I heard they were totally broken up!”

  The whispers in that hallway still haunted her to this day. She could clearly remember the look on Nial’s face as he turned to look at her amongst all the ambient dialog. Annoyance. As though to ask why after all the time they had spent a part, was she approaching him like this, right now?

  In spite of this though he answered her politely. Simply stating he had to cram for an exam he had the next day. Leaving Kit to stew in the feelings she had newly gained, anger. They were in the same class, she had no test tomorrow, he couldn’t at least come up with a better lie than that?

  Even so Kit would try several more times to rekindle the lost friendship, though things wouldn’t get much better. Each time Kit tried to approach Nial it was as though she could feel things get a bit more strained, like successive attempts was throwing a little more water on the dying ember of their friendship. The frustration was getting to be too much. At some point Kit simply stopped trying all together, and the two would go on to graduate without incident.

  Then it happened.

  In the 4th level academy entrance ceremony Kit caught someone out the corner of her eye. It was Nial. She was sitting in between a few of her newer friends at this point. Maybe the frustration she had felt from before was starting to return because she threw out a light jab at him under her breath. One of her friends must have heard as they responded with one of their own. She hesitated for a moment on whether or not to respond but her friend situated to her right threw her own jab Nial’s way, this time on his gloomy eyes. Now both of them were looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to throw out the next blow. And she did.

  Soon the three were joking and laughing away through the ceremony all at Nial’s expense. But when the ceremony ended and the students began to flow out of the auditorium her eyes met with Nial’s dark black ones and what was reflected this time wasn’t the usual annoyance, but betrayal. He had heard. Somehow, someway he had heard.

  She needed to apologize. She hurried over to where he was, but he seemed to be speeding up to avoid her pursuit. This time though, his speed was outpaced by her urgency.

  “Listen Nial...”

  “No.”

  She needed to tell him how sorry she was.

  “Please can’t you just hear me out this time!?”

  “Why should I.”

  She wanted to talk like they used to.

  “Every time I try to talk to you like this you just blow me off!”

  “And I’m going to do the same here.”

  She wouldn’t let anything like that happen again.

  “Look I won’t do that again.”

  “Youb don’t need to tell me that.”

  Nial smoothly exited the scene just like he would at every encounter they had afterward. It infuriated her, made her regretful, made her sorrowful but above all as Kit sat in her Hamock with just 38 hours till her and Nial came to blows. It made her want her friend back.