“Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if it weren’t this normal”. Maybe in a world where the artists didn’t exist, he wasn’t born into the position he was in, and people really did care that he was Nial Rockford, maybe he would be extraordinary. He knew that that made it sound like he was unaware of the position that he was in, that he didn’t know, that at the very least statistically speaking, he was an anomaly. But that’s only on the surface, only from your perspective where you can view him as a vibrant colorful splash of paint against a broader world of grey. But as he saw it, he woke up every day into a world where he could pass by at least a hundred other people just like him. What does that make him? No need, he could tell you himself, it made him just one of many. Just another side character in the eyes of another man who was the protagonist of their own life. That’s not what he wanted though, he wanted to be truly special. Someone who cannot even begin to be compared to the likes of a man who you could pass by on the street on any given day. Someone who could be called more important than any person you could casually meet.
Alas, as was said before he was merely 18-year-old Nial Rockford, and will always be Nial Rockford. Only one out of the five-thousand Theta class cadets in the lower-south-section fourth level artist academy in the African domain. And one of the over five-hundred thousand uno tier artists worldwide.
Nial sat in a zombie-like state at his desk as he bemoaned the state of his life while yet again preparing to review his material for tomorrow’s history exam. In the year 1978 the old world ended. In this year the very first artists emerged. Artists are special beings who’ve gained the ability to perceive or even manipulate the 4th dimension. They were then split into four different types; Deltas who could bring things through the 4th dimension, Thetas who could bring themselves through the 4th dimension, Gammas who could use their abilities to gain physical control over the 3rd dimension, and Zetas who had 4th dimensional control over themselves. Immediately after the “Awakening” as scientists of the time began to call it the old world began to end. It was a world born to create peace, but the nature of the artists was the exact opposite. An artist was an anomaly so rare that only one out of every hundred people could become one and even fewer could make it past the uno stage in their ascendance. Even worse the only way for an artist to ascend is to kill another artist and take their mana…knock, knock.
Just as Nial was about to start chapter two he heard the sound of a dangerous intruder impeaching upon his peaceful cram session, or in other words struggle for his life. “You up yet man?” Nial’s expression crumbled unsightly, “No, give me two more hours!” “Two more hours, but isn’t your test in thirty minutes?” Nial rushed to pull back his curtains only to see a full-blown death ray of deadly sunlight.
The door burst open and one young man rushed out while another flew backwards against the wall. Nial turned to thank his roommate Hao Liu for warning him before rushing out the door before the other boy could even come fully back to consciousness. Nial rushed through a corridor filled with numerous other doors into a spacious courtyard dominated by the color white. Painted in large golden letters across the center of the walkway were the letters FDRE. No sane cadet wouldn’t know what these letters stood for. The Fourth Dimensional Research and Exploration Institute colloquially referred to as the Org. The Org were the ones who oversaw all artists and ran academies all over the world. During the apocalypse age that occurred after the awakening, where there was no one to stop artists from doing as they pleased numerous people died to the whims of artists whether because they wanted mana or simply because they wished to kill. Then in the year 2000, long after the fall of any major governing organization, the FDRE appeared ran by the anonymous Mr. Mishima. Also known as the only quin level artist in existence. If uno level artists may be able to easily take on a group of normal humans and duo level artists can fight entire large armies if they use their power right, then quin level artists should be considered gods on Earth. Capable of doing nearly anything they wanted at a level of nigh omnipotence.
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The vast skyline was dominated by pearly white skyscrapers even far off into the distance. If one came here without any context there was simply no way one would ever guess that this academy wast deep in the Congo rainforest. However, with the use of 4th dimensional abilities humanity could create a thriving metropolis in practically any given area.
As Nial raced through in between the large spiraling buildings in an attempt to reach his lecture hall he began to be barraged by the temptation to use his artistic ability to shorten the distance. But the problem lies in the fact that he would have to use it at least three times to make it to class and it was significantly tiring to use it even once, not to mention he also had a practical exam later that day. As he continued his unwitting marathon the sight of the Gorgan lecture hall where he had his exam blew away any thoughts of using his ability as his legs surged with their final wind of strength.
As he finally made it to the hall his leftover momentum nearly sent him careening through the entrance as he looked to his left to see Kit Wingate and her large group of female friends staring back at him. What would you normally expect to happen in this situation? Would you expect Kit to maybe ask if he was okay as he caught his balance? Maybe turn the other way in an attempt to save him from the inevitable embarrassment that would stem from his carelessness? Or would you expect her to point at him and begin raucously laughing while signaling her friends to join in, because as Nial had known Kit since the second year of 3rd level academy he certainly did. And as ever she did not fail to meet his expectations. Normally Nial would march over and chew her out in response to this unprovoked transgression but seeing the large group now surrounding her he hesitated. Seeing this Kit’s lips curved upward into a teasing smile, “What, you can only mess with girls when they’re alone?” Hearing this all hesitation left Nial’s face he, with steady gate and practiced motion, marched over and flicked the annoying brat squarely in the middle of her forehead. Her possie seemed to pause there in astonishment, not expecting anyone to do such a thing.
Their surprise was natural however as Kit was the closest cadet in the academy to being a duo level artist despite only being in her first year. Her zeta class ability was equally impressive though. Kit could, for a short time, bring her previous self from any point in time into the present. These two things combined to make Kit the most popular person in the entire academy, she was more or less guaranteed a high-level position in the org upon graduation. Yet when Nial met her, she was only a sightly annoying friend in the same year. Upon Nial’s finger making contact with Kit’s head Kit became so shocked she was unable to recover herself and fell backward. As Kit’s long golden hair spread in every direction across the floor the expression in her deep blue eyes quickly shifted from surprise to embarrassment to anger. As her blue eyes reflected Nial’s dark black ones she belted out her words in angered throaty tone, “How dare you!” Nial couldn’t be said to have a striking appearance with black eyes and hair that didn’t come past his ears, the remarkable darkness cast a naturally cold glint in his eyes as he looked down at Kit.
“How dare I, how dare you, say that after you were the one who started laughing.” Seeing his eyes Kit seemed to perform a cat like jump out of fear before returning to her rage filled expression. “You know that I can select whoever I want as my opponent for the practical exams today, right? I was just on my way to make my selection and now I think you’ll make a good punching bag.” As she said this Kit quickly got up and turned away going further into the building bringing the rest of her possie with her. As Nial watched her still fuming back fading into the distance he became certain. If he wasn’t dead before, he certainly was now.