A young man was waiting outside the classroom when Hitori emerged a few minutes later. His face had Seitojin features like Ms. Athens’, but his skin was pale. Black hair hung in loose curls over his face, and his eyes swirled with grey and black.

“What’s up, Protius?” Hitori said. The sixteen-year-old was the Arteficer on Omega team, which the pair formed seven years ago.

“What did Ms. Athens want?” Protius asked.

“She wanted me to come to her office tonight, before the party.”

“Well, that’s either a very good sign,” Protius said as he nudged Hitori with his elbow.

“Or a very bad one.” Hitori rolled his eyes. “She’s not my type, and I’m definitely not-“

Li left the classroom and brushed past without so much as a glance. They waited in silence until she was out of sight.

“You know, I can’t say I’ll miss her when we move to Nova East,” Hitori said.

“Eastern? Aren’t you optimistic? It’ll be lucky if we make it to Southern,” Protius said. There wasn’t a Nova branch on the desolate Southern continent, in fact there were barely any people at all.

“Yeah, you’re a riot. Anyway, I’m off to the Training Center. I’ll see you tonight.” Hitori spent most of his free time there, which he suspected was the main reason he remained at Nova Academy. That, and his lineage. He was the son of the world famous mercenary Maia Seishin, although she died when Hitori was only a few years old.

“Wait, I’ll go with you.”

“Really?” Hitori said, and then laughed. “Are you sure you remember where it is? You’d better, because the loser’s buying drinks after we graduate.”

Hitori shot down the hallway towards the stairs. Before jumping down the first flight he spun and waved to Protius, who started levitating towards him.

“Why don’t you try running,” Hitori yelled as he disappeared from view. Hitori cleared the five flights in seconds, his feet barely touching each set of stairs. When he reached the bottom he nearly plowed into Protius.

“Running is for chumps,” Protius said.

“Your face is a chump,” Hitori laughed. “You didn’t decide to come just to show off how good you’ve gotten at Shifting, did you?”

“That wasn’t the only reason, certainly.” Shifting was a technique that allowed the user to relocate themselves by converting their matter into a malhahonic network and then converting it back at a new location. It was one of many feats possible with malhahonic devices known as artes.

“Alright, let’s try this again,” Hitori said as he maneuvered Protius into an impromptu starting line. “And no cheating!” he yelled as he launched out the door.

The pair burst from the ten story Academic Hall into a crowd of students lingering after their last class. Hitori deftly maneuvered between his peers whereas Protius pushed them aside with a wave of his hands, drawing a chain of startled gasps and curses as he passed.

After they cleared their classmates, the pair headed south towards the dormitories. The dorms were in a long, six-story building, used by both the students and staff of the Academy, as well as graduates who were stationed at Nova Main.

They ran into another crowd at the entrance, this time the students of Dragon Battalion filing out the building. The steady beat of helicopters could be heard in the distance, prepared to whisk them away to some combat zone for their field exam. Hitori thought they might have been doing their test with the Eastern branch.

Despite the extra time needed to be polite, Hitori made it inside a few seconds before Protius, and went straight across the foyer to the rear stairs. He had to dodge students wandering between the first floor amenities: a pool, exercise equipment, table games, a quick-service restaurant, and various workrooms equipped for a multitude of hobbies.

Hitori ascended the stairwell straight up the center, forgoing the steps entirely with a chain of techs—special techniques that used a person’s Vital Net to move their body at great speed. Protius, with the help of artes, was able to glide ahead and made it into his room first. They both emerged about a minute later, having changed out of their plain clothes into Nova-issued armor.

Their gear was based on their CAST Roles, groupings of combatants by technique. The system was developed a few centuries ago to simplify mercenary contracts but eventually worked its way into regular militaries as well.

As a Knight, Hitori wore a black one-piece outfit made with a durable fabric. The cloth was used as scaffolding for dozens of small myriaite plates, which added incredible toughness and almost no weight. These protected most of his body. He always carried his sword with him, a weapon he inherited from his mother, but kept his dagger with the rest of his gear. He also added a dark choker with a red gem.

The Arteficer set Protius wore was simpler. It called for a two-piece combat suit, also black, and had myriaite plates for the chest and wrists. It also included a black cloak, which Protius did wear, although it was eschewed by most mercenary Arteficers. Protius kept a knife as a backup weapon, a common choice by his peers, although he never used it.

The race was still on, even as they were changing, so they wasted no time sprinting out of their rooms towards the end of the hallway. They both ignored the stairs, aiming instead towards a large window. Protius opened it with an arte, but Hitori was the first to arrive and launched himself out the fifth floor.

Hitori spent a second savoring freedom from the earth. He watched his teammate float through the window above him, coasting through the air.

I wonder why Protius still hasn’t mastered the Flight Arte. He certainly has the malhahonic reserves for it.

Right before landing Hitori twisted his body into a near-standing position and prepared the Impact Tech. He struck the ground like a spring. His Vital Net dampened the force, preventing injury without wasting energy.

A split second after touching down, Hitori snapped west towards the Training center. Protius glided along above him, floating with the use of the Levitation Arte. Although Hitori was faster on the ground, he had to divert north around the Forum—a multipurpose hall—while Protius was able to land on its roof and continued in a straight path.

Protius took the lead but was still a few stories up as he neared the goal. The Training Center didn’t have openable windows, so he was forced to drop the remaining distance at the speed of gravity. It wasn’t fast enough, and Hitori dived under his feet to land in front of the door before him.

“Come on, son,” Hitori said playfully. “I’ve seen Gels move faster than you.” Gels were a type of metafauna, specifically a colony of single-cell organisms controlled by restructors. They moved about as slow as the description implied.

“Oh, suck it,” Protius sighed. “I should have popped the door open and slid in.”

“Too late for should haves,” Hitori said as he opened the door for Protius and pushed him inside. “Now enjoy your walk of shaaame!”

“Hitori wins again?” a girl sitting at a desk near the entrance said with a giggle. Her skin was darker than Hitori’s, and her face had the somewhat square appearance and brown eyes typical in Bachija—a city on the Northern continent—but her hair was pure white. “You’re not very good at racing Zizi.”

Protius rolled his eyes—she was the only person who called him that. Still, he smiled when he replied, “I’d be a lot faster, but Hitori doesn’t think Shifting counts as a real method of travel.”

“Teleporting in a race doesn’t count as a real method of travel you clown!” Hitori waved his arms dramatically. Protius laughed with him.

After they settled, Protius said, “So, Chandra, how’ve you been?” He did his best to lean suavely against her desk but was too short to make it work.

She groaned. “I’ve been hammering out the final project for my electrics design class,” Chandra said, then planted her face in her hands. “My system’s security class was so much easier.”

“Well, at least you’re good at the useful stuff, right?” Hitori said. Chandra was his team’s Paladin. They weren’t suited for combat, so Nova trained them in various specializations. In Chandra’s case this was breaching electronic and mechanical locks, as well as digital systems.

“Yes, Hitori, that’s what’s important.” She sighed. “Anyway, you two want to do your usual thing?”

“Nah, this will be our last time here as students, so surprise us with something awesome.”

“Something awesome?” Chandra said with a devious grin and steepled fingers. “I have just the thing.”