For every bright day, comes a bitter night.

For every fettered soul, comes tragic fright.

A flower, blighted in misery.

True power, fastened in mystery.

The summer season was at its height. The light of Zenith’s twin suns seeped through the blinds in the bedroom.

Rai groggily woke up. Upon hearing knocks at his door, Rai lifted his head to see who it was.

The door didn’t open.

“RAI! WE’RE GONNA BE LATE! HURRY UP!” Sin screamed as she slammed her fist on Rai’s door.

Rai let his head fall back on the pillow. Damn it. It’s too early for this... I just want to sleep.

The door flew open with a thud against the wall.

Sin leapt onto the bed like a dolphin jumping out of the sea. She landed squarely on Rai.

Rai opened his eyes through the soreness to see Sin’s face directly in front of him.

She took a deep breath.

“WAAAAAKEEEE UUUUUPPP!”

Rai had, to his credit, covered his ears just about in time. Still, Sin’s shout was much louder than he could have ever expected.

“Oh. You’re awake. Go get ready, I don’t want to be late.”

Rai nodded. His grogginess was practically stolen from him, but he still wanted to stay in bed.

Sin pushed herself up off of the bed by pushing down on Rai. Then she held out her hand for Rai to get up.

Rai took it.

Sin pulled him up into a kiss.

She immediately regretted it.

“Ew. Go brush your teeth, stinky breath.”

“If you gave me more than ten seconds then I would’ve.”

He went into his washroom as Sin returned to the living room.

Neither of them had eaten, clearly, so Sin decided to try and make something whilst Rai was showering.

Rai finished his shower quickly and sorted himself out. After doing so, he put on his uniform and made sure everything he would need for the day was in his seals. Though, that wasn’t saying much, considering that the only thing he’d kept stored was Ghost and a spare uniform... just in case.

Upon leaving his room, the smell of burnt bread and cheese wafted into Rai’s nostrils.

He looked at the kitchen counter.

Rai cringed. The sight that met his eyes was abhorrent. A grilled cheese been quite literally violated. It lay there, on a plate. Burnt. Broken apart. There was a bite taken out of it, which could only mean one thing...

Sin sat there, with her head slammed into the counter.

Rai did his best to not laugh.

“I... I think-pfft...­ you murdered that grilled cheese.”

“No mhucking fhit.” She mumbled with her face flat against the kitchen counter.

Sin looked up, revealing the red mark on her forehead from slamming her face on to the counter.

“How the fuck did you do it so perfectly?”

Rai walked over and looked at the burnt sandwich in the plate. He damn near shed a tear. Rai took a deep breath. There was only one way to ensure that this would never happen again.

He had to give Sin advice.

“You see this slice of bread was toasted well, but this other slice was left on the pan for too long. The cheese got messed up because of that too. You’ve gotta... find the balance...” Rai was surprised at his own words. The advice that Jin gave him so long ago, that Ms. Talvier repeated, that was prevalent in almost everything he did... Balance. I still don’t understand what Balance truly means.

“I’ll make a good grilled cheese soon! Just you watch me! It’ll be even better than yours!”

“I look forward to it.” He started cleaning up Sin’s mess.

Sin put a hand on Rai’s, stopping him from clearing up.

“I’ll do that, it’s my mess.”

“Alright then.”

After Sin cleaned up her mess of a sandwich and the cooking utensils that were complicit in her crime, the two of them were ready to leave for the Academy.

Since Sin woke Rai up earlier than she actually needed to, there was no chance they would be late to the ceremony.

The two of them left the penthouse, waving Mr. Guard goodbye for the day, and went into the lift.

Once they reached the lobby, they saw something that wasn’t entirely expected.

Kallad, stood with the Songstress. Naam wasn’t there... Both Rai and Sin looked forward to saying goodbye to her, so they felt a little dismay at her absence.

“Rai, Sin, this is Salacia. She is the Aspect of Songs, the Songstress.” Kallad said.

Salacia’s long aquamarine hair glistened in the lighting of the reception area. Her iridescent eyes made for a beautifully captivating appearance. She gently brushed a strand of hair aside from her face.

Rai audibly gulped.

“A pleasure to officially meet you both.” She stared at both Rai and Sin with the eyes of a ravenous beast.

Rai and Sin felt shivers down their spines.

Salacia glided over to Sin and held her hands.

“My my, it appears the daughter has stolen the Deceiver’s good genes. You wouldn’t happen to be busy tonight, would you?”

Kallad placed a hand on Salacia’s shoulder.

“Enough scaring my daughter.”

Salacia turned to him with a cutesy face.

“Just teasing, dear.”

Sin subconsciously moved closer to Rai and away from Salacia.

“Naam will be back later, so you guys can tell her about your day then. You should go now before you’re late.”

Kallad noticed their discomfort around the Songstress, so sending them away now would probably be better than trying to have a conversation.

Rai and Sin nodded profusely, then speed walked out of the Secret.

Salacia turned and longingly watched them leave.

“They’re off limits.”

Salacia made puppy eyes at him. “But. But. But.”

“No buts. Especially not their butts.”

Salacia hung her head in defeat. “Fine.” She whispered deflatingly.

“About that letter... will you attend the technique evaluation ceremony at the end of the day? All of the Aspects are invited, but I haven’t decided.”

“I think I’ll go. It could be fun to see if there are any powerful students that I can... recruit...”

Kallad didn’t like how that sounded...

“I guess I have to go to stop you from harassing students.”

Salacia pouted at him in response.

“Come to think of it, there’s a new tier that they’re going to reveal today, isn’t there?”

Salacia’s expression turned to that of realisation, just like Kallad’s.

“Yeah, now that you mention it I did hear something about that. I suppose it would be worth going just to see if anyone has a technique in the new tier.”

“I can think of at least two people that would fit that category.”

Salacia looked at him funny. She didn’t think a single student would even have more than a couple legendaries, so how could a student have a technique at a tier above that?!

Kallad simply grinned, ignoring her inaudible curiosity.

Rai and Sin zoomed out of the Secret and caught their breaths. Neither of them breathed comfortably in Salacia’s presence.

“She’s so scary!” Sin exclaimed.

“Every time we’ve seen her, she’s always been scary!”

They both looked back at the Secret’s entrance.

Another shiver made its way down both of their spines.

Rai pointed in the direction of the school.

“We... we should go.”

Sin nodded, then yanked Rai’s hand and started walking.

After a little while of walking, they arrived at the Academy.

The Academy was... not what they were expecting. Sure, the technique evaluation was supposed to be a big event, but even for Sin who’d seen the turnout at previous evaluations with her father, this was insane. Her expectations were blown away.

“That’s... a lot.” Sin said in shock.

Rai was silent as he took in the view.

There were more than just students.

Citizens from the city gathered on Academy grounds, chatting away in groups huddled together. The sea of people was far larger than it was on the day of the entrance exams, which was already an achievement.

Feris called out from just inside the gate to the both of them.

“Hey! Follow me, we gotta go see Rocky!” He waved for them to hurry over to him.

Rai and Sin looked at each other quickly, then ran up to Feris and followed him at a swift pace.

Feris led them through the edges of the outer grounds. As they walked, Rai and Sin couldn’t help but gawk at the vast amount of people that gathered on the grounds. It was incredible. The other thing that Sin noticed was the amount of people who looked like they were scouting for students. Many individuals had clipboards, portable ink quills, and uniforms that could only signify important organisations. Perhaps guilds, or adventurers’ agencies, she thought.

They’d eventually made it to the big stage up front. It was a similar setup to what they saw at the entrance exams, except there were way more people on the stage this time.

Rodrick noticed them from atop the stage. He gestured for them to go up the stairs on the side and join him.

“Good morning my mentees. Sorry that I sprung this on you with very short notice, but I thought it would be a good idea to show you off to the rest of the student body, and the rest of Zenith. A sort of... statement of presence, y’know?”

“I feel like that sort of thing should’ve been mentioned yesterday, right?!... I don’t know how I feel about being broadcast to the rest of the world...”

“I see... What do you two think about it?” Rodrick asked the other two.

“I’m used to the spotlight, so I don’t really mind.” Sin said with a shrug.

Feris gave Rodrick the side-eye as he answered. “I’m fine with it, but I’m not happy that you didn’t tell me before. Since when was I your mentee anyway?!”

Come to think of it, neither Sin nor Rai knew that Feris was a mentee either.

“Well, you were a late addition. As for you, Rai. You can sit on the seat on the far edge. The recording devices won’t pick you up if you sit there since they’re in a fixed spot. If anything, we can have your face blurred out on the broadcast if you do end up on-screen.”

“Then that’s fine. Make sure my face is blurred at least.” He wasn’t happy, but Rai was able to adapt even though the situation wasn’t great. But then, something else that caused a smile to creep onto his face came to Rai’s mind. “Oh... what about my... benefits from before?”

Rodrick’s eyebrow twitched. He smiled through the pain.

“At the end of the day. You can come to my office.” He spoke sternly through his grit teeth.

“I look forward to it!”

Sin had already gone and sat down in the seat next to Rai’s. There were four seats. Sin assumed that one was for Rodrick.

Rodrick pointed at the empty seats on the back of the stage. “Take your seats, we’ll start the ceremony in five minutes.”

Sin stared out at the sea of people. Some of them were looking in the direction of the stage, but most of them were just talking in their groups.

As her heart rate rose involuntarily, she subconsciously held Rai’s hand for comfort.

Rai held her hand, and even tightened his grip a small touch to let her know that he was there for her. Rai kept quiet and just let Sin do what she needed to feel comfortable.

Minutes passed. Rodrick sat on the chair closest to the centre of the stage, beside Feris.

Joey, the vice principal, got on the stage.

He walked to the podium at the front.

Clearly broadcasting his voice, Joey got the attention of the crowd. The ceremony was about to start. Rai and Sin kept their focus on Joey, trying to ignore the sea of people.

“Ahem. Ladies and gentlemen, if I could gather your attention!”

The crowd slowly quieted, and people’s attentions began drifting towards the stage.

Sin was anxious. She thought that she could handle it, what with the events she’d attended when she was younger, but this was insane. There’s so many people! They’re all looking this way... Are they looking at me?! No way right? They can’t be looking at me, I’m not even talking! But why does it feel like everyone’s looking at me?!

Rai gently squeezed Sin’s hand. She turned to him with a shudder in her breath. He smiled softly at her. Sin nodded. She took a deep breath. Stop thinking. Just listen to the people talking and pretend you’re in the audience.

Joey began the ceremony.

“Welcome. To all of the aspiring mages and warriors watching from home, and to all of the wonderful people attending in person. Welcome to Aether Academy’s biannual Technique Evaluation!”

He paused for applause, which came in spades.

“Today is a monumental day in Zenith’s history! For as long as the history books have told us, the techniques that we have all learned and grown up using have been limited to four tiers... These tiers are currently made up of common, rare, epic, and the all-coveted legendary techniques.

But today...

Today, that will change!

Allow me to introduce the Technique Evaluation Association’s leader, Monique!” He gestured towards the woman taking the centre of the stage.

Joey went and took his place standing beside Rodrick, who shot him a sly thumbs up. Joey rolled his eyes at the headmaster.

The audience clapped and cheered as the dark-skinned human lady took to the podium.

She was dressed in a ceremonial robe, like all of the other officials from the association that sat on stage. The big flat hat completely covered her hair.

Monique smiled as the audience’s claps and cheers died down. She began.

“Greetings my fellow academics, mages, and adventurers. Today is the biannual technique evaluation at Aether Academy! Many of you already know that you can come to our association to have your techniques assessed and officially assigned a tier. We have been backed by the Aspects’ authority for hundreds of years, and will continue to provide that service for people that seek it out... but for the Academy we have always provided this service twice a year, free of charge to its attending students!

However, this time... there’s a huge change in the technique tiers.”

The crowd made a mix of sounds. There were some sounds of concern, some of excitement, and some of apathy.

Monique continued.

“Instead of four tiers. There are now five!

We have introduced a new tier above legendary. From here onwards, the new technique tiers are as follows: common, rare, epic, legendary, and unique.”

The crowd blew up. The sounds from the previous show of emotion were more than amplified this time around.

Monique raised a hand, signalling for them to quiet.

“I know that you are all excited. We are too! But please, let me explain how this new tier works and why we introduced it.

First of all, our esteemed board of directors noticed a gap in techniques and their tiers. Legendary techniques can be shared, taught by one person to another. It may take a long time to do so, but it can be done.

Unique tier techniques, however, are ones that are unique to specific individuals. They must be impossible, or near enough to impossible, to copy or replicate. The potency of the technique must be equal to one of legendary status, or greater, to qualify for getting assessed as unique.

In terms of rarity, a unique technique would be considered truly unique. It would be one of a kind.

Enough of that now. Today is about the students taking their first big step on their journey in our beautiful Zenith. Before I answer any questions you might have, please join me in welcoming the Headmaster of Aether Academy!”

The audience did exactly that as Rodrick took to the stand.

He smiled as he looked out over the sea of people, waiting for them to settle down.

Once they did so, Rodrick began.

“My friends. My colleagues. My students. How grateful I am to have you all here today. My dream is for my students to succeed in every aspect of their lives. In order to help them achieve their goals, we at Aether Academy push them to be the very best versions of themselves.

In all fields taught at the Academy, the primary way we push our students is through competition!”

A huge board to the right of the audience was unveiled. Rodrick pointed at it.

“For the students with the highest graded techniques, they will be ranked live on that ranking board as the day goes on. Their ranks will change if someone achieves better scores than them. I hope this will make it easier for you scouters in the crowd, since we’ll have a top fifty placement by the end of the day. As you will undoubtedly know, the first years’ evaluation is today, and the second years’ evaluation will take place next week!

Now, without further ado, let the Technique Evaluation begin!”

Joey ushered Rodrick’s mentees off the stage as Monique went back to the stand to answer questions from the crowd.

Joey guided them into the school, where the evaluations were taking place. “You three are the headmaster’s mentees, so you will be the last to be evaluated.”

Feris had to do a double take. “HUH?! Why last?! We should be first! I should be first, then these two buttheads can come after me!”

Joey sighed at Feris’s angst. For a mentee hand-picked by Rodrick, this boy was surprisingly loud.

“I wouldn’t know the reasoning behind it. He just told me that that’s how he wanted your grading to go.”

“So, what do we do until then?” Rai asked.

“You can watch the grading in the Central Gardens. We temporarily converted it into a major auditorium just last night, so the students waiting for their time slot can relax and watch the grading take place. There’s a few ranking boards there as well, so you’ll see what you’re competing with.” Joey took a breath. “But... some of the students want their grading done privately. They’ll be taken into a pocket dimension where their grading can take place, like how your entrance exams were.”

“I see. I’m glad that’s an option.” Sin said. She was feeling a bit better now that she wasn’t on the stage.

Rai looked around hastily, which Joey noticed.

“You alright Rai?” Joey asked.

“Yeah but... do you know where our friends are?”

Joey got it now.

“They’re going just before you three. So you’ll probably find them in the cafeteria or the outdoor rest areas for now.”

“Huh... why are they going before us? Do you know?”

“That old fa-... headmaster... he said that he had a spectacle that he wanted to put on or something like that. I suppose it’s also possible that he thinks your friends are going to have the highest ratings, since he usually saves the final slots for the people with the most potential.”

“I see I see.” Rai turned to Sin, “You wanna go see them before we go to the auditorium?”

“Sure! We’ll talk about the unique technique stuff with them. I bet they didn’t even hear about it since there was no way for them to hear the announcement.”

“Alright. You wanna come Feris?”

“Fine! Only because I got nothing else to do but hang out with you pissants.”

They waved Joey goodbye after thanking him for his help, then went to see their friends.