I couldn't help but smirk at him while my shadow slowly stretched out towards him as the virtual sun set further and further. He has been speaking so highly of himself and his family yet hasn't been able to do anything to back up his words besides get put in his place by the teachers. I took a deep breath before asking a question.

"So, Logdra, where will our duel take place?"

He stood there with a villainous grin, his smile bright and wide.

"As I was looking for you dirtbag, I saw a VR Training room area. It apparently uses the latest and greatest VR tech to create the most up to date real life simulation of the combat use of Stats, you guys can guide yourselves there after class."

His eyes narrowed in on me even more.

"There won't be any excuses for when you lose, Vanrouw."

He then leaned a little to the left to get a better view of the others.

"Don't worry you four, I will eventually beat the shit out of you guys as well."

After making the threat, he turned around and begun to walk back towards the dorms. His black hair blew with the direction of the wind, revealing the blue glowing outline of the dragon crested head. As I analyzed it further as his distance grew, it only pained me more that I didn't recognize the symbol now but not the name. I could affiliate the crest to someone in mind, but not the name. I would rather not torture myself over the thought of who I was going to be facing and would rather just find out while facing them.

"Hugo you good? You look like you just saw something horrifying."

I turned over to Blitz and responded

"I think..."

He slapped my arm

"Nah, your good. You held your own against Velerouge so I assure you that you can hold your own against the likes of him."

"Aren't you guys like buddy-buddy though?"

"Nah, I only wanted to help assist him in his fight against the Mesophites-"

He looked back at the three he was talking about.

"-turns out they aren't as bad as they say, at least from what they say about themselves. I'm chill with you guys right now but do anything crazy and you will find me not as chill."

Sheeva just smirked and shrugged as she responded

"Don't worry, we are capable of more thought than to falling into our primitive instincts."

"That reminds me Sheeva, you mentioned earlier that you guys were siblings?"

Blitz's tone was full of curiosity, but before she could reply Phobos interrupted

"Yup that is right Blitz-"

He wrapped each arm around each of his sibling's necks and pulled them in

"Though we may not share the same blood, but all three of us were born in the Mesosphere and were raised by the same man! Ba-ha-ha!"

"So, he's like your guy's father then?"

Phobos's enthusiasm faded from his smile as the words Blitz spoke of left his mouth. Sheeva then tugged out of her brother's arm and walked by Blitz and me.

"That thing is no father of ours, and no matter how much he says he is-"

Her head turned back towards me and Blitz a little, just enough to see a tear of mascara roll down her cheek.

"-He never will be."

She then stormed off in the direction of the dorms down the road as the virtual pink sun touched the back of her fur crop top. Her neatly messy hair blew with the wind, making shift as if something were hiding in it. Apart from that though, I could see the fox mask on her waist. It had a red and pink pattern outlining the eye cutouts. It looked acryllic, but it had a clean gas mask like feature that implied it was used for just more than disguise.

As she faded into the distance, Ronan then walked up beside me. As he stood maybe a couple inches taller than me, I looked up at his bronze plated mask. Now that I was able to see the small conjoining plates forming the design, I noticed that the way they were shaped and positioned suggested that they could be moved. From just looking at it though I couldn't tell how they did move, just that they could. He did however look magnificent in the regard that his body looked related to that of a machine. His arms were cleanly plated with bronze with a mechanical joint for the elbows, while his forearms were still bronze but had an ever so slight silver tint. I guess it was to match the color of the silver vents on the outside of his forearms. When I looked further down to his waist, I could make out the small grey patches of fur on the silver fur hide he wore around it. The hide stretched to his mechanical kneecaps, as his legs were the same as his arms, but the vents were on his calves. As I finished absorbing his full appearance for the first time, I looked back up at him. He was now looking down at me through his yellow moth eyes. He then tapped a mechanism on the mask, and it began to shift a little. He shook his head a little and the moth eyes closed. They then opened back up, as if they were blinking.

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"Woah?! What the hell man, that's freaky!"

I distanced myself as I wasn't the biggest fan of bugs, especially blinking ones. His mask was now moving in a cartoony way, giving it life as he then spoke.

"I didn't realize it wasn't on!"

Ronan spoke with the most excitement he's expressed by far, all be it still wasn't a lot. His newly shifting mask was now blinking and making the best reactions it could to match his facial ones. It made me slightly uncomfortable. Ronan then held out his hand for a handshake and spoke again.

"We haven't formally met. My name is Ronan."

He had a mellow gentleness to his voice. It was altered a little due to the metal mask covering his face, but it was still clear enough to make out his tone. I couldn't help but be compelled to take his offer for a handshake.

"Hugo."

His moth eye made it appear as if he was raising a brow.

"I have heard, you seem to be quite a celebrity."

As I shook his metal hand, I could feel how cold it was. It wasn't freezing, but it was enough to make your hairs stand when you grabbed it. After we finished exchanging hands, we all began to slowly make our way to the dorm area. As we did, Ronan began to ask me some questions out of curiosity.

"So, Hugo, what is it that makes these 'family' names so important?"

I couldn't help but look at him a little puzzled. I guess it was true that they apparently didn't have last names, but did that simply apply to everyone in the Mesosphere?

"Then may I first ask, does everyone in the Mesosphere not have a last name?"

"It is true, we usually give ourselves names as a simple way to reference ourselves. Sometimes we are even given callsigns to let those who hear it feel the threat they are dealing with through words alone."

I couldn't help but feel a little threatened at his answer myself.

"But why?"

He looked over to me.

"Because why not. The Mesosphere is a place where only survival and power matter, emotional things like last names were abandoned a long time ago as they could be an emotional weakness."

The Mesosphere. Even though they didn't go into detail with the situations that occur up there, the small bits they have mentioned have already proven its horrendous environment. We then walked a bit further before I decided to answer his previous question.

"Our last names tell us what clan or family tree we come from-"

He and Phobos made small acute turns to me to show their interest.

"-Families have been around since the old world, but clans were formed after the Day of Ends. Now, if you are a just a family then you don't really have a big significance in the grand scheme of things. Clans are far bigger though. They are formed from a coalition of families, where each family takes the founders last name as their own-

Phobos couldn't help but interrupt

"But what the fuck is the point of joining a clan if you don't take the credit for it? Thats dumb as hell!"

"Because at first people were afraid. They didn't want their lineage to dwindle into nothingness, so they would join and create bigger groups to be a part of so that they may live on as ancestors to a possibly great clan. As time went on clans became a centerpiece to our society, as well as our understanding of how to use Stats. The two became intertwined and now clan specialties exist, where a clan has honed a Skill of their own making for so long that it is what they are known for."

I paused to let them absorb the information, once I took a breath I continued.

"Examples from our class would be Henry Mackoy, me, and Logdra Feldheim. The Mackoy's focus heavily on their absolute power stat granting them strength no one would willingly trifle with. Then there is me, born from the clan Vanrouw. Known for our ferocious combo of the Energy and Psycho Stats which together give us our clan skill, The Cloak of Fenrir."

As we began to draw ever closer to the dorms, Phobos made some last conversation with me before leaving.

"You said examples from class were you, Mackoy, and Feldheim. So, what does Feldheim specialize in?"

"To be honest, I'm unsure."

"Well how anti-climactic! But I guess that only makes the fight more exciting to look foward to! Ba-ha-ha"

With that Phobos began to walk off in the direction of their dorm. He then waved his claw-like hand back at me.

"Your guys' company was entertaining today-"

He looked back at me

"-And thanks for the udon spaghetti."

He then faded off in the darkened distance as now the sky was dark. When I looked into the empty dark purple sky, I then began to wonder to myself a question I have had ever since I had heard the stories of them.

"Is it true?"

Ronan looked at at me

"Is what true?"

"Up there, can you see the stars?"

He chuckled

"Not all the time, but when the clear section of the dome rotates around to you, they become the most magnificent sight you could bear witness to."

He looked up to the empty sky as I did. All that I could do was wonder about the stars that remained hidden from our eyes. Ronan then took a breath of the high-altitude air and began to walk away. After he started making his way torwards his dorm he called out to me.

"And Hugo!"

I looked at him in response he was making a thumbs up back at me

"I look forward to your match, and I hope that one day we may face each other as well!"

His words carried withheld excitement. He waved goodbye and made his way off in the direction towards his siblings. As I watched him fade away, Blitz interrupted my thoughts.

"Hugo, I have been meaning to ask..."

"What is it?"

"Your cloak skill, isn't that-"

I raised my hand to prevent him from speaking further

"That is a question I do not wish to answer right now."

"Oh alright, I understand how complicated it must be being that you're a Vanrouw and everything."

"Mhm."

"I guess I'll talk to you later."

As he began to make his way towards is dorm, I stopped him.

"And Blitz."

"Yeah?"

"Stop calling me by my last name."

The look on his face went from his usual small smile to that of someone who saw something they shouldn't have. I glared at him with intense malice. The lights from the side of the road created an atmosphere fitting for my anger and irritation. Blitz stuttered before answering my statement.

"Y-yeah man, my b-bad..."

He quickly turned away and resumed walking at a faster pace. I stood in the street alone; the atmosphere was calming yet eerie. I couldn't help but be grossed out at the fact that I was finding so much comfort in this silence.

"Vanrouw..."

I muttered to myself before I too started walking towards my own dorm room.

"The sad name of a curse."