Chills crawled over my body tenfold. My heart began pounding, blood rushing through my veins. His words sounded true. Were all of those rumors about the Mesosphere true? I couldn't think straight, everything started spinning. Phobos then pulled back and grabbed my shoulders.

"I'm just kidding, Hue! Man, you should've seen the look on your face. Did you see that, Shiv? Aren't I a comedy genius?"

Sheeva then walked up to him and slapped him in the back of the head.

"Damnit Phobos, you could've given him a heart attack. Who knows what he believes about us, and really? Hue? Drop that dumbass nick name."

They were acting like children by bickering, it was entertaining yet confusing to watch. Despite their childlike behavior, everyone had a strong distaste for them after their chaotic entrance on top of the fact they were from the Mesosphere. Yet here they were, goofing around with each other without a care in the world. Though, that only applied to Phobos and Sheeva, the masked Ronan seemed to be the more serious one. He simply watched the two bickering with each other while he stood in between them. Once Phobos finally forfeited his argument to Sheeva, he looked at me through his pearly whites.

"Now, Hugo, take us somewhere with Italian."

His smile only continued to send chills down my spine. He acted friendly, but his appearance was just too eerie for me to get used to. I nodded at his request. I had lost the ability to speak for myself in that moment as I still felt slightly traumatized from his false threat just moments ago, it had even caused me to forget about my broken rib. Since we were still in the training room, I was still able to use my Healing Stat. As I begun to heal my own wounds, the three of them gazed at me in admiration.

"Damn! What a neat trick! I bet it still wouldn't-"

Phobos was abruptly interrupted by Sheeva. She gripped his shoulder from behind intensely, accompanied by a sinister glare towards him. Her foxlike eyes only made her more menacing in that regard.

"No more."

She withheld ferocity in her voice. Phobos looked back at her and grunted

"Alright, alright."

He shrugged her off before looking back at me

"Now, show us the way Hugo."

He then pointed at Blitz.

"And you're coming with us."

The thing was, I didn't even know if there were any places with Italian food here on this floating island. All I felt like I could do was follow Phobos's orders, he even forced Blitz to come with us. As I lead them through the school grounds, we eventually found ourselves at the busiest section here at the academy, the Restaurant Island. It wasn't noticeable when we arrived here due to the angle the train arrived at, but it was its own connected floating island. It was maybe about half of the size of the academy's island, but it still was quite large. As we all walked around the islands streets, students and adults alike gazed at our group. They did not seem to care about me or Blitz that much as their attention was turned towards the other three. Despite them being stared down by bystanders, they still walked with pride.

"Your stupid entrance plan fucked us."

As Sheeva broke the silence, Phobos turned to her.

"What do you mean? They already were gonna have it out for us anyway since we're from the Mesosphere, so what's the harm in making them hate us more?"

"It probably would be easier for me to approach people, so that we can-"

Sheeva shook her head as she tried to imply something to Phobos.

"You're overthinking it, Shiv. Besides, you always find a way to get a man's secrets one way or another."

She made an embarrassing look on her face as if it were true. The two then fell silent as we walked a bit further down the road. Phobos then gleamed with excitement he laid eyes on a restaurant.

"There! Let's eat there!"

He spoke with excitement and enthusiasm as he pointed at the restaurant. There was one discernible thing though, the restaurant wasn't Italian. It had a sign that seemed to be written in Japanese kanji, but as he was the one deciding where we would eat, we followed him. When we entered the restaurant, a waiter could be seen waiting for us. As me and Blitz entered first, she had a greeting smile on her face. Once Ronan, Sheeva, and Phobos followed after us, the greeting waiter's smile quickly faded as her face lost a bit of color. After a moment of her watching us just standing there, she quickly removed herself and made her way to the back of the restaurant. A few moments later a new waiter came from a back to handle our group.

"Right this way."

She seemed to have been doing this for a while as she did not show much of a physical repulsion to those three, she had probably seen many types of customers. Once we got to our booth, there were already six pre-placed menus. We organized ourselves accordingly as me and Blitz sat on one side while they sat on the other. As we all began to look at the menu, Phobos then burst with excitement.

"So, where is the Ultimate Italian dish on this menu!"

Me and Blitz began to release girly giggles to ourselves.

"What do you find so funny!? We don't have the luxuries of the Old World's cultures in the Mesosphere, just the stories that remain! Let me relish this moment as I may finally feast upon spaghetti for the first time! Ba-ha-ha!"

It was funny yet kind of sad knowing they didn't even know how to differentiate between the two cultures. Even so, they were drastically different, so he must have gotten caught up in the moment and somehow mistaken the two. That was the only logical reason other than the fact me might just be stupid or had been given misinformation.

After a couple of minutes, the waiter came back to give us each a cup of water. Phobos drank from his cup, when he finished, he released a long refreshing sigh.

"So, what is it you want to know about us? Ask me anything! I am willing to answer."

I was hesitant, I didn't know where to even begin. What was the Mesosphere like? Did they have ulterior motives? Are they truly as horrible as rumors make them out to be? Before I could ask anything, Blitz started with his question.

"Why are you guys even down here?"

There was a pause of silence with the faint restaurant chattering in the background. He spoke in a calm, serious tone. He wasn't as nearly freaked out as he was yesterday. I guess it helped that he had witnessed them act a little like children. Phobos tilted his head towards Blitz before answering.

"Your director 'invited' us down here of course. How could we pass up an excuse to officially and legally be down on the Stratosphere! How did we even get such an invitation? Doesn't really matter to us, just as long as we got it! Ba-ha-ha!"

Blitz seemed kind of disappointed in his answer, as if he was expecting to get a better one. After a moment of processing his answer, Blitz asked another question.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"So, if you were invited down here, then why ruin it by crashing the orientation? Or were you just trying to show off that Belrogue has your back?"

"Well, if you really want to know, then I must give a bit of a history lesson. Ba-ha-ha."

Sheeva rolled her eyes in annoyance and muttered to herself. She then looked at Phobos.

"Do you really have to give them a stupid history lesson?"

"Of course, I do Shiv! It's how I sell myself!"

His smile turned to Blitz as he began his questionnaire

"Tell me, Blitzy boy, do you know where the word phobia came from?"

Blitz gagged in response to the nickname Phobos gave.

"Do not fucking call me that ever again." He paused. " And no, I don't."

"Phobia is-"

Before Phobos could finish, the waiter who guided us to our table came to take our orders.

"Are you all ready for me to take your orders?"

She spoke with a monotone voice, as if she did but did not want to be there. Her focus turned to Phobos as he was muttering to himself with his head buried in the menu.

"Spa... spa-spa..."

Each delivery of "spuh" grew louder. The waiter leaned in to get his answer.

"Pardon, could you repeat that?"

He then slammed down his menu, revealing his gleaming smile at her before shouting

"SPAGHETTIIIII!!"

Everyone covered their ears, the waiter stumbled backwards as she was point blank with his scream. Plates could be faintly heard rattling in the back. As his voice faded off and the plates calmed down, people started turning towards us. Me and Blitz slowly put our heads down in embarrassment. Unlike me and Blitz though the other side of the table showed no remorse for Phobos's outburst, especially Phobos himself. He gleamed with excitement brighter than the so-called stars, for all we had was a simulated Sun since the Mesosphere blocked our view of the real night sky.

As Phobos's scream faded, everyone soon resumed to what they were doing before. The waiter then uncovered her ears, still shaken about his sudden outburst before responding to his outrageous request

"Um, Sir? We don't actually serve spaghetti."

"What?! Thats impossible! I demand spaghetti!"

She made a confused look on her face before continuing to correct the misinformed customer

"Uhh, we can't actually do that-"

I interrupted

"Just get him..." I looked down at the menu. "...uhh, something with noodles."

She then quickly nodded and left our table as she no longer wanted to be around us. Phobos turned to me, he made it seem as if he were slightly angry. He then groaned before resuming what he was saying before.

"Where did I leave off...? Right! Phobia is derived from a being in ancient Greek mythology named Phobos."

Me and Blitz stared at him, waiting for him to continue

"In this 'mythology', Phobos was a God. He specifically, though, was the God of Fear."

Chills crawled down my spine as his smile widened a bit after mentioning that last part. Blitz replied

"The God of Fear?"

"Yes, created fear and panic in people! So, you asked me why I wanted to crash the orientation? It simply was to insight that fear and panic within you all! It is what I thrive off of! What I was made to do! You, my friend Blitz, are sitting across Phobos the God of Fear! Rejoice as you are in my presence!"

He raised his hands calling for an encore. All I felt though were my hairs around my body screaming at me. His presence felt different now that he had given us insight on his true nature. While he may have been acting childish up until now, it was now a known fact it was his idea to cause the chaos yesterday. All just to enthuse himself and his delusion of being a God. I looked over at Blitz who seemed horrified by Phobos's answer.

"Fun? You think causing terror is fun?! The shit you performed yesterday could have gotten someone hurt or worse!"

Phobos tilted his head a little.

"Oh, wow Blitz! I didn't think you were so considerate of others! Bravo~!" *Clap-clap*

Blitz stood up and slammed his hand on the table

"Stop the shitty act! Just show us who you really are, you have already admitted to it."

People's heads were gradually turning our way once again as the conversation got more heated

"Ohhhh but Blitz! Tch tch, poor poor Blitz... I only wish for us to get along! So, calm down and sit back down will ya."

"I won't listen to a fucking monster like you."

Suddenly Sheeva stood up from her spot next to the wall. Her fox eyes glowed their bright pink colored iris as she glared at Blitz. She seemed to have had enough with him throwing terms like 'monster' so casually. She released a long breath of hot air from her nostrils before confronting him.

"Listen up Blitz, I know my brother here can be a con-ascending self-absorbed piece of shit, but he is no 'monster'. Sure, he may like to instill fear as it is something he was raised to do, but that isn't entirely his fault! You want to know what a monster is, I'll tell you. There are no ends to the creativity people have up there, the things they would do to themselves just for a new way to murder someone for fun. They will torture, strip apart, rape, or even eat you if they wish. Hell, I've seen them do all of those things at once! And if you want-"

Phobos grabbed her by the shoulder. She looked down on him as he displayed what seemed to be a sad smile.

"Thats enough Sheeva."

"But-"

"Thats enough."

She looked around, all eyes pointed at are table. People were shocked as well as were recording the speech she had just given them. Sheeva slowly sat down and slumped into her corner.

"I may be named Phobos after the God of Fear."

Phobos turned to us.

"And I may have been taught to do things I now find enjoyment out of, but that doesn't mean I asked for either of those."

Blitz then sat down, he as well slumped into his spot. I couldn't help but feel the guilt resonating from him. We all sat there in silence until the single food dish arrived. Phobos then gleamed with excitement.

"So, this is... spaghetti? Why is it all wet though? And where are the balls of meat? This isn't spaghetti! What is this?!"

I didn't want the confused Phobos to implode on himself with confusion, so I finally told him what it was.

"It's Udon."

"Udon? Is this a kind of spaghetti I haven't heard of?!"

I couldn't help but smile to myself due to his misinformed childlike behavior

"Yes, it is."

He then proceeded to eat the false spaghetti by pulling out the noodles with his metal claw like hands as he delivered them into his mouth. As he ate his food in an odd fashion, it seemed to cheer both Sheeva and Blitz up. As they both corrected themselves by sitting up, Ronan spoke his first words since we got there.

"It is only natural for you to spite us."

Blitz and I turned towards him as he was leaning into the booth in the outside spot.

"We are abominations created by our own being. Some of us though want to live normal lives."

He paused and held his metal hand in front of him. He stared at it for a moment before continuing

"But we can't live normal. We must survive, even if that means abandoning our humanity."

He stopped looking at his hand and turned his moth masked face to Blitz

"Whatever rumors you may have of us, rid them of your mind. Because the Mesosphere is far worse than you could imagine."

After the sloppy Phobos had his meal, we left the restaurant. We didn't need to pay apparently as the food was covered in the academy's funding. The sun was setting once again as it did yesterday, and as we made our way to the dorms area Blitz couldn't help but apologize.

"I'm sorry for earlier. I just-"

"Save it."

Sheeva spoke with extremely subtle aggression.

"What's done is done, no point in being sorry for it."

She seemed to be in a better mood now. As she was, Blitz then asked her a question.

"Soooo, what's with your eyes?"

She turned to him and made a small smile.

"You see, the mesosphere has the unfortunate benefit of being the layer where all of your gasses get deposited. After a long time of exposure to these gasses, our bodies genes altered on their own. We have stronger immune systems and other physical benefits. Another very valuable thing not everyone developed were unnatural eye formations. They can range from being anything, like being a cross-"

She then paused and pointed at her own eyes

"- or they can be like mine, the 'Bestial Eye Formation' of the fox."

Blitz looked at her with a new small sense of admiration

"Is that why you dress in foxlike attire?"

She smiled again

"It is one reason yes."

"One reason?"

Before she could answer, a voice interrupted the conversation.

"OI! Where the FUCK have you been?!"

Standing in the middle of the road blocking our path was the infamous Logdra. I responded with

"We were just coming back from a restaurant."

"With those three fucks?!"

He spoke about Sheeva, Ronan, and Phobos. Blitz joined in and responded

"Honestly Log, they aren't-"

"Save it Lefrey! I'm honestly disappointed in you. You approached me to fight the rats from the Mesosphere! And now just a day later your all-happy go fucking lucky friends?!"

Blitz seemed to be slighlty startled by how angry he actually was. This was the angriest we had seen him since we got here. His face was so red that in the colors of the fake setting sun you could mistake him for ademon.

"Well-"

"Well, whatever you fucking say Lefrey it won't help you. I'm not even here for you, i'm here for the Vanrouw."

I stepped foward before responding to his angry use of my name.

"What do you wnat?"

"Is it true you held your own against the teacher?!"

"I guess so, yeah"

He seemed to get further enraged by my answer before speaking.

"Well lucky fucking me! I haven't been able to find Velrouge or the Mackoy all day, but luckily, I found you! You see, I'm really pissed that she slugged me into the wall like that when I wasn't looking, when I woke up the damage had been done. I need someone to unleash my pent-up anger on-!"

He paused and pointed at me

"-And since you had the unfair chance to fight my opponent, it's my birthright to see what you made of! You will fight me Vanrouw!"

When he finished his speech, I stood there a little dumbfounded by his reasoning to wanting to fight me.

"I would fight you, Logdra, but the stadium is closed remember?"

"Don't worry about that anymore! While I was looking for you, I found a spot that would work just perfectly for our battle! So, fight me!"

I looked over at Blitz, he just shrugged as if he didn't really know what was going. I just shrugged to myself and spoke

"All right then Feldheim, you've got yourself a fight."