In a district mimicking a large airport, Bell, Mona, and Jude found themselves utterly lost. The crowds imitated what Bell could only assume was an airport before the time of humans being airborne came to an end.
"How are we supposed to get down there?" Mona asked her watch with a worried tone, to which the pathfinder app she was using gave no answer.
Bell and the other two were standing on just one of several rings with shops bustling with life. The goal was to find the others of their group, but as of now, they had no information on their whereabouts.
A tall tower of the same material as the floor extended upwards, and on each level, there was a clock. Bell attempted to read one such clock, and found that there were merely twenty minutes before the disaster occurred.
"Honestly, I have no clue, we could probably ask someone, though." Jude said with a calm tone, "We can ask people if they saw someone like my brother walk near here."
Mona then seemed to calm down and proposed an idea, "What if we all go on different floors and look around?"
Bell nodded and added to the idea, "Whoever gets information first gets the others and we all follow the clues?"
The three nodded simultaneously, marveling at their sheer unrivaled ingenuity and problem-solving skills.
They then looked around for someone to help them, and quickly went on their way to find their friends in a perilous situation.
While the trio began their frantic search, Torm, Michael, and Pyralis ate shawarma wraps in a small shop.
***
Michael didn't know how Torm knew about such a great shawarma spot, and didn't question when Torm brought the other two down a few shady alleyways to the spot.
For some reason, his pathfinder app had been acting up since they had entered Vatican City, but Torm's worked perfectly. That, or Torm was naturally good at finding good shops to eat at, which wouldn't be too surprising.
The hulking boy seemed to always have different cards up his sleeves, after all.
'I mean, who knows about so many different niche topics?' He thought, taking a large bite out of his shawarma wrap.
Previously, as Michael ordered, he noticed that there wasn't a soul inside of the shop aside from Torm, Pyralis, and himself.
Michael ordered quite a bit of the specialty item, deciding to use some of his savings from a summer job to devour some good food. Pyralis ordered more, seeing as how he had barely eaten any breakfast outside of a small bowl of oatmeal.
Speaking of breakfast that morning, Michael found it slightly strange that Bell hadn't eaten more than he did. Bell usually out-ate Michael by at least a plate or two at every meal.
Her gluttony knew no bounds, at least no bounds that were perceivable by a mortal.
The three barely had to wait before their food and drinks were brought out. Michael was impressed by the sheer selection of options that the shawarma shop had, so he indulged himself by ordering a bit of everything.
He was also impressed by the wide selection of drinks, ranging from hot to cold teas and coffees to energy drinks and juices, as well as colas and even some beers. Of course, Michael didn't order any beer, he was only sixteen!
'I wish I was eighteen, though...' He lamented.
In the western district of the Unified Governments dominance, the legal age of drinking was twenty-one. Something about upholding ancient traditions, which slightly baffled Michael, but what could he do about it?
The central district was slightly more lenient, being more case-by-case in terms of the age of drinking in the cities. Vatican City had by far the lowest drinking age at the age of eighteen, while some cities actually enforced sobriety until the age of twenty-five.
Michael's thoughts were slowly drawn to the scarlet-haired swordswoman, he had seen first-hand her power, and also her inability to stay down.
She had also shown prowess with swords, spears, and chairs? During her duel with Jude, who was quite proficient with spears, at least in comparison to Pyralis.
Bell didn't seem to falter even when he pointed out her markings from the toxins of the ground layer. Michael thought that she was making a statement by showing the small black dots to the world, but found that she was unaware of that fact.
He felt bad almost immediately afterward, but they didn't have time for him to explain himself, seeing as how the behemoths were conjured. The blood fiends seriously creeped Micheal out, howeer, and the behemoths made him quake in fear.
But for some reason, Bell didn't falter, and even climbed a few to implode them, which was extremely admirable.
In any case, the shawarma wraps were excellent.
As the three shawarma eating musketeers enjoyed their meals with light conversation, Strella and Hilia were in a department store.
***
The two were looking for supplies that they had forgotten to stock up on when they initially packed for the Terrarium.
The usual ropes, carabiners, hiking boots, carving tools... the usual.
Over their final summer before entering Challenger-hood, Strella had worked as a hunter in the town's nearby hunting group. She had already learned how to hunt many years prior, but had nearly mastered her craft during her final summer.
All the while, Hilia worked as a student surgeon for the town's hospital, working on cadavers until she learned enough to work on low intensity care patients. After many years, she would be promoted to an official surgeon, having mastered the medicines of her past.
In short, they had quite the large amount of funds to purchase whatever materials that they required.
Strella was on one end of the department store, looking at the various types of logs and woods on display, trying to see what type she should use to create her masterpiece.
After staring at the myriad of mysterious woods and doing hundreds of mental calculations, Strella finally came to a conclusion and grabbed some wood. Soon after, she also grabbed some carving knives, files, hooks, sandpaper, and some adhesive materials.
Hilia was on the other end of the department store, looking at suture needles, the metals used in their creation, and other medicinal products.
Her cart was relatively empty, as she didn't need to craft a new bow from scratch like her sister did. Instead, her cart was filled with vials of various chemicals as well as some cloth, bandages, surgical tools, and some foods.
Hilia had used quite a large chunk of her supply during the battle against the Pale Champion and his army of blood fiends. She could almost still smell the horrid stench of the putrid blood that covered the train cars rooftops.
The memory almost made her dry heave.
As the two shopped for their respective materials, Bell, Jude, and Mona neared the three at the shawarma shop.
***
"Oh my gods, we're almost there." Bell said as she saw the path that they needed to take to reach Torm and the two Erikson brothers.
Mona smiled and hurried her pace from a speedwalk to a light jog, "Hurry up! We're almost out of time!"
Jude followed as well, mumbling something to himself in a defeated tone. Bell didn't make out what Jude had said, considering the fact that their footsteps echoed across the walls of the large airport.
As the trio ran towards their target, a boy and three of his friends neared the shawarma shop.
***
This boy was named Mars Caesar, he was tall, lean, and had a bit of muscle on him. He wore baggy pants and an oversized t-shirt with a graphic of some band that he didn't know the name of.
Mars was accompanied by his three friends, Gabriel, Ishmael, and Penelope. The four had been part of the same group on the Bullet Train to the Terrarium, and quickly bonded over a few shared interests.
One such interest was the shawarma spot hidden down in Vatican City, beyond simple pathfinding abilities. It was their pride and joy that they were one of the eight people who were regulars at the spot.
Today, Gabriel wore baggy clothing, similar to Mars's own clothing, but in much better style. Gabreil managed to mix and match the colors to make it seem as if he were made of some magical water or something of the sort.
Ishmael wore her student outfit and a simple blindfold, relying on her Shard's passive ability to lead her. The student uniform was a neatly designed outfit consisting of a button up shirt, a blazer, and the choice between a long skirt or a pair of slacks. Ishmael chose to wear the long slacks.
In the beginning of their friendship, Mars failed to understand the root of Ishmael's consistent training but found the discipline remarkable.
Penelope wore a simple floral sundress and had a large leather bag wrapped around her shoulder and rested on her hip. Mars was almost hypnotized by her sheer beauty, but knew that it was part of Penelope's own training.
He sighed as he opened the door to the group's favorite shawarma shop.
On this fateful day, the four would find intruders upon their holy land. To make the matter worse, they were sinners, enjoying themselves in a gluttonous stupor.
Mars and the others entered the line to order, but couldn't keep themselves from shooting glares at the three human hippopotamus. Just as Mars finished his order, the bell rang.
A group of five people entered their safe place, and Mars started to feel slightly irritated that his spot was being intruded on.
The first to enter was a sharply clothed boy with long, flowing blonde hair.
The second to enter was a rambunctious girl with many dark dots on her forearms, she had long, flaming scarlet hair. However, she was sharply dressed, and that heightened the image of the girl in Mars's mind.
The third to enter was a girl with long, silky black hair, she wore similar attire to the red-haired one, but in an inverted color scheme.
The fourth to enter was a girl in a black turtleneck shirt, she had a storage cube resting in her hand.
The fifth to enter was another girl in a light tunic, she also had a storage cube in her hand.
The sight of the cubes nearly sent Mars over the edge. Not only were they intruding on the holy ground of the four elder students, they also had the audacity to show off their immense wealth?!
'I'm going to go crazy,' he thought to himself, sitting down with his friends after they had finished ordering.
The group of five were loud and really annoying to Mars, he almost wanted to pummel each and every one of them, but couldn't. Every time he descended to Vatican City, he represented the Terrarium and their esteemed reputation.
A stupid reputation in Mar's eyes, but a reputation, nevertheless. The Terrarium students were treated better after people realized that they belonged to the giant floating mechanical eyeball in the sky.
Besides, they were powerful as well, and Mars didn't want to beat up some children over nothing. After all, more business is good for the shawarma shop!
'Ahh, it's so annoying, though.' He battled himself in his mind.
"You're chewing your nails again," Penelope reminded, sighing as she lowered her head onto an open palm.
Mars almost growled as he responded, "You guys are seeing this too, right? They're totally disrespectful!"
Gabriel shrugged, "I mean, they're not destroying the place, are they?" He reasoned to Mars, "Besides, the shop will get more money flow if they become regulars."
Ishmael joined the conversation after staring into empty space for a while, "I only see good things as long as they are pleased."
Mars pouted and crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair to a nearly dangerous degree. All the while, he chewed on his already half-eaten fingernails, it was a bad habit of his that he had long failed to break.
'It's just something about those punks pisses me off.' He debated internally, 'I really can't do anything about it, though...'
The large group finished ordering and gathered chairs around the gluttonous trio.
'They know each other?!' He nearly yelled in surprise, his eyes shooting upward.
"That's neat," Gabriel noted, "They know each other."
Penelope nodded with a smile, "That's nice."
Ishmael decided to be mysterious and not answer, as she usually did when she had her blindfold on.
After a few moments of silence, Ishmael spoke in a soft whisper, "Mars, whatever it is you think you're going to do, don't."
Mars shot a cocky grin at Ishmael and mockingly replied, "What do you think I'm gonna do, huh? Beat 'em up?"
Ishmael simply nodded in response with a morbid expression on her face.
Mars decided to slouch back in his chair, pouting as he awaited his food to arrive.
***
Bell only felt hostile energy from the group in the corner of the shawarma shop.
'What's up with those weirdos?' She asked herself, shooting a glance at the four teenagers.
Bell decided to ignore the strangers. Before reaching the shawarma shop, she had worked up quite an appetite, and so, decided to order a few plates of food.
They had also met Strella and Hilia on their way to the small shop, and it wouldn't have made sense if they hadn't joined the trio. So they joined the group on their way to get some food and prevent a supposed "disaster" from occurring.
But after looking at the scenario that the shawarma shop laid in, Bell started to get a hunch that something was indeed going to go down.
Bell then thought about her dwindling money, despite still having over ten million dollars in her account.
'I mean, it's gonna be cheaper than the Compass...' She thought while imagining her savings go down the drain, 'I need to spend less from now on. No more binging.'
The conversation she had with the short shopkeeper was nice and brief, and Bell felt nicer after talking to the older lady.
'How do people get shorter with age, anyways? It doesn't make sense,' Bell thought as her stomach rumbled loudly.
Michael nearly choked on his food and said as he chewed, "Damn, you're really hungry, aren't you?"
Pyralis chuckled with his shawarma wrap in his hands. It looked like he really tried to not laugh, but failed to hold it in.
Bell didn't care about her stomach rumbling, and seriously considered letting out a monstrous belch, but decided against it in a moment of moral clarity.
'I wouldn't want some douche burping loud as hell when I'm eating.' Bell reasoned internally.
Bell heard a door open, and a man in an apron came out with four plates delicately balanced on his arms, hands, and head.
'That has to be a safety hazard,' Bell immediately thought as she watched the man.
The man turned around, looking for the group who ordered the food, and as he turned, he saw Bell's group. At the sight of more than four people in his shop, the man then fell to the ground.
Glass shattered, but none of the shards managed to cut his skin, but he did look a bit rough from all of the shawarma wraps falling on and around him.
After a moment of stunned silence, Bell heard someone roar and the sounds of tables crashing against the wall filled the air. Just below the sounds of thunderous crashing, Bell could almost hear the voice of a woman calling out to the planet Mars.
Bell then felt the floor thump rhythmically as she saw the tall, lean, and immensely angry boy from earlier barreling towards her and her friends.