Caelum: /ˈkɛː.lũ/
noun
1. Sky, heaven

Terra /ˈ /
noun
1. Land, earth, ground
2. The world

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

-Oscar Wilde

Sunlight poured into the room as the curtains were thrown open. That was what made Marco stir from his sleep, blearily opening an eye. Whatever dream he had been having slipped away from his mind. For a moment he tried to remember it; it had been a good dream - that much he remembered. But no, it was gone.

He blinked his eye a few times, rubbing the sleep away from it. From the amount of light pouring in through the large window in his bedroom, he knew it must be morning. He had classes in a few hours but…his bed was so warm…Marco let his eye shut again, and he snuggled down into the pillows once more.

"Wake up, Bodt," came a familiar female voice.

Marco looked up from his swaddle of blankets at the speaker. That was odd; she rarely woke him up. Usually it was one of the Unenhanced maids who politely woke him up every morning, not her.

"Ymir?" he asked. Sure enough, there she was; his cousin.

"Yeah it's me. Now, get your ass out of bed, Marco." He saw her roll her eyes. "Yeah it's early, but my mother got back early and wants to see you before classes. And oh yeah, your dad wants to talk with you too."

Ymir's mother was one of the seniors in the security branch of the government. She had spent the weekend on Terra, the city on the ground. It was odd; usually she went for a week or two at a time; rarely for just two days.

And Marco's father…he wanted to speak to him. That usually never went down well. Marco groaned a little. More reason to stay in bed. "Tell them I'm sick," he said, pulling the blankets over his head.

"Hell no," Ymir replied, crossing her arms. "According to your dad, this morning we're eating breakfast as a family." The sarcasm was dripping from her voice. "I'm not sitting through a meal with them alone."

Marco shook his head, even though Ymir couldn't see him underneath his wrappings. He was so warm and comfortable and sleepy…why couldn't she leave him alone? Maybe if he kept refusing she would grow bored.

"Oh, Marco," he heard her say. He frowned; she was using that tone of voice, the tone she used when she was up to no good… "Don't you know by now that you can't, uh, physically resist me?"

Marco groaned again. Ymir smirked, outstretching her arm and splaying her palm in the direction of the pile of blankets that Marco was hiding under. She could feel the hunk of metal in Marco's side; she could feel it even though she couldn't see it. She closed her fist, securing her mental hold on it. "You can't escape me when you have a metal arm!" She gave a tug in her direction.

Like a fish on a hook, Marco was yanked forward, arm first. He lurched forward, blankets and all, Ymir's metal force pulling his arm. He came right off of the bed, hitting the floor with a thud muffled by the blankets. He grunted, a curse slipping from his lips as Ymir howled with laughter.

"You," Marco said, as he slowly untangled himself from the pile of blankets on the floor. "Are a bully."

That only made Ymir laugh even harder. "Dumbass," she muttered under her breath, hands resting on her hips. After a moment, she extended her hand. Marco reached out with his left hand, letting her help him to his feet.

Now upright, he flexed his right hand. Despite Ymir being able to take complete control of it whenever she wanted to, it didn't feel any different. He opened and closed his fist; yes, his fingers still worked fine.

Like all Enhanced people, Marco was…modified. Man-made evolution, as Dr. Hange put it. From birth, the Enhanced had operations to improve their bodies by adding metal and circuits and wires and a hundred other things. Digestive systems modified to make them stronger, circuits intertwining with veins and arteries, eyes and ears enhanced for heightened senses.

And then, there were the abilities.

Most people had unique abilities; chosen by their parents. All though the initial operations to be enhanced happened at birth, when a child was eight or nine, they were operated on again. These operations resulted in special abilities.

For Ymir, special minerals were sent into her bloodstream, as well as thin metal plating under her skin. By concentrating, these minerals would gather under one of the metal plates, effectively turning it into a powerful magnet. Wherever she focused then, she could control and manipulate the metal. A tap could destroy a huge metal gate; gentle touch could mold steel as if it was clay. And a tug could send a teenage boy tumbling out of bed.

It was the same ability his father had, and it was incredibly powerful and effective. So much so, she didn't even need a secondary ability. Marco almost envied her strength.

"I'll leave you alone to get dressed," she said, stepping over the blankets and towards the bedroom door. "See you at breakfast."

Marco peeled off the shirt he wore in bed, heading towards the shower in the en suite bathroom. He suppressed a yawn; it was too early for this. Though, if he got back into bed Ymir would doubtlessly tug him out of it again.

He looked at his shirtless form in the bathroom mirror. Dark eyes scanned his reflection. He had his arm like this for nearly a decade now, but he didn't think he would ever get used to looking at it. His eyes ran over the place where smooth freckled skin ran into cool, dark steel. The plates of the strong metal overlapped slightly, so that although the metal was strong, his movement wasn't restricted.

He clenched his hand into a fist, grinning as he felt the circuits hidden behind the metal hum with power. Ymir might be able to bring down any metal structure with a flick of her wrist, but Marco was fairly sure he could bring one down with the strength in his arm.

His grin faded slightly as his gaze travelled up his reflection, landing on the dark eye-patch covering his right eye. Unfortunately, his father had deemed it prudent that he got a second ability, and unfortunately, the second one wasn't as successful as the first.

With a small sigh, Marco climbed into the shower, sighing in content as the hot water finally woke him up.

Fifteen minutes later, he was sitting down at the breakfast table. As usual with his family, things were too awkward and formal to be comfortable. The table was very large, too big for just five of them. Marco had seen it seat over twenty before. At the head of the table sat his father, a serious and intimidating man – as fitting, for someone of his rank. At the other end sat his mother. She was as beautiful as ever, but growing more distant with each passing day. Marco couldn't remember the last time they spoke; she seemed so far away most of the time that he wondered if she even knew he was there.

His aunt Ilse – Ymir's mother – sat beside his father, completely at ease. Confident and beautiful and just as intimidating as her older brother, Marco couldn't help but grace a small smile as he looked at her. She was everything he aimed to be; confident, strong, and independent. He admired his aunt a lot, and got along with her much better than he did with his own mother.

He sat in the middle of the table, with Ymir facing him. It was clear she didn't want to be there. She sat, barely eating and playing with her food, twisting her bacon around with her fork.

Nobody spoke. Marco's father was reading the morning papers, his mother was quiet, as usual. Ilse sat, as if waiting for her brother to say something. The other people in the room; the Unenhanced servants, stood quietly at the walls. Marco knew that the slightest motion would have them come forward, head bents respectfully and fearfully, to serve.

Marco looked expectantly from his father to Ilse. When he caught Ilse's eye, she just gave him a wink.

Eventually, Marco's father put his newspaper down. "I hear you and your classmates are going to Terra." It wasn't a question.

Marco nodded slowly. His father frowned, eyebrows tugging down into a disapproving expression. "Why?" he asked. "I don't particularly want you…down there."

"We've discussed this," Ilse said, her smile wavering and her voice sounding almost weary. "Kids these days have the privilege of spending all of their time up here on Caelum. They have no experience with the…Unenhanced." Isle said it as if it was a dirty curse word. "And in a few years, Marco will have taken over your position as head of security. How do you expect him to carry out that role if he can't deal with them?"

Another thing Marco admired about Ilse was her usual sunny disposition. Ilse had one of the toughest jobs in the security department. Marco's father was the head of security; he was in charge of certain branches of the Military Police, the protection of the King, and the protection of the Enhanced from the Unenhanced.

Ilse, although she wasn't as senior in the department as her brother, had a harder job. Much of her job involved spending time down on Terra, interacting with the Unenhanced; making them bend to the rules and punishing those who didn't. It was her job to make sure they knew their place. It was increasingly difficult, from what Marco heard. There always had been attempts on her life; the Unenhanced hated her (how they could, Marco never knew how; sure she was strict, but she wasn't unreasonable). Ilse was strong though, she always dealt with them easily. Recently though, there had been rumors of a revolution. Riots had been breaking out more and more often, led by a group calling themselves "Survey."

Yet, despite all of these stresses, she never failed to be cheery and bright. Marco rarely saw her without a smile on her face, it was one of the reasons he loved her. Now, though, she seemed weary, badly concealed stress was visible behind her tired attempt of a smile. Maybe, Marco thought, these rumors about a revolution weren't just rumors. He didn't worry too much though; even if she was more tired because of it, he didn't think for a moment she couldn't handle it. No matter how unruly these Unenhanced were being, Ilse would be able to keep them under control.

His father looked sternly down at his sister. "They have experience dealing with the Unenhanced," he said, waving a hand in a vague gesture around the room.

Ilse shook her head, and Marco caught Ymir rolling her eyes. "They have experience dealing with these quiet Unenhanced servants, who know their place. They have no clue what it's like down below, in Terra. Neither do you, if you think experience with these," Ilse mimicked his gesture, motioning towards the Unenhanced servants standing at the walls, "is enough."

From the glare he fixed his sister with, he wasn't impressed. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but he was interrupted by his wife. "Please stop arguing, dear," she said softly. "You know it's necessary. All of this protesting is useless."

Marco's father said nothing. "She's right," Ilse said quietly.

He sighed, and suddenly looked older than he was. "I know. I just…don't like the thought of Marco down there with them." He rubbed his temples slowly.

"I'll be fine, father," Marco put in, speaking for the first time.

Ilse nodded. "That's why I was down over the weekend, remember? You're not the only one with worries. We've been setting up extra security, and there are two squads of Military Police officers whose priority is to guard the students. Besides, even if they were alone, I doubt any of them could lay a finger on these two. Or any of the other students, for that matter."

His father sighed again, nodding curtly. "I'm just worrying," he said, more to himself than anyone else. He looked over at Marco, smiling a little. "Forgive your old man for fretting. You're eighteen now. You can look after yourself, I daresay."

Marco grinned himself, nodding his head. A lot of the time, his father commanded an intimidating presence, keeping everyone near him – including his only son – on their toes. Sometimes though, he showed his softer side. Marco's chest swelled with pride at his vote of encouragement.

"Still, I'd like to speak to you before you leave." Marco nodded, draining the last of his coffee. "Come to my office before you head out this morning." His father stood up, nodding at Marco and patting Ilse's shoulder gently before leaving the table. Marco finished up soon after, leaving the dining room. Ymir followed him.

They were both in the same year at school. In Caelum, everyone went to school until they were eighteen. Once they graduated, kids had a number of choices: become assistants to their parents, learning the ways of their job before eventually taking over from them. Enlist in the Military Police. Or become a civil servant, and eventually become a teacher or a doctor or a number of other professions.

For Marco, it wasn't a choice. Not really; he would have to take over his father's job of head of security. He didn't mind much; he always wanted to serve the King. In a number of years, he would be protecting him.

The trip down to Terra, the city on the ground where the Unenhanced lived, had been planned for weeks. Despite it, according to officials like Ilse and the teachers, being crucial for young Enhanced to have experience down there, many parents had been outraged, forbidding their children to go.

Terra…it wasn't like Caelum. It was full of poverty, inhabited only by the Unenhanced. Slums were everywhere, and according to rumors when you went down you would sometimes see bodies in the street, where people had starved to death. Marco figured it was just a rumor though; besides, did it really matter much? They were only Unenhanced people, after all.

"Is Historia coming?" he asked Ymir.

Ymir scoffed at him. "Oh yeah, like the fucking Princess is coming down to Terra."

"Well," Marco said, raising his hands. "She'll be the Queen someday. Doesn't she need experience with the Unenhanced?"

Ymir shrugged. "I don't know the fucking details. Who cares anyway? She'll get plenty of experience when she's older."

Marco nodded. He supposed that was true enough.

He ran back to his room, quickly brushing his teeth and changing his eye patch before grabbing his schoolbag. It was filled with large books, but he didn't even feel the weight as he slung the bag over his right shoulder.

Running back down the grand staircase, he stopped outside his father's office. Taking a deep breath, he knocked a few times on the door. "Come in," his father said almost immediately.

The office, like everything else in their house, was grand. A long rectangular room, one wall was completely made out of glass, offering a view of Caelum stretched out in front of him. The sun glinted off of the buildings, and hovercars weaved in between the clouds. The opposite wall was filled floor to ceilings with shelves, stacked with books and documents. Knowing Marco's father, each document, volume, or file was stacked in perfect alphabetical order.

Facing Marco, reclining behind an oak and glass desk, was his father. Jeremiah Bodt was tall and built strongly, just like his son. Although they shared the same dark skin, freckles and dark hair, he lacked the warmth Marco had. More often than not, he was frowning, whereas Marco rarely was seen without a smile. He was somebody who demanded respect and attention, somebody you didn't want to cross.

He studied Marco for a moment, before his expression softened. He wasted no time in getting to the point. "I want you to keep your wits about you today," he said. "I know you'll be protected, but you need to remember; on the ground, it's a different world. A different world, with different rules. The Unenhanced…they aren't like us. They're savages, who will rip you to shreds if you leave yourself exposed."

He shook his head a little at that. "I'm sorry, that was an exaggeration. But I do mean it; use your brains and stick with your group. If you wander off alone and into the wrong part of town, you could be in danger."

Marco nodded silently, his mouth dry. Despite his father's warnings, he was excited. He had grown up hearing about Terra, the terrible city underneath Caelum. He had heard the rumors, rumors about the wild and savage Unenhanced, rumors about the infamous red light district that attracted so many of the Military Police and other Enhanced higher ups, rumors about criminals and the crimes they did to each other. It was scary, of course; a few well behaved Unenhanced lived in the mansion, ones that were always respectful and knew their place. Going into a city full of Unenhanced where they might not be as respectful…no wonder the parents weren't happy. But despite this, Marco couldn't suppress his excitement. He would finally be able to see it for himself.

"And if you do get into any difficulty, which I'm positive you won't…" his father pushed up his shirt sleeve slightly, tapping at the dial fixed into his right wrist. "You know what to do."

Marco nodded again.

The main difference with the Unenhanced was that they hadn't any modifications. Their organs weren't as strong, their bones weren't as strong, and their senses weren't nearly as strong. They had no special abilities, and were prone to sicknesses.

The only modification they had were the collars.

At birth, every Unenhanced child was fitted with a special collar. These collars were fixed right into their very skin; impossible to take off. It was a measure taken to keep them under control.

One of the modifications every Enhanced child went through was an operation on the eyes and wrist. They could focus their non-dominant eye and zoom in to focus on people or objects. Everyone also had a special dial fixed into their wrists, going from zero to ten.

By switching this dial onto one of the numbers and focusing in on any Unenhanced, all they had to do was bring their thumb and index finger together. The collar of the unlucky Unenhanced would emit an electric shock. The severity of the shock depended on the number the dial was at; one meant a small but sharp pang, nine was agonizingly painful. Ten would kill in an instant.

Marco wasn't sure of the technology behind it – as far as he knew, it was something to do with their eyes giving off signals when they focused on an Unenhanced – but he knew that it was one of their most effective weapons. Just by looking at them and tapping their fingers together, they could bring an Unenhanced person to their knees.

Luckily Marco never was in a situation where he had to use his before. Still, it was reassuring to know that if an Unenhanced person ever got too close…he would be able to deal with it without even needing his main abilities.

"If you're in danger," Marco's father continued. "Please, don't hesitate to use your dial. It's there for a reason, after all."

"Yes, father." Marco pushed his own shirt sleeve up a little. There, in the smooth expanse of his metal skin, was the little dial, currently at zero. He ghosted his fingers over it.

"One of the things you need to learn is how to use it without mercy," continued his father. "I've been in situations where if I hesitated, I could have died. You'll be safe today Marco, but there's something you need to remember; the Unenhanced may not be as strong as us, but they're still very, very dangerous."

"You're not turning yours on?" Marco asked, as he leaned down to flick the tiny switch built into his ankles. Immediately he felt the familiar hum in the soles of his feet.

Ymir gave a shrug in response. "I won't need it. I won't fall. And even if I did, I can save myself." She flexed her fingers, and Marco nodded. It was true; she didn't need her magnetism turned on when she could create the same effect herself.

The wind blew softly through the city. Caelum was the first city like this, suspended in the sky. All of the buildings started off in Terra, of course, but they were so incredibly tall that from here, you could only see Terra on cloudless days. Each building was hundreds and hundreds of floors tall. The Bodt family mansion resided in the penthouse of one of these buildings.

Of course, they needed a way to move from one building to the other. Light walkways made out of a special metal wound between all of the buildings. Of course, as an extra precaution, another modification they had since birth was magnetism in their feet.

All Enhanced were required to turn it on when using these walkways. By switching the magnets in the soles of their feet on, they stayed on the walkways, and there was no chance of plummeting to your death.

Ymir walked out onto the narrow pathway. They were all one way, and wide enough for two people to walk side by side. "You coming?" she asked, turning and tapping her foot impatiently. "Or are you gonna stand there all day?"

Marco rolled his eyes before following her. She walked much quicker than him and he struggled to keep up with her as they made their way to the skyline stop. Though, that probably had to do with the fact that she didn't have her magnetism turned on. Sure, magnetism was a safety precaution and all, but it slowed you down a bit, making you drag your feet as you walked.

Ten minutes later and they were at the Skyline stop. The Skyline was a method of public transportation, a high speed train that all but flew around the city on tracks made out of the same materials as the pathways.

As soon as he boarded, Marco heard them.

"Heeeeeeey, Marco! Over here!" Sasha leaned to the side, one hand clutching the handrail and the other waving madly. Marco could hear Ymir sigh. "That idiot," she mumbled under her breath.

Marco grinned, making his way over to his friends. Connie was beside Sasha, grinning widely. "Today's the day, dude! We get to see down below!"

The Skyline was packed with students heading to school. Marco wedged in between them to reach his friends, while Ymir elbowed everyone out of her way. "You'd want to be careful, blockhead," she said. "Knowing you, you'll go out and get yourself killed by some thug."

"Yeah right!" Connie said back. Marco took a hold of the handrail with his left hand. "If any of them tried anything, I'd send their ass back to hell!" he boasted loudly.

Sasha giggled beside him. "More like you'd run away and scamper up a tower back to Caelum."

Marco laughed while Connie looked betrayed. "Sasha! You're meant to be on my side here!"

Marco's gaze fell on Connie's hands. Both were covered in the same type of metal his arm was made of, but with different purposes. Marco's arm was incredibly strong, whereas Connie's hands and feet could act with a sort of suction function. Marco had seen him run up walks and across ceilings. Marco also knew that if he needed to, Connie probably could run up a building back to Caelum.

"Please, Connie, I'm always on your side…at least, most of the time." Sasha giggled again, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Anyway, what about you Marco? Excited?"

Marco shrugged and smiled. "I guess, I mean…we've grown up hearing about Terra and now we finally get to see it!"

Ymir gave a drawn out sigh. "I'm surrounded by idiots," she muttered under her breath. "If you heard half the stories my Mom told be about Terra, you wouldn't be so damn excited."

Connie scoffed. "You're just jealous because Histo- shit! I mean, you're just jealous because Krista isn't coming."

Ymir elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut it, Springer."

The day passed by slowly. They all had morning classes and weren't going down to Terra until the afternoon. They weren't going down for very long, Marco noted with slight disappointment. As far as he knew, they were getting a brief tour of the main city. There was tension in the air, all of the students glancing at their watches every five minutes. Although they all had been drilled to be on their best behavior – after all, it was dangerous down there – everyone was excited.

Finally, two o' clock came.

The first class of thirty had to meet in the school hall. Because it would be much too difficult to bring the whole year down at once, they were going in classes; Marco's class was first this week, another class next week, and so-on, until they all had made the trip down. Although there were usually thirty in the class, only nineteen students were going; many parents simply refused to let their children go.

He stood with Connie and Sasha as the principal of the school gave them a lecture on how well they needed to behave down below. "Pity Armin isn't in this class," Connie murmured. "He'd love this. He's always going on about how he wants to find out more about the Unenhanced."

Sasha shrugged, steadily making her way through a can of potato chips. "He'll be going next week," she said. "He'll get over it."

Marco nodded. "Pity His-uh, Krista couldn't come."

Now it was Connie's turn to shrug. "Don't think she cares much, man. Besides, she'll have time for that when she's older."

The principal wrapped up his lecture, and they left the school. They all boarded the Skyline to the Admin towers. The journey only must have taken five minutes, but it stretched on forever. Marco stared listlessly out of the windows. He could see right down today; aside from a few wispy things, there were barely any clouds. He could see the dark of the city below. Because Terra was on the ground, and because all of the buildings rose so high into Caelum, it was often shrouded in shadow. The only time you could really see it was at night, when the lights were just about visible from up here.

Marco had spent many cloudless nights looking down at the lights dotted on the ground like stars, wondering what it was like down there. No matter what Ilse said about Terra, it certainly looked beautiful from a distance.

As did everything, he supposed.

An eternity of five minutes later, the Skyline pulled up at the spot outside of the Admin towers. The Admin towers were three buildings, huge even on a Caelum level. Hundreds of offices ran in these buildings; nearly all of the government departments ran from here. Marco could see them in the windows as he stepped out onto the walkway, flicking his magnetism on. Countless people flitting about, busy as ever.

The Admin towers also had the fastest gravity pods in the city. Gravity pods were essentially elevators; except huge ones, that could fit up to fifty people at a time. And instead of moving between floors, gravity pods transported people at high speeds from Caelum to Terra.

Four members of the Military Police stood at the entrance to the pod as they boarded. They checked their fingerprints quickly with scanners as they boarded – each Enhanced person had a lot of data stored through their fingerprints. A scan would bring up all the information about a person on a computer; name, date of birth, family records, criminal records, even a photo. The process usually only took thirty seconds.

Needless to say, they had to be careful about who they let on to these pods. Security was very tight.

Finally, the nineteen students and the teachers accompanying them had boarded. Marco stood beside Connie and Sasha. "So…" he said, glancing around. "I presume those Military Police squads are meeting us at the bottom?"

He was excited of course. But also, a little nervous. He wouldn't admit it though.

Connie shrugged. One of the boys standing beside Marco turned to him. Thomas Wagner, that was his name. Marco didn't know him that well. "Wait a second, there's two Military Police squads accompanying us?" He groaned. His friend beside him, Nack, sighed.

"That means there's no chance of any fun down there," he said, shaking his head.

Marco quirked an eyebrow. "Fun?"

"What do you mean by "fun?"" came another voice, taking the words out of Marco's mouth. He looked up to see another classmate, Marlowe Freudenberg approaching them, fists clenched and eyes narrowed.

Thomas raised an eyebrow before laughing. He tapped the dial on his wrist. "Me and Nack were planning to get away for a while, test out our dials."

"See if they're as effective as everyone says they are," Nack added.

Marlowe frowned, glowering at the two. Marco was a little taken aback himself. "You mean you were going to take innocent people and put them through the pain of your dials?" He was clearly disgusted.

Nack was unfazed. "Well…we could use practice, right? This whole thing is for experience, I don't see how much experience we can get without using our dials."

It was almost like Marlowe was trying to prevent himself from yelling, he looked furious. He was another kid Marco didn't know too much about. He knew he was a hard worker, one of the ace students in the class, but his knowledge of him ended there. "Regardless," he hissed. "You would do that to another, innocent, human being?"

Nack and Thomas burst out laughing. Marco cracked a smile himself, and he could see Sasha and Connie suppressing giggles. "Calm down, dude!" Thomas managed eventually, after regaining some composure. "I mean, they're only the Unenhanced!"

Marlowe scowled. "They're humans too."

Connie rolled his eyes. "If you love them so much, why don't you go live in Terra?"

Marlowe's chest seemed to swell with pride. "I'm going to wait until I get a position in government," he said. "Then I'm going to start a campaign about their rights, so that ignorant fools like you can't mindlessly hurt them."

Thomas scoffed. Marco bit on his lip to prevent himself from laughing. This Marlowe guy was supposed to be smart, but if he was coming out with stuff like this…it was lucky that nobody apart from them five were hearing this. Otherwise, he'd probably be sent to a doctor.

"Good luck with that," Nack said, snorting into his hand. Sasha gently took Marco and Connie's elbows and led them away. "C'mon," she whispered. "We don't want to be seen involved with someone like him."

Once out of earshot, they fell into laughter.

And then, one of the Policemen was yelling, saying the pod was launching and instructing them to hold onto the handrails. Marco grasped a nearby one, about to say something to Connie when suddenly, the floor dropped.

Of course, it was just the pod descending. But the initial speed took him by surprise; it was far faster than any elevator. And longer too; he looked outside of the windows and saw Caelum disappear. First, the high class parts of the buildings zipped away. The further down they went the less wealthy the city was. Marco could feel the pressure building up in his ears.

About five minutes later they entered that in between zone; the parts of the buildings between Caelum and Terra. Nearly all of these, he knew, were used as army barracks. Another few minutes to go.

His ears popped, and he muttered a curse under his breath. He looked at his friends; Sasha's face was pressed against the glass, barely holding on as she drank in every detail outside of the window. Connie looked faintly green, as if he might get sick at any moment.

And then suddenly; they were in Terra. Marco could see it; the lower parts of the buildings. He knew from Ilse that most of the Unenhanced lived in the tiny buildings around the city; they weren't allowed into the huge skyscrapers that reached Caelum. Despite it being the afternoon, it was already dark. The skyscrapers of Caelum blocked out most of the light.

The Unenhanced were everywhere. It was surreal. Up on Caelum, nearly all of the Enhanced had metal encasing some part of their bodies. Here though, there were masses of them, the only metal being the collar around their necks.

They were all so pale. And thin. And there were so many of them; Marco had only ever seen a handful at a time.

And unlike the ones who worked as servants in Caelum, these didn't look so friendly.

The pod came to a shuddering stop, and Marco was able to get a better look at them. They glanced at the pod as they walked past, distrust in their eyes. He watched them as they went by; kept a safe distance from the pod by the Military Police; first, a boy with strikingly green eyes. He slowed as he passed, pointing at the pod. A girl wearing a ratty red scarf beside him quickly pulled him along before he caught the attention of the policemen. On the other side, Marco noticed a young man with dirty blond hair shaved into an undercut help a younger woman cross the street. He guessed that they were related, due to their resemblance.

Looking back to the window closest to him, Marco saw a trio on the other side of the street point to them. A young woman with blonde hair made a gesture. Two men beside her; both at least half her height taller than her leant down to listen as she whispered something.

No matter where he looked, they all had the same hardened expressions. They all looked tough and…unhappy. And despite the lack of metal on their bodies, despite the telltale collars around their necks, they all looked dangerous.

The glass doors to the pod swung open. Just outside, the two squads of Military Police were waiting. "Ah, you finally got here!" their leader greeted. "Welcome to Terra." His lips pulled up into a wry smile. "Welcome to hell."