The express train blitzed through the plains at an incredible speed. The grass snapped in its wake, creating miniature vortexes along the way. The entire mechanized wonder operated in silence much to Frost’s surprise.
The churning of machinery was absent. Not even the roars of the wind beyond the thick windows could be heard. Only the wonderous gasps of the rescued women echoed thoroughly in these lavish compartments.
They were extravagantly huge, and the entire compartment they all found themselves within was reminiscent of a miniaturized ocean liner.
These trains were designed to house upwards of a thousand people at once for over weeks on end.
Crossing Brandar to other regions took days by train, meaning it would have to travel through its infested nights. Therefore, its plated armor and sheer scale made it appear more like a moving fortress than a train. The lowly monsters were no more than droplets in a rain to this behemoth.
Furthermore, this train was gravitationally locked to the railings underneath.
This meant that it was near impossible to move the train beyond the manipulation of the Train’s Core, which was only accessible to the Train Conductor.
That being said, the ground floor was like a giant ballroom and the two upper floors were hollowed out in the center. The middle floor was where the suites, restrooms and kitchen resided, and the upper?
Finally, there was the upper floor. It was reserved only for the onboard crew and was where Frost, her companions, the Moons, and the Atelier personnel remained. The room itself was a lavish hall made from fine walnut much like the rest of the train’s interior.
Bright lamps containing a glowing magical orb illuminated the place nicely, casting countless reflections along the polished surfaces. There was not a single speck of dust aboard, and each repeating fixture such as the tables and the couches were placed with perfect precision and symmetry.
Frost fondly explored the place, her mind half a mess by the perversion of physics once again.
“It floats.” She spoke with a voice of disbelief, still bewildered as she passed by the windows, staring out into the greater world beyond. “The windows are built like the ones in submarines and cruise ships. I was half-expecting them to use one giant slab of glass.”
“That wouldn’t make sense.” Jury pointed out, tapping on the metal bolts that secured the windows in place. “It’s an armored train. Having a giant window is kind of counter intuitive. Unless you were thinking of some kind of impenetrable glass?”
“That’s right. You’d think some kind of super-glass exists here, but I guess not. Glass becomes a weak point and a potential mode for entry, so this design is actually crucial. And besides, it’s not like there’s much to sightsee across Brandar. Are you able to make out those mountains?” Frost asked.
“Nope. I don’t see them at all.” Jury replied, squinting outside as Ignis did the same, finding nothing but the same endless stretch of grass.
“You’ve got good eyes. You can make out the crystals can’t you? Just where the hell do you think Justica Arms sources their crystals from.” Cer suddenly spoke as the trio followed them throughout the compartment like pack of stalking wolves.
“Yep. And they hardly look natural, don’t they?” Ber then stated, prompting Frost to take a closer look at the mountainous region.
Nothing. They didn’t look out of place. To this world’s standards, of course. It’d be quite a marvel to discover such a place on Earth.
“What do you mean by out of place?” Frost needed them to clarify.
“Simple. Caldera Industries got involved with the entire Dwarven population a while back. They’re as close as lovers at this point. Not sure what happened between them, but those mountains swelled like never before! Crystals never used to grow there either. Makes you wonder just how much power those people have.” Cer added, speaking mysteriously to restrain their attention.
“Then what’s the real reason they don’t try to help the world?” Frost ended up asking after hearing how powerful these Ateliers supposedly were from these Moons.
“The real reason’s muddy. Clouded. Too much blood in the water once someone slips from their pedestal. As far as we’re concerned. I just like to fight.” Cer shrugged. “Justica Arms and the Scarlet Logic might as well be at war again at this point. But do you think people inside of the Nexus are exactly ‘normal’?” She then shot back another question as they found themselves inside of the main hall again, as if they had looped around a giant circle.
They then saw a few of the women clamber up the stairs from the other end, carrying dishes atop a silver platter. They seemed awfully ecstatic, and the way their ears and tails wagged thawed her heart.
“Normal as in mentally or, are you talking about the damage the Blessed are capable of? Like how Infusion S was able to destroy a city?” Frost asked, though she wouldn’t put it past being the former.
“I love your thinking! It’s exactly those. Our oh so great Beholders who fight Apocalypse entities usually lay waste to cities. The most drawn-out fights can see the collapse of entire countries.” Cer exclaimed, waving at the women with a cheeky grin.
“That’s why we have the Hyperwarp. The fruition of Galia’s hard work.” Res added.
“Look, I’m willing to admit that she’s not all that bad. Aside from stealing our Raoul. You see, Beholder Galia strives to bring every little problem into the Nexus. The Nexus is practically an infinite space so we can cause as much havoc as we want during these invitational raids.” Cer then concluded.
“… bring the problems internally huh.” Frost was somewhat fixated on this detail, but she could not dabble into it for long.
The women eventually reached her and presented a beautiful platter of food before them.
“U-Um! We heard that you like to eat a lot so we decided that as thanks we- um.” The cat-eared girl stammered, her words betraying her mid-sentence.
It was cute, but she also felt a little sorry for her.
“It looks wonderful. And it smells great too!” Frost complemented, taking the platter with thanks as Jury nodded.
“Ah! Skewers as well! Thanksh mnew!” She said right as she plunged a stick of meet into her mouth, chewing delightfully. Jury then hovered it in front of Frost’s face, allowing her to take a chunk straight off… alongside the wooden stick.
It was just a tad bit crunchy, but that was on her.
“It’s delicious. Looks like I have some competition in the kitchen space now. Thank you. I was just thinking on what to make for lunch, but you guys beat me to it.” Frost added, expressing her gratitude to these people.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“You mean girls, right? You have a funny way of speaking sometimes~” The cat-woman chuckled.
Although their exchange was brief she felt like they shared a thousand words. This was the least they could do as thank for her help. But Frost cherished it. They eventually left with exaggerated waves, leaving behind a trail of warmth as Ignis and Jury fondly watched them disappear into the distant staircase.
“One of them is a Serum S survivor, huh. Which one?” Cer suddenly asked. “Frost? Which one? Which one!?” She demanded, only just barely managing to contain herself.
“The cat-eared girl. Why?” Frost wondered what was wrong with her all of a sudden.
“Tch… 30 years later and she’s still fucking around? Don’t fuck with me!” She scowled with bottomless contempt before suddenly dismissing herself.
Not to Frost or the others, but most likely to the Wandering Healer: D-13. Her sudden explosion of rage came from seemingly nowhere, and Frost could feel every ounce of contempt in her voice.
Cer rarely wore a serious face. She only knew this woman at face value, much like her sisters.
“They never stopped with the Serums.” Ber similarly spat and quickly joined Cer’s side, right before Res excused themselves, avoiding eye-contact with Frost at all costs.
“… please excuse us.”
They were left alone in total silence as the triplets disappeared into the hallways. There was no telling what exactly happened to them, or why they only just reacted like this now of all times. It was jarring and entirely out of character for them.
But in the end, there was still only so much she knew about them.
Aside from being Moons…
And the Jesters.
* * *
The day went on without any further incidents. The Scarlet Logic Dawn Team were mostly secluded to their chambers alongside the Train Conductor, only rarely leaving for meals or during their periodic checks around the train.
Like them, Frost explored every corner possible and was surprised to find new places appear from time to time. Sometimes, she would appear in an entirely different place than expected or be met with a wall rather than a door.
Her mind was certainly not playing tricks on her, because when she asked around the others seemed to express that the space within the train was little odd and often changed at times.
An example was the bathroom door on the second floor. It did not have a fixed location. Frost recalled it being closer to the main stairs, while the others swore that it was on the other side. Not only that, but the space within also seemed to blatantly violate the laws of physics.
Because the bathroom within still existed, even when the door was plastered straight against the window-side of the train. It was bizarre to see the interior as one simultaneously looked out the window. To what realm, dimension, or space it existed in was beyond her.
Nav affirmed that this was not the same as the Dimensional Storage, as this was still within the realms of their own reality; whereas the former tapped into another plane of existence so to speak.
Apparently, this was a well-documented but ill-understood phenomenon called a Spatial Distortion. It only occurred within the proximity of a Caldera Industries product, and the effect was far more pronounced with bigger machinery.
Frost called bullshit on it being ill-understood, however.
Caldera Industries was an Atelier founded over a century ago. She refused to believe that the Atelier themselves were unaware of its inner workings. However, her rational mind also considered that this phenomenon may also be out of their control.
When she asked the triplets, they were adamant that while it was completely random, it did not change that these were quite dangerous. The effects were small and largely harmless, but in extreme cases the aftermath was… sinister to say the least.
These outcomes gave rise to the urban legend known as the One Way Ticket to Hell. Sometimes, trains disappeared due to these spatial distortions. No one knew to where exactly, and again, Frost doubted the legitimacy of this information. Someone was bound to know.
However, her feathers rustled. The triplets truly did not know where they disappeared to. Much of their information was also at a surface level since they weren’t affiliated with any of the Ateliers, save for partially Justica Arms considering they personally knew Beholder Galia.
But like Frost, they knew that the surface was just that.
A mask enshrouding what laid beneath.
Day eventually turned to night, and Brandar’s plains were flooded with monsters once again. The train began to rattle as if battered by a monsoon. These sounds were caused by the head of the train ploughing straight through countless thousands of these creatures along its path.
The night was not easy for most to sleep through as a result. Many refused to snuff out their room’s chandeliers, cuddling close with their pillows and one another. No one slept alone tonight, and Ignis was glued to the windows in the main hall, glaring spitefully at the monsters as one of her arms slowly morphed into a crescent bone-like blade.
Its thickness far surpassed any contemporary sword and became thinner towards the top which rose a few centimeters above her head. Flesh cascaded this biological weapon as blood dripped from toothed mouths that formed alongside the flesh.
Frost then realized the meaning of the Weaponized Symbiote.
Ignis herself was a living weapon.
“Ignis yearns to devour them like how they devoured her body. But she says she won’t do anything stupid. She just wants to show you that she can be useful when the time comes.”
“As a level 160 with HP comparable to my own, ‘useful’ becomes an understatement… Ignis.” Frost softly spoke, approaching the girl from behind.
She took a silent stance beside her, watching the same scenery that bellowed the flames in the girl’s heart.
“Are you ok?”
Ignis nodded, causing Frost to softly smile as she gently took the girl’s hand.
“Are you angry?”
She nodded again.
“… and are you afraid.”
Ignis gently nodded once more.
“This world has a lot of things wrong with it. The Impuritas. The Ateliers. Kings and rulers. Idle Gods and the overall unfairness of it all. The pain, the suffering, the despair… Ignis. Did you know I’m not from this world?”
The girl suddenly looked up at her, still glaring, but Frost could tell she was surprised.
“Shocking, right? I don’t know much about this world, and you probably know much more than I do. But it’s my home now. And I want to fix it… so no one has to keep on suffering. Like Jury. Like the slaves… and like you.” Frost slowly spoke, almost motherly to her as her bladed arm slowly disappeared. The girl drew closer, eventually placing her head against Frost’s arm like the child she was at heart.
“That’s why, I want to ask you one thing. What do you want to do, Ignis?”
She fell into deep thought. Seconds then turned to minutes. Ignis ultimately came up short and shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s fine. I didn’t know what I wanted for the longest time in my world until… until?”
Until what?
Frost could not remember. Such a memory did not exist. A wild case of déjà vu hit her as she struggled to remember, eventually coming up short as well. It frustrated her, and before it could get any worse, a warm hand suddenly found itself on her head.
It was Jury. She had arrived just in time, as if sensing Frost’s mental woes. It caused her to break into a cozy smile as she then concluded.
“Well, in the end we’re all in the same boat. Aspiring, striving and trying to figure things out along the way. So, Ignis, I know it’s a bit late, but I want you to come along for the ride until you figure out what you want to do.” Frost then placed a hand onto the girl’s head, patting her crimson hair down.
It soothed her.
The Touch of the Black Dove skill had a familiar, nostalgic warmth as Jury and the others described. It eased Ignis’ heart to the point where the girl’s scornful face suddenly shifted into a wonderful smile.
“… I will…” Ignis’ lips parted as she spoke her first words.
Her voice was unbelievable serene, yet there was a tone of maturity woven within.
The sound of an old tape recorder played as Snap observed them from afar. Frost could not help but to believe that Snap wasn’t taking photos of their happiest moments from the past, but rather… was trying to capture the present in a recording format, hence the noise.
And right beside it was the little Frost who held her hands out like how a film director would, framing them between her fingers as if to capture the perfect shot.
* * *
2 days later –
< Estimated time to reach the City of Diamonds | Epiderma D-J | 6 Hours >
The great, towering walls of the Nex Megalopolis loomed in the nearby distance. They eventually passed through a rapidly opening gate ahead, leading them into a tunnel that bored through the entire thickness of these walls. These concrete gates opened like a complex puzzle before sealing themselves in an entirely different arrangement.
They travelled for minutes; a testament to how exactly large these walls were. And before long, as everyone gathered by the windows. Their reflections stared back at them in the darkness as anticipation built.
And then – there was light.
Light, and a world of black and gold.
< Entering the Nex Megalopolis for the First Time >
< Welcome to the Nex Megalopolis >