It was a crowded street in which they stood after stepping out of the large luxurious car. People were moving about in a large mass of crowd, chatting, laughing, and moving on with their daily business. The volume of the chatter was loud, causing Vikram and the others to rub their ears as if they felt they might go deaf.
“There sure are a lot of people!” Vikram commented, staring around with one eyebrow raised. “Reminds me of the business streets that people visit often back in my world.”
“Wow…! The only times people ever amassed like this was when a royalty was passing by,” said William quietly in awe. “Even then people are not as loud like this.”
“That’s because you’d slit their throat if they dared to open their mouth, right?” Vikram asked, to which William sighed and nodded his head.
Raze moved a little in front of them and told them, “This is one of the central Rapid Transit Networks that people use daily to travel between stations if they can’t afford a car. That’s why it feels like this place is crowded.”
“What about bikes?” Maxwell asked out of curiosity. “I haven’t see them around at all. Are they taken out?”
“No. They’ve been discontinued,” replied Raze while shaking her head. “The reason for that was due to the sheer amount of sound they generated, and they disturbed the neighbourhood and they often caused confusion in traffic by squeezing between vehicles just to get ahead.”
“Oh. That’s… good, I guess,” replied Maxwell, trying to smile while he thought, “Damn…! No bikes…! Ah… I so miss riding my bike. I hope my family will look after it for me while I’m gone.”
Meanwhile, Martin was looking around at the crowd with nervousness, but he was not the only one. For some reason, Fred seemed to have withdrawn his cheerful behaviour and appeared to be nervous, his eyes darting back and forth. Small beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and he quickly wiped them to with a nervousness that surprised his group.
“What’s wrong, Fred?” Raze asked, her voice sounding surprised by his unusual behaviour.
“I… I’m not good with crowds,” muttered Fred, his eyes darting between people with intense nervousness.
“Oh. Dear me. Well then, I think we better head inside,” said Raze, turning and leading them up the stairs to the entrance.
While on their way, many people spotted them and turned to glance at them out of curiosity. The Nine Heroes of Legends noticed the attention they were drawing, which made Lakshman draw closer to Raze and ask, “I believe we’re drawing quite the bit of attention.”
“Feh~?!” Raze suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
She instantly stepped to the side in reflex, causing everyone to stop and turn to look in their direction. Lakshman stood there in surprise, staring at her and wondering why she did that. It took a moment for her to calm herself and face him.
“What happened?” He asked with interest.
“S-Sorry. You startled me,” she said in a calm voice. “You were saying before?”
Lakshman decided to change the topic and shifted his glance around at the people while saying, “I was saying we were drawing a lot of attention from the people, although it’s increased a lot more now.”
“Sorry,” she apologised once more, to which he simply replied that it was okay. Turning to continue walking up, she explained to them, “I believe they’re observing us is because you’re with me.” When they all looked surprised, she elaborated by saying, “You see, I’m known around here, and they know I run errands for the royal family, so it’s obvious that they’d be interested to see me and who my company are.”
“Ah. That makes sense,” replied Lakshman, nodding his head in understanding.
“But, don’t you think they’d guess who we are?” Martin asked a little nervously. “I mean, there are nine of us following an important girl that runs errands for the royal family. Isn’t it kind of… obvious?”
“Hey. If you are so obvious, then it’ll become apparent who we are, so zip it!” Vikram said firmly, moving his fingers across his mouth in a zipping gesture.
Martin looked as if he was going to cry and fell silent with a dejected look on his face.
Seeing this, Natsu said to Martin reassuringly, “If we don’t give ourselves away, then we’ll be fine. Rather, this way we’ll be treated with difference and maybe more respect than normal because we’re with an important person.”
As Martin looked at him with a face full of hope, Vikram snorted and said, “You’re quite the optimistic guy, Natsu.”
“No harm in being positive minded,” replied Natsu with an honest smile on his face, which caused Vikram to laugh.
They continued climbing the stairs until they reached the top of the staircase and walked forward through the crowd. The people gave way easily upon seeing who was leading them and this allowed the group to pass by with relative ease. Maxwell, Natsu, William, Lakshman, Ward and Vikram remained cool and composed, Martin and Fred appeared to be very nervous and fidgeted with their hands, and Gram appeared to ignore his surroundings.
A few minutes later, they arrived at a metallic blockade that people were passing back and forth on different sides.
“This is called the Terminal Gate, and it allows people to pass through only after you swipe your ID Card against the scanner,” she explained to the group, indicating the place the people were swiping their cards against. “Watch.”
She stepped forward towards an empty terminal gate and used her ID Card to swipe it across the surface of the scanner. Inside, there was a red light that seemed to read the card’s surface before turning green. At the exact same moment, the gate, which was the form of bars, opened for her to go through. As soon as she crossed the gate, it immediately turned back and closed the path.
“See. It’s that easy,” said Raze, who sounded as if she was smiling at them behind her mask.
“Easy…? Uh…” William asked nervously, who appeared to have lost his composure at the strange occurrence. “H-How did it… do that?”
“Try it out if you’re so confused,” said Maxwell, and he pushed the Titanium Hero towards the Terminal Gate.
William, gulped nervously and placed it flatly against the red scanner as he was too nervous to swipe it. Despite this action, his card was read and the light turned green as well as the gate opened, allowing him through. As soon as it opened, he jumped in fright and immediately walked out with a freaked-out expression on his face.
“T-This is… wow! Just wow! I mean, magic! How’s this possible?!” William demanded, turning to face Raze with a truly incredulous look on his face. “That red line, that scanning, that… everything! How?!”
Raze simply replied, “Technology,” which left him hanging his mouth open in amazement.
“This is easy,” commented Vikram with a smile as he walked past after swiping his card. “Beats having to buy tickets.”
“This is neat,” said Natsu, smiling as he walked through the gate after swiping his card. “I take it the scanner inside that glass reads the card, then auto deducts the amount before letting you through. Nice. So, how much is the cost usually?”
“Ten Dollars.”
“Is that cheap?”
“I believe so because with one entry payment, you’re able to travel as far as you’d like before exiting.”
“Oh! That’s definitely cheap,” said Natsu with a smile. Then he looked at the card and asked, “But, how on earth does it read the card? I don’t see any kind of code or any kind that could be used as an identification method to perform the transaction.”
“It’s probably inbuilt. Am I right?” Lakshman said, turning to question Raze with his last statement.
“Mmm. Yes. You’re correct, hero,” she replied in a cool manner, making Lakshman chuckle.
Once they were all through the gate, they followed Raze through the crowd and arrived at a place crowded with waiting passengers. In front of them was a large vehicle that had evenly spaced windows and inside seating that could be seen through the windows. Slowly, steam was being sent out through exhausts located at the top of the compartment of each bogie of similar make and build.
Before Raze could say anything, Vikram said, “This is a train. I know.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Hey. Just because you know doesn’t mean we know,” said Natsu from behind him.
Vikram shrugged his shoulders and said, “Sucks to be you.”
Maxwell sighed and said, “Youngsters these days are so bold and reckless.”
“At least call us being brave and forward than the previous generations!” Vikram replied with an annoyed look on his face. “I’ve been hearing that comment about my generation so many times that it’s becoming annoying. Can’t you think of something positive to say about us, and here you are saying negative about us, military!”
Maxwell blinked in surprise and remained at a loss for words for a few seconds before smiling and saying, “Sorry, Natsu. You’re right. I should treat this positively. Then, her goes: Youngsters these days are strong, brave, and foolishly reckless.”
“Hey! Did you have to add the last one in?” Maxwell asked indignantly.
“It’s a compliment.”
“No one would take it as one!”
“Now, now, you two,” interjected Natsu, coming in between them to break their argument up. “Whoever we are, it doesn’t matter, but what we do with what we have does matter. Okay?”
“I’m not the one who started it!” Vikram began, but Natsu shot him a powerful look and made him fall silent.
“I don’t care who started it, or who continued it, but I’m ending it! If you have a problem with me, talk to my hand!”
“Eh?” Both Vikram and Maxwell said, looking at him in surprise.
“What’s the matter?” Natsu asked, looking at them both in confusion.
“No… It’s just that what you said sounded like a movie dialogue from somewhere I heard,” said Vikram with a puzzled look on his face, making Natsu chuckle with laughter.
“I didn’t understand what you meant by speaking to your hand. For one thing, it doesn’t feel or respond back,” said Maxwell, looking bewildered.
Natsu smiled brightly and replied, “Exactly!”
He laughed and walked forward to stand next to Raze, who was saying, “…that train on that side is on platform number two since this is platform number one. While that train is already at the station, we’re currently waiting for our train to arrive.”
“I see,” replied Lakshman, nodding his head in understanding, “and how long does each train stop and take to arrive?”
Raze thought for a bit before replying, “Each train stops for twenty minutes at central stations while it stops for one minute at intermediate stations. As for the interval between each train’s arrival is probably half-an-hour.”
Lakshman did not say anything immediately as he was thinking about what she said. Just then, they heard a horn coming from somewhere nearby, and immediately everyone rose from their seats and stood near the large empty space separating them and the train on the other side. At that moment, the second train began to move slowly towards the right and quickly increased speed until it sped away while its speed continued to increase.
“Mmm! Smooth,” commented Maxwell, looking mildly impressed.
Their train slowly came towards them following a set route over the tracks below, but there did not appear to be any wheels on it. Instead, it appeared as though the train was suspended in mid-air and it glided towards them in a slow motion.
Seeing this, Martin went into a shock and began to stutter, “G-G-G-G-Gho—!”
Vikram clapped his hand over Martin’s mouth and said, “It’s not a ghost train. It’s a goddamn train! Now, stop freaking out each time you see something different! Seriously! You get it? Keep calm and cool.”
Martin looked at him anxiously and nodded once in understanding. Vikram finally freed his hand, and Martin breathed a sigh before looking nervously at the incoming train. It slowed down a bit more when it entered the station and slowly edged towards them. At the front of the train, they could see two drivers seated and controlling the train. They slowly went past where they stood while making a strange gliding noise as it went.
“Um… How do you get inside?” William asked, confused because he could not see an open door on any of the bogies. “All there are windows and large windows to see through, but no door.”
“Maybe it’s really a gho—?” Martin began, then instantly fell silent when he sensed Vikram glaring at him from the side.
“There’s a door. Watch,” said Raze patiently.
The train came to a stop with a random coach in front of them to get on. As they looked at where the entrance was, two set of doors on each bogie slid open to allow its passenger to board the train. The group exclaimed their surprise at this unexpected thing before Raze got them to board the train along with her. Together, they sat down on empty seats and were remarkably surprised that the seating was comfortable.
“This definitely beats travelling in busses,” commented Vikram in great happiness.
“Yes! I agree, too!” Fred said, nodding his head in agreement and seemingly forgotten about his fear of crowds by the strange feeling of experiencing something new.
“Are the buses in your world not comfortable?” Raze asked Vikram as she sat opposite them next to another female passenger while those who could not find seats had to stand.
Vikram nodded vigorously and said, “Naturally! Their seats are hard, the busses are not well ventilated, and the drivers are crazy! The insane speeds and the wild turnings they take, you’d feel like you’ll let out more than your breakfast!”
“Uuf!” Raze exclaimed, sounding shocked and her body language showcased that she was alarmed. “That is terrible.”
“Yes, but that’s the kind of country I’m from, so what can I do? It’s a rotten place to be honest,” said Vikram, smiling sadly as he remembered his home. “No cleanliness, no rationality, lack of morality… it’s slowly destroying us actually.”
“Doesn’t your government do anything to improve your society?” Maxwell asked, looking concerned while Lakshman, Natsu, Fred and Martin looked interested.
Vikram scoffed and said, “The government?” He suddenly let out a deep sigh and said, “Fat chance because people at the top do stuff that’s useless for the people at the bottom and then celebrate that they did good. Such a situation had caused people to stop being the person they wanted to be and become a person they will regret to be. That’s why, as long as a lax society exists, then you’re in for a lot of trouble.”
“Man… I’m sorry for you,” said Maxwell said, showing a compassionate look on his face.
“Indeed. I hope your society’s standing improves,” Fred said with a hopeful look on his face.
“Who knows. Maybe it will. Maybe it won’t, but I can say it’s not a place I’d like to live in,” said Vikram, wearing a sad look on his face. “Don’t you agree, Ward?” He asked, turning towards Ward who sat next to him.
Ward, who had been paying attention to them all this time, merely raised a finger to his mouth in a gesture of silence. They realised that if he spoke, everyone in their vicinity would get affected by his telepathy and get startled. So, having him keep his silence in such a public place was a good idea even. This did make them feel a little sorry for him, who noticed their expressions and shrugged his shoulders while forming a small sad smile on his face.
Lakshman watched them discuss the downgrading situation of Vikram’s home world and thought, “Reminds me of the downgraded state our world used to be in before we came in, disturbed everything and stood above everyone else as kings.”
“It’s a time of war, turmoil and lack of concern for people’s lives,” replied Asura inside his mind. “The only way to secure one’s future and live on was to fight, fight and keep on fighting. There’s no end.”
Lakshman chuckled and thought, “Life is one long battle; everyone must keep up or they’ll be left behind,” before he looked out of the window at the moving train.
In the meantime, the train began its journey and slowly moved out of the station before gradually picking up speed. Soon, it was zooming past places at an incredible speed that no car would ever reach. The scenery changed at a rapid pace as was seen out of the windows located inside the coach. Natsu was observing this and remembered that there were no wheels supporting the train, so he turned to question Raze to see what she knew how this train moved the way it did.
“Raze, may I ask a question?” He asked politely, showcasing his good mannerism in contrast to everyone else. When she turned to face him, he took that as a sign and asked, “How does a vehicle without wheels travel so well? It’s moving so fast and yet, I don’t feel like I’m going to suddenly fall over. How’s it possible?”
“Um… I’m not an expert on the topic,” replied Raze with a sorrowful look on her face.
Natsu quickly retracted and said, “It’s alright. It’s my fault to assume you would know. I mean, this is a complex subject with a lot of in-depth knowledge needed to explain anything about it. My apologies.”
Raze chuckled lightly and said, “Please, relax. If I get the time, I’ll see if I can arrange for you to visit one of the Rapid Transit Network officers and learn about this from him.”
“Oh! I would really appreciate it if you could do that for me,” said Natsu, smiling energetically at the thought of learning something new.
While the chatter was happening between them, Lakshman watched in silence as he decided to stay out of any conversation and just observe. Unlike them, he was not concerned to live in that world and wanted to return to his home world as soon as possible, however something was stopping him. Whenever he was alone, his thoughts shifted to wondering what their mission was in being in this world, and when it will come to an end to free them and let them go home.
He sighed and thought, “No point continuously thinking what I just can’t come to understand.” Then he looked at Gram being silent while facing the floor with a grim expression and thought, “He seems to have not recovered from learning that I am a king from another world.”
“It hurt his price, and he’s at a loss to know what to do,” replied Asura, who seemed to have understood the prince from another world better than Lakshman had expected. Suddenly, he felt like chuckling when he thought, “Serves him right for having such high and mighty attitude with everyone.”
Lakshman chuckled and saw that the train had left the city and entered a vast space of empty land, except that the land was covered in the same metallic form rather than rock. There were a few large buildings and heavy construction sites that went past as the train moved at an incredible speed.
Wondering where they were headed for the first time since entering the train, he turned to Raze and asked, “Where are we headed to, Raze?”
“We’re headed towards the Nato City.”
“Oh. Strange name,” commented Lakshman with a smile.
Raze shook her head and said, “Maybe, but it has a meaning but it’s not one people would easily pick up on.”
He looked surprised and asked, “Really? Then, what is—?”
Just as he was about to complete his question, he stopped speaking as his Elemental Sense suddenly triggered a mighty alarm. At the same time, an enormous explosion occurred that caused the train to shake a little but it continued to move forward unperturbed. Everyone crowded to the windows just as the train was making a turn and were shocked to see a large smoke rising into the sky at quite a distance away.
“What the hell just happened?!” Vikram shouted, shocked to see the rising smoke.
Lakshman focused his attention on the explosion and muttered, “Zooming Force.”
In an instant, his eyes began to shine as his vision went further than it normally could, allowing him to see into the far distance. As he focused his vision on the explosion, he was alarmed to find a huge hole was made in its wake, and they were heading straight for it.
“There’s a huge hole up ahead!” He announced, startling and frightening all the passengers in that coach. He deactivated his magic, turned to Raze and asked, “Please, have the drivers move the train in a different direction if they can!”
“Yes!” Raze said immediately, believing in him without question and began to move towards the phone attached to the side.
As if in reaction to them figuring out that there was a hole up ahead, there was another explosion; this time right underneath all of their coaches. Once the explosion occurred, they were lifted off their feet as the train suddenly plummeted and crashed onto the metallic ground. Everyone also fell and crashed inside the train, hitting against the chairs, windows and walls.
For some reason, the train continued to keep moving at the same speed as before, and the drivers looked like they were struggling to take control but it was fruitless. The train continued heading towards the huge hole in the ground while leaving a deep groove in the metallic ground behind as they headed for imminent disaster.