The sound of a train moving could be heard.

"Ah... Huh?"

Mathias had just woken up.

"Where...?"

He found himself sitting in a train compartment, next to the window on his left. In the distance, all he could see was a forest, dimly lit by moonlight. It was difficult to make out much more because of the thick fog in the distance.

He turned to see who was sitting next to him, and...

"M-Mom?"

“...”

She didn’t respond. She was just sitting there, asleep.

"Ah... Sorry."

Because of that, he stood up and looked around to see who else was there. He saw many unfamiliar faces, or perhaps... faces of people he had seen on the streets but who were not significant in his life, so he had no lasting memories of them. However, when he looked to his right, he saw that there were numerous seats in a horizontal line in the same compartment. It was as if the train stretched infinitely in that direction. The other compartments must have been similar.

"W-Wow..."

Mathias couldn’t understand why he was in such a confusing place when moments before he had been in the forest near his home with TRX, her friends, and Samantha. This meant they should be there as well.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

And yes, they were. Samantha was on the other side.

"Samantha!"

“...”

"Ah..."

She was also asleep. But... she was sitting next to an unfamiliar and peculiar girl. She had a dark complexion, slightly pointed ears, and dark green hair.

"Eh... What?"

Despite her appearance, she seemed quite familiar to him. Next to her were Christopher, Andrew, and... A strange humanoid creature with a shell covered in wool and very long limbs, and seemed to be in pure dark and white. It resembled a monster but... it too seemed familiar.

At that moment, the train stopped, and a voice could be heard.

"Attention all passengers, we have arrived at one of our destinations. Passengers whose destination is here are requested to disembark."

A door appeared.

And so, several of those people woke up, stood up, and proceeded to leave. Among them was Mathias’s mother.

"Mom?"

Mat was about to follow her through the door when she said:

"Mat, I know you understand... I have to leave soon. But... even so, you should know that, despite everything, I am proud of you."

"But Mom..."

"You still have things to do in this life, people to help, so... please, try not to be sad for me. After all, you did everything you could."

"But it wasn’t enough..."

"Okay, okay, calm down..." she said, hugging him. "But as I said, you did everything you could, and for me, that is enough."

"Mom..."

A train whistle sounded, and Mathias’s mother released him but placed her hands on his shoulders. Several people continued to exit, including non-“human” beings.

"It's about time for me to go..." she said. "But before that, I ask you to please live your life to the fullest, and if possible, live a life that allows you to be an example to others and to help them as well."

"Okay, Mom."

"Now, Mat, dear, see you later," she said.

"Goodbye, Mom," Mat said. "And thank you for everything."

And she left.

Mat watched as she ascended a staircase that led up to the sky, where strange spheres could be seen, containing galaxies and universes within them.

In addition to that, there was something, or someone, standing beside the staircase. It was a humanoid figure wearing a golden diamond-shaped mask and possessing three pairs of wings.

...

"Mat, Mat, Mat, Mat."

"Huh? What thing of whose?" Someone was shaking him to wake him up.

"What? Oh, finally awake..." Samantha said this and the previous things. After saying this, she gave a somewhat uncomfortable smile due to Mat's reaction upon waking. He had fallen asleep for two hours. He was lying on a bench.

Mathias yawned and saw...

"What? Where the heck are we?"

He saw the Earth in all its splendor through the window. He also saw a huge tree, larger than the Earth itself.

"We're at the Fortress of the Observers," Samantha said, after Mat had sat up.

Mathias felt strange at that moment. Besides feeling a bit dizzy, he felt as if... he were a bit stronger than before... or something like that...

"So... are we going to join the others?"

"Not yet, I want... to think," Mat said.

"Okay... Do you mind if I wait?"

"Huh? Not at all."

Samantha sat beside him. Mat took a moment to think.