Chapter 8:

The Journey to Taigoren I

STERTH

Lord Kaiser and Atsuo found an empty compartment and made themselves at home. It had a table in the middle, long passenger seats on either side, and a huge window capturing the beautiful scenery.

Atsuo and Lord Kaiser sat down opposite of each other and started discussing their next steps.

“First off, the train fare. It was probably taken care of by the association, right?” Atsuo hoped.

“He must have known that we came empty handed” Lord Kaiser reasoned.

“I mean, who in their right mind would take anything with them in that situation” Lord Kaiser said, referring to the instance where Deimos barged in to the Academy and started yelling their names.

Atsuo nodded along in approval. The only thing they brought with them were the clothes they were wearing.

“But we should still be ready for when the conductor gets here” Atsuo noted.

Two seconds later, the conductor entered the compartment, asking for their tickets.

“That was quite fast…” Lord Kaiser nervously laughed.

“No-one except you gets on the train at 2 am” the conductor said coldly.

“Now… the tickets and reason for travel” he continued in a stern manner.

Atsuo decided to start the explanation on a high note.

“We’re actually going to Drezore Academy in Taigoren” said Atsuo anxiously.

“And what business do you have there?” the conductor inquired suspiciously.

“We’re stu– Well… will be students there, in five hours” Lord Kaiser carefully replied.

The conductor stared at them, slightly baffled.

“Don’t you know where you’re going? You’re not getting there in five hours” he said bluntly.

“How long is this going to take?” Atsuo asked concernedly.

“And which stop?” Lord Kaiser added.

“First, the tickets” the conductor said.

Lord Kaiser looked over at Atsuo, entrusting the explanation to him.

“Well… we kind of don’t have them…” Atsuo began dubiously.

“Huh?” the conductor uttered in disbelief at their audacity.

“We were expecting the fare to be paid already…” Atsuo quickly elaborated.

The conductor looked at him perplexed, when his face suddenly changed.

He got out a notepad from his back pocket and scrolled to one of the pages.

“Names?”

“Atsuo and Kaiser” Atsuo replied optimistically.

Lord Kaiser glanced at him irritably. Not only did he skip the ‘Lord’, but also said the name himself, Lord Kaiser thought.

The conductor closed the notepad and put it back into his back pocket.

“Welcome aboard” he said dismally.

“You’ll get to Loto Station in approximately twenty-one hours; from there it’s under an hour to the Academy”

“Breakfast starts in four hours, I suggest you get some sleep.”

“Well then. All the best” he said sliding the door behind him as he left the compartment.

Atsuo and Lord Kaiser couldn’t help but sit quietly for a little while.

Lord Kaiser was the one to break the silence.

“That was something…” he said.

“Yeah” Atsuo muttered.

“Anyway, we have a long way to go. Let’s get some sleep” Lord Kaiser said as he laid down.

“Yeah” Atsuo muttered again.

Atsuo was feeling out of it, but after a few minutes he laid down and went to sleep as well.

The sound of the wind and the train’s wheels was an oddly soothing combination, Atsuo thought to himself.

But he was feeling a little too cold for his liking.

He decided to close the window, only to find himself at the rear end of the train, standing at the tip of the observation platform.

Atsuo felt a sudden loss of balance. He sprawled across the platform in a panic while holding the railing as he gradually came to his senses.

Before him was a serene, faintly eerie sight. The night, enveloped by darkness, was illuminated by snowflakes which reflected the light of the distant moon. It was the first snow of the year.

The cool breeze as the train passed the countless trees at nearly a hundred kilometers an hour filled Atsuo’s lungs with fresh air.

He was fully awake.

Before something happens again, Atsuo decided to make his way back.

Except he was all the way at the back and didn’t know the relative position of the train car containing their compartment, nor its number.

‘Not many people such as Kaiser out there’, Atsuo thought to himself as he started to walk along the train’s corridors, peeking in every window.

Making his way down, he came across a compartment housing a girl around their age. She was awake, gazing outside the window.

Suddenly, she turned around and their eyes met. Her expression quickly changed, as she furrowed her eyebrows while getting up from her bed.

She hastily opened the door and greeted him with a slap.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING YOU PER–” she started, when Atsuo quickly put his hand over her mouth and pushed her back inside the compartment.

“Calm down. It’s a misunderstanding” he tried to assure her desperately.

“HUH?!” she exclaimed.

“You were staring at me through the window” she said furiously as she pointed in the direction of the door.

“I was looking for someone, because I got lost” Atsuo explained

“I don’t remember the compartment number, so I had to look inside to find the person I boarded with”

“Shouldn’t you be asleep? Why are you even here?” she asked irritably.

That made Atsuo a little annoyed. He didn’t want to hear that from someone of the same age.

“Went on a bit of a sleepwalk” Atsuo replied sheepishly, scratching his head.

“Ah… that was you,” she said, “Heh, I’d call that more of a sleeprun.”

Her wording caused Atsuo’s heart to skip a beat.

The thought of himself running unconsciously made him sweat, let alone towards the rear end of the train.

“Are you… serious?” he asked nervously.

“Yeah,” she said, “Why?”

Atsuo was becoming really concerned.

“I–”

He froze as he saw her grinning face, covered in blood.

He started freaking out.

He ran outside the compartment, sprinting down the elongated, spiraling corridors when he suddenly lost consciousness, hitting the ground.

Atsuo woke up a few hours later.

His eyes widened as soon as he remembered what happened not too long ago.

He quickly looked around, finding himself alone in one of the compartments.

He looked outside the window.

There was no snow in sight.

The sun was just rising; it was already morning.

Suddenly, he heard talking and footsteps outside near the compartment.

The compartment door opened.

“Oh. The sleepwalker’s awake!”

It was Lord Kaiser. He was carrying breakfast and tea, but he wasn’t alone.

“How are you feeling?” asked a familiar voice.

It was her. The girl from earlier.

Atsuo tilted his head down at the ground, terrified.

He still hasn’t recovered from what he saw yesterday.

“Hey Sleepwalker, don’t just ignore her” Lord Kaiser said as he placed the food on the table, “If not for her, you’d be waking up on the floor down the corridor.”

Atsuo summoned whatever amount of courage and strength he had that moment as he slowly moved his head upwards.

As his head gradually shifted, long brown hair came into view.

He couldn’t see any blood and resumed slowly.

Her chin came into view as Atsuo’s heart started beating harder than ever.

Then her lips, her nose.

Her amber eyes.

Atsuo’s breath hitched.

There was no blood. Instead, there was an expression that reflected concern and sadness as she looked down at the floor.

It seemed that what happened previously was weighing on her shoulders.

Strong feelings of guilt overwhelmed him.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening to me…” Atsuo muttered dismally.

She and Lord Kaiser looked at him in confusion.