Chapter 117: Chapter 117

The carriage windows were shut tight, the dust-caked glass revealing nothing but an endless night outside. The train car seemed to be flying through the air; far below, in the deep darkness, he could vaguely make out clusters of buildings rushing past. Chapters fırst released on ɴovelfire.net

Two men and two women, four strangers in all, were sprawled on the floor around Jenkins. The carriage held no one else.

They were all Enchanters.

The five of them opened their eyes almost simultaneously. A middle-aged gentleman with a neat mustache squinted, surveying his surroundings, while a lady in a wine-red dress adjusted her hat, letting the black veil fall back into place.

The other two, however, seemed to know each other.

"So it's you! To think you'd be on this train too!"

The woman cried out, and without a second thought for the others present, she drew a pistol and pulled the trigger.

The force of the brass bullet slammed the short man, who had just managed to sit up, back to the floor. He drew a long sword from within his cane and swung it down in a vicious arc, the blade glinting with a moon-like radiance.

The woman in the long dress seemed completely unfazed. She made a light gesture in the air, and the attacker immediately clutched her head, letting out a piercing scream as if driven mad. The middle-aged gentleman, for his part, caught the sword's blade in his white silk-gloved hand. Jenkins saw him grip it tightly, yet the blade refused to snap.

Seeing his attack was futile, the swordsman yanked his blade free and lunged at Jenkins instead.

The thin blade met Jenkins's cane with a ringing clash of metal. A bright light flared before the man's eyes, but then a loud bang echoed as Jenkins's pistol blew his head apart.

"Quite a performance."

Jenkins remarked, thinking how just a moment ago he had mistaken the pair for sworn enemies.

He kept his pistol raised, his eyes fixed on the woman in the wine-red dress. She offered an elegant smile, then leaned down, took the screaming woman's head in her hands, and gave it a sharp, clean twist.

"That's standard-issue Cheslan Kingdom military combat technique."

The gentleman commented.

"Naturally. I am, after all, a spy for the Cheslan Kingdom."

The woman released the corpse and casually sat down on a nearby bench, uttering the incredible words as if they were nothing.

"If even one of the three of us makes it out of here alive, we'll be lucky. So what is there to fear?"

She said with a laugh.

The iron door at the far end of the carriage creaked open, revealing a young man in a dark green uniform. Behind him, just like outside the windows, was nothing but an endless black void.

"Welcome aboard. I am your conductor for this journey, and I am sincerely at your service."

He completely ignored the corpses of the man and woman on the floor, calmly bowing to the three survivors.

"Tell me, young man, how do we get off this train?"

The woman asked in a relaxed tone.

"My dear passengers, you are free to leave at any time—provided the train is at a station."

With that, he produced a small flip-pad from thin air, held together by a metal clip. He flipped through a few pages before tapping a specific line with a pencil.

"Next stop: the Forest of White Bones. The train will arrive in twelve minutes. Passengers intending to disembark, please make your preparations."

"The Forest of White Bones?"

The gentleman laughed, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. It wasn't a laugh of derision, but one that said, "Just as I thought."

"You know something, don't you?"

The woman in the wine-red dress asked, having also discerned the meaning behind his laugh.

"That's right. It seems this Mysterious Realm will be quite manageable for me. This train, you see, stops at real places—some, ah, very strange worlds."

He winked at Jenkins and the woman, putting on an air of deliberate mystery.

Jenkins latched onto the last word.

The man nodded in confirmation, stroking his mustache. "Beyond our own world, there are others... worlds not meant for ordinary people to survive in... Ah, but that's all I can say. Any more, and my head..."

He pointed a gloved finger to his own head, then made an explosive gesture outwards with his hand.

Adjusting his cravat, the mustached gentleman turned to the conductor:

"Pardon me, could you check if this train makes a stop at the [Sea of Eternal Perdition]?"

The conductor replied respectfully. Jenkins noted how unnaturally still the man stood; his feet hadn't moved an inch since he stepped into the carriage, as if they were glued to the floor.

"After passing through the [Inferno of Magma], the train will stop at the [Sea of Eternal Perdition] for three minutes. We should arrive in approximately one hour and twenty-three minutes."

"The Inferno of Magma... I think the Professor mentioned that place in one of his stories."

Jenkins narrowed his eyes, lost in thought.

The gentleman tipped his hat in thanks, then shrugged at Jenkins and the woman. "I can return to our world from there. I wish you both the best of luck."

"Wait, I can offer..."

The woman began immediately, but he cut her off.

"I do apologize. If you were willing to change your faith, I could help you as well."

The woman fell silent.

"When will this train stop in our world?"

Jenkins asked the conductor cautiously.

"I'm afraid this is a one-way journey, passenger. Once you miss your stop, you can't go back."

"Then where is the final stop?"

The three survivors stared at each other, speechless.

Unwilling to give up, the woman peppered the conductor with more questions, but he refused to answer anything that wasn't about a specific station name.

More importantly, none of the three—not even the gentleman—knew the names of any stations other than 'our world,' the 'Forest of White Bones,' the 'Sea of Eternal Perdition,' and the 'Inferno of Magma.'

One hour and twenty-three minutes later, a door on the side of the carriage slid open slowly. Just as with the previous two stops, it revealed nothing but an endless expanse of white light.

The gentleman took off his hat and nodded to Jenkins and the woman. "A Mysterious Realm never presents a situation with no way out," he said. "I hope we might meet again in our own world. Farewell, Miss Spy. And farewell to you, sir, the one who smells of cats."

With that, he strode confidently into the white light.

Neither Jenkins nor the woman had the courage to follow.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

The woman didn't speak until the doors had closed again.

"Well... do you think you could take him?"

Jenkins gestured toward the conductor.

"Do I look like a fool?"

The woman lifted her veil and retorted irritably. Jenkins could only shake his head.

He was truly out of ideas. Since boarding the train, he had tried every ability he possessed and kept his Eye of Reality active, constantly scanning for any kind of anomaly.

But there was nothing. Everything in sight was suffused with a dazzling, multicolored spiritual aura so intense it almost blinded him.

"In a place , what do you think would happen if we prayed for a god's attention?"

Jenkins proposed. As he spoke, the woman's voice and the conductor's reply sounded at the exact same time.