Fate Isn't Always a Dire Instrument

The resounding noise of the train’s chimney echoed in its brightly colored chambers. The pressure from its squeaky breaks forced the passengers to hold on to their nearest object; be it the round table facing them or the sturdy grip beside their seats.

As the moving pile of steel neared the borders of Vierizen, quite a mass of people could be seen disembarking at the station before them. That led to creating a large crowd on the train’s two opposing narrow gates which blew a cluster of steam clouds after they opened their way to the people waiting.

Zan Metris was patiently seated in his position near the window, gaping at the enormous pile of heads pushing each other to be the first one to get out of the vehicle.

"I still have some time ahead of me to reach the Ocoris republic.", he murmured as he extended his whole body to lay down on his seat and the one next to him, "Maybe I'll try to sleep for a while, most of the train will be empty anyway by the time we reach the final destination..."

He then yawned and placed his head on the bag he had with him, using it as a pillow. Since it was late in the night most people weren't on that train, making it a quiet route, great for decreasing the body's fatigue.

After some hours passed with Zan still sleeping, a big bump moved his jelly-like body from the sleep's paralysis, waking him up in turn. As Zan opened his eyes, he gazed outside of his window, only to see the train having an unusually increased speed.

"That's odd.", he uttered in a confused voice, "Is the driver that frantic to get back home?"

However, as the train passed the near platform with immense speed without stopping, Zan froze solid. His face became blank as a sheet of paper while his azure eyes accompanied it with a horrified look.

“Is that…a Dweller?”, he murmured, “And the signal comes from above the train. This might explain this situation as well...But how? Why here?”

Zan had the Lapis Lazuli fragment inserted on his right-hand ring to be on guard for anything that might happen. So, for a moment, he felt a little relieved that he had done so since that helped him sense the Dweller in the first place.

As he got up and strolled through the train's hall, the signal was starting to increase bit by bit the closer he got to the driver’s seat. Still, it hadn’t reached any dangerous potency so, despite his cautious traverse through the train’s wagons, he wasn't feeling much nervous.

At some point, where the signal had become quite strong, he gaped at a girl that was standing in the middle of a wagon seemingly disturbed about what was going on.

The girl’s pale short cut hair waved together with her ashen brown dress as she turned to face Zan. Her red eyes were seemingly ignited by the train's warm yellow light that reflected on them in its effort to illuminate the train's interior.

After that, she lifted her neck which was coiled around it a black choker with a brownish-green Tourmaline shard placed in its center, as she came closer to Zan before speaking her mind.

"I thought I was the only one here. That might be conveniently reassuring...Do you know what's happening?", she said in a serious tone.

Zan paused to take a deep breath as his heart's beat rate had increased from the sight of this stunning girl, "I...I am not sure. But, as you might have surmised yourself, that's a Dweller's work we are talking about...and it's near here."

"Ok, let's go deal with this inhuman soul that is trying to destroy the train and anyone aboard.", the girl said in an ominous voice while getting closer to a nearby open window.

"Wait!", Zan shouted as he tried to stop the girl's advance, "Shouldn't we check the driver first?"

"He is probably dead already. We have to face this ourselves."

Zan then waved his hand out of an open window and unleashed a lasso-like shade that went over to the other side’s window. That shade attached itself to the interior surface of the train, putting the necessary pressure on it to help Zan climb up.

“You're right. Let's go.”, he said to the girl in a confident voice. However, before he started ascending toward the train's exterior surface, the girl astoundingly pointed out to him.

"Before that...", she uttered before calming her voice down, "What is your name?"

"It's Zan Metris", Zan said before averting his eyes from her, "What about yours?"

"It's Auriel Reid. Nice to meet you Zan.", she spoke out softly.

Zan then ascended to the train's top. After he released his shadow cord, he tried to catch Auriel with another shade lasso to bring her up as well.

"That's unnecessary.", Auriel said before grabbing the train's external surface and somersaulting her way to the top.

"Flexing your moves I see...", Zan spoke out in a joking manner as he threw several shadow tentacles that attached themselves to any surface nearby and on Zan and Auriel's wrist, to keep them and Auriel on board.

“I hope yours won't pale in comparison to mine then...Your powers are quite useful in this kind of situation.”, Auriel stated with an increased volume in her voice as the train’s speed got in the way.

"Don't worry, I will wipe this damned soul in a blink of an eye."

“That's all good and great, but, how do we move across the other cars, Mr. 'I am strong'?”

After hearing Auriel’s burning comment, Zan unleashed the same type of shades that latched on random objects extending from the train’s outside surface, by acting like mountain ropes to help him and Auriel progress.

"You were saying?"

"Hm!", Auriel scoffed at Zan's reply as she followed him.

Suddenly, Zan stopped his careful march before a human silhouette showed itself above the captain’s wagon, "It's right ahead."

“Ara? Y-you, N-noticed me?”, a tall man seemingly in his 40s spoke out in a twitching and deeply menacing voice. At that sight, both Zan and Auriel widened their eyes in shock, “That’s…where the reading’s coming from.”, Zan voiced out in a perplexed manner.

“YEAP!”, the man answered while a violent soundwave current got unleashed toward them.

“Auriel! Crouch!”, Zan shouted as he gazed at the attack coming toward them.

After Zan and Auriel successfully dodged the attack that disappeared eventually into the dark valleys the train passed through, Auriel began talking in a slightly more nervous voice than before, “Now we get to sense the real signal, of course. Given the nature, the force of the attack, and the human figure we see, it has to be a Level-B Regretter.”

“I was careless.”, Zan said in a disappointed kind of voice, “B-Levels can mimic the human form, but they can’t handle their spiritual powers well enough, so they give out only a tiny reading if they try to assume that form…Why didn’t it cross my mind?”

Then, the Regretter took a few steps in front to come closer to Zan and Auriel, voicing out, “You d-done?”, as two soundwave attacks were launched toward them.

Zan dodged by pushing himself upward with his shadows and Auriel made a few highspeed moves to the right and left with the boosted speed she gained from her Tourmaline fragment.

After that, Zan tossed some shade daggers toward the Regretter who let out a voice to defend from them and threw another attack at Auriel. Zan then came down in the Regretter’s position with a shaded blade in his hand to slash it as Auriel did two short backflips to evade the soundwave that was coming at her.

The Regretter dodged Zan’s attack and slapped him with such force that bent his whole body before bouncing backward to gain distance from Zan.

Auriel, after her evading maneuver, immediately increased her speed and rapidly jumped toward Zan before the Regretter unleashed another attack on him. When she reached him, she pushed Zan with great strength, enough to throw him down before a scream attack hit him.

However, since Auriel needed to dodge that attack as well, she evaded with significant speed which in turn made her fall out of the train. Because of her enhanced speed, though, she swiftly plunged a knife into the tip of the train’s exterior surface, barely keeping her from dropping to the ground at an accelerated speed.

“Auriel!”, Zan screamed at the sight of Auriel’s nearly fallen figure as he threw two shadow lassos, one to balance himself and not let him fall, and one to grab Auriel to prevent her from falling as well.

“What-t Will you D-do now?”, the Regretter questioned in a spastic manner as it stepped toward Zan, who couldn’t move an inch if he wanted his and Auriel’s heart to continue beating.

“Leave me, Zan!”, Auriel screamed before getting cut by Zan shouting, “Forget it!”.

Then, the Regretter used his hand to pierce Zan's stomach area. Zan, feeling an unfathomable pain in his belly, coughed as blood spilled over the figure's face which was painted with a crazy expression on it. And with that, the Regretter pulled its hand out of Zan's now cold body before it got thrown down from the moving train.

"NOOOOOOOOO.", Auriel reveled as she felt her body being dragged down by an immense force. However, this wasn't the gravity that pulled her toward the hard soil. It was like her body was pulled through an invisible loop that transcended the laws of nature.

After that sensation, she gently opened her eyes only to find herself back in her initial seat on the train, alone. As she gazed outside of her passenger window she saw the sun's rays smearing the valleys the train passed through in orange color.

The sound of the cicadas' cries, echoed throughout the wagon's empty chambers while Auriel's sight was heavily focused on the open palms of her two hands, "I am back...yet again.", she murmured, "How many times it has been now...I've lost the count."

Then, the sound of her voice became more nostalgic than before, "And still, some things remain the same. Time after time after time...Loop after loop after loop, you still...put your life on the line for me. Despite only meeting me here for the first time in your life."

Auriel's eyes swelled from the tears that fell in her open palms, gently caressing them in turn, "Why? Why is this happening to me? To you?", she cried out softly before wiping her tears out with her fists, "No. It doesn't matter how long it takes. We will both get out of here alive, I refuse to give in."

She then stood up with a reinvigorated resolve igniting her eyes as she indulged her thinking process on how to keep Zan alive from his impending death.

She had seen the same scene numerous times and had approached the matter differently each time as well; she even tried to make him stay behind. But to no avail. She couldn't deal with this on her own nor Zan was the guy to just stay back and watch.

Auriel kept remembering each different version of Zan's death and it felt like ripping her heart apart. But her passion for reaching that happy ending she so desired grew hand-in-hand.

"Screw the consequences of tinkering with time...Since fate isn't allowing us to get past this, I will defy even that.", Auriel uttered fiercely while making her way toward the side of the train she knew Zan was placed on.

After a few minutes of getting her thoughts in line about what to say, she found Zan asleep on his seat and approached him with a kind tone.

"Hey. Please, wake up.", she said softly while gently moving Zan's spiritless body with her hands, "I am going to need your help with something."

Then, Zan opened his eyes in surprise while not in touch with whatever was happening around him, "W-what's going on? Wait. Who are you?", he softly spoke while rubbing his eye with his fist.

"There's not time to explain in detail. I know that a Dweller will make its appearance on the train and will try to control it. I have a good intuition about stuff like that, so I need your help to fight the Dweller before he reaches the captain's cabin. I know this might sound crazy but please, just trust me on this."

Zan seemed like he was contemplating seriously on Auriel's words. After a brief moment, he made up his mind to talk after lifting himself from his seat, "Alright. I prefer to trust you since you seem so dead serious rather than endangering everyone here and regretting it later."

"Thank you, Z-.", Auriel stopped herself from uttering anything else before continuing, "I appreciate you trusting me."

"It's no problem. What is your name, by the way?", Zan said as he began walking toward the captain's cabin.

"It's Auriel Reid. What about you? I know I appeared so suddenly to you, but you were the first guy I found with a gemstone in his hand as I searched through the cabins for someone to accompany me on that quest".

Auriel thought to explain the situation logically so Zan would not start getting suspicious of her rush behavior, "You did well.", he then responded in a confident sound, "You shouldn't face any danger alone if you can avoid it..."

After they both reached the captain's cabin, they became extremely cautious and moved quietly as they looked around to see if anything seemed off. Then, after nodding to each other, Zan slid his shadows under the door to open it from the captain's side and barged into the room.

"Ha! What is going on?", a middle-aged man seated in front of the train's controls shouted in shock.

However--

As he turned around to face both of them, Auriel gradually shifted her expression from one of cautiousness to one of fright.

"You...You don't even deserve to go to hell.", she uttered in an enraged voice after lashing out her fist at an immense speed to the guy's face.

"What are you doing, Auriel?"

"That's W-what I would l-Like...", the middle-aged man started to speak in a spastic manner after Auriel landed the hit, "TO ASK!", and then shouted, unleashing a heavy soundwave that broke the cabin's windows in response.

Zan, understanding just in time that the driver's behavior was odd, covered himself and Auriel with a shadow barrier to defend from the attack, "Are you ok, Auriel? But, more importantly, how did you know? It had its signal concealed.", he said to Auriel while panting.

"I told you I am good at this stuff! Now, on my count, you release the barrier and I rush to stab that m0nster to death.", Auriel answered enthusiastically like something has changed for the first time in her countless loops.

"1, 2,...", she immediately spoke out, "3!". Zan, after hearing the shout of that number, released the barrier and Auriel increased her speed to be ready for the attack...But no one was there.

Auriel, however, turned to look at Zan's back and noticed a presence amassing power in its mouth and getting ready to unleash enough force to destroy whoever stood in front of it.

Without thinking, Auriel ran with her increased speed to take Zan's position, and therefore the sound attack in his place.

"Wha--", he spoke out as time momentarily froze for him. After realizing that a loud sound was released from a place he wasn't seeing, the only thing he noticed was Auriel's despaired expression as she rushed toward his side. However, that quickly changed to a hopeful one after taking a stand in front of him, something that made him extremely curious.

"Sorry, but...I just can't seem to find a way out.", Auriel whispered while smiling. However, Zan, after hearing these words, unleashed several shadow whips from his back that lifted Auriel, making him in turn the victim of the powerful soundwave that was directed at them.

"Z-...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH", Auriel screamed in a sorrowful tone with all her might at the image of Zan getting slaughtered by the attack. Immediately after that, she felt the now familiar sense of her body getting dragged into a wormhole, throwing her back to the same seat cushions she was so accustomed to.

After shaking off the jet lag feeling out of her senses, her eyes took a twisted look as her pupils contracted, "So the universe won't allow for any inconsistencies. But I guess that's my fault for lying to myself, after saying that I would save us both.", she uttered while scratching her forehead, "I tried to cheat. Yes. That's on me, I shouldn't do that."

Auriel then tilted her head enough to gaze at the passing valleys the train moved quickly through. Her expression was lifeless and her stare was blank; like a doll waiting for its master to come and play with it.

"Maybe the gods are telling me to leave everything be? Maybe I shouldn't do anything and just let Zan die for the universe to move forward again?"

Zan's countless deaths violated Auriel's mind again making her sick as tears formed around her crimson eyes. She held tightly to her stomach in an effort to withdraw the puke that was rising slowly to her mouth.

"Maybe I am just lying to myself now as well. This seems like a fight of attrition. Will fate's hands make me go crazy first while trying to achieve my goal?", Auriel contemplated as the look on her face changed to a deadly one, "Or will I give up and get screwed afterward?"

Auriel began walking around her empty cabin while thinking about how to approach the matter. Letting everything be was producing a rancid sensation, making her feel like that wasn't the right choice. But, the whole situation wasn't giving any impression that it could be resolved as well. Still, even after feeling like slowly losing her mind, she just couldn't give in.

She had received some new information thanks to her jumps and her efforts and Auriel thought that she should put this to good use. Whereas, the clock was ticking so she couldn't take forever to formulate a new plan or connect all the dots. And after all, she wasn't even entirely sure how many more time jumps she could do with her powers; how many travels through time the universe would allow her to make.

"What is the one thing I haven't thought about or haven't tried before...", she murmured to herself with her right hand delicately pinching her chin.

Then, she thought that since these time loops were providing her with the information she needed to get through everything, she would scrap this one to get more and be prepared for the next one even better. If she couldn't achieve that at once, maybe the next one would be the charm.

She knew it was a dangerous idea, but she couldn't help but feel like she should take the risk. After all, she jumped back so many times before that one more wouldn't be something that the gods would not accept.

"So, if the Dweller is the captain I should first move it away from the cabin so that I can stop the train's march without it suspecting something. If I can pull this off, we will be able to fight it on even ground and won't get distracted by the thought of when the train will crash."

Auriel then repeated the exact same process as in her previous jump, only at a faster rate since a lot of time has already passed this time and the moon had slowly begun to show its pale figure. The Dweller wasn't giving any signal, so it was a good sign that it hadn't gotten itself ready yet.

'There might be still time', Auriel thought to herself as they reached the captain's cabin, "Now, Zan, let's proceed with caution. You never know what you will find on the other side of the door...", she quietly told Zan after they both approached the room's metallic door.

Zan made a curious expression as he blindly followed Auriel's advice. He was startled by the overall situation so he decided to go along with it. Worst case scenario, a freak was playing games with him. But best case scenario...he saved many innocent lives among his and hers.

"Let me handle it. Just follow my lead.", Auriel said before a loud bang disrupted Zan's thoughts, startling him in the process. After mere seconds he composed himself after realizing that Auriel was the one that did the knocking.

"Mister! Please, we need your assistance immediately!", Auriel shouted in a seemingly desperate voice. Zan contorted that this should have been a part of her plan. Auriel had a premonition about the driver...That he wanted to crash the train at the last station. So Zan, in a skeptical manner, believed that she wanted to take the driver away from the cabin for a while.

"W-What's going on?", a middle-aged man appeared in front of them and questioned both Zan's and Auriel's intentions.

"An old man is having a panic attack and we don't know what to do! Please, stop the train for a moment so we can figure out how to help this poor person.", Auriel talked in a fakely, at least seeming to Zan and her, worried manner.

"No! We can't stop the train for such purposes. The man has to bear it till we reach the next station."

Auriel's face got a lot grimmer than before as cold sweat dropped from her forehead. She knew that it might respond negatively to her, but she wasn't sure how to approach the matter given its answer. The next station was supposed to be the last one...and the one where everyone would be doomed.

At that moment--

"It's ok, mister, we understand.", Zan jumped in with a polite tone in his voice, "But please, can you let the train in autopilot and come help us? I bet you can at least do that!"

"Hmm.", the Dweller contemplated for a moment, "Ok. Show me the way."

Then, as Zan and Auriel went up front, Zan blinked with his right eye at her to show her that he trusted her and had a plan on his own. The driver's answer didn't sit well with him and that tiny twitch in his speech gave him the impression that Auriel might have been right.

As they approached the last cabin, Zan made silently a count in his right hand starting from number three. He hid his hands in front of his chest so that the driver who was placed behind them wouldn't see. After he reached number one, he whispered, "Go, I'll handle it."

Then, in an instant he grew some shadow lassos from his back that reached the driver and held him as tightly as a rope tied with a knot, "GO!", Auriel, hearing that, reacted by increasing her speed as much as she could and ran toward the opposite side they were heading; toward the captain's cabin.

"H-hOW??? AHHHHH!", she heard the Dweller's scream echoing in the train's chambers, with its volume getting decreased the further away she got. As she paced through the train's hall, she thought about how she couldn't think things through, and a stressful emotion made its way into her stomach.

"No. I need to finally trust him. All this time I try to save him and every time I fail. Let's see where this loop will lead us if I just let go of everything for once and let fate handle the rest...", she murmured while holding her right hand near her chest area, shaking a bit from her fear.

The moment Auriel reached the cabin's door she somersaulted at the nearest window to get atop the train and enter through the cabin's open window with a similar move. Then, she quickly reached out to the big handle that had the label 'Emergency Break' above it and pulled it with all her might.

The train, like following commands from its superior, immediately pulled all the plugs to make a sudden and instant halt at its movement.

"Yes!", she yelled, "That's one thing out of line. Now, please, let Zan be alive!", Auriel continued as she opened the door and rushed her way back to the cabin she left him.

"YoU- WILL PAY!", Auriel heard a revel echoing from that cabin and the crushing sound of the glass shattering. She sped up even more, in turn, and when she reached her destination she shouted with all her strength, "Zan!"

Zan, still conscious with only a few cuts on his face and hands and a small blood thread dripping from his forehead to his right eye, told to her jokingly, "You're late. Come on, let's finish this."

Auriel nodded with a joyful expression on her face and rushed to tackle the Dweller. At the sight of the attack, the Dweller responded with a jump and a scream attack directed at Zan's shadow daggers, to defend itself from them. Then, Auriel made a rebound kick and hit the Dweller in the air which made a quick somersault to regain its balance and land on its feet.

Auriel quickly pressed forward to not let it get enough room for another sound attack, but it evaded her punches and even cracked one at her stomach and an elbow smash at her back.

Zan, seeing that, brought Auriel to his side with some shadow ropes to save her from the Dweller's sound attack, "Don't be so impatient, we can win!", he said to her. However, the Dweller immediately directed another powerful soundwave at them, to which Auriel responded by speeding her movements and pushing Zan and her away from it.

"Zan! Are you alright?", she yelled at his position. Despite her efforts, though, she gazed at a standing Zan with a tiny hole on his left side, "I am..*cough*, ok. Don't worry about me! Focus on the enemy!", he answered.

Auriel, seeing him bleeding, turned with a soulless expression at the Dweller due to an immense rage piling up inside of her, and started bouncing around the train's cabin with incredible speed so that she won't get caught by the Dweller's possible attacks.

Together with that, she landed various attacks at different places throughout the Dweller's body, like a jumping ball bouncing inconsistently and unrecognizably in the closed area. The Dweller finally kneeled, and after Zan threw a shade dagger for Auriel to catch, she pierced the back of its neck with it.

"NOOOOooOoo!", the Dweller shouted, before vanishing into thin air.

"Thank...god...", Zan whispered with the last strength that was left in his frail body as he landed on the hard ground of the train's floor.

"Zan!", Auriel shouted before running to his place. When she saw him in that state, she immediately grabbed his body and brought it close to hers to act as a soft cushion for him, hugging him while she was on her knees.

"Please, don't...die on me.", she spoke with a soft voice as tears fell on his face, "It's, a-alright, Auriel. We d-did our best a-and saved e-everyone."

"NO! That's not fair!", Auriel shouted at him as she felt his spirit getting drawn away by nature's force, "We finally got so close, don't leave me now!", she continued crying in a bitter sound, "Please..."

'Is that really...the end? Should I just accept the will of the universe?', she thought to herself.

However, a soft sound from behind her broke the train of her thoughts.

"H-Hello! It seems that you are in a perilous situation.", the voice said as the man came closer to them while holding a piece of cloth, "Let me help you, it might not be too late!"

The man quickly tied a tight knot to Zan's deep wound to stop the bleeding and brought out from his case several sprays to disinfect the tiny scratches he had throughout his body and face.

"I am a traveling doctor that was aboard the train you just saved. The least I can do is help our heroes back."

Auriel's face regained its color at the man's words and hugged him in turn, "Please, don't let him die, I beg you!"

"Don't worry, miss. Since we stopped his major bleeding point, he will be fine. It wasn't a very deep wound too. We just need to stitch that place up after disinfecting it and he will be back on his feet in a few days. Come! I know most people at Ocoris' nearby hospital. We will take him there and do the rest."

The man's words were like an angelic hymn to Auriel's ears. She then emphatically nodded at his speech and helped him carry the unconscious Zan outside of the train.

"Sometimes...you just have to trust that invisible link that connects all of us and let everything flow in their natural course, huh...", Auriel whispered in a happy voice as she gazed at the pale dots brightening the dark sky.