Foreigner approached next to Octavia, who had disgust overflowing from her expression.

  She took a peek inside the cabin over Octavia’s shoulder. The cabin looked surprisingly ordinary for a train painted with gold and greed. There were two bunk beds on the left and right, making a total of four beds, and the wall was colored white while the carpet on the floor was blue. Four cabinets were present at the entrance to store baggage or clothing, with three having a key placed in the keyhole. Blatantly, there was no restroom nor privacy, signaling a harsh trip that would last for a week.

  Adding to everything, there was a stranger that the party would share a room with, who already took place on the upper bed on the right side of the room. She was sitting on the edge of the bed with her legs hanging and swinging front and back, while watching over the party with two eyes and an extra one on her forehead with a devilish smile. Her long, pointy ears were flapping playfully, and she seductively licked her lips with her split tongue.

  “My, my. Luck is on my side this time. Glad my roommates are cuties.“

  The stranger slowly slid to the ground from her upper bed while twisting her body like a snake. Unlike Foreigner, who was amazed by how a person can be that limber, Octavia clicked her tongue and turned her head away from her new roommate. And soon, Foreigner learned why Octavia was making such an attitude when she had a better view of the stranger, wearing revealing lingerie that exposed most of her dark purple skin in an erotic fashion, enough to make Foreigner to blush and her face heat up even though she wasn’t the one in that outfit.

  As the stranger took a step forward to Octavia, with her eyes scanning Octavia’s body from top to bottom, Octavia reacted by ignoring her and walking right past her to the lower bed on the left side of the room and throwing herself on the crappy bed. She covered her face with her hat and lay down with her hands behind her head, doing her best to pretend to sleep. The stranger pouted at Octavia while twirling her slightly curly hair, and soon turned her attention to Foreigner and smiled. Foreigner knew she was in trouble, and she needed to escape, or offer a scapegoat.

  “Pafn—“

  Foreigner turned her head to her side at the speed of light for her ‘friend’, but he was nowhere to be found in the hallway. But she soon found him, sitting on the upper bed on the left side, where Octavia was pretending to be asleep. He was on the bed with his bag still on his back, which he was supposed to put in the cabinet at the entrance of the room but did not have time for that luxury when he had to occupy the only remaining ‘proper bed’ in the room.

  Foreigner clenched her fist and lifted it at Pafnuty, but soon retracted it as the stranger shoved her face into hers. As the emerald-colored eyes of the stranger pierced through her, she juggled her eyes here and there in uncertainty of where to put her gaze. Then the situation escalated fast when the stranger held Foreigner’s face with her hand and sniffed at the side of Foreigner’s neck, making Foreigner scream internally.

  “Such a sweet scent. I see. You must be the renowned Sinner.“ The stranger said cryptically, while being up close enough for her breath to touch Foreigner’s neck. “Say, I’d like to learn more about you. I know a place where we can be together privately. All you need to do is follow my lead.“

  Slowly and smoothly, her hand moved from Foreigner’s chin to the bottom, following the curvature along her body. Foreigner couldn’t break away from the stranger in panic and stood still with goosebumps flowing on her body, praying for someone to save her from this situation.

  “Get off from her, Gelip. Or else.“ Octavia took the hat off her face and sat on the bed, with eyes gleaming with wrath.

  Foreigner and the stranger, whom Octavia called Gelip, both looked at Octavia, one with eyes glittering with gratitude while the other with glee at obtaining the very wanted attention.

  Gelip and Octavia stared at each other silently, with Pafnuty as an audience watching over the show with his chin resting on his hands. The air was stiff in the room filled with tension until Gelip burst out laughing, leaving everyone except for Octavia confused.

  “How lovely of you, protecting your flock with one wing. I think you and I will get along just fine, Demerii.“

  Gelip sent out a mockery at Octavia, but failed to agitate her in the slightest. However, the lack of reaction from Octavia only aroused her further, and her breath grew heavier as she caressed her own body with love overflowing from the touch. She took a step towards the exit of the room and opened her mouth as she passed the Foreigner, who was fearing what the stranger might do to her within that split second.

  “I’ll see you around, Sinner. Dream of me tonight.“

  Gelip left the room, walking the hallway while stretching her body and wiggling her buttocks. Foreigner took a peek outside until there were no signs of her, then closed the door behind her with a sigh of relief. Only then she realized that Gelip was walking the public hallway in lingerie, but soon decided that it was not her business to care about.

  “Thanks, Octavia! You saved me there! I can always rely on you.“

  After Foreigner confirmed that she was safe now, there was a bright smile on her face filled with peace. Octavia laid back on her bed, and before she placed her hat on her face to block out the light, she spoke her thought on this matter.

  “Next time, do it for yourself.“ Then she went back to her fake sleep, leaving Foreigner speechless in her position.

  Foreigner knew exactly what Octavia meant. In the end, she should have been the one to confront Gelip to stop doing what she was on about. Ultimately, she failed to stand up for herself and relied on someone else to do it for her. She knew this clearly. And because she knew it, she couldn’t say anything to Octavia. Instead, she walked up to the lower bed on the right side and sat down on it, while being aware of the sound of her footsteps ringing in the room.

  The bed swayed up and down as it made a creaking noise, and came to a complete halt after two cycles. The mattress was hard, but it was still softer than the frozen earth. She lay herself on the bed, with a pillow below her head that was somewhere between soft and hard. A thought swirled in her mind as soon as she took a position to sleep, buzzing around in her head like a bee carrying honey. The day was still going on, but it was already a long one.

  Foreigner looked to her side while lying down. Octavia was back in her original pose she had before affronting Gelip, and her chest was breathing peacefully, yet she wasn’t snoring like she does when sleeping.

  Instead, the clattering sound of glass containers filled the room, and the source was Pafnuty organizing his bag on the floor of the cabin. Even though his back was turned against her, Foreigner felt as if Pafnuty was making a cunning smile behind his mask for his victory over the bed, and this annoyed her slightly enough to keep her awake. While she understood that the base logic of the world was dog eat dog, she was still upset at Pafnuty for leaving her with Gelip. As retribution, she threw her pillow at Pafnuty, striking him down with one blow, and then turned away from him. She closed her eyes, even though she wasn’t sleepy. And as time passed, the rattling sound of the train started to fade away.

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  Suddenly, a gentle breeze flowed across her cheek. She slowly opened her eyes to a bright ray of sunlight knocking on her eyelids and saw the sky burning red with the sun setting down on the mountain range afar. The next thing she knew was that she was standing still on a vast golden field of wheat, and there was no bed or train anywhere to be found. Instead, the aroma of freshly made soup and bread floated in the air, and she felt the sentimental flavor rolling around on her tongue. She called out for Octavia and Pafnuty from the bottom of her lungs, but there was no answer; only the echo of her own voice remained.

  As she stood there in confusion, Foreigner heard a faint voice coming from behind. Even though she couldn’t understand the language the voice spoke in, she knew that someone was calling out to her. When she looked back, there was a hill with a giant tree on top of it, and while she found it odd, as she was sure that hill was not there a moment ago, her doubt flowed out of her mind.

  Foreigner took a step forward onto the hill. Through her bare feet, a nostalgic yet strange sensation of grass tickling her feet spread through her body. After inhaling the warm air into her lungs until there was no more room left, she sprinted to the hill standing in front of her. This place was odd and mysterious, but everything felt as if it were back in the original place at the same time. For the first time since she had opened her eyes on the frozen land, she felt at home.

  On top of the hill, there was a boy with long, white, silky hair sitting on the ground with his back turned to her. He had pale skin, and his body looked fragile, almost as if it would break at the slightest force.

  Foreigner walked towards the boy, but she could not get close to him, only for her to remain where she started without any progress. A desperate struggle to approach the boy continued, but only the shadow on the ground grew longer for every moment wasted. And the boy stood up and went down the hill, without being aware of the other presence.

  Foreigner could not understand what was going on, but she knew she had to stop the boy. She ran as fast as she could, but she was still in the same spot. She shouted with every breath she had, but her voice was silent. Tears gathered in her eyes without her knowing why her heart ached so terribly. She knew the boy. She knew his name. But she couldn’t let it out of the tip of her tongue. The only thing she perceived was that she shouldn’t let the boy leave. She fell onto the ground, and the grass spread into the air only to fall back down slowly. Yet the boy did not notice. With the last remaining strength buried behind tears, she called out his name.

  “Foreigner!”

  The next moment, Foreigner opened her eyes on her bed in the rattling train, amidst Pafnuty shaking her intensely.

  “Where is he?! I need to stop him!“ Foreigner yelled at Pafnuty, and attempted to jump out of bed to search for the boy, only for her to smack her forehead on Pafnuty’s mask and roll around the bed in pain.

  “Dear, oh, dear! What kind of dream have you witnessed, my friend?“ Pafnuty said as he fixed his mask. “You were moaning and twitching as if you were going through immense pain. But I suspect that what you went through was not a physical trauma but a mental one. May I hear about the dream you had?“

  Once the shock on her forehead settled down, Foreigner realized she had fallen asleep before she knew it. The sweat was dripping like rain, and the breath was unstable. She grasped her head to soothe the agony blooming within it and wanted to tell Pafnuty what she saw. But by this time, she had already forgotten the dream, and only the haze remained in her memory.

  “I don’t remember…I feel like I saw something that mattered important to me, but…I don’t remember.“ She said, deeply regretting that she hadn’t spoken out loud what she saw while she had a vague memory.

  “Well, don’t think about it too much. A dream is a dream. Don’t let it interfere with you in reality.“ Pafnuty spoke as if he didn’t care too much about it, but Foreigner knew he was trying to comfort her.

  “How long have I been sleeping?“

  Foreigner looked at the small window connected to the outside. It was already dark, with the only light brightening up the room being an artificial one. And there was no sighting of Octavia, with her bed left untidy as usual.

  “Quite some time, it’s almost eight o’clock. Octavia went to look for any operating car that sells food. Don’t tell her I said this, but she was deeply worried about you! Weirdos like me or her are used to this, but the journey must have been extremely tiring for you, I would say.“ Pafnuty said as he poured honey tea into the cup, both of which he always carried in his bag just in case.

  Foreigner took the tea and took a sip. It was warm and soft, as it always had been, but it tasted better than ever. She looked at where Octavia slept once again and couldn’t help but let a faint smile escape from her lips.

  “Say, my friend. What about I show you around the train? It will be better for you to know what kind of services this moving hotel provides as well.”

  Pafnuty made a surprising offer for him, as he was the type to never leave the tent unless he needed to gather ingredients for his research. Foreigner took a quick second to think and nodded her head three times energetically, as she wanted a change of pace for herself as well.

  The two of them walked across the train, car by car. As expected for a train that goes across the great empire, there were a lot of service cars for the passengers, ranging from restaurants and bars to theatres and casinos. And as expected for the train that symbolized the great Emperor, there was a portrait of him on every car, emanating an uncomfortable aura as if he was watching over every step they took.

  But the one significant factor that was disturbing Foreigner was that most of the services provided on the train were not operating, because the three of them and Gelip sharing the room were the only living souls onboard the train. She doubted if even the conductor was on board and left all the business to the automated system until the actual life that mattered boarded from the city comprising Vaz as the main population.

  “Oh, this one is fun! Get ready to be excited, my friend!“

  Pafnuty was showing Foreigner around in a monotone and boredom until he reached the door leading to one car. Foreigner wondered what made him loom with enthusiasm, and her eyes shone brightly when he opened the door.

  It was an arcade filled with machines making dazzling lights and silly noises. Even though the room was dark, with the lightings from the screens and decorations filling the floor and ceilings, it felt livelier than any other car. The best part was that all the machines were operating, and they were free for every passenger onboard. Foreigner couldn’t suppress her excitement and lightly tapped the floor with her feet continuously in preparation to sprint across the room at once.

  “That! Let’s try that first!“

  She ran to the machine with two hammers and holes on the board. There was the name of the game and the instructions on how to play in colorful glittering lights, but she couldn’t read the language of Vaz. Still, the game seemed simple, and she knew how to play from the back of her mind. She grabbed the hammer, filled with excitement, and waited for Pafnuty.

  “Oh, an interesting choice. Sounds lovely! Let’s see your skill!“

  Pafnuty pushed the button to start the round of the game, and the music blasted out to prepare Foreigner before she unleashed her smacking skill. Once the music calmed down, the props popped out of the holes for Foreigner to smack them down, and she swung her hammer with full might. But the hammer stopped in the middle when she had a better view of the props, and there was no way for her to continue this game.

  The props resembled Aranaims. Aranaim swinging a sword. Aranaim robbing a store. Aranaim disrupting the order. Only then, Foreigner figured out the nature of the game in front of her. It was propaganda against Aranaims to brainwash children into hating Aranaims. And she wished to play this in front of Pafnuty.

  Her head went blank in bewilderment and guilt. Suddenly, something snapped in her mind, and she swung her hammer against the machine with a strength enough to snap few of the muscles on her arm, but before she could land the blow, a prop got smacked first and stopped Foreigner in the middle.

  “Oh, no, no. You need to be faster than that, my foreign friend!“

  It was Pafnuty who smacked the prop of Aranaim back into the hole. He was holding a hammer in his hand and straightened one finger on the other as if to brag about his score. As Foreigner looked at him dumbfounded, Pafnuty scored another, and another. By the time the score was zero to four, Foreigner came back to reality and caught up to Pafnuty in smacking the props. What seemed to be treacherous propaganda was now a fun game, and Foreigner found herself enjoying the moment.

  “Yes! Winner!“

  She raised her hammer as the game ended, and Pafnuty fell to the ground in exhaustion from a simple exercise. He looked around the place and ran across the room to another machine like a kid in a ball pit.

  “Quick, my friend! Let’s try that one next!“

  Foreigner saw Pafnuty rushing for a new machine with a seat and a wheel, and chased right behind him. She made a silent and dumb prayer in her heart. For this fun to last long, if not forever.

  “Wait for me!“