Rising Shards

Aira was fairly certain she’d just stumbled into another random trip to the void. The weird train they’d gotten onto had propelled forward despite hitting a bumper, so it was probably some dimension hopping deal. The view through the windows was still completely foggy.

“I don’t think I’ve taken a train to the void before,” Aira said. "I've chased a train in the void, but not taken a train to the void." 

Naomi had Chumbler and Z.O.K. firmly held by their shoulders. “I have a few times. Usually trying to stop students like these two.”

“Is this going to be dangerous, Naomi?” Amara asked. “Should we knock them out now and get it over with?”

“It may be dangerous,” Naomi said.

“I could try and teleport us back?” Aira asked.

“No, that won’t do,” Naomi said. “We don’t know exactly where we are, so you could send us out into the empty space between nodes.”

“Finally, some void in this void,” Chumbler said. “You ever notice how for something called a void, there’s sure is, uh, there’s…there are lots of things in it! Nyeheheh!”

“Quit the bad standup routine,” Naomi said. “If this is like the other similar rides I’ve taken, the train won’t take us to wherever it’s going instantly. So you’re going to tell me exactly what you’ve done.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Chumbler asked. Naomi’s grip on her tightened. “That kinda hurts, madam.”

“What exactly did you summon?” Naomi asked. “A passageway to the void, obviously, but why?”

“I won’t communicate with Amara present,” Chumbler said, crossing her arms. “Her club president put a hit out on me, so I don’t want her learning any of my secrets.”

“Is that true, Amara?” Naomi asked.

“It’s not a hit, Rain just wants revenge, Chumbler really screwed us over!” Amara said.

“We’ll deal with that later,” Naomi said. “So did you just want to run away, then? You are aware class is in session?”

“It’s lunch break, I figured we’d get this done and sneak back to class without anyone noticing.” Chumbler said.

“Are we going to be in trouble if we miss class because of this?” Aira asked.

“I’ll get a hall pass for you and Amara for assisting me.” Naomi said.

“Don’t we get one?” Chumbler asked.

“How about you tell me where we’re headed first,” Naomi said.

Chumbler rubbed her hands together nervously. “Well, I heard from a guy, less a guy and more my Weird Void Nodes Monthly Magazine, that if you order a specific train whistle from them and get some gate rosin all up in that, you summon a ghost train that will take you to a void node that’s filled entirely with sentient trains, in particular the infamous sentient train gang. I was hoping to hire those mobsters to get Rain for me so she’d leave me alone.”

Aira squinted. “That’s…something.”

The train rumbled, and the fog cleared around them. The windows rolled down all at once, and what appeared to be roots of some kind sprouted in, zipping all around.

“Careful, this could be an attack,” Naomi said.

Upon closer examination, the roots were actually train tracks, placed by some unseen hand like a railroad simulator game. The tracks were only about as wide as can of soda. They all lined up right in front of Chumbler and Z.O.K. Trains rolled in on the tracks, each with a grumpy looking face.

“Aw, they’re tiny!” Aira said as one sped past her.

“Ah, our esteemed guests are here!” Chumbler said as the group of trains stopped in front of her. “Rumor has it that the producers of Trian the Train were inspired by a void node similar to this one when crafting the title character’s winning personality.”

“Whaddya want?” The lead train, a turquoise steam train with a matching tiny little coal box, asked.

“Well, I have some enemies, and I hear you guys ‘take care’ of them.” Chumbler said.

“Don’t listen to her,” Naomi said. “We’re here by mistake, and we’re simply hoping for safe passage home.”

“Now I’m all discombobulated.” The turquoise train said. “You’re giving me a headache.”

“The boss has a headache,” One of the trains to the side said. “Should we kill these jerks?”

“No!” Amara said.

“We mean no harm,” Naomi said.

“And I’m pretty sure we’d win in a fight because you guys are so small, no offense,” Aira said.

“No, that’s fair, usually our guests aren’t so big,” the turquoise train said. “So you just wanna call this one and pretend it never happened? We can send the big guy back.”

“Yes, please!” Naomi said.

“No, hold on!” Chumbler said. “You’re the train mobsters! I didn’t come all this way just to go back! I want you to ‘take care’ of Rain so she doesn’t get revenge on me!”

“We don’t really do that anymore, that’s the train mob of a few generations back,” the turquoise train said. “Unless you mean babysitting, that’s where we get most of our cash these days.”

“I’m beginning to think maybe train mobster dimension was a bad idea, perhaps,” Chumbler said.

“Let’s just go, Chumbler,” Z.O.K. said. “Even for one of your plans, this is pretty weak.”

“Yeah, fine, whatever.”

Aira waved to the trains as they left. The windows shut, and the big train rumbled again before it started to move. It only took a few minutes for them to return back home.

“I’m going to tell Rain about all of this when she gets back,” Amara said. “And KJ too. I’m very disappointed in you, Chumbler."

Chumbler actually looked sad as she kicked at the ground, but Aira assumed that was more due to her plan going up in smoke due to her actually feeling any shame.

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