Follow Your Destiny [2]

This is the song I listened like a maniac while I was writing this chapter. I highly recommend it:

Scarlet Night by Fractal Dreams -> https://youtu.be/5qhBk_3OT-w

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After I was embraced by the light, my body was spat out of the train tracks as if it was a nasty meal the earth didn't want. Like everyone else, I had my arms at my side and my legs together, all stuck with metal bars. The sky was clear blue, with bushes and small trees spread throughout the space. Worse of it all, I was not alone on those tracks.

"Hal, look! This mister can help us."

"He is stuck just like us, Hil. He can't help us."

"Oh…"

With one glance I could not only tell they were brother and sister but twins.

The girl continued to cry, biting her lower lip strong enough to open a wound. Her brother held her hand, his voice shaken yet confident. If he was as afraid as his sister, he didn't show it; neither in his voice nor his gaze.

"Don't cry, Hil. Keep looking at me. I'm not crying, am I?"

"No…"

"Then you shouldn't cry either."

Their curly hair was practically white, their skin so pale it was almost translucent and while the girl's eyes were the lightest of blue, the boy's were pinkish that even within the shade their color still looked faded. And they did not seem old at all. I would bet they were between six and eight years old.

"How old are you?"

I had their attention once again, yet not for long. The brother glanced at me with a suspicious gaze, eying me as if I was stupid or worse. "I didn't see you in the cabin. Who are you?"

From afar, I heard the train's whistle. How much longer we had until the Jolly Train reached us? How many seconds? My heart kept racing and beating against my chest, desperate. I could not even say I was shocked by Giorgio's betrayal, if I would even call it that. I wouldn't be shocked to see a rat eating trash, or maggots feeding off on rotten meat. It was their nature.

The important thing at that moment was to try to piece things together; there had to be a way to survive the tracks. Otherwise, the system wouldn't give me that many points, much less inform me I would receive a bonus if I survived. Yet what if the only way for someone to survive in the tracks was with the operators' maneuvers? Giorgio wouldn't use it on us, in fact I was quite certain that he would choose this track specifically just so he could kill me off. His movements were as predictable as a pawn's.

Still, would the system do something like that? All this time, the main theme of these challenges had been choice. Free will. There was no way the system was truly that unfair and cruel.

Was there?

I tried to raise my upper body the most I could, so they would focus on me. "You guys are Hil and Hal, right?" The girl beside me nodded yet her brother did not even blink. "You can call me Eun-Woo—I need your help. You see, I have reasons to believe we can survive this. But we need to work together."

Hil opened a smile, her eyes almost shining with hope. She turned to her brother, who was not as thrilled to hear what I had to say.

"We may be children, but we are not idiots. Why should we even trust you?"

I was starting to feel the tracks tremble and shake beneath me, the sound getting closer.

"Because I am your only chance of survival."

Perhaps it was the pure terror in my eyes or maybe the desperation flooding in my voice, yet the twins nodded once with shaken eyes.

"Perfect. Look around and try to see if there is anything, anything at all, that we can press, pull or push."

The twins started to look around, yet their bodies were small and they were lower on the tracks. There was only so much they could see. I started to contort myself, stretching my neck and body in order to see any crack or small hole within those tracks. The trembling intensified, the sound of the train so close I was afraid to turn my head.

Great news that I had two other sets of mouths and eyes to make sure I knew what was going on.

"Mister, the train…!"

"Did you find anything, sir?!"

To hear such anguish and horror in their voices broke my heart, turning my own desperation into a monster that was ready to consume me from the inside.

'Think, Eun-Woo, think!'

There had to be something, anything, that I was missing!

Then it hit me. As I glanced below, toward the tracks, the faintest of lights pouring out of the metal. I had seen that light before, twice, only it had been stronger. Right before the train hit the people, there was a light—something that shone below the tracks. It had to mean something.

I needed it to mean something.

As I turned my head, I saw not only the Jolly Train but Giorgio's head popping up from the window, looking down at me with the widest smile on his face while showing his middle finger.

Hah, that asshole.

"Listen up, kids! Try to see if there's anything shining around you, it may be below the tracks or beside us!" I had to shout in order to be heard on top of the train.

The whistle blew again, a haunting sound that kept echoing inside my ears.

"Mister, here!" Hil shouted and my entire body leaned toward her voice. She had dug a bit through the dirt and right there, sticking out of the ground between the metal tracks, a thin silver chain.

I felt a heat wave rushing to our side.

"Pull it!"

I twisted my hand in an angle I had never tried before, every finger and muscle screaming in pain. Hil and I pulled the chain once.

I could see the blinding light of the Jolly Train casting a shadow over us.

Nothing happened.

"Again!"

My hand was sweating so much, I kept losing grasp of the silver chain. Once, twice, it kept failing me.

Yet not for Hil, and she pulled.

I heard a click.

"Mister!"

The moment she shouted, I felt the ground below me tremble and open at the same time my hands and feet were freed.

"Move, now!"

I didn't think I needed to give them any more orders; they were below before I even finished my sentence. The tracks themselves had opened alongside a grave on the ground. All three of us slipped through the opening, dirt falling with us as we fell with a small thud. The space was way bigger than I had anticipated, almost like a tunnel that connected all tracks in the same system. Before I could catch my breath, I felt something jump at my legs, grasping them tight.

"Thank you so, so much."

"We are forever grateful to you, mister!"

Hal and Hil had their arms around me; I could even feel their hearts beating fast against my legs. I let a long sigh, trying to control my own racing heart. The adrenaline was still running at full speed within my veins.

"Hey, I told you to trust me right?"

[You survived the Jolly Train! You will be greatly rewarded for your skills.]

[You will be transported to Île de Bâton in one minute.]

Oh, no I wouldn't.

"Hey, listen."

The twins raised their gazes, meeting my own. Looking at them after that madness, they were actually quite adorable.

"There is a giant mole chasing the train. If you keep running in a straight line, you will be moved before the mole can get you."

When I mentioned the mole, Hil's widened her eyes yet her brother furrowed his brows.

"Aren't you going to stay with us?"

That kid was quite sharp, huh? "I have a business to take care of first. But don't worry, I will meet you both there. Deal?"

They both took a few steps back and gave me one nod. Hil started to run beforehand, while Hal turned his head once before following his sister.

"Be sure to stay alive. You look like someone that enjoys doing stupid things." And just like that, the boy turned around and caught up with his sister, leaving me alone. I chuckled, scratching the back of my head. That boy, he wasn't cute at all.

I lowered my gaze, reading the last message the system had sent me.

[You are an operator. Do you wish to go back to the first cabin?]

[You will receive a bonus reward if you go back.]

I didn't even bat an eye. I just pressed the button.

Once again, I was embraced by light.

Yet that time, I wasn't the one awaiting death.

I was the messenger.