1 Londra Departure

Eight young adults walked down the same road in the deep night, the lanterns were swarmed by moths, and the sky was littered with little stars, two moons visible on both sides of the sky.

Some of them made small talk. They would be seeing each other every day quite soon, after all. One of them, though, stayed behind everyone else, his footsteps making as little sound as possible as he pulled his trench coat, shivering in the cold.

The water had frozen between the bricks under his feet, giving the street a beautiful shine. The village of Londra was empty, all except for the men and women walking down the path to the train station.

Their footsteps echoed across the street surrounded by houses, whose shutters were locked together tightly.

Alexander sniffled as he looked at the sky, 'Tonight doesn't feel right,' he thought. His trench coat flapped in the passing gust of wind as he arrived at the train station. Unlike its usual operating hours, the lanterns were still lit, and the security guard still sat in his booth.

One by one, the seven people entered the station. Alexander thrusted his hand toward the guard, who snatched it from his hand with an equal force. "Sorry," Alexander said, but the guard didn't buy it. He lazily ripped the unnecessary part of the ticket off and handed the other to Alexander, who took it with one hand, snatching it away with just as much spite.

'Tch,' he thought, striding down the hallways and rounding the corner to see a sign that read "New adventurers only". Alexander followed its directions, which led him to the only part of the station that had been lit up aside for the entrance and the path there.

Platform 0 was built alongside the one leading to Gandel just for the new recruits and adventurers. It was a simple, three-car train in which there was a comfortable lounge in the last car, a variety of snacks in the centre car, and a sleeping area in front so that whatever warmth from the engine and the burning coals could reach them during the day-long journey to the capital of the earldom of Nordwen.

He swayed on his feet as he boarded the train and watched as the train conductor closed the doors up and the train started huffing.

Steam billowed out its chimney, the building heat twisting the air around the dimly lit platform. It wasn't long before the train went chugging down the tracks.

Alexander sat outside on the observation deck at the end of the train, where the station got smaller as they got to the bend that went around the mountain range. He was excited beyond measure to finally get his class, but that uneasiness lingered.

'Damn me and my paranoia,' he cursed, 'Something's going to go wrong, I just know it.' His life was going to change once again, so of course it had to be accompanied by an absolute disaster that would set him back.

A long sigh escaped his mouth as he looked at the boulders zooming past him beyond the railings, 'Well, being stronger than everyone else does even it out, I suppose.'

"Do you like the silence?" A girl had sat down on the bench to the left of the entrance to the observation deck.

He was jolted out of his thoughts, yelping as he saw the girl's silhouette illuminated by the lanterns. He thought of what to say, "Um… Yes. It's pretty."

She tilted her head, "What?"

"What?" He responded, "Oh- The silence? Yes, I like being on my own."

"Hm," she snickered, "What a loner. Do you want to come have something to eat with us? I doubt the others would ostracise you or anything."

A frown formed on Alexander's face. He didn't talk usually, so his throat was a bit dry as he stood up and questioned, "Your name?"

"Layla. Yours?"

"Alexander. You may call me Alex." With the courtesies over, he could now proceed to beat Layla into the ground, "Layla, where are your friends?"

She pointed back into the car, "Back there. Why do you ask?"

"I'm sure they're glad they're rid of you. As for me, I'm not very pleased. You see, I'm a loner because I choose to be; unlike you, who can't make any friends."

The girl let out an exaggerated, "Huh?!" She stood up, trying to match Alexander's height, "What makes you think that?"

He lifted his head and looked down on her with a domineering glare, "You're an asshat, that's what. You barge into the observation deck and insult me before even introducing yourself, who the hell do you think you are?"

She stomped her foot, "Hey! Who do you think you are?! Is this observation deck your private property? No, I didn't think so!"

"Nobody cares, Layla. You're not pleasant to interact with," he sat back down nonchalantly, turning his head toward the scenery flashing by, "Now if you'd please, piss off."

Layla pursed her lips, and she was about to say something, but lowered her hand. She let out a frustrated scoff and stormed out of the observation deck.

Alexander readjusted his position to something comfortable after he'd left, 'Stupid girl. Is this the disaster that I'm feeling?' It was entirely possible his danger sense was telling him Layla was the issue.

He shrugged, 'I can deal with her.' After that, he stood up and walked through the last car, attracting the momentary glances of the other people.

When he passed through the snack car, he grabbed a few and hid them under his trench coat. He went into the resting car, where bunk beds were laid out in a manner that would allow for optimal space management.

Of course, he chose one of the top bunks to the side of the car, he didn't want to be encountering any spiders in the corners.

He set up the little stuff he had stuffed in his pockets and indulged in the sandwiches the train provided. His favourite out of them all was the corned beef sandwich.

Once he was done he wrapped himself in the blanket and reached into a secret compartment in the jacket underneath his coat, bringing out a small pocket watch.

It was made of bronze infused with magic that retained its beautiful exterior. Alexander flipped it open and checked the time, sparing a lingering glance at the black-and-white picture of him when he was still an infant, carried by his parents, who had bright smiles on their faces.

Sadness seeped into his eyes as he shut the pocket watch and placed it back into its compartment and stared at the ceiling, 'Watch over me in the coming times, too.'

The rhythmic pumping of the pistons and the clunking of the train's wheels across the tracks were entrancing with the lack of people in the car. Hypnotic, even, as he dozed off to the symphony of noises.

.

When Alexander woke up, a bright light peeked through the wooden blinds. There were small windows for each bed, so he opened up his blinds.

The bright sunlight shone blinded his eyes, making him look back with a soft groan as he got used to that brightness.

Alexander looked around him, he was the only one awake, which meant he could finally have free reign of the two other cars.

He leapt off his bed and landed as silently as he could on the ground and ran out of the car into the snack car, where the sandwiches had been refilled. For a second, he wondered when the food was even refilled, but the apple cider distracted him.

A long gulp of the warm drink made him gasp in satisfaction. It wasn't as good as when he made it on his own on the farm, but it definitely resembled that flavour. 'What nostalgia.'

He sat down on a sofa in the last car with a ton of food on his plate. A pile of sandwiches and cheesy hotcakes stood there, steaming hot as he scarfed everything down.

It didn't take long for him to finish up his meal. He placed his plate in the washing area and found that eleven plates - not including his - were stacked up there.

'Children,' he shook his head, turning on the tap as he washed off the grime on his own plate before moving to the others. He had gone through that process thousands of times in his life, so it only took him six minutes to be done with the last plate.

Already, he felt that he would be dealing with future alcoholics who would go run dungeons for the sake of some cheap beer, though he could say the same for himself. The wine his uncle had gifted him had made him practically addicted.

'Yeah, I'll probably be adventuring for the sake of some great wine,' he looked out the window, 'I hope I make some friends to share it with by then.'

The day on the train passed by quickly, with Alexander taking out a small journal and a pen he had packed with him to write down a few things he'd done today.

Through the day, he hadn't talked with the others much. They were friendly, but his accidental coldness and curtness isolated him. It was fine, though, he preferred the silence.

They had long since rounded the bend to the forest that led to Nordwen's capital: Gandel.

It was still quite early, but the sun had already begun its descent.

Dinner was pretty much identical to breakfast and lunch. Lots of triangular sandwiches and apple cider, which Alexander happily glugged down.

He peeked past the railings and out in front of the train. The scenery was breathtaking. The last rays of light accentuated the Erico Peaks, bouncing off the forest trees and highlighting the land in a beautiful red and yellow.

So, he stood there, leaning against the rails as the train turned to the left, blocking out the Erico Peaks as the sun finally went down, and the moon took its place.

Alexander stayed in place for another quarter hour just to listen to the night-time ambiance. He loved it, that peace, that quietness; it was beautiful.

He was getting tired, Alexander returned to the sleeping quarters, where the warmth of the steam engine pervaded the room and heated up the car. The distinct scent of burning charcoal gave the place a cozy smell that acted like an incense, putting him to sleep not long after he wrapped himself in his cloth blanket.

.

'Umph… My back…' That was his first thought when he woke up. It felt like he was being pressed up against a torture machine.

He tried to move his hand, but found it pinned down to the ground. 'What the…?' He opened his eyes and cried in horror.

All around him were little black rocks, coal. Alexander pressed his hands against the coal beneath him, feeling his skin puncture. Thanks to his callouses from swinging his hoe and sickle every day, he managed to navigate the coal prison quite efficiently, and burst out of the pile of coal with only a few wounds in his palms.

Alexander looked around as he climbed to the top of the pile of coal. Beside him was the train that was supposed to lead them to Gandel, and it had been completely toppled. The last two cars remained on the rails, but the middle one had been crushed, and a corpse had been impaled on a massive shard of metal.

A hole had been ripped into the first car's roof, and the bunk beds had been crushed to splinters. Whatever had attacked the train was bound to be huge with this much damage done to it.

He decided to stay inside the train for a while to stake out the night. It was not the time to be exploring, the predator that had destroyed the train might still be lurking about in case anything or anyone came to investigate the noise the train crash made.

Alexander looked at his hands. He felt himself hyperventilating a bit, being stranded in the middle of the wilds was a first for him, even with all the ridiculous situations he'd been plunged into.

He took a while to calm down and organise his mind and assess the situation. First, he crawled down the pile of coal and climbed up to the engine where the conductor would normally be. Of course, that part had been wrecked too.

His hands felt around the place as he squinted into the darkness. There wasn't much to find there, but his hands brushed across a cylinder of smooth metal.

He grabbed it and brought it out into the moonlight. It was a water bottle. Sure, it was heavy, but at least now he had somewhere to drink from. Alexander shoved it into one of the many pockets in his now slightly-ruined jacket and coat and proceeded to hop into the engine's boiler.

Of course, the boiler was extremely simple. There was a ton of empty space in there, and a single mana stone sat in some debris, just waiting for Alexander to pick it up.

The mana stone seemed to have lost its heating properties after it had left its original position, so he determined it safe to retrieve and place in his pocket.

He looked at his hand to check if there were any burns despite knowing that he was completely uninjured aside from the cuts, but noticed that those were gone too. 'What?' He raised an eyebrow and turned his hand around a few times.

'How… did this happen?' He raised his arm to his mouth and bit into it with his canines, drawing a few drops of blood. Alexander watched as the blood clotted and the skin twisted and joined together to close up the wound at a pace visible to the eye.

A moment of hesitation went by before he asked, 'System…?' To his utter shock, it responded.

[Available.]

'What… happened?' He asked, 'Are there any unseen notifications that I should be checking right now?'

[5 unseen notifications. Check?]

'Yes.'

[Host has died. Checking host's fate… Fate: Summoner.]

[Fate has been detected to share similar aspects with a suitable class. Forcefully activating class advancement protocol.]

[Recapturing soul… Successful; recapturing spirit… Successful.]

[Creating mana core… Successful. Body has adapted.]

[New class: Necromancer]