Story 999: The Heart That Won’t Die

The engine room pulsed like a living wound. The air reeked of scorched memory and rusted time. Soul-shackles clinked with every heartbeat of the train, and above them, the Ghoul Trainmaster loomed—half-machine, half-phantom, a conductor of oblivion.

Draven led the charge, his blade glowing with runes scorched from the burning pages of the cursed book. Mira followed, the last vial of stolen starlight clenched in her fist. Elias hung back, whispering incantations beneath his breath, fingers dancing across the spine of a tome that bled ink and fire.

The Ghoul Trainmaster bellowed. “You seek to end the rhythm? Fools. I am the tempo of decay.”

It unleashed a shockwave. Echoes of every dead passenger screamed from the walls, writhing like maggots in smoke. Mira stumbled. One of the spirits—a child—latched onto her ankle, whispering her sins in a loop.

Draven swung his blade, slicing through phantoms and metal tendrils alike. “Get to the Heart!”