Shadows on the tracks

The train thundered through the night, cutting a silver path across the countryside under a blanket of heavy clouds. Rain had begun to fall, tapping softly against the windows of Compartment 3. Inside, the four travelers sat in tense silence, each wrapped in their own thoughts.

Victoria leaned against the window, her reflection barely visible in the glass. Her eyes scanned the darkness outside as if expecting to see something—or someone—keeping pace with the train.

"You're sure we weren't followed?" she asked, breaking the stillness.

"As sure as I can be," Gyan replied, sitting on the opposite bench, the velvet pouch still clenched in his hands. "But I don't think they need to follow us anymore. They already know where we're going."

Lucas shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Okay, I'm still catching up. Who are 'they'? And why do they care about a necklace so much? It's just metal and stone."

"No," Gyan said quietly. "It's history. It's a map. Maybe even a weapon."

Jordan raised an eyebrow. "A weapon?"

Gyan leaned forward. "Before the Sahari Empire collapsed, they were experimenting with ancient energies—technologies we still don't understand. The last Emperor, Zulkar, commissioned seven keys to be forged, each one linked to a different temple. Each key was hidden, scattered across regions, designed to unlock… something."

Lucas gave a sarcastic laugh. "You're telling us we're in the middle of some Indiana Jones plot?"

"Worse," Gyan replied. "Ours is real."

Jordan sat back. "And you just happened to buy one of the keys?"

"I didn't know it at the time," Gyan said. "But when I touched it, I saw… images. Faint, fractured, like memories that weren't mine."

Victoria turned from the window. "What kind of images?"

Gyan hesitated. "A city on fire. A throne room submerged in water. A voice repeating one word over and over again: 'Awaken.'"

That silenced everyone again.

Then Jordan muttered, "Yeah. Totally normal necklace stuff."

Just then, the train jerked violently. The lights flickered. A muffled shout came from the next compartment.

Gyan was on his feet in an instant. He grabbed the pouch, slipped it under his coat, and nodded to the others. "Stay behind me."

He slid open the compartment door, stepping into the dimly lit hallway. The lights above flickered again—faint, blue, almost unnatural. The scent of ozone hung in the air, as if lightning had passed through moments earlier.

They moved cautiously, passing one compartment after another. When they reached Compartment 6, the door was ajar.

Inside, the room had been torn apart. Seats slashed open. Windows cracked. Blood on the walls. But no bodies.

"What the hell happened here?" Lucas whispered.

"I think we're past the point of pretending this is normal," Victoria replied, drawing a small blade from her boot.

"Was this them?" Jordan asked.

"No," Gyan said softly, scanning the ceiling. "This was something else."

Suddenly, a loud clanging came from the roof of the train.

Everyone froze.

Another clang. Then footsteps—heavy, metallic—moving across the train roof directly above them.

Lucas looked at Gyan. "Please tell me that's the conductor checking for leaks."

Gyan pulled something from his jacket—a small, sleek device with a blue glow.

"What's that?" Victoria asked.

"A prototype from Helix Industries. It detects thermal anomalies."

He activated it. The screen glowed red.

"Something's above us," he said grimly. "And it's not human."

---

Outside, on top of the train, rain lashed down violently as a figure in a long coat crouched low, moving with unnatural grace. A mask concealed its face—silver, expressionless, with three narrow slits where eyes should be.

It moved from car to car until it reached Compartment 3.

It paused. Tilted its head.

Then it drew a blade that shimmered with green light and stabbed it into the metal roof.

---

Inside the compartment, sparks exploded from the ceiling.

"Move!" Gyan shouted, yanking the others backward as the blade sliced through the roof like paper.

Victoria hurled a knife upward, striking the intruder's foot. It barely flinched. Instead, it reached down and peeled the metal open, revealing its featureless mask staring directly into the room.

Lucas screamed. "Okay, okay, now I believe everything!"

Jordan lunged forward, grabbing a fire extinguisher from the wall and launching it at the intruder's head. It hit with a satisfying clang, knocking the masked figure back.

"RUN!" Gyan shouted.

They bolted down the corridor, ducking into a storage carriage. Gyan slammed the door shut and locked it, his hands shaking.

"What the hell was that thing?" Jordan gasped.

"A hunter," Gyan replied. "Trained to recover the keys."

Victoria's eyes narrowed. "How do we fight it?"

"We don't," Gyan said. "We outrun it."

Suddenly, the lights turned red. A robotic voice echoed through the train:

> "Emergency override engaged. Next stop: Halvyn Station. All passengers must disembark."

Lucas looked at Gyan. "Did you trigger that?"

"No."

"Then who did?"

Gyan didn't answer.

Halvyn Station was a remote outpost near the borderlands—mostly abandoned, half-buried in snow and mist. As the train screeched to a halt, the platform lights flickered to life, casting an eerie glow over the deserted surroundings.

The doors hissed open.

No one moved.

Then Gyan stepped out.

Victoria followed. Jordan and Lucas exchanged a look and reluctantly followed suit.

The wind howled through the trees. The platform creaked underfoot.

"This feels like a trap," Lucas muttered.

"It probably is," Gyan said.

"So why are we here?" Jordan asked.

"Because we don't have a choice."

They moved into the station building—once a grand hall, now filled with broken glass, graffiti, and the echo of their own footsteps. Gyan approached an old vending machine and pressed a sequence of buttons.

Nothing happened.

Then the floor beneath them rumbled. A panel behind the machine slid open, revealing a hidden staircase leading underground.

Lucas sighed. "Of course. Secret passage. Because normal exits are too boring."

Gyan glanced at them. "We either go down… or we wait for that thing to catch up."

They descended.

---

The tunnel beneath Halvyn Station was damp and narrow, lined with rusted metal pipes and flickering lights. After what felt like an eternity, they reached a steel door with a symbol etched into its surface: an eye enclosed in a triangle.

Gyan placed his hand on the door.

It scanned him. Then unlocked.

Inside was a vast chamber—circular, with stone walls and ancient carvings. In the center stood a pedestal. Gyan approached it and slowly placed the necklace on top.

The carvings lit up.

A low hum filled the room. A beam of light shot upward from the necklace, revealing a holographic map—a constellation of temples, mountains, and coded symbols.

"The other keys," Gyan whispered. "This is where they are."

Victoria stepped forward. "And now they'll know we activated it."

"I know," Gyan said. "But it's the only way we stand a chance."

From somewhere above, a metallic shriek echoed down the tunnel.

"They're coming," Jordan said.

Gyan turned to face them, eyes cold and steady. "Then we fight."