dark_shi

After the world fell, only ruins remained.

Liam Drex was born in the ashes—just another scavenger trying to survive in a wasteland haunted by shadows, silence, and stories of a forgotten god-machine.

Then he found it.

Buried beneath rust and time, the Eternity Engine—the last remnant of an ancient system—chose him. A train that travels not across land, but across realms, pulling its Passenger through trials designed to kill, evolve, or consume.

Each station is a different reality. Each trial peels away his humanity. But the deeper Liam rides, the more the train remembers him.

He’s not just a survivor.

He might be the reason it all ended.

Now bound to the system, hunted by monstrous shades, and haunted by a past even he can’t remember, Liam must climb—realm by realm—into the truth behind the apocalypse… and decide whether to reclaim the world or destroy what remains.

Eclipse Reclaimer: The Infinite Ascent

The Phantom Carriage groaned as reality flickered. Sparks crackled from overhead cables, and distant train cars howled like dying beasts. The digital ghost screens shimmered wildly, blurring the line between memory and now.

Liam stepped toward the glowing override console in the center of the vault. Its surface looked more like liquid than metal—fluid code trapped in form.

A prompt pulsed across the surface:

[OVERRIDE KEY REQUIRED: DNA SIGNATURE - DREX]

Neith stared. "It's locked to you. You really were part of the team that built this thing…"

"No," Liam said slowly. "I wasn't part of the team. I led it."

Liam Drex, project director. Origin Rail Initiative. Eclipse Train wasn't meant for passengers—it was meant for preservation. For the chosen. Until everything fell apart.

He placed his hand on the panel. A pulse of heat surged up his arm, and the lights overhead turned blue. The ghost screens froze, all locking onto one image:

Neith moved closer, whispering, "She's the one sending the second signal. The resistance protocol. Whoever she is… she's inside the system."

Liam's heart pounded. "Her name is Viera. She was my co-lead on the project. And she… she didn't make it."

Another screen lit up, displaying Override Path Options:

Neith's voice cracked. "Route Zero? That's the first line. The one before the train even had passengers."

Chapter 20: Override Sequence