A woman with caramel-colored hair walked with elegance towards her office. A guardian was there to open the door for her to enter. Despite of the shakiness of the train's metal floor, they stood firm as a sign of respect.
"Is everybody here?" Petra asked as she sat down on her swivel chair. She eyed every guardian wearing the same black suits and black glasses.
"Yes, ma'am" the chief guardian answered with a stern voice. "Who among you are new here?" Petra asked and most of them raised their hands. Petra sighed and took a scroll from her cabinet and opened it wide on her table.
She pointed the dotted lines, representing the path the train is taking. "To educate you all, this is where we are now" she said. Next, she pointed the other dotted line with a symbol of the sea beside it. "This is the sea of living. We have less than two minutes to reach there. As soon as we entered the dark tunnel, the end of it is the entrance. It's obvious once we enter, tremendous rhythm can shaken the whole train but don't worry, it's going to be safe since this train is well-built." she explained.
The guardians were focusing and listening every single word she says. She continued, "I want you all to guard every corner of the train. Make sure not a single soul can escape" she said and glared each guardian.
"Escape?" asked one guardian.
Petra nodded, "History might repeat itself." she sat back on her swivel chair, picked a ballpoint pen and played with it between her fingers, "In every two? Three? Five? I don't know how many decades it will be for the prophecy to occur but it will always repeat." she said.
She clutched the pen she is holding and stared at the eyes of every guardian in front of her, "The prophecy of a troubled soul that will bend the rule of the eternal world" the new guardians stood there frozen of what they heard.
They don't know but they felt goosebumps when their Guardian Angel of the Gates said that. They felt amusement, awe, astonishment, and excitement-hoping they would witness such prophecy in the near future. "I'm excited" one of the guardians squealed like a girl.
"Ehem" the chief guardian faked a cough and glared at his coordinates. The man noticed his chief's death glare so he straightened up with fear. "Sorry" he mumbled.
Petra stared at them for a few minutes like she was telling them to pay attention. Some of them gulped as they drowned in the angel's stare. "And when I said guard every corner..." she stopped playing with the ballpoint pen and pointed the end of it to each guardian standing in front of her, "It means, every single corner. I expect no failures from this team. Do you understand?" she asked. They answered, "Yes" in unison.
It doens't end there. One young guardian with a spiky modern undercut, blonde hair raised his right hand, "May I ask what is in the sea of the living, ma'am?" one of the guardian asked with curiosity.
Petra grinned with that question and straightened up, "Good question, kid." she said. The guardians looked at her, "The sea of the living is--" Petra was cut off when the office door barged open revealing a guardian with a shaky breathing.
"What's going on?" Petra raised her brow as she placed the ballpoint pen on top of the table and leaned forward. The guardian that just entered was shivering and gasping for air as he pointed the doorway with his thumb, "a soul from the black train went from out of her assigned railroad car." he said.
Petra's eyes widened and stood up, "Find that soul!" she screamed in frustration that pushes every guardian to follow her.
"What does this soul looks like?!" the chief guardian asked. The guardian shook his head, "I-I don't but it's a girl wearing a white dress" he answered.
The chief guardian face palmed when he heard the reply of his coordinate, "Fool! All women here are wearing white! Tell every guardian to search for her!" he commanded. Petra massaged her temple to calm herself down. "I never expected this to happen this early" she mumbled with disappointment. "I let my guard down" she added.
Clare, on the other hand, was running around the train, entered from car to car, just to escape from the two guardians chasing her. She entered another car and shut down the metal door that made the guardian screamed from the outside. "Better get back here, lady!" one of the guardian shouted. She was gasping for air as she leaned on the metal door.
"Why are they chasing you?" she was surprised when she heard a voice. She looked up and saw people staring at her with handkerchief in their hands. She forced to smile and shook her head, "W-We were playing tag?" she reasoned out, hoping they would believe her stupid reason.
"T-That too sad..." the lady commented as she bawled. Her forehead creased when the old lady said that. "W-What...?" she mumbled. "I don't know why I am sad but it's too sad..." the young girl from the right side of the car said and cried again. If the magic worked on me, maybe I would end up like them she thought while watching the people weeping again, creating crying noises that echoes every corner of the railroad car.
"Hey! Let us in!" she snapped her thoughts when she heard the guardians she just shut the door with from the outside screamed. She hurriedly stood up and took a step back.
One of the guardian was glaring at her. He pointed her and gestured her to come closer to him, "Be a good girl and open this door!" he said. She grinned and shook her head that made the two guardians jaw dropped.
You might be all wondering how Clare managed to escape from her railroad car. As soon as Petra and the other guardians left the railroad car where she is, she immediately generated a stupid plan and that is just to escape from the two guardians standing in both metal doors of the car.
She observed the guardians' movements and noticed that they were both different from the guardians that she encountered. The other one looks like he's slacking.
He's just a teen guardian who sometimes closed his sleepy eyes and even lose his balance while standing. The other one standing in the exit was very amused of the view outside the window, he even had his mouth gaping.
Clare smirked and slowly went down on her knees and crawled. It might be a stupid plan but she was hoping it will work. She slowly crawl and crawl and the people around her were just ignoring and continued whining like a baby.
Then she reached the exit door and still, the guardian didn't seem to notice her presence. She slowly crawled to the side and hid at the side of the bench and opened her palm, revealing a steel nail she got below the table. She grinned.
She swung her arm and threw the nail somewhere that made a loud clanking sound. It caught the two guardian's attention.
"What was that?!" the sleepy guardian exclaimed and searched where the sound came from. The guardian near Clare snapped his thoughts and ran towards his friend. "What is it?!" he asked and his friend shook his head.
"I don't know. Let's search for it. Maybe there's a weapon" the sleepy guardian said and dropped on his knees and crawled. The other one did the same, looking for something they didn't even know what they're looking for.
Clare silently giggled and rose up from her spot. She walked slowly to the exit door and opened it. She gasped when she saw the cloud-like ground right in front of her. It's like she forgot hoe to breath because of fear.
The train continued moving and about 5-10 inches metal was the only pathway for her to cross to the other car. "Hey! Stop right there!" a familiar was heard that startled her so she immediately crossed the metal to get to the other car and escape from them.
Back to the present, she stuck her tongue out and raised her hand with a peace sign, "Sorry, guys. I have a friend to save. See you around!" she said as she turned her back and walked out, couldn't remove the smile on her lips.
"This is going to be fun" she whispered as she opened the exit door of the car and entered another railroad car. One more car and she'll finally reach the red train-where Sarah is.