The sun shone over the turbulent ocean, the crashing waves acting as the new constant since the start of the Domain Crisis. Domains would complete their insidious desires and unleash a horde of monstrous demons deep underneath the waves.
The air was in a similar situation, certain Domains had found their way onto clouds and somehow stayed there long enough to allow completion. After the ocean was taken over, so was the sky, and soon... the land.
At least, that was what Bellona knew from her limited schooling before being left to rot and die at the bottom of the world.
Bellona found a proper way up to the rooftop, climbing a ladder and opening a small hatch to embrace the wind and sun to their fullest.
It was after she fully ascended the ladder that she found the rooftop in tip-top shape.
'Probably another Shard,' After Bellona found out about the nigh-endless variety of Akashic Shard Abilities, she tended to assume that everything was the result of one.
The rooftop of the train car was restored to before the horde of blood fiends and behemoths painted it red. The marring from the various slashes and crashes delivered from both students and monsters alike were also mended.
After a short walk to the center of the car, walking around specifically placed sandbags, Bellona sat down on a stack. The sandbag was surprisingly dense, considering that it was sand.
After a moment, Bellona heard a voice.
"Hey. You're not really supposed to be up here."
She turned her head down the train to see a boy just about her age resting a sniper rifle over his shoulder like a spear.
"Think I could stay up here for a few minutes? It's suffocating down there." Bellona asked the boy.
His calm demeanor changed to one of slight worry before he answered, "Sure, I'll give you a little while." The boy took a few steps forward and sat on a sandbag opposite of Bellona, "But don't let anyone catch you up here, my only jobs to make sure nobody gets up here."
He then rested the butt of his rifle against the ground, but still beside him, ready to be grabbed at a moment's notice.
Bellona nodded with a smile before turning towards the ocean, the sight nearly took her breath away. She had heard stories of the ocean, how it used to be completely still outside of the small waves created by boats on the waters.
The waters weren't as serene as Bellona had heard them to be, but nevertheless, the world of water around them was beautiful. She turned to look at the track that the train was on, only to find them flying in the air.
Bellona turned to the boy once more and asked, "Do you know how we're flying?"
He turned to face Bellona and replied with a confused grin, "Some magic tech brought from a Domain a while back." He brought his left wrist in front of him and started tapping it with his right hand.
Bellona returned her gaze to the ocean, and after a few moments, the boy spoke:
"Looks like this guy, Stanford, learned how to make anti-gravity rocks from inside of a Domain. Huh, they're real cheap, too."
Bellona leaned back and turned to face the boy. She was hesitant for a moment, but after a deep breath, said, "What were you doing yesterday... around three in the afternoon?"
The boy flushed and asked, "When the invasion started?" To which Bellona only nodded wordlessly.
He cleared his throat before beginning his part of the story.
"Alright, before I start, I just wanna let you know that we have a huge set of wards placed on each car." The boy leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, gesturing with his hand to the space around the train car. "These things aren't a joke, either, y'know?"
To make a show of strength to these "wards" placed around the students in the train car, the boy grabbed a loose piece of metal and threw it towards the ocean. To Bellona's surprise, a bolt of lightning struck the scrap shard of metal.
The boy then turned to face Bellona and said, "See?" To which Bellona replied:
"Yeah."
He then sat back down and continued his story, "So, we're all doing our rounds after the train leaves the station." He picks his rifle up as he stands, starting to walk around the rooftop with his arm outstretched towards the ocean.
"Our array Marble goes off, telling us that someone's near the boundaries of the train when they shouldn't." The boy then pulls out a small trinket from his back pocket, it took the form of a pocket watch. "Then the train starts shaking! Before I know what's going on, I'm knocked out and wake up after the whole thing's over!"
He seemed crestfallen after finishing his side of the story, which wasn't much to begin with. Bellona almost felt bad for the boy but realized that he had probably fainted before any real combat had the chance to begin.
Bellona stood up as well, starting to walk around the rooftop and allowing the wind to brush against her. The air smelled of salt and a hint of blood, but the breeze blew the slight stench away.
'Eh... I bet Audrey would be a better sentry than this guy,'
Bellona had to cough to prevent herself from bursting out in laughter.
'Oh! Audrey would be better!'
The boy saw that Bellona was smiling wide, however, and asked in a sullen tone:
"What's up? I'm not that pathetic, okay? Someone probably snuck up on me!"
Bellona felt real pity for the cowardly boy, hoping that one day, he'd be able to be an asset on the battlefield.
It took a moment for her to regain composure, but when she did, she thought for a moment.
'How'd they get past the wards?'
Bellona stopped pacing around the train car and faced the boy, "Hey, how much would it take for the wards to be broken?"
The boy paused for a moment as well, deep in thought. After a few long seconds, he came up with an answer, "I don't think that even Teacher Brutus would be able to break the wards at the same time that the intruder did."
Bellona suddenly felt that the Pale Moon's Champion was much stronger than she had given him credit for. 'Damn, I really had no chance at all, huh.'
She resumed pacing around for a few moments, taking every step and breath to their fullest. 'Nothing beats fresh air...'
Bellona made her way to the hatch and waved the boy goodbye. It seemed that he had something more to say, but held those words back.
As she climbed down, Bellona wondered what kind of question the boy was going to ask, but quickly dismissed the potential words. 'If he needs to say something, he'll find me.'
Bellona made her way back to her room, granting polite nods and short conversations with fellow students on the way. She opened her door and found it in a terrible state.
Her pile of collected swords that were neatly stacked in the corner was spread all across the room, her suitcase was wide open and in a similar state of disarray.
'I didn't leave the room like this, did I?' Bellona thought as she began collecting the swords and putting them upright, after, she began organizing her suitcase and closing it.
After a few minutes, she was able to finally finish cleaning up the mess that she had left in the morning. 'By the stars,' she lampooned.
Bellona was still sore from the previous day, and no matter how much food she ate, she couldn't stave away the soreness. Her body ached in spots that Hilia's healing didn't manage to entirely patch up.
She reached for her backpack, opened it, and pulled a small water bottle out. Bellona quickly downed the water and felt relaxed. A bit too relaxed.
'Ah, a nap would be nice.' Bellona's body grew extremely tired after a moment, and the only thing she wanted to do was lie down under the nice sheets.
She took off her shoes before flopping onto the bed and barely managed to pull the blankets over herself before falling asleep.
***
Bellona wouldn't have a dream during this short nap but felt contently rested, nevertheless. The quality of the mattress that she slept on was just below her bed at home, which was a feat in and of itself.
The sheets and pillow were smooth, thick, and soft all at the same time, thus allowing Bellona to be tempted to sleep much more. The bed was especially alluring after the hardships of yesterday, being pushed to the brink of her stamina twice, and the limit of her strength once during the fearsome battle.
Time would pass, and Bellona would feel as if she only blinked, with the sky turning from blue to watercolor orange as quickly as a bullet flying through the air.
Gentle rays of orange sunlight would peer into Bellona's room through the window and wake her up. Her body still ached but wasn't as sore as earlier, however, she was extremely parched.
Bellona didn't even have the strength to mutter the words.
'It's a desert in here...'
She lazily dragged the blanket off of herself and rolled out of bed, barely catching herself with her feet before slamming onto the ground. Bellona was sweating profusely and didn't have a keen understanding of what time it was.
'Oh my god... it was one of those naps...'
Bellona wiped the sweat off of her forehead and felt clammy all over, but managed to open the window to her room.
What greeted her was a strong, but gentle warm breeze, as if the rays of bronze sunlight were cooling her down directly. It was a good wind... after standing at the window and absorbing the wind for what seemed like a moment, Bellona shivered.
'Oops, too much.'
She then slid the window closed and put on her shoes. 'It's probably time for dinner, anyway.'
Not even a moment after Bellona opened her door, the door beside her opened as well. Mona walked out of her room and smiled politely as she waved to Bellona.
"Hi, Bellona!"
Bellona waved back with half the enthusiasm, "Hey, Mona."
Mona was wearing a pair of light jeans, a white t-shirt, and an unbuttoned, striped, blue flannel shirt with its sleeves rolled up. She spoke up, her voice cheery as ever, "You heading to dinner, too?"
Bellona rubbed the eye dust out of her eyes before responding, "Yeah, just took a short nap. What about you?"
Mona took a few steps to Bellona with her smile unchanging, "Yup!"
Bellona had thought about something for a small while since waking up this morning. 'People are probably going to get our names mixed up sometime soon...'
She followed Mona and said, "Hey, Mona."
Mona, keeping her pace, turned around to face Bellona, "Yeah?"
"If you want, you can just call me Bell, it's probably easier for everyone else, too."
Mona's expression turned to one of thinking as if she were in a detective novel of sorts. After a short moment, and several paces backward, she said, "Oh yeah! Bellona, and Mona! Our names are super similar! I guess calling you Bell is simpler."
Bell had wanted her nickname to be reserved for just family, but having her allies, no, friends, call her "Bell," would be nice. It was an honor that very few had, and that honor would be extended to the world soon enough.
Bell and Mona reached the cafeteria only to find it completely packed, save for the table that the Eriksons and Solaces were sitting at. Two seats were reserved just for the two of them.
With a rumbling stomach, Bell quickly entered the long line and prepared to devour a feast worthy of champions. Mona quickly followed with rapid steps, and the two started a conversation about what types of meat were better than the others.
The group would enjoy a dinner that ended with Bell eating seven plates of food, followed shortly by Michael at six plates. Afterward, they all headed down to the lounge to play some games and act as fools when not actively playing games.
Time would pass like this for the next couple of days. Bell woke up early to stretch and share breakfast with a few friends, then went up to the rooftop to talk to the boy who never revealed his name, then to take a nap and eat dinner.
Bell's soreness and aching slowly but surely stopped over the coming two days. Michael and Pyralis often had duels while Mona and Jude traded wins in the various board games.
Torm and the others quickly found common ground in crocheting, knitting, and other life skills. Bellona enjoyed talking with the others about these topics, but would generally be an outlier in terms of knowledge.
That was fine, though, she had missed out on four years of development, but she learned how to survive, and that was enough in her book.
On the dawn of the third day, something changed. Instead of waking up to a gentle ray of sunshine, a blaring beeping woke Bell up.
After the alarm stopped, the voice of the conductor broke the sudden silence.
[Good morning, all!]
He coughed, like he wasn't ready to speak this morning, but then continued.
[I am ecstatic to let you all know that we have made it to Vatican City!]