Ghosts of the Past

CHAPTER 10 – Freak Train

Date: 23rd of August, Second Year of the Game. Location: Appleloosa.

I woke up in the middle of Appleloosa’s main street, already standing up. In the distance, I could see the world’s end. The desert faded away in a white void, and nothing could be seen beyond that limit.

“You went too far this time, Marc. I warned you before…”

I turned back to face Mercury, who was leaning on the wooden wall of a house with his arms crossed. “It was just a song… Come on.”

“That’s still an infraction that earned you a punishment… You disappointed me today. Thus, I declare that from now on, your ability to regain magic power when you are in the material world will be severely diminished.”

“How am I going to help Louis if I’m powerless? Do you want him to die or what? ”

“You’ll help him by making a choice: you’ll use either magic, or your body. Not both. That is the price to pay for your error.”

My face did not move an inch and remained the cold skin mask it always had been; but inside of my head, a fire was burning. “Some day, Mercury, I swear you’ll pay for your own errors.”

He laughed softly. “And what error did I commit, O venerable human?”

“You brought me here. And then you made me angry. You know that very well… Angry lawyers always get what they want.”

“Huh. We’ll see about that, ghost boy. Now get out of here.”

He snapped his fingers and I lost consciousness.

Date: 23rd of August, Second Year of the Game. Location: Appleloosa.

I woke up in the infirmary, only to see a pony’s head leaning over my belly. I immediately recognized the fiery orange mane of Nurse Sunheart, who was apparently trying to listen to my heart with a stethoscope.

“Hello, nurse.”

These two words were enough to make her jump to the roof screaming, her mane suddenly straighter than a bundle of needles.

When she fell back on the ground, the paralyzed nurse looked at me with near-empty eyes, her hoof gripping her chest.

“Y-y-you were dead! I-I mean, you had no pulse!”

I shrugged. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I tend to do that a lot nowadays.”

Wiping her forehead, she said: “Well, I guess you can go then, since you look fine. Louis came back to Jolly Jester’s house after bringing you here. He was rather scared and needed someone.”

“Thank you, once again. Oh and by the way, could you tell me how long I’ve been there?”

“Two hours.”

“Damn. It wasn’t that long last time. Well anyway, see you soon. I’ll be going, I don’t have time to lose,” I said, as I hopped off of the bed and raced to the door clumsily, still not quite used to having four feet.

Shortly after, I barged in my friend’s house, out of breath. Louis and Jester were trying to wrap the motorcycle up with cloth in the middle of the corridor, because they wanted it to be correctly attached to the sledge.

When he saw me, Louis smiled for the first time since he arrived on Equis. [“Phantom! Awesome! I thought we’d have to find another train. What happened to you?”]

At the same time, Jester looked at me with wide-open eyes without saying anything, almost as if he just saw a dead man walking.

[“No time to explain. Keep on wrapping that bike, I have to write something.”]

I rushed to the cabinet where Jolly Jester stored his writing apparatus, grabbed everything I needed and started writing a letter destined to Nurse Sunheart.

Twenty minutes later, the letter was written and sealed. Jester and Louis finished wrapping the bike a while ago, and they were both taking a drink in the kitchen.

I walked to them and declared: “Well, Jolly Jester, I’m sorry to have scared you with my little accident, but I can assure you, it’s nothing. Don’t worry for me.”

His brow furrowed. “If you say so.”

“Yeah. I do. Now, excuse me but we’re going to have to go, the train is due soon.”

I put the letter on his table and explained: “This is for Nurse Sunheart. Bring it to her tomorrow, okay?”

He nodded, grabbed the envelope and trotted off to his bedroom, where he already had stored the gem that was meant for Nurse Sunheart.

Losing no time, I immediately spoke to Louis. [“You’re going to have to travel alone.”]

My brother looked at me in disbelief. [“Why?”]

[“You know what happened earlier, when I fell into a coma and all? It’s because I almost did something I don’t have the right to do. And now Mercury removed my ability to regain magic when I have a body. It’s hard to explain, but in short, I can disappear from the material world and still be there, because I’m a ghost most of the time. So you see, I’ll always be there, and occasionally I’ll talk to you; but I can’t always physically be there if we want to make it to the Black Marsh. If I keep my body all the time, I can’t use more than one or two spells, and we need more than that. Okay?”]

[“Uh… Yeah? I’m not sure I understand. Is it going to be like when I was in the desert?”]

[“Pretty much, yeah. But I’ll really help you from now on. When you were in the desert, I used up almost all my magic power and couldn’t do anything.”]

Louis sighed. [“Meh. As long as I can heal this leg in the end, it’s okay I guess… But I still can’t believe this is a part of my body. I can’t even believe that this whole thing is my body.”]

[“You’d better get used to it, because you’re not going to go back to Earth any time soon.”]

“Hmm, nothing happened. Apparently I can tell him about his own past, as long as I don’t mention mine. Good to know.”

[“Say what you want, I’m still pretty sure this is all some kind of very complicated dream. I’m having an internal dialogue with the emo part of my brain, that’s all.”]

[“I’m not you, and I’m not emo. I didn’t choose these clothes. Mercury put them on me. It’s my uniform, somehow. And stop believing you are-”]

We were interrupted by our common friend, who put the letter in a secured place. He quickly asked: “Hey, when is that train coming already?”

“About half an hour. We have to hurry.”

“Alrighty! Let’s go, friends!”

Louis and I grabbed the sled that stood in the middle of the corridor, and the three of us headed outside.

Ten minutes later, we reached the train station. As soon as the people there saw me, they stared at me awkwardly and tried to stay at least five meters away from me. I was used to it, but it wasn’t any less annoying.

Looking around, Louis noticed all the weird looks he was being given by the people standing nearby. [“Hey… Phantom… Why do these people avoid us?”]

[“They avoid me, not us three. They’re scared of me. They’re not like you. Humans are different. Humans fight the unknown. Ponies simply flee. They’re herbivores, and their primal instincts are those of herbivores. Of course, the more intelligent ones can suppress their instincts, but when reason fails, their reaction always ends up being the same.”]

[“Huh. I see. Well. I guess I won’t speak to other people a lot, if they all do like that.”]

[“I’ll go back to my ghost form probably very soon. We will need big spells at some point in time, and I can’t do those with a body. So no one will see me during these moments.”]

[“Okay. Very well then.”]

Louis, feeling that the conversation had come to a halt, decided to take a look at the landscape. The orange light of the western sun covered the desert with a thousand glittering dots. It was quite the sight to behold, for someone who never saw a desert with his own eyes.

Meanwhile, I turned back and spoke with Jolly Jester for a while, during the last few minutes before the train came. I never really discussed about the future, and kept diverting the conversation towards the time I’ve spent in Appleloosa. I didn’t want to tell him that I’d probably never see him again. As far as I knew at that moment, I probably would get kicked out of Equestria before I had the chance to even think about the friends I made there.

A quarter of an hour later, the loud tooting of the train’s locomotive marked the end of our idle chat. The shrieking brakes made us all cringe before the black steel behemoth finally came to a halt in front of us, emitting a surprisingly clear smoke.

While the first passengers walked towards the train’s doors, Jolly Jester spoke up. “Well that’s it then?”

Imitating the famous red pony the best I could, I answered: “Eyup.”

He looked at my brother and I. “See you soon, guys. It’s a shame I didn’t get to know you better. I’m sure there’s much more jokes I can learn from you, Phantom; and much more foreign words I can learn from you, Louis.”

“Rest assured, we’ll be back if we can. I don’t know when, but I’ll send you a letter someday anyway. Okay?”

“All right. I’ll be waiting for that letter then! Have fun in the Black Marsh… As much as one could call that ‘fun’.”

“Bah. Don’t worry for us. We’ll be fine.”

As we were shaking hooves, both of us declared simultaneously: “Good bye.”

A few minutes later, Louis and I found a place in the freight wagons, since no one wanted me to be in the regular wagons. Even the controllers didn’t want to check my ticket or question the presence of this huge sled we carried. The smoke that constantly surrounded me was enough to deter them.

Although it saddened me to scare people away with my looks, I was sure that it would be practical someday. After all, I wasn’t sent to Equestria in order to meet the locals and have a cup of coffee with them.

Louis interrupted my contemplation of our situation by walking in front of me and asking a question. [“Hey. Do you think I could go back in the wagons? I prefer seats.”]

[“You can try. If I don’t come along, they might accept you. But I’ll stay here,”] I said, sighing in acceptance.

Slightly embarrassed to leave me alone, Louis still longed for a comfortable place. [“Okay. Well, see you later then.”]

He looked at me one last time before opening the door, and exited the wagon.

“And I’m alone, once again… At least we’re safe, I guess. And Louis doesn’t seem to take his abduction too bad. Still, I wish I could just tell him who I am. This whole thing sucks.”

Considering everything that happened, I sat in front of the window and let my mind wander off, imagining a thousand scenarios about our future on Equis as the trees zoomed past me.

Date: 24th of August, Second Year of the Game. Location: Train tracks, between Appleloosa and Trottingham.

[“All these damn horses have been looking at me all the time since I’ve entered the room. Every time I look at them, they turn their eyes away, yet I know that they look at me. I’m supposed to be one of these idiots, dammit. Why do they do this?”]

Several families were in the same wagon as him. A few lonely ponies were there too. Old, young, rich or poor, alone or in a group, it didn’t matter: none of them missed an occasion to stare at him when he looked elsewhere.

It had been hours since he entered the wagon, but Louis never felt their looks dying down, as if he was a threat to their existence simply because he traveled with the wrong person. Even if it wasn’t morning yet, they couldn’t just go to sleep. They had to look at him constantly.

While he was pondering about their behavior, Louis saw one of the travelers look at him, from the corner of his eye. The darkness reigned in the train, but there was enough light to see sparks in the eyes of those who glared at him.

It was time to do something.

Instantly, he looked straight in the eyes of the pony who was eyeing him. The stranger’s eyes widened, as his face changed and displayed fear instead of morbid curiosity.

Filled with contempt when he saw what effect he had, Louis sternly asked: “Why.”

Not one second, did he lower or blink his eyes.

No answer came. Once again, his mouth opened itself and a sound came out. But this time, it was more elaborate. “Why you look at me all the time.”

The despicably cowardly pony in front of him was probably homeless, judging by his scraggly mane and the dirty spots on his chest’s fur. He should have been used to see scarier things. And he probably ate some of these things. Yet, he was absolutely unable to even consider talking with Louis. He was a pariah in the pony society, but even he did not dare to say anything to the man who traveled with the abomination that hid in the last wagons.

Feeling much too oppressed by Louis’ gaze, the dirty pony averted his eyes in shame and exited the wagon without a noise.

During the whole scene, the others were watching. And now, it was their turn to be watched.

As soon as the door was closed, Louis’ stare darted to the eyes of someone else, who also finally exited the wagon without saying anything.

One by one, they exited the train car, and no one answered his simple, yet terrifying question.

Why.

None of the ponies could face the truth: they were so scared of the unknown that they didn’t dare question its presence and moved away themselves instead.

If it was a dream, it was not amusing. There apparently was no place for dream logic, as one would expect in the real world, yet it couldn’t be fully real. Things didn’t have an outline in real life, horses weren’t sentient, bones weren’t flexible. It could not be real, yet it felt like it was. He had to breathe, to walk, to think. He could even sleep. But this whole situation was impossible.

And he, as a simple student, did not know what to do when things were impossible and kept happening. No one taught him how to answer that. His mind tried to find solutions, but there were none to be found. Finally, when all of his ideas were debunked by his own mind, it simply shut down, and he let his tears flow freely.

He was helpless, there wasn’t any other way to say it. He was trapped in another world, alone, lost, and everyone hated him because of a stupid horse with a silly costume who followed him everywhere.

Cherishing the last memories of his life on Earth, Louis drifted off to sleep as he cursed the entire world and the thing that brought him here.

Date: 24th of August, Second Year of the Game. Location: Trottingham.

The ear-killing screech of the train’s brakes suddenly interrupted Louis’ dreamless sleep.

He was still as alone as ever, save for one thing. Phantom was sitting in a cloud of smoke at the other end of the train car.

Annoyed, he spat: [“Oh. It’s you. Where are we?”]

The stern answer immediately came, although Louis felt Phantom was trying to be friendly somehow. [“Trottingham. It’s a small town, still far from our final destination. Are you hungry? The train will stay there for half an hour. We can go out and buy something. Since no one knows me around here, or at least I hope so, there shouldn’t be a problem.”]

Sighing, Louis stated: [“Yeah. Let’s go. I’m tired of these retards.”]

[“What happened?”]

[“Nothing,”] he said while waving his foreleg in a dismissive motion.

[“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”]

Louis sighed in annoyance, once again. [“Everything is wrong. This world is wrong, the people are wrong, you are wrong, I am wrong, even the laws of physics are wrong. And I just can’t deal with all this bullshit.”]

Shrugging off, I answered: [“Trust me, you’re not alone here. There’s plenty of other Chess Pieces around here, somewhere. Maybe someday we’ll find other humans.”]

Louis immediately lashed out at me: [“You just don’t get it, do you! I don’t want other humans here, I want to go back to my damn planet! And my body!”]

[“I know… But that’s not possible for now. We can’t fight against gods. The only thing we can do right now is to accomplish their orders.”]

My brother didn’t say a word. He only looked at me with eyes that said: “Go to hell”.

[“Listen, Louis, I don’t want that to happen to you either. But I can’t do anything against a god.”]

Still mute, he exited our train car slowly, and found himself in the one where his previous “admirers” were. During a few seconds, he had to face the looks of the people who fled earlier. They all displayed contempt and hatred. However, as soon as I opened the door too, their expressions changed suddenly. Many of them even turned their heads away. I could almost hear them think: “He’s not there, he’s not there, he’s not there…”

Louis simply walked off, containing his frustration, but I had another idea. Before exiting the train, I took the gravest voice I could have, and declared: “Equestria did not prosper thanks to ponies like you who are afraid of the unknown. Instead of being the pride of your species, you act just like the primitive cave-dwellers that ponies were, hundreds of thousands of years ago. Be ashamed of yourselves.”

Leaving them to meditate on that message, I jumped off the train and onto the street. As I saw it, Trottingham seemed to be the perfect replica of a charming village from England’s countryside in the eighteenth century; save for its inhabitants who had been replaced by ponies.

Nonetheless, it was not the village’s appearance that worried me, but the people’s reactions. In Appleloosa, everyone knew about me. From the sheriff to the miners, there wasn’t one person in town who hadn’t heard of the “Smoke Stallion”. My abilities also had been greatly exaggerated by the constant gossip that went on in this town. Of course, it was useful, at a certain extent, but I never foresaw that it would prevent me from socializing. And so, I feared that the people’s reactions might be the same here. It was quite far away, but I had stayed a while in Appleloosa after all. The rumors had largely enough time to spread…

Louis interrupted my thought process with a pat on the shoulder. [“Hey, where do we go now?”]

[“I don’t know this place. We’ll keep walking until we find a restaurant or something.”]

Wordless, both of us walked away from the stationed train, glancing at both sides of the road in the hopes of finding a place that would accept me. A few minutes later, I finally spotted a tavern that seemed decent enough without being too uptight either. A small wooden sign displayed the picture of a white pony holding a beer mug, as well as a name: “The Drinking Pony”.

“God… This world is based on references. Meh. At least I’m pretty sure it won’t be too terrible.”

[“Hey, Louis. Let’s get in there.”]

[“Hmph. Whatever. You first.”]

Trying to stay discrete, I opened the door slowly, but without doing it slowly enough to make it creak uselessly either. Fortunately, this was enough, since the dozen of clients didn’t hear me and kept noisily discussing. The bar’s patron was not looking at me and seemed to be washing a glass. A pale dishcloth hung loosely on his back, almost invisible on his immaculate white coat.

Quickly, I motioned Louis to come in while I approached the bar counter. I could see a few of the clients looking at me already, but the patron didn’t see me yet. During a second, I could look at the prices he asked for, since they written on a large slate hanging on the wall above him.

However, the sudden disappearance of all sounds in the room made the patron’s ear fidget slightly: everyone looked at me but him. When he turned around, he found himself facing a gigantic and seemingly armored person, handing him a small bunch of gems. Handling the situation rather well, the patron declared, with a drop of sweat trickling down his jaw: “Hello, what can I do for you? Maybe you’re interested in our selection of beers and rums?”

His forced smile was so unnatural it almost made me laugh, even though my extremely grave voice didn’t let that transpire. “Two full meals, please. No alcohol.”

“Fine, then! It’ll be two full meals! That’s 10 bits.”

As I pushed the gems further on his side on the counter, he looked at them for a while before lifting his eyes. “Nope, that won’t do. These gems aren’t good enough. Maybe you should consider having actual money, huh?”

Trying to avoid any confrontation, I simply showed him a small golden trinket, much more elaborate than anything I saw so far. Taking the gems back, I put the trinket on his side of the counter. “I don’t have money on me right now.”

“Well, that’ll be enough, then. Now go sit there, it’ll be ready in about ten minutes,” he said while pointing to a table in a corner of the room. Of course, this table was the furthest from the rest of the clients, but I rather saw it as a reason to not be bothered by anyone.

The other clients started talking again. Louis and I promptly went to the designated table and sat nearby.

A few seconds after we reached the table, he asked me: [“Hey, Phantom, what’s it on the menu?”]

I murmured my answer: [“Vegetarian bullshit. Let’s start whispering from now on, I don’t think they would tolerate someone who eats meat.”]

Dubious, my brother whispered nonetheless. [“Aw, man. Do these guys really never eat meat?”]

I shook my head. [“Nope. All damn herbivores. However, there are a few places where you can find meat… But they’re usually far away from here. It’s because of the griffins who live up in the north. They eat meat.”]

[“Griffins? Wow. Damn. This world is better than I thought. Do they talk too?”]

[“Of course. Why would restaurants serve meat otherwise?”]

Slapping himself on the forehead, he said: [“Damn, dumb question. Nevermind. So, what other myths actually exist in this world?”]

[“Well, there’s minotaurs, and they talk, there’s hydras, there’s dragons and they talk too, but you already know that, there’s probably a few giant Leviathan-like sea monsters, and in general, there’s magic, but you already know that too. Oh and yeah, there’s windigos, some kind of pony spirits of anger who generate cold. They come from an Amerindian myth. I’m not sure about the rest.”]

[“Hmm. Okay. I guess that’s good enough.”]

[“There’s also a bunch of Chess Pieces who have the appearance of other mythological beasts. But don’t be fooled, if you see something too original, like a Hellboy-esque person, it’s a Chess Piece, not a regular inhabitant of this world. Oh and right, about Chess Pieces, they’re not always very dangerous beings, in essence. For example, I know of two who don’t even come close to you, and you’re not that powerful… There’s one who’s a cat, and another who’s a cow. However, be aware: that cow wears a suit, and under that suit is a shotgun. And pepper spray. But that shouldn't matter. She’s actually fighting for the greater good, and I don’t think you’re against that. Right?”]

[“Yup. Totally not going to fight a cow in a suit over her plans. I don’t plan on doing anything related to this place anyway. I’d rather have my leg healed first, rather than saving the world or anything.”]

[“Fine. Now, let’s wait for the meal to come by.”]

[“Buh. Waiting is boring.”]

Louis subsequently put his forelegs on the table and rested his head on them.

Always on the lookout, I turned my head towards the other people in the room. Some of them still were staring at me. I decided to stare back and try to imagine what their lives were, just as I did with humans in the subway every morning.

The clear blue Pegasus in a corner certainly was not a racer, he was way too weak for that. He probably was a simple weather guy from around there. The brown earth pony in front of him, however, seemed to be the kind of burly guy you’d expect to find in a farm.

And then there was that second earth pony guy, sitting alone behind a table full of empty bottles. His forelegs crossed, the ebony black drunkard defiantly stared at me, his mouth distorted into an angry grin. Thirty long seconds passed, and I couldn't really define who he was. Maybe a mercenary, maybe a farm worker, maybe a retired soldier, maybe a sailor.

However, he decided he had been examined enough after a while. As mute as ever, he suddenly punched his table and jumped up before walking towards me. I kept on staring at him during the whole time he took to cross the room, while everyone else stopped talking and looked at me again. Louis was surprised, but he let me handle the situation when I motioned him to keep his mouth shut.

Twenty seconds later, the angry pony slammed his hoof on the table and put his face very close to mine. I could feel the heat of his rancid breath when he spat: “I don’t like your looks, stranger. Maybe you should pay me a drink if you don’t want me to kick you out of here.”

Eyeing his table, I asked: “Tell me, how much drinks did you take today? Were all these bottles full when the bartender gave them to you?”

“Yeah. And I’m damn fine because I’m tougher than you little shit. ‘No alcohol’,” he said, while imitating what one would assume to be a pansy little girl.

Putting my hooves under my chin and my elbows on the table, I said, with a considerably lighter tone: “Do you know where the ethanol molecules that reside in alcohol go when you drink them, and what is their main property?”

The drunkard’s eyes rolled around as he retorted: “What the buck does it matter. I want another drink now, and you’re going to offer it to me or I’ll smash your face, you bastard.”

With a smirk that he could not see, I retorted: “Wrong answer. Ethanol molecules go straight to your brain, and their main property is to be extremely inflammable. You don’t want me, a mage from the High Lunar Academy, to make your brain explode with a single little fire spell, do you?”

Seeing his snarl getting disintegrated and replaced with fear was absolutely priceless.

He stuttered and asked: “Y-you can’t do that, can you?”

I answered him with an order. “Look at these bottles on your table.”

When he turned his head around, I used an illusion spell to set all the holes on my mask on fire.

“Now look at me again.”

At the moment he saw the flames bursting out of my face, the drunkard screamed and jumped back, protecting his head with a hoof.

I then declared solemnly: “Do I look like I’m joking?”

Scratching his head, he muttered “I guess not”, before walking back to his table in shame. As for the other ponies in the room, who observed the whole scene... When I set my eyes on them, they suddenly started speaking again as if they never saw anything,

Louis looked at me as if I was Satan. [“Damn, could you turn that fire off? It’s creepy. How do you even do that?”]

Once again, I whispered. [“It’s just an illusion. And, well, magic. You know.”]

The fire disappeared when I concentrated on the idea of cancelling it.

Incredulous, Louis kept looking at me with an eyebrow higher than the other. We spent a few minutes like this, until the bar owner finally came back with our meal: a vegetarian stew made of the local traditional pseudo-meat baked with beans, carrots and potatoes. As a pony, I probably enjoyed it more than I would have if I had my human body; but it was good nonetheless.

Besides me, Louis had a hard time using the fork with his hoof. He wasn’t quite used to manipulate his outline. But he did manage to eat his meal, somehow.

Afterwards, came two slices of fruit-flavored cake. The local baker was good, there was no denying it.

While we enjoyed the cake, I heard a metallic screech outside. It became louder and louder, and I wondered what happened out there. I understood what it was when I heard it moving. Quickly, I exited the restaurant and left Louis there with the rest of his cake, motioning him to stay there.

My sprint through the town was useless. The train was already speeding away in the distance when I reached the docks.

“Damn, these motherfuckers left us when they saw we weren’t in the train. How am I even going to catch up with them? And- oh, damn, they have the bike. I must find a way to get to that train!”

The colt sitting in the ticket booth nearby almost passed through his chair when he saw the giant black stallion running towards him, but unfortunately for him, he did not have the power of intangibility.

Upon reaching the tiny window in the front of his booth, I asked him immediately: “When is the next train for Canterlot?”

Stuttering madly, the employee managed to say: “T-t-t-t-two days.”

“Damn. I can’t wait for two days. What else can I- Oh hey, I know what I can do. Time to jump through dimensions. I’ll need more mana.”

Refusing to wait one more second, I disappeared in the middle of the streets. The bystanders saw me disappear in the cloud of smoke that surrounded me, without seeing me reappearing on the other side of the veil. Their confusion was amusing, but I had no time to look at them being baffled.

Once again, I felt my body as human. It was a little disorienting to be able to move these ethereal fingers again, but much less than when I first got my pony body. Thus, I could rush to the restaurant without too much problems.

Inside, Louis was waiting behind his table, when my voice suddenly resounded in near his hear. [“Get out of here! The train went away without us. These idiots took the bike!”]

He jumped off of his chair in surprise. [“What? Why! We paid our tickets and they weren’t supposed to go for ten more minutes! And where are you?”]

The people in the bar looked at him as if he was crazy, but he didn't even notice them.

My disembodied voice explained: [“We’ll see that with them. In the meantime, go back to the docks. I’m back to my ghost form. I’ll need a lot of magic to do what I want to do.”]

Yelling “Thank you good bye!” with the best English I’ve heard from him so far, Louis exited the restaurant as fast as he could and ran back through the streets.

Five minutes later, he was near the railway, about as sweating and panting as if he just ran a marathon.

[“Now sit back and watch, Louis.”]

After a quick nod, my brother simply stood there for a few seconds, in the middle of the train station. Shortly after, a cloud of smoke emerged from the ground and a roaring noise could be heard. It grew bigger before a wheel came out.

Slowly, the black motorcycle I remembered had appeared in front of an astonished crowd. Using the summoning spell while thinking about the dimension where I wanted it to go was enough to actually make it go there. Magic never ceased to amaze me.

[“Quick, jump on the backseat and grab the handles. I’ll worry about the driving,”] I declared, already sitting on the bike in the Soul Dimension.

Louis, quite unsure about all this, still did what I told him and sat on the back of the motorcycle, while several people gathered around the strange vehicle that appeared. However, when I started the engine, that crowd scattered faster than a group of pigeons facing a tiger.

After taking speed on the long stone docks, I jumped off of them and onto the gravel surrounding the train tracks. That stunt made my brother ask me with a trembling voice: [“Hey, you know how to drive that, right?”]

I replied with a laugh: [“Trust me, I drive better than you.”]

But that laugh quickly died down as I remembered what was inside the train we were chasing: the remedies to Louis’ curse. We were racing against the clock. If Louis didn’t have another poultice applied to his leg before the end of the third day after he removed the previous one, his leg would start getting petrified again. And it would be extremely fast. I didn’t want to lose so soon.

Boosted by the idea of failure, I fully turned the throttle. The exhausts spat fire, and we reached speeds that could have justified an instantaneous removal of my driving license on Earth.

Luckily, we weren’t on Earth, and dead people don’t need driving licenses.