"Welcome you two." A deep voice spoke to us. An hunched-over old man faced our direction, his sole presence making it clear that he was the conductor. He let out a strangled noise. "I have been waiting. And waiting. And waiting!"
Ew, what a creepy old man.
I instinctively shuffled back, "Hey? What are you talking about?"
"You two children." He croaked out in a rough voice, " I would say I am sorry for your fates, but I cannot help but enjoy my own. You see, the train is self-operational."
Cara carefully spoke up (most likely to not stress out the old man), "Then why does it need a conductor?"
"Because the train demands one. An eternal conductor to guide it across dimensions."
"Where are you going with this?" I tightened my jaw, "Get to the point."
"Fine! I'll get to the point. Listen up, you two! Every centillion years, an unlucky pair gets chosen to decide who should become the new train conductor. Once the other leaves the train, the remaining person in the train becomes the Limitless Train's conductor. From then on out, you will be forced to operate this train! Until a centillion has passed."
"What?" Cara squeaked, "Centillion years? That's insane and impossible. This can't be right."
"Well, welcome to your new reality! Time works its wonders, I suppose. One will return to your planet, completing this phase. One of you two will have to leave all of your life and happiness behind, staying on this train. Conducting this train. Unless you become stronger than the train itself, which is nearly impossible, you can also never leave this train! Haha, isn't that amazing?"
Both Cara and I stared in complete shock, unable to completely process the heavy information that would soon change one of our lives.
"This responsibility was mine, for a centillion years! But it will no longer be that way. Unlucky pairs, unlucky pairs. Well then, who will sacrifice themselves to become the conductor?"
My head felt dizzy just listening to his maddening voice, "No, no, no. Stop. Both of us are getting off this train today! We will both go on to pass the tutorial!"
"But you are wrong. One of you will be forced to become the train's newest conductor, whether you like it or not. If neither is chosen, then one will be chosen at random. Make your choice, little girls, your time is ticking."
"But that's not our task! It's just not." I shouted, in denial, at his stupid, stupid words. All we had to do was meet the conductor, not become the conductor!
System Neos' robotic-like voice rang out.
"Lily Chang, that would be false. Selecting a new conductor is part of the phase. Time duration left: 10 minutes. Please make your decision as soon as possible." Of course. Once again, what is the system's problem with giving us so little time? How did 50 minutes pass by so quickly?
"Cara."
"Lily."
We looked at each other eye to eye. Eyes watering up, both were unable to move. The unfairness of the situation struck us both.
Why? Just why? Out of all people to choose for this character event, why us two?
What's even the point of all this? Why did our lives get turned upside down in only a mere morning?
Why us?
Why us two?
Then Cara spoke.
"I…"
…
***
Our time given to complete this phase was 3 hours, Mr. Simon thought to himself, yet this guy finished the phase under 20 minutes.
"Those scissors, what interesting abilities…"
"What. Jealous of my special power? I'm an awakener now, isn't that cool?" Zi nonchalantly shrank the bloodied scissors back to a normal size, balancing the pair on the tip of his index finger. "I handled them all; there's no need to complain. This helped you, too. I basically led our way to victory."
Mr. Simon sighed, "Hah… ZiChuang, that wasn't what I was trying to convey. I'm only concerned about your mental state and physical health right now. The blood on you needs to be cleaned up, and those bandages replaced."
"You? Concerned about me?" Zi only barked out a loud, humorless laugh, "That's ironic."
"I am. I'm not lying."
"Uh huh." ZiChuang only hummed to himself, wiping off the blood on his face. After a momentary pause, he swung his head to glare at Mr. Simon. "Do you want a special power too? A SP?"
"ZiChuang, that doesn't matter right here. Let me-"
"I know how to trigger an SP awakening. Neo told me."
"The System Neo? Zi–"
"I'll help you get a special power, don't worry, you worry. Consider it my thanks for the new bandages and clothes you used to give me."
"ZiChuang, I don't care about the system and stuff like that now–"
"Oh, zip it. Everyone wants power. You are no exception."
The scissor suddenly enlarged into its massive double-edged scissor form, pointed close to Mr. Simon's neck. The scissor was now a little larger than Zi himself, yet Zi posed it with ease.
"You can thank me later for this."
…