They enter the train with haste, the interior of the train looks just like a normal train that you would find in the human world, designed to be unnoticeable by humans. It is however packed full of supernatural creatures from all over the world.
They look around the inside of the train with awe before settling down at nearby seats.
The World train begins to move with a loud rumbling noise.
A few hours go by as the train travels through the Unwanted Kingdom towards the human world, the train stops as it reaches the town of Windrip. Tarot nudges awake the sleeping Rayne leaning on their shoulder, "What..." She groans with a stretch. "We're here, Windrip?." Tarot replies.
"Oh," Rayne murmurs back.
They get up from their seats and exit the train with a few other passengers.
The town of Windrip is a lively and attractive town bustling with people, Tarot watches them with widening eyes, surprised at the amount of humans in one place. Rayne tries talking to them about where to find the author of the letters but her voice is numbed out by Tarot's amazement. "We HAVE to explore this place!" They gasp dragging Rayne with them.
"Please no." She groans but in vain.
Tarot drags her through cafes, parks and establishments, exploring everything they find in their path for the first time, Rayne groans as she hesitantly accompanies them around.
They finally stop to rest at a park near the shore of Windrip, exhausted, Rayne sits tapping her feet on the ground,
"Are we done?" She scowls in exhaustion.
"Sorry," Tarot laughs. "I got carried away, I've never seen so many humans, and the things they come up with? AMAZING." They yell out.
"But I promise I'm done now" They glance at Rayne.
"By the way...How come they didn't notice you? I changed to my human form but you didn't, why didn't anyone react to you?"
The mood turns sour around them as Tarot interrogates her.
Rayne picks at her nails nervously and answers. "It's because I don't...Exist to them." She whispers avoiding eye contact and looking at the ground.
"...What does that mean?" Tarot carefully asks and tries to find her eyes, leaning forward.
Rayne looks up at their eyes, "I'm a ghost, Tarot." She says with a sad expression.
Tarot's smile fades and fear quickly crosses their face.
"I'm a ghost to humans. The reason why they can't see me is because, to them, I'm dead." She explains.
Tarot looks at her with confusion and stutters out some words, "...But, wait I don't- I don't get it? You're right in front of me." Their voice shaking.
"You're not human Tarot. I'm alive to you." She soothes.
"I'm here." She takes their hand in hers.
"I'm real, I promise." She holds their hand comfortingly.
Tarot feels the warmth of her hand against theirs and meets her eyes, hearing her voice they believe her, "Okay." They choke out a single word of certainty, and with their panic easing they ask, "What happened to you?"
Rayne waits a moment before replying to their question.
"It's a long story.. but to explain it shortly. I was cursed, by whomever it was that attacked my brother in the past,- I don't know why, I don't know how but I intend to find out." Her eyes were brighter than ever with motivation.
Tarot's frown turns into a smile, they hug her tightly and make a promise. "I'll help you, whatever you need."
She smiles gently against their back and returns the gesture. "Deal."
.
.
There's a moment of silence before the two notice a quiet song that seems to be coming from down by the shore, Tarot recognizes it.
Tarot:" Wait... I think that's a siren song."
Rayne looks at them quietly and follows Tarot who starts walking towards the song. They go down the steps leading to the water and come across a beautiful, soft, silver-skinned siren with striking golden eyes, the siren looks at Tarot in surprise and quickly swims away.
"Wait! Come back! We mean no harm!." Tarot yells out in hopes that their words would bring the siren back but to no avail.
Rayne and Tarot run after the siren, crossing a bridge to the other side of the water. They follow the siren's song and arrive at what seems to be an entrance to a cavern surrounded by overgrown plants and leaves behind an old-world tavern.
The demons look at each other expecting one to decide their next action. They nod and enter the cavern. The cavern is long, small and filled with wet greenery. Tarot and Rayne squeeze their way through the cavern.
After a couple of minutes, they finally come out of the uncomfortable and claustrophobic path they took into a big open cave. They look around noticing people and creatures huddled together around campfires and laughing. They look at each other and smile realizing they must've found a camp of refugees and decide to ask around for their leader.
Tarot walks up to the nearest being they find, a tall, and muscular man with a harsh exterior, they look down at Tarot with a scowl and Tarot regrets their choice.
"Who are you?" The man questions coldly.
"Oh uh, I'm Tarot." Tarot responds with a forced smile. "Rayne" Rayne says absentmindedly.
"Mm, and what do you want?" He asks another question.
"Right, straight to the point.- Tarot looks at him feeling intimidated. -We want to meet your leader...I guess." They say laughing nervously. Rayne giggles at the situation.
"I don't think so." The man scowls at them crossing his arms.
"..." Rayne and Tarot look at him with confusion. "Okay Mr. didn't catch your name, what is your problem?! Why not?!" Rayne yells at him asking.
The man looks to have been angered by her words. "Look. Kid. I don't want to have to get violent with you, You two are clearly not supposed to be here,
go home." He says glaring at them.
Rayne's human blood boils at his attitude. "Oh, you don't want to get violent?! WELL, I DO!" She raises her fists with anger getting held back by Tarot's arms around hers. "Rayne! Calm down!" They yell struggling to keep her hands off of him.
.
.
"...Now what is this, Corey, my dear?" A gentle voice yells out from behind them.
"Corey?..Who the f-" Rayne thinks to herself with annoyance.
A man walks out, with green eyes, hair tied back and wearing extraordinary robotic wings on his back, he also has an old scar below his left eye.
The scary man sighs and speaks with a gentler tone than before. "Sorry Agnus, these kids are not supposed to be here, said they wanted to meet you, apparently they do not take no for an answer." Corey gives the two demons a quick glance and turns back around.
"Oh, you needn't be so overprotective love, I'm sure they mean well" The gentleman gives Corey a kiss on the cheek and walks past him to the angry demon and the other holding her back. Confusion on both their faces.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Agnus, the current leader of the refugee camps around here. I heard you've been looking for me?" He says calmly walking towards them.
Tarot lets go of the rowdy demon they had been holding and walks up to Agnus, extending their hand. "Tarot, I'm sorry for Rayne, she's very passionate about our quest." Agnus smiles and takes their hand shaking it. "Wonderful to meet you, your highness."
"Ah, no-no I'm not, you must be mistaken! " Tarot raises their voice with panic.
Agnus reads their expression and speaks again. "...My apologies, I thought you were someone else." He gives them a warm smile and walks towards Rayne.
"Rayne I presume?" He says to her.
"Um yeah, It's RaYne though, not RaynE..." She stands straight, something about the energy around him reminds her of her mother.
"You know my mother." She quickly says.
"I do?" Agnus asks.
"You're the sender of the letters?" She pauses and thinks. "Her name is Ilma Varis, your good friend?" She tells him expecting a confirmation.
Agnus looks at her and his expression changes from gentle and warm to freezing. "I'm afraid I haven't the faintest clue of who you speak of," He says looking down at her and walking away.
"....What, but I was so sure." She whispers to herself with disappointment. Tarot gave her a supportive pat on the shoulder.
"No matter. How would you kids like to join us for a meal tonight, or you rather stay out in the cold?" He says with the same gentle tone from before and smiles.
"Corey can set you up with somewhere to sleep later, can't you, my love?" Agnus looks at Corey with a bright smile. Corey rolls his eyes and sighs. "Yes, fine, I'll do it"
"Wonderful!" Agnus yells out in excitement. "Come, let me introduce you to our team!"
Tarot and Rayne follow him to a room with a big long dining table, there are different maps and papers lying all over it and the room walls are decorated with writings, drawings and electronics. Agnus gestures to them to sit down at the table and walks towards Corey.
"This is the room where we do most of our planning, eating, and chatting, and most of everything else as well." He chuckles.
"You've already met my dear Corey here." He wraps his arm around Corey who looks at him with the tiniest smile. "Corey is my bodyguard, he makes sure that I do not get assassinated in my sleep.. which is why we sleep together." He jokes and Corey gives him a glare.
Agnus laughs and continues. "No, I'm sorry." He adds. "We are lovers, partners, two elves destined to be together if you will, whatever you wish to call us." He says flirtingly.
Corey crosses his arms and comments. "We've been together for years."
"Indeed we have" Agnus beams.
Rayne and Tarot look at them. "Right..." Rayne mutters.
Agnus walks to the other side of the room where a short human with split-coloured hair stands looking at a screen.
"And here we have our manager, Gin, we've only had them for a couple of years but wow! Is she good at her job!" The manager stares at the screen without movement.
"...Gin!" Agnus waits awkwardly voice rising.
Gin turns around to face him with annoyance. "What!? I'm right in the middle of beating this level." They explain in frustration.
"We have guests, be nice. Demons Tarot and Rayne." Agnus tells her with a soothing tone.
Gin looks at them with a neutral expression and speaks. "Ah...okay, My name's Gin. I'm the manager for these boneheads." She scoffs.
They listen to her introduction and Tarot talks.
"Nice to meet you Gin." They smile. "Yeah, what they said," Rayne says acknowledging.
Gin turns back around and continues her game in silence.
"Ah, They're great!" Agnus clasps his hands together feeling awkward and babbles.
"Let's go meet the healer, I'm sure you'll have a need for them at some point, but to warn you, he can be quite intimidating, Immortals are like that you see." He warns them.
"Immortals?" Rayne mumbles.
They walk into the medical bay which really just looks like a room with plants everywhere you lay your eyes on, they walk through some shrubbery following a stone path, seeing a mysterious being with a long vertical scar going from the middle of their cheek onto their scalp separating their green hair, having a cup of tea by a small glass table with a picture frame.
"Here for tea sir?" The being asks in tranquil.
"Not this time I'm afraid, I'm here to introduce you to our two demonic surprise guests," Agnus tells them with a smile.
"Hi!" Rayne says. "You're immortal? How does that even work." She interrogates.
The being doesn't bat an eye at her question but instead introduces themselves. "I am Aina. The healer as you may have heard, you ask of immortality...Are you sure you want to know?" She presses and looks Rayne straight in the eyes. Rayne feels as though Aina is looking through her into her very being and feels anxiety overflowing her body, she gulps before responding to his question.
"No...I-I'm fine actually. I don't need to know." She manages to mutter through gritting teeth.
Aina takes a sip of his tea and ponders. "Very well." He responds peacefully.
Tarot notices a ring on their finger. "You're married?" They ask curiously.
The question sparks a surprising reaction from the healer as they caress their ring with a loving expression. "...Yes, I am married."
Tarot smiles at Aina and sits down next to her. "What are they like?" They wonder.
Aina smiles at the question. "They are...rowdy, I do wonder for their health sometimes." He says exhaling.
"As an undying being, It is hard to find someone you want to spend your eternal lifespan with but...I do adore them very much."
Tarot and Rayne are in tranquil listening to her words but their peace gets interrupted by Agnus's sobs.
" I can't, that story always makes me cry... you guys are just the sweetest..wow" Agnus wipes his tears with Corey's shirt and speaks.
"Well... We still have one more member to meet so we'll leave you to your tea Aina, do make sure you join us for drinks tonight?" Agnus makes a request. "Certainly sir." Aina gives him a reassuring smile and promises.
"Good, see you later" Agnus gives her a bright smile as the rest of the group leave the medical bay.
.
.
"Right! The next one would be our elegant Melimisia." Agnus hums.
He quiets and listens.
A siren song.
"Ah, there she is. Let us move, she must be in the lobby." He signals everyone to follow him.
They enter the lobby which is a big open cave with a bright blue pool of water on the side with people surrounding an elegant silver-skinned siren to listen to her sing.
"Mel!" Agnus yells out and the siren stops her singing.
The siren swims up to the edge of the pool towards Agnus. "I brought some demons to meet you, they've already met everyone else." He explains to her.
"Hm." She nods.
Tarot and Rayne walk up to the pool surprised to meet the siren they saw earlier again. "Oh, it's you!" Tarot says. "I'm sorry for scaring you earlier, we didn't mean to, your song just sounded familiar." They say with admiration. Rayne agrees and nods. "Yup, Sorry."
Melimisia stares at the two before she nods and brings them a locket with the Eternal Palace symbol on it.
"...!?" Tarot is taken aback and holds the locket in their hands, studying the details. "How do you have this...?" They ask.
Rayne walks up next to Tarot to get a closer look at the locket and sees a picture of a younger tarot inside, the picture describes a beautiful woman with golden eyes and dark hair holding a baby tarot and smiling. Rayne watches Tarot's face as they stare at the picture with a sad expression.
Agnus's voice snaps them both back to reality. "Mel has had that locket for years now, It's yours?" He asks Tarot.
Tarot takes a moment before responding to the question. "No...It's my mother's." They furrow their brows. "How...why?" They mumble to themselves.
"I'm afraid Mel cannot respond to any questions you have, Sirens do not really talk, unfortunately. Glad the locket found Its way back home though don't you think so Mel?" He smiles at her.
Melimisia swings around in the pool of water in glee.
"We'll take that as a yes, wonderful! Now let us go eat, I am absolutely starved!" He yells out and walks off into the main hall.
Tarot takes one last look at Melimisia who swishes her tail as to wave goodbye to them. Rayne sets her hand on their shoulder and walks with them to the main hall.
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