The next time they woke up, the train was already crossing the open sea. The tracks had been built above the water's surface.

  Wherever the train passed, the ocean within a radius of twenty miles grew calm. The waves flattened, making the sea look like a giant mirror, reflecting the brilliant moon hanging high in the night sky.

  On the opposite bed, the pumpkins and Acher were still asleep, their small bodies rising and falling with each quiet breath.

  “I’m gonna use the restroom. Want to come?” Aaron asked.

  Luther nodded, and the two slipped out of the compartment, walking side by side down the narrow corridor. The train restroom was decorated in a vintage style. The washbasin was made of polished wood, and the mirror had an ornate bronze frame.

  “What’s this carved symbol? Oh, it’s to change the toilet’s size!” Aaron exclaimed. “Guess it’s so it can fit different kinds of passengers.”

  He twisted the setting until the toilet seat expanded to its maximum size, then laughed:

  “Wow, this thing now could work as a bathtub.”

  Luther:

  “…”

  When they returned to their cabin, both boys sat on the bed, sipping a little water and gazing through the window. The train sped across the vast ocean beneath a sky scattered with stars, while the moon, at least ten times bigger than in the real world, shone down so bright it almost seemed unreal.

  “This is incredible,” Aaron whispered, lowering his voice to avoid disturbing the pumpkins and Acher. “If you’d told me before, I would’ve sworn I’d never believe I’d be on a trip like this. It feels just like something out of a fairy tale.”

  And indeed, the Orion Express was a railway line that stretched across ages, from myth to the modern day.

  “Actually, now that I think about it, I should thank Tarisel,” Aaron said. “If not for him, I never would’ve awakened my heart, stepped into this wondrous world, met Mr. Raven and the pumpkins, and most importantly, met you.” His eyes fixed on Luther’s.

  He’s going to blush.

  “I also thank Tarisel,” Luther replied, his ears tinged red.

  “Hahahahaha!” Aaron laughed, his shoulders shaking. “When we become gods, we’ll make sure to ‘thank’ him properly.”

  “Of course,” Luther answered.

  By then, he would be able to use his Ascended Moon.

  “Wow, look at that!” Aaron leaned toward the window.

  Far across the ocean’s surface, luminous peaks of shining white rose upward, glowing as though carved from light itself, and as they appeared, massive waves rolled outward in all directions.

  “Lampros whales! They’re one of the most famous species in the Dark Side. I can’t believe how lucky we are to see them,” Aaron exclaimed, raising his phone to snap a picture. “I heard they’re semi-elemental beings, able to shift freely between a physical body of flesh and a form made of pure light.”

  These enormous creatures did not need to disguise themselves the way most other inhabitants of the Shadow World had to. As an arch species, Lampros whales stood among the natural rulers of the Dark Side.

  “Ooooooooooo…”

  A resonant call drifted through the air, as though from ancient times long forgotten.

  “Jack-O, Squashy, Pompo, Mr. Acher, wake up and look at this!!”

  “Squeak?”

  “Squeak! Fish so big!!!!!!”

  …

  The next morning.

  “Squeak get up already! It’s morning! Up, up!!!” The pumpkins hopped around Luther and Aaron, squealing as if determined to rouse them by sheer force of noise.

  “All right, all right…” Aaron mumbled.

  He let out a long yawn, then reached for his phone to check the time.

  It was ten past seven. On days off, they often slept in until nine, sometimes even ten. But with them bouncing around like this, that luxury was all gone. Luther sat up, gathering the little pumpkins into his arms and rubbing their soft fur with both hands.

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  “We’re at Glacial Grave, that’s how Greenland is called in the Dark Side. A funny thing about Greenland is there’s not a single patch of green anywhere,” Aaron said, staring out the window.

  The train sped through an endless stretch of white, a land of snow and ice that seemed to have no boundary. Far off, towering mountains rose like ancient guardians, their peaks unchanging for millions of years.

  After washing up, the group began checking for breakfast. Aaron scrolled through the menu on his phone and asked:

  “What do you all feel like eating? This store has blueberry crepes, Minot steak with eggs, and that store has mermaid jellyweed pudding…”

  In the end, they went with Minot steak and eggs, along with three large bottles of IO brand milk. After all, the two boys were still growing fast and ate like wolves.

  Around twenty minutes after placing the order, the small wooden cupboard beside the cabin door swung open.

  “Good morning! Aaron, Luther, here’s your food.”

  The drawer demon Deron popped out from the darkness inside the cupboard, holding out a neat stack of food containers. After several online orders, he had become their familiar delivery boy. Aaron took the stack and handed him two silver Lypus coins, asking:

  “Thanks, Deron. When will you get time off for Serenity?”

  “Thanks a lot. Well, this season is always busy as hell since everyone is shopping, you know. I’ll be working straight through until the night of the twenty-second, then starting again on the twenty-fourth and going on until after the new year before I get a break.” Deron sighed.

  Luther looked at him with genuine sympathy, then slipped him two more Lypus coins.

  “Thanks, Luther! I hope both of you have a wonderful Serenity!” Deron grinned brightly. “I’d better get back to work now. See you guys next time!”

  He waved before vanishing back into the pitch-black cupboard.

  “Bye, Deron!”

  Aaron pressed a symbol on the wall. From the ceiling, a dining table descended and hovered in midair. The two boys began laying out their breakfast. Each container revealed a generous portion of steak alongside four sunny-side-up eggs, their yolks gleaming golden.

  “Poor guy, only getting the Serenity Day off. He’s working himself into the ground,” Aaron said, shaking his head.

  “Heavens, you don’t know how good he’s got it. A drawer demon like that living this way is already a luxury. Back in my time, his kind mostly ended up as dried husks, so pitiful even hellworms were the only things willing to chew on them,” Acher croaked, pecking at a piece of steak that Luther had sliced for him. “This Minot beef tastes far better than it used to, softer, richer, much more fragrant than in the past.”

  “I don’t know what breed this is, but it’s even tastier than Kobe,” Aaron said through a mouthful.

  “Yum!” The three little pumpkins were chomping away as if they hadn’t eaten in days.

  “The answer is in the name, Minot, short for Minotaur, that monster with a bull's head and man's body. This one must be the prime cut from its abdominal muscles.”

  Aaron and Luther froze, their faces turning pale. Both clutched their mouths, looking ready to vomit.

  “Hahaha, I was just joking, kids.” Acher chuckled with great delight, his wings giving a small shake as if he could not contain his amusement. “Real Minotaur meat is super chewy. You’d have to cook it in a very particular way just to make it edible. What you’re eating now is Minot beef, a special breed of cattle raised with great care in the dungeons of Minotaurs. In the old days, it was considered a delicacy reserved only for nobles, served during important ceremonies.”

  The two boys let out a long breath of relief, shoulders slumping as tension drained from their faces.

  Before opening the large carton of IO milk, Aaron carefully inspected the ingredients listed on the side, as if making sure there were no unpleasant surprises waiting for him. He twisted the cap, poured some into a cup, then took a cautious sip. His eyebrows lifted in surprise.

  “This is wonderful,” he said with a small smile.

  The milk carried a light, creamy richness, smooth and clean on the tongue, followed by a soft, lingering sweetness that lingered at the tip of his mouth.

  “Squeak, yummyyy!” Squashy squealed with glee.

  The group enjoyed their breakfast while watching the scenery outside the window.

  Unlike the eerie silence of the night, the Dark Side by day was breathtaking in a way hard to describe. The train was moving along the slope of a massive snow-covered mountain, so tall it had to be at least fifty thousand feet high. As far as the eye could see, the horizon was nothing but endless white.

  “I heard that in the beginning, the Shadow World didn’t have daytime at all,” Aaron said. “Back when the Titans still ruled, the Titan of Time made a deal with the Night Herself and Primordial Darkness. He promised to place their statues on Mount Othrys, and to gift them a kingdom where the sun would never rise, if they agreed to share their realm. After they accepted, the Sun Himself modified the rule here, allowing sunlight to reach this place. That’s how the Dark Side of the Earth finally got daylight.”

  “That’s right,” Acher said. “In most places, even in the heavens, it’s incredibly hard to light up the Dark Side. The Night isn’t exactly unreasonable, but she’s definitely not easy to talk to either.”

  “You’ve met her before?” Aaron’s eyes lit up.

  Nyx was one of the most ancient and powerful Major Beings in the entire cosmos. Even normal divine beings would consider it an honor to see her.

  “Nope. Never met her,” Acher said, rolling his eyes. “Just heard stories.”

  Aaron laughed and shook his head, choosing not to press further after such an obvious lie.

  The train entered a tunnel carved deep into the mountain, and soon a vast cavern slowly revealed itself. Inside was a city built in neat layers, with roads and buildings stretching in every direction, even climbing up the cavern’s rock walls. There were also more levels far below.

  Yet the place felt strangely deserted. There wasn’t a single living creature in sight.

  “This used to be a large Ether mine,” Acher said. “Almost completely exhausted now.”

  “What a waste. A city like this could’ve been a great tourist attraction,” Aaron said.

  Acher replied:

  “Ever since the Era of the Heavens began, the Origin has slowly lost its special status. But for mortals, life’s actually gotten easier. They don’t have to worry about some random idiot offending a god they’ve never even heard of and getting an entire country wiped out. Or the whole world being reset just because some brat decided all living beings were ‘too sinful.’”

  “After all,” Acher added lazily, “eternal life, great power, and sharing a tiny piece of land… that kind of boredom makes those little shits do all kinds of weird, messed-up things.”