02. train to

Sunggyu found himself on a train. Not at first actually; first he’d found himself waiting at what seemed like a floating station – built rails and huddles of people standing on fluffy, flimsy clouds. Explorer Kim Sunggyu struggled to walk. It had seemed like the ground was going to swallow him up if he wasn’t careful. Sunggyu was careful, however, and almost as soon as he had arrived to the very edge of the floating station, a train sped past him. Its stop was abrupt – the train changing from a blur to an identifiable object in a matter of two seconds. Sunggyu had blinked.

“Get on all!”

Sunggyu looked for the source of the voice, but could not find one. He didn’t seem to have noticed it before, but as the clatter of feet could be heard, he started to realise he had not been alone on the floating station.

There had been in fact people, faceless people, waiting on the stop with him.

Sunggyu watched in amazement and bewilderment as men and women alike began boarding the train, their steps rhythmic and in time to an unmentioned beat. Their suits were alike as well, only varying in colours. Sunggyu blinked.

Where was he?

He breathed in the sharp, crisp air, watching in wonder as smaller clouds – more transparent than the one he was standing one – floated past him at eye level. He giggled as they brushed against him. It was such a light action, like being tickled by a feather. Sunggyu spent a few minutes like that, giggling to himself.

“Hey, you! Did you not hear me? I said get on!”

Sunggyu looked around, trying to see what was happening, but he was met only with a cloudy abyss. He frowned. Who was the voice talking to?

“You! Yes, you, kid! Get on!”

It took Sunggyu awhile to realise the voice was actually talking to him. He nodded dumbly, taking cautious steps towards the entrance of the train. The voice, however, was impatient.

“Hurry up kid! I’m fifteen seconds late ‘cause of you! Don’t dawdle.”

With that, Sunggyu had increased his pace. He jumped onto the train just in time, as once his feet had touched the platform, the train began to move. Sunggyu clung onto the pole with his life.

“Be careful kid, we’re travelling at the speed of light!”

Sunggyu frowned questioningly. “Speed of light?”

“1 079 252 848.8km/hr kid; speed of light – speed of which light travels?”

Sunggyu tilted his head in bewilderment. The voice sighed.

“Pretty fast.”

Sunggyu nodded. Carefully, he manoeuvred himself towards a seat near the window. He tried to look out of it, but everything was a blur. Strangely, it felt as if the train wasn’t moving now that he was seated. Confused, he continued to stare out the window.

“It’s a fast train kid – we’re going past things too fast to see them.”

Sunggyu winced. Suddenly he wasn’t feeling so good. The voice snapped.

“Don’t you dare vomit on this train kid – no one’s cleaning up your mess.”

When he moved places, Sunggyu chose a seat near the entrance, where he could still talk to the voice. He sat down on the plush green cushioning that were the train seats, looking around curiously. He couldn’t see the source of the voice, but that didn’t mean the voice wasn’t there. After all, hadn’t the voice been unseen all this time? If Sunggyu was honest, he knew hadn’t actually ever gotten a good glimpse of the owner of the voice, but the voice had always been there. Sunggyu tried to call to the voice.

“Hello? Mr Voice?” Sunggyu tried. He leaned over, trying to look for the voice. Suddenly, he felt a breeze pass the side of his ear.

“Boo.”

“Ahh!” Sunggyu cried, startled. He frowned, his eyes narrowing into slits at he tried to find the voice. Still, he saw nothing. “Mr Voice, you scared me there.”

“I could tell.”

Sunggyu looked around again. Even without seeing the voice, he thought the voice was smiling wryly. “Mr Voice?” He asked after some careful consideration.

“Yes?”

“Where are you?”

He thought the voice was smiling.

“Right on your shoulder.”

Sunggyu jumped again. The passengers on the train stared at him disapprovingly (how they did that without faces was beyond our young adventurer), but he paid them no heed. Instead Sunggyu turned his head, trying to catch a glimpse of something – anything really – that could be a possible source for a voice. He found none however. His shoulders were clean – free of any lint which could possibly occupy the space. There wasn’t a single feather or speck of dust on his shoulder. Sunggyu panicked.

“Are you invisible, Mr Voice?”

The voice replied almost immediately, bemusement laced in his tone. “Not that I know of.”

“Then how come I can’t see you? Am I looking in the wrong places?”

“I’m just a bit small kid. Tiny even – that’s the word you people use, isn’t it? I’m too small for your kind of eyes.”

Sunggyu frowned. “My kind of eyes?”

He thought the voice was rolling his eyes. “Obviously; does it look like everyone – or in fact anyone – on this train is human? You humans are sometimes the most silliest of creatures.”

Sunggyu, more curious than offended, decided to ignore his statement. Instead he looked around. The Voice was right. The people on the train weren’t human. They contained a similar structure, but as Sunggyu looked closer he started to notice the longer limbs and faceless heads they seemed to possess. Their timed and efficient movements also intrigued him. Sunggyu turned to the empty space on his shoulder, where presumably the Voice sat.

“Mr Voice?”

“Yes?”

“What are you?”

The voice snorted. “That’s rather offensive. I prefer who are you, to which I can confidently tell you I am Woohyun. However, since you seem to take me for some inanimate object – being the stupid human you are – I will tell you that I happen to be a ladybird.”

Sunggyu giggled.

“What do you find so funny kid? What, a guy can’t be a ladybird?”

Sunggyu laughed harder. He stopped however when he felt holes being bored into his head – as if the voice was glaring angrily. Sunggyu reduced his laugh to a mere smile. “I’m sorry Mr Voice – it’s just, I’m usually able to see ladybirds.”

“I’m different,” The ladybird said stiffly. Sunggyu smiled again.

“Geez kid,” Woohyun snapped, not unkindly, “Do you really think a creature such as myself would be reduced to such a lowly status as to ladybirds on your land? Don’t make me laugh, they’re nothing compared to me.”

Sunggyu thought the ladybird was quite funny. Ironic too, because he thought this ladybird wasn’t capable of laughing. However, Sunggyu did like his voice. It was very reassuring. As he felt the train start to slow, Sunggyu started to feel the effects of motion. He closed his eyes.

A monotone voice spoke, “Don’t die on me kid. I don’t get paid if you do.”

Instead, Sunggyu coughed. He wasn’t feeling very good. “Where are we going, Mr Ladybird?” He asked, holding a hand over his mouth.

“Infinity.”

“Really?”

“Of course not. Don’t be silly – if we’re travelling to infinity we may as well kill ourselves along the way. Infinity is a long way kid. You’ll be dead before you get there. We’re going to the closest thing to infinity.”

There was a pause.

“Approaching stop: Xifed Tars.”

(A/N: I have a few more chapters marked up. This will be about ten chapters of absolute randomness and as little angst as possible - I promise - I hope you all enjoy this! Going to finish this story no matter what :'D Hope I can!)