“The past is the past is the past, previous memories are the past. You’ll forget those painful days. Because the past is the past, it’s the past….”

“Hey! Who turned off the lights?”

The screen had into a black hole and disappeared in a perfect spiral, each time it spun became smaller and smaller.

“I fell asleep after Daehyun’s little performance, maybe that’s why the flashback ended.”

Daehyun nodded, not saying a word. He was so close from being exposed, he needed to be more careful. He was thankful that the flashback continued no further, he had no idea what he would do if it did.

Shishi and Yongguk handed Keke and Daehyun’s suitcases. 

“Where are we heading to?”

“Well while you guys were having your little date,”

“It was not a date!” Keke and Daehyun denied as they both cut Himchan off.

“Alright alright geez.” Himchan rolled his eyes, “While you guys were out, we were discussing it on the phone.”

“And we’re going to my pop’s place.” Yongguk said.

“So it’s around here?”

“Nope, where did you get that from? We’re heading to Idealogy City, it’ll be fun.” Yongguk flashed a gummy smile.

“We can find out more about each other while we are on this little holiday.” Tats specially eyed at Keke and elbowed Daehyun “Right Daehyun?”

Daehyun subtly shook his head at Tats.

“Uhh alright,” Keke looked away. “I totally love the idea!” She smiled. *They’re hiding something, it’s obvious but why do I get the feeling that it concerns me?*

-----

They walked out of the castle grounds. The man that Shishi and Yongguk first met at the metal gates stood there. He waved goodbye to the students and they bowed in return.

“We have to take a train to get the Cranes though.” Yongguk held tightly onto Shishi’s hand while he weaved in and out of the crowd, leading the group to the nearest station from the castle.

In Elazona, the only ways to get from one place to another was to walk, take the trains or Cranes. There were no cars in Elazona, instead there were trains that travel on the streets either attached to cables or more often seen ran by electricity. It was odd that they had modern technology but still wrote on pieces of parchment and ink. But then again, it was a rule made by Headmaster Ziaco - to stay old school.

“Cranes?”

“The creatures used to travel from one land to another. We need to get from Elazona to Idealogy City, since we’re not able or old enough to fly we need to take the Cranes.” Yongguk explained.

Shishi continued, “Cranes came from the idea of Traveler’s Hoot, it was built on a larger scale and enchanted to be live creatures.”

“And how would a Norm know that?” Daehyun teased.

“Well, I have visited Mr Bang’s place a couple of times so I know.” Shishi folded her arms while her nose pointed to the sky.

“Visited?” Yongguk smiled, “More like live there.”

She smiled, “Still am.”

They halted under a red shelter and waited. The shelter was open out in the front and had gridded small rectangular glass windows on each side of the shelter. After many years, the windows had plenty of smudges, destroying the purpose of windows.

Soon the train arrived. The train was jumping with electricity that illuminated a light blue aura.

“Okay, insert your wands into a holder you see next to the driver’s seat. And pull your wand downwards, towards you. Then pull your wand out once there’s a click.”

The group boarded the train and did as Yongguk instructed.

There were seats available in the train, it was packed with students and citizens of Elazona.

“What happens if you don’t do what we just did?” Keke asked, it was her first time on a train.

“It doesn’t let you enter, instead you float up and go to back of the line.”

As they passed the many trains on the street, they noticed each one of them had different color auras, some were flaming red, some eerie green and many more. Each one was different, depending on the driver. Every witch or wizard had corresponding colors for their respective elements.

-----

“CRANE STATION” the sign read, it was their stop.

Once again, they repeated the process before getting off.

“My pop already bought us tickets,” Yongguk rummaged through his pockets to find them.

His face fell, “They’re not here.”

“Of course they’re not, you passed them to me remember?” Shishi handed a ticket to each one of them.

“Oh right.”

They entered the station, a pair of nutcracker soldiers greeted them. Jongup and a few others awkwardly bowed back. The group still had time on their hands and decided to look around. As for many of them, it was their first time here.

-----

Around them, they saw a variety of the living and the dead, shops and signboards. All employees wore purple uniform and had pink ties for the males and pink hair accessories for the females. They were all flying by wings, brooms and even hover-boards.

The living and the dead chatted among themselves, excitedly about their adventures they were going to have outside Elazona, witches and wizards could be seen in robes and some in Norm clothing.  Families of goblins were in shops, giants walked around; careful not to squish anyone. Signboards changed every now and then, showing the timings of the Cranes’ arrivals and departures. There were many counters where people booked their Crane tickets, behind the counters were conveyer belts that led to the top of the station, where the Cranes were. There was no need for the employees to keep watch of the belts. Although they were piled with suitcases, they were safely guarded by force fields in case they fall out.

Soon, Himchan told the rest that it was time to board the Crane. There was still so much to explore, the station was gigantic.

-----

They headed to the top of the station where there were probably twenty more mini stations. The station was filled with screams of the Cranes. The place was boarded with wood, stone gargoyles could be seen at the top of each pillar that held the ceiling up. Each of these stations had a traffic light, those that were empty had a red light while those with Cranes were flashed green. Together with the rest of the passengers, an employee led them to a station which had a green light. There was a string of about ten Cranes waiting for them to board, a long pink ribbon attached the baskets to them and connected all the Cranes to one another.

Each basket could at least fit about more than ten people. At the side of the line of Cranes was a wooden platform with edges painted white. The platform was for the people to conveniently board the Cranes. The passengers entered their respective basket with the help of the employees. The basket was padded with all kinds of things that made one feel comfortable, pillows, cushions, blankets and so on.

The group sat down, made themselves comfortable and waited.

Shortly after, they heard the Cranes’ wings flap steadily. They took off as the Cranes started to spread out. No longer in a line, they flew to their respective positions in a ‘V’ formation. They then saw glass emerge from the sides of half the basket. As the glass closed in a strong gush of wind hit them, a man shouted “My new hat!” Everyone in that basket saw a purple hat with a pointed tip fly out of the Crane. The glass continued to move towards the other half of the basket. When it met the other side, it had created a big glass dome above everyone.

The sounds of its wings flapping in the wind was slightly muffled now, the Cranes escalated higher. A very familiar man then approached the group, it was Headmaster Ziaco.

“Hello there students.”

They greeted back, Headmaster Ziaco chuckled, “Where are you lot off to?”

“My dad’s place.”

“Ahh I see. Well I’m heading off to meet Maria, Headmaster of Alverine Academy. After which when you all are back from your break, there may be surprises waiting for some of you.” He smiled at Shishi.

“Surprises Sir?”

“Yes surprises.” He clasped his hands together. They waited for him to tell them more but he didn’t.

“What? You all expect me to tell you what the surprises are?” Headmaster Ziaco drew his face closer to them and whispered, “And why would I do that, hmm? Spoil the fun, spoil the surprise?” He shook his head, “Oh no I just can’t bear to do that.” His eyes crinkled as he shot a mysterious smile at them before he drew back and coolly walked off.