The Bridge That Remembered

The first morning

Oliver began the Alchemist Train’s journey from Marrow Station and discovered that its emotional fuel was already sinking toward grief. Nadia, an exiled princess with a volatile anti-gravity core, forced her way into the engine cab just before they reached a broken bridge, where the mysterious Horologist appeared and claimed the train was early for its last departure.

The Weight of a Name

Minutes after the broken bridge

The Alchemist Train crossed the broken bridge through open sky, aided by Nadia’s unstable core and Oliver’s desperate control of the failing stabilizer fuel. The Horologist reappeared inside the engine and revealed that they were climbing toward the place where gravity was first taught to kneel. Nadia’s core alerted an unseen power, and a faceless black train rose from below to intercept them.