The group had finally made it to the station, it only took ten hours from their overnight stay at the forest.
"I've always heard of the trains but it's wonderful, seeing it for myself." Said Aki who was brimming with excitement.
The Blinking Trains are the continent's great long-distance railway system, transporting passengers, livestock, merchants, military supplies, mail, and other goods between distant settlements and the capital city.
"They are enormous!!!". Awia yelled out, as she only ever grew up in Riverstone so she too, saw the blinking trains for the first time.
Merlin was slowly and steadily behind Aki and Awia as Lee's horse galloped as he approached them.
"That's not even the fun part." "Wait till we actually get moving". Lee said to the his two inexperienced companions as they got closer and closer to the trains.
The group walked towards the registry and Awia threw in four small gemstones for passage. They had their identities, goods and weapons recorded before moving towards their designated train.
A single train consisted of dozens of massive carriages, linked together by reinforced magical couplings. Their interiors are deliberately spacious, allowing passengers to walk between sections, transport animals and cargo, and accommodate travelers for journeys that may take several hours from their own perspective.
The trains are so extraordinarily long that most passengers never see the engineers or conductors. The forward and rear sections are effectively distant worlds unto themselves, with crew stations distributed throughout the train.
El Diablo kept their horses and bags at the sections of the carriage for beasts and luggage, before moving towards their own
Aki walked in first. His eyes filled with awe as he viewed the inside of the train. His mouth opened as he uttered the words."It's as large as two rooms".
"Two rooms from my idea of rooms is very, very large."
"I believe those are are our seats. One hundred and twenty to a hundred and twenty four." Awia said as she gripped her staff in her hands while entering the carriage. Merlin and Lee walked in, with their bags and took their seats just as Awia and Aki did.
The train was ready to move within twenty minutes and the speakers announced it's impending departure. The train leaves a station normally. It begins moving along its short stretch of railway. Aki and Awia looked out the windows of the large carriage as the train moved. In the blink of a eye they were blinked out of the station.
Aki and Awia screamed in excited.
Lee turned his face towards the two and said; "For an observer standing beside the tracks, the enormous train suddenly disappears. There is no gradual acceleration. No deafening rush of speed. One moment it is there and the next, it's gone."
He continued; "Several minutes later, it reappears at the next station."
"What? How does that even work?". Aki sputtered.
Lee calmed him down as he proceeded; "The passengers, however, experience the journey differently."
"Inside the train, hours may pass, depending on the distance between the destination and the station."
"You see the train has entered a spacetime corridor, temporarily folding the distance between railway stations while allowing considerably more subjective time to pass within the train."
"Wow. That's amazing". Awia exclaimed with interest.
"Thus, A journey that takes five minutes for the outside world might feel like three hours to the passengers because the train isn't teleporting. It is traveling through a magically distorted section of space." Merlin concluded.
"I hear the railway network doesn't stretch across the entire continent." Aki remarked, attempting to expand his knowledge on the blinking trains.
Merlin responds swiftly; "True. Instead, railway lines are constructed as short, heavily fortified corridors between stations. The physical railway itself might be surprisingly short."
"The Blinking does the impossible part. Each station acts as a kind of anchoring point, allowing the train's gemstone engine to identify the next viable station and establish the temporary corridor." he pressed on.
"So the network resembles a chain of magical stepping stones rather than a conventional continental railway."
Aki lowered his back and turned his head, hoping to reduce the noise his group were making. He continued the conversation in a quieter voice.
"I've heard about the gemstone engines. The former human council member was part of the approval team."
"I read that they ran a series of tests before they approved it tho".
Lee stretched his arms and legs before chimming in on the conversation.
"Yes, because safety comes first or you know everyone would just blame them if something went wrong."
"The trains are powered by the enormous gemstone engines that draw upon the continent's leyline network. The gemstones aren't necessarily the source of the mana but they are the medium through which the train safely channels all that massive mana. The engine draws ambient leyline mana, stabilizes it, and creates the spacetime distortion necessary for the Blink."
"This also explains why the railway network is concentrated around specific routes. They can't simply build a station anywhere. A station needs: a stable leyline connection, a suitable mana density, an engineered anchoring structure, enormous amounts of magical infrastructure, protection from magical creatures and carefully maintained railway tracks". Lee concluded as he sparked a lighting hoping to ignite a cigar.
"I read all about that in the book, the history of transportation." Aki replied him.
"The book ain't the same as the real thing." Lee said to him as he tried numerous times to light the cigar to no avail. A defeated Lee declares;
"Dammit! I forgot about the spells. No smoking allowed". He grumbled to himself as he gently returned the cigar to its box and the lighter to his pocket.
"I read in our library at the church, of the central region being a web of ley lines, so that explains why the capital is the central hub. The trains can easily connect from each region to the center and back". Awia said to her comrades, feeling proud of herself.
"Exactly." Lee gleefully replied here, feeling like a proud teacher.
"You saw the knights at the gates and around the station when we arrived, right?". Lee said to Aki.
"Yeah, Border Knights. I know the stations are also protected by Border Knight units". Aki replied him.
Lee takes a sip of his rum, this time from a little bottle and said to Aki;
"They aren't just there for show. You know".
"The railway isn't just a transportation infrastructure. It is effectively a series of fortified gateways through dangerous territory."
"Like the eating woods." Aki responded without haste.
"Yess, exactly". Lee commended him as he continued.
"A station located near a high-mana region could attract magical beasts, monsters, mana storms, wild magical phenomena, bandits and raiders etc. So every major station has a permanent military presence."
Merlin jumped in to clarify and further send Lee's message across;
"The Border Knights aren't just guards. They're responsible for securing the station, railway approaches, passengers, cargo, and the surrounding territory. They do good work for the realm."
"Most people still travel by horse, wagon, carriage, riverboat and magical beasts, when available and properly trained." Aki pointed out.
"The train's carriages are much longer, wider and taller than those used by humans in the pre-war era even though our engineers based the designs off the ancient trains." Merlin spoke, pointing out the differences in the technology with the times.
A typical carriage could contain separate areas for: Passengers, communal spaces, dining areas, cargo, merchant goods, luggage, equipment and supplies, livestock, horses and beasts, with each section being separated by large doors and overseen by attendant and security provided by border knights who patrol carriages.
"Some specialized carriages are knight carriages, medical carriages, postal carriages, livestock carriages, luxury carriages for barons, merchant carriages for goods, dining or kitchen carriages , workshops, prison/security carriages to transport the arrested and finally magical-beast containment carriages. You can also walk through the train if you want". Merlin told Aki and Awia.
Aki and Awia looked at each other, both of them thinking of what carriage to visit.
"And also, it doesn't matter if the train's final destination is several stations away, it doesn't necessarily stop there immediately. It can Blink from station to station, taking on passengers, cargo, mail, and supplies at each stop. So you shouldn't be shocked by any sudden stops." Merlin said to the two.
"Let's go get something to eat at the dining carriage, maybe some of Lee's fish can go well with nice salad". Aki said as he speedily got off his seat, pulling Awia along with list right arm. She leisurely follows him.
"Come on!". Awia yelled out, calling Lee and Merlin to follow them to the dining carriage.
Lee and Merlin got up and the group passed by several rows of occupied seats. Men, woman and children all going to different places.
"While we were talking did you notice, two rows in front of us and three behind us?". Lee said to Merlin. His hands were inside the pockets of his jacket, he pulled out his left hand and lowered his hat.
"Yes. Black jacket two rows in front and fat guy, brown jacket. Three rows behind. They've been watching us the entire time." Merlin responded with a hushed tone.
"I don't know how long but we have to be on high alert, whoever they are. They're messing with the wrong guild". Lee says as he pulls out his lighter and attempts to ignite his cigar a final time.
The flames spark and he takes the cigar to his lips.
Aki who flipped open the door to the next section of the carriage turned his head a bit to the right, to observe one of the strangers who had been watching them all since their arrival as his comrades followed behind him. He readied his mind and body for any coming battle.