2 The Mage Train

"Hmph, hmph—Lilith, triumphant revival!" The Little White Dragon stood in the center of a carriage room, hands on hips like a kettle on boil, voice ringing like brass.

"That sinful carriage monster died in combat with me; from here on, the road's a clear river!"

"Shh, don't shout; I barely lulled Litt to sleep." Abaddon's face cooled like a drawn cloud as she cut through the noise.

Glared at by the Demon girl, the Little White Dragon turtled her neck like a turtle and perched on her seat like a folded bird.

"Sorry..." Lilith poked her fingers together, head bowed like a wilted bud, lips pouted like a berry, eyes flicking up to read Abaddon's weather.

After seeing the Demon lady's face thaw like morning frost, she thumped her chest and let out a breath like mist.

"Got woken, didn't you." Nidhogg hugged a book to her chest, gloating like a cat by a heater.

"You're so annoying." Lilith shot the Black Dragon a glare like a thrown pebble.

She plopped down, cheeks puffed like buns, and kicked the seatback for fun, like rain on wood.

"Don't kick around; it's rude." Nidhogg caught her calf in one hand like a snaring vine.

The Little White Dragon tried to pull back like a fish on a line, aiming for another kick.

Nidhogg pinched the soft calf twice, like squeezing mochi, and Lilith finally stilled like a pond.

"What does it matter, the train's only us..." Lilith muttered like a kettle simmering.

Nidhogg pinched again, a quick spark.

Hissing at the sting, Lilith drew back her leg like a scared fawn and rubbed the sore spot with a small hand like a petal.

This wicked woman has a strong grip; it hurt a little, like a bee sting.

No gentleman's pity at all, like stone among flowers.

"Your mood's been off these two days; still not over that carriage ride?" Nidhogg turned Lilith's puffed cheek back with two fingers like turning a peach, eyes meeting Lilith's blue like twin lakes.

"No, I'm perfectly happy." The Little White Dragon slipped free like a loach and turned her face away like a closing fan.

"Also, don't pinch my face."

"Got it—you're still not happy." Nidhogg smiled like a crescent moon.

She closed her book with a soft wing-flap, and said, How about I tell you about this mage train?

At that, Lilith's brows flicked like dragonfly wings.

Curiosity rose first like steam.

This vehicle felt like the subways from her past life, fast and steady like a riverbed.

So much better than that slow, jostling carriage like a rickety cart.

So Lilith tilted back a little, eyes fixed on Nidhogg like nails on wood.

Her look said, Start already or I'll storm, like thunder behind clouds.

"The mage train we’re riding was made only decades ago by Kuri." Nidhogg began with a smile like a warm lamp.

"Old fossils elsewhere haven't even heard of this new way to travel. Lilith, do you know why it's called a mage train?"

"Why? Mage train sounds ugly; why not call it a magitech train?" Lilith leaned forward like a sprout seeking sun, temper forgotten, eyes on Nidhogg.

"Because 'mage train' is how the common tongue translates it," Nidhogg said, voice smooth like a brook.

"In Elvish, it's called the Running Tree, which fits this train like bark to wood."

"By the way, magitech train in Elvish means Felled Tree, used for wand timber."

"So no one uses that for trains."

"So we're actually inside a tree?" Lilith nodded slowly like a bobbing leaf.

Even the transit is plant-based; that matches my stereotype of elves like moss on stone.

"Plant magic is their root," Nidhogg said, hands painting the air like vines.

"If you're interested, when we're in Lamter I'll take you through their industrial district."

"It's full of strange-shaped plants, like a garden of tools."

"If you go to Lamter, you can't skip it, or it's a wasted trip."

Lilith nodded again like a pecking sparrow.

An industrial park made of plants sounded strange like a dream.

But this is another world; you accept different laws like new seasons.

"So why was the mage train only invented decades ago?" Lilith asked, curiosity returning like tide.

"With the Elven Kingdom's mana research, it should've appeared earlier."

"Prototypes existed long ago," Nidhogg said, tapping the book spine like a metronome.

"Back then, one carriage grew energy plants inside to drive it."

"That was low efficiency and high cost, like hauling water with a sieve, so it never spread."

"About a century ago, a legendary mage of Kuri, Medivh, found a way to use plants to mass-produce high-purity mana fast."

"Like sap refined to honey."

"The next year, he discovered how to store mana with almost no loss, like bottling sunlight."

"Only then did the modern mage train appear."

"By the way, after Medivh reformed mana supply, Lamter could bloom, like a city in spring."

"They set up many bronze statues of him in Lamter; when you see one, you can give a nod."

Nidhogg's briefing triggered a strange déjà vu in Lilith, like a bell echoing from another valley.

It felt like something she'd heard in her other world.

Except there it was a man named Watt improving a coal-fired engine, like fanning a furnace.

No wonder Lamter developed so fast, like wheat after rain.

The last two places she'd been were still medieval sword-and-sorcery, like castles in fog.

Lamter had started industrial production, like wheels on rails.

At that thought, expectation bubbled in Lilith like a spring.

For someone from modern times, both the Kingdom and Morris felt shabby, hard to bear, like shoes with pebbles.

A nation with higher tech was rare; she craved a more normal life like sunshine at noon.

"This mage train is also a child of that mana reform," Nidhogg went on.

Her gaze slid to Lilith like a swan's feather.

"It runs far faster than before, like wind through reeds."

"But it's still slow to us flying folk; it's just a ride for resting legs."

"Besides the mage train, what else do you want to know?"

"I want to know if Lamter has the internet!" Lilith shot up a hand like a spark.

From her former life as a net-addicted teen, hope surged like tide for a place to surf again.

On this journey, chances never lined up, like stars behind clouds.

"Internet?" Nidhogg tilted her head like a curious owl, the word new on her tongue.

"A way to communicate," Lilith said, choosing the easy path like water seeking a low place.

"No," Nidhogg said after a beat, voice flat as glass.

"Lamter's communications haven't changed much; like Dragon Territory, they use mana crystals for calls."

"Alright." Lilith slid down in her seat like melting snow.

Her dream of surfing the net fizzled again, like foam on shore.