The Draconian Woman. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen – The Station Between Worlds
Sleep never came.
Not because Serakha was afraid.
Commanders learned long ago that fear was simply another variable to calculate.
No.
She remained awake because, for the first time in centuries, uncertainty felt... exciting.
The brass compass rested on the bedside table, where it emitted a soft golden pulse every few seconds. Each pulse illuminated the room just enough to reveal familiar objects—the bookshelf Emma had assembled with heroic determination and questionable engineering, the framed photograph of the two of them at a street festival, the mug that proudly declared World's Okayest Cook, a gift from Martin after Serakha had accidentally burned instant noodles.
She still insisted the instructions had been unnecessarily vague.
Emma insisted water was supposed to be added before the noodles.
The debate remained unresolved.
Outside, rain whispered against the windows.
The city had fallen into the peaceful silence that exists only between two and four in the morning, when even the busiest streets seem to breathe more slowly.
Serakha stood at the window.
Thousands of lights stretched toward the horizon.
Each one represented a life.
A family.
A secret.
A hope.
Somewhere below, a young couple argued about whose turn it was to wash the dishes.
A student stayed awake preparing for an exam.
A nurse finished another exhausting shift.
An old man watered plants on his balcony despite the rain, simply because routine comforted him.
The Empire would have called these lives insignificant.
Earth quietly disagreed.
The compass pulsed again.
This time...
it spoke.
Not with sound.
With memory.
A single image entered her mind.
A railway station.
Empty.
Old-fashioned clocks hanging beneath an iron roof.
No trains.
Only endless platforms disappearing into silver mist.
Then a voice.
Platform Seven.
Nothing more.
At exactly 3:33 a.m., Serakha left the apartment.
She scribbled a note for Emma.
"Gone investigating. Please don't reorganize the kitchen while I'm away."
A moment later she added another line.
"Actually... please don't reorganize anything."
She smiled.
Emma would ignore both requests.
The city at night felt completely different.
Streetlights reflected in puddles like scattered stars.
A tram glided silently past, carrying only three passengers.
A fox darted across an empty boulevard before disappearing into a park.
Serakha followed the compass through streets she had never noticed before.
Eventually she arrived at an abandoned railway station.
It shouldn't have existed.
She had walked past this neighborhood dozens of times.
There had never been a station here.
Its architecture belonged to another century.
Tall arched windows.
Weathered brick walls.
Iron columns decorated with intricate carvings of constellations instead of flowers.
The station clock read...
3:33.
It had no hands.
The entrance doors opened before she touched them.
Inside...
silence.
Not empty silence.
Expectant silence.
The kind that fills a theater moments before the curtain rises.
Rows of wooden benches stretched across the enormous hall.
Old luggage rested beside them.
Some looked centuries old.
Others looked as though their owners had set them down only moments earlier.
A violin rested on one bench.
A child's toy ship on another.
A military helmet.
A wedding bouquet that somehow remained fresh.
Objects waiting for journeys that had never ended.
"You're late."
Serakha turned.
Elias stood beside a ticket counter, holding two paper tickets.
"I arrived exactly on time."
"Exactly."
"Then why am I late?"
"Because this station measures curiosity."
He handed her one ticket.
It was blank.
No destination.
No departure time.
Only one line written in silver ink.
Passenger: Serakha.
"What is this place?"
"The Station Between Worlds."
"I've heard of it."
"You've heard stories."
"I assumed they were myths."
Elias smiled.
"Most myths are simply history with better marketing."
A whistle echoed somewhere far beyond the mist.
It wasn't loud.
It wasn't mechanical.
It sounded almost...
alive.
The rails began glowing with soft blue light.
One by one, ancient lanterns illuminated the platforms.
Shadows stretched unnaturally long.
The air smelled faintly of rain, cedar wood and ozone.
Something immense was approaching.
The train emerged without sound.
It wasn't built.
It had grown.
Its surface resembled polished obsidian intertwined with veins of silver that pulsed like living roots.
The windows reflected not the station...
but different skies.
One showed twin suns.
Another displayed a galaxy spiraling in impossible colors.
A third revealed Earth...
millions of years before humanity.
Serakha stepped closer.
Her own reflection looked different in every window.
Commander.
Explorer.
Teacher.
Child.
Old woman.
Versions of herself that had lived—or might yet live.
The doors opened with a gentle sigh.
No conductor appeared.
Instead, a pleasant voice echoed through the station.
"Passengers for the Interstitial Line, please board."
Emma's voice suddenly interrupted from behind them.
"Absolutely not."
Serakha froze.
Elias closed his eyes.
"I was hoping she was asleep."
Emma marched across the platform, still wearing slippers beneath a raincoat.
Her hair was unmistakably the result of waking up five minutes earlier.
She pointed accusingly at Serakha.
"You left a note."
"I did."
"You said 'gone investigating.'"
"Correct."
"You didn't mention the magical cosmic train!"
"I considered it an unnecessary detail."
Emma folded her arms.
"I've crossed half the city in bunny slippers."
She looked down.
"...I regret nothing."
Elias chuckled.
"I like her."
"So does everyone," Serakha replied.
The pleasant voice returned.
"Departure in three minutes."
Emma looked from the train to Serakha.
"You're going, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Can I come?"
Serakha hesitated.
The Keeper's warning echoed in her memory.
Some journeys changed people forever.
Others erased them completely.
Before she could answer, the train itself responded.
A second ticket slowly emerged from a narrow slot beside the door.
It drifted through the air and landed gently in Emma's hand.
She stared at it.
Passenger: Emma.
Destination...
Unknown.
Elias raised an eyebrow.
"Well..."
"...the train has voted."
Emma looked at Serakha with a grin that mixed excitement and terror.
"I've always wanted to do something completely unreasonable."
Serakha smiled.
"I've noticed."
They stepped aboard together.
The interior was unlike anything Serakha had seen.
There were no rows of seats.
Instead, each carriage resembled a different world.
One contained a forest beneath a sky filled with floating islands.
Another resembled an old university library where books flew lazily from shelf to shelf.
Another held a quiet ocean with a single wooden pier stretching into moonlight.
The train was larger on the inside than the outside.
Emma whispered,
"I've officially stopped trying to understand anything."
"A wise decision."
"I'll resume panicking later."
The doors closed.
The station faded.
Outside the windows, the stars stretched into brilliant rivers of light.
Time no longer flowed forward.
It blossomed outward.
Somewhere ahead lay answers about the Editors.
About the Keepers.
About why Serakha had been chosen.
But before any of those mysteries could reveal themselves...
a little girl appeared in the aisle.
She couldn't have been older than eight.
She carried a tiny suitcase covered in colorful stickers.
She stopped in front of Serakha.
Looked up.
Smiled.
Then asked with complete sincerity,
"Excuse me..."
"...are you the dragon lady everyone has been waiting for?"
Serakha blinked.
Emma slowly turned toward her.
Then...
with the perfect timing of someone who had learned to survive impossible situations through humor...
she sighed.
"I knew we should have brought snacks."
The little girl giggled.
The train accelerated.
And beyond the last visible star...
their greatest journey finally began.
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