Choo. Choo.
The sound of the train vanished as the cold winds reached my head. I thought, why am I feeling this? I should be dead. Maybe I am not dead, but why? Hitting a train that was so fast, I lost my consciousness in a second after getting hit.
"Where am I?"
That was the question I asked myself when I opened my eyes slowly and saw the familiar yet unfamiliar world around me. Everything was ruined. The train that hit my head could be seen off the track like it had been in an accident. It was no longer a working train but a piece of junk that looked older than the station itself.
And don't make me start with the station. Even if it wasn't as junky as the train, it was still much older than what I had seen just a moment ago when I was still standing there.
What could have happened in just a second or two? How can the world change this much? I was thinking that until I looked up at the night sky, specifically at the moon. No moons.
"What is this?" Words blurted out from my mouth as I saw the night sky where the moon wasn't single, but there were three moons arranged in a way that made them look like they were forming an equilateral triangle if we connect them with a line.
Each moon had a different colour. One was red, one was white and bright, and one was green. What could have changed that made Earth change this much? I couldn't understand anything.
In my eyesight I could see the old silent station. The benches were all rusted out, and the station's walls looked ready to collapse. The railway lines on which I was sitting were also as old as the train.
I slowly stood up and brushed the dirt off my old clothes. Then I looked up at the station's platform. I climbed it and walked further inside.
"Is anyone there?" I called out in a loud voice, but the only sound I heard was my breath and my own voice returning after it hit the silent walls of the station.
I reached the ticket counter. It was all ruined. The glass that created a barrier between inside and outside was shattered, the computers inside were broken. It all looked like a setup done for a horror movie.
I observed everything and moved ahead. Then I found myself standing infront of a broken mirror. I haven't realised it, but I'm already in the public washroom.
I observed my face in the broken mirror. I have black hair, black eyes and an average face. There is nothing remarkable about me.
It's rare for me to look at myself in a mirror, as looks wasnt something that mattered to me. If I be honest, then i would say there was nothing that mattered to me.
"Maybe that's the reason i always tried to end myself." I blurted the words out.
I walked out of the washroom and settled down on an old bench in the station. I looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then closed my eyes.
***
"It's cold."
I found myself standing on a snowy mountain. A blizzard was going on. I felt like i was about to freeze. My brain hurted so much, it felt like someone was attacking it with a knife, but brain dont feel pain right?
I looked down at my body. I was naked.
"I'm cold. I want to go home. i need warmth."
I walked through the path where footsteps were already made. Someone had walked this path before me.
I hugged myself tightly, rubbing my arms to generate heat. I walked more and more. I passed many curled freezed corpses. I dont know why they looked like me?
Then after reaching the end of the footsteps, I saw the last me's freezed corpse curled up, looking calm yet begging for warmth.
I dropped down too and curled myself to generate heat, but nothing happened. Soon the snow started covering my freezed body.
"No, don't do that. Don't. Please don't." I said in a calm tone.
***
[Ding! Ding!]
The sound woke me up and I realised that I'm in the train station. That snowy mountain, that blizzard, that coldness, it wasnt a dream or a memory.
It was my heart.
"What is this thing?" Infront of me was a window floating in the air in which was written,
[Welcome to Somnara!]
Then more windows popped up,
[You are one of the lucky people to get summoned to Somnara as a Dreamer!]
[The Order chose you alongside other 98 million nominees from the eight billion people on your Earth!]
[The Order is setting up your 'Nominee Degree'!]
[It will take up to a minute or more, just wait patiently!]
"Am I in a manhwa or novel?" The window infront of me was something I saw in a manhwa called something like 'Lonely Leveling'.
It didnt surprise me much, maybe because I'm not taking it seriously. Why would I take a dream seriously? Pretty sure I'm dreaming before dying.
"It hurts." I pinched myself but didnt wake up. I'm still seeing this world.
"Am i really abducted from my perfect suicide scene and dropped here?" I asked myself flatly.
"..."
Gwahhh!
I heard footsteps coming from the inside of the station. The sound of that being was nothing like what a human creates.
(I'm sure it's not a human.)
I thought.
(It's something beyond what I saw before. I need to hide before it comes here.)
I dropped down and hid beneath the bench. My eyes were locked on the entrance of the station. I was expecting that it came from outside.
Gwahhh!
Two huge hands lightly rested on the ground, its huge body came into view. The creature was towering, nearly 8 feet long. Its arms were both long enough to smack my head from there. The skin of this creature was like an old corpse, its head was upside down. It was a grotesque being.
(I don't know why I'm hiding here? I can go out and let it eat me. That creature's teeth look sharp enough to kill me in a second.)
The creature moved slowly toward the railway lines, its eyes were pointing at the junk train. The creature's long tongue came out of its mouth and rubbed against its sharp teeth.
(But, I don't want to die by that monster. What if this monster misses my vital part? I want a perfect one hit death.)
I waited until the creature had gone a bit far away, then I came out from beneath the bench and slowly started crawling away from the station.
(I will think of another way of dying later. But for now i should leave this place.)
My calm gaze analysed another entrance that was away from the one from where that creature came out.
(I will sneak away silently without making a sound. No sound. I need to step carefully.)
[Ding! Ding!]
[The Order has completed your 'Nominee Degree'!]
[Loading the window...]
"For real?"
I ran away with all my might. I didn't care about looking back to see whether the creature was coming or not. But i could hear fast footsteps coming toward me.
(I need to maintain a distance of 5 meters away from the creature otherwise his hands will reach me.)
Gwahhh!
Footsteps were getting closer and closer. I ran faster, it was the first time I was running this fast in my life.
(Sigh, go away already. I'm not planning to die in your mouth.)
[Can't connect, Error 2bwLn67!]
[An Error has occured in The Order!]
[The Order cannot load the 'Nominee Degree', the registered person doesn't exist!]
I was a bit surprised.
(It is saying I don't exist? Is it because I was supposed to die after hitting the train but instead i reached here?)
[The Order is assigning a Random Dreamer the role of Anti-Error!]
[You need to be erased!]
"So you are giving someone my bounty?" I accidentally turned my head back to see whether the creature had left me alone or not.
Its hands were about to grab me, but i jumped ahead, stumbled and rolled on the ground, then started running again.
Gwahhh!
The creature was raging. He was even throwing debris at me. I somehow dodged most of them, but a few of them hit my left leg, back and right elbow.
My eyes twitched from the sudden pain. The one on the elbow was the sharpest. And because of the hit on my left leg, i lost my balance and hit the ground.
I turned my head to face the creature. It was just above me, looking at me with a creepy smile. It slowly reached its hands to carry me.
As the creature lifted me up, it opened its mouth. The sharp teeth were visible and were about to tear my flesh and shatter my bones.
I silently closed my eyes. I didnt feel fear, I never did. I just silently accepted it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"What?"
[The Anti-Error has arrived!]