Elena yawned. She was sitting in a dark corner of the 1st floor, which she had arranged to be that way for if she wasn't feeling company. This time, however, Elena planned to meet someone. Since the first night, she'd been home, three days ago, she had felt disturbed. Usually, Elena was able to somewhat relax at home, but not this time. When she woke up this morning, Sara's side of the bed was already empty. She disliked how her girlfriend seemed to often prioritize work over spending time with her while she was home. Even though half of the work didn't really matter all that much anyway. . . Not that she was any different, she just did it outside of the inn. But that was normal, all be it frustrating.  

The thing that had disturbed her was that man Alex had brought home. She knew he was trouble. Preferably Elena would have gotten rid of him, dumped him on someone else. But she couldn't really do that since her brother was the one that brought him in. There lay her problem. Jax himself was possibly the least treating person she had ever met. But he had a strong influence on Alex due to his connection with the train. She had tried to keep her brother away from the vehicle. And for a long time, she had been successful. But recently she couldn't stop him anymore. The train was a threat. Everyone once in a while, it took people, who were then never seen again. Wherever it brought them had to be a godforsaken place. 

  

That was why when she woke up, Elena knew she had to do something today. There was unrest in the city, more so than usual. Perhaps it had to do with the sudden arrival of the train, but something was brewing. She wasn't quite sure what it was yet, but she had to find out, preferably today. Elena had already watched Jax go down. No doubt he would annoy Sara again, but she would have to deal with that herself. Elena was waiting for her brother. He was the only person present she could talk about it with. Normally, she would talk to Sara. She was always around. Elena knew she could trust her and, her girlfriend was smart in her own way. But she was too absorbed in her own world to help her with these kinds of issues.    

 

Finally, she heard Alex come down the staircase. She rose from the shadows and blocked him from going down the last flight.  

  

Ela: "We need to talk."  

  

Alex: "Need?"  

  

Ela: "Stop being a dick ?."  

  

Alex: "I am ??"  

  

Ela: ". . . Yeah ?."  

  

Alex: "Oke, fine ?, what did you wanna talk about?"  

  

Ela: "How long did you plan on keeping him around?"  

  

Alex: "As long as necessary."  

  

Ela: "What do you plan on doing with him?"  

  

Alex: "What do you mean ??"  

  

Ela: "As far as I'm aware, someone like him only has 3 uses. He is either food, a pet, or a sacrifice. So which one is it ??"  

  

Alex: "What the fuck are you talking about now ??"  

  

Ela: "Imagine my position, aight. You randomly pick this guy up for the train and bring him home. What am I supposed to think about that ?? How am I supposed to trust him? Please tell me he is just a curiosity. . ."  

  

Alex: "Come on. He is lost. . . Why can't I just care for him ?? I'm a doctor. I'm supposed to take care of people-"  

  

Ela: "No. Tell me what's going on? You ain't normally like this ?. Besides, there are plenty of houses and food here. . ."  

  

Alex: "He could be food, you said it yourself. . ."  

  

Ela: "Stop dodging me ?!"  

  

Alex: "No. And I am like this. You just ain't ?."  

  

For a few seconds, they tried to stare each other down. Alex was the first to look away. But he was also the first to speak again.  

  

Alex: "Was this really all you wanted to talk about ??"  

  

Ela: "Well no. . . Not really ?."  

  

Alex: "Then what was it?"  

  

Ela: "Well, to be fair, I did wanna talk about this. . . But there are other things as well. . ."  

  

Alex: "Then what . . . ?"  

  

Ela: "There's been a lot of unrest. . . Like more than usual. I feel it. I see it. I think it might have something to do with the train and maybe with him. . .  No, let me talk. I'm not blaming you right now ?. Anyways, it's also almost Maan-fest. . ."  

  

Alex: "It's always almost Maan-fest. . ."  

  

Ela: "Not really. . ." 

  

Alex: "If you take both of 'em into account. . ." 

  

Ela: "Sure. . . I suppose ?. But we need to be careful, see what happens this first one after the train. . . And this first one for him. . ."  

  

Alex: "Aight, fine, that's fine. . . It makes sense. So, what do you wanna do ??"  

  

Ela: "I wanna go to Goblin-kvater. . . It's their fest this time, after all. Can you come with me ??  

  

Alex: "I have work. . . ?"  

  

Ela: "Can't you just ignore it? You do it more often ?. Or just do something in Goblin-kvater instead?"  

  

Alex: "Aight, I can do that. But what do you wanna do with him? Lock him up ??"  

  

Ela: "No, I wanna take him with us.  I wanna have him under our watch. . . Also, he drives Sara crazy ?."  

  

Alex: "What else is new. . . ? Do you have a plan?  

  

Ela: "No, we'll figure it out on the way. Let's go down, eat, pick up Jax and go." 

 

After Elena and Alex had gotten their breakfast, they went outside. They found Jax sitting on the porch. He seemed to have found the perfect spot to catch both light and warmth. Ever since the day he arrived, Jax had mostly been left alone. Alex and Elena didn't seem that interested in him. And they spend most of the daytime outside. They never told him where they went and didn't often seem to go together. Esther stayed in and around the inn. He had to give it to Alex. Jax was yet to see a new face enter the establishment. However, he did see a few people on the street. But none of them paid him any attention. Esther, on the other hand, seemed to be rather mindful of his presence. And she didn't seem to enjoy it. When they first met, he was sure she was excited to meet him. But her attitude towards him had gradually cooled down. Perhaps she was disappointed in his company, or she was upset that he didn't pay her. But regardless of her reason, his situation had become quite awkward because of it. 

 

Jax's inability to move around and lack of conversation partners for a large portion of the day had given him plenty of time to think. Too much, he began to realize. Once more, he considered the idea that all of this could be a dream. Jax had had dreams in dreams before. He had gone to sleep in dreams, dreamt in his dream-sleep, and waken up in the previous dream. Jax had even done this several times in the same dream once before. So, the fact that he was dreaming in this world did not automatically rule out this theory. However, even with the seeming gaps in time, the length of his experiences in Spirit Town could not be explained by dreaming. Nor could his sensations and depth of thought. Perhaps something else could be going on. He could have fallen into a coma. . . But that didn't feel quite right with him either. For now, he wanted to accept that this was all really happening. That he really had somehow managed to find his way to this strange, unfamiliar town with a large part of his memory missing. He began to wish that he could stop thinking about it. If he only had some distraction. . . 

 

Ela: "You eaten?" Elena asked with her mouth full. 

  

Jax: "Huh? Uhm, not really. . ."  

  

She swallowed. Ela: "Eat up then ?."  

  

She handed him a piece of cake, which Jax accepted with a confused mutter.  

  

Ela: "So. . . What's up with you? You like it here ??"  

  

Jax: "Uhm. . . I mean, not really. . . I've yet to really see the city. But for now, this place mostly seems really weird."  

  

Ela: "Whaddya mean weird ??"  

  

Jax: "Well, for example. . . Why is the sky green? Where is the sun? That kind of stuff. . ."  

  

Alex: "Told you he asks a lot of questions. . . ?"  

  

Jax: "No, I don't! I really haven't asked that many questions yet. And you've answered even less."  

  

Alex: "Maybe to you, it's not a lot, but-"  

  

Ela: "Good, he's is option 2. I was a little afraid of option 3, to be honest ?."  

  

Jax: "What?!"  

  

Alex: "Nevermind her. . . ? She is talking nonsense. . . Anyway, what were you saying? The sun? I don't know what a sun is. . ."  

  

Jax: "It's like the moon, but in the daytime."  

  

Ela: "Why would the moon want to be out in the daytime ??"  

  

Jax: "It's not the moon itself, more like. . . The moon's counterpart. . ."  

  

Ela: "Oh oke, yeah, never seen something like that. . . ? What was your other question again? Why the sky is green ??"  

  

Jax: "Well yeah. . ." 

 

Ela: "Because of Rayleigh scattering. . . Like, colourless light comes from out of the sky into the sky, right? Above the sky, there is a vacuum that lets the light travel through without a problem. But the air in the sky is much denser. . . Cause it isn't a vacuum. And due to this relatively high density, the light will start to scatter. The different colours of light have different 'likelihoods' of scattering. Greenlight scatters the most, colouring the sky green. During the full and absent moons, the sky will become purple though. . . ? What colour did you expect ??"  

 

Jax: "Blue! And the process you just described should make the sky blue! Since blue light has the shortest wavelength of all visible light. That's why it even gets scattered in the first place. Well, along with violet light, but that's hard to perceive for us humans. . . And on top of that, it would make more sense for the sky to turn purple if it was already blue rather than green since a purple colour comes from a combination of blue and red light. I don't even know how you would make a purple sky with green as the starting colour. Even if Rayleigh scattering made the sky here green instead of blue, this entire process would have to change or make way for a different process to get a purple colour. . ." 

 

Alex: "Look, I don't know where you're from, where blue is this kind of base colour. . . But maybe green is here what blue is back where you're from ?."  

  

Jax: "That wouldn't make any sense, the laws of the universe are supposed to be the same everywhere. . . And it ought to be at least the same in a place so similar to where I'm from. . . And wouldn't that make the plants her green? By that logic?" 

 

Ela: "And on that note, we were planning on taking you into the city today ?."  

  

Jax: "Wait, really? What for?"  

  

Alex: "To keep an eye on you."  

  

Ela: "You're not supposed to tell him that, and especially not in this manner ?."  

  

Jax: "So he isn't kidding!?"  

  

Alex: "Well played ?."  

  

Ela: "It doesn't matter ?. As I said, it's just cause you smell weird and stuff. . . This is just to see how things go, alright ??" 

 

To Jax, the journey to the other part of the city seemed to take at least an hour, but he didn't feel tired. On top of that, Elena had not mentioned wanting food once, which made him suspicious about his own perception of time again. Along the way, he saw many different streets, buildings, people, and, as long as his eyes didn't play tricks on him, animals. The group passed bright and dark streets, loud and quiet ones, all dressed in their own combinations of colours and smells. Yet, they somehow managed to get to their destination without ever having to take a turn or go into one of these numerous side-streets. Finally, they had arrived at a distinctly different part of the town. It almost looked and felt like a completely different city altogether. Clearly, 'going into the city' had just been a manner of speech.   

  

Alex: "Aight, from now on, it will be of the utmost importance to stick together-"  

  

Jax: "I was already right behind you guys. . ."  

  

Alex: "I was not scolding you ?. Anyways, once we pass this gate, things will be different. Everything will be different, even for you. Order will no longer exist. The sounds, sights, and smells might become overwhelming. People will be different and react differently to us, though I'm not sure you'll notice that. And there will, in general, be more of everything."  

  

Alex's explanation made Jax more confused, rather than clearing things up. But there were still things he could take away from it. He was already overwhelmed by the impressions from the journey to this part of the town. And that was about to get a whole lot worse. He followed Alex through the gate, with Elena close behind him.  

  

Ela: "Welcome to Goblin-kvarter ?."