There was nothing in front of us. Standing on the platform, it wasn't even any rats here, completely silent and deserted. I wondered if Veronica's information was wrong. Valdor, standing beside me, seemed to be staring at something sticking out at the end of the platform. We didn't exactly look like people who were here to make some graffiti, I mean, the douche old guy had a very… very tight T-shirt. Valdor suddenly moved to the end of the platform and seemed to look at something on the edge, as if focused on it.
"Hey! Old man, there is nothing there!"
"Found it!" he commented, his back to me.
Did he find a rat?
I walked to him on the edge and saw a long handle on the track's ground. He jumped down on the grass and grabbed the handle with both hands.
"Old man! It would be best if you returned to the platform. It's dangerous because trains still pass through this station on their way to the end station in Akalla."
He looked with his superhero smile before he pulled the handle towards himself, his bragging muscles pumping like it was only a millimeter from ripping apart, and all I had to wear was a blazer with a tie and a shirt with office pants; luckily, I did manage to sneak on my running shoes before we came here. Heard a clicking sound and turned around to see dust on the ground rise; suddenly, a bang sounded like someone had fired a gun. I jumped a little bit, but there was nothing here. Did the noise come from somewhere else?
Looked around the area to see if there was anything or anyone nearby, but the sound came too close to me; it couldn't have come from the hill. My reaction would have been to turn left or right if that were the case.
There was, though, something: leaves were swaying just above the ground a couple of meters away, and that piqued my interest. I turned around to see Valdor standing there with his mouth open in awe, staring at…nothing behind me. What the fuck was he looking at?
I tried to be cool and stared in the same direction as he did, but nothing there.
"It was a long time since I passed through this kind of passage. If I remember correctly, it was with the human Theodor Fremtom when he was hunting some monster and had to travel to Valiant."
I hate people who try to play the true hero of a story. Why do these old dudes always go into monologuing when they try to explain something I really do not give a shit about?
"Oh! So interesting, can we please focus on the mission, Goldie?"
He laughed at me, came up beside me, put his hand on my shoulder, and a burning blue light lit up the ground in a straight line, then shot up into the air, creating a rectangle of fire. Then, suddenly, everything in the rectangle caught fire, and the double doors opened. Fuck me, this is…AWESOME!
I moved up to it, careful of the still-burning doors, and looked inside. There were stairs down to a platform, with what looked like stairs on the other side as well. The windows covering the upper part didn't make any sense because the stairs went downward, and there was no door on the other side. I moved to the side and saw Kymlinge station, which looked like shit with broken bottles everywhere, then turned back to see the beautiful station. Pfft! A bunch of rtards bragging about how good it is to be from another world.
"Are there two entry points?"
"Yes! The other entry point is inside Paladin Woods; there is always an entry from outside Paladin Woods and another from inside.
"Goldie! Are there other stations like this?"
"Ha ha! Yes, there is. You should see New York; they have several stations right before Valiant.
"UH...WHAT! Are there more places like Paladin Woods?
Valdor scratched his head.
"Yeah! Did Victoria not tell you about this?
"Eh...No!...Or I may have missed the information during a course because I was sleeping most of the time."
"Ha Ha! You are a funny young man! There are two more places like Paladin Woods: New York and Osaka. Then there is a small one set up several years ago to make it easier in Münster, Germany."
Shit, I shouldn't have slept through all my classes. Well, there is a first time for everything. I need to visit the New York place and eat some of their big pizza slices, which will probably give me a heart attack, but it is about the enjoyment.
"Well, if that was all, let me present to you Pala Star Station." Goldie presented the station proudly, which had an octopus on the platform, covering way too much space. They have not thought about what to do if it gets too crowded, I guess.
We started moving forward, passing through the door, when I heard it close behind me. Noticed the hand moved away from my shoulder, and we were looking ahead at a station that barely had any citizens on the platform, if we don't count the eight slimy tentacles. Some did look like humans. Interestingly, they are traveling.
" Someone like you, who is a human, must walk into the station with someone with powers, as the entry we walked through is for very special cases. That is why you did not see the doorman. There is always a reason why some citizens cannot enter from outside; it takes someone with a lot of power. You only saw it when I touched your shoulder; that is how someone as weak as you can enter. It is all about the balance of power."
Did this old dude point out that I am so weak that his immense power is needed to let me into a station? There are other humans here also, why in the flying shit would I need him…Oh, wait! They look like halfbreeds, the humans on the platform. Fu…Fudge!
I hope Goldie stops his Superhero monologue, as it always makes me feel completely worthless. We started to walk down the stairs, and Goldie, of course, had some yellow dust around him shining up so much that I had to move a little bit to the side.
"What the hell is going on with you, Valdor?"
He laughed out loud in the air as he closed his eyes again like a true fucking hero and answered:
"Do not worry, little one! It is just my aura, you should see me when I catch on fire, that is the moment you should watch and learn from."
When we came down from the stairs, I had forgotten what the hell we were going to check.
"Eh! What was it we were going to do when we came to the station?" I asked.
"We were going to talk to a lady working at the information kiosk."
I looked at the Kiosk and saw a white-haired chick that… she was Asian, definitely Korean, and looked like the cute ones from Kdrama, or is it Chinese? Maybe Japanese, Valiant mixed Korean-Japanese-Chinese with a pinch of Philippine salt in the mix.
"I take the Kiosk, you can…eh…walk around the platform looking at…something!" I commented and started to walk towards the Kiosk while Valdor shook his head.
I walked up to the information Kiosk and saw a bunch of newspapers. A door behind her without a handle, eh, all strange things started to ring as an alarm bell for me. She was hot, though, looking like an air hostess with blue eyes and black hair, wearing glasses…, the classic glasses… It is if she was a secra…focus Berk, no lewd thoughts. The red lipstick, though, made me stare at her mouth for a couple of seconds.
"So… it's you who is Veronica's favourite. You were cute." She commented.
O…M…G, I just heard Veronica and favorite. I must be the number one.
"Eh…you know Veronica?" I asked, looking around, seeing Valdor suspiciously eyeing people.
She had a smirk on her face and answered:
"Yes, we collaborate sometimes."
Pfft! Why don't you collaborate the…ah shit! Focus Berk.
"Ah! Right…I knew that. How long have you been working here?" I asked to start a smooth Mr. Handsome Berk conversation style.
"Three years." She answered and coughed, making my eyes go up and down for a moment. I am going to die…for melons.
"Okay! So…you may know why I am here?"
"Of course!" She answered and made a small jump again after coughing a second time. I got suspicious that she wasn't the one we were after to catch… back to Zark's apartment.
She made a hand sign to make me bend over the desk as she whispered into my ear:
"The information we got is that the man with the green hand will board a train to Clushkin Woods in 20 minutes with Grawlers as bodyguards."
Grawlers…What the fuck is that?
"Eh…what are Grawlers?" I said with a lowered voice.
She made a weird facial expression.
"I am shocked you never heard of them before. They move where you don't see; they strike when you don't see, and kill when you don't see. Only the strongest can see them lurking where there is nothing." She explained, which made me look closer into her eyes to see if she was smoking something.
Oooookey…maybe she is a psycho. I just smiled and nodded like I understood what she just told me.
"BERK!" someone shouted from my right side, and when I turned to the right and saw Valdor trying to reach me, I felt pain in my back and looked down at my shirt and saw my left side of the stomach covered in blood. I took a couple of steps to the side and felt my back, but there was nothing that had gone through my back, just the blood. Still, I could feel something inside me, and I quickly reached my left back side and felt something with a grip on it, but I couldn't see it. I pulled it out and fell with one leg on my knee as I suddenly had a knife in my hand.
I got up and moved to the Kiosk, then half-heartedly jumped over the desk. Valdor was on fire, fighting the air. Goldie had his whole arm on like a fire aura gushing out with no ending in sight. Suddenly, something hard hit me in the chest. Again, getting hit by air made me fall on the floor, and I quickly tried to get up while trying to catch my breath from the hit when Valdor screamed out in the air:
"IT'S GRAWLERS! THEY ARE INVISIBLE UNTIL YOU MANAGE TO TOUCH THEM. KEEP YOUR DISTANCE FROM THEM!"
"HOW AM I GOING TO KEEP MY DISTANCE IF I CAN'T SEE THEM, GOLDIE? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT KIND OF ADVICE, OLD MAN!"
I looked around 180 degrees, trying to fake like I knew they were around me, but it was impossible to grasp where the next hit would come from. If I try to jump over the desk, maybe I will get stabbed again by an object; if I move too quickly in any direction, I can get hit, so there is only one freaking option: try to sneak in low on knee level and try to get a hit. Suddenly, a sound came from my left, and I rolled over the desk, falling to the ground, and felt something, grabbed it, seeing legs now falling as I had caught the legs, and I quickly got on top of the creature, which looked hideous and smelled like shit, making me gag a little bit. Looked around and saw three of them had surrounded me, and one went for the kill as I rolled to the side. They disappeared again. I moved away from the Kiosk to divide them.
I had distanced myself a little bit now and stopped so I could try to hear them, but there was too much noise around. What a bad situation, I need to try and outsmart them somehow, a little bit of a challenge when the enemy is invisible. I need to up the game as Valdor looks like he is fighting most of them.