CHAPTER 171: THE NEXT STEP

"How are you alive?" Melayne’s voice cut through the silence like a blade. She was still staring at Lucille, who stood there as though she hadn’t been stabbed through the chest just minutes ago.

Lucille turned, complex emotions rushing through her eyes at once.

"That’s... complicated," she said quietly.

"We’ve got time," Jax said, though his eyes kept darting to where the golem’s remains lay scattered. "The next round isn’t starting yet."

Lucille looked at each of them in turn, then sighed deeply. "This... isn’t my first time on the Celestial Express."

Her admission caused the others to be a little taken aback.

"I’ve been here before. A long time ago. Longer than you can imagine." She sat down heavily on a piece of crystal rubble. "I made it to the Navigator then. Got to ask him for anything I wanted."

"The Navigator?" Roman asked softly in disbelief.

Lucille nodded.

Melayne’s expression had shifted from suspicion to something approaching sympathy. "That’s why you knew so much. You’ve been here before."

"What was your wish?" Jax asked.

"I was young. Stupid. I thought living forever would be... amazing. So I asked to become Immortal."

Lucille’s laugh was bitter. "And it was. At first. I could survive anything, heal from any wound. I felt invincible."

She gestured to where the crystal spike had pierced her. "But immortality... It’s not a gift. It’s a curse disguised as one."

Jax found himself leaning forward. "What do you mean?"

"I watched everyone I ever loved die." Her voice was steady, but there was pain behind it that spoke of eons. "My friends, my family, their children, their children’s children. Civilizations rose and fell while I remained the same. I wandered the universe for thousands of years, trying to find meaning in a life that never ends."

"And finally, after all these years, I got another chance to board the Express. One more opportunity to reach the Navigator."

"To ask what this time?" Jax asked quietly.

Lucille met his gaze directly. "To ask him to let me die."

The words were like a guillotine, silencing each one of them.

"You want to give up immortality," Ning said.

"You don’t understand how it is. I want to be human again. Mortal again." Lucille’s voice cracked slightly. "I want to know that my life has limits, that my choices matter because time is finite. I want to be able to rest."

They sat in stunned silence. Everything made sense now; her vast knowledge, her calm in the face of danger, the way she sometimes looked at them with something that might have been envy.

Jax turned toward Ning, the only one whose expression hadn’t changed all that much. "You knew, didn’t you?"

Ning nodded reluctantly. "I saw her regenerate in the forest. Figured it wasn’t my business to ask."

"Thank you," Lucille said simply. "For keeping my secret."

"Thank you for sharing it," Jax replied. He took a deep breath, feeling the weight of his own hidden truth. "I suppose... I should share mine too."

All eyes turned to him.

"I came to the Celestial Express to save someone," he said. "I don’t know who they are. Hell, I don’t even know who I am most of the time. My memories are... missing. But there’s someone out there who needs me, and I’m the only one who can help them."

"You don’t remember who?" Roman asked gently.

"No. But I know they’re important. More important than my own life." Jax’s threads flickered around his fingers unconsciously. "I’m hoping the Navigator can either restore my memories or help me find them directly."

Lucille nodded with understanding. "You got rid of all memories, keeping only your deepest belief to come here."

Jax nodded and then turned toward Ning expectantly. He had been quiet throughout both confessions, but now all three were looking at him with patient expressions.

Ning sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "I suppose it’s my turn."

He was quiet for a long moment, staring at his hands.

"I need the Navigator’s help," he said finally. "I was told to come here to meet him, but instead of meeting me directly, he forced me to go through these carriages like everyone else."

"What kind of help?" Melayne asked.

Ning’s jaw tightened. "My son. Max. He’s..." He struggled with the words. "He’s dying."

"Dying?" Lucille asked. "Why?"

"Let’s just say he’s been cursed at birth, and I have no way of curing him. But there’s a place, a realm where the cure likely exists. The problem is, it’s impossible to reach without someone who can show me the way there."

"And the Navigator can do that?" Lucille asked.

"He’s the only one I know who can." Ning’s voice was barely above a whisper.

They all looked at him, not a single one of them realizing the carefree man held such a deep secret.

"How long do you have?" Lucille asked.

"Long enough," Ning said. "Max is in a... temporal stasis, so nothing is happening to him. But I can’t possibly keep my child there forever. I need to find a way to deal with his problem."

"We’ll get you there," Lucille said firmly. "All of us. We’ll reach the Navigator, and we’ll all get what we need."

"To save your son," Jax added. "To restore my memories. To grant her mortality."

Ning smiled.

Before anyone else could speak further, something changed. The familiar countdown timer that had been a constant presence suddenly stopped, with nothing else appearing there. Instead, bright light shone in the sky.

Where dozens of glowing names had once filled the darkness, only one remained.

Their own.

The Trasncendents

"Holy shit," Jax breathed. "We actually did it."

"We won," Melayne said, disbelief coloring her voice. "We actually won the entire trial."

A voice echoed across the arena, warm and congratulatory. "Congratulations, survivors. You have completed the Monster Horde Trial. Your reward awaits."

Black crystalline cards began falling from the sky like dark snow. Each one gleamed with an inner light that seemed to bend reality around its edges.

"Five-star tickets," Lucille said softly, catching hers as it drifted down. "I haven’t seen one of these in... well, ever in my entire life."

They each caught their ticket, staring at the impossible object in their hands. After everything they’d been through, all the pain and fear and desperate fighting, they had actually made it.

"So what now?" Roman asked. "Do we use them together?"

"I don’t know if we’ll end up in the same place," Lucille admitted. "They might separate us."

Jax looked around at his companions.

"No matter where we end up," he said, "we’ll find each other again. We’ve made it this far together."

"Agreed," Ning said, gripping his ticket tighter. "Whatever comes next, we face it as a team."

"Even if we’re separated," Melayne added, "we know we’re all heading to the same destination eventually."

Lucille smiled - the first genuinely happy expression they’d seen from her. "Then I suppose there’s nothing left but to take the next step."

They formed a loose circle, each holding their black crystalline ticket. The cards hummed with power, reality seeming to waver around them.

"Together?" Jax asked.

"Together," they replied in unison.

And as one, they activated their five-star tickets, stepping forward into the next Carriage.

[End of Carriage 9]

And

[End of the novel ’Singe Spell Sorcerer’]