A Dream of Summer Rain: A Day Like Any Other Day (chapter 44)

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Track List: “Long, Long Way From Home” by Foreigner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMbP5woz7S8

***

The train drove through the impenetrable darkness of the Liminal Void, atop the tracks that ran through it. After a few miles, or what Isabella thought of as a few miles, the Sea of Glass came into view on their side. Isabella wasn’t entirely sure how that one worked, how a sheet of mostly undisturbed glass circled the Pale on all sides, or why it stopped in a perfect circle. There were a lot of things about this she wasn’t sure of the exact machinations of. 

Perhaps she should ask. 

“Say, Harry,” Isabella asked. She sat in the passenger’s seat next to the driver’s chair that Harry occupied. “I was wondering: how exactly does any of this work?”

“How does what work?”

“This. The train. You. How does any of this work?”

“You’ll have to be more specific than that.”

Isabella ran a hand through her hair- God, it had gotten greasy. “What’s your real name? That seems like a good start.”

“My real name is Harry the Driver.”

“No it’s not.”

“It is.”

“This is one of your weird non sequiturs. You’re messing with me so you don’t have to give me straight answers.”

He looked over at her, and for the first time in the seven years they’d known each other, he took off his sunglasses and cap, revealing inverted elven eyes and pointed elven ears. “No, Isabella. There are people who will play along with that and people who won’t, and I’ve gathered that you’re the latter.” 

“You- you’re- how-”

“My name is Harry the Driver. I had another identity once, another name, before I chose my current path, before the Sundering.”

“You’re an elf!”

“Yes. I’m what’s known as a Void Elf. Not all of us followed the Elf-King into the new land. Some of us stayed behind, to never forget what we’d wrought. We lost our corporeal form when we stayed behind, though thanks to some… Arrangements I made a long time ago, myself and some others like me can regain it for brief periods of time. The Elf-King cannot be allowed to invade the earth- on this, we’re largely a united front. Like I said, I help where I can. We all do. There’s just only so many of us, and only so much within our capability.”

“And you’ve waited till now to tell me any of this? Haven’t you known Quentin and Joshua for like a decade? Do they know this?”

“No. Because it’s not my place to tell him.”

“But you’re telling me right now.”

“Yes. It’s my place to tell you. And only you.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because you’re something unique, Isabella. Have you ever wondered why and how you came to the Pale in the first place?”

“I figured it was because the fox chose me for something,” she said, petting the furry, four-legged creature sleeping on her lap. “And after I got the sword and met with the Elf-King, I figured it was to kill Lacy. I was really desperate to believe there was a reason for all this. I heard what I wanted to hear and didn’t really question why the Elf-King wanted Lacy dead, only that he’d told me to make it happen and that I would be free.”

“You’re not necessarily wrong, you’re just not really right either,” Harry said. “Do you see this slot here, by the ignition?”

Isabella looked over, and saw… A slot, large and wide, that probably wasn’t standard issue formatting. And then she looked at World-Carver, and back to the slot. It would fit perfectly. “Why-”

“Something came unbound in you, when you were very young,” Harry said. “I have no idea what, but something loosened your tether in reality, perhaps even cut it entirely.”

“Sounds ominous,” Isabella said, holding the fox tight. 

“It should, it’s quite serious,” Harry said. “But it does offer certain advantages. Tell me: that sword of yours, World-Carver, do you know its limits?”

“Yeah, I can only go places within eyeshot, otherwise I could get spat out anywhere.”

“Or so you believe.”

“... Are you telling me this thing works long range, and I’m just bad at using it?”

“No. Well, a little bit, but not entirely. I assume you’ve also noticed by now that your sword doesn’t work normally in the Pale.”

“Yeah. Something about this place being both material and immaterial. I think.”

“Yes, that’s correct. Now, let me ask you again: you found a piece of magical equipment. Has it occurred to you that there might be more?” Harry asked. 

“Well yeah, of course it has. There were tons more weapons in the Castle. This was just the one that… Spoke to me, I guess,” Isabella said. 

“No, I mean that there might be more for that sword specifically. Let me put it this way: you found World-Carver jammed into an anvil. Is there anything from your world’s history that might remind you of?”

Isabella’s eyes went wide, and the fox woke up and began running back and forth across the car. “Holy shit this thing is Excalibur? Like literally Excalibur?!”

“No, actually, it’s not.”

“But you just said-”

“Excalibur is the sword given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. The sword he pulled from the stone as a teenager, the one you’re carrying, is Caliburn. Which, in Elvish, means ‘World-Carver.’ Excalibur, meanwhile, means ‘Realm-Reaver;’ the Chosen One still has it.”

“I didn’t know any of that.”

“Honestly, what do they teach you children in school these days?”

“Okay so you’re saying that this blade is meant to be part of a set, and the other half is Excalibur. And what, can that do long range transportation?”

“Correct.”

“Okay, I follow. But what does that have to do with this train?”

“Because the weapons, imbued with magic, often blessed by one or more gods, fae, or spirits, come from your own world. Me and people like me have been known to build technology, for lack of a better word, that can accommodate or even augment such weapons and artifacts.”

“And you modified a train car to-”

“Yes. I did so for you. Otherwise you won’t be able to get home.”

“What? But then how did you get here without me?” Isabella asked. 

“You’re a fully corporeal person- my abilities can’t carry you to or from the Liminal Void. Only objects, which aren’t fully tethered in the first place.”

“They’re not?” Isabella asked. 

“Have you ever lost something, and it just never seems to turn up, even though you had it a second ago? It comes here,” Harry said. 

“Ah. I see.”

“All I had to do was take the train here. This train, in fact. When someone untethered boards a train, any train, it can access the Liminal Void. I’ll have to teach you to do it on command at some point.”

“That sounds like it’d be wicked useful,” Isabella said. 

“Yes. Now. I’ll tell you when to take the wheel, and when you do, slide World-Carver into that ignition slot. That should give you the boost you need to get back to the earth once we hit the wall. Now, before I go, any other questions for me?”

“Yeah,” Isabella said. “Why did the sword choose me?”

“The sword didn’t choose you. Only Stars do that. You chose the sword, and it responded to you because you’re not a mage. But what you do with it, that’s all on you.”

“Great. That’s… That’s great. No pressure or anything.”

“Yeah. Life sure sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Thanks Harry, you’re a real help,” Isabella deadpanned. 

“No problem!” Harry replied, clapping her on the shoulder. “Coming up soon. Take the wheel.”

She got up, got into the driver’s seat. Did all trains have steering wheels? That couldn’t be- why would they need them? Harry really must’ve been busy with all this. 

Harry said, “Now think of where you want to go, and put your sword into that slot.”

Where do I want to go, where- Lacy said she was in Michigan, but didn’t give me an address or coordinates… Which I don’t even know how to read. And I’ve never been to Michigan, so I don’t know where anything is in that whole state. Okay, let’s think… No, actually let’s not. Don’t complicate things. This is simple. What I want is simple. I know where I want to go. “I want… To go… To where Lacy is!” she screamed as she jammed the sword into place. 

There was a shattering of glass, and then an eruption of brick and tile as the train drove through the roof of a small mansion. 

***

Lacy prepared for all her hopes and dreams to die at Alistair’s hands when a train came crashing through the ceiling. She screamed, loudly, as this happened, as the train came careening through the roof and clipped Alistair with its back-left wheel as it plowed into the kitchen, narrowly missing Lacy in its horrible momentum. She screamed as Alistair screamed, screamed as Danny screamed, screamed as the train came screaming to a halt after hitting its third brick wall in a row. She didn’t stop screaming until Isabella opened the door to the train, sword in hand, face set with renewed life and determination. 

“What the hell just happened?!” Danny shrieked. 

“I… I have no idea,” Lacy said. 

“My dad got hit by a train!” Danny said.

“Yeah, I see too, man!” Lacy said. 

“It came through the ceiling, Lacy!”

“Is he still alive? How does he look?”

Beneath the wheel, Alistair stirred. Isabella jumped down from the car and ran over to them. “Like we should keep moving,” Isabella said, grabbing Lacy by the hand and pulling her towards the doorway. She pointed at Danny. “Is he coming with us?”

“Yeah, we’re settled,” Lacy said. 

“You promise to be good?” Isabella asked Danny, pressing World-Carver’s tip to his chest. Danny nodded furiously. Isabella smiled. “Cool. Any friend of Lacy’s is a friend of mine. Now let’s move.”

“Wait, isn’t that the train that we stole for Harry?” Danny said. 

“Yes. He brought me here.”

“Is he in there?”

Harry emerged from the wreckage. And he had elf ears and elf eyes. That has some interesting implications, Lacy thought. “Hey, Harry-”

Before she could finish speaking, Harry affected a wave good-bye and then vanished into thin air, leaving not a trace of sight or sound or scent in his place. 

“Heh?” Lacy said, squinting. 

“Yeah, that feckin’ figures,” Isabella said. 

“It does?” Danny said. 

Purple light shimmered across the length of Alistair’s body. Bit by bit, the train collapsed into a heap of ash as Alistair’s form decayed into a beasteal state, his Stars illuminating his monstrous form.

Lacy tapped her chest and let her Star out. Danny did the same.  

Four Stars lit the room, bearing down on the people within.

With no other way to reconcile their Destinies, they fought.