DAYDREAMER

PART V: The Dreamspace

"Okay! Okay!" Jake screamed, rubbing his cheek in pain, Lucia felt for the brooch, it was still there, but it was no longer acting up; she'd assumed that it was the key to whatever this place was, and it had fulfilled its purpose, hopefully she'd be able to use it to get back somehow.

"There are tons of other popular cities here: Azuron, Galvitos, Xenia, Aqvens II... Dozens of 'em"

"Really popular, but I haven't heard of them in my life," Jake scoffed.

"Come into this with an open mind, we're here for a reason, I don't know what that IS exactly, but I'm sure we'll find out down the road," Aiden assured, Jake shook his head.

"Sooo... We're just winging it till then?" A collective nod was the subsequent reply. Jake rolled his eyes.

"So, this is the sorta nonsense you get up to while I'm not around," he smirked.

"This is a one-off thing," Magnus insisted, "This has nothing to do with us as people,"

Jake sneered.

"Well, you better find a way to get us out of here then,"

"In due time dear brother, patience is a virtue..." Aiden added, with a smug smile, it's rare seeing Jake getting agitated, he wanted to make the most of that experience.

Cynthia extended the blueprint once more.

"I think that the best course of action for us right now is to go to Qaietiox VI, I reckon that there may be some people who can help us out here, besides, what's a city without civilians?" She suggested.

"Ugh, ghost towns... Hate 'em, so creepy and strange..." Magnus shivered, scaring himself with his own thoughts. As they discussed, they began to hear a metro approaching the station, drifting across the tracks with impressive speed, coming to a complete stop at the station. It was jet black with neon crimson lights that striped the surface. The windows were tinted, and the interior was practically invisible. To one side of the metro was the title. "THE CASCADE" marked bold in red and silver. They approached the metro, watching the door slide open slowly at the stop, nobody left, but why would they? The station appeared to have no visible exits. They made their way into the metro, stunned at its phenomenal aesthetic. It was sleeker on the inside than on the outside, with charcoal walls that were straited with scarlet glowing lights. Still, the metro was barren, and they couldn't find anybody who was sitting down, standing up or doing anything of the sort; the only thing that dwelled in the metro was a dim mist, which cleared up as the metro doors opened.

"This metro is very, retro, I like it," Lucia commented, giving an approving nod, Madeleine took one of the seats, observing the subway through the tinted windows.

"I really wonder about this place," she said, leaning her head over the window, "It's eerie..."

"We'll find out some more about this whole business when we get to Qaietiox VI, we'll ask around, maybe we'll get somewhere with it," Cynthia reassured. The doors to the metro slowly slid shut and the Cascade departed from the subway.

Lucia couldn't help but notice the speed in which the Cascade was going, all landscape that could be seen from outside of it was reduced to blurry strokes that zoomed past them as the metro advanced. The music being played from within was soothing and alleviated them from their nerves, but they still couldn't help but notice the clear absence of passengers up until this point though, it was a thing that left some doubt lingering in their minds, though remaining hopeful that there may still be people in the cities. The speed of the Cascade had Lucia convinced that the Dreamspace was miles away from them, despite only travelling for a couple of minutes. She was taken aback by the neoteric nature of the place, the technology she'd seen here was nothing like anything else she'd seen back at home, it was fascinating to say the least.