Chapter 3 The Escort

The train climbed steadily, each turn pulling Akari farther from the world she knew.

At first, the view beyond the window still carried traces of the city-low concrete buildings, rusted fences, the backs of warehouses tagged with graffiti. Then the structures thinned. Roads narrowed. Trees began to crowd the tracks, their branches knitting overhead like clasped fingers.

By late afternoon, the urban sprawl was gone entirely.

Forested hills rolled past in deepening shades of green, the air growing thinner, cleaner with every kilometer. Soon even the hills fell away, replaced by sheer mountains that rose abruptly from the earth, their peaks half-hidden by drifting veils of mist. Pines dominated the slopes, dark and ancient, standing in quiet ranks that seemed to watch the train pass.

The carriage was old-older than any train Akari had ridden before. The seats were upholstered in faded fabric, the windows scratched and slightly warped. Every jolt of the tracks shuddered through the metal floor, a steady, almost comforting rhythm.

There were few passengers.

An elderly couple murmured to each other in the far end of the compartment. A young man slept with his head against the window, earbuds dangling uselessly from his ears. Otherwise, the space felt abandoned, as if this route existed more out of obligation than demand.

Akari sat alone on one side, her bag at her feet, her reflection faintly visible in the glass. She looked different to herself-paler, sharper somehow, her eyes too bright against the washed-out light.

As the train curved around a mountain bend, something on the ridge ahead caught her attention.

She leaned closer to the window.

At first, she thought it was a trick of shadow-rock and mist resolving into a familiar shape. Then it moved.

A wolf stood on the rocky outcrop, its coat a blend of grey and black that matched the stone beneath it. It was large, larger than any wolf Akari had ever seen in pictures, its frame lean and powerful.

It began to move as the train did.

Not running.

Loping.

Its gait was unhurried, effortless, as if the terrain offered no resistance. It kept perfect pace with the train, maintaining the same distance, its head held low, eyes locked on Akari's window.

Her breath caught.

The wolf didn't bare its teeth. It didn't snarl or bark. There was no hunger in its posture, no aggression.

It watched.

The way a guard watches a gate. The way a sentry marks time.

The elderly woman seated across the aisle let out a sharp gasp.

She followed the woman's gaze and saw fear bloom there, quick and unmistakable. The woman's hand flew to her chest, fingers moving in the sign of the cross with trembling urgency.

"Naznačenie (An indication)," she whispered.

The word fell into the space between them, heavy and final.

Omen.

Designation.

The woman's eyes flicked to Akari, and whatever she saw there seemed to confirm her worst suspicions. She gathered her bag with shaking hands, stood, and shuffled past without another word, her shoulder brushing the seat as if eager to put distance between them.

The compartment door slid shut behind her.

Akari didn't look away from the window.

Her heart was beating faster now, but not with fear. A strange ache bloomed in her chest-deep, melancholic, familiar in a way she couldn't explain. It felt like recognition without memory, like meeting someone whose name she had forgotten but whose presence her body remembered.

She raised her hand and pressed her palm to the cold glass.

The wolf slowed.

Then it stopped.

For a moment, train and creature moved on without each other. The distance stretched, fragile and deliberate.

The wolf lifted its head.

Its jaws opened, throat working as it drew in breath. Akari saw the tension in its muscles, the powerful line of its neck, the silent force gathering there.

No sound reached her.

But she knew.

A howl poured from the wolf, felt rather than heard, a vibration that resonated in her bones. The creature held the pose for a heartbeat longer, eyes still fixed on her, and then turned.

In two fluid motions, it vanished into the trees.

Akari lowered her hand slowly.

The train rounded another bend, the ridge disappearing from view as if it had never existed at all.

When the train finally began to slow, the light outside had shifted toward evening. The sun dipped behind the mountains, casting long shadows that stretched like fingers across the tracks.

The sign at the platform was simple, its letters carved deep into weathered wood.

LUPINARA

The platform itself was little more than planks laid over gravel. No lights. No advertisements. No welcoming banners. The train doors hissed open, and Akari stepped down onto the wood.

No one else followed.

The doors closed. The train pulled away, its engine fading into the mountains until even its echo was swallowed by the forest.

Silence settled.

A man waited at the edge of the platform. He wore a thick wool coat despite the mild air, his beard grizzled and his eyes sharp beneath heavy brows. He took her ticket without a word, examined it briefly, then nodded once.

He didn't welcome her.

He pointed.

An ancient Dacia sat nearby, its paint dulled with age, engine idling with a low, patient rumble. The car looked like it had been waiting for a long time.

Akari slung her bag over her shoulder and walked toward it, every step feeling measured, observed.

Behind her, the stationmaster spoke.

"Spune-i lui Ionescu că lună nouă este trecută. (Let Ionescu know that the new moon has passed.)

She turned.

He met her gaze, expression unreadable.

"Tell Ionescu the new moon has passed," he said in rough English, then turned away, already walking back toward the station office.

Akari stood there for a moment, the weight of his words settling over her.

The first sliver of moon crept into the sky above the mountains, thin and pale-but visible.

She opened the taxi door.

Whatever schedule she had just entered, it had already begun.