Rho looked at the massive construction in front of him. He was unable to find words to convey his feelings. There was this massive feeling of... disappointment. This was the way they were going to travel through dimensions? Maru and Kirin next to him looked at the object in front of them.
"It's been a month since I saw it and I'm impressed every time." Maru said with a look of excitement in his eyes. Kirin was also staring with amazement. He mumbled to himself "This is what it looks like when I can see..." Rho shook his head after hearing these two. "It's just a cheap version of a train, what are you amazed at?"
Maru looked at him as if he heard a demon speak from Rho's mouth. "Do you even know what this is? This is an ancient machine, designed to let large groups of people travel long distances, even through dimensions, at an unheard speed!" He spoke as if this was a work of the gods, which required worshipping. Rho sighed and said "In the world where I lived for 3 years, we had them 5 times this length, and with a speed of over 120 km/h. This one can go round 60 km/h and is way shorter. The thing is, in that world, magic isn't a real thing. It's considered just tricks or illusions made by people, but no actual magic. You'd be surpised of the ideas they have there."
Maru and Kirin were both intrigued by this answer, but Rho stopped them from asking. "We need to find our carriages first, Im in one of the last ones, the lowest class ones. I have been accepted into the second year by reccomendation, so I dont have a reserved spot." Kirin looked around with glee. "I am shunned by my family and not accepted anymore, so I have no reserved spot either. It looks like we're in the same carriage." Maru looked away with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. "My family has arranged for me to stay in the third carriage, which is the highest the students can reside in... I'm sor-" Rho cut him short with a knowing look. "You rather than me, those people with their noses high and not knowing how sloppy their methods are." Maru frowned. Until this day he was one of those people... It was only until he got absolutely obliberated by Rho that he realised that there are many more strong people out there outside of his family.
Kirin didn't seem to mind it at all. Rho and Kirin walked to the back of the "train" and entered the last carriage. To be fair, since both of them were used to having nearly no luxury, their standards were way lower compared to the others on this train. When they walked in, they saw a fairly large room, larger then you'd expect looking at it from the outside. There was a small table with a black window above it in the wall to the right of them, in front of them was a large window with the outside view, with 3 large couches and a table in the middle of them, and to their left were 3 compartiments, probably to sleep in. Above their heads was a large lamp, exquisitely made with clear glass and black metal, shaped in a bulb form.
On the table in the middle was a small vase with a flower that gave off a golden glow. But the most eye-catching was not all of this. It was the girl with black hair that hung in front of her eyes who was staring at the flower, with one hand hovering next to it. It seemed she was admiring the glow of the on her hand, which gave it a look as if it was made from a precious material. The door was a sliding door and it opened very smoothly, so at first she didn't notice them. Only when Rho started walking into the room did her senses tell her someone was there.
With a shock, she jumped up, backwards over the large couch, hiding behind it and then looking at who came in. When Rho and Kirin walked in and this girl jumped the moment she noticed them, they were momentarily dazed. The girl looked at them with large eyes, and she said in a small voice "I haven't done anything! I'm not looking for trouble!" She had an almost animal-like fear in her eyes. When she looked at Rho and their eyes met, his eyes flashed for a split second, but this split second was enough for the black haired girl to calm down.
Kirin looked at her, his eyes almost bulging out of his head. He had been blind and thus unable to see the beauty of the other sex, and, combined with his release of his burdens, this made him be both astonished and excited. The girl was extremely pretty, even compared to the world where Rho had lived, where internet and make-up ruled the heads of both boys and girls, all obsessed with appearance.
Rho wasn't easily thrown off though, and he spoke in a soft voice. "You can see it in my eyes, I mean-". "Hey pretty girl! I-i'm Kirin, would you like to be my girlfriend?" Rho looked at the boy next to him who interrupted him and was steadily advancing towards the girl. It was probably for the best to not let him go on with this, so Rho stepped forward and hit a certain spot on the excited Kirin's shoulder. This immediately caused him to collapse on the floor unconscious.
Rho sighed and looked outside of the window for a second, and then looked at the girl who stared at him with a look of disbelief. "Sorry about that, I had to calm him down for a bit. You have to forgive him, he has been blind for probably around 12 years so he is quite phased by anything aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I'm Rho Doka, nice to meet you." The girl got up from her crouching position behind the couch and coughed lightly. "I-i'm sorry for the inconveniance... It was not my intention to be rude towards you two..." Her voice was soft, almost unaudible, with a hint of fear. After waying this she looked down at her own feet and stood there trembling, expecting him to shout at her.
Rho gave her a look which made him seem almost a hundred years older. He said to her, with a voice equally soft to hers: "I know what it's like to be an outcast. I've lived alone in a world not inhabited by mages for 5 years, not knowing if my loved ones are alive, if my friends are doing well and no hope unless I accomplish the impossible. I can see it in your eyes too, and you in mine." The girl looked up with her large eyes, surprisingly with a red iris, filling with tears and she asked: "How can you stand tall like this? How.... How can you have this way of walking, not knowing when they're gonna scream at you for being a monster, calling you not human, an abomination? How..." She sat on the couch, powerless, tears roling down her eyes. Rho gave her a wry smile. "I can stand tall like this because I am just too stubborn to give up. I have to change my own fate, the fate of the world. I have to kill gods. All the while I have the lowest starting point of all humans. When I was twelve, I was a stage 2 mage already."
"But the day after my birthday that all changed. I got stripped of all my power, I was weak as an infant. I was exiled, and only after finding a divine heritage left specifically for me could I start to train again. That was two months ago. I'm probably the weakest member of this school, but I will no doubt end up the strongest."
The girl looked at him as if he was crazy. "How can you be so confident? Isn't that in essence an impossible task?" Unknowingly, her tears had stopped and she was not entirely sure if she actually thought he was crazy. Rho looked at the lamp. "I can prove it, that I'm capable of it. In addition, I can save you as well, from... It."
The girl froze in place. "How do you know that it's...."
