Portals from Arcadia
Daylight was slowly fading as Lena, Ignatius and Nikolai reached the edge of Arcadia - an old, forgotten amusement park beneath the city where, supposedly, there had never been a shortage of adventures. Now it was just a shadow of its former glory: crooked merry-go-rounds, rusty swings and boards with paint falling off. But the place had another special place that only a few people knew about: an abandoned railway station hidden behind a broken fountain.
"Are we really going there?" - whispered Nikolai, adjusting his hood. Lena looked around alertly. "It's not an ordinary place. My grandmother used to tell me about trains leaving here but not coming back." Ignatius shrugged his shoulders, trying not to show his unease. "It's just another urban legend."
Walking down the gravel path, they passed through an overgrown gate. The station was small; abandoned, with broken windows, covered in dried ivy. But it wasn't the building that surprised them: beneath the platform was a fresh footprint, leading to an old siding.
"Someone was here before us," Lena remarked, lowering her voice. Suddenly the silence was cut by a distant thump. At the same instant, the old clocks, immobile for years, began to tick - all at once, as if on signal. Tension hung in the air. Lena hesitantly approached the shattered window and saw a quiet flash emerge in the gloom - as if someone had shifted the veil between two worlds.
Ignatius was already at the tracks when suddenly the ground shook beneath their feet. The sound of a whistling train reached their ears, although there had been no moving trains around for decades. Suddenly, right in front of them, as if from the darkness, a carriage emerged. The doors opened with a quiet hiss and a cool blue light spilled across the gravel platform.
Lena felt her heart beat faster. The train carriage looked strangely modern, and at the same time had something out-of-the-box about it. There were luminous signs on the walls, changing before their eyes. Someone, or something, was whispering their names from inside the wagon. For a moment, no one moved. Nikolai took the first step towards the open door. "Maybe this is just the beginning of something bigger?" - he said quietly. Lena looked at Ignatius, waiting for his decision.
Just before they entered the carriage, they heard a sudden crash behind them. They looked over their shoulder. Dozens of tiny yellow lights flashed in the darkness between the trees. A silhouette emerged from the shadows.... and then the wagon called out to them a second time, louder than before.
With no more time to hesitate, the friends exchanged glances and then slowly approached the door, behind which waited something neither of them could have anticipated...
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