Tales From The Kronos

"The buildings of the city are under a small rain. Even despite being in the middle of the night, it's easy to see around with all those lights and neons, and yet, there is no one in the streets. I shall this world "The Land Of Nightly Rains". At least, we are all here this time."

"You're sure Sepide? What about when the day will come out and it won't rain anymore?" Asked Silva to her friend who was recording her report.

"I'm not really good for names, why don't you give a name to this world?" Sepide was truly apologetic for her lack of originality, but Silva turned down the offer and instead tried to change the subject, knowing she wouldn't find anything good either

"So, what now? We need to find this girl and make her win the race."

The three stopped around to think, but luckily for them, it wouldn't last long. The group quickly heard the sounds of a car's engine. And it wasn't the kind of sound a random car would make, it sounded more like a race was about to start. They decided to head toward there, maybe could they get new information.

There was a group of people, not really friendly looking, and a bunch of cars around. They looked like cars made for street racing, but they were more showing off than racing anything. When the menacing-looking people noticed the three friends, they started to get closer, trying to look intimidating.

"Woah, what are you kiddos doing 'round here? You lost ya mom?" One of them said while holding a knife in his hand.

"We're searching for a girl named Eida, she's going to participate in a race and we need to talk to her." Neige talked calmly, trying to show that they weren't here to cause problems. But the man in front of him still kept their aggressive tone, trying to show dominance.

"I think the gnome's trying to communicate, I think he forgot how things work 'round here!"

"I think you're forgetting that the gnome is at the right height to punch you in the nuts." Neige still kept his calm tone despite the man trying to diss him. After he said that, the other around started to raise their voice, amused by the entertainment in front of them.

"Hey, it's not because he's trying to look tough that he is. I'm gonna show you, you little brat, take your garbage can, I'm gonna show you how it's done." The intimidating-looking man was enraged, and when he said those words, the surrounding people started to cheer and get hyped. "The first to do a lap around the city wins. If you win, I tell you what you wanna know, if you lose, you give me your watch. It looks fancy, and I like it."

Everyone was excited, everyone but the three friends. They just got here, and already got in trouble.

"I don't have a car, it's going to be hard to race."

"You don' have a car? The hell you mean? That's the only way we show our power here!"

More people started to gather around, putting even more pressure on them. One of the people in the public started to talk, interrupting them.

"He can use my car."

When the voice was heard, everyone stayed silent. They looked at him, with a mix of fear and admiration. Neige, Sepide, and Silva were also silent, but for another reason. The man that just spoke was looking exactly like Neige, with the difference that he was using a cane to walk since his right leg was missing. The man who defied the three friends looked at him for a short moment before staring back at the people he challenged.

"Fine. You have Ten minutes to prepare, no more!"

The three friends and the man looking like Neige got a bit farther away, near a car that looked ancient and not like something that should be on the roads. One of the doors was even missing.

"You said you searched an Eida." Said the man "What do you want from her?"

He wasn't aggressive, but it felt like if they said one wrong word, he would make them have a bad time. Sepide took a step forward, starting the conversation.

"We heard she's going to race, and we're great fans, so we wanted to help her."

The man looked at them, visibly not convinced by Sepide's words.

"Sure, I'm keeping an eye on you. But I have to admit, I like your guts, challenging someone without even owning a car, that's pretty impressive. My name's Neige, what about you?"

The group's fear was true, it was indeed the Neige from this world, and it would be pretty hard to dodge him now, they would just need to make sure that nothing bad happened and that he never found out their true identities.

"I'm Snow, and they're my friends, Silva and Sepide. Just a quick question, it's your car?" Snow stared at the vehicle and didn't feel comfortable going fast in it. It looked like it was in more than one accident, and that it got on fire at least twice.

"Oh that, don't worry, she got in a bad race lately, but at least she didn't lose her purpose, unlike her owner..." Neige stared at his car for an instant before continuing "But don't worry, my friend is a mechanic, I called her and she'll make sure Ririka is ready to roll." Neige said while giving a light tap on the roof of the car.

"Ririka?" Silva asked.

"Yeah, it's her name." Neige pointed at his car, making the others wonder if he wasn't crazy.

The three of them suddenly started to think it was a bad idea to race, maybe they should have just apologized and left, but now was too late for regrets.

Soon enough, a motorcycle was heard, stopping near them. The person on it removed her helmet, revealing long blonde hair and eyes as violet as amethyst. Snow was sure that he had seen her before, she looked exactly like Ada, the nun he saw in the other world.

"Ah, here she is. Let me introduce you to Eida, she's the one you searched for, right?"

Eida ignored them and immediately went to check around the car, visibly pretty annoyed.

"Hey, if she's here, we don't need to race, we already found what we were here for." Sepide looked at Eida with relief, the man however wasn't happy with her answer.

"Don't tell me you're giving up. Here, speed is law, and if you run from this race, you probably won't make it until the end of the night. People here don't like cowards."

The three were screwed, if they gave up, they'd get in trouble, and if they did the race, they'd need to not only drive a barely functioning car but also win the race. The woman came toward her friend once she finished working on the car,

"Neige, Ririka's ready. They're the ones that will pilot her?" Neige nodded to Eida's question. She proceeded to look at the three of them as if she was trying to see something in them "Hey, he does look like you a lot." She said while pointing at Snow.

"Yes, and he's a fan of you too, they all seem really excited about your race tomorrow."

"Fans? But I never raced before." Seeing the girl's confusion, Silva took the lead, trying to not appear suspicious.

"It's just that we're fans of painting, and we love painting cars. And we heard about your work on cars and your future race." She wasn't sure whether it would be believable, but Eida blushed and seemed pretty happy about it.

"Oh, I didn't know there were real fans of cars around here. Usually, they just treat their cars like tools, but they have a soul and it's important to take care of them. I love taking the hood off the car, seeing its insides, and caressing the components..." As she spoke, her eyes stopped looking at them and instead started to wander off, with drool coming out of her mouth.

"Yeah... Same... Anyway, the car is ready to race in this state?" Asked Snow to stop her fantasy while he still could.

"Oh, yeah totally. Just don't hit any walls and it should be fine. Who's going to drive?"

When she asked this question, the three of them looked at each other.

"Can I try?" Asked Silva innocently.

"No way we let you drive, I still value my life!" Snow turned around and looked at Sepide with hope in his eyes "Do you feel confident in it Sepide?"

"I think I can, I have some knowledge of cars." She said, a bit unsure.

"As long as you don't confuse the accelerator and the brake it should be fine." Everyone laughed at Silva's joke, except Sepide, who asked confused,

"The brake? They never told about it in movies."

Silva stopped and stared at Sepide in her eyes, trying to know if she was serious.

"Don't tell me you learned about cars in movies?"

"Where else should I learn about it?"

Silva turned toward Snow, silently pleading him to drive instead of Sepide. The man let out a sigh before nodding, not wanting his life in the hands of a blind or a girl who doesn't even know what the brakes are.

"It's fine, I'll drive, how hard can it be?"

Eida handed the key to Snow, who took the driver's seat. Silva sat behind, and Sepide next to Snow on the passenger's seat. The man looked around with amusement and pointed at the transition with pride.

"Hey, it's like one of Polyetta's video games, I know how to use that!"

"Polyetta?" Asked Sepide, to which Silva quickly answered.

"It's the leader's name, but she'll get mad if you say it, only Neige can."

"Call me Snow, we don't want people to be suspicious."

After tinkering a bit around the car, Snow was confident he could drive it. Winning a race on the other hand wasn't guaranteed, but there was only one way to know. It was almost time for the race to begin and the three friends were ready to race.