Chapter 1
“Luna, aren’t you going home yet? Study hour has already ended. What, are you trying to become a bookworm like Kio from Class 3-1?”
A voice echoed through one of the classrooms at Elaris High School.
“Oh, Miji, of course I’m going home. It’s only 7:30. Didn’t you see the Prime Minister’s announcement? The trains will continue running until 9 p.m. for high school students.”
“Then fine. I can walk home because I live in the city. But you live in Mooncrest, so I’m worried about you.”
Miji grumbled as she packed her books into her schoolbag.
It was already 8:20 p.m.
Luna was a high school student who lived in the Mooncrest territory of the Realm of Celestial Loom.
In this world, different eras were defined by realms. Each realm lasted for 3,000 years. Whenever a new realm began, the age count of the world started over from zero.
The Realm of Celestial Loom had now existed for 327 years.
Thinking back on the history lesson she had studied that afternoon, Luna walked toward the station in front of the school.
“Beep, beep, beep.”
The little watch around Luna’s wrist began to remind her that it was already 8:45.
Luna hurried up to the platform.
There was no train.
She felt slightly disappointed.
She had seen the Prime Minister’s announcement saying that, during the examination period, trains would run every fifteen minutes until 9 p.m. so that high school students could travel home safely and conveniently.
Yet there wasn’t a single train in sight.
She sat down on a bench along the brightly lit corridor and took a moment to catch her breath.
“It’s already 8:48? Maybe I should’ve just gone home with Miji.”
Just as she was thinking that, the sound of a whistle echoed along the railway tracks.
“Maybe it’s late because they only just started running the train.”
A train slowly emerged from the darkness in the distance and approached the station.
Luna was immediately struck by its appearance.
It looked nothing like the Starway trains they normally rode.
The train emerged from the darkness of the night, magnificent and imposing.
9:00 a.m.
Luna hurried onto the train, thinking to herself,
“The Prime Minister really has made quite a lot of arrangements for students.”
Muttering to herself, she glanced at the clock inside the train.
“Huh? 12:05?! This is so annoying. Even the clock is wrong. So much for the Prime Minister’s arrangements.”
Grumbling, she turned toward the window beside her.
The city was gone.
The roads were gone.
The buildings were gone.
Outside, there were only stars.
And between those stars—
a single railway track.
Luna slowly stood up from her seat.
“W-Where… where am I? Did I get on the wrong train?”
Between the capital city of Luminara and the Mooncrest territory, there was a scientific city known as Astral Quarter.
It was a city devoted primarily to research and scientific studies, so active that people even called it the city where the sun never sets.
But now, that enormous city was nowhere to be seen.
Luna pressed the emergency button beside the train door and called for help.
There was no response.
She checked her phone, but there was no signal.
Even the time displayed on her phone was completely different.
Just then, a brilliant light outside fell across Luna’s eyes.
“Whoooosh!”
The train came to a stop.
When the doors opened, Luna stepped outside.
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Before her stood—
a railway station beneath a giant moon.
Ancient letters and inscriptions were carved across the walls of the station.
In the distance stood a forest of silver trees.
And in the sky, the moon hung impossibly close.
The scent of damp earth mingled with the unfamiliar fragrance of flowers in the air.
A cool breeze brushed against Luna’s skin, yet deep inside her, a strange warmth slowly began to spread—one she couldn’t explain.
Luna noticed a line of ancient writing engraved on the wall of the station.
“Mr. Prime Minister, you may have arranged trains for students, but you sent me to the wrong station.”
She muttered bitterly before sitting down on a nearby bench.
“You do realize it’s late at night and you have no idea where you are, right?”
A voice.
It wasn’t far away.
The voice was low and calm, yet something about it made Luna’s heart tremble as though she had heard it before.
Luna turned around.
On the other side of the station stood a boy.
He looked slightly older than Luna.
He wore a black shirt and had slightly long hair. Beneath the moonlight, his eyes seemed to shine quietly.
The moment Luna saw his face, her footsteps came to a halt.
He should have been a complete stranger.
And this should have been the first time she had ever come to this place.
But seeing him didn’t feel like meeting a stranger.
It felt like waking from a dream and finding herself face-to-face with someone she had seen countless times in her dreams.
There was something in his eyes—something Luna couldn’t remember, yet somehow felt she had known before.
He looked at Luna with clear interest.
But there was more than surprise in his gaze.
It felt as though he had been waiting for her.
As though he already knew—
she had finally returned.
Luna’s fingers grew cold.
She tightened her grip on the strap of her bag, but her heartbeat was so loud that she could hear it clearly in her ears.
“Who are you?”
Luna asked uncertainly.
She couldn’t tell whether she had asked because she wanted to hear his voice again, or because some part of her already knew him.
“I’m Luna.”
The moment she said her name, something softened in the boy’s eyes.
“Luna…”
He repeated her name quietly.
There was no curiosity in his voice, the kind someone would have when hearing a name for the first time.
Instead, there was a gentle familiarity, as though he had called that name countless times before and was saying it again after being unable to do so for a very long time.
Something deep inside Luna trembled.
“I’m Cael, a railway surveyor.”
The moment the name Cael left his lips, even the cool air around them seemed to fall silent for a moment.
A strange feeling stirred inside Luna.
She didn’t know him.
And yet
it didn’t feel like this was the first time she had met Cael.
The moment she heard his name, it was as though a door hidden somewhere in the darkness had suddenly opened.
She couldn’t see what lay beyond that door yet.
But she somehow knew that place wasn’t unfamiliar to her.
As Luna stared at Cael’s face, vague images began to surface in her mind.
She was sitting beneath the moon with someone.
Listening to his voice in the cool night air.
Standing beside him and feeling safe.
Fragments.
Only fragments.
But those images did not feel like memories from her own mind.
Were they dreams?
The past?
Or perhaps a future that had not happened yet?
Luna didn’t know.
Cael stared at her as well, his brows drawing together slightly.
His expression held a mixture of surprise and relief.
“You… you’re looking at me like you know me.”
He spoke softly.
Luna’s lips parted slightly.
“I feel the same way. But… I don’t think I’ve ever met you before.”
“You think?”
A faint smile appeared in Cael’s voice.
Luna stared at him.
She should have been seeing his smile for the first time.
Yet somewhere deep inside her, it felt as though she had been waiting for that smile.
“Where is this place?”
Luna asked.
Cael looked toward the outside of the station.
“This station? It’s Silverheaven Station.”
“What?”
“Where did you come from?”
Luna told him about Mooncrest, the place where she lived.
A look of confusion crossed Cael’s face.
“I’ve never heard of that city.”
“Then how am I supposed to get back?”
Cael thought for a moment.
“I think you’ll have to wait until the 12:12 train comes back.”
Luna looked toward the station clock.
Her vision slowly blurred and drowned into dark,
The last thing she heard was the whistle of a train.
