Tales From The Kronos

Neige, Silva, and Sepide were all ready to start the race, but none of them was confident. Their opponent stood next to them, ready as well. A woman was standing in the middle about to talk, while the public was hyping and cheering on the side.

"Hello everyone! Tonight, we will witness a duel between The Lightning, with 29 wins and 5 losses, and... Err... What's your name again?"

"Snow." He answered the woman with seriousness.

"Snow, with no recorded race so far!" Said the woman, with a lot of energy still.

"Snow, how cute. Even my girlfriend doesn't have a name cute like that." Said his opponent with a mocking tone.

"I'm sure your girlfriend is very happy that you're as quick as lightning at night with her." Snow and Silva laughed together after leaving the guy speechless. Sepide stayed focused on the woman on the road, who continued to explain the rules.

"You will need to pass through the starlight tunnel in the north of the city, then go in front of the abandoned church in the east, and finally return here. One lap, you can take any path you want as long as you go to the checkpoints. Any questions?"

"Yes." Asked Sepide "We don't know where those are, can we have a map?"

"Nope, good luck."

It seemed like no one was about to help them, they would need to figure out their destination on the spot. Neige put his hands on the steering wheel, ready to start at any moment.

"Ready? Get... Set... Go!"

And just like that the race already started. The two started at the same time, and yet, their opponent was already faster than them.

"It's cheating, his car is better! Neige! Or Snow, whatever just go faster!" Sepide yelled with a strange energy, Snow had no idea if it was because it was a part of the mission or because she had a competitive spirit.

"I know Sepide, I'm trying. But this car is barely holding on already, I can't go faster."

The best they could do was to follow their rival without losing track of where he was. It was also their only way to know where the rest of the race was happening since they had no idea where they needed to go.

"Excuse me," Asked softly Silva "Can you describe what is happening?"

"Oh right, you can't see. Don't worry, while Snow is focused on the road I'll explain what is happening. For now nothing much, aside from the fact that he's like 50 meters in front of us and that we're going to lose!!" Sepide almost yelled, clearly getting more and more panicked.

But even despite that, Snow managed to keep his calm and focus on the road.

The state of the race stayed the same for a while, Snow still lagging behind, but managing to stay close enough to not lose track of his opponent.

"It's weird." Noticed Sepide "There are almost no cars in the street. Like, not even parked. There's no traffic also, so it means that it's easier for us."

"Actually no." Corrected Snow "If there were a lot of perturbations, at least we would be able to get ahead since he could make a mistake. But if we continue like that, they'll be no way to take the first place."

"Since when are you a racing expert?" Asked Silva, a bit surprised.

"It's like that in Polyetta's games. When I win, it's because she got in trouble and I was able to go first."

"I hope you were good at the game at least..." Silva said, not really relieved.

"I won twice, but it should be alright. If I take the inside of a turn, I'll have less distance to run on and be able to close the distance."

The two girls acted like they understood, but it was like speaking in another language for them. There was nothing they could really do, and they didn't know much either.

After a while, they all got under a tunnel, the sign on the side named it 'The Starlight Tunnel', prompting Sepide to point at it.

"Hey, it's the first checkpoint!" Sepide was hopeful since they were close to their opponent but also worried because they were still behind.

"If only I had a map or something, maybe we could take another path and get ahead." Complained Snow.

"Like a map is going to fall from the sky to help us." Silva talked sarcastically, but the moment she said those words, a map conveniently flew inside the car. Snow was too focused on the road, and Silva didn't see it because of her condition, leaving Sepide extremely confused by what happened. She even started to wonder if Silva's words didn't hold some magic power.

"Hey, I found a map." Said Sepide, happy but confused.

"Really? How?" Asked Snow.

"Unimportant. I just need to find where we are." She took a few minutes before finding where they were and locating the place where they needed to go

"I found everything, but this long road we're following seems to be the only way since a river is in the way."

"A river? Can we go through?" They thought Snow was joking, but he was still focused on the road with a serious face. Unsure whether it was a joke, Sepide decided to explain anyway.

"No, it's a river, the car is going to explode, just like in movies!"

"I think it would go through like in video games."

Snow and Sepide argued for a moment, leaving Silva worried about their chance of survival.

"Fine!" Conceded Snow after a while. "We won't go through the river. So, what other choices do we have?"

"Why don't we cheat?" Proposed Silva" We could shoot on his tires."

"No way, I didn't lose 873 times against our leader in racing games just to cheat. We're winning legitimately!"

A bit frustrated by Snow's decision, Sepide continued to search on the map, knowing he wouldn't change his mind.

"There is a shortcut after the church. But it's a sharp turn and it will lead to a construction site."

"How sharp?" Asked Snow.

"It will be a 150° angle to the right. It can give us an advantage, but it's impossible to go there unless we slow down to take the path."

"Slow down? There's no need, I'll just drift."

Sepide and Silva were getting increasingly worried, Snow had never driven a car before, and now he was about to drift in a sharp turn and drive into a construction site.

"Neige, if you do that the car will explode, like in movies."

Neither Snow nor Silva agreed with Sepide but for different reasons.

"I did that in video games before, we'll be fine."

"Snow, Sepide, you're both dumbasses. I should have been the one to drive."

"No!" Said Snow and Sepide in unison, agreeing for once.

They just passed the abandoned church. Their opponent was still ahead and it was becoming increasingly harder to find a way to go faster. Snow still had his plan to take the risky path, but one wrong movement and it would be hard to win the race afterward.

"Neige, you can still change your mind." Almost begged Sepide "I don't want to die!"

"Nobody's gonna die, it's fine." Assured Snow, confident in himself.

~You're right, it will all be alright.~

"Thanks, whoever said that."

Silva and Sepide both stared at each other, not understanding Snow's words.

"What? Who are you talking to?" Asked Silva.

"Didn't one of you just agree with me?"

"No! We didn't!" Sepide was becoming increasingly worried, her heart pounding in her chest "Are you hearing voices? Are you losing your mind?"

"Come, it's not that bad, I just heard something wrong. Isn't it the turn that you talked about?"

"Well yes... But the road is pretty small, and it's really a sharp turn. Don't you want to slow down at least?" Asked Sepide, trying desperately to calm herself.

"Come on, we need to take the turn as fast as possible!"

Snow drifted with confidence, while his two friends were screaming and holding onto anything they could. The turn lasted for what felt like an eternity until it was halted by a loud metallic sound.

"Are we dead?" Asked Silva, closing her eyes tight like it would change anything.

"No, we just hit the wall a bit, but we managed to take the turn." Said Snow, very proud of himself.

"Neige, why are you smiling?" Sepide wondered, still in shock.

"Don't call me Neige, it's Snow here. And isn't it exhilarating!?"

"No, it's not, we almost died!" Sepide was offended that Snow found some fun in what just happened, but got interrupted by Silva yelling.

"Wouhou! It was so exciting! We need to do it again!"

"Are you kidding me? Am I the only one that was scared?"

"Oh no, I am still terrified." Said Silva with a smile "But it was such an incredible feeling."

"You both became crazy." Said Sepide to herself.

"Hey look! It's the finish line, and the other guy isn't here!" Said Snow, pointing at the end.

They managed to not only finish the race, but also win it. Everyone around was excited and cheered for the winner. After a short moment, the other contestant arrived. He stopped next to them, visibly angry by his loss.

"What? They cheated! They were behind me all the time!"

"But they followed the rules." Explained the referee. "They did go to the checkpoints and came back here first."

"That's bullshit, it's not the last time you hear of me!" The man continued to show his anger as he drove away, ashamed of his loss.

The three friends were more than happy that they managed to win, even despite the clear disadvantage they started with.

Neige and Eida came to them visibly happy too.

"Congrats young lads, I knew you had what it takes to win."

They all three appreciated the compliment from Neige, but he didn't really seem like he was much older than them to call them young.

Eida seemed happy too at first but quickly became pale after seeing the car. She hurried toward it when she saw the side of the car completely smashed.

"What did you do to Ririka? She looks like you slammed it against a wall!"

They all stayed silent, the two girls looking at Snow, knowing it was because of his risky maneuver. Neige went next to his friend, trying to comfort her.

"It's okay Eida, I'm sure you'll be able to fix it before tomorrow." Eida looked at the vehicle with a disappointed and sad face. She visibly wasn't thinking the same as her friend "I'll need to go now, I'll see you tomorrow. And if these young lads trouble you, I'll take care of them." Neige said those words with a smile under his serious eyes.

He left Eida and the small group of friends together. The woman was still crying and caressing the car but decided to stand up from the dirty ground.

"Let's go to my workshop, we'll finish fixing Ririka, and we can talk more there..."