I looked down—

  And then suddenly, I went into a third-person view??

  And I was a locomotive??

  I was very frickin' confused because... how am I a locomotive?

  HOW AM I METAL?!

  Discarding that thought, it looked like I had derailed—I was leaning to the side, halfway in the ground, with metal fragments scattered all around… and smoke.

  All of a sudden, a screen appeared.

  SYSTEM: welcome to the ARCAN-9 system, Current operating status = 23%

  attention, critical operating status, activating repair protocolwould you like to see your stats? (Yes/No)

  I clicked Yes.

  SYSTEM:

  Health 12 313/50 000 Total Hit pointsPower 120 How many cars you can pull at full speed (20 power per wagon)Speed 80 Maximum speed in KPHCombat strength 1 Effectiveness in combat

  Fuel 32% Percentage of fuel and water left in engine

  Telepathy Lv. 1 Talk to others mentally. Current max distance: 5 meters

  Alter Terrain Lv. 1 Alter terrain at will. Current rate: 5 cm cubed per minute.

  Fix Railroad Lv. 1 Fix railroads at a designated pace. Current pace: 1 meter per minute. Max distance away: 10 meters.

  Make/destroy railroad Lv. 1 Make new railroads or destroy old ones. Current pace: 10 cm per minute. Max distance away: 1 meter.

  Telekinesis Lv. 1 Move objects with your mind. Max weight: 1 kilogram.

  Loco-sight Lv. 1 See yourself and anything within 20 meters of you.

  Skill steal Lv. 1 10% chance to copy one ability of any creature you defeat.

  Self-repair Lv. 1 Regain HP at a fixed rate. Current rate: 100 HP per hour.

  As I looked at my stats, I asked myself, "What locomotive am I even?"

  I went back into that third-person view and looked at the side of the engine.It said Southern Pacific #4449. I couldn’t recall what engine that was, so I looked a bit more—and there was some small text saying "Daylight."

  Then I realized...

  I'M DAYLIGHT?!

  Nice. Orange—my favorite color.