E4 opened her eyes to the sound of boots on cobblestone. Two coppers stood over the other woman, just within her view.
“Another body, two in one night. The ripper is getting bold.” The first spoke. “Looks like the ghouls got to this one, I don’t know what he did to the other one.”
“Some kind of Myst disruption maybe, the Regulators would know better than us.”
“Assuming he isn’t Aether Blessed himself. You think they’d actually tell us anything if they knew?” E4 sat up, her head swimming and she let out a low moan involuntarily. “Undead!”
“Wait, wait, I’m alive.” E4 shouted, holding up her hands, or hand and stump. Her arm went down as normal, before stopping just below the elbow where it terminated with a fine bit of charcoal. Beneath she could feel a new hand forming, and her upper arm was already bulging as the new bone was being prepared.
[[Congratulations, you’re not dead. Also you are missing an arm. Hang tight]]
“Gave us a right start miss.” One of the officers replied. “O23, you stay on the body, I’ll deal with this one.” O23 gave a thumbs up. “Alright miss, why were you out after dark?”
“I was walking towards the rail lines to my Mistress's car. I had some business that took longer than I anticipated and did not wish to tarry.” The lines came to E4 without issue, her instincts coming in strong. One, she guessed the instinct bestowed by the town, stated she should give the officers what they wanted and go about her way. It would not do to besmirch her Mistress’s name. The instinct from her mistress urged her to quickly return to her side. However, the ravager’s instinct was the strongest, and it agreed with the first. Avoid law enforcement, stay under the radar. “I thought I noticed the strong smell of blood, and seeing there is no butcher shop nearby I thought to render assistance. As part of my work I have some knowledge of medicine. I came upon two most unwholesome appearing individuals crouched over a young woman. My superior,” E4 neglected to mention this superior was not her mistress, but saw no reason to specify, “Being of greater intellect and wisdom than myself had bestowed upon me a tool for self defense.” She gestured with her arm. “Unfortunately, it was still in the experimental stage. It seems to have worked.”
“Yeah, it worked, all that’s left of the one blighter is ‘is boots, but look what you did to the wall.” The officer pointed, and E4 noticed the brick wall now had a section of it completely missing. “You reduced a chunk of a house into raw Aether, imagine if someone’s kid had been there.” He shook his head. “Go, tell your mistress not to run any more experiments in crowded cities. That’s what the uncharted lands are for.”
“Yes officer, right away.” E4 quickly turned and walked at a quick yet measured pace towards where her instincts told her Marissa was. She found the train cars lined up on a side track, near several other train cars. Marissa’s cars were easily identifiable by the yellow and black material worked into the handles, though the metal the cars were made from was a uniform mottled gray, just like the rest of the cars. The only exception was a line of cars painted in a rainbow of bright colors with paintings of carnival attractions on them. E4 pocketed that information and knocked on the door of the caboose before letting herself inside. As she did she got a mild jolt but being Aether Blessed, and now charged, it didn’t even phase her.
E4 found the Aetheric Elixir machine and gave it a mild jolt with her good hand, or tried. She touched it, but couldn’t figure out how to exert the energy. “Come on, I don’t want to use bio-lightning again. I need this arm.
“E4.” E4 jumped, before realizing it was just E1. “You are late, and injured.”
“Morning E1, I seem to have misplaced my hand.” E4 made a gesture with her missing arm. She gestured to E1’s cast. “Guess we match.”
“I see. The Mistress will have to be informed; two injured maids may hinder our work. You may have to be on light duty for a while, or relieved of duty. That will be The Master’s choice.” E1 replied. “Go shower and change, breakfast is yet to be finished.
E4 quickly changed out of her uniform and into the shower. Inspecting her wound she noticed her upper arm bulged, twice as large as it should have been. E4 sensed the bones within were almost finished, which made no sense. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she needed to eat, yet, “Where did the materials for the bones come from?”
A low chittering sound resonated from the sink, but E4 understood. “The Myst can do that?” She asked, receiving the answer before she even finished the question. She issued a chittering response to Mara.
[[All objects observed appear to be made from the material known as Myst in various densities.]] The chittering revealed. [[General notice: Host Erin Johnson/E4 has observed Myst may be drawn from the air to facilitate the regrowth of bone and tissue, including the regrowth of limbs. Host Erin Johnson/E4 has observed dense Myst may be absorbed from certain entities to facilitate rapid muscle and bone growth. More research is still required.]]
“Never heard of Hipaa have you Mara?” E4 whispered to herself as the general notices were announced to every ravager and anyone else who could understand resonant within the entire city, which still meant just her. “Probably better see about getting you out of there sooner rather than later.
Getting dressed using a large amount of telekinesis to make up for the missing hand E4 managed to get breakfast started just before Marcus came into the car.
“Good morning Master Marcus.” E4 spoke with a chipper inflection.
“Good morning E… what happened to your arm?” Marcus asked. E4 eyed her sleeve, which she had adjusted quickly to make up for the swelling. “Did something go wrong when you were charged?”
E4 thought, then leaned upon her maid instincts which easily provided an answer. “Nothing to worry about Master Marcus, the charging process went perfectly well.”
“That, E4, what did you just do?” Marcus asked. “Your eyes shadowed over for just a moment, you looked like a Myst Folk.” He eyed her arm. “And that still doesn’t explain your arm.”
Listening to her maid instincts E4 returned to cooking. A proper maid can do chores and answer questions at the same time after all, or so The Myst whispered to her. She should also face her master, but she can’t make pancakes and face him at the same time. “The charging process went just fine, though I awoke a bit earlier than expected. On my way here,” She flipped a pancake, which was tricky with her left hand and required a bit of telekinesis to ensure it landed where it should, “I ran into a pair of ghouls.”
“And you lost an arm?”
“Ah, but Master,” She placed a stack of three pancakes on the table, her fangs sliding down behind her teeth slightly, “you should see the other guy.” She replied, turning and shooting him a wink. With a gesture she called a pot of coffee from where it was simmering to her hand, where it hit and a bit spilled out and onto the table. “Blast, still working on that. I’ll clean that up.”
Marcus shot her a look. “E4, Marissa was planning on teaching you telekinesis today. How are you using it already? Which Earth are you from?”
“There are multiple?”
“The boffins are still debating. Is England a major superpower that took control of Europe following the Great war?” E4 shook her head. “So you’re from that one. Currently we’re aware of 3 or 4, but there could be more.” He took a sip of coffee, before putting a bit of honey in it. “Now, about your arm.”
“Morning.” Marissa spoke, still in her night gown. She took one look at E4 and immediately she was wide awake. “What happened to your arm?”
“Mistress, good morning.” E4 replied. She gestured to her arm. “This, I ran into some ghouls on the way back from the pub.”
“Ghouls? Are you bit?” Marissa immediately poked at E4’s arm. “Ok, strip, right now.”
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E4 blushed on cue, “Mistress, your brother,” E4 was quickly pulled into the medical car and stripped down to her under clothes. Only a quick bit of work ensured E4’s tail was securely hidden snaking down her leg.
“What, what is this?” Marissa asked. “This looks like a burn, and it’s almost healed.” Marissa examined the wound, and sure enough it looked like an old burn wound that covered a cap just beneath E4’s elbow. There was also a large bulge just above. “And what is this?” She poked it, and E4 twitched, half grown fingers pressing against the bulging skin. “What was that?”
“I take it that’s not normal?” E4 asked, barely keeping a smile off her lips. “I was just going to comment how useful The Myst is, healing a missing limb in just a few hours.
“E4, this is serious.” Marissa replied, no mirth, just concern. “Ghoul bites carry a deadly disease. And that”, she gestured to the lower arm currently growing on her upper arm, “is not normal. I have no idea what that is, but if you got it after a ghoul bite it can’t be good.”
“Um, I didn’t get bit.” E4 replied sheepishly. “I tried to zap one, and blew up my hand.”
“Zap, what do you mean zap?” Marissa asked.
“I’ve seen you and Marcus channel Aether into your hands, so I tried to do the same.” With a gesture a few sparks danced across her fingers.
“You tried to grab a ghoul and channel Aether into them?” Marissa replied incredulously.
“No, I did it at range.” E4 replied. “I saw you shooting goblins with a lightning gun, so I tried to do the same thing, I just didn’t have a gun. Also the officers wanted me to tell you not to test out new inventions within the city. I might have taken a chunk out of a building.”
For a moment Marissa just stared at her. E4 waited for her mistress to say something, and after a deep sigh she finally did. “E4, did you miss the part with me using a gun to do that, or that Marcus used a blade? We use Aether to power our weapons and our weapons to channel Aether, we can’t throw raw Aether at stuff like we’re Jupiter.” She eyed E4’s missing arm. “Or we’re not supposed to be able to, and that’s exactly why. You need to wait until you’ve learned Aether Shaping for that.” She sighed. “Remember, we’re partially made of Myst. Our connection with the Aether protects us, but electricity is highly connected with Aether. That’s why a bolt of electricity from a zap rifle can reduce a goblin straight into Aether, no Myst left to go back to The Myst.” She sighed again. “I’m sorry, I should have stayed with you, this never would have happened. So, prosthetic or regrowth?”
“I mean, it’s kind of growing back right now.” E4 asked. She moved her second thumb, and beneath the skin she could see where it poked through. Marissa eyed the new hand.
“E4, that’s not normal. I’m a little worried about what that is. Most Aether Blessed who lose a limb either need to see a surgeon to get a prosthetic or get a partial charge to reform their bodies, which sets back their growth. The alternative is to replace it with…” She paused, “Let’s not go there. It’s bad.”
“Sure.” E4 replied, gesturing to call her clothing back to her. “Should I get back to breakfast?”
“Yes, breakfast sounds good. Then we have to hit the books, there must be something to explain this.”
After a quick breakfast E4 was enlisted with studying the library. Marissa searched high and low, picking out books for E4 to read while she went with more esoteric books. E4 devoured the tomes before her, mostly relating to how Aether worked in the Aether Blessed body. By the time she stopped to make lunch she had gone through two thick tomes of text.
“I feel like I’m going through my exams again.” E4 commented, putting her books away. “So, what would you like for lunch Mistress? I think I saw some fresh cheese in the refrigerator when I was making breakfast. Grilled cheese and soup sound good?” She saw Marissa deep in concentration. “Mistress?” E4 waited for a moment more before making for the kitchen.
“And then this strange black stuff came pouring out.” E4 heard E2 gossiping. “The rail crew say they’ve never seen anything like it. C1 said it looked like the water had been replaced with tar.”
“Nothin’ for it now.” E3 commented as she set the table. “Guess the sewage system will be working overtime.” E4 held her tongue as she put on her apron and charged the stove. Chopping up some vegetables to put into the soup she quickly drew some fresh water and set it to simmer. “E4 what are you doing?”
“Making lunch. Did I misread the time?”
“You are on light duty.” E3 replied. “Do you need assistance?”
“Your concern is appreciated, yet I shall endure.” The line came easily to her mind, as if she had heard it in an old hymn from her childhood. She felt a bit of shade cover her eyes as she spoke them.
At that moment there was a tolling of a bell that sounded through the train cars. E3 looked out the door and spoke to someone E4 couldn’t see. She returned with an envelope. “Looks like a message for The Master.”
“Well what does it say?” E2 asked.
E3 held it up to the light. “I can’t tell, someone put a metal plate in it so the light won’t go through.” E4 eyed the maids incredulously.
“E3, E2, shouldn’t we tell Master Marcus about the letter.” She spoke up. “I’m sure they’ll tell us what it is, and we won’t get in trouble for snooping.”
“But E4, this is a letter from Lady Eagle-Wood.” E4’s ears itched at the name, but she couldn’t remember. “This is The Master’s patron, the head of the Eagle-Wood Trading Company.”
“Maybe we’re visiting their summer lodge. I hear she hires the most handsome butlers to work there.” E2 added. “And with all the water they spend half the time in swimming costumes.
“Oh, but what about the Towering Oaks mansion, the ambiance, the men, the shopping,” E4 quickly excused herself from the conversation. A subtle pull snatched the letter from E3’s hands. She closed her eyes and sensed Master Marcus was not in the train, so she quickly stepped back into the library car.
“Mistress.” Marissa looked up. “A letter has been delivered.” She extended the letter. At the sight Marissa’s eyes widened in excitement. E4 eyed the envelope as she opened it. The envelope of brown paper bore the symbol of a bird carrying a log. Despite the name, E4 was pretty sure it was a wood pecker, not an eagle. Marissa drew the plate, which E4 noted was made of an odd silver metal with a texture that seemed to shift as it moved. The number 1000 was emblazoned on it, and the woodpecker symbol was etched below it. She couldn’t help but notice the wide grin forming on her mistress’s face. “Mistress, what is that?”
“This, is a 1,000 coin ingot.” Marissa replied. “Money here is divided into coppers, chips and coin, each is worth 10 of the previous. For your average laborer this is a year’s salary, or three quarters of a year’s salary for a skilled maid. Those goblin parts we submitted came up to 100 coin, and you normally get 10-30 coin for clearing the standing stones depending on how dense the myst is. This is a retainer from our patron,” Marissa grinned, “Which means we get to go hunting.”
“Shall I prepare your rifle for re-calibration?” E4 asked, her maid instinct picking up on her Mistress’s excitement. Her ravager instinct picked up on it as well, and her stomach growled. “I can do that while you’re eating lunch.”
Marissa’s smile dimmed as she looked back towards the book.
“Oh, don’t let my injury dim your mood, I shall heal in time.” E4 replied.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in preparation. E4 remembered preparing for travel before, but it was distant, like she had been told about it or seen it in a film. Actually preparing took time, and doing it quickly took both time and effort.
First the wheels and armor of the cars were inspected. E4 was surprised to learn that the cloudy gray metal the cars were made from was actually armor that sat over far thinner walls. This material, Myst Iron or Myst Steel depending on the car, was incredibly hard but could be swapped out if it was damaged. E4 didn’t want to think about what kind of things damaged train cars. She also noted that the wheels and tracks were made from a different metal, the wheels being traditional steel while the tracks being, something else.
“No one really knows what the tracks are made of, besides they’re called Rail-steel.” Marissa finally explained. “No one knows who put them there. The conductors can move them around within the cities, but outside of them no one has a clue. Don’t try to damage them, they are extremely hard and apparently it attracts the creatures of The Myst. A few folks have managed to break off a bit, or find some that was broken, but the effects are really weird.”
E4 promptly went back outside and touched one. It felt like rough steel, but beneath the surface the texture seemed to move like the reflection of clouds on a lake and had a faint smell of ozone. She looked around to see if anyone was watching, knelt down, and tasted one. The electrical shock she received sent her sprawling about two meters back.
“Ok, ow.” She looked up to see about 30 conductors and assorted laborers staring at her. She gingerly got up, dusted herself off, and went about her way pretending she wasn’t red as a beet.
“Did the rails kiss ya back miss?” One of the conductors asked, eliciting a laugh from the others.
“I think I saw her shrink a bit.” Another called. “First female conductor in 50 years.”
“I’ll drink ta’ that.” Another called. “The rebirth of Conductor Corrine!” This was followed by the conductors and laborers chanting “Corrine! Corrine!” as E4 practically ran back into the car, her face scarlet red.
It was as she was cleaning the windows that Marcus finally found her.
“E4, seems you picked up a new nickname.” He said with a grin. E4 blushed. “How is your checklist?”
“Outer armor is secured, wheels are in adequate condition, windows are cleaned and hidden,” She tapped the one way glass that allowed Marcus and Marissa to see the outside from their bedroom without letting other things see in, “And we have enough food and water for a two week journey. Do you think it will take that long?”
“I’d say two days at most unless The Myst interferes, but once a three day trip became a three week ordeal, and I’d rather not do that again.” Marcus replied. As he spoke E4 saw E3 peeking from where she was cleaning in the hall. She quickly went back to cleaning the lights. “You’d have to check with E3 about our supplies of spare parts. Do you do this every time you leave a town?” Her memories told her yes, and she remembered the stress of that three week journey though it was distant.
“That’s part of owning your own train.” Marcus replied. “And we can only do that by having a patron. Most Aether Blessed ride the freight trains, going from place to place solving problems for the Regulator guild. We can go where we wish, but we’re always on call.” He adjusted his shirt. “A very comfortable golden collar, but now our leash is pulled and it is time for a hunt.”
“Sounds like fun.” E4 replied. “What do you think you’re being called for?”
“Oh, nothing good I’m sure.”