Over the past half an hour the platform had become increasingly more crowded, as people waited for the train to arrive. On the other side of the cordon, the people were packed in like sardines, while there were only a few people scattered here and there on Ed’s side.

What’s going on? After taking a close look at his ticket, Ed figured out why. Looks like Mr Milani gave us first-class tickets. I wonder how much it would’ve cost me if I had to pay for it myself.

CHOOOOO CHOOOO!

The train slowly came into view. The train was a gigantic, heavily fortified monstrosity, purpose built to travel the treacherous ground between towns.

Watching in amazement as it came to a stop at the platform, Ed took a moment to stare before following behind Victor. What a thing of beauty. Stepping into the train, he found the inside to look completely different from what he expected. While the outside of the train was rugged and tyrannical, the inside maintained a sleek and elegant appearance. An attendant guided the two to their own room, leaving them with complimentary snacks and a reminder to call if they needed anything. Ed sunk into the plush leather seat, taking a moment to relax.

“We’ve got a few hours to go until we get there. We can take a moment to relax.” Victor picked up a fancy bottle of whisky.

Looking at the assortment of snacks and drinks on the table, Ed noticed that a large portion of them were from a brand called Gula. Must be a popular brand here.

Victor poured himself out a glass before turning to Ed. “You want some?”

“Nah, it’s fine. I want to be able to remember what I end up reading later.” Picking up a chocolate slice, Ed took a bite out of it. The chocolate melted in his mouth, allowing him to enjoy its silky smoothness. He glanced out the window, taking a few moments to relax before getting stuck into the document.

The next hour went by peacefully, with the train stopping off at several small towns. The entire time, Ed was focused on the legal document in front of him. Most of the technical jargon flew over his head, but he was able to get a rough understanding of what the deal was about. Mr Milani is trying to break into the market in Pride City, and it seems like he’s found a distributor that he can trust. It seems like a pretty big jump to me, going straight for the biggest place on the circle, but maybe he’s already made deals in other towns.

Ed set the document down next to him, giving himself a much-needed break. Looking out the window, he saw a vague mass of shapes hidden in the sky by the haze. What is that? As it got closer, the mass revealed itself to be made up of hundreds of birds, each the size of an adult human.

“What’s going on out there?” Ed asked.

Victor briefly looked out the window before turning back to his book. “They’re probably just flying over; we have nothing to worry about.”

Stolen story; please report.

As the birds got closer, Ed was able to better make out what they looked like. They were gaunt and slim, with a massive beak protruding out of their arrogant faces. The creatures' wings were massive and showy, taking up the vast majority of their size. Looks like Victor’s right.

The flock began to fly over the train, disappearing from Ed’s view one by one. Reaching the tail end of the flock, one of them suddenly stopped in the air, staring directly at Ed through the window. The bird let out a harsh, shrill cry, alerting the rest of the flock before it dove straight down towards Ed at a terrifying speed.

Why me? Watching the creature get close, Ed prepared himself for a fight. The bird’s talons were as long as forearm and gleamed sharply in the sunlight. This is going to suck. Before it could reach the train, it was blasted out of the air by a giant ballista bolt. It tore through the bird’s body, sending it crashing into the ground, kicking up dust as it rolled and bounced.

As more and more birds divebombed the train a few were shot out of the sky by the train's defences. The guards stepped onto the outside of the train, firing their guns into the flock of birds, giving time for the ballistae to be reloaded.

“All passengers, please stay seated on the train. Do not panic, this problem will be dealt with shortly.” An announcement came over the loudspeakers, sounding off multiple times across the entire train for everyone to hear.

Suffering heavy losses, the birds stopped attacking mindlessly. Ed watched through the window as the entire flock gathered high in the sky, before diving back down. The air seemed to scream as the birds picked up speed, heading straight for Ed. The guards tried their best to gun them down, but one managed to slip past.

Ed stared into the creature’s eyes, as it drew closer to him in its bloodthirsty rage. Inches away from crashing into the glass, a clawed hand ripped the bird from the sky. Ed watched as a guard tore the bird in half, spraying blood on the window. With the flock decimated, the staff began to clean up the train.

“The attack is over; you are now allowed to move about the train at your leisure.” The voice rang out again from the loudspeaker, calming the passengers down.

Ed sat there for a moment, staring out the window. “That’s odd, normally they’re smart enough to know not to attack the train. I wonder what happened?” Victor commented offhandedly while casually munching on a snack.

Ed didn’t respond. The entirety of the attack played through his mind again, and he was almost certain that the birds were after him. “Yeah it is, I’m just gonna go check something.” Walking out of the private room, it wasn’t long before Ed made it to one of the train doors. Carefully stepping onto the outside platform around the train, Ed found the staff quickly getting to work, wiping off the blood and chunks of meat from the train.

Noticing Ed, one of the workers, stopped cleaning and put on a customer service smile. “How may I help you sir?”

Ed peered around at the train, noticing that the mess was mostly focused on his carriage. “Oh, it’s fine. I just wanted to see what happened.” He walked back inside, allowing the worker to continue doing his job. Why did they want to attack me? I just don’t get it.

Just as he was about to open his door, he heard a blood curdling scream coming from the next carriage. Victor popped his head out and looked at Ed.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know, you stay here. I’ll go and check.” Walking towards the scream, Ed saw a few heads poking out of the other private rooms. Making it onto the next carriage, Ed found an old looking woman on the ground, staring tearfully through the open door in front of her.

Getting closer, Ed looked into the room, and saw a body lying in a pool of blood.