> █████, Long Travel Train SrTc-22, First Class Cabin 9-2.
> 2nd of New Conception, 1316;
> 10:30 Sol Time.
The mist only seems to be rising higher and growing more frigid as time progresses, unfortunately the trio seems quite rooted as of the moment, especially after all the laughing dwindled into visible torpor. All three of them noticed each other's movements dulling and turning sluggish. Worse more, the screams from car ten endure all the while.
Fi seems to have it the worst among them, her speech going completely incoherent and her skin clammy to the touch, and she is shivering quite vigorously in addition to all that. Karter is not much better at all, he is struggling to stand straight and his legs cannot seem to stop shaking, his temper is steadily declining too.
Aethel could still stand and talk but the conditions are visibly chipping away at this as well, the first thing he tries in light of all this is to break the window, but finds himself unable to even crack it. Then he tries to pry it open, still no luck, so he tries once more to break through but with no success.
As a last resort he informs the two that he is going to check out in the hall, much to Karter’s and Fi’s dissatisfaction, but he goes on with it anyway. Coming to the hall he lurches towards the door which leads out into the viewing deck and sees that the rain has only gotten worse. In fact, a mist has even started to form outside.
Gritting his teeth he continues on down the hall until he finds the connector, sighing he slowly walks through into car ten. The screams continue on with no sign of stopping and it gets harder and harder to listen as he closes in. As he is getting closer to the source, his movements suggest that he is bracing for something to happen.
Finally he reaches the hallway of car ten, the miasma, now up to chest level, is beginning to feel like it dips below zero degrees, and the screams are utterly unbearable to the ear. It is resounding so terribly from cabin five, quite a ways away from the head of the car. He pushes on.
Movement is restricted so much that even walking upright is reduced to the speed of a crawl, and not to mention the rain which violently attacks the steel of the train, creating a second monstrous noise on top of the already chaotic wails. Still, he pushes on.
His breathing sounds near monstrous with how heavy and laborious it is, he advances as if every errant twitch is akin to lifting weight, all this and the world still assaults his senses with a mind-numbing discord of noises— as if the unending chill was already too lenient. Somehow, he pushes on.
The final stretch lies upon him, and as minutes lapse in his struggle to move, cabin number four is past and five is at hand. By now the mist is neck high, it seeks to consume him in an embrace of bitter frost, to drown him in his own sweat and fatigue and then claim his soul for Goddess knows what. Death marches, but he is still pushing on.
Finally the goal is reached, cabin number ten lies in front of Aethel, at this time the noise from all sides is deafening; the miasma is biting— no, ravaging his body with frigid cruelty; and it takes everything to lay his hand on the door much less open it. But he opens it with all that he has…
> █████, Long Travel Train SrTc-22, First Class Cabin 10-5.
> 2nd of New Conception, 1316;
> 11:00 Sol Time.
Horrific is the sight which awaits him there in cabin number ten. Holes and otherworldly growths riddle a man’s body mutilating it in all sense, every orifice that is given allowance to scream is screaming, and the growths are what disperses the miasma. It cannot move but it is too terrible to approach, this is true yet… Aethel still approaches.
Reaching deep into his pocket, the difficulty is tantamount, especially when facing the seed of all this evil. He pulls his rosary before kneeling, he attempts to deliver a coherent sentence but fails, he tries to stand again but fails. Paralyzing is the miasma so up close now, freezing even his soul.
Closing his eyes he allows himself to fall to the ground, to accept the cold kiss from death. For a while he lies like that, and the train lies dormant with him, all of everyone lies with them; in the cruel downpour which still finds no end. Darkness swirls around the halls, the windows are black with an unknown soot, and the screaming continues.
A noise stirs Aethel, cracking glass, and… footsteps. Heavy footsteps approach, the same weight as his own quite a while ago. He feels a sensation and before he knows it he lies being pelt on all sides by rain, and while it is cold it is not as cold as the mist, he springs up with energy to see the masked man before him.
He turns around to see a group of civilians in a makeshift shelter, all of them looking worse for wear, more so as the screaming is now let loose. His arm is then grabbed by the masked man who leads him into another kind of temporary respite, inside there is the kind looking woman, her brow furrowing with more unease as seconds waste away.
When noticing his presence the kindly one asks immediately, her speech so fast Aethel almost misses what she says, “Are you okay?! Where are the other two?”
“Uh— in car nine, cabin— uh, c-cabin two! OH! B-but be careful, there’s a person wrapped in curtains in there— they’re possessed.” with great difficulty after regaining control of his body, Aethel answers.
The kind looking woman turns to the masked man, commanding with the prior speed, “Ari, you know what to do!”
“Yes darling, I would only be a moment… but I saw something horrific with this one— what in the name of fucking anything was that thing, kid?” babbles the masked man while gesturing to Aethel.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Aethel, still struggling to speak, does his best to answer, “I— I think it's the source of all these things happening but I can’t be one-hundred percent sure.”
“Ari, we don’t have time to discuss this, go get Fi and Karter, PLEASE!” the kind looking woman interjects, pulling at her own hair.
Gesturing wildly, the masked man argues, “Alright, alright I am going! But, Nerva, we cannot stay out here either— so kid, try your best to recount it, okay?!” then he runs off, breaks the door into car nine, and after what looks like a channeling of energy, heads in.
“Nerva, right— and that was Ari? It’s hard to remember everything I saw but I will try. For now let’s try to calm down.” Aethel approaches the kind looking woman, extending his arms towards her, trying to get her to refocus.
“Yes, Nerva, and Ari— that’s a nickname, short for Arianos. What was that thing he— or you saw?” calming down slightly, she wastes no time at all asking Aethel.
Clasping his head, Aethel takes a moment to recall what it was, eyes widening after a few seconds, then he responds, “It… it was something horrific, it was spewing out mist and it's the thing that’s screaming… in any case we really need to end its existence.”
“I can’t really disagree… I just hope that ending it actually does end whatever’s going on.” Nerva sighs.
Ari’s voice calls out from car nine, “Nerva! Give me a hand, love!” he drags three people out.
“Let’s go… uh— by the way my name’s Aethel.” he attempts to rally Nerva as he starts towards Ari.
Nerva smiles and nods while following Aethel, “Good to know.”
The two begin lending a hand to Ari who struggles with alternating between carrying Fi, Karter, and the possessed civilian. In no time they secure the possessed civilian in their own shelter, while both Fi and Karter have seemingly been rejuvenated by being taken out of the train, now all five stand together.
“So, Ari, your ward is able to stave off ze effects of ze miasma? What luck. Might I also commend you for helping out as many civilians as you ‘ave?” Fi smiles somehow after everything.
Aethel adds, “There is one left inside other than the conductor.”
“Oh zis is correct, but we ‘ave a chance to end zis for good, no?” Fi speaks while looking at Aethel, in fact, all of them look at him the moment she says that last part.
Aethel nods back at all of them, “I hope at least.” then pointing to car ten and continuing, “In there, cabin five, the thing screaming bloody murder and generating all the mist is planted. It looks to be made of something natural but not to our world, and we can assume it’s the reason spectres are appearing as well.”
In saying all that the four all look at eachother and nod, the first to speak up is Nerva, “Putting it that way, we might have an idea as to what it is, don’t we?” the three others nod.
“It is a Weeping Tree, a kind of catalyst or practically speaking a kind of portal to the underworld.” Karter explains to Aethel, pauses for a bit to make sure he understands, then continues, “The problem is… to kill such a thing we need a divine sacrament. I am sure you know why this is a problem.”
Aethel’s eyes widen and he shakes his head slowly, “Ah, well… is there really no other way?”
“Not to our knowledge, darling. I am sure Fi mentioned this to you, but we always bring a priest along on clearing runs… well we do when we are actually prepared.” giving Aethel a sympathetic look, Ari reinforces Karter’s words.
Nerva interjects, “Does this mean we have to travel to the nearest church? That’s quite a long way from here, especially to walk… that’s not even considering the danger of the wasteland.”
“A rock and a hard place, just what I need.” Karter sighs, and then he laments, “I wish I had a smoke on me.”
Aethel speaks up, raising his voice slightly in order to grab all their attention, “There has to be another way. I won’t accept having to choose between two deaths.”
“I wish there was, darling, but unless a miracle comes down straight from the celestian… I do not see a way out right now, especially with the miasma, rain, and hellbound screaming weighing down on us.” chuckling Ari pats Aethel’s shoulder.
Still arguing, Aethel points to the civilians posted under the makeshift shelters, “We can’t just give up the ghost, we got people over there relying on us, don’t we?”
“Please, we aren’t giving up, Aethel, we’re just weighing our—” Nerva attempts to explain but is cut off.
The culprit is Karter, who looks at Aethel with a severe frown, and when he speaks his voice is cutting, “We? What do you mean we? There is you and there is us, did you forget your place? You are not part of our team.”
“Karter… zis is not ze—” Fi lays a hand on Karter’s shoulder but he shrugs her off immediately.
Karter only continues, his voice turning sharper as he approaches Aethel, “You think you can just come up to us like that and talk about not giving up? Huh? You have no clue the kind of shit we as a team have been through.”
“It’s better than sitting in silence talking about how hard this all is. If you want to die, that's what you do, you sit around and lament the situation— if you want to live, you act. That’s what I do, I act… or at the very least get others to act.” Aethel scoffs at Karter, his own voice matching the latter’s sharp tone.
Karter speaks before lunging towards Aethel, “I have had enough, come here you bastard!” as soon as they hit the ground the rest of the team intervenes.
“HEY, KARTER STOP!” Nerva cries out, taking a hold of Karter’s shoulders along with Ari, both of them pulling him back.
Ari, holding him back, finally chips in as well, “That is not bloody okay, love.”
As for Aethel, it is Fi who helps him up to his feet, even then both men are still glaring at each other. But immediately breaking the palpable tension is a bolt of lightning crashing down in the distance. This sudden wrath of nature shocks everyone, especially the civilians who are now in a frenzy.
Seeing this, all five drop whatever they had and rush towards the panicking crowd, they attempt everything in speech and peaceful action to calm them down… it is to minimal success. Karter then shoots a pistol into the ground three times, this action elicits silence for the crowd, yet not so much from the rain or the screaming.
“If you pieces of shit do not calm yourselves in five seconds I am shooting every single one of you.”
Even the team stood in shock… except Aethel, he spoke up as well, “Do you hear that?! We want fucking ORDER, no one leaves alive if you decide to panic like that!” then he looks at Karter, and though he looks thoroughly shocked, the man actually gives him a smile. Aethel reciprocates.