“We have to keep moving.” Seth said he started running towards the next car but was stopped by Lance walking towards him.

“Settle down Mr. Ravensword.” He said

“You said to get as far as possible. We aren't at the end yet.”

“We actually are. The mountain we just passed through is connected to the wall. This train will circle around this cliffside in just a few moments before exiting back over the wall. We will then have the perfect view.” Lance said

“Perfect view of what?” Carl asked, walking up to them.

“To Hell’s front door.” Peggy said in a deep rich accent. He was a large stocky built dwarf with red hair and beard braided in all sorts of different ways. He wore a heavy set of leather armor and had a large two handed hammer on his back.

“You will want to see this.” Picard said, motioning to the front of the train.

The train went left around the bend and up over a small gulley. Seth looked outwards and saw wasteland for miles and miles. The air was hot, dry and stunk of blood. Black towers with jagged peaks could be seen in the distance. A Small river seemed to flow down along the mountain but instead of water, it was filled with some sort of thick purple and black looking sludge. To the far left was a mountain with volcanic ash raining down from the sky. A burst of lava periodically shot outwards and flowed down onto the land, melting and burning all in its path. The train finished the turn and saw stark differences between the two sides of the wall. To the far east were lush green fields with trees and healthy rivers and lakes. The wall really did divide the continent from death and disease. The train crossed back into the Gridarnia territory and Seth got his first glimpse of The Grand Protector. The wall was hundreds of feet tall, with white marble walls. The top was lined with gold trim and blue and gold banners were fastened periodically down its long path. The wall itself seemed to go forever south with no end in sight. The train rolled downward until it was back to ground level next to the wall. They traveled parallel to it for many miles before the city came into view.

“What region are we in?” Atiyah asked

“We are at the border of VII and VIII young lass.” Stubby said.

Seth turned to Lance. He met his gaze and finally asked “What is next sir?”

“Quick to join?” Lance asked. “Are you sure you know what you're getting into?”

“Mr. Lance, I have nowhere else to go, I was banished from my home before being hunted down by a bunch of thugs sent by my father. I am a low level magic user with affinities in water and light. I am of a semi decent healer and tank class whenever my matrix is working correctly. My friend Atiyah, is an ice elf with natural affinities in water, air, and ice magic. She was top of her class at the elven version of our compounds. She does not have a matrix but if she had a classification, you would put her in a rogue or mage archetype. This half gnome, Fiz, who I have known for all of five minutes, has affinities in magnetism and electricity and seems to be able to fix any magitech device you may ever need fixing. There is a girl in the next cabin with alchemy and herb lore specialties and her brother here is the best archer I have seen since leaving the compound except for your elf friend here. We are here to start anew. We are here for redemption and a second chance.”

Seth pulled out the flyer from his pocket.

“I have heard the stories of Hell’s Line walkers. I heard them across the bloody seas in Regalia about the men and women holding those demons at bay. I found the author of this flyer. I begged him for the way here. We traveled a hundred miles, built a half ass glider out of trash to crash land on this death machine. We fought for our lives for tickets, and fought against time to get here. I promise you, we do not know what the hell we are doing but we are here doing it anyway and we are going to keep doing it. What is the next step?!” Seth said with such determination and intensity that his blood started boiling and his matrix stirred from his sleep.

“Master Seth. Whaaa…i…w…rong?” Glitch ached out

“Rest buddy. It will be okay.” Seth mentally said as he continued to stare at Lance.

Carl, Atiyah, and Fiz moved to stand next to Seth and stared also. Stubby and Picard moved and stood next to Lance who had not moved. The train began to slow as they entered the outskirts of the small city.

“You ask for a chance at redemption. At a second chance. What would you give for such a chance? What is the price that you would pay to be here?” Lance asked

Seth knew the answer before he said it. He had been through hell already. His entire life was in the shadow of his now dead brother. Dead by his hands. His father always hated him. His mother barely tolerated him.

“I will give you anything and everything within my power? If you want me to storm this land and bring you the head of the black king, I’ll figure a way and do it or die trying.” Seth said

“I’ll be there helping him.” Atiyah said

“He won’t get far unless I fix his matrix so I guess I will be there also.” Fiz said.

“My sister ain’t going anywhere near the black king, but these three have been a damn good team to be part of. I will be there also.” Carl said

Stubby and Picard shared a look with Lance. They smiled before looking off in the distance. Atiyah looked behind her. The city, which really was not much of a city, had a few multistory buildings, a train station, and many smaller buildings all made of earth, metal, and stone. The city seemed to have been built into the side of the large wall. Elevator pulleys and wires were moving up and down the wall and a large platform sat at the top. The train moved into the station. Atiyah saw the rear cars disconnecting as they went past the station.

“Are we not stopping?” Atiyah asked finally.

“Carl, You may wish to get Grace onto this train. The gas below is gone so she will be safe in the compartment below.” Lance said without breaking his gaze with Seth

Carl rushed to the front of the car and slid off. A few moments later they heard doors open and shut and he was climbing back up to the top. The car behind them disconnected shortly after he returned. The train kept going a few hundred yards before the front of their car was also disconnected. Atiyah saw each of the cars turn to face the wall before being pushed forward. They stopped at the base of the wall and then a pulley system lifted them up. Atiyah saw the train continue on dropping sections periodically which were also brought to the wall and lifted upward.

Seth turned and looked out at the land and the city below. He realized that he had let himself overreact and he started working internally to calm down. Lance saw this and smirked. He turned briefly to take in the day. The sun was setting and casting the wall's shadow across the land of Gridarnia.

“You know. I once knew a young man like yourself. He was just a pledge, barely eleven years old when he joined us three. He could barely hold a sword. He couldn’t shoot a bow for shit, and damn near burnt the forest down when his mana manifested. That pledge was stubborn as hell, goofy as shit and the worst adventurer that ever was. He refused to give up though. It has been twenty years since we last saw him. We made something special out of him and we will do the same with you if you are willing to follow. If you are serious about this, then pledge yourself to the cause, take the brand, and prove yourself to your commanding officers. Do well and we will see about that whole redemption nonsense.” Lance said before turning and walking away

The other two smiled and turned to follow. Atiyah stopped them with a question

“What happened with the young pledge? Did he die?”

Picard turned and looked at her. “Young Ray became the second recorded elementalist of our era. A user of every element by the age of fifteen. He became a Title Master of Compound Gamma, Second place in the Title Master’s tournament. He flew a glider in the war and received the title Dragonslayer after he killed not only the Regalian dragon but his bounded rider as well. Young Ray then got himself in trouble after killing his commanding officer. I hear there was a good reason, but he was stripped of his matrix and despite the mana backlash and crippling trauma, returned and defeated a remnant of the black king who had tried to take over his village. He is now Lord of the Goldenleaf Village and a few territories shy of becoming the new Baron of Region XI.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“The Berserker Lord” Seth whispered under his breath. His eyes grew wide in understanding. Those three had trained that man. He had heard of the rumors. The current heads were all in a frenzy over him. Many hated that a commoner was rising up in ranks and doing well with the people of the region. They also did not like that he killed the previous Duke of Manchester. Seth was in awe of the information. That guy was trained by these three.

“That goofy little kid will never know it and probably thinks we are dead, but we are damn proud of him. His best attribute was the sheer determination to not give up. Prove to us you have that and we will ensure you go far.” Peggy said. They then turned and headed to the end of the train. Lance popped his head back up over the edge.

“Hurry up and get off this fucking car you undeserving pieces of shit. Orientation is in ten minutes!” Lance yelled back at them

Seth looked at Atiyah and Carl and finally down at Fiz. They all smiled and rushed to get off of the train car and onto the platform. A large sign flashed above them “Station Twenty”. A large mural was painted on the far left side of the platform. It depicted a large yellow duck with sunglasses rising from the ashes of a blue flame with a demon clamped between its beak.

“What in Hell’s door did we get ourselves into?” Seth thought as he joined the line of new recruits before entering inside.

…

“Welcome to Station Twenty. You will be quickly and efficiently moved through this line in an orderly fashion. We have multiple stations to get through before the end of day so the more you waste my time the longer we will be here.” A voice said over the small crowd.

Overall, twenty-five managed to stay in the twentieth car. The smoke evidently was a bluff. No death or destruction actually came. Seth mentally cursed Lance’s name as he stood and listened. The woman in front of them, Seth learned, was called Veronica. She was in charge of getting them through the many different stations and provided the standard gear before sending them to a hot shower, meal, and bed. This reminded Seth of orientation at the compound and he sighed.

“Please strip and place your clothes in the laundry shoot to the left.” Veronica said. “Any bags or personal items need to be placed in the crate in front of you. Remember to write your name on the tape so it does not get lost.”

They were all standing on a moving conveyor belt built into the floor. There were thin black dividers between each person for privacy. In front of Seth was a small box with his name on it. Jewlry, watches, and any small trinket was to be placed in it.

“What if we have a personal inventory?” Carl asked as Veronica came into view

“Put your personal items in that and try not to tell anyone you have it. Convicts have no issue ripping matrices out of people for their own personal use.” Veronica said, giving him a stern, shut the hell up look.

Seth quickly stripped to his birthday suit and deposited his clothes into the laundry shoot. He put his weapons and battle armor back into his inventory along with a silver watch, two rings, and a necklace. The silver watch was a birthday gift from his uncle when he turned twenty-one. The two rings were from his compound and the regalian war. The Necklace was from his mother. She had given it to him at birth and he had never gone without it. He felt truly naked as he stood there waiting for the next section.

The conveyor belt split into two and the men were taken to the left while the females were taken to the right. The conveyor belt took them down to the floor and butted up the inner wall. Hot Showers nozzles sprayed downward and the small box in front of him moved into the wall revealing a bar of soap underneath it. Seth scrubbed and scrubbed and enjoyed the heat of the water on his aching body. This lasted all of two minutes before he was hit by a blast of warm air from above. The air blew them dry and a towel was dropped for them to finish any last minute items. They then discarded the towel in another laundry shoot before moving to the next section.

Two pairs of combat boots, four extra-large jumpsuits, four shirts, four extra-large underwear, four pairs of socks, a choice of a hat, a shovel, a wrist watch, and a small combat knife all went into the small crate in front of Seth before the conveyor belt took him to the end.

“Fizzle! Seth! Come with me.” Lance said casually walking by as the group followed in a line down the hallway.

The two got out of formation and followed after him. He didn’t say where they were going and didn’t look to see if they were even following him. He just walked down the hall, down three floors, and into a small doorway on the left. Seth and Fiz followed after him and entered the room to see an odd looking chair and different instruments on the walls and shelves.

“Cathy? Love, I have a new project for you.” Lance said seductively.

A plump woman in purple robes came walking in from a door to the left. She had red wavy hair and thick rimmed glasses. A small ball of energy was following behind her just above her right shoulder. Seth looked closer and realized it was a pixie? Yeah, it was a tiny person with wings. It flew forward and began examining both newcomers. On further examination, Seth realized it was a boy pixie. He wore a nice pantsuit with no coat.

“The big one is incomplete.” it squeaked out.

“West, We need to be nice.” Cathay said “ Hi, I am Cathy.”

“Seth.” Seth said

“Fizzle Wizzlesnipe.” Fiz said, reaching his hand out to shake both Cathy and then the little pixie.

“I love your laboratory. Is that a X2G9 particle coagulator?” Fiz asked

“X2G8, the G9 is in the other room.” West squeaked out loud. The two then started talking about the different instruments on the wall. Seth dozed them out.

“Mr. Ravensword please sit in the chair. We need to inspect your friend.” Lance said nicely.

Seth did what he was told. He took his shirt off and sat on the chair exposing his back to them.

“He needs a new matrix core.” Fiz said finding and moving a nearby chair for him to stand on. The pixie landed on Fiz’s shoulder

“That poor matrix. What happened to him?” Kathy asked. She sat in her chair and took out a wand before hovering it over the matrix. A system window popped up in front of her to see.

“My grandpa did this experiment that made him go crazy. He developed a heavy case of dementia and I think poor glitch was affected by it.” Seth explained

“West, please take Mr. Wizzlesnipe to the other room and bring me the red, green, blue, and yellow boxes.” Cathy said

“Follow me.” West squeaked and flew off to another room. Fiz jumped down and followed after him.

“Can you fix him doc?” Lance asked. He was standing over staring at the matrix with fascination

“Hmmmm.” Cathy said not looking up

Zip came back carrying the boxes and placed them on the tables next to Cathy. She reached into the yellow one and pulled out a crystal. She touched it to the matrix and nothing happened. She tried the other ones and still nothing. She then tried two of the crystals at once. She tried a combination of each crystal and then with the help of Zip she tried three and then all four.

“West, get the black and white boxes.” She yelled before reaching out and grabbing another instrument on the wall.

Seth zoned out. He then fell asleep. Hours went by and nothing happened. Boxes of crystals of every color he could possibly conceive and nothing happened. Kathy Zip and West talked back and forth about diagnostics, crystal conversion methods and matrix creation theory. Lance sat in a nearby chair and also fell asleep.

“Glitch buddy, I wish you could tell them what is going on.”

“It would be simple if I could. The polarity is reversed and they are using the wrong static initiator. An old W4BT76 would be more efficient.” Glitch said very casually

“Buddy?!” You just spoke in a complete sentence.” Seth said eyes wide.

“They may also benefit from cleaning the damaged crystal fragments from the core socket.” Glitch said

“Guys, Glitch said to clean the core socket. There are some crystal fragments still present. He also recommends reversing the polarity and using a W4BT76 Static Initiator.” Seth said

The three looked at each other in confusion and then suddenly and very frantically started running around the laboratory. Cathy directed Fiz to the room across the hall to look for a specific box. West flew into the next room and came back with three books. Cathy then started pouring over the contents

“How old is Glitch?” Kathy asked

“Tell her I am one hundred and forty-three.” Glitch said. Collin repeated.

“Alpha, Gamma, or Delta Variant?” She asked

“Epsilon.” Glitch and Seth said

“Eps…Epsilon isn’t a…oh shit…West, the silver book in my study.” Kathy said. Fiz came running in with the green dusty box.

“She needs to input the code: four, five, six, two, and eight.” Glitch said. He repeated

She followed his orders and put the code on to the device. She touched the tip to his matrix and there was a screeching noise before the matrix opened up.

“Oh baby. I am so sorry. This is..this is bad…why did they not…we will fix this..” She said and started brushing the matrix slowly. Seth could not see anything. Fiz started giving him a play by play of what they were doing so he and most importantly, Glitch, could follow along.

“She is brushing the dust out of the core socket. Whatever happened caused the original core to shatter to a bazillion pieces. There is also a large amount of solidified crystallization around the edges. Best guess is sweat, blood and dust have combined and caked on to the out wall. She is now using a saline solution of salt water to disinfect and scrub the area.” Fiz explained.

This went on for most of the night. Seth fell asleep again. This time he did not wake up. He dreamed of fighting monsters, the war, dragons, and untapped power. He felt a glowing on his shoulder that radiated in and throughout his body. He felt power like he had not ever felt. A strong presence appeared. He knew it as Glitch. The presence grew stronger and more vibrant in power. It melded together with his own being. The two became one and the morning sun rose over the wall and into a small window near the ceiling of the room.

“Mr. Ravensword, It is time to wake up.”