Reality shifted around the two. The movement of it all lasted no longer than a second - when their vision stopped swimming, their surroundings had changed.

The large man, not having stood entirely still as they’d moved, continued his fall. Daios attempted to catch him, but simply fell with him. He fell face-first into snow. He took the moment to catch his breath.

The air here felt noticeably different. Thick with smoke, it didn’t go down as smooth and easy as the air out in the woods. They’d almost gotten used to the clarity.

Back at the tomb, Proznia seemed so quiet, but even a 10-minute walk outside Zerwa, he heard the muffled thumping of machinery.

Daios turned his head, and looked at the snow next to him. The symbols were still there. The snow here looked grayer, flecks of ash and soot clung to it. The snow back from the clearing was pristine. Not for long, Daios thought.

The large man got up first. He brushed the snow off of his heavy cloak and then leaned down to offer a hand to the alchemist. The offered grip was strong, Daios felt his hand to be just a little crushed when he stumbled back onto his feet.

“Thank you for keeping watch back th-” Daios was interrupted by the other, ruffling through his messy hair, which had accrued a lot of snow, and the other pulled his hood back up for Daios.

“Mhm.” the large man answered.

“DAD-” Daios snapped, hesitated and then corrected himself, “Xalis, I mean. Appropriate work-, it’s not appropriate work uh. behaviour.” pulled his hood closer and took two steps back.

Xalis gave a relaxed thumbs up.

The alchemist turned and began to kick the snow away where any symbols remained in it. He preoccupied his hands with stuffing them in his pockets, and Xalis followed suit with smudging the alchemy circle.

The claw in the snow caught Daios’ eye. It was cut clean off, leaking ever so slightly, that beautiful shimmering corruption. He carefully placed it in a metal container, making sure not to let the liquid dripping from it touch his skin.

They started their trek to the mining town. In the distance, behind it, he could see the mountain range that framed the cities and settlements on Proznia. It was dark, but lights alongside and in the mountain hinted at its hulking shape behind everything.

Zerwa was mostly underground. It could be mistaken for a simple hill covered in snow, were it not for the light that shone beneath the doors of the settlement, the dull thumping of machinery, and the chimneys continuously producing black smoke.

The chimneys stood straight into the air, mirroring the poles upon which the train tracks sat. The trains hung straight down from the tracks. Their velocity often dragged the snow below in their direction, despite not touching it at all.

The station at Zerwa consisted of tall platforms on flimsy frames. They creaked slightly in the wind.

There were no seats. There was hardly any covering. Next to the platform, away from the tracks, was a small hut. Against the side of it leaned a shovel.

The hut seemed to be that of a signalman. Xalis walked over, and knocked on the window. The signalman took his time getting up. The door creaked as he swung it open.

“Morning.” the signalman grumbled.

“Mh. Next one to Alberre?”

“There’s some cargo passin’ through in about 10 minutes. That’ll take ye there. Given you’ve got the cash.” He said the last part as though it was a taunt. Eyeing the large man wearing a dirty cloak, who held his heavy weapon, and behind him the messy, scrawny alchemist. Daios fidgeted with the hem of his jacket. The crimson fabric was thick, but even that had started to fray in places. He should probably fix it soon, he thought.

Xalis didn’t respond. He simply opened his cloak to show the signalman a metal sigil. It was shaped as a four-sided star - surrounded by plenty of delicate ornaments. The sigil was scratched and aged, but the signalmans eyes did widen for just a second. "Right on…" he added, the taunt having faded from his voice. Mechanically, not with vigor or laziness, he turned and flipped a switch. A tinted orange lamp flipped on at the tracks.

“Go on and wait at the platform.”

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“Thank you.”

The platform creaks even more as the two climb the stairs. Daios had turned the wheel at his boots, they folded in the spikes coming out of the soles. His proud invention sometimes did deface nice floors, when he wasn't careful enough.

“Soo he wasn’t in a good mood” Daios whispers to Xalis.

“No reason for him to be.”

“That’s sort of depressing. I’m sure he has lots of things to look forward to! Maybe there’s some nice coffee in the Zerwan cantinas!”

“With how slow he was moving?”

“Mhhh… That’s why it’s looking forward to? Hasn’t had it yet, I suppose.”

The lights of the train could be seen from a distance. It roared as it approached - it was anything but lively. It screeched to a halt before them. It hung from the rails, its body sharp and uninviting. The smoke coming from it didn’t help to soften it.

There was a hallway on the outside of the train cart, attached as a balcony, with a thin metal railing. No place to be when it moved. A door swung open at the sharp front of it and a conductor stepped out. She walked to the back, where Xalis and Daios had stepped on.

Their interaction was easy and professional. She wanted papers, Xalis showed her the sigil from before. Daios hid behind him. In response, she led them to a cart of the train that had once been for transporting passengers. Lucky for them, or else they'd have had to choose between sitting with cargo or with the quiet conductor.

This time, the thin hallway was on the inside of the cart, and while Daios was walking through searching for the right department for them to sit, the train began to huff and screech and then move again. The department he located seemed to be the cleanest, with the least cracks in the window.

They had a department to themselves. It was relatively small, 4 seats facing each other. Each of the seats had been upholstered long ago. Now the fabric had faded in its colour, stains and tears marking it. Daios looked it up and down excitedly- checking the section for luggage (empty), trying the window mechanisms (stuck). There were only 2 depots for luggage above the seats, secured by a net. While below the seats, there didn’t seem to be any space. Between the seats there were armrests, overall 6 though they were all folded down. The rusty mechanism whined as Daios tugged at it. The armrests (functional) were made of metal - but the heat of the train gave them a comfortable temperature. He tested the floor and ceiling panels (immobile).

Xalis watched in silence, amusement tugging at the side of his mouth.

Daios sat down with a start, making a small twirl before practically throwing himself onto one of the seats, right next to the window. He looked at Xalis, waiting expectantly, and cleared his throat. “Yes. I’ve-… sufficiently inspected it!”

“Right.” Xalis responded and sat on the opposing side.

Xalis shifted in the seat, placing his sword next to him, leaning back and closing his eyes. Daios watched the outside moving by. There were no trees here - the rocky mountainside was blank with snow. The train moved above it all - the sharpness softened by a layer of snow. There was nothing out there.

Daios turned his attention back to Xalis. The gladiator had his eyes closed. Due to his tall stature, his head didn’t rest on the actual headrest, but instead laid against the wall behind him.

“Soo... There were mushrooms in the tomb!”

“Mhm.”

“Like I didn’t wanna dig them up - feels disrespectful - but you know it’s just super interesting and whenever you’ve brought them back from your trips with Asphodel they’re so tasty, but I don’t know if these are tasty they might have been poisonous. Though if it was a panellus and not a pleurotus osteatus then the stem would’ve been yellow, and it wasn’t it was white, so it should’ve been fine but also can’t be too sure maybe the illustrations I saw weren’t great that’s totally possible you know-”

“Mhm.”

“It’s a bit concerning honestly because like I know you could grow them from the remains of people and that’d be prettyyy messed up. But also sure it’s a tomb so what can I even expect like maybe that’s also disrespectful actually… Anyway I just thought like it’s fun because if you think about it the deity of the tomb he also is all about like death and decay and all that and so the mushrooms make plenty of sense! It’s so fun how they did all of that, and I wonder whether the number of pillars is significant? I counted 74, but I can’t remember that coming up in any of the tales I’ve read. I should check again actually I might’ve missed something…”

“…”

“The buildings were also really fun to look at! So round and soft you know, and the decorations reminded me a little of the cathedral, but also I’ve not seen those shapes before in architecture? So I was wondering if maybe there’s a reason why it’s so much more round and organic, and it could be that in the place of that deity is like that? But also the pillars are good for putting stories, so maybe that’s that and like I think I’m gonna get pretty far with what I wanna do. And like I got all these fun symbols should be helpful with fighting disease and boy do we need that!”

Time passed by. The ramblings of the alchemist never interrupted by Xalis for the remainder of the journey. He was listening, he’d swear.

A few minutes outside Alberre the scenery already began to change. The bleak emptiness turned more and more into single houses, some of them dwarfed by the piles of snow on top. Not all of it was lived in, it was hard in the outskirts.

Then came the city, a sudden density of life and detail. There were people moving around, through the smoke. The city was layered, platform upon platforms, buildings climbing up the mountainside.

Finally, they had returned.