Chapter 28 – Layers.

“Did we really have to go through that?” Saylin asked, stretching out lengthwise on the coach seat, the lights of the main street shining in through its windows.

“Strictly speaking, no,” Alison replied. “However I did need to confirm Bowser’s involvement. Clocky expected as much, but now we have proof.”

Saylin sighed. “And we’ve made a powerful enemy as well.”

“No. He always was, once Sean’s carriage was hooked up to our run.”

Rachael felt like she had been dropped into someone else’s problem, one that had no direct link to.

‘Are you sure about that? Crys has been with them, and, a big and at that, didn’t Warrior summon you to them?’ Kitsune was of course right on that. She also didn’t know what exactly Angel had in mind for them either. Not that she was actually complaining. Right now she felt more alive that she ever had. But she was definitely a player in someone else's game.

“So...” Saylin started, looking over at Rachael. “Who exactly are you?”

“I’m Rachael.”

“Yes, I knew that. Rachael, who just happened to be passing by, a friend of Crys, who just happened to be passing by.” Saylin made expressive gestures with her hands, walking her fingers down her front. “That’s the how, not the who, or even what. You used magic. Like real magic, even if you were holding back. You’re not a touched. I know what touched magic is like. I’m a touched after all.”

Rachael had gathered as much from the sparkling in her hands when she handled the vials, though she had no clue as to what Saylin’s magic actually was.

“I’m a Priestess of the Core. Was a priestess, sorry,” she answered after a moment of silence.

“The Core? Like the Core that shattered a thousand or so years ago? But there’s nothing left if it...”

“Isn’t there? Are you sure about that, because I’m not.” Rachael summoned some balls of light and let them dance around the coach. “But yes, that Core. I was a Priestess of the Core back when it was such, a thousand ish years ago, in an age when there was no magic. Well, almost no magic.”

“So you like a thousand years old then? You look good for your age.”

Rachael chuckled. “No, I’ve been asleep for all of that time. I’ve only been awake these last 5 days.”

“That would still make you over a thousand year old.”

“Only on a technicality.” Rachael rolled her eyes.

“You’re a relic then.”

“I guess so.”

“And all Priestesses were magic users?” Saylin asked as she tried to catch one of the balls of light, failing.

“Yes, some more so than others. The Core may have stashed us away due to an incident.”

“What, all of it’s Priestesses?”

“No, just me and Crys.”

“And how do I know you’re telling the truth?” Saylin asked. Rachael knew the question would come.

“You don’t,” Rachael replied. “Besides my knowledge of the time that I came from, which you have no way of verifying, there is nothing I can do to prove the validity of what I’ve said.”

“The alternatives have their own repercussions,” Alison added. “Which would be that she’s from the Innerlands, which has happened before but she would have no reason to hide, or that she was birthed on this side with her power, which never has. Clocky seems to believe their story however, and what she says aligns with what Crys said, though I don’t think Crys knowns the full story.”

“No, she wouldn’t. She didn’t know what I was.” Rachael knew that she had a lot of explaining to do there.

---

“I was kind of hoping that you weren’t right,” Dudley stated as they reached him.

He was standing at the edge of the train platform, sipping from a flask and now wearing a heavy coat over his light clothes and armour. Beside him on the ground was the slumped form of a man. Two tracks over sat a double headed locomotive, spewing smoke and hissing steam as it’s headlight illuminated the rails in front of it. A small carriage was coupled up behind it. Light mists had started rolling in, giving the train yard an eerie feel to it, but not enough yet to effect visibility. The main building of the train station had been quiet when they’d arrived, Alison taking them in through the front entrance this time instead of the offices that they had exited from previously. They did need to use the workers door to get out to the platform though, with the main door out permanently chained shut.

“Just the one?” Alison asked, looking at the body.

“Just the one. Bowser doesn’t own the railway. He ain’t dead tho.”

“Then he’s the lucky one of the two,” Alison commented, hopping down onto the tracks. “We have a full crew this time?”

“Yup,” Dudley confirmed, carefully making his way down, Rachael and Saylin following.

“Good. We all sleep then once we clear the city, cycling short watches.”

‘I’ll do the watches,’ Kitsune offered from Rachael’s shoulder.

“Kitsune will do the watches,” Rachael relayed. “She doesn’t need much sleep & she can do that at any point in time, and she’ll be able to wake us if something goes wrong.”

“I’ll share watches with her then. Everyone else can sleep.”

Alison pulled herself up into the engine to talk to the drivers while the rest of them clambered into the carriage, Rachael giving Dudley a hand up. His limp was better than when she had first run into them, but the injury was still causing him issues. The carriage was small and only lit by the light of the train yard that filtered in through its windows, with just enough seating room for a dozen people and accompanying facilities, but that was all that they probably needed. After all there was only the four of them. She had no idea what Alison and Co had been travelling in previously, but probably something a lot more comfortable and larger than this, if they had been doing longer journeys. It did mean that once they reached their destination, unless they already had everything they needed there in the wrecked train, they would be travelling light. Not that she hadn’t been already, but at some point Rachael knew she’d probably have to actually acquire some travel gear.

Saylin muttered something about devil trains as she promptly claimed the seats closest to the door, while Dudley sat himself down at the other end. Unsure if there was some kind of protocol, Rachael took the seats in the row down from Saylin, sitting down just as the train whistle sounded and it lurched into motion, Alison coming through the door and closing it behind her a moment later.

“Felix will have us there by early morning,” Alison said, sitting in the next row along from Rachael. One row for them each. “The 323 is after all the fastest of the mid-class engines. He’ll report back a survey of the damage as well, which will give the trip some validity.”

“One totalled train,” smirked Dudley.

“Hopefully it’s not any worse than when we left it.” Alison then looked at Saylin and Rachael. “Try and get some sleep. You’ll need it.”

Rachael nodded and then yawned, unable to help herself, the day catching up with her. Days actually, but this one in particular had been long. The train entered the tunnel, everything going dark briefly before it came out the other side, the mists a little thicker out here, and the light now minimal. She really wasn’t sure why Saylin didn’t like trains. The sounds of the train was rhythmic and soothing, the gentle rocking was actually nice. Rachael lay down on her row of seats, tucking her legs up to her, thoughts drifting. It was all things considered not too uncomfortable. Much better than the dirt floor and trees that she had been sleeping in, but far shy of her comfy bed from the flat. She definitely wanted a comfy bed once this was all over, and she’d probably sleep for days as well. Curled up with Crys of course.

She was finally heading in the direction of Crys, with a real possibility that they would soon be united. That prospect excited her, and everything else that was happening around her was just the backdrop to that objective as far as she was concerned. Once they were close enough she’d be properly able to sense Crys’ direction, which would make locating her that much easier. It didn’t matter if the world tried to burn down around her, now that she was this close she would reunite with Crys, and then worry about everything else afterwards. She owed her that much at least. Truth be told though, she was also nervous about the reunion. She’d been hiding the truth about herself from Crys, and she would have to come clean. She didn’t know how Crys would take that, especially since their lives were inexplicitly bound now forever more. But she had hope.

Not to mention what had happened to Crys since her arrival. She had no clue as to why Warrior had shown an interest in Crys and by extension herself as well, enough to actually communicate. She also doubted that it was the only Ancient around either. Coupled with the Core, which was probably not it’s true title, that made two that she was now aware of. She had been foolish to think that the Core was the only one, but then again there had never been a reason to assume otherwise. There was so much that they didn’t know about the world, that had remained hidden even during their age, and most of that would probably remain hidden as well.

She fingered the Pyre figure in her packet. And there was still the mystery of how that came into being as well. It was possible that one of them had also been responsible for it. But if that was the case, there was even more the question of why, especially back then, before the Demon King had started his invasion is fall. She may never know.

perhaps,

in time.

The response almost lost to her as sleep took her for itself.

---

‘No invasions or attacks. Just a tired and stressed girl looking for some comfort.’

Rachael felt a weight and a warmth against her as she woke up, sunlight streaming in through the windows of the carriage. At some point in her sleep her legs had swung off the seats, not that there had really been enough room in the first place, and Saylin had taken the opportunity to occupy that space, curled up and leaning on Rachael. She was still sleeping as Rachael tried and failed to stretch without disturbing her. And she still had no interest in her.

“Just wake her up,” Alison said as she appeared beside the two, offering Rachael some fruit, a bread roll, and a bottle, that she had acquired from somewhere.

Rachael gently righted Saylin, who still continued to sleep, and took the food.

“Nothing amiss thus far?” she queried as she ate.

“Nope. We’re making good time.”

Rachael looked over at Saylin. “Can she actually fight?” she queried.

Alison chuckled. “What she can do, and what she chooses to do are two different things. She’ll fight if she’s in a pinch, but she prefers to be support, as she puts it. She’s also a skilled tracker and hunter, even if she doesn’t look the part. I’m sure you’ve already noticed, but she is a touched as well, more recently awakened than Clocky or Fairweather though, and even she doesn’t fully understand what she is capable of. She likes refers to herself as an Alchemist, and that avenue has consumed her attention over the last few years. That and flirting.”

“Hey, no fair, talking about me while I sleep,” Saylin grumbled as she opened her eyes and yawned. “Still hate this cursed metal beast though. Tell me we’re there already?”

“Nope,” Alison replied. “Food?”

“Hell no.” Saylin gave her half sister a sour look.

“The good news is that we’re only a couple of hours away,” Alison then stated. “You both slept well.”

“Two hours too long,” Saylin grumbled, tucking her legs up under herself as she sat against the wall, staring at the seat ahead of her. Rachael was certain that she’d probably hate flying as well.

---

Alison was right on the mark. About half an hour later they reached the mountain range, at which point the train had to slow down quite considerably due to the nature and slope of the track, though they were still going through the pass at a speed that was possibly just a little too fast. An hour and a half later they had reached the Narrows and the scene of the crash, the train slowing right down as they approached. To say that the scene was a mess was an understatement. It looked like it had been a miracle that anyone had survived.

Alison swore as the train stopped and she hopped off, the rest of them following. She walked over to the only wagon that was still upright on it’s wheels, the entirety of two sides in splinters and the roof collapsed onto the floor.

“Something or someone has been here since we left. The last of Sean’s cargo was secured in that wagon...” Alison stated, frowning.

“And I take it it didn’t look like that either at the time?” Saylin asked, rhetorically.

Something was wrong about this area. Rachael could feel it in her soul. A discomfort that made her feel unsettled and on edge. A revulsion. Something that she needed to do something about, but yet at the same time knew that she couldn’t. Not at this point in time. It didn’t take her long to pinpoint the source. She had already been told of its existence.

“This was Sean’s carriage?” she asked of Alison as stood as close to it as she dared. It was coated in an inky blackness that screamed wrongness in her mind, of torn souls and corrupted magic, a curse and death. And undeath. A power that threatened to consume all.

The Taint.

Her reaction to it in person was magnitudes worse than when Alison had first told her about it, and she knew beyond a doubt that their awakening was related to it. No coincidences here at all. She didn’t know how she felt about that either, now that it was certain. Still a Priestess in the end it seemed.

The entirety of the carriage was now coated in the taint, and it spilled over the edges and on to the ground, tendrils of the taint stretching out along the ground like claws waiting for a victim, curling around plants that were now just withered shades of what they had been. The darkness itself seemed to twist and flow, as if there was life inside of it that was threatening to break out. And it probably was, as now it now covered an area twice that of the size of the carriage.

that fight,

is not yet yours.

That she was acutely aware of, as well as all the implications that had not been said.

“This will need to be dealt with,” Rachael said with determination as she turned back to the others, “once we figure out how.”

“Odinsphere?” Alison queried in reply.

“Odinsphere.” Rachael nodded. “If not the answer, then it’ll be the first step.”

“Whatever you do though, keep away from it,” she then added, rejoining the others.

“Crys said exactly the same thing,” Alison observed with a smile, then turning to her sister. “Saylin, can you work out what happened here?” she asked. “Take Rachael with you if needed. Dudley and I will get the supplies that we stashed earlier. We’ll then have Felix take us further up past the Narrows and see if we can locate where the others have gone.”

“Sounds good to me,” Saylin confirmed with a smile, grabbing Rachael by the hand. “Along you come,” she instructed with enthusiasm.

Saylin cased most of the clearing with Kitsune while Rachael watched over her, crouching to inspect markings in the dirt, or look more carefully at various parts of the wreckage. She avoided Sean’s carriage, and didn’t bother returning to the upright one either, having already inspected that while Rachael had been looking at the Taint. At the least she looked like she knew what she was doing, and her expression got darker the more time passed. She probably wasn’t liking what she was seeing. They also found the final crate from Sean’s cargo, the metal cannister having been sheared open, and no sign at all of its contents. Meanwhile Alison and Dudley had disappeared into the only other carriage that had been part of the train, which was a lot larger than the one that they had been riding.

When Alison and Dudley appeared from the carriage again, carrying a number of packs, Saylin stopped, and returned to them.

“Something has been here since Clocky left. Yes, we knew that already.” Saylin paused, collecting her thoughts. “I’ve found Wilding tracks entering the area, half a dozen of them. Grazeyes most likely, and yesterday afternoon. They went to that... abomination, and then to the wagon. Then they left, heading back into the mountain, along the tracks. But they did not leave the same as they arrived. At least two of them were significantly larger, and different. I could see their tracks changing, and to be honest it’s quite unnerving.”

“Grazeyes?” Rachael was not familiar with the name. Nor probably any other the other known ‘monsters’ either.

“Large mountain cat type creatures that hunt in packs. What worries me as much as the changes is that none of the others appeared to react to the changes. That would indicate that they all have been infected.”

“No signs of any other people?” Alison asked.

“Not beyond the rest of the team, no.”

“Good. Then we’re done here.”

They boarded the train again, Felix instructed to head further up into the Narrows at a slower speed. They needed to find where Clocky and the others had gone, Rachael praying that they had left an obvious clue. And that the Grazeyes hadn’t caught up with them either. Whatever the changes that had been done to them by the taint could not be good.

She should probably also finally have a look at Dudley’s injury. They wouldn’t be able to travel very fast with him limping, and she was eager to find Crys as quickly as possible.