Inferno Ascended

Glax smiled in satisfaction when he saw Hercules.

That was the name of the Imperial locomotive that carried minerals to the port of Verivo, to meet the needs of Hylan, the Imperial capital. Only three cars were for passengers, and the rest were for chloromite only. The train glowed like a mythical serpent amidst the steam it emanated.

Even the Archigeos couldn't stop looking at the machine. Lais, Alexandre, and the others were completely awestruck. Tychos muttered.

"If I saw this thing at night, I would certainly think an abyssal monster had escaped!"

Glax watched more than the outside. Hercules wasn't contaminated by antichor, and that was a mystery! 

Seeing that the prospective passengers were undecided, the man in front of the carriage door urged them on. "But it's not an animal. It's a long metal cart that walks on rails. The empire confiscated this TRAIN, that's the name of this machine, and brought it here. You will not die from getting on the train. But you have to decide. We're already an hour late!"

"It's not our fault, asshole," Tychos said, at the impatience of the person responsible for the passengers on the train. 

Glax knew that the fact that they were hiding their identities drastically changed how they were treated. 

The Archigeos abandoned his escort and Pharys' officers on the bridge as soon as Glax spoke of their alternative. The leader of the Echelians was more excited as they moved away from the official route. He looked even more relaxed and happy, in a way! 

They had hidden every possible symbol that they were no more than ordinary Echelians krios traveling to Verivos. Adrastos was the 'guide' of the group of thirteen.

The Archigeos had decided that deviating from protocol wouldn't be a problem. He was too impatient to wait all day for the bridge to be fixed, and the entire entourage and horses would be troublesome on the train. Like everyone in the group, he had never been near a train, although there were two imperial trains in Stygia.

"Right. If all that's missing is us in this monstrous thing, you can get this machine up and running. By the Old Invisible God, it smells like Old Hell!" Demophon exclaimed, pushing the man away with his arm. The archigeos helped lady Lais into the car and ducked his head to step through the door. The rest followed suit.

The noisy group's arrival caused strangeness in the silent passengers who were already inside the Hercules car they bought tickets for.

The almost empty car, which they entered, was the 'best of them' and with the most expensive ticket, by the way. That meant it had benches, and they didn't have to stand or sit on the floor for the entire trip. 

Glax and his friends looked at every detail of the interior of the car. There were many safety warnings and prayers to the infernal gods, in addition to what he thought was a profusion of magical symbols.

'Pharysians being Pharysians,' he thought.

Uniq was thrilled with every detail. The train had been made by Prometheans before the war as a gift to Rhytosia, but it had been brought piece by piece to Pharys by the Empire.

The Valosian realized they would share the car with a group of scholars traveling together. As they wore similar outfits, Glax quickly realized they were from some order or school. He noticed his hooded friend had already found a seat by the window, away from the group and near to the door.

"Can you keep an eye on Hermes, Ras?" He whispered to his friend, who nodded. Not that they could do anything about the god, but Hermes' unsolicited presence intrigued Glax.

Then he called Uniq, "Hey, Uniq, don't you want to see if we can talk to the train driver? Let's see what the locomotive looks like!"

It was no use calling Alekos as he was seeing stars and butterflies beside Lais. It was kind of cute to witness a man's first love. 

His father Adrastos was reading the notices with Demophon and explaining in 'Echelian' terms what to do in an emergency. 

"Hold on to the handles under the seats and RESPECTFULLY pray to the gods of the underground. Don't threaten or curse or think of your ancestors. Vomiting on the train will cause you an Imperial issue and fine." He heard his father tell the group, before he and Uniq left the car to go to the locomotive.

As he suspected, when they reached the last car before the locomotive, they found an absent-minded, soot-spattered guard who rose from his stool with a hand on his sword.

"You cannot enter. It's personnel only."

"All right. Just tell the train driver that Hercules could perform better if the 'steam chest' were 30% bigger."

The Pharysian warrior stared at them in confusion, then shrugged.

"Uh. You speak. But the weapons stay."

Glax and Uniq had no problem putting down their weapons.

As they entered the car behind the locomotive, beyond the compartments that served as a coal deposit, he saw the Valya's Cauldron connected to tubes that carried its energy to a power transformer. 

As in Medeia, the system was not used all the time. Probably only at times where extra effort and quick response were needed. Slopes perhaps?

Uniq had never seen it, and she was amazed. She reached her hand close to the bars to feel the heat emanating, but there was none. "Is this a type of boiler? Why isn't it hot? What's in there?"

He couldn't answer right away as the train started to move and all the sounds, smoke, and steam release just behind the engine deafened them. It was an experience! They laughed at the little scare they had. All that noise and smoke distracted him from his impression. He hadn't felt any emanations of antichor from the Cauldron of Valya!

Then they entered the locomotive's cabin. A burly red-haired man, thoroughly dirty and wearing a protective goggle, turned when he noticed intruders in his workplace.

Whoa! Who are you?" His intonation showed surprise, distrust, and a certain amusement. His gaze landed on the Kroton symbol on Glax's shoulder, and on Uniq's red hair. And then to her breasts.

"Your colleague back there said I could give my suggestion about performance improvements personally.. I'm Glax, and this is Uniq."