Inferno Ascended

The man nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Skopas here, uh Lord Glax. I didn't know Echelians understood locomotives."

"I know a thing or two. Uniq came to see the view, do you mind? Ah, don't you think Hercules' performance would improve with a bigger 'steam chest'?"

Skopas scratched his head as Uniq walked past him to reach the glass that protected the front. The view was breathtaking, but she also looked at the rather minimal dashboard. 

"Wow! I could do this my whole life! You must love your job!" She exclaimed.

"Well, that's true, miss!" He started talking about the technical parts of Hercules with Glax while giving Uniq some attention. 

The arrival of genuinely interested visitors took him out of the monotony of his job, he said. Usually passengers only used the service because they were in a great hurry to get to Verivos and used to find the experience horrible. He even explained to Uniq how to use the speed levers and the brakes, the automatic feed. Uniq was again using his power of beauty and her 'innocent' interest to get to learn from men.

'They fall for that every single time…' he concluded. 

After several kilometers, Skopas increased the boiler's heat to ascend an incline. Glax commented, "I thought that machine back there was good for that."

"Oh well," the machinist explained as he activated the ducts that fed the fuel into the boiler automatically. "This worked until last year, when Makras was still in Hercules. That is, my old assistant. When they brought Hercules to Pharys this machine did not yet have this device. It was an engineer from the Empire who installed it. And it also brought Makras, who operated the system."

"Makras was a vselys, I suppose." Glax commented matter-of-factly.

"Yea. And a slave to the government. I mean, don't get me wrong, but even if he was a vselys, he was a decent guy." Skopas justified. It seems he was used to seeing everyone vilify the vselys under the Sanctions effects.

"What happened to him?"

"He died." Skopas pursed his lips, holding his grief. "One day a necromancer boarded the Hercules. It's forbidden to walk around with revived corpses like horses or dogs, you know."

"I didn't know it was necessary to have a law to remind necromancers of that." Glax frowned.

"Necromancy is officially banned too. What do you think we Pharysians are?! Mad savages?! Makras went to kick the guy out. I've never seen him so mad. The fight was ugly. Makras turned the wagon into a butcher shop... That the necromancer tried to resurrect. Even while there was a spark of life in his crushed body, I say."

"By the Old Invisible God, what happened?"

"We had to hand him over to the Empire, but before that happened, a group of necromancers ambushed us in an alley at Verivos. They came after him and together, they drained all his strength away. He dried up before our eyes, and what was left of him were his blue skeleton and his clothes."

Glax grimaced. The story was more gruesome than he expected and he was developing a great deal of empathy for the vselys after all. But he changed the subject. "Since then the System hasn't worked?"

"He kept saying the system would soon stop working. It was drying up, or that's what he said. To be honest, I was afraid of this thing, but now I'm used to it. I told them to talk to get it out of there, but I don't know when that will happen."

Glax was digesting the story. Then he saw they were going into a tunnel. The engineer took the controls, as that included a descent.

When they finally entered the tunnel, leaving the daylight behind, the Hercules lit up with the remains of green chloromite on its surface. 

More interesting, however, was to see that the protective symbols painted on the ceiling also lit up, and it wasn't chloromite.

Glax swallowed, sensing the unfriendly presences in the darkness outside the train.

"Now I understand why traveling by train is not that popular!" He exclaimed.

"Don't worry, the priests constantly renew their wards. The gods of the underground just need to be as respected as the Ascended gods!" Skopas replied with a hoarse laughter.

They heard a metallic thud, as if the roof had hit something. The engineer grunted. "What was that?"

"You're just saying that to scare a southern girl, aren't you?" Uniq groaned.

"No. Something hit the roof of the car in the back. I hope it's not some chthonic creature or cacodemon. It's rare, but it happens sometimes. But it could also be just a loose rock," the train driver explained.

"I can see that for you," Glax volunteered.

"As soon as we get out of the tunnel. You shouldn't go outside right now." Skopas didn't refuse help. "My colleague back in the other car is here to do this, so call him."

It took them 9 long minutes to get out of the tunnel. Glax got a little taste of what the underworld was like. 

Even seeing nothing, and having even gone to Heramis, the anticipation of what lay behind the darkness and smoke could make any mortal's blood freeze. He wondered what the 'True Old Hades' would be like.

As soon as the train left the tunnel, the light blinded them for a moment. It was like having escaped from an abyss, and he noticed he had been holding his breath without realizing it.

As promised, Glax said he would look at roof of the car behind what had happened in the tunnel. Uniq offered to go with him, but the Valosian refused. Reaching the car where Valya's cauldron was, he reached the hatch and hoisted himself onto the roof of the car. 

Glax was still rising when he saw a cape of shadows swaying in the wind. Looking up, he exclaimed,

"MORS!"

"Sheesh, this guy.." Mors replied impassively, looking at the horizon ahead.