Nuriel stood up, gripping his briefcase with one hand while steadying himself on the table with the other.
He felt the car sway slowly from side to side. The other passengers with them also stood up, their fearful expressions mirroring their movements.
Edward's voice broke the tension. "Something's wrong, I can feel it." He scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes. "I'm no physicist, but I doubt it's an earthquake. It's too strong and too short. Something must've happened at the back of the train, see?"
He pointed toward the window. The train was still moving at its usual pace. Outside, the dark forest flashed past, moonlight glinting off green leaves like a stuttering camera shutter.
Edward continued, "We're still moving, not slowing down. At least we haven't been detached. One of the cars behind us must have had its coupling broken."
"May the Witch bless them then," Sayla said softly, her voice full of sympathy as she muttered a quick prayer.
Nuriel analyzed the scene. Contrary to what the other passengers were feeling, he didn't so much as twitch his facial expression.
'Did the Steel Witch find out about me? And send a natural disaster my way?'
'But according to the Scepter, she's dormant somewhere, so I can cross her off.'
As for the unknown entity entering the dark sky, Nuriel was slightly worried but kept it to himself.
'Could the unknown entity be a different deity other than the Steel Witch? It's not like her religion is the only one in this world. There are many other figures that people worship.'
Looking back at the data, Nuriel was puzzled by one particular detail.
'Saint with forbidden knowledge. Not a god or deity, but a saint instead...'
'There could be a more ancient story, something older than the scriptures the Church of the Steel Witch presents to the public.'
Edward returned to his speculation. "Or maybe it was a large roadkill. But I doubt any animal is stupid enough to run into a moving train. Either way, something crashing into the train is a likely explana—"
BOOM!
In the blink of an eye, their bodies lifted slightly off the floor. Lamps flickered violently, and sharp utensils flew through the air at deadly angles.
A large section of the train derailed. The cars tored off from their tracks, crashing onto the gravel beside them. Thanks to the railway's safety standards, the cars didn't plunge into the dense forest.
Sliding harshly across the gravel, the cars lost their paint and exterior from the brutal impact. Slowly, they came to a stop. The warm lights glowing from the windows flickered weakly before fading into darkness.
***
Nuriel woke up in a daze releasing an agonizing grunt. His body ached all over, especially his back neck. He realized he was leaning against something, with his buttocks pointed toward the ceiling.
'An accident, or is a god trying to assassinate me...' he thought with a chuckle, trying to ignore the pain.
Nuriel lifted himself from the dirty floor, he reached for his briefcase beside him not too far away and brushed the debris from his suit. Before he could fully gather himself, Edward approached, surprisingly alert despite the crash.
"Let me help you. The stewards are escorting everyone off the train," Edward said, pulling Nuriel toward him, the two nearly colliding.
"Is your sister alright?" Nuriel asked.
Edward's mouth twitched ever so slightly upwards. "but you've just met her"
Nuriel stared at him, expression blank with disbelief. 'How could he joke at a time like this?'
Catching the look, Edward cleared his throat and spoke with sincerity. "She's outside with the rest. Let's go."
Stepping out of the wreck, Nuriel shivered from the cold night wind that swept over him. He stifled a sneeze. All around, groups of passengers stood gathered in the darkness, lit faintly by the glow of gaslamps held by the stewards.
Some knelt on the ground, weeping and praying. Others smoked quietly, their lighters flashing orange across grim, pale faces.
Nuriel glanced at the wreckage behind him. Their car remained upright but the ones behind it were not so lucky. Some lay overturned, others collapsed on their sides like discarded toys.
Nuriel prayed to himself, hoping this was really just a freak incident. He half expected the scene to be more chaotic than this but the lack of chaos was unsettling. 'An unlucky incident... I guess I got lucky surviving it.'
In the distance, near the tail, he saw a commotion being stirred.
He moved to investigate, but Edward and Sayla intercepted him.
"Going somewhere? Did you see something?" Edward asked, gripping Nuriel's shoulder. His face showed the same curiosity and fear.
"Me too," Sayla added. "I don't think this is anything natural."
Walking toward the tail of the train, a soft crimson light quietly emerged behind them, casting a hazy silhouette ahead.
"They're launching signal flares" Edward said, walking backwards to watch it. "Help should be on the way." But his expression said otherwise, the blood-red light only deepened the dreadful atmosphere.
When they arrived, the sight froze them. A car near the end had been ripped open, a massive crater gouged into its side. Whatever had struck it must have been immense. Their eyes darted away instinctively, unwilling to process the image.
"I saw it! It was a giant beast—"
One of the passengers thrashed against a steward trying to tend to his wounds.
"Calm down man! Just let me bandage you!"
Sayla stepped in, kneeling before the distraught man. "Allow me," she said gently, placing a hand on his face. In seconds, his tense body relaxed, his eyes fluttered closed, and he slumped into peaceful sleep.
The crowd nearby murmured in awe. Some clasped their hands and began to pray.
Not wasting a moment, Sayla turned to one of the stewards. "Tell your conductor to move the passengers to the front of the train and bring out every gaslamp you have then surround the area with light."
Her blue eyes shimmered against the crimson atmosphere, her voice calm but seductive. The steward stared for a moment, almost entranced.
"Praise the Witch," he whispered, then ran to spread her orders.
Sayla returned to Nuriel and Edward, her face dark with worry. "It's a fallen creature. I'm sure of it."
Both men tensed. Edward's brow dampened with sweat. "How much time do we have before it attacks again?"
"Too many factors," Sayla said, rubbing her temples. "We can only hope the light and the crowd will be enough to keep it in the shadows until help arrives." She exhaled deeply, her breath trembling in the cold night.
'Fallen creature?' Hearing the word made Nuriel dig through his body's memories.
Unnatural beings that didn't belong to any ecosystem. Highly aggressive. They came in all forms and sizes. Nothing about them fit into the flow of natural evolution. They didn't just kill to live, they lived to kill.
Apart from old nighttime tales and the occasional story passed by word of mouth, confirmed sightings were rare. Some believed they were extinct. Others doubted they ever existed at all.
He remembered the crater in the train car. His spine tingled as cold sweat trailed down his neck.'What the hell was humanity doing in the past 100 thousand years?'
Thinking now, his current knowledge would be outdated, at least in the grand scheme of history. Seeing Sayla use magic before hadn't surprised him all that much, aside from a few specific details.
'Anesthesia magic... putting someone to sleep without overdosing them is too dangerous without external help from a computer to precisely project the magic. Yet Sayla did it with a simple touch.'
'Is a hundred thousand years enough for humans to evolve and use precise magic? Or perhaps the Scepter System was developed far beyond what I could've ever imagined.'
He was deep in thought, looking almost detached from his surroundings as he instinctively rubbed his chin. Before he could fully retreat into his mind, a voice called out to him.
"Nuriel, help me get the people out of the debris!" Edward's voice rang out. He was already rushing into the wreckage, giving Nuriel no chance to hesitate.
. . .
"Peer pressure's a hell of a thing," Nuriel muttered, sighing as he dropped his briefcase to the ground. He hoped everyone was too distracted to snatch it. Maybe Sayla would be kind enough to watch it or curse anyone who got funny ideas.
"Wait for me!" he called, jogging after Edward into the wreckage.