A soft bed was something that was welcome after spending time on the train. Owen had tried his best to simply not sleep but found his body had begun to succumb to the fatigue more easily since they left the dragon's space so hitting the bed of his inn room was quite a welcome feeling.

  Deep into a slumber his mind raced of training once more. Working day in and out for thousands of years would do that to a man and one lesson he focused on tonight was the night he finally understood what Alister was trying to teach him.

  Recalling the agony he put his body through for a simple burst of power. It was almost comical these days how easily he could do such a thing through both magic and alchemy. The dream continued to recall significant events with all of his newfound co-workers as one might call them.

  That, however, was cut short by a sharp pain rushing through his back that caused the veil of his dream to slip away and drag him back into the real world.

  Not only did the pain shoot into his back, but his body rose from his bed with such force he wound up hitting the ceiling of his room with an impact that shook the very foundation and threatened to collapse it atop him.

  Luckily the roof held, unluckily he was still in pain as something had desperately tried to pierce his heart given where the stinging pain had hit, with enough force that it intended to leave no room for error should he have been mortal. After a moment he found himself collapsing back to the floor as the assailant ceased this attempt.

  That being said, once he hit the bed, that flimsy piece of wood collapsed and if he was anyone other than an immortal, with all the jagged edges he would have most likely been dead twice over by this point, or at least contracted the world's largest splinter.

  Pulling himself from the wreckage of his bed he scoured the room in hopes of seeing his would-be murderer “Shadow magic?,” he asked aloud in hopes of provoking some form of response “Must be some form of a coward to attack a man in his sleep.”

  Though he had no response verbally, it would be hard to forget the sight of what he saw within the room with him. A shiver travelled down his spine as the wicked smile of a large creature sat within the shadows of the corner, a face of malice with the smile spreading into a toothy grin full of sharp fangs and yellow eyes that held their gaze upon him within the darkness.

  Even with his training he could hardly hold his composure staring at the being, especially as that dark face slowly rose from its position close to the ground… and continued to rise until it hung near the ceiling it had pierced him to.

  A long and slender clawed hand coated in fur left the confines of the shadows and pointed directly at Owen and before he had a moment to try to comprehend what the gesture meant, spikes rose from the dark ground and shot directly into his chest.

  The pain was intense and they were clearly aimed to kill as this was the second attack to aim for his heart. Some may say he was lucky to be immortal in these moments as once the shard contacted his skin at such high velocity it shattered, causing the creature to snarl and once again try to send another.

  To hopefully gain at least some insight into the situation Owen grabbed a piece of the broken bed frame and channelled that same spell he had learned with Aster, directly into his muscles so he could throw the wooden piece with enough force to break open the covers of the window.

  The moonlight flooded in and while he didn’t expect this to harm the creature it allowed him to get a proper visual on the frankly giant monster that even at this height had to hunch down to fit within the room. It was tall and spindly, flesh and bone coated in fur resembling that of a form of dark lycan if it had not been fed for months.

  The hunger in its eyes reflected in the intensity of its attacks, this time creating a circle of spears around Owen to pierce from all sides at once. Owen had read of creatures like these from Osmir’s tome’s during his training.

  A demon.

  It made no sense, but Owen had no time to think as his body moved to grab another splinter of the wood and toss it once more, this time at the creature. He had no hopes of killing it in a single blow, but he could banish it back to hell if only he could get close to it. However the spears constantly attacking him made it difficult to move from the spot he was in.

  The spears shot from the ground as the wood left his hand, sixteen to be precise spearing him through all sides and while they couldn't impact his skin it still sent a wave of agony through him as it felt like he was hit by several boulders at once that should have done more than enough damage to shatter his bones. Feeling like each splinter caused the bones they collided with to crack and bend in unnatural ways before they promptly fixed themselves back into position in a cacophony of agony consisting of bending and fixing.

  The creature caught the wood in the air and easily crushed it within its giant claw, opening its mouth to speak an ancient tongue slipped out in visceral grunts and growling that Owen could not make any sense of.

  Even through the light of the moon the shadows around it grew darker until that face sunk into the darkness and with one final snarl… vanished. Leaving behind only the smell of sulphur and ash in such quantities it attacked Owen's senses and caused him to cover his nose.

  The time to comprehend what just happened faded as the door was soon kicked open by Alister, sending the wood flying across the room and directly into the wall behind Owen. If he had been where the splinters of the bed where he would have been launched into the wall with the fragments of the door.

  “What is happening here!?” The large man exclaimed in a tone that implied he was here to help rather than cause more damage but what he considered help was dubious at best.

  Frost approached behind him with a tangible spark of lightning travelling between her fingers. It at least gave Owen some comfort knowing that his allies would be here within a few minutes should the problem have persisted.

  “I…” Was all Owen could stammer out as the staff rushed along behind them. The embarrassment took over as he had realised that the constant skewers from the demon had left his shirt shredded to pieces. Standing half naked in front of these people beside a completely destroyed bed.

  “What happened here, Owen?” Alister repeated. Stepping inside he looked around and seemed to sniff at the air.

  He finally managed to calm himself enough to say “Something attacked me in my sleep. A werewolf thing that came out of the shadows.” He motioned to the corner behind the remnants of the door where it was and continued his explanation “It was huge, at its full height it had to crouch to stay within the room” Which in itself was a statement given Alister didn’t reach the ceiling and he was nearly eight feet tall. A walking mountain of a man.

  He examined the corner for a moment and placed his hand down onto the floor. Seeming unsure of what he felt directed Frost “Fetch Swiss. She is the expert in spatial distortions”

  The commotion was loud from then on as the manager of the Inn came to speak with the group. Of course, furious that his room was destroyed. Owen listened in as he was given a blanket to cover himself with and he stood in the hall holding it wrapped around himself while waiting for Swiss.

  Alister held a finger up in front of the manager before he could even begin yelling and said “You know who we are. I will have a package sent to cover not only the cost of repairs but the cost of any business lost during the repairs.” Flashing a crest of Psychopomps to solidify that he would be good on this said package.

  That seemed to be enough to calm him down and prevent the shouting match before it started. “Fine, fine,” the manager responded seeing the sum that Alister had written down on the sheet handed to him. “Be sure the other guests are safe from whatever happened there.”

  Alister approached Owen once more and said “So, tell me in more detail what happened.”

  Owen recalled everything that he could from waking to being shot into the ceiling and the creature's spikes before vanishing. “It had to be a demon,” he ended the explanation with “It spoke in a guttural set of growls and grunts.”

  Swiss approached from the far end of the hall rubbing her eyes sleepily while Frost led her into the room. Alister waited for her expert opinion and it only took a few moments for the ratling to examine the corner and say “did you really need me to tell you a portal was made here?”

  “Any idea where to?” Alister asked.

  “It reeked of sulphur and ash. The only place I can think of like that would be the rotten lands, or hell as the locals call it.”

  “What in the world would a demon want with me?” Owen asked, just as shocked as anyone else to hear this news.

  “The only one who would know that would be you,” Alister responded. Placing a hand to his chin and furrowing his brow he hummed loudly. “Either way, this can be spoken about on the train when everyone is ready come morning.”

  With that Frost returned with a blanket and threw it to Owen “Floor must do until then.” She stated bluntly. It made sense, he couldn’t exactly sleep in the mess of wood that was left inside.

  “There's a chair in my room you can use,” Alister offered.

  It was a sleepless night after the events he went through, but he felt at least somewhat safer sharing a room with the muscle mountain. Even if his snoring could wake a sleeping elder beast.

  Shifting out of the Inn, the staff seemed less frustrated than Owen expected. It made the checkout process easier as each handed their keys back and then made their way out into town where they stopped by a few stalls along the way to pick up some local herbs for Owens work and surprisingly a few small cakes for Alister.

  “They are a favourite of mine.” The gruff man said, quite embarrassed at the looks Owen gave..

  Expecting the same experience with the second train they wound up taking their spot in the back carriage with a lot of the crates and boxes. While they could afford luxury, this train was going to the capital and was completely booked out.

  Entering the carriage they all took seats either atop cargo or on the floor and the discussion of the previous night began. “So, care to explain to us once more what happened?” Alister asked.

  Once again Owen repeated the story so Swiss and Osmir could be caught up with what he told the others last night. Swiss still seemed sour that she was woken from her slumber to investigate the portal as signalled by the half awake glare she had. Owen was sure that if not for the fur covering her face she would have had several bags under them.

  Osmir was the most attentive at this point, humming and thinking back to his notes he opened with a question “You mentioned these spikes aimed for your heart, correct?”

  Owen nodded and lifted his fresh black shirt to show the slight markings they had left from the night before. Each around his chest level “All twenty or so it shot off.”

  Osmir leaned against the boxes and stared off into space, tapping his foot before he stood up “This will take some further investigation. Swiss, if you would be so kind as to retrieve my books.”

  “What am I, your storage unit?” She asked, having formed a blanket to wrap around herself where she sat.

  “To put it in such unkind words, yes.” Osmir responded as he held out his hand “My tome on demons if you would be so kind.”

  She wasn’t impressed by the response but knew her duty. Placing her hand onto the runes again it sank inside and she rummaged around for some time before pulling out a metal bound book with an insignia of the arcane crest of the demon lord on it. A crest that Owen once thought was merely a fairytale to scare children out of speaking with strangers until he became older and learned demons were quite a common sight around the capital. Many folk were very willing to form contracts after all and the desperate were willing to pay a lot more.

  Leaning back against the wall he felt over where he had been assaulted. If not for some miniscule marks left by the forceful impact there would have been no evidence he was even assaulted. Leaving him to think about what a demon could possibly want with him.

  He should be dead right now.

  Frost seemed to be quite anxious during the trip. She shifted where she sat and paced from time to time before ultimately Alister stood when the train began moving and said “Osmir, continue your research. The rest of you, we are going to gather information on the kingdom. Speak with the workers, the passengers, anyone who will speak with you.”

  While Frost clearly thought that this would be a better use of her time than meditating, it was a hassle for Owen to pull himself out of his training. Getting into the mindset of entering others minds was a difficult process even after all of his training.

  Exiting the carriage, Owen watched the rest approach various workers and customers. Some even seemed to recognise members of the group. He had the bonus of not being recognisable so they may feel somewhat calmer around him, bar for the few who spoke to the immortals like they were meeting celebrities. Though on the other hand they could be more apprehensive to some random guy speaking to them.

  He passed Frost in the hall and overheard her asking a worker about how the engines worked. Seemingly enamoured by the concept of the magic powered engine. It was nice to see she had seemingly calmed down. Swiss was asking some children about what it was like living within the central kingdom and of course, Alister was more grilling his chosen victim rather than asking questions.

  He was an intimidating man and his choice of how to phrase himself was always awful. Owen took some comfort in knowing it wasn’t just how Alister spoke to him.

  He chose to approach a coach worker himself and hailed down the young elven man from his duties. “Hello,” Owen said tersely, hardly a hint of humanity left in his voice.

  The young man seemed slightly taken aback by the tone but he turned and nodded, raising his hand in a common greeting of the elves which involved spreading his thumb and pinky finger apart while keeping the rest joined, raising it high and lowering it with the palm facing Owen. “A pleasant day to you sir.”

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  “To you too,” Owen responded. Giving the young man a moment to place down the box he was carrying in his other arm. “I was curious about how the capital has been doing, if you have any insight. I have been away for quite some time.”

  The truth was he knew quite a lot about what was going on at the capital, but it was best for him to source his information from the locals and see what they thought of recent events. The young man seemed to think for a moment and asked “How long have you been gone?”

  “I would say almost five years by this point,” Owen responded. There wasn’t a chance anyone would recognise him as a student of the alchemists guild given he was as average as a loaf of bread.

  “Oh my, a lot has changed in five years I am afraid to say,” the man mentioned. Leaning back against a window he placed a hand on his chin and sought the words to describe such a momentous event in not only a compressed manor, but a civil one. The war had taken a lot from many, after all.

  When he finally found the words he began “Well, during the wars of the seven kingdoms something happened. A third party, so to say, suddenly arrived on the scene at the edge of Kiln to the north. Barbarians, they were called at first. Large men who could lift a locomotive who brandished simple weapons and a single ambition. To take control. Kiln fell first to the hand of the brutes as they were being pushed from Jenis at the same time they approached from the rear.”

  There had been plenty of rumours about the origins of this group, but that they originated from behind Kiln was still something that drew confusion from scholars and locals alike, given the mountains were some of the most dangerous areas on the continent.

  “From there,” The elf continued “The warpath continued until the barbarians controlled every village of the third kingdom, Rosemary. Uniting them under the rule of Raul. Now the ambition of the new king is to continue his expansion and seize control of all seven kingdoms under one rule. Currently rebuilding the third and expanding his way through the southern borders towards Clove.”

  “Thank you for the explanation,” Owen said once he finished, tapping his chin before he asked “How has Rosemary been faring?”

  “Rosemary has been mostly in a state of repair from the war,” he said after a moment's thought “While they simply walked in and took over, in a sense, the war was still a long and painful process for most.”

  “I see, thank you for your time,” Owen responded with a bow. Allowing the elf to return to his duties he searched through the carriages again.

  Alister approached him once he entered the next carriage and said “We are going to speak with the captain.” He paused as if giving Owen time to speak, but continued when he was about to “I want you to be with us when we do. When I give you the signal you are to enter and read his mind to discern his true intentions during the conversation.”

  “And that is okay?” Owen asked, cocking a brow and looking back to ensure the elf was out of earshot when they spoke of something so illegal. “I thought it was against the law to use that kind of magic.”

  Alister seemed less than enthused by that answer, crossing his arms and stating “And we are above the law if I deem it necessary. This is a case that is very necessary. We know very little of the king of these lands and we must ensure we are not walking into a trap.”

  It was hard for Owen to argue against his argument. If he was in the position of a newly appointed king and he heard a group of immortals were coming to his kingdom he would most likely set up some form of guards about to capture them.

  “We need this operation to run as smoothly as possible and we cannot rule out that the king has a hand in the disappearance of Death.” Alister explained once more. Taking a large hand he placed it onto Owens shoulder and said “This is the reason we had you trained. Now, the signal.”

  Moving his hand up he scratched his chin, though moving his hand so his finger pointed back at the wall behind him, moving his hand down to rub his neck slightly “When I do that during the conversation, read his mind and let me know what he planned to do.”

  “Alright.” Owen simply replied. Knowing better than to try to get into a long form conversation with who was essentially his boss as Alister was the shot caller from what he experienced.

  When walking with Alister it was easier to notice that the staff would give some odd looks towards the others. Those looks soon gravitated towards himself as he associated with them. It seemed there were various different reactions to the groups presence in peoples minds.

  They continued their walk through the carriages until they passed the dining hall. A familiar smell hit Owen as they entered. That of a busy kitchen that heavily relied on the local spices of Rosemary.

  Paprika and garlic were common and sometimes, in Owen's opinion, a tad bit overused. He understood his taste buds were not exactly the same as everyone else's but they could often overpower anything else in the dish.

  There was a single cafe that he remembered visiting quite often during his time in college that used the right amount of every spice so they blended perfectly together rather than fought to overpower each other.

  He was soon snapped out of his thought process by Swiss patting his back “Watch where you are going.” Motioning with her other hand to show that he had almost walked into a table ahead of them.

  “Sorry,” he mentioned and once they slipped past the dining cart the distractions slipped away. It took a moment more before they were only a carriage away from the engine room where Alister got the attention of the conductor by… politely knocking on the door. If by politely you meant physically assaulting it with a knock that Owen was surprised didn't knock the door off of its hinges.

  A pale older elven woman opened the door after a few moments of this assault and asked “Can I help you?” She wore a similar get up to the other elves on the train. Seeming to be the uniform of the company in a mostly purple suit with the symbol of the company embroidered on the chest and a hat that matched in colour with another symbol smack in the centre.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Alister responded as if he hadn’t almost broken the door. “I have come to ask a few questions.”

  She sized up the group with a few glances and responded “Well it is not like I could deny a request from a group such as yourselves. What can I help you with?”

  Owen hardly needed to read someone's mind to know that she was on edge. The sight of the group had caused her stance to change from casual to professional. Hard to tell if that was due to speaking with customers, or the group as she knew who they were.

  “We are travelling to the centre of the kingdoms and would like to know a bit more about the state of things since the end of the war in Rosemary. I imagine a conductor such as yourself has seen a lot of what was once the seven kingdoms.” Alister asked.

  “I have, I have,” She responded. Leaning on the doorway she was lost in thought for a few moments. Owen assumed this would have been a good time to read her thoughts, but he didn’t see the go ahead from Alister so he waited. “Well there is a lot of construction going on throughout the city as the new king has commanded damages to be repaired. Many family run stores have been given subsidies from the kingdom to help cover the costs lost during the war. Over all a lot of coin is being spent on the people.”

  A glowing review of the new king it seemed. Silence allowed her to continue “Though there are some who are not too happy with the change in ruling. Mostly groups of cutthroats and bandits throughout the cities are causing trouble.”

  “An odd proposition.” Alister finally responded. “With coin being spent on the common folk you would assume that the urchin and lower class would be quite complacent to resume their activities quietly.”

  The conductor nodded and leaned off of the door frame to walk outside and close the door to the engine room. “Personally, I would assume someone is paying for this effort. Someone else who is not so happy with the change in ruling.”

  “Are you suggesting someone is organising these terrorist attacks on purpose?” Alister asked with a raised brow, his large arms resting across his chest in the crossed position which gave him quite an imposing figure.

  “Just my personal theory is all,” she assured as if it were simply the ramblings of a dinner table discussion with family. “The king is very focused on making life easier for the common folk who lost a lot during the war and had nothing to do with it. That would imply the higher ups in society would feel their way of life's in danger.”

  Again Owen waited for the signal. Alister finally relaxed his pose while they waited for her to continue and now moved his hand up.

  Scratching at his chin while pointing and rubbing the back of his neck Owen quickly prepared himself for the next question, moving slightly behind Alister and Frost. Channelling his mana to ‘open the lock’ on his mind as Hugur taught him to.

  “How has working with the new king affected the company?” he asked once he relaxed his pose. The woman was unflinching so he continued “I am sure such a large scale change of operation can cause some complications.”

  “Very few policy changes have actively happened since the change of ruling other than the change on taxes to travel to the other major cities. As you can imagine the other six kingdoms are not very happy about the change in rulers.” She explained. The easiest way Owen had learned to connect to minds was to visualise his magic as a form of tendril. Slinking it along the floor like a snake and behind the woman where it would rise up, ready to pounce. Connecting to the back of her mind, which was the easiest place to enter, especially when someone was distracted. She was a strong person. She managed to resist showing the shiver that many felt when he attached to their minds. Her actions and words lined up, but one thing that didn’t was her mind. She was uncertain, anxious even.

  “Very well, that is enough for now.” Alister stated.

  She was washed over with a wave of relief when he relented with his questions but that wasn't the end of the conversation. A specific thought crossed her mind that caused red flags. “I just have to report them and it will be fine.”

  “Just one more question.” Owen interjected with, while the old version of him may have spent some time trying to sugarcoat how he went about this, there was no point wasting words. “You are planning to report us, care to explain to who or should we make this conversation far more uncomfortable?”

  The woman froze as her face twisted into one of pure terror, moving back towards the door of the front carriage. Alister stepped forward as she did and warned, “I would not do that if I were you. Let’s not make this any more violent than it needs to be.”

  She admitted defeat, not a chance she could push her way past them and she had already closed the door behind her so opening it from this side was hardly an option. Her face had already betrayed her ability to bluff her way out of it, as if it would have been even possible with someone who could read minds on their side.

  “It is a policy,” she said tersely. Tensing up, she was afraid, but not exactly for the company. Still tethered to her mind, she was worried for her family. Unsure of what would happen to her flow of income and if she could even support them given there was no doubt going to lead to an investigation if they got into the city without the king knowing. “We must report any group such as yourselves to the king if we notice you are on our trains. It is nothing personal,” she frantically explained with her back to the door.

  “Well I can assure you that we cannot let you do that,” Alister said as he pointed back to the engine room “Now get in there and get us into the city. I will be watching to make sure nothing shady happens.”

  “Please, if I do not report this I am not the only one affected. The entire crew will lose their jobs!” She tried to reason with the large man staring down at her.

  “Are we sure about this…?” Owen asked, having left her mind as he had already intruded enough.

  Swiss was quick to join his side and say “There are other ways to resolve this, Alister.”

  Alister, as gruff as always, let out a huff and said “If we stop and worry about every person along the way we will get nothing done.”

  Frost finally broke her silence on the situation to rebut Alister “And if we are to not care for said common folk, we may as well stop doing our job. Psychopomps cares for all.”

  “And how do you suggest we do that then?” Alister asked, his nostrils flaring as he was angry they spoke back against his plans along with his brow furrowing so hard they both might as well have combined.

  Where Owen stood on the problem was closer to Alister but he found it best not to chime in if it was enough to cause Frost to speak. The large woman walked forward and said to the woman “You will speak nothing of this and you will be safe.”

  “How can you be so sure?” She asked, her demeanour shifting as she was nervous about leaving the fate of her job and potentially families well being in the hands of someone she had only ever heard rumours and news stories about, even if they had the best intent.

  “You will say terrorists attacked the train and took control,” the large woman stated. Placing her large hand on the conductor's shoulder she said “I will drive. You rest.” She hardly gave the conductor time to react before moving her hand in one swift motion against her neck which caused her to collapse, catching her as she fell.

  “You know how to drive this thing?” Alister asked.

  “I know enough of the engine's inner workings.” Frost replied, looking to Swiss and Owen “Do bring her to a room and block it to look like she was forced in.”

  Pulling the door open, Alister followed and watched as he wanted to see if she could actually do it out of a morbid curiosity. “So tell me, how does this work then?” He asked as they approached the giant engine that sat at the front of the train.

  It was a gigantic mesh of steel and crystal. The body was tempered to handle heats of upwards of 482 degrees celsius comfortably with dials on the front to show how much pressure was building inside.

  Unlike other, steam powered trains, this engine had no door to feed in coal or other similarly combustible materials. There was a single small opening protected by a grate to see within the engine at eye level with two crystals protruding at waist level.

  “I spoke with the staff as a woman of curiosity,” she stated while approaching the front, placing her hands atop those gems and explaining “No coal. Simply fire magic.”

  “I guess you would be the woman for the job then, right?” Alister mocked her in as close to a joke as he could make.

  “I am a master of all elements,” she stated as a matter of fact. The simple explanation of the machine was that it relied on the conductor pumping fire magic within the machine to speed it up and then draining it when they wanted to slow down. “It is rather simple,” she stated as the train around them began to pick up speed at breakneck speeds which caused the two to stagger and Frost to let go of the crystals.

  Alister balanced himself by placing a hand against the wall when he stumbled and snarkily mentioned “Of course, you have this under control.”

  She brushed off his remark and steadied herself once more. Sometimes it was hard to remember one's own strength compared to others, so this time she placed her hands on the gems once more and released a light amount of magic that began to speed the train up once more. “Alister, get to the front and tell me what is ahead.” She commanded.

  “Right, just be careful this time.” He replied, pushing open a side door within the engine room so he could see outside.

  They were still on a train so it was moving far faster than anyone would be comfortable with standing outside… Or most people that was, Alister simply grabbing onto the side of the engine despite how hot it was, his grip so tight it caused indents to form around his fingers which allowed him to stay upright and shout back at her “A turn is coming!”

  In the halls of the train, panic would have begun to ensue as the passengers had noticed that the train was speeding up at an unnatural rate. The sudden jolt was more than enough to scare most before the speed increase.

  Barricading the room that they had left a few of the workers unconscious in, Swiss thought quickly and placed her hand into the runes once more. Pulling it free she held a ski mask out to Owen and placed one on herself “Best keep people from approaching the front of the train.”

  Owen stared at the mask with a mild disturbance before another jolt of speed caused him to grab it and quickly place it on. “Why the hell do you have ski masks in there?”

  “Never know when it would be useful,” she said.

  He had no time to respond to that before she moved into the hall and sood at the end of the second carriage, blocking the entrance for any would-be heroes attempting to prevent what was happening up front.

  Owen quickly moved behind her and thought about what he could do to help the situation, thinking on how to make a spectacle he leaned into Swiss and whispered for his ingredients and his portable station.

  Slipping to the side he put together a simple mixture for a harmless flash powder where he mixed about 70% KClO3 and 30% Aluminium powder. In the end needing to add a small amount of Sulphur but that would be before throwing it. Placing the mixture into a bottle he had in his left hand he kept a small amount of sulphur in his right before returning to the hall.

  As onlookers approached he shook the bottle, slipping the sulphur into the bottle which gave the explosive illusion of danger when he threw the glass over swiss and smashed it against the floor, causing a large flash to fill the entire carriage and worked as a deterrent to scare back the approaching crowd.

  Leaning out the side of the carriage Alister watched the behemoth of a train struggle to take the turn as Frost gave a tad bit too much speed. The wheels on the right side he was on slowly lifted from the track itself as the entire train itself leaned towards the right “Less power!” He screamed back at her.

  He had to think fast to get the train back on track and what came to mind was letting go of the furnace as she shouted “I am giving as little as I can!” A problem neither thought about that their minimum mana output was far higher than most peoples maximum.

  He grabbed the guard rail at the edge of the small platform outside and threw himself over. Prepared for the impact he landed his feet against the ground that was rapidly slipping away under them and began to crack the ground while sliding along.

  He shouted out in pain as his shoes easily disintegrated away at the friction of sliding along so violently but he used the brief moment to use as much of his strength as he could muster. His muscles swelling up from the enhancement he yelled loudly and pulled downward, all within a matter of seconds which caused the train to quickly tilt back and land its wheels back onto the track. It wobbled slightly as the wheels left the other side from the sheer force but after a moment's momentum it landed back down on the opposite side and began to stabilise itself.

  Frost let go of the engine to rush over and grab his arm, pulling him back inside the carriage before she took to the controls once more. Alister shuddered in pain as Osmir rushed over to channel mana into his legs. While the man was immortal, Osmir could speed up the healing process. His magic caused the now stumps to begin regrowing the skin that was lost and come back together.

  “I hate doing it that way…” Alister grumbled, tossing the scraps of leather that were once his shoes aside. “You owe me at least two kegs for that one…”

  “We shall call even from the Kiln incident.” She responded with what one could assume was a smile from behind her shadowy face.

  “I’ll accept that one…” He responded, leaning back against the wall to recover.