"Oh. I see."

That was a lie, of course. A white lie, or more of an untruth. Harmless, yes; dishonest just the same. Sasha's response had left Toni only a little less perplexed, and bounds more intruiged. Maybe Sasha had a gift for using normal weapons against the Rue. Maybe she wouldn't even need a weapon. It was an interesting the thought. Next to that, the gun at her own hip felt like dead weight if angry Rue were all that awaited them on the way. Can't be too careful though. She wondered how well her own way of dispatching Rue would fare when the time came. It worried her to an extent, but that worry was now tempered by knowing that a companion could work off her.

Learning about how others could interact with Rue would be an adventure all its own.

The train jerked forward without much warning as it started down the tracks. Toni stumbled off balance and dropped gracelessly into the nearest seat. Other than the rough take off, the ride felt smooth to begin with. Even the prying sensation of the Rue floating about washed away as the station blurred and faded from the window.

As she settled in, her attention turned once more to Yiya. The woman, almost clairvoyently, proceeded to address the very questions that Toni had begun ruminating on back at the station. The plant, the Trailing Bird, was somehow important to the Rue sustaining themselves. Naturally, then, for Yiya to have killed it where it had been would have done nothing to help her village. Though this raised other questions for Toni, the new ones were less of confusion than of curiosity.

Even absent those answers, the job was clearer than before. They, the Howls, weren't just protecting Yiya from what she couldn't perceive or combat; they were protecting Echoh and, most of all, the Trailing Bird.

It was a conclusion Toni hung on until Yiya began speaking again. This time questions of her own... to know what the Howl's she had recruited could do.

I... I could feel it... if that makes any sense. Toni blushed a bit as she explained. I mean I can see them, but only vaguely,; they're like blurrs or clouds of smoke that are almost shaped like something. But it's the feeling that I get from them. She paused, staring out the window as if she expected to find something amid the glowing fireflies in the tunnel. Not looking away from the window, she continued. "Most of the time it's just a prickle through my skin. Hairs sticking up. Other times it feels more pleasant, like drifting on a cloud... but then... sometimes it feels heavy. Like a burden. L-like something is pressing against me. That's... that's when I'n sure they mean harm.

She turned her head back towards Yiya and the others, pulling a wet sleeve off of her eyes.

Listening to Yiya again, Sasha wasn’t sure what to think. The plant that she had taken and was transporting was sacred to the Rue in some way; it would kill them, should it die while they were near it, but it also had an effect that made them want to be close to it? As someone who had only ever thought of the shadows and… well, she didn’t know what to think of them as; this was something of a revelation.

They were just something to watch out for in the forest while on a hunt. Something that would occasionally wander close to her, watching from between the trees but often not coming close; and if one did come too close, she would point her revolver at them and they would flee. If anything, they were akin to animals, like wolves or… no, not even like wolves. Were they even predators? Sometimes they seemed skittish, like deer. Other times they were curious, as if they didn’t know what to make of her, like a rabbit or… like a child? The ones she needed to scare away were rare and those she could probably liken to wolves, but not the others.

In other words, there were different types.

What type had the one on the track been?

“It…” A line appeared between Sasha’s brows as she pulled them down in a frown. It felt unfair to be questioned like this, like they… like she had done something wrong. “It was in front of the train… like it was trying to stop it.” That seems silly, now that she knew the train was warded against them. But then, wasn’t the station supposed to keep out Rue entirely? Would it have been able to stop the train? What could a Rue even do to a person, if it got close? She’d never found out. She’d never asked. “You said they would be coming after you, because of the plant.”

Sasha bowed her head then, unable to articulate anymore why firing her father’s gun at the Rue had seemed like a good idea at the time. Maybe it wasn’t necessary. Maybe it had done more harm than good. Who could tell?

“Most of the time, they just run from me… the gun. I shot one… once. They… the ones in the forest… don’t get close… after that.”

Putting on a brave face, Neomi answered bluntly. “I am not too sure. I can kind of manipulate air with my hands. It doesn’t do much, to be honest, but look cool…” Neomi felt a little lame admitting this. She hoped she wouldn’t be sent back home for being too inexperienced, but skirting the truth never suited her. “…I guess I need some practice, or guidance.”

I... I could feel it... if that makes any sense. Toni blushed a bit as she explained. I mean I can see them, but only vaguely,; they're like blurrs or clouds of smoke that are almost shaped like something. But it's the feeling that I get from them. She paused, staring out the window as if she expected to find something amid the glowing fireflies in the tunnel. Not looking away from the window, she continued. "Most of the time it's just a prickle through my skin. Hairs sticking up. Other times it feels more pleasant, like drifting on a cloud... but then... sometimes it feels heavy. Like a burden. L-like something is pressing against me. That's... that's when I'n sure they mean harm.

“It…” A line appeared between Sasha’s brows as she pulled them down in a frown. It felt unfair to be questioned like this, like they… like she had done something wrong. “It was in front of the train… like it was trying to stop it.” That seems silly, now that she knew the train was warded against them. But then, wasn’t the station supposed to keep out Rue entirely? Would it have been able to stop the train? What could a Rue even do to a person, if it got close? She’d never found out. She’d never asked. “You said they would be coming after you, because of the plant.”
“Most of the time, they just run from me… the gun. I shot one… once. They… the ones in the forest… don’t get close… after that.”

The tracks rumbled beneath them, and the car jostled gently back and forth at a consistent but respectfully moderate speed through the gleaming natural caverns. Yiya kept her knobby hands folded over the top of the cane while she wavered to and fro with the sway of the car. Her eyes remained sharp on each Howl in turn as they spoke.

Echoh, meanwhile, drooped dejectedly at the rejection of its fragrant tea and proceeded to put the cups and saucers back into the invisible storage underneath the vibrant terrarium. The robot scuttled deeper into a corner and sat in silence.

"Neomi." Yiya squinted thoughtfully, her chin raised. "What you've got is the breath of the Rue. If you can mess with the air no matter where you are in that protected city, you might be a most powerful Howl." She tapped her cane on the floor and looked at each of them. "What all of you are seeing and manipulating is another plane of existence. A dimension that overlaps ours. At some points the barrier between us is thinner: there the Rue can more easily manipulate our world, but our Howls can in turn manipulate theirs. You could say that to the Rue, you Howls are the strange shadowy visions." She smiled creakily.

"Now, Neomi. In a few minutes we'll be passing through the Gold Cathedral, where there's a wide hole into the Rue's plane: there's nothing like it in Oaken. Even all these wards on the train won't stop you from feeling the wind that blows in their skies. If you relax yourself, let yourself feel that other place, you might catch a little more of that air and pull it into our plane."

Yiya's sharp eyes fell on Toni. "Young Toni. You're a poet, I see. And you've experienced a kind of weight that I hope you never experience again." There was the faintest of sad smiles in her lined face. "You've made some important observations, and I see now something in you. Have you heard the theory of auras and empaths? That our emotions radiate from us and touch the world around us, even if we outwardly appear as if everything is right? You're feeling the auras of the Rue. Each one of them is a different personality: like dogs and cats, like squirrels, like people. And each of them has a different disposition. When we get close to that cathedral, see if you can pick out how many Rue are around us, and maybe their intentions. I wonder if they can read you in turn -- and if that's so, whether you can decide what their sensation of you will be." She squinted thoughtfully, appraising Toni's face.

"And Sasha." Yiya sat up straighter and stomped her cane twice for attention. The red lights in the traincar flickered. "Yes, I believe a Rue would try to stop that train. Stop the Trailing Bird from leaving. It might have gummed the engine or given the engineer a stomachache, or worse, if you hadn't scattered it with your weapon. That is an interesting thing. The barrel's clearly empty, we all heard it click, but the kickback and the danger to the Rue's plane is very real." Yiya tapped a finger on the cane, considering the possibilities. "Let's conduct an experiment. You're obviously manifesting a bullet of some kind in the Rue's plane. The rifle in your hands and the familiarity of the weapon make that expectation a reality. Try focusing harder on making that bullet real. Imagine what it looks like, how cold it is, how heavy. Imagine the chemical reaction that sets it firing off. Imagine how much damage it'll do. But I do wonder. What else might you be able to conjure?"

The train wheels screeched and the rails took a sharp turn, listing the traincar to the side while the red lights shivered. A stalagmite whipped past very close to the window, then the lights went out. Darkness pressed close like velvet over their eyes, but moments later the windows brightened with brilliant golden light from outside the car.

Shards of sunlight poked through the ceiling and reflected blindingly in the polished white stone of the vast cavern. Ripples of shimmering gold spidered up the bulbous walls and crackled through the white marbled floor and gathered at the tips of stalactites, giving the cavernous room the regality of a ridiculously rich cathedral.

The Howls would feel as if, on the other side of the dark corridor, they were in a different space, far bigger than the sheltered traincar. Neomi might feel a gentle breeze on her cheek, maybe the faintest smell of an unfamiliar flower and something distant burning. Toni might feel, all at once, a prickling at her back, a pull on her left pinky finger, a feather-light brush on her face, the hairs on her right arm standing up, and a pressure in her stomach as if someone were trying to push her into the seat.

A sharp noise over Yiya's head-- BANG! --made the old woman jump, and she looked up just as a skittering noise clattered along the outside of the moving traincar. Even she could hear it.

Outside the windows, in the gleaming stone and sunlight, a dozen nebulous and flickering shapes-- some bright and flitting, others shadowy smoke, still others like sinewy ribbons that danced overhead --raced with grave intention toward the train.

The train's wheels ker-KLUNKED and the traincar veered violently as it hit something on the tracks, but somehow remained on course. The next time might not be so lucky.

"It seems," Yiya called out over the rumble of the train as it sped up with a rumble and roar, her thin hands clutched on the back of her seat, "the Rue would very much like us to stop."

Toni turned quickly back to the window as Sasha began speaking. The still damp part of her sleeve streaked down the sides of her face, collecting more droplets before she set her arm upon her lap. She lost herself for a moment, peering through the glass into the cavernous tunnel way outside. For fleeting second she might have sworn to have seen whirling shadows forming, and taken a soft rapping against the side of her arm nearer the window. But when she turned back to speak of the feeling, she allowed herself to stay silent; she absorbed Sasha's words as she caught the tail end of what she was saying. If one Rue getting shot in the forest kept the others away... then maybe...

The cranking mechanisms of Echoh stole her attention. She didn't mind though; the thought that had been cut off wasn't one she cared to hold onto. She watched as the robot scuttled to the corner of the train car and slumped down. A sense of perplexity set in. She couldn't recall ever encountering a machine with so much personality. Keeping her eyes towards Echoh, Toni found her balance and walked to the corner, the conversation still registering behind her. Unsure of how to speak to a robot, she began to gesture like she was drinking a cup of tea.

But hearing her name from Yiya's voice made her turn on the spot.

Without a hint of a moment from coming around, Toni's eyes locked with Yiya's. A tenderness and familiarity seemed to fill the space between them. In sensation like a wave rolling onto the shore, Toni felt herself looking into a mirror and realized that her eyes still had puddles building beneath them. Maintaining eye contact with Yiya, Toni lowered into a seat near Echoh. Revelations began crashing upon her with an almost tidal force.

That the senses she caught from the Rue were their own emotions... that each one was entirely it's own, complex consciousness... that the emotions and energy she put out into the aether played a role in how the Rue behaved around her...

These ideas had only grazed her thoughts before. Now they were cutting deep into her mind. If the Gold Cathedral was as wide a portal into the plane of the Rue, she wasn't sure she could control her feelings well enough to keep them docile. And if they were, in fact, the complicated, individual beings that Yiya claimed them to be... Toni looked around the train car, first eyeing Sasha and the gun she had fired at the Rue on the tracks. Then she glanced back at Echoh, and the Trailing Bird housed in the terrarium. Is killing them even right?

She slid lower into her seat and pondered on the thought for a while.

Before much time had elapsed, the train passed into what felt like a completely different realm. The train whipped around a corner. The cool, dark colors from the cavern earlier gave way to a brilliant warmth of light. Shreds of the sun's rays pierced through the earth over their heads. The rocky spires upon the marble floor collected the rays and glowed like the lamplights back in Oaken City, even more so. It was little like Toni might have imagined the Gold Cathedral to be; in a way it was more brilliant.

Toni pried out of her seat to inch closer to the window...

The feeling set in... rather, the feelings. Pushing. Pulling. A split second of an easy caress. An experience of simultaneously bursting from the inside and being crushed from the out. How would she do what Yiya instructed with so much colliding with her from so many angles?

"Woah!" Toni cried out as the train joltted up and off of the tracks and landed miraculously back into place. She looked out the window and gasped at the sight of dozens of shapeless dark clouds flying by the train. She took firm hold on the seat in front of her. "We've got to do something!" She called out to the others. "Stop the train? Is that safe, Yiya?"

Neomi listened attentively. Everyone had different powers. She had many questions running through her head, but she kept quiet, as others made their own turns to talk. Instead, she quietly sat down, shifting her backpack into her lap, and tried to heed the advice of Yiya.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. This was the first time she had ever been on a train, and relaxing was not something she felt she could do, especially after seeing the Rue. Although, the motions of the train had a nice lull.

I can do this. Neomi said to herself. She took in a deep breath, but before she could exhale, the train jerked.

"What was that?" Neomi asked. Her eyes were wide open, now. She was anything but relaxed.

I totally spoke too soon. Figures.

Her hands clutched her backpack as the train continued to make jerking motions. Her body rocked with the movements as she tried not to lose her balance while sitting of all things. As Neomi attempted to regain her composure, she noticed the dark shadows looming outside the window of the train. Her mouth fell open.

"Or maybe we should just keep going?" Her eyes shifted from person to person. Maybe she was being a coward, but at the same time, she kind of felt like running from the fight, "Like, we're super outnumbered, and to be honest, I would like to think Sasha's gun could stop them all, but there's basically an army out there. They also don't seem very reasonable, as much as a Rue-empath as you are..." Her eyes shifted downwards, "And, I'm pretty useless...at the moment." She looked over at the tall, gangly guy, resisting the urge to say anything negative about him, as well.

Her body jerked again with the movements of the train, again, and she hugged her backpack tightly. Having all of her belongings scattered all over the place would surely only make things worse. In the meantime, she was going to wait for Yiya's instructions.

The feeling set in... rather, the feelings. Pushing. Pulling. A split second of an easy caress. An experience of simultaneously bursting from the inside and being crushed from the out. How would she do what Yiya instructed with so much colliding with her from so many angles?

"Woah!" Toni cried out as the train joltted up and off of the tracks and landed miraculously back into place. She looked out the window and gasped at the sight of dozens of shapeless dark clouds flying by the train. She took firm hold on the seat in front of her. "We've got to do something!" She called out to the others. "Stop the train? Is that safe, Yiya?"

"Or maybe we should just keep going?" Her eyes shifted from person to person. Maybe she was being a coward, but at the same time, she kind of felt like running from the fight, "Like, we're super outnumbered, and to be honest, I would like to think Sasha's gun could stop them all, but there's basically an army out there. They also don't seem very reasonable, as much as a Rue-empath as you are..." Her eyes shifted downwards, "And, I'm pretty useless...at the moment."

The train screeched and hurtled along the tracks, blurring their sparkling surroundings. Red lights flickered and deadened inside the traincar, and all they could see outside the windows was light and moving shadows.

"Brace yourselves," Yiya called, gripping her chair. Echoh-- which had just been pouring another hopeful cup of tea for Toni --dropped the porcelain saucer with a clatter and spidered its legs across the aisle just as a thunderous explosion ripped through the air far ahead and another catastrophic CRASH rattled in their skulls. The traincar lurched violently while bright sparks flew in cascades across the windows.

A blackened hunk of metal loomed close to Neomi's window and stopped just shy of ramming into the side of the car. It was the train's engine, mangled almost beyond recognition. Blood dripped from the engineer's seat.

Everything fell very still.

Yiya wobbled on her cane and shoved herself to her feet. She looked out the windows at the bright light and the glistening gold and the hordes of shadows shuffling closer. Then she examined Echoh and the Trailing Bird, still safe and vibrant inside its terrarium. Then Neomi and Toni, both of whom she watched with narrowed eyes.

"It's too late to make a decision, so it's been made for us."

The door at the end of the traincar slammed. Then slammed again, like a sledgehammer.

Yiya bowed her head. "It was a pleasure knowing you all."

The door cracked away from its hinges and exploded inward; splinters of sharp wood flew across the seats, driven by a whirling howling wind that smelled like poppies and seafoam.

A shadow blocked the light in the doorway. It was lanky, draped in a rendering of translucent cloth, its head a spin of flickering gold bands that occasionally flashed sharp teeth.

Toni would feel it like a weight on her chest: the dense confidence of authority, a sharp cut of superior existence entirely void of fear.

The Rue ducked to fit through the door and rose to its full height, spinning and glitching and billowing in the gusts of wind that roared through the traincar.

Yiya looked straight through it. She couldn't see it at all, but she knew something was there. "Echoh!" she roared over her shoulder while the Rue stepped closer. "Run! Toni, Neomi, protect--!"

The Rue snatched out a long hand and caught Yiya's head in its grip. Sharp talons pressed into the old woman's throat.

Echoh threw open the opposite door and scrambled hurriedly across the gap to the next traincar, struggling to fit the terrarium through.

Outside, the shadows pressed close.

Toni dug her grip more tightly into the seat. Neomi had a point, she knew; if they did stop, assuming they could, they might not last long against so many Rue with so much aggression pressing against the train.

The train rocked violently again. Sparks flew off the tracks, illuminating the gathering darkness of the surrounding Rue. Toni's chest felt ready to explode, and might have when the train's engine was ripped out and flung out along the tracks.

The train came to a hard, grinding stop. Reasserting herself in the wake, she looked to Neomi, who seemed to be the only one other than Yiya that took the harsh stop well enough to get back up. "Are you ok?" she asked, rising up from the seat.

“I…” Neomi took several breaths before looking up at Toni. Her arms were still tightly hugging her backpack. She swallowed before continuing, “I think so. What about you?” Her eyes glanced from Toni to the others. She felt a strong sense of horror. This was not what she was expecting.

Shaking herself off, more so of her remaining nerves than dust, Toni offered Neomi a hand up. "I should be--." A burning feeling began building in her forehead, like having her face held close to a fire. "I'll be fine. Come on; we're better off being on out feet."

Neomi drew in another deep breath and took Toni’s hand. “You’re right… Thanks…—,” Right before she could finish saying anything, Yiya got to her feet and made a bow, along with some sort of goodbye. What?

Just then, a Rue smashed through the train’s doorway, and Neomi screamed. She held her backpack to her face as a feeble attempt to protect herself from the flying wood shards.

“Toni, run! Neomi, protect…”

The Rue’s sharp claws reached out and grabbed Yiya’s head, pressing them into her neck.

Peeking out from behind her backpack, Neomi gasped, again. She couldn’t catch her breath. It was not a time to second guess her decision. However, the thought was insistently trying to bombard her. She wanted to help Yiya, and the thought wasn’t helping.

She was too weak to do anything but run. It made her feel like a coward. She closed her eyes and forced herself to move. “Come on, Toni!”

A heavy horror had filled Toni's heart; the tingling heat in her head seared in a flash of pain that was there and gone in a single instance. When it left all she could see was the mass of shadow encroaching around Yiya. Toni turned to Neomi with a wide gaze. "But Yiya… We can't leave her; we'll be lost without her."

Neomi looked pleadingly at the other girl and began to run. Her feet felt like lead, but somehow, they still moved quickly after Echoh into the next train car. She didn’t want to dare watch as Toni tried to save Yiya and kept her eyes on the moving terrarium — just as instructed.

Neomi turned to follow Echoh; Toni watched as she disappeared into the next car. She was still scared, but tried to steel herself enough to calm down. Slowly, Toni stepped over debris and through a shallow pool of the train driver's blood. She took a smooth, deep breath. "Let her go," she spoke, mostly in stern tone, as though ordering the Rue like a misbehaving child.

Sasha had frozen, the first time she came face to face with a predator.

It was a wolf. A large thing, with mottled black and white fur and yellow eyes, its coat thick to deal with the bracing winter air that caused her breath to steam in front of her face and her cheeks to turn red. It had seen her before she had seen it; she knew because when she finally caught sight of it in the corner of her vision and turned her head it was already looking at her. Their eyes met and Sasha’s only response was to freeze. She knew what she needed to do, her father had taught her before ever agreeing to take her into the forest with him, but in that moment the knowledge escaped her; chased around the inside of her head by every other thought that was suddenly racing around frantically.

The only thought that came to her with clarity was that this was a predator and she was prey. She knew that she could not move, not until it did, by which point it would be far too late to save herself. In hindsight, she could now recognise that the wolf was unlikely to try and attack her in that situation and in every encounter since then she had been able to handle herself much more competently. But at the time, the spell was only broken between the two of them when her father had fired his rifle into the air to startle them both out of their staring contest; the wolf dashed away into the trees and Sasha had all but leapt out of her skin.

Afterwards, Sasha had asked her father why he had fired into the air instead of shooting the wolf. It was dangerous; both to them and to the other hunters, so why not kill it?

“Wolves aren’t monsters.” He had told her. “There’s no such thing as monsters in the forest; just animals and hunters. A wolf is both of those things, but they’re nothing to be afraid of if you keep your wits about you.”

Sasha had never frozen again after that. Not even when she found out her father was wrong; there were monsters in the forest and they had likely taken him from her. Even when she encountered a Rue for the first time, something like an animal and maybe like a hunter but being neither of those things at all, she had been able to deal with it calmly. Even on the one occasion she had fired her father’s revolver she was calm; her actions driven by a strange kind of instinct that what she was doing would work.

There was nothing for a hunter to be afraid of if they kept their wits about them.

Sasha’s wits were very much not about her right now.

The shadow that walked into the carriage now, ducking its head to fit under the door lintel, was larger than any she had ever seen; but of more importance than that, it emanated a sense of threat greater than anything she had felt before that sent her thoughts scattering to the wind.

Sasha had likened Rue to animals many times in the past; the skittish ones like deer, the curious ones like rabbits and the ones that stalked and hunted like wolves. This was like none of those; it was greater than all of those. Not just bigger, not just… she didn’t have a description for it, it was just more and a part of her, the part that was a hunter who walked the forests and knew how to navigate its dangers was instinctively afraid of it.

It reached forward suddenly, not even needing to take another step for its long arm to be able to reach and grab Yiya’s head in one oversized claw. The sight of it snapped Sasha out of her daze like a gunshot and she raised her father’s revolver in shaking, trembling hands and pointed it at the Rue. Her finger hesitated on the trigger, a sinking feeling in her stomach telling her that her weapon wouldn’t stop this thing. Wouldn’t kill it. Instead she turned away from its torso and pointed the gun at its elbow instead, aiming at the inside bend of its outstretched limb and firing a shot into it.

Waking with a sudden jar, Sadie's face slammed against the seat in front of her. She hissed out in pain before her eyes slowly opened. The young woman had fallen asleep on the train and was now regretting that decision. She knew this was the train she needed to take from the flier, but she had come early and snuck into the back. While she did want to help, she didn't necessarily trust anything that was going to happen with this mystery group she was to join. So, she decided to sneak onto the train and study the group while they were on their way.

Which would have worked, if she hadn't passed out. And now? Now the train had crashed and she was going to have a black eye. With a groan, she ran her hand down her face and slowly rose to her feet. For a moment she didn't hear anything, then a sudden hissing filled her senses. She recognized that sound; a Rue was nearby. No, not a Rue. There were several. And there was only one instance in where she could hear them- somebody was dead or dying. The breath rushed out of her at that thought. What had happened to their group?

She made sure her backpack was still secure over her shoulders before Sadie started the walk towards the front of the train. The back didn't take much damage during the collision, so she was able to walk fairly easily towards the main cabin. Her eyes peered out the windows as she went. She couldn't see the shadows that floated so near the glass, almost egging her on. But, she could absolutely hear them. Her chest heaved as she tried to lower the panic that was threatening to overtake her. She gripped onto the straps of her bag as she continued walking. If there was somebody injured, it was her job to try to help them. That's the whole reason she joined this mission.

It was a few more moments of walking before she heard voices and a sudden gunshot. Her stomach sank before she hurried forward. Sadie wasn't one hundred percent sure why she was running towards the violence, but something told her she was needed. She rushed ahead and stopped when she saw a group of people, one holding a revolver towards something Sadie couldn't see. Gulping, she looked around and raised a brow. "The hell is going on around here?!"

Neomi looked pleadingly at the other girl and began to run. Her feet felt like lead, but somehow, they still moved quickly after Echoh into the next train car. She didn’t want to dare watch as Toni tried to save Yiya and kept her eyes on the moving terrarium — just as instructed.

Echoh crashed through the door to the next traincar, leaving a mangled mass of metal and splintered wood for Neomi to navigate in its wake. The terrarium jostled violently while Echoh's sharp legs scrambled over seats and clattered in the aisle, flickering with the broken red lights that crackled overhead. With every flash of light, more shadows loomed outside the windows, their eyes like hollow caverns.

A crash of glass shattered across the seats far ahead, and the terrarium skidded to a clamoring stop while a billowing gust of sweet-smelling wind roared through the traincar.

Something dark sailed neatly through the jagged remains of the window and landed with a taptaptap on the glass of the terrarium. It was a child-sized four-legged thing that drifted in and out of Neomi's sight, its four long wings striking out and in again. There was a shrieking sound of claws on glass and the robot shook and danced to try to shake it off.

Echoh reached underneath-- and Neomi could now see the trap door on the underside of the robot --pulled out the steaming hot teapot and tossed it at the creature, but the Rue was unaffected and the gusting wind threw scalding tea throughout the traincar.

Slowly, Toni stepped over debris and through a shallow pool of the train driver's blood. She took a smooth, deep breath. "Let her go," she spoke, mostly in stern tone, as though ordering the Rue like a misbehaving child.

Back in the first car, the silken Rue with a head of spinning gold lifted Yiya by her throat with long sharp fingers. Blood had begun to soak the old woman's saree. But at the stern command the gold bands of the creature's head spun to focus on Toni, its jaws sharp and grinning.

The Rue lifted Yiya so that her feet thunked against the top of the seats while the Rue slipped forward along the aisle toward Toni. Toni could feel it, blistering cold, gooseflesh down her arms and prickling the back of her neck, like frozen metal in an ice storm.

Her finger hesitated on the trigger, a sinking feeling in her stomach telling her that her weapon wouldn’t stop this thing. Wouldn’t kill it. Instead she turned away from its torso and pointed the gun at its elbow instead, aiming at the inside bend of its outstretched limb and firing a shot into it.

BANG!

The shot rang out through the train and echoed in the shining chamber beyond the windows, where the shadows and apparitions flinched with the thunderous noise. The arm that held Yiya shattered with the impact, the gold-banded Rue collapsed backward and dissipated into the air (only Sadie would hear its unearthly, soul-wrenched scream like a thousand nails on a chalkboard) and Yiya crumpled against the back of a chair and rolled into the seat, unmoving, with a few limbs bent in ways they should not bend. She was breathing, but would not wake.

She rushed ahead and stopped when she saw a group of people, one holding a revolver towards something Sadie couldn't see. Gulping, she looked around and raised a brow. "The hell is going on around here?!"

A thousand hollow eyes stared in through the windows. Beyond the shivering gray shapes, the Golden Cathedral sparkled like the halls of a mansion, glittering with a mockery of bright gold and marble in the shape of stalactites and dripping cavern walls striped with precious metal. The light outside was beckoning, like a flame to moths.

They might hear the scuffle and crash of Echoh and Neomi in the next car.

Sadie alone would hear a hissing, almost electronic voice like steel through a spinning fan, that came from everywhere and nowhere: give it back

Sasha and Toni would see the mist of silky vestments, then the rise of the reappearing spin of golden bands and sharp teeth emerging out of the air behind Sadie's back. Its left arm was gone, but, as she felt a thread of tickling cold in her chest, it leaned close behind Sadie's ear, with the same chopped hissing voice that only she would hear: tell them to leave ... or we stop your heart

Shattering glass splintered through the air. Noemi covered her face momentarily, feeling slight wisps chip against her skin. She couldn’t remember if she screamed or not. Her mind was racing too quickly. Every thought that flickered through her mind had turned into a blaze of incomprehensible emotions.

For a brief second, she had dared to turn back around and help Toni and the others. Had she abandoned them or was she obeying Yiya? But, then there was the startling creature — a Rue — attacking Echoh. In the background, more Rue, with their twisted smiles and fluttering eyes masked their surroundings. Was this really a job for inexperienced Howls?

And just like that, the thoughts, again, bitterly disintegrated.

“Echoh!” She called out as the terrarium threw a tea cup at the Rue. The gesture was unsuccessful, and Neomi had to think quickly.

She slung her backpack around an arm and took in a deep breath. There wasn’t much time to concentrate or make things perfect. It was do or die.

Her feet took several steps forward towards Echoh and the Rue. She stretched out her open hand and swirled it in front of her. Threads of air began to gather as she made the motion, and with one final gesture, Neomi released the tendril as a small burst of violent wind. Never before had she used her manipulation of air to cause harm nor done so with much force.

However, there was very little thought on the matter.

She couldn't see anything around her, but oh did she hear them. She didn't know what to do with all the hissing and moans, but knew for a fact somebody was dying or already dead near them. Sadie just couldn't figure out who it was. She was about to take another step when she heard a Rue directly in her ear, commanding her to give it back. A shiver ran up her spine as her brows furrowed in confusion. Give what back, exactly? What had happened? What had been taken from the Rue that they obviously wanted back so dearly?

Sadie was about to ask for more information before the next comment came through. Her body tensed and her blood ran cold. Gulping, she clenched her jaw and looked at the people around her. She didn't know these people, but they were obviously here because of the ad, just as she was. But now the Rue wanted them gone. And they were threatening her life if they didn't get it.

"Um..." She hesitated and took a shaky breath. Sadie wasn't good at talking with the Rue. It scared the hell out of her that she could hear them, but not see them. She tried again. "What-who do you want to leave? What do they have of yours?"

The arm, to Sasha’s wide-eyed surprise, shattered from the shot. The limb separated from its body, breaking apart at the elbow more than a person’s arm would when subjected to a mundane bullet; whatever effect it was her revolver had on the shadows, thinking of her strange power in terms of normal firearms was probably a mistake. The Rue fell back in silent agony and dissipated, Yiya dropping to the floor in a tangle heap now that the thing holding it up was gone. The old woman fell into a seat, unmoving and with her limbs bent into uncomfortable and worrying shapes.

She was hurt.

Sasha hurried to her side, revolver lowered but still clutched in a white-knuckle grip as her other hand hovered a few inches over Yiya’s body; wanting to help, to make sure she was okay, but having no idea how to do so. For a moment, she was worried that the old woman was dead, that her hesitation in not shooting the large, terrifying Rue immediately had meant she was too late, but then she saw the slow rise and fall of her chest; the signs of life, weak as they were.

Movement in the corner of her eye dragged her attention away from the woman and back down the train car. Someone else was here, a newcomer who she hadn’t seen on the platform, and behind her rose the same golden-tinged shadow; wounded, missing an arm, but still enough to make her breathe catch at the sight of it. The revolver rose, pointed now at the shadow’s face, but she couldn’t fire, not with the newcomer standing where she was, in the line of fire. If it attacked, she would fire immediately and risk the miss, but not yet.

But the Rue didn’t attack; it just stood there silently in the eerie way that Rue always did, movements that should have produced some kind of sound producing none at all. A facet of their limited existence in this world, or just of Sasha’s limited ability to perceive them. The newcomer spoke but the words were confusing at first, they made no sense on their own. “Who are you… it is… speaking to you?”

@Sadie @Mokley @King Cosmos



Toni glared at what form of the massive Rue she could see. It stared back at her; she could feel that much. The Rue wasn't going to listen to her, least of all given the tone she had taken with it. The force of its will squeezed and pressed in, so much so that Toni grew numb to the whirling sensations from outside of the train. To her, the whole world might have been compressed into the car, and it was growing smaller, tighter. For the lapse of seconds the feeling held, her sense of the Rue was accompanied by a wave claustrophobia. If she couldn't pull herself out, she knew, she wouldn't hold out much longer.

The space grow dark. Toni's breath struggled.

And then...

Pain.

A shredding, piercing pain streaked through her right arm. It burned like the heat of a gunshot. She knew the feeling; she had felt it back on the platform.

The pain was proceeded by a steadying of her breathing. Her vision returned. It was like almost fainting but coming to at the last second.

The Rue seemed to have fled. Yiya's body lay unmoving on the floor. Toni, hanging in a state of confusion, registered Sasha rushing to their client's side. Though uneasily, Toni moved hastily to join Sasha. "We need to dress her wounds... uh... apply pressure to stop the blee--"

Toni cut herself off. The resurgent stimulation of the Rue within the train had ripped her from her thought. She turned to the back of the car. Someone else that Toni hadn't seen at the station stood, frozen still in the aisle; shadowy mist was amassed behind her. "It's here." Her senses told her that the presence she felt was emanating from where the newcomer was standing. Toni looked at her, fighting to stay composed. "The Rue is in here. I feel it. It's threatening you, isn't it? What does it want?"

Her feet took several steps forward towards Echoh and the Rue. She stretched out her open hand and swirled it in front of her. Threads of air began to gather as she made the motion, and with one final gesture, Neomi released the tendril as a small burst of violent wind.

Neomi would feel the wind swirling around her, winding and spinning and weaving in separate threads like no normal wind should do. She could feel it in her lungs, breathing for her, tingling like peppermint; her throat and nasal passages opened and she could breathe clearer than she ever had before, her mind sharper and her oxygen-flooded body beginning to ease despite the desperate clamoring danger around her.

The strike of wind caught the little Rue in the face, and with a shriek it tumbled spinning and flapping with four furious wings through the air, smacked into the back of a chair and crumpled, struggling, to the floor of the aisle.

Outside the broken window, the pushing crowd of Rue gnashed and scrabbled long scratches into the side of the dead train. They pressed against the windows, further blocking the light of the cavern behind them, plunging the traincar into deeper darkness.

Echoh, meanwhile, danced with a whirr and clatter of mechanical legs before it reached inside its storage portal and pulled out a shining blue broadsword. The hilt was woven and golden; the blade was etched with indecipherable runes (at least, to Neomi's eyes) and emitted its own pale light. It seemed well-used, slightly notched and scraped, the pommel stained with old blood. The robot pushed the hilt into Neomi's hands while the window smashed again, and again.

CRASH!

In front of Neomi, a shadowy snakelike thing slithered down through the window and increased in size as it landed in the aisle.

Behind her, the little four-winged Rue had recovered and clung to Echoh's leg, gnashing at the copper with four sets of teeth. Beyond that, past the closed door of the traincar, she might hear the frightened voices of the other Howls.

The snake-Rue slithered close, its many-eyed head as big as a crate. It did not appear to have a mouth or arms, but it watched Neomi with bright white eyes while it leaned silently closer to her face.

"Um..." She hesitated and took a shaky breath. Sadie wasn't good at talking with the Rue. It scared the hell out of her that she could hear them, but not see them. She tried again. "What-who do you want to leave? What do they have of yours?"

The revolver rose, pointed now at the shadow’s face, but she couldn’t fire, not with the newcomer standing where she was, in the line of fire. If it attacked, she would fire immediately and risk the miss, but not yet.

But the Rue didn’t attack; it just stood there silently in the eerie way that Rue always did, movements that should have produced some kind of sound producing none at all. A facet of their limited existence in this world, or just of Sasha’s limited ability to perceive them. The newcomer spoke but the words were confusing at first, they made no sense on their own. “Who are you… it is… speaking to you?”

Toni moved hastily to join Sasha. "We need to dress her wounds... uh... apply pressure to stop the blee--"

Toni cut herself off. The resurgent stimulation of the Rue within the train had ripped her from her thought. She turned to the back of the car. Someone else that Toni hadn't seen at the station stood, frozen still in the aisle; shadowy mist was amassed behind her. "It's here." Her senses told her that the presence she felt was emanating from where the newcomer was standing. Toni looked at her, fighting to stay composed. "The Rue is in here. I feel it. It's threatening you, isn't it? What does it want?"

Toni might feel another presence nearby, accompanied by the crash of breaking glass in the next car. This one felt like a warm, clammy, almost slimy hand on her cheek, even as the first Rue's presence shivered down her back like frosted metal.

More Rue pressed against the windows, their big eyes staring in, their presence muffled by the runes painted on the side of the train, blocking the light of the Golden Cathedral so that the traincar was flooded with shadowy darkness. Sasha might see the halo of golden light that projected from the silken Rue with the gold-band head, with its sharp fingers at Sadie's throat. It leaned again to Sadie's ear:

The Tree of Arudoon, it echoed in Sadie's head. It was stolen. The Cathedral is sacred.

Behind Toni and Sasha, Yiya groaned and shifted on the floor between the seats. The gashes in her throat bled in long trickles of bright blood, and she pressed a palm against the wounds, gritting her teeth. She could not see nor hear the Rue.

"Echoh..." She clawed at the floor, scraping her fingers for her walking stick just out of reach.

Something thunk, thunk, thunked against the window. A spidering crack appeared in the glass, and the Rue converged upon the spot. A little piece of glass fell out, and a tiny Rue slinked inside the traincar and skittered like a cockroach along the wall while its companions continued barraging the window.

The chill in Toni's back grew burning cold, threatening frostbite with its anger.

In Sadie's head, the voice boomed like a deafening drum while the Rue's fist clenched hard at her throat, leaving her only just enough room to breathe with difficulty: TELL THEM.

Thunk, thunk, thunk went the noise at the breaking window.

There were three, then six little skittering Rue infesting the traincar, their presence crawling along Toni's arms and moving in Sasha's peripheral.