.·✧☆Stellarium☆✧·.

Chapter 7

Arthur, Derailment Disaster | 2,446 words

This was officially the worst heist I’ve ever conducted. I don't know if it was by fate or some sort of streak of bad luck, but Nova and her little investigation team is here. Not only that, but Sybyll somehow lodged an arrow in my calf and I’m bleeding out on top of a train; which honestly is not my first concern. As the train moves on the new track, my consciousness starts fading in and out. A small sense of self-satisfaction washes over me at successfully changing the track. I don't know how, but they managed to get going in the right direction. Violet would kill me if she knew.

Time seems irrelevant to me as the pain creeps up my leg, the wound itself feeling cold and numb. My limbs feel heavy as I try to keep scooting backwards, the only thought in my mind being to get off this gods forsaken train. I'm moving as fast as I physically can when I see Nova pull herself up, away from the side of the train where she was knocked when it switched tracks. A chill runs through my entire body in fear as she gets up, feeling more awake in this moment than I had the entire night so far. Her hair was wild, and her eyes were angry. The last thing that I see before passing out is her silhouette against the moons’ light, and the sparks of energy around her lit up hair.

When I wake up I think I can hear people talking near me, the calf that was shot was bandaged and felt surprisingly way better compared to earlier. How long was I out? It would be better to pretend to still be passed out and get my bearings from what I can hear. “Good shot on his calf earlier, I’m pretty sure he was going to get away otherwise.” A guy’s voice speaks out, he’s probably the one that followed me up on top of the train. He sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it. “Yeah!! Now we can actually get some answers out of him,” Definitely Nova, no questions. But that’s bad news, I need to get out of here ASAP. I think I’m in the conductor’s cabin or luggage area? Can't be too sure at this point. “Do either of you know what he would even want with this?” Sybyll asks the other two. “I’m not sure what it even is,” says the guy. “I’m pretty sure it had something to do with myths and legends, like with angels and stuff,” Replies Nova. “I’m going to get a statement from that museum curator, why don’t you two check on him? That wound was pretty deep,” I hear him walk away as the door opens to whatever cabin I've been jailed in. I have to fight my reflexes and stay limp as one of the two lifts the injured leg to check on it. She seems to inspect me for a little before saying, “He’s still passed out, but at least he isn't bleeding as much as before,” Sybyll says.

She sets my leg back down and the door closes again. I finally gave myself a chance to look around. It's dark and kind of cramped in here, definitely the first class luggage area. Not like they'd probably let me near the conductor’s cabin again. I have literally no idea where they got this, but I've been cartoonishly tied to some sort of post using rope. I think about burning the rope off, but I used a good amount of magic earlier and I'm pale from all the blood I lost. So I'm working at a little less than half my normal amount of energy, great. Creating any sort of blade would probably cost a lot up front but help me escape in the long run. I don't have any of my normal weapons on me or in reach either, I think that guy from earlier stole my gun but I still have my dagger. I just need to get my hands free.

I’m strapped for time so I use my magic to heat up my hands. I'm not skilled in any of the elemental fields though, so I know I have to be careful. I grip the rope that binds my wrists and feel as it heats up and starts disintegrating. I guess adrenaline gets the best of me because my palms start to burn, my face contorts into a grimace as I force myself to keep the flow of energy running. It feels like my blood is boiling by the time it finally falls apart, trying to stifle loudly cursing from the pain. Now that my hands are fully free I manage to grab my hidden dagger and cut the rope I've been tied up with. Standing up, I look to my palms to see how bad the damage is. It's not that bad, probably first degree at most? Hopefully.

I need to get out of here before they check on me again. Roof is a no go, there’s no vents I can squeeze through, and the safest way off is the caboose. I leave out the southern door to the outside connecting section, I just need to act naturally and have confidence to get through here. Since the train is just people and luggage, there’s probably not anyone but workers if there IS anyone. I take a deep breath, shake off the nerves, and move on. Making my way through the first luggage car I don't hit any snags, I recognize this place as being where I made the weird guy take me. Violet would be mad if I didn’t get anything from here, so I might as well root around a bit, right? Not like Nova’s little police patrol will actually kill me, considering they bandaged me up. Violet might though. I involuntarily shiver at the thought of Violet as I go through this guy’s stuff. That last artifact wasn't the only thing that he was traveling with, but it was definitely the one that had the most information.

My eyes spark as I lay them on some casts of stone tablets with drawings on them. It's in some ancient language we could probably translate back at the labs. They took the bag I was planning to put the artifact in, so I just put the padded case it’s in under my arm. Just in time to hear Nova yell “HE’S GONE,” muffled through the walls of the train. That's my cue to hurry up. I can’t start sprinting or they’ll hear me, so speedwalking it is. I make it through the next train cart, and then the next with no hitches. Only one more cart until I’m at the back and I run into a worker

“What are you doing back here? Passengers are at the front” He asks me. “I’m with the Lucian police department, we have an escaped suspect that might be on this train.” The lie comes naturally to me as I speak without fully registering what was happening. The man looks at me a little sideways, “aren’t you a little young to be with the police?” I can tell he’s tired, probably slept through this train ride for the most part, I need to take advantage of that. “An apprentice is still a part of the police force, I just need to look around and I’ll be out of your hair. Or would you want me to get my superior officer?” The man looks away to pick at the dirt under his nails, “sure go ahead then.” I’m honestly surprised he didn't ask about what I was holding under my arm, but he’s made this escape much easier than it would have been otherwise.

When I make it to the back of the train, I see that we’re soon to approach the neighboring city of Arkael. I hop off the train right around when it starts slowing down to the station. I can make my way back home fairly easily but I need to try harder to not get tracked this time. I’ve at least blown them off course by a little bit. I can make my way back home on foot. I remember the route from when I was younger. The sun is rising by the time I make it back. I walk through the front door and made it behind the secret door to the labs and living space. I look around for Vi but since I don't immediately see her I give up on it. I enter lab 1 and submit the tablet casts to be analyzed. When we first started looking after this lead and lab 3 was closed off for whatever special project Vi has going on, the first artifacts we analyzed had a similar look to the writing on it. I’m hoping that it's close enough to that language that we can translate it. It's probably going to take a while though.

I leave the lab, I really need to stop exhausting myself like this. I stretch as I make my way down the hall to the rooms. Once I make it to mine, I grab a book off of the shelf in the far corner titled ‘Myths and Legends’. Vi sometimes makes me want to tear my hair out with these nonsensical missions. Of course she won't ever know that though, I just wonder sometimes how any of this is furthering the cause. I open the book and skim it all over again, it's full of basic information but nothing that would help me. It has a general description of the 25 elements, one angel for each. The book is extremely contradictory with how they’re described. Supposedly invincible, but they can still die somehow. The descriptions of them are varied, and they don't list any proper names, meaning that if they are real, they could just appear as regular people. So, great! In the event my boss isn't crazy or intentionally punishing me, I have no way of knowing what I’m looking for.

I keep rereading this dumb book over and over and over again hoping there's just a detail I missed, something to lead me in the right direction. I scrawl notes in the margins, annotating it, noticing the few consistent details. 25 elements, unnaturally resilient, shapeshifting, and the one that stood out to me is that in every regional version of the story they come down from the heavens and are depicted as winged beasts. Maybe I could work with that, scour archives for references to winged beasts? That would take a lot of time and effort though, because I’d have to translate a good portion of them. It's probably best to sleep, even if it's the morning so I can recover some strength. Once I wake up I can go see what's up with the artifact.

I don't remember falling asleep, but everything is hazy like a dream. It's somewhat lucid as I get my bearings and realize I'm back in the throne room beside the sword I took not too long ago. I know how this plays out: I take the sword, Nova tries to stop me. I’m not myself as I grab it, watching like a spectator in my own body. The doors swing open and she’s not there. Darkness like smoke radiates from the doorway, the area beyond that was just as lightless. I move forward with the sword into the darkness, confused, when the great double doors slam behind me. Finally feeling in control of my body, I'm looking around wildly when I feel it. The ground beneath rippling like liquid black, a brightly colored smoke-like hand grips my ankle and tries to forcefully pull me down. My knee hits the floor as more hands emerge, all different colors and kinds trying to bring me through the barrier. My head hits the ground with a thud that rings out all over.

A cold sweat hits my body as I gasp for air, waiting for my heartrate to calm down as my brain registers that I'm safe. I have no idea how long I've slept, but I should check on the logs. I get up and my face feels numb, it's slowly waking up with the rest of me. I need to stop having these nightmares. Every night since I took the sword my dreams have been awful, and my head is still ringing. I’m even humoring the sword being cursed. Which, of course, it isn't; but it's a comforting thought. Stepping into the lab I see Violet. She notices me before I can say anything “I saw you submitted an artifact for review this morning.” I stand up straighter in an effort to look more presentable “I did, was it useful?” She finally turns around to look at me, “It was very useful, it had information we didn't have in our systems.” I hum in response, “I’ll review it in a second then,” I take a moment to really look at her shifting multicolor card. It looks… familiar, and not because I’m around her so often. I've seen those colors before and can't remember where.

Looking at the logs I’m seeing blank spaces in the translation that I’m pretty sure are names. It seems that whoever was working on this wasn't able to finish it. According to the notes it's written in Starscript, one of the ancient languages we identified. It seems to be part of a cosmogony, the ending part to be precise. I skim over it for now, I’m going to need a finished printed copy to analyze later for Violet. “Hey,” I say, with the current report in my hands, “Can I ask why you sent me on this mission?” She looks over to me, “Because you’re the one I trust the most to get important information. You are my right hand after all.” It admittedly feels really good to be acknowledged for the work I do for her, but I remember something as she turns to leave.

“I have one last question, it’s about the chromaglobin testing,” I say. “What is it?” she replies. “When you were first experimenting, who were the people that donated their blood samples?” This seems to catch her off guard. “They were old friends and volunteers. What has you wondering?” She's watching me pointedly as she says that. “I was just wondering since I don't see them around is all,” I dodge her gaze. “They’re just on missions right now, off in the Crimson base.” I nod and just say “Alright.” I don't think it's smart to take this conversation further.