Chapter I - Passengers

In the beginning (relative to our universe, of course), there was a man seeking refuge from his dying world. As the curtain began to fall, the man's best friend and fellow soldier in an otherworldly war created a chasm in reality in which our own reality became manifest.
But of course, this knowledge was not well-known to the masses, nor was the eventual war between parallel universes in which ours became victorious. It was through this war, however, that kings, knights, and sorcerers (both benevolent and malevolent) achieved godship in the eyes of the people.
For fortune or lack of it, I knew this forgotten-- if not forbidden-- history of our world.

"Looks like rain," said a large man with a heavy jaw, thick eyebrows, short dark brown hair, and green eyes that turned to amber in the center.
I zoned back into reality and glanced out the window. How long had it been since we first set out?
The large man turned back to the bastard sword in his lap and began to polish it again. After a battle, it seems that the blood never comes out.
"What's wrong?" he asked after a minute passed and I hadn't broken my gaze from the shimmering mass of steel that lay across his chair.
"Nothing," I said with a yawn.
"Don't bullshit me, Pyren. I've traveled with you long enough that by now I can read you like a book," the large man said with a twinge of annoyance.
"Well," I began.
"You're thinking about those big-titted beautiful women again, aren't you?" he joked.
I squinted, "Yes, of course."
"Those two sure know how to party," he said with a laugh to annoy me.
The two true gods of our world-- the man who created it all and the man who temporarily sacrificed his own existence to create the chasm between realms-- had left matters in the hands of the corrupted men who claimed godship.
"Don't you worry," he said with a smirk, "When we get to Trael, we'll find the hottest girls in town and enjoy ourselves for a night."
I smiled. He was joking, of course. We barely had enough money for the train ticket and Trael girls scoff at anyone whose wallet isn't overflowing. Besides, I was already interested in one person.
At that moment, she knocked on the door.
"Pyren, Sir Auric, may I enter?" she asked.
"Yes, and call me John," he scolded. (A proper woman's proper habits are insunderable.)
She closed the door and sat next to me.
"I just had a weird dream," she said as she leaned against my shoulder.
I promptly put my arm around her midsection and leaned my head towards hers.
"What now?" I asked her.
She smiled, "You were never born and the world turned to ash."
John chuckled, "Aw, isn't that cute?"
I scowled at him for a second and turned back to her.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked.
She nodded and leaned away, lost in thought.
"How far are we from Trael?" I asked John as I looked out the window.
"A good two hours," he said with a sigh as he repositioned himself in the chair.
She looked out the window, trying to focus her attention on the same spot I was looking at.
"If you two want the compartment to yourself I need to stretch," he teased.
She pursed her lips into a half-smirk and he laughed.
"You don't have to leave," I said, but he was already out the door (with his sword sheathed, of course).
"What's the matter, Pyren?" she asked me a minute later while equally zoned out, reflecting on the same circumstances as if attempting irony.
"Nothing, Jen," I said and added, "Nothing other than the six gods who conspired to kill us."
"Well get over it," she said with a glimmer in her eye and a smile on her face, "I don't want a gloomy boyfriend!"
I chuckled leaned in to kiss her when a yellow figure whizzed passed our window.
"Woah!" we gasped in unison.
I looked outside and (sure enough) there was another one approaching our train.
"Shit," she said as she jumped up and drew her knife out.
At that moment, there was a loud screeching as the train slowed down and a bang as one of the yellow creatures jumped onto the roof.
"Are they Anima?" she asked.
I didn't waste any time. In a second I was in the aisle with my sword drawn. Jen stood behind me, back-to-back, ready to strike at the first sign of movement from above.
"What's happening?" asked an elderly woman in the compartment to the left of us.
"Stay inside," I commanded as the train finally slid to a halt. Then, silence.
I could hear my own heart beat, or maybe I was hearing Jen's. Every eternity of a second, there would come a soft sound from the roof. The creature was making its way to the gate. It must have human intellect!
As that thought formed in my mind, the roof latch came crashing down and an Animus dropped into the room ten feet in front of Jen. Its body was that of a leopard, its face was that of an Orc.
"Aureus Fulmen!" she yelled pointing her knife at the beast and releasing a burst of light that formed into a lightning bolt and struck it in the forehead, leaving a thick gash streaming with blood.
"Uh-oh," she said. That was the only offensive spell she knew.
The Animus shook his head and leaped forward and I spun around Jen and thrust my sword into the creature's side.
"Uniga Atsila!" I chanted as a white fireball exploded from the tip of my sword and blew the creature's front leg off and exposed its innards. It collapsed on the floor and wheezed its last breath while we recomposed ourselves.
"You alright?" I asked and she nodded, flicking specs of nervous swear on the blood-soaked ground.
The door to the next car opened and John stepped in, his tower of steel soaked in a crimson mess.
"I got the other one," he said, breathing heavily, "I saw two more head for the engine."
We nodded and ran towards the front of the train. John didn't even bother with the doors; he just crashed through them with the tip of his blade and they forcefully parted like two lovers on a collapsing bridge.
Two cars away from the engine room, the pristine floor and walls of the train contrasted drastically into a gory mess. Blood filled the halls and four bodies, torn asunder, lay in the doorway to their compartments.
We paused for a second, each took a deep breath, and hurried on into the last car before the engine.

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