" What a fine mess..."
After the stunning beauty had graciously offered him a chance at the auditions, Zack really couldn't turn down her offer.
After all, the consequences of refusing her offer were potentially fatal.
Zack stared out the window of the metallic carriage in which he was seated.
The landscape zoomed past at a truly frightening speed.
He stared down at his hands in silent contemplation.
A short distance away, his new companion, Eddie, sat wolfing down several dishes at a record speed.
Just a few hours back, they'd both been in a cell in the Enforcer's den.
And now, they were headed for Asphodel.
Within the middle rim. It was strange.
When he'd been a kid, he'd longed for the chance to travel to the Middle Rim. But ironically, now that he had the chance, he couldn't help but feel revulsion.
And of course, there was the fear. The tiniest sliver of fear.
And nerves.
The fear that he wouldn't be able to make it back alive.
"Damn..."
Everyone knew what the auditions were like.
Most of the participants were all monsters in their own right.
And Zack, he was an outer rim Rat.
Looking at his chances of surviving, he couldn't help letting out a sigh.
"It almost seems pointless..."
Zack stole a furtive glance at his jailors.
The witch, Camilla, sat a few seats away, visibly engrossed by something on her holographic data pad.
After Zack had " willingly" agreed to take part in the auditions, the recruiter. a.k.a the witch had introduced herself as Camilla.
He still remembered the moment when she'd bewitchingly smirked after reading through his record.
"Zack Haleric, 16 years old, born in the western part of Tartarus. You're of Minos... The leader of a minor gang at your age. Interesting...you must be an overachiever. Crime: Larceny. "
Zack didn't bother denying the charges. It didn't matter. Minos ruled over the western part of the Outer Rim. In Zack's mind, every piece was slowly falling into place. Crimson must have somehow convinced Minos to get rid of him and probably offered him something valuable in exchange.
With Zack gone, the Crimson gang would be free to take over their territory in the western part of Tartarus without anyone standing in their way.
Zack stared somberly at the woman in front of him.
Everything that he'd built, everything that he'd struggled to achieve, was slowly coming undone around him.
It was a real shame.
It just went to show just how fickle people can be.
Camilla smiled sweetly at him. In that moment, her beauty reminded him of a predator, a snowy wolf stalking its prey.
"Eddie Brokman, 36 years old. You're from the Eastern quadrant. Crime: Smuggling"
Eddie grinned, spreading his arms in placation.
After that, the Enforcers had swiftly handled their paperwork, and now he, Eddie, and Camilla were en route to Elengor, the main district of Asphodel.
Their small group had boarded a Veklar train, bound for Elengor, and as fate would have it, they were traveling first class.
If anyone had told Zack the previous day that he'd be aboard a Veklar train, he'd have laughed in their faces there and then.
And yet here was, seated in the first class section of the Veklar and dining like nobility.
Veklar trains were the locomotives of legend.
Their bodies were fashioned from a tenebrous, dark, veined metal that pulsated with a life of its own.
A marvel of engineering.
At least that's what he thought.
There were no schools in the Outer Rim, only apprenticeships for the lucky few.
And as it turned out, he wasn't one of the lucky ones.
His late friend, on the other hand, had been one of the privileged few who had earned the chance at an apprenticeship.
It was he who had told Zack about engineering.
Along its length, tall, arched mirror windows shimmered, reflecting the world on itself, creating a subtle distortion that perfectly masked the passengers on board.
As the veklar accelerated, dark veins throughout its exterior hummed with electricity, discharging brilliant streams of current onto the tracks, catapulting the train further along at an even greater speed.
It was quite the ironic situation, to say the least.
A fugitive dining as royalty, it was laughable.
Next to him, Eddie dug into the food with gusto.
The table was conveniently divided into three concentric revolving compartments with different meat dishes, soups, and desserts placed on each of the elaborate rings.
Zack stared at the food in silence, a hint of disdain flickering through his eyes.
Of course, the aroma wafting from the dishes was much more tantalizing than anything he'd ever encountered in his life.
Much more so than his favorite pigeon and rat tail broth.
His stomach grumbled right on cue, audibly voicing its disagreement with his choices.
"Bloody hell..."
Eddie noticed his stare then calmly swallowed his food, placed his fork down, and smiled.
" What's the matter with ya? Is the food not to ya liking? "
Zack quietly stared at him, his gaze shifting to the enforcers around them, then back to the old man.
Eddie nodded slowly, rubbing his bulky chin thoughtfully.
"I see what it is. See here, Zack, where we're going, there's a huge chance we won't make it out alive. I've watched the auditions ever since I was a boy, and I know for certain that the people we'll be up against, there are bound to be some monsters, monsters even we outskirts rats can't kill."
Eddie leaned back, smiling faintly.
"The best we can do is make use of what we have here and now. Refusing to eat will get you killed. Besides, when was the last time you tasted such fine cooking?"
" You need to save up your strength. And you've got to start doing so now."
The old man heartily slapped him across the back.
Zack winced but took up his fork.
Eddie grinned, revealing several missing teeth and a few ore-studded fake ones.
"Attaboy, dig in."
He stared at the knife in silence, then promptly ignored it, focusing on shoveling the
different food on his plate towards his mouth.
His eyes twitched slightly at the different flavors in his mouth.
"Shit! This is...the best!"
He almost groaned, his stomach rumbling for the second time.
The witch threw him an amused look, staring at him for a few moments, then promptly focused back on her data pad.
"What's her problem..."
Suppressing the desire to abandon any form of etiquette, he hurriedly dug into the rest of the food.
As he dug in, he realized he hadn't eaten for over two days, and his body was eagerly demanding its due.
"Consequences be damned."
It was probably going to take a while for him to indulge in such delicacies to his heart's content again.
Even though some of the food seemed to be alive.
In fact, one of the dishes was a writhing mass of rubbery tentacles.
Zack stared at it for a few moments, one of his eyes twitching slightly.
He promptly moved that dish as far away from him as possible.
Several minutes later, he leaned back contentedly, in a daze, looking out through the window.
In the distance, Elengor slowly came into view.