'What happened to everyone?'
The entire coach, no the entire train. Everywhere on the train was quiet. I could tell as the faded sounds of chatter coming from the nearby coaches were no longer heard. I couldn't see what was happening in the other coaches but I could see what was happening here.
Everyone in the coach, from the sobbing boy to his flustered mother to the grumbling man in a brown trench coat, every single one of them was frozen in place. Their faces were a mask of horror, it was as if they had seen something incredibly terrifying it sent chills through my mind.
The rumbling of the train tracks suddenly felt eerie to me. In those short few seconds when the train went under the tunnel, just a few moments of darkness, and everyone on the train was immobilized.
'What did they see? What kind of power can do such a thing?'
This ability was far more terrifying to me than the balls of flame or the giant earthen spears that I had previously seen. At least, I could see them.
I had no way to explain what this was.
The old man was quiet as he calmly assessed the situation. Just as I was about to ask him whether he knew what was going on, I saw him turn his head to the side and look at the woman and child to our right.
Following his gaze, I met with the bloodshot eyes of the woman and her child. At some point in time, they had turned to face us with a chilling gaze.
RUSTLE
I heard the sound of clothes swishing in the cold air and turned my gaze to meet the figure of the trench coat man. He had stood up from his seat, the terrified expression on his face replaced by bloodshot eyes and a large grin which made it even more discomforting.
"Good evening sire."
The man's voice that came out was a deep baritone. His posture was perfect as he took a bow to show his respect, but the smile that was on his face as he lifted his head was nearly mocking and all the more terrifying if you considered his eyes.
The old man just quietly sat as he watched the whole ordeal. The woman and her child had stood up and placed themselves behind the trench coat man. Their eyes were firmly placed on the old man without blinking.
"You seek me out again? Are you not just seeking death?"
The old man spoke in an oddly chilling voice, his voice seemed to be fluctuating with immense power.
"Nothing like that sire, nothing like that at all." The trench coat man hurriedly spoke out, although the obnoxious smile was still on his face.
"Unlike those fools from the tower, we have no enmity with you sire, only deep respect!"
"That is a lie."
"Sire! My liege told me to offer you the greatest respect and sincerity on the same level I give to my liege, I dare not lie! On behalf of my liege, I offer our sincerest apologies for what happened the last time. That disrespectful person has already been killed by me personally, I swear on it."
The old man was quiet but he kept looking at the man with the brown trench coat. I could not tell what he was thinking, all I knew was that those bloodshot eyes were not one I could trust no matter what.
"I will not hand over Foutier."
The old man suddenly said.
"Sire…"
The trench coat man seemed to be hesitating about something.
"I will not hand over Foutier."
The old man repeated.
"Your order has been active for thousands of years. All those years have been marked with irresponsible violence and inexplicable extremist actions. What is it your liege seeks?"
The trench coat man smiled, his bloodshot eyes burning with passion.
"The same thing we have been seeking for thousands of years, the sovereignty of our lord, the transcendent, and the one who sees all!"
The old man frowned.
I frowned.
This sounded like something a crazy cult would preach. The fact that the old man said that they were responsible for many inexplicable extremist actions was also another thing. These people were just terrorists and fanatics!
"I will not hand over Foutier."
The old man repeated once more.
The trench coat man opened his lips like he was about to say something but eventually hesitated and kept silent.
"Sire, perhaps… we can come to an agreement?"
The trench coat man said after a while.
"My liege said that I should appeal to your graciousness about this one thing. I hope you would consider."
The old man didn't reply, the trench coat man took it as a go-ahead to continue.
"The book your highness, the diary. My liege wishes to purchase the diary if nothing else."
For some reason, my mind went back to my earliest memories in this world.
A book bounded with white leather.
I had seen the old man looking quite intently at the book before putting it in the suitcase. It had seemed important to him and now I could confirm it was something special.
'It is actually a diary? Who does it belong to?'
The man in the brown trench coat seemed to really want the diary as he looked at the old man with a nervous look on his face.
"Haaaa"
The old man released a long sigh.
"I shall give you the book if, and only if you can properly answer this question."
The old man surprisingly stated a condition even though he looked like he wanted nothing to do with them previously.
"As you wish sire."
The man in the brown trench coat took a low bow, his ever-present grin stretching a little wider.
The old man mulled for a bit before opening his lips.
"What do you think the soul is?"
"The essence of life."
The man in the trench coat answered without hesitation.
"Essence? How?"
The old man asked again.
This time, the man in the trench coat paused to consider his answer. I could see his eyes darting around as if searching for the answer around the train deck.
"The essence of life as it lays the foundation of the progress of a being. Without it, there is no life, no presence, no being."
I found his answer quite poetic and marveled at his glib tongue.
'He really seems to know his stuff!'
I thought to myself.
BANG!
The floor below the man in the brown trench coat suddenly ruptured as a large earthen spike impaled the man right through the chest!
I stared in horror as I watched the man's body hung over, blood and viscera dripping down the spike and onto the cold metal floor.
I didn't stare for long though as I snapped my head towards the mother and son duo that was obediently standing back all this while.
They were snarling as they both lunged for the briefcase that was sitting by the old man's side. The old man didn't even look at them as he waved a hand dismissively.
I saw the chunks of earth appearing out of thin air to form sharpened spikes which impaled them both, and sent them crashing into the opposite wall.
The old man's gaze was still firmly placed on the man with the brown trench coat. His face was a mask of perfect calmness and stoicism.
I on the other hand was already panicking slightly. What just happened?
"Hehihehihehihehi!"
A very unnatural and disconcerting laugh suddenly came from the man in the brown trench coat. He struggled to raise his head as he looked at the old man with bloody lips. His eyes caught sight of me, staring back at him from within the confines of my bottle prison and I could see him freeze.
It seemed he had not noticed me until now and my presence seemed to shock him quite a bit. The absurd grin on his face seemed to go even wider as he spoke up.
"Seems like I will be presenting two gifts back to my liege today."
BANG!
An earthen spear appeared and smashed the head to pieces. The old man didn't even look at the corpse again as he stood up with a tired sigh.
It was then that I heard the coach doors on both sides of the train opening up. A group of people was looking at us from both sides with bloodshot eyes. Looking around, I found all the inhabitants of our coach were also staring at us, some with their necks twisted at unnatural angles.
Following their gaze, I could see that they were all focused on the briefcase the old man was now holding in his right arm and... at me?
I suddenly felt cold shivers as I noticed numerous bloodshot eyes trained directly at me.
'Shit!'
I cursed to myself.
The old man sighed again as he raised a hand, a formless power enveloping him as he spoke.
"You can never trust people from the order. I should have known this would be the same as last time."
All the people in the coach had surrounded us and were staring with bloodshot eyes. Their mouths opened in concert, and a multitude of different voices echoed out.
"You noticed? Hehihehi! No matter, there are approximately 346 people on this train."
The voices paused.
"343, would you really kill every single one of them just to protect the diary?"
The sound of the voices, accompanied by numerous bloodshot eyes was the most terrifying thing I had ever witnessed and I could feel the chill of fear deep in my soul.
The old man paused for a few seconds, the silence was heavy and it seemed like the whole world had paused, waiting on his decision.
His answer eventually came but in the form of multiple earthen spikes appearing from thin air around us.
"No use bargaining with a mad man."
His voice was cold as he launched the spikes at the now charging and snarling former occupants of the train.
The next few minutes went by in a blur.