The Lost Voices (OLD VERSION - New Version to Come)

ACT 1 ~ CHAPTER 11 ~ EPILOGUE

CHAPTER 11... SINS 

Recording 4: We Are Fire 

8-22-1620 A.R. 

Location: The Mergin Express, Terrarin 

As the sunset's crimson light silently looked on, the train rocketed across the tracks and their feet rushed them toward the next engine. Every car seemed to stretch on forever and anxiety tore at Malien's heart. Each step carried the weight of the passengers' lives. 

Strangely, the number of people in the next few sections suggested that most of them had been forced to leave their cars and move back. Both he and Xiajem assured the ones they passed that everything would be okay, that they needed to stay seated, and that they were going to protect them. 

At first, Malien thought he knew who he was convincing.

Steam kept billowing past the windows, disrupting the crimson aurora with blankets of foggy water. They kept watching for the first hatch and, as they saw other attendants who had been hurt by Regime members, Malien couldn't bring himself to stop Xiajem from checking on them. Time was precious, but he couldn't ignore them.

Several had been cut down with precise and severe wounds. As they examined another one, an exhausted sigh escaped Xiajem.

Her expression darkened as she remarked, "At least they died quickly."

Malien had never seen her appear so defeated. "We couldn't have done anything."

"I know." Hearing her agree was almost worse than a feigned belief in the impossible. 

He swallowed and held out a hand to help her up. Xiajem thanked him, took his hand, and they continued their relentless trek forward.

As the scenery roared by, time somehow felt both blurringly fast and terrifyingly slow. For Malien, it wasn't just the anxiety or the weight of what was at stake. He was absorbed by an insufferable courage in his chest. 

It was a sense of valor he couldn't describe or interpret, yet it made him run harder. Something in him that refused to believe they would fail.

Malien clung to it, but then the gear-head from the cave slithered back into Malien's mind. As the dying figure lodged itself into the forefront of his worries, he remembered the horrible relief that struck him when his magic space ran dry before he could attack Taltic. 

Now, he only feared what might come; feared who would stand in his way.

For some reason, Cimer and Alva didn't scare him the same way others did. They felt inhumanly powerful to the point of almost being subhuman. Just by thinking that, Malien deeply hated the confusion in his heart, while also knowing that some part of him was right. 

What if a person, no different from himself, tried to stop him? Someone who was just as confused as him? He had to protect these people, but what if he couldn't? 

In some ways, Malien would almost take a 'Cimer' or an 'Alva,' just so he could lie to himself and say the person confronting him was 'truly evil' or 'a lost cause'. He knew he wouldn't be that lucky. 

Yet, right then, Malien knew what he'd decided...even if he hated himself for it.

Screech. The train barely made the bend around a sharp corner and they had to catch themselves on the booths. Shaking off the internal battle, Malien pushed off the seat and continued to sprint forward. 

Steam clouds started chugging past them in noticeably faster intervals and he knew the next engine couldn't be far ahead. However, as they approached the next door, Xiajem suddenly stopped and Malien nearly ran into her.