The Legend of Argonia: Rails of the Spirits

Ch. 1: The Dark Rising

"So what do ya think, Orelious?" Old Man Agro says curious of Orelious's thoughts on his show on the legend of the land. Orelious is sound asleep on the floor of the living room of the abode they share.

"Orelious, you fell asleep?! The least you've could've done was watch this through!" He says surprised. Orelious wakes up from Agro's tirade. He groans, still half asleep from the seemingly boring presentation.

"Your mentor, Rackshire, is coming. You'd better wake up." Rackshire walks toward Orelious, through the front door.

"Orelious!" He says in his deep, gruff voice.

"Do you know what day it is? Or are you still half asleep?" Orelious groans again. Rackshire grabs him and shakes him violently to snap him awake. Orelious snaps awake and pushes Rack's hand out of the way.

"Stop, please... Uggh." He says drowsily.

"It's time for the graduation! Did you really forget this, Orelious?" Rack says as he facepalms in disgust.

"Umm... Right! It is!" He says, trying to hide how he forgot the big day.

"You did... But, we need to go. Now!" Rack walks out of the house.

"Well, the big day is here young one. Living your big dream of becoming a master engineer like Rackshire. Well, you'd better get going. Tell me how it goes, ok?" Orelious nods in understanding.

"I'll make sure I will." He waves goodbye to Agro and heads to the station. He strolls through the paths of Marshing Village. Once he reaches the station, he hears Rack's voice.

"You're late..." The station's garage doors open and a wooden locomotive rolls out, only with a passenger car.

"We need to hurry, you know what you're doing, right?" He asks.

"Definitely. I've got you as a mentor!" Rack blushes as he jumps off the train. Orelious jumps on and they take off. The ride was relatively short on the way to Argonia Castle Town. When they reached the town, he jumps off and Rack greets him.

"You did that with flying colors! Great job!" He stays at the train. Orelious runs off toward the castle.

"Thanks! Wish me luck!" Once he reaches the front of the castle he is greeted by the guards.

"State your business, young argonian." The tall reptilian guards say in sync.

"I'm here for the engineer graduation ceremony, as you can tell by my uniform." Orelious says, gesturing to the garb he wears.

"You may pass..." They move out of the way and he proceeds forward. As he walks to the throne room, he wonders in awe at the ornate tapestries and rugs, holding the crest. He reaches the throne room and inside he sees the princess, her attendant, and the chancellor. The chancellor, as he noticed, was looking very devious, chortling to himself. Orelious bows down as the princess enters. She steps forward toward him, and he looks up and blushes.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Silly child." The chancellor says, smirking. She looks over at the chancellor in disgust. She sighs and taps his shoulder.

"You're Orelious, right? Well, I see you've been ready for your graduation." She turns around and grabs a certificate with a note attached to it. She hands it to him.

"Here, I hereby dub you, a royal engineer." She bends down and whispers something in his ear.

"Come on princess, hurry it up already!" The chancellor shivers from impatience.

"Shut up, Raz!" She snaps at him.

"Well, the note is very important. Make sure you read it." She whispers. He just blushes as she say this. She gets up.

"I bid you farewell on your travels, young Orelious." She says this, yet she is the same age.

"It was an honor to meet you, your highness." He bows once again and walks out. Once the doors close, he reads the note given to him by Princess Argonia herself. He runs off. Once outside, he looks for the guards, they seemed to be gone. He runs around and scales the wall to the princess's room. He climbs through the window and sees the princess playing a multicolored Pan Flute.

"Princess..." He says.

"You came... I didn't think that... That's beyond my point." She says.

"Well, what is your point?"

"I think the chancellor is up to something..."

"Well, why don't we find out what he's doing?"

"That's what I called you here for. I need to go to the Tower of Spirits to see what he's up to. I need you to take me."

"Well you've got the right engineer for the job!" He smirks.

"He take this." She hands him neatly folded green guard gear. He changes quickly.

"Let's go." They climb back down the wall.

"You've got to sneak me out Orelious."

"I gotcha covered." He distracts the guards as she sneaks by. Luckily the guards are very gullible. At the station, she jumps into the passenger car.

"Let's go!"

Orelious jumps into the locomotive and the steam unfurls from under the train. The ride for a short distance, then suddenly the tracks disappear. The train tumbles of and lands upright, luckily.

"What's the ruckus, I was asleep and you crash the train!" Rackshire scolds Orelious.

"It's not my fault, the tracks disappeared!" He gestures to the empty ground.

"Really, that's peculiar..."
A shadow looms over the party.

"Look!" Argonia points to an ominous dark cloud looming over the tower. Dark tendrils come from the cloud and surround the tower. Electricity crackles from it and the tower shatters into five pieces. They gasp from awe.

"Hey, look over there!" Rackshire points to a distant black cloud, seeming to come closer. They hear a distant chuffing of a steam engine. Suddenly, a giant locomotive appears from the smoke, a face showing on the front. It flies overhead, barely missing the party. They look back to the shattered tower. Lightning crackles in between the pieces, as if it was reassembling itself, but the pieces float over the base.
A snicker is heard from behind them and they turn to see the chancellor.

"Out for a leisurely stroll, Your Highness? You know that isn't allowed." Raz says pacing back and forth.

"Tell me... Tell me what you did to the tower!" Argonia yells at him. He sighs and smirks, revealing sharp teeth. A puff of purple smoke surrounds him and two pairs of demon wings sprout from the cloud. The smoke clears, revealing Raz's true form. His scales have turned a deep red.

"Disguising as a normal Argonian is just too complicated..." He sighs again as the others gasp in disgust. A burly argonian appears behind Raz.

"I've would've kept up the ruse longer, but you pushed me to do this princess... Nereeus take care of these fools." The burly argonian walks toward the princess and Rack moves in between them.

"My family has been in the royal guard for years!" He holds a sword in his right hand.

"You're only argonian, this is hardly fair." They duel, the metal clashes and sparks fly. They meet in the middle, yet Nereeus pulls a move and knocks Rack out. He lands onto the passenger car and slides off onto the ground, limp.

"That was hardly fair." He says.

"Well done!" The chancellor exclaims. Afterward, he advances toward the princess, but Orelious gets between him and the princess. Nereeus knocks him aside.

"What are you doing?" Argonia moves back to avoid him.

"You're a part of the plan!" The chancellor jumps up from behind him and shoots a mystical energy from his hands. This knocks her out and a light comes from her limp body. It floats away quickly.

"Nice work..." The chancellor says, hovering over Argonia's limp body.

"Our work is done here!" He snickers. Orelious wakes up to see Nereeus carrying Argonia's body away. Then he blacks out...