Chapter 6: Train
The first floor is not habited by Aetherians, but by ghost and other low-level spirits. The first floor resides closely to Aether but is unseen. Most spirits and ghosts travel down to the first floor, instead of the Heavens, due to its proximity.
The second floor are cave like systems that stretch forever. While some Aetherians inhabit the larger caves, most of their outposts have been taken out by the large- or small spider like creatures that roam the floor.
The third floor is home to Hotel Ranch, promptly named after the hotel's owner Ranch. The third floor is home to Aetherians, Horses and a handful of Humans. The hotel is marked as a safe place and allows for some peace in between the floors.
The fourth floor is home to the Horse King, who rules as an aristocratic kingdom with lower and upper classes. The Horse King is an arrogant man who will use his power for Woman, Money, and Entertainment.
The fifth floor is home to the LOL's. The LOL's, an ancient race of mutated babies, feast on the flesh of Aetherians. While mostly magic deficient, LOL's have great physical strength. The LOL Queen rules over the floor, keeping Sophia's schoolmate's captive.
The sixth floor is a Jungle like environment that is home to The God of Math. Little is known about the true nature of the sixth floor, as little to no Aetherians or other races, have ever explored the sixth floor.
The seventh floor, also known as the floor of intense pressure, is a desert like landscape with extreme heat and gravity. The god known as Ja'alal rules over the floor with an Iron fist, he is one of the strongest gods in the floors. His two children have equal, if not more power, then him.
The eighth floor is also known as the floor of the Blasphemous Tarnished. It called this due to the overwhelming stench of Death that comes from the floor. It is home to some of the most wicked creatures, which bring darkness and unrest to the floors.
The 9th floor is where Satan resides and his demonic army. While they are stuck there, the hold put on them by the 9 Ancient Gods is loosening, and they may escape soon.
Ranch finished his explanation with a sigh, he seemed to do that a lot.
"Oh, ok, so we just need to get the 5th floor and then we can leave, right?" Sophia said.
Ranch paused for a moment, then spoke "Sorry, but you can't just stop there."
"Why?" Sophia asked.
"Ildy Is going to... die if you don't." Ranch replied calmly.
The room went silent. Mya sat shocked; her eyes wide. Sophia tried to think of a reason, but instead came back to a memory that she had kept away in the recesses of her mind.
She sat under the maple tree, looking up into its yellow and orange leaves. A cool breeze came by her face, blowing her hair to the side. She glanced over at her house, standing in the middle of the field. The back door slid open, and man walked out onto the porch, looking around. When he sees Sophia, he walks off the deck and starts walking towards her.
Sophia sits there, waiting for the man to come get her. The man was her father, and this was the last time she saw him. He stood outside of the shade that enclosed Sophia. Sophia looked back at him for only moments. His stern eyes snapped back to a sorrowful, more open look. He walked under the tree and Sophia could see him clearer now. His black suit, with white undershirt looked like a businessman on TV, his fedora covered his cold blonde hair and his glasses, slightly purple, had a gold tinge in the lenses.
He spoke. "I'm sorry." He said sadly, "But, I have one more thing for you."
Sophia sniffled, trying to hold back her tears. He approached her slowly, then knelt down and caressed her blonde hair. He said something under his breath. Sophia blinked. Then he was gone.
For the next 5 years, Sophia lost those memories, and they hid themselves away in the crevices of her mind. She cried when she heard ranch speak. She didn't cry because of sadness, or grief, but because of anger, and madness. No one talked for a while.
It felt like hours had gone by before someone spoke. "Well... We better get moving right?" Ildy said in a clear tone. Sophia looked over at him and then over to ranch.
Sophia wiped the tears off her face. "What do we do next." Sophia asked.
All of them had left the room and were pacing down the hall. "I was going to give you three each weapons, but it looks like that we don't have time for that. Head to the front of the building, I need to grab something." Ranch said, taking a right and leaving the three of them at the elevator door.
Sophia walked over to the elevator and pressed the down arrow, which made a clicking noise. The doors slid open almost instantly and the three of them entered the elevator. The doors slid close as Sophia clicked the floor 1 button. The elevator shifted, then started moving. Elevator music kicked in and filled the silence.
"Ildy... where did Ranch take you?" Mya asked, hesitantly.
"Somewhere... below the building. It was deep, but I don't remember much." Ildy replied sighing.
It was silent for a couple for minutes, the elevator music changed, but no one really noticed. They were thinking about what awaited them. Death? Glory? Sorrow? No one knew what lied below.
The elevator dinged and the door slid open. They left the elevator and looked over to their right where the exit doors were. A couple people were standing around, but no one seemed to notice them. They walked outside the door and looked around confused and frightened.
Sophia looked around franticly. The sky, the walls, the ground, were all a red, meaty substance. Ranch sees them from afar. "Quickly! There isn't much time!" Ranch yelled.
The ground suddenly started shaking and then a voice spoke from the walls. "Sophia, we know." The voice spoke in a duality. "LEAVE THE UNDERWORLD!" It screamed. The ground started forming cracks and eyes grew out of the ground. The three of them started running as fast as they could. Their hearts pounding. Ildy raced in front of them, speeding towards the lone elevator. Ranch ushered him in as he got closed. He had already pulled open the door. Mya and Sophia soon followed in.
Ranch slammed the door shut. "Summon the Key!" Ranch shouted while putting up a barrier.
"How!?" Sophia said in a panic.
"Damn! Fine! GASLAVOR!" Ranch yelled suddenly, runes appeared around the elevator, and then it dropped, leaving a hole in the ground. Ranch looked around as the meat suddenly faded away and the grass appeared.
The elevator dropped and dropped, flinging the three of them into the air. It dropped and dropped until it slowed down and stopped. Mya and Sophia were laying face flat on the bottom of the elevator, while Ildy was still in the air, holding onto the rails inside the elevator. The elevator dinged and the door slid open. Suddenly a rush of cool air slid into the elevator.
Mya groaned as she stood up. Looking outside the elevator, she saw endless plains that stretched on for miles. The sky was a perfect blue. It was like she was put in the windows 96 screen saver.
Sophia picked herself up, and glanced over at Ildy, who was still in the air. "What the..." Sophia sighed and then looked out the elevator door.
"Aren't we underground?" Mya said confused. She looked out into the plains and rolling hills. Sophia pulled Ildy off the metal bar, making him collapse onto the elevator floor.
"AHHHHH!" Ildy screamed, thinking he was still falling. As soon as he realized he went silent.
"Did I-."
"Yes, you did." Sophia cut him off.
Ildy sighed and stood up, rubbing his head. He looked around at the elevator in embarrassment, then out the door past Sophia. Both stepped out of the elevator, looking at the endless plains.
Mya walked further from the elevator, looking around for anything else, but all she saw was nothing.
Sophia and Ildy joined Mya confused about how there was a massive landscape like this, underground. Suddenly, in the distance, a figure appeared, racing towards them.
"Is that a horse?" Ildy said peering off into the distance.
"Ranch did say that the horse king lived on this floor, maybe it's like the ones we saw when we got here?" Sophia said.
"Wait- I think its blue?" Ildy said confused.
"Blue?" Sophia questioned.
"Yeah... And it's going real fast." Ildy stepped back as the horse got closer.
Before Sophia could speak, the horse had landed right in front of her. "WOAH!" Sophia fell onto her back with a thud.
Ildy and Mya looked at the horse in shock, it was just in the distance and now it was right Infront of them.
"Hello travelers." The horse had a heavy voice. "I am Banairu, protector of the wastelands." The horse's blue skin strangely matched his clad armor, and long yellow mane. He stood their defyingly, looking at the three of them with a menacing glare.
"Hello...?" Sophia said slightly confused and slightly worried.
"Do you have a ticket?" Banairu asked while studying them.
"Ticket?" Sophia said, wondering what he meant.
"If you don't have a ticket then you must leave." Banairu glared at them with suspicion.
"Wait, wait, we didn't even know anything about a ticket, Ranch didn't tell us anything." Mya said, questioning Banairu.
"Well, you see... Uh..." His voice got quieter. "If Ranch is involved..." He stopped talking and thought for a minute. "Fine, if you were instructed by Ranch, then I will take you to the station." He sighed and motioned towards his back with his head.
"Thanks... I guess?" Sophia said, while hopping on his back. Mya and Ildy followed quickly behind.
"You know, this seems a little bit strange... I mean, where the heck is the sta- AH!" Before Mya could finish her sentence, the horse blasted off into the field at hyper sonic speed. In seconds they had reached the station. Mya flew up and over the three of them and smashed into the ground in front of them.
"Ouch." Sophia said, feeling bad for Mya being at the bad end of the stick.
"Mya!" Ildy yelled, jumping off Banairu and racing over to her. He knelt on the ground beside her, shaking her.
"Ildy... You bozo, stop worrying and help me up." Mya said groaning.
"Oh, sorry..." Ildy helped Mya back up onto her feet with little problem.
Sophia hopped off Banairu and looked over at Mya and Ildy. "This is your stop, head to the train and get on, it will take you to the capital." Banairu neighed then bolted off, away from the three.
Sophia watched him zoom away and then walked over to Mya and Sophia. "You... Good?" Sophia asked.
"More like covered in dirt. Let's just get to-." Mya was cut off by the roaring sound of a train coming into view. Sophia now realized that Banairu had left them at a massive train station, which reached hundreds of feet up. The railroad track was enormous, the ballast's rocks were as big as them. The train got closer and closer, wind billowing as it got closer. Ildy pulled Mya and Sophia behind a rock that was near them. Suddenly the rock started move.
"HOLY-." Sophia stopped talking as soon as the boulder flew above their head and then up into the sky.
"HOW BIG IS THIS TRAIN!" Mya yelled over the wind.
Then the train turned on its breaks. The screeching noise teared into there ears as it got closer and closer to the station. Then the noise suddenly stopped, and the train's engine was all that they could hear. Ildy looked at Sophia and Mya who were knocked out.
Another gust of wind almost picked Ildy off his feet. Suddenly, he could feel another rumbling, not from the train, but from the people. Ildy looked to the stairs and saw a massive figure walk down the stairs. Many more came after him, there gigantic bodies struck fear into Ildy. Others started walking down the stairs, people, ponies, many others. Ildy sets the too against the wall and tries to wake them up, while trying to look as inconspicuous as they could.
Ildy tries to wake up Sophia first by shaking her, it doesn't work. He moves over to Mya but is too shy to doit. Ildy decides that he should just take them to the train first and they might wake up later. He picks the two of them up easily and carries them up the stairs which were slowly draining the passengers into the wasteland. He finished climbing the stairs to really see the scale of the station.
Pillars of marble supported the massive painted roof. Compared to the giants, the station grew overtook them by thousands of feet. The train stood next to the station, looming over the passengers, almost as tall and the station itself. Ildy sat on the bench, setting Sophia and Mya next to him. Suddenly a man approached him. He had long slick back hair, his eyes were dark brown, and his black tee read 'GRUNGE IS THE ONLY METAL'.
Ildy looked up at him in confusion as he stood in front of him. "You wanna go to jail or something?" He said glaring at Ildy.
"Wh-What?" Ildy stuttered.
"I said, DO YOU WANNA GO TO JAIL?" He spit in Ildy's face as he yelled at him.
"Why would I go to jail? Who are you anyway?" Ildy asked while wiping off his face.
"Oh... so you don't know who I am? I'm DARK LORD BETHELZAR OF GRUNGEZAR!" He yelled, spitting more onto Ildy's face.
Ildy looked around to see that a crowd was forming. "Can we not do this..." Ildy was starting to get anxious.
"You are an obvious Slave Traffickers! I am here to take you away!" He yelled, raising his hands up.
"Slave- Wait- WHAT? No, no, no, you got the whole wrong idea." Ildy sighed in his head.
"No way you have these Woman with you and you're not a slave trafficker, See, there even knocked out!" He grandly said, pointing to Mya and Sophia. One of the crowd members nodded.
"Woah, these are my friends, they were just knocked out when the train came to a stop." Ildy was starting to get angry.
"Yeah right! I will-." Balthazar was cut off as Ildy hit him with an uppercut.
He was sent flying into the air, crashing back down seconds later. "I told you... THERE MY FRIENDS!" Ildy yelled as he Balthazar got back up. Ildy rushed in, swinging at Balthazar. Balthazar ducked and slammed his fist into Ildy's gut, sending him flying back. Ildy stood even more angry then before. He spotted Balthazar and started rushing in with no thought. He reached Balthazar, him smirking. He ducked below again, but Ildy was prepared. He forced his foot forwards, smashing into his hands and then into his face.
Now an even bigger crowd had formed as Ildy sent Balthazar into the sidelines. Ildy breathed hard and Balthazar got back up, slightly stumbling. His nose was bleeding but that was all. He wiped his nose and started approaching Ildy. "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?" He mocked Ildy, smiling as he said it.
"No..." Ildy looked up at Balthazar with determination.
Balthazar hopped forward getting ready to punch Ildy. Ildy smashed his fist into Balthazar's fist and stopped him in his tracks. He swung again, Ildy clashing with his fist again. Balthazar continued to try and punch him, but Ildy just blocked his punches every time with another punch.
"DAMN YOU!" Balthazar punched Ildy the face at lighting speed. He slid backwards, as Balthazar wiped the sweat off his forehead. While Ildy hadn't even broken a sweat.
Ildy stood straight up and looked at Balthazar. Then he started laughing. "You may have thought that I was just a boy, but I am 2 in one." Ildy's eyes went black, and a crimson sword appeared on his side.
"So what? You still can't beat me, even with a sword." He said mockingly. The crowd had grown massive.
"We will see about that. "Fora! Set! Hab! SPEZ!" With lightning speed Ildy pulled out his sword, and tore straight through Balthazar, tearing him into nothing. Skid marks laid on the floor from where Ildy had torn straight through Unity. He slid his sword back into its sheath. He turned back to see that Balthazar was completely erased from existence.
Ildy breathed hard and then looked back over at Mya and Sophia who were wide awake now. "What did you..." Mya sat in shock and Sophia looked around trying to find Balthazar, but he was gone, nowhere to be seen.
"Holy crap- You- you obliterated that guy- he's like-." Sophia was cut off by Ildy.
"Dead. He's dead." Ildy sighed and looked over at the crowd. He thought he heard deserved from one of the crowd members, but he ignored it.
The crowd then slowly dispersed when Ildy walked back over to Mya and Sophia. Sophia looked concerned, and Mya stood up and started walking away. Sophia shrugged at him, "Your fault." Sophia said getting up and following Mya.
Ildy slowly followed behind, getting some strange glances as he walked through the station. Eventually they made it to a ticket booth. Sophia approached the small booth first. Inside was a ogre like creature. It had red lipstick and brown, messy hair.
"Excuse me." Sophia said to the ogre.
The ogre looked over at Sophia. "Prices are on the poster." The ogre pointed down at a poster below the ticket booth window.
Sophia looked down at the poster and read it.
15$ - Floor 1
10$ - Floor 2
5 $ - Floor 3
5 $ - Capital
5$ - Floor 5 (Currently not available)
10$ - Floor 6 (Currently not available)
20$ - Floor 7
Any Other floors are not available.
Please present Your floor keys before going to any of the following floors.
'5 $ - Capital' Sophia though to herself as she looked back up at the ogre. "Can I get... 3 tickets to the capital..." Sophia rummaged pulled out a wad of cash that Ranch had given to her.
"Sure thing, that'll be 15 creds." The ogre typed in something on her register. Sophia handed 3 'creds' to the ogre. "Here's your tickets..." The ogre pulled out 3 small sheets of paper from behind the booth window and gave them to her.
"Thanks." Sophia ushered Mya and Ildy away from the booth and then handed them their tickets. Ildy slipped his into his pocket. Mya examined hers, so did Sophia.
Departure time: 4:45
Car: 87
Seat: 12
Have a good ride!
Sophia looked up from the ticket and at the trains. Each one had large numbers on each one. Infront of her it said 87. Lucky, she thought to herself.
The three of them made their way to the car passing by many creatures and stores. Once they made it to the train, it loomed in front of them. A train employee stood next to a door and was checking in passengers. The three of them got in line and waited for some time until they reached the employee.
"Tickets please." He asked putting his hand out. Mya gave her ticket to the employee, and he snipped one corner off it. Mya continued onto the train.
He continued with Sophia, then to Ildy. He snipped Ildy's ticket, and then looked at him with suspicion. He handed the ticket back to Ildy and looked at the next passenger.
Ildy got on and got on with Sophia and they found there car. Mya and Sophia sat on one side and Ildy laid down on the other side. The car was furnished with dark oak walls and a carpeted floor. A single window looked out the train. The plains were endless.
If You've read this far, thanks. This is just a passion project of mine that has been years in the works, with still, so many kinks that i have fix. I might be 30 before i even get this first book done. lol,