Ch.1

A woman runs in an alleyway clutching the bullet wound on her stomach.

"Find her! She couldn't have gone far!"

"Send the clockwork bots to patrol the streets, we can't let her escape."

She runs to a nearby corner and leans on it to catch her breath. 

She hears several footsteps run past her.

She sighs in relief only for it to be cut short when she feels blood dripping out of her wound.

This isn't good, I need to get out of here!

She forces her body to continue running

It isn't dark yet, so it will be harder to lose them. If things get really bad I'll just have to use my blessing.

Compared to the 3rd level, the 2nd level can still get some sunlight past 3pm. The alleys aren't as complex in the 2nd level either.

"I see blood over here!"

"She's close, spread out and search the area! Remember to move in groups"

Shit!

She runs through the alley taking corners to try and confuse the soldiers. Unluckily she runs across a group 4 soldiers.

"There she is!"

"Fire at will!"

Before the soldiers could pull the trigger, the temperature in the woman's fingertips drop and a cold chill forms around it. With a quick wave of her hand, sharp spearlike spikes made out of ice form from the ground, blocking the path and piercing two soldiers, killing them.

"Over there!"

"Cut off her escape!"

A group of soldiers comes out behind her and shoots at her with their rifles.

She managed to evade the bullets and continue running deeper into the alleys, but she can hear more footsteps closing in on here.

Her vision was then suddenly engulfed in pitch black and a cold chill crawled up her spine, only to disappear just as suddenly.

But before she even has time to process a loud bang and a pain on her stomach snapped her out of her confusion. She's been shot.

"AH!"

She screams in pain and she sees two guards have their rifles aimed at her.

"I shot her!"

"Be careful not to kill her, captain said the council wants her alive."

"You pieces of-!"

Gunshots from the two soldiers cut her speech off.

A round shield of ice forms on her hand blocking the bullets before they could land. She then throws the shield at the soldiers, once the shield was close enough it exploded and changed its form into an explosion of spikes resembling swords, killing both of the soldiers.

Before she even has time to catch her breath another group of over soldiers appear from a different direction. Without wasting anytime she forms a spear made of ice in her hands and threw it at the group. The group soldiers narrowly dodged the ice spear and breathed a sigh of relief, only to look back and see a giant ice mallet flying to their face, killing the unlucky soldiers standing in its way.

The woman then runs away while limping as more blood is being drained from her body.

"After her! She's running to a dead end!"

And unfortunately for her, they were right. As the woman limps to a nearby turn only to be greeted by a dead end and groups of footsteps closing in on her. 

She turns around only to be met by the butt of a gun, sending her to the ground.

"Gah!"

Several soldiers appear, surrounding her with their rifles aimed at her. Two soldiers hold both of her arms up as a young man wearing a dark blue officer's uniform and a red aiguillette appears, he is a second hand officer of the royal army. 

He walks over the woman with a smug grin on his mouth and an air arrogance around him.

"So this is the famed leader of the so called orphanage... Miss Beira Mackenzie was it? of the Mackenzie House."

She tries to form ice around her, but her consciousness is too tired to focus.

"..."

"A savage and a criminal from birth, like your father before you. But everyone already knew that from the day you were born."

"..."

"I always knew it was a mistake to promote someone from level 3 into such a prestigious position. But alas, not everyone in level 1 or even some of the council members can possess such insight."

"..."

The woman keeps her head down holding herself back. This lack of reaction annoys the the second hand officer as he leans in closer to the glaring woman.

"Unlike I, of course."

The woman then jumps him, biting his eyelid off.

"*spits* Clearly you don't."

The officer screams in pain holding his bleeding eye.

"AHHH!!! You bitch!!!"

The captain punched the woman sending her to the ground.

"Get her up!"

"But captain the council asked that we bring her alive-"

"Shut up! One more word from you and I'll have you stationed to level 3!"

The soldiers knowing that they could very well end up in level 3, reluctantly pulled the woman up for the captain to continue beating.

"You!"

Punch

"Guh!"

"Piece of!"

Punch

"Gah!"

"Shit!"

Punch

"Ah!"

He then grabs her by her collar.

"You think your better than me? Your nothing but a worthless commoner a whore!!!"

Punch

The punch sends her to the ground, her face bloodied and her vision fading.

"What are you waiting for?! Pick her back up!!!"

The soldiers reluctantly lift her back up holding both of her arms up.

"I'll teach you what happens when you mess with me!"

As he was about to continue punching her, the sound of footsteps can be heard coming from behind him alerting everyone.

The officer turns around to see a young man, probably around his early 20s with short black hair and a black suit, using a silver cane to hold him up while he's breathing exhaustedly. 

"Haaa..... Haaaaa.... Hold on.... Give me a minute..... These alleys are massive....."

The officer looks at him with suspicion. The streets here should be in lockdown with soldiers and clockwork bots patrolling the streets, so how could a civilian managed to get here? 

The guards all pointed their guns at the mysterious man.

"You, state your name and reason for being here."

The man takes a deep inhale then exhales as he stands up straight to compose himself.

"Mikhail, I'm the conductor for the Histeria Express. I'm trying to find something that ran through here."

The officer was confused

As in a train conductor? But I have never heard of a train called the Histeria before...

Train conductors are usually a very respected occupation with most if not all conductors coming from level 1. They are the ones that connect all 3 levels together and transports the necessary supplies and people for all levels. Because of their importance, only very trusted individuals with the approval of all 12 council members can become a train conductor.

Someone of his stature is here in the alleys of level 2?

"What are you trying to find?"

"A massive black blob."

"I see...

a what?"

Everyone around seemed to be just as confused as the captain.

"I-I think I must have misheard you."

"Ah and it also has a lot of eyes and teeth."

"I-"

"But sometimes its just eyes without any teeth and sometimes just teeth without any eyes. I'm not exactly sure how big it is but it seemed like it could change its size to hide in cracks and corners in the walls."

"..."

This man is playing me for a fool isn't he?

He's not armed nor do I think he's blessed so he's probably not a member of the Orphanage trying to save their leader. He's most likely some random drunk that wandered here out of sheer luck.

"Listen here Mr. Mikhail, I'll have you know that impersonating someone of higher prestige than you is a serious offense and-"

While the captain continues to give Mikhail a scolding the clock strikes 4 and the sun slowly starts to dim.

The woman, Beira notices a strange pitch black darkness crawling out of the cracks of a nearby wall that started slowly enveloping their surroundings, and so did the soldiers around her and Mikhail.

Berdia and the soldiers started looking around in confusion as the darkness completely surrounds them.

What's going on?

"-Be thankful for my generosity, because I will only leave you off now with a warning."

"There it is."

"?"

The captain turned around to see that his surroundings have turned into a dark black void.

In every direction of the void several eyes appear, seemingly staring at them. A cold chill runs through their spine, as something watches them in the darkness.

"W-what's this?"

Is this some sort of curse?

He looked back at the man cladded in black.

"You! What did you do!"

A strange feeling runs through the captains arm.

The captain looks down only to see, or more accurately not see his hands anymore.

They were torn off, or bitten off.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

The captain lets out a blood curdling scream, maybe from the shock or maybe from the pain. 

"SHOOT THEM! SHOOT THEM YOU IMBECILES!!!"

The soldiers panicked and try to shoot the unknown entity, aiming for the eyes of the entity.

But to little to no avail as it hits nothing. Perhaps the eyes are much farther and larger than they appear.

"Hiiii!!! please! have mercy! I have children who need me!"

Some who realized the futility of their situation cower in fear and beg for mercy. But this entity does not understand such a concept, it only knows that they are afraid.

For them, mouths form under them to swallow them whole.

"You damn beast, I'll kill you!!!"

Others continue to fight, maybe out of the belief that they can fight against their fate, or perhaps a last stand to immortalize their image to this unknown entity. But it is futile, as the entity will always reach them and it does not care for what they do.

For them, mouths ate the heads of those very individuals.

"!!!"

"Screw this!"

The two soldiers who held the poor woman as their superior beat her half to death dropped her on the ground and ran. They ran and ran until their silhouettes disappear in the darkness. But they are not free, this entity will never leave their side.

For them, a fate worst than death.

Berdia drops to ground shaking in fear and breathing rapidly. In the face of such a horror, many others would have done the same. The entity now is staring at her, perhaps waiting for a reaction or biding its time.

She is scared, an emotion she has not felt in so long and this entity knows it as it the eyes grow larger and a mouth appears under her.

No... I don't want to die!

But in the midst of all this chaos, bloodshed, and fear, only one remains unfazed

"Huh, so that's what it does."

Mikhail on the other hand remains composed, the entity's gaze barely elicits a reaction out of him.

"Hey Raquel, where exactly is this thing's body?"

This space, this darkness, is all a part of it. 

"So anywhere is fine then."

Berdia looks up at Mikhail unfazed by the horror and see him pull out a slip of paper from his pocket, a slip resembling a gold train ticket.

He ponders for a bit before taking a knee and placing the train ticket on the ground.

An eruption of chains sprang forth from the ticket and spreads across the darkness. It then pulls it, all of it into the ticket. Its hard to tell if the entity fought back, or it simply accepted its faith.

There was no climactic fight.

Nor did the entity lay a scratch on the man.

He simply walked, and caught it.

And everything was over.

The dark void disappears and they have returned to where they were before.

Berdia looks in disbelief at the man.

"You... What are you?...."

She loses her consciousness, perhaps because of her injuries or the horror she saw.

But regardless, the express has received a new passenger.