A new type of Training

The sounds of clacking against the tracks was soothing, even though the rocking motion was sickening. As I stretched out the upholstered seat rubbed my cheek and I hummed appreciatively, it was so soft to the touch. I hadn’t felt anything this soft in a while since I was always at…. SCHOOL?! My eyes flew open and stung painfully at the overload of bright lights and colors. I should be sleeping in my dorm room right now… So how am I on a train?

I forced myself to sit up, taking in my surroundings. There were no other people in this car, I was dressed in my pajamas. Plaid waist bound pants and a baggy white shirt. I had no wallet, no ID, no ticket and no shoes. Considering I had no idea where I was, this was not looking promising. Running my hands through my hair I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Calm down Vellius. This is the worst time to get frazzled. Remember what dad, Alder and Master Angelo taught you. I have to imagine that only whoever orchestrated this either is in cahoots with the headmaster, or is more skilled than the trace that our school barrier holds. If this was Deimos’ work, I wouldn’t be unharmed.’

After grounding myself a little, I inspected my surroundings more thoroughly. There are five rows of seats in this car on both sides, luggage racks that are empty, a door to progress into the train and one to head to the rear area. Outside the window is dark, but just a casual glance tells me I’m nowhere I know. No worlds I have visited so far have red skies in the night, remembering Darren’s mumbling I know there are no less than a hundred worlds that have red skies in the night. Sighing I smiled sheepishly and mumbled out loud “I never thought I would have to thank Darren for being a vampire romantist.”

Of my dozens of siblings Darren is the one who is closest to the demonic nature of his father, without any of my father’s –his mother’s– moderate lineage. His vampiric side is so strong that his presence is easy to be overlooked, he’s a romanticist on anything that appeals to him; In more human terms he’d be considered Goth, he appreciates anything surreal like worlds with red skies, obscure holidays, demonic races and even the prospect of death in immortals. He told me a while ago that most worlds have blue skies due to the gasses in the atmosphere that reflect UV waves back as blue, where as some worlds like this one naturally have a different composition in the air, although livable, the skies are red at night and the day skies can range from purple to black.

Swallowing I rubbed my sweaty palms on my pants, and repeated his words out loud “If the sky is black, the air is highly combustible; if a fire user were to so much as spark; he could annihilate the entire population or the world depending on the situation.” One of my strongest weapons is sealed, instantly I start to feel more vulnerable.

I sit down in the rear of the car by the door and think “Okay Vellius, you’re going to have to think this through. First, we cannot take this train until the end; who knows where that will get us. Second, we cannot use fire, even if the sky proves to be purple in daylight it’s too risky. The sky being red means that flying is going to take a lot of energy too… The air is going to be heavier. Third, we cannot count on anyone to search right away; Since I usually sneak out to meet Alder, Commander or father for training recently… Until those three realize, no one inside will pay mind to me missing. There’s at least a week until then. Fourth, we have no idea if that damned god of war, Deimos is responsible for this; so we have to be even more cautious. Fifth…” I feel my face flushing despite the serious situation “I haven’t slept with Alder recently, so using my incubus powers is going to upset the balance in my body severely where I cannot rely on fire. Sixth, I cannot summon Death or her guardian who were helping me, they are busy attending to the latest war in the human world… How gruesome that is… A country releasing a virus to eradicate thousands, before feeding suspicions to lead into a great world war? Ugh focus Vellius!”

Clapping my hands to my cheeks hard enough to cause some swelling I sigh. Now that I know my exact situation, I’m more assured this isn’t a vivid dream. Slowly I turn my inspection on myself. I move my hands from my cheeks to my hair, combing it into some form of order blindly. The curls will do what they will, no traces of anything there. I slowly feel my way down, closing my eyes. I fell asleep with an earring on so I can breathe a little easier, if my balance turns fatal this will break and whomever I need most will be summoned. Having three contradictory powers is such a hassle.

Really who would ever imagine a fire dragon elemental, pure blood incubus and noble valkyrie could all have blood in one boy. Let alone being the only male valkyrie to date in any world-line. These three powers almost killed me when dad triggered my dormant valkyrie blood to awaken. The second time was during training when a demonic trainer pushed my incubus side too fiercely, my flames recoiled and I was burning in desire literally. That was when Alder, the unmovable vampire made a bloodpact with me. If I can move a vampyre noble who survived each war, who didn’t take blood in ages unless needed to replenish and finally took me as a mate, I won’t die here so easily.

As I ran my hands down my face, nothing else was out of place, though apparently I drooled when I slept for once. No collar on my neck, so no one is trying to restrain me. Nothing on or under my clothes out of the normal. Slowly I ripped the sleeves from my favorite shirt without remorse and prepared to tie them around my feet, better than leaving them bare. I notice one of the seats was peeling, so I ripped the upholstery and made a makeshift insole which I secured with the fabrice and ripped the bottom rim of my shirt to make two ties to secure the top to my ankle and around my toes like a sandal. I repeated this for the other foot and rose to my feet, trodding around to adjust them to my feet. I repositioned them a couple times before nodding satisfied.

One more deep breath, I strode to the rear door and opened it. Ignoring the piercing alarm from further up the train, I closed the door behind me. The train was nearing a bridge, overlooking a scary body of water, even if I mess up; I’ll land in the water. I put my hands on the bar holding up the awning and pulled myself onto the railing. The wind stung my cheeks and the scent of the air made me a bit dizzy. Closing my eyes I jumped and spread my arms embracing the air current, my wings didn’t fail me, they caught the wind.

If the air was painful on my face, it was agonizing when the full gales caught my wings. Still I flapped them with all my might and shot upwards before opening my eyes. I could see faces in the windows staring at me and what appeared to be a conductor gaping at me, how interesting I must appear. White light shining behind me in a crescent moon, a clear red sky over inky gray waters. Wings of light ash colored feathers, I doubt they can see my fiery red hair, though depending on their vision they might see my eyes shining purple. I probably look like a monster, doubtfully an angel. Chuckling I flapped my wings a few more time adjusting to the air current before flying the way the train just came from.

I escaped the train, now I need to survive this world. Time is not on my side where nothing looks friendly.