Aether Engineering

Chapter 3

Verith Railroad Station

The Engineering City of Verith in the Province of Rork

The snow had died down at some point in the previous night. Where before there had been blizzards, now only an icy glaze remained on the city streets. The old baker had always claimed that the railroad station was as much a merchant’s paradise as it was a military compound. Sure enough, the soldiers had left no part of the station unforgotten. While the rest of the city tolerated a thin blanket of snow, the station stood in a disciplined state of cleanliness. This was clearly not a place where even the slightest detail was overlooked.

Myles had seen the station before—it was hard to miss. The walls towered over the rest of the city. Being twice as tall and three times as thick as the ramparts anywhere else in Verith, the station was visible from anywhere.

The sight of the station was a stark reminder of how big a decision Myles was making. The station was for two things only: to transport valuable goods and to protect the railway, ensuring that it could run constantly.

A trip to Candis via train was rare and expensive. Even wealthy merchants would find themselves hard pressed to get a ticket. Myles had never imagined he would be traveling by train. Yet Mr. Habe’s flyer was clear.

There was only one week until classes started, and the academy was near Candis. On foot, the journey would take at least 2 weeks. Monsters would prey on any travelers brave enough to leave the city walls. The only way they could make it on time and safely was the train.

Within the bustling station, Mr. Habes looked out of place. Loaders moved large crates from the loading docks onto the waiting train cars. Merchants haggled for better shipping rates at the many counters around the station. Soldiers, walking mindfully around the facility kept an eye out for anything even slightly out of place, their prominently displayed blue bands declaring their authority to the world. In the middle of everything, Mr. Habes casually leaned against a post lecturing three young men.

The energetic gentleman turned to Myles before he could even get within a dozen paces. “I’m glad you made it. I was worried the train would leave before you got here.”

It was still half an hour before Myles was even supposed to meet Mr. Habes. Father Oswald had said that if he went, he should go early or risk making a poor impression, but this was a little much.

“I came as early as I was able. It was a tough choice to make, and you gave me little time to make it in.”

Mr. Habes seemed to ignore the excuse entirely, waving Myles over urgently. “I was just telling the others here what to expect.” Mr. Habes gave a quick motion towards the train. “We will all be taking the train to Candis. I am coming with you as I have accepted a position as a special instructor at the academy. Once we arrive, I probably won’t be working with any of you four specifically, but in the meantime, I want to get one quick lecture in!”

With that, Mr. Habes launched seamlessly into a lecture on the importance of the railway, pointing out and bringing into focus different parts of the station around them. Myles did his best to pay attention. The lecture was interesting. Mr. Habes might not have been comfortable in the job shop amidst the organized chaos of production, but he was an expert here. Despite that, Myles failed to keep up with the lecture.

This was it! Myles had spent the last four years reading and rereading snippets in the paper about the newest aether device. Now he would have a chance to become an aether engineer himself! The academy may have focused on developing students into soldiers just as much as engineers, but that was a means to an end. One year in school, two mandatory years of service. That was what the flyer said. Myles could afford to sacrifice two years to the army if he had even the slightest chance of becoming a full-fledged aether engineer.

As they stepped onto the train, the pair of soldiers that guarded the civilian passenger car looked at them skeptically but let them pass. The inside of the car was plain. There were no windows, the seats were simple wooden benches, and the walls and floor were thinly insulated metal.

Myles recognized the insulation material as a common technique that he had been asked to do when he had just started out as a trainee. Insulating the metal was unpleasant work. Myles was forced to throw himself into a bath right after work more than a few times due to the smell. Despite that, Myles had found some small satisfaction in knowing that the insulation was pivotal to an aether device. Without it, excess mana would leak out of the metal causing potentially catastrophic situations depending on the amount of mana contained.

Mr. Habes explained away the drab interior as Myles wondered at what his insulation work had contributed to. “The car is to put it rather bluntly, boring. What is important here is what you cannot see rather than what you can though.” Mr. Habes waved vaguely at the walls of the car. “Unlike most houses in Verith, you won’t find any windows here. The main reason for this is a political one. The railway has many significant military bases along it. The lack of windows is to prevent the general public, and by extension any traitorous elements from learning about the structure and exact locations of these bases.”

The four students took their seats as one of the soldiers assigned to the car urgently waved at them to sit down.

“Passengers are loaded last.” Mr. Habes explained even as he fell backwards into his own spot next to an unamused merchant. “The less time they have on board, the less time they have to cause trouble.” Mr. Habes grinned to himself. “At least that’s what a friend of mine told me once.”

The train started moving almost as soon as they were seated. Just as soon afterwards, Myles was standing up again. Knowing that the giant hunk of metal would move and actually being inside it when it did were two different things.

Mr. Habes calmly dragged him and one of the other new students who had also stood up back into their seats. “There are roughly 280 miles of train track between us and the Candis station. The trip will take us about nine and a half hours.” Mr. Habes gestured towards one of the soldiers in the car who had taken a step towards them. “It would be best to try to stay on their good side until then.”

Myles quickly found himself excruciatingly bored. He despised having nothing to do. Even when he was young, Myles had planned out his day so that he would have very little free time. While other kids would goof around the house, Myles would start work on one project or another. Myles’ father had said he could never sit still. At one point when Myles had built a new laundry basin, Myles’ mother had complained about not having anything to do anymore. His father had told Myles in secret that he got that trait from his mother.

Myles would have talked to the other three students, but by their clothes and bearing, he thought they were all the sons of wealthy families. None of their families would be likely to rate in the same class as the rest of the people on the train, but they were certainly better off than a simple soldier’s son.

When they were only two hours out, Mr. Habes began a new lecture, an introduction to the school they were attending. “The name of the school is Maston academy. The school is unique in that it is sponsored by a number of politically powerful individuals. Every student including you,” Mr. Habes dragged his finger across the four new students, “are sponsored by one of these individuals. Meaning that every student you meet will be here due to either their merits or a truly powerful connection. Before you ask, I am not allowed to tell you who your sponsor is.”

Myles was fine with not knowing who his sponsor was. Whoever they were, they were paying his tuition and that was good enough for him.

Two hours later, the group of five got off the train. The train had made a number of brief stops, presumably to drop supplies off to the various military bases along the way. Nonetheless, they had arrived in the nine-and-a-half hours that Mr. Habes had promised them.

It was already dark when they got off the train, but Myles’ eyes were full of wonder as they headed to their hotel. The city of Candis was much different than the city of Verith had been. The buildings were more spread out though they were also taller. Most of them reached to at least five stories, and Myles suspected that many of them went below street level as well.

Candis was said to have become a trading hub in recent years and it seemed to live up to the name. When they had been in Verith, there had been minimal variety in the products being loaded onto the train. Candis on the other hand had packages of everything from grains to ores and beyond sitting in the loading bay. Beyond that, Myles saw many pop-up stalls, abandoned for the night crowded the otherwise wider streets.

The city still had a set of walls that were every bit as tall and sturdy as Verith’s. It seemed that monsters were a problem regardless of where you went.

Myles would only have the one night in Candis and they would be setting out the next morning. From there, it would be a two day walk to Maston in the company of an armed escort and a group of many other students.

Myles went to sleep with a heavy heart. He would be unable to fully explore the great trading city of Candis, but for some reason, Myles felt like Candis was just a beginning for him. Even if he spent all of his time in the halls of Maston academy over the next year, Myles promised himself that he would explore the entire province once he became a skilled aether engineer.