Seth stood amongst the crowds of the train platform, trying and failing to stifle the constant yawns that clawed their way out of his mouth. Occasionally taking swigs of his energy drink in an attempt to drown his exhaustion for the ti being.
The train finally trundled its way down the tracks, andering without a care that it was ten minutes late, before coming to a halt at the station with a long hiss.
The doors slid open and the tidal wave of morning workers started to flow inside, bumping against each other as they fought for the limited amount of seats.
Seth himself was patient, downing the last of his drink and tossing it in a nearby trash can. He wasn't fussed about getting a seat today, fearing that if he sat down then he'd lose his battle against his exhaustion. Unfortunately, this cautionary approach left him standing up, hanging onto the hanging ropes and dearly hoping that he rembered to wear deodorant today.
They were packed in like sardines, rhythmically swaying and awkwardly rubbing against each other from the movent of the train. Seth ended up banging his head on the window once and got elbowed in the gut more than a few tis, but at least those helped him stay awake.
The view of the city passed him by throughout the journey, still basking in the velvet glow of the early morning son. The more residential focused area faded away, soon to be replaced by the central part of the city, more focused on business and shopping. The tall apartnt buildings dotted about here and there, rows of small compact houses and the occasional convenience store slowly morphing into the sight of towering skyscrapers. Alongside them were buildings that were a strange mix of old and new.
Beautiful, old school stone masonry, each piece having its own unique flair and history, forced to be side by side with the soulless, minimalist square designs that plagued modern architecture, with the focus clearly on function and cost rather than appearance.
Sotis the two were even mashed together, with the modernity growing out of the older building like so kind of tumour.
It was a city with history that could be seen everywhere, dragged kicking and screaming into the modern age and needing to be updated to keep up with the rapid population expansion in the last few centuries. And it seed modernity was winning, as there was less and less of this beautiful history as ti went by.
But that was life in Thravengrave beneath Durwin, a sizable town in the heart of Scotland with a very old na from back when it was just a small town of thatch houses. Everyone simply called it Thravengrave, or even just Thraven, for ease.
There wasn't much soone like Seth could do to stop this modernisation, he was just one man after all. One insignificant man. All he could do is take in the view and hope it would last a little bit longer.
Seth was abruptly jolted out of his rabbithole of thoughts by that damned voice again, the surprise of it all causing him to stumble back slightly and bump into sothing soft. He couldn't focus on what, or more likely who, he bumped into. Instead all he could focus on was the voice. Sothing about it felt… different.
Although It started out the sa, feeling as if his brain had been plucked out of his head and dropped into ice cold gravy, the feeling shifted as it spoke. It was as if that gravy gradually ward up, getting up to a temperature that would make anyone sigh in bliss. Then, it shifted further. The slimy, thick gravy turned soft, evaporating into a soft and fluffy cloud that didn't drown his brain, but enveloped it like it was giving a motherly hug. It reminded him of how he felt wrapped up in his blankets on a cold night.
Even the way it spoke shifted. Shifting from the cold, emotionless and robotic tone to sothing more human. Every word beca more and more natural sounding, as if instead of a machine speaking it was a soft spoken woman. By the end of it, he could truly believe that a kindly woman was whispering sweet nothings softly into his ear.
[Soul Integration Complete. Compiling subjects data for optimal tamorphosis. Please stand by for individual assessnt…]
It took Seth a few seconds to get over the shifting sensations and process the words that had appeared in his mind. He was still convinced that he was hallucinating it due to his sleep deprivation. But what he couldn't figure out was why he'd imagine this? I an the words this voice said in his head made no sense.
"Soul Integration… what does that an?" He heard a soft voice say from behind. At first he was ready to brush it off as the strange delusion voice again, but after a second he paused.
'Wait.. that wasn't the sa voice.' He thought to himself, whirling around to find a woman rubbing her arm while sitting awkwardly on the floor. Although her current predicant didn't seem to bother her as she stared into the air. It wasn't an absent minded stare. No, it was if she was focusing deeply, trying to decipher so sort of puzzle that only she could see.
Her brow was furrowed as her full, black painted lips moved slightly, clearly muttering sothing under her breath. It was only when she felt Seth's gaze on her that her expression softened and she looked up. The reality of her situation seed to co to her, blush rising into her cheeks as she quickly tried to get up.
"S-sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention and.. Here, let help you." Seth stamred, quickly rubbing his hand against his trouser leg to make sure it wasn't sweaty before holding it out to the young woman. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable around won or unable to compose himself around them, far from it. It was simply that this situation, especially what caused it, had left him completely off guard. Not to ntion, this woman was simply gorgeous. At least from Seth's own standards, that is. It was enough to throw anyone through a loop, even for a second.
From a cursory glance, she appeared to be in her mid 20s, around the sa age as Seth himself. She had pale white skin that looked smooth and no doubt was soft to the touch, but it wasn't pale like a corpse. Instead it was a paleness that was still full of life, natural and beautiful. Moon kissed, is what he would call it.
The eyes that were staring up at him were brown, a rich and deep brown like a fresh cup of glorious morning coffee. They were eyes that could ensnare a man with just one look, yet held a dangerous glare that kept him at bay. Seth himself was feeling a little drawn into them, but sothing in the back of his mind told him there was sothing strange about them, beyond the obvious. He could swear he saw a brief 'blink and you'll miss it' glow in the bottomless black void of her pupils. Almost like a spark. But that just had to be nonsense… right?
Her hair was dark brown, but as the train moved and blocked sunlight in different ways, it seed to shift into a black so rich that it gave shadows a run for their money. But it wasn't monochro either, she had streaks of deep blue either side of her face to perfectly fra it.
These multi coloured locks cascaded down her shoulders in waves, like a chocolate waterfall, coming to a stop just above her chest.
Speaking of her chest, it was on the smaller side. But in Seth's mind, there was nothing wrong with that. Beauty ca in all shapes and sizes, this one just happened to co in a petite package. A petite package that was wrapped in a white blouse, a black blazer and smart black pants. A classic outfit for the modern working woman. Businesses loved uniformity, After all.
While Seth was taking in the sight of the young woman, she gave him a slightly chilling glare as she took his hand nonetheless and used it to steady herself when standing up. Once she was back on her feet, she took a mont to brush herself off.
"Don't worry about it." She spoke with a flat and emotionless tone that despite her scary looking face held no hate or malice, before brushing her hair out of her face with the hand she took back.
Seth let out a half hearted, nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head and trying not to feel too awkward about it all. Still blaming his stupid decisions and the sleep deprivation based consequences for hearing that weird voice in his head. But as he was having that thought, he paused for a second.
'Wait... Didn't she say the sa words as the voice? Sothing about souls...' He looked down at her, since she was roughly a head smaller than him, and opened his mouth to ask her if she had also heard that voice. But before he could confirm whether or not he was truly being delusional, he caught movent out of the corner of his eye.
People were getting off the train and it was about to move on. A quick glance at the screen above the doorway told him which stop it was.
"Shit," He muttered when he saw that, quickly grabbing his things. Taking one last look at the cute enigma of a girl.
"Sorry, this is my stop. I have to go!" He rattled out like a machine gun, already in the process of lunging through the doors before he had even finished his sentence. The door hissing closed behind him, leaving the poor young woman standing there looking utterly befuddled.
***
Watching the strange man that had bumped into her push through the crowds and hurry out of the station, Astra let out another soft chuckle to herself. With a bit more room on the train, she shuffled her way over to one of the poles and grabbed onto it for safety, hoping to avoid a repeat of the previous incident. After all, her butt was still hurting a little after that.
But as her slender fingers closed around the tal bar, the lights of the train around her flickered, leaving the traincar dark for a second or two. At the sa ti, she caught little sparks of static electricity, around five or six miniature bolts, leaping from the tips of her fingers and connecting to the pole before dissipating.
'Huh…?'
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